By Popular Request

What better reason to break off this almost two-months long silence than to cater to a request from my best friend.

Her brother's wedding is coming up, there is a skin-tight LBD secured, what is left is the shoes.

They have to be killer shoes and they have to be manufactured by the local shoe company/brand LILU. Not an easy task as the winter collection is still in stores and spring is nowhere to be seen - it's been snowing in Belgrade for the past few days.

I thought of suggesting a red pair along the lines of these below:

A beautiful warm red, would break the black beautifully, but . . . The heel is not high enough!












Then I spied with my little eye a pair of animal print ones, a slightly higher heel, round toe, see below:

Not bad but still something missing, the wow factor is just not there.














And then this morning, the mother of all killer shoes shows up on LILU's facebook page:

It's black, I know, it does not break the LBD with a splash of color, but I suggest, my dear, you use other accessories for that. This is a perfect sexy shoe for a perfect sexy lady you are! The heel, the pattern, the pointy toe, I can see you in them and I can see how putting them on and walking tall with those long slim legs of yours could be so empowering! You're one hot lady, embrace it, own it and show it to the world!



Case closed, the jury is out - I'll let you know about the verdict ;-)

Oh Ye, of Little Faith

That is me, actually, in the past two weeks. Completely desperate and lost, without faith or confidence that everything will work out in the end, and you know what? It did, it really did.

A woman like me, for example

Not enough sanity or patience for a proper blog post these days. But I found this to be oh so true . . .

Fernanda Laguna, Argentina 

A woman like me, for example
(translation by Stuart Krimko)

A woman
doesn't deserve
the time
to dedicate herself
to things that interest her.
Because...

Is it because the things that interest a woman
aren't interesting?
Or is it because....
A woman doesn't show enough interest
in the things that interest her for others
to think they're interesting and give her the time?
Or is it because...
The interesting things she does are things that are interesting to someone else
precisely because they're things that someone else doesn't find interesting?

A woman asks herself
so many questions...
A woman like me, for example
who has a few brief moments
to do something that interests her.

And while these moments pass her by
she asks herself
Was this what I wanted to do?
Ask myself questions like these?
Waste this precious hour they have granted me
thinking about things I'm not even sure I want to think about?
Does a woman really deserve
the time to do the things she wants to do
if she doesn't know what she wants to do, really?
Does she deserve the time it takes
to believe that she wants to do something?
Does it even make sense to keep thinking about it?
It doesn't matter,
the lost time is what it is to be a woman.
A woman like me,
for example.

So it is and so it must be and so it must not be

When a female human being thinks of herself
she thinks
about whether she is a human being or not.
A woman believes she has to be so smart
that the rest of the world has to convince itself that in fact she's quite stupid
because deep down she believes that the more she's cast aside
the freer and happier she'll be,
cast aside to the place in life cast aside by the means of production.
That wondrous place where ungovernable things thrive,
ungraspable things,
things like life and death,
and time and love and secrets,
and beauty and intuition,
and the universe and everything inside it,
simple and meaningless things,
among other "things."

Or something like that... I think.
Anyway.... it's very difficult to finish a poem
and give it a fixed meaning.
But I did pretty good, right?
A woman is someone like me, for example.

Unlived Lives

“It seems a strange question until one realizes how much of our so-called mental life is about the lives we are not living, the lives we are missing out on, the lives we could be leading but for some reason are not. What we fantasize about, what we long for, are the experiences, the things and the people that are absent. It is the absence of what we need that makes us think, that makes us cross and sad.”

“All of us lead two parallel lives: the life we actually live and the one that we wish for and fantasize about. And this life unlived (the one that never actually happens, the one we might be living but for some reason are not) can occupy an extraordinary part of our mental life. We share our lives, in a sense, with the people we have failed to be – and this can become itself the story of our lives: an elegy to needs unmet, desires sacrificed and roads untaken….Adam Phillips demonstrates that there might in fact be much to be said for the unlived life. …he suggests that in missing out on one experience we always open ourselves to the potential of another, and that in depriving ourselves of the frustration of not getting what we think we want, we would be depriving ourselves of the possibilities of satisfaction.”

Adam Phillips, Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life

Daydreaming . . .

It's end of January almost and it feels like spring in Belgrade with unseasonably high daily temperatures. That kind of weather makes me feel all dizzy with the promise of sunnier and warmer days to come in a  few months. It also makes me think of summer holidays and days spent by the sea. This is where I feel at my best and where I want to spend my life . . . Alas . . .

For me, seaside is Greece, the Mediterranean, sun, olive trees, pristine beaches, crystal clear sea, great food, wine, and easy living in the long hours of siesta . . .

The pictures are from our last year's destination, the small village of Kalamitsi on the Sythonia/Halkidiki peninsula

 Every morning, without fault, the big blue beckons . . .

The small bay 

Mighty Mount Athos in the background

 Beautiful Salona/Thessaloniki/Solun

Outfit of the Day

Just because my head is about to burst and I like the particular color combo that I'm wearing today. And the shoes of course . . .

 I love this Mango cardie from the sales a few summers back, although I'm not sure about the vertical stripes across the hips, but - whatever ;-)

The shoes are one of my favorites. They are designed and made in Serbia, which makes me particularly happy as I like to wear local designer brands. Check out their facebook page LILU Fashion Shoes, they have some pretty rad designs!

The same pair, from another angle, styled by me ;)

Perfect pointy-toe, kitten heel black patent leather pumps - I could live in them!

I bought these at the end of summer sales so I can't wait for warm weather to actually wear them!

In other breaking news

Damian Lewis won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Sgt. Brody in the Homeland. Woo-hoo! And looked hot doing it, see below:

Source

And I renewed my winter wardrobe with this beauty on sale:

Source

It should keep me toasty for at least two-three seasons, I think!