my little moments...

I am a woman of routines... I suppose it is the child in me that needs the security of repetition, of standards, of schedule, of as many comfort zones and as far as I can extend them... ok, boooooring, you will say... I will not argue against it... I also feel sometimes that my life, my ways, are indeed boring... and then I dye my fingernails black, or I buy a third lamp to put on the dresser to break the symmetry and a pair of shoes I know I will not be wearing anytime soon in this lifetime... I cook Thai food, I have a drink at home alone on a Wednesday night and I pick a new hobby (like knitting for example...), trying to break this exact routine I crave...

But, boring or not, I do love my little routines... My waking up and having a coffee and two cookies for breakfast while smoking my ciggy and checking facebook and the news, my 11:30 break (I have another ciggy then...), my lunch with my best friends gossiping and nagging and laughing and comforting each other, my late evening beauty drill (yep, always remove makeup and clean face before going to bed, also take shower to relax and apply magic potions... how else do you think I keep young and beautiful??!! ;)
My Saturday morning or running errands, my Sunday morning walk followed by cuddling on the sofa with a good film (or two or three...), my Thursday pilates session after work, my taking the shoes off and changing clothes the moment I enter my home...

These are my little moments.... precious and comforting as times pass... And they are better than shoes! Not only for the security that they provide me in a world uncertain as can be where nothing is guaranteed and everything can be upsides down from one moment to the next... not only because they keep me balanced and calm, kinda like Xanax but without side effects... but also, mainly, because they are mine! The little things make us who we are and these little things make me who I am. Orderly, neat, with my small (or big...) bad habits, devoted, and yes, boring even... Would I be me otherwise? The question doesn't even make sense...

in Florence...

Have you ever been in a place so, so beautiful, so breathtakingly beautiful that you just gave up taking pictures because you simply realized there is no way on Earth you can ever capture its beauty... and so you just looked and looked and looked around and you hoped your memory will not fail you for the years to come and you will remain with the images in your mind?...

Well, for me, this place was Florence! I found myself there last week for work and after having spent 3 days stuck inside a hotel in the middle of nowhere attending a conference (for which I am not even going to comment as there was nothing, absolutely nothing better than shoes about it...) I finally escaped, moved to the centre of the city and for the next 51 hours (yes, that short I'm afraid...) I immersed into the Florentine atmosphere! And what an atmosphere that is!!! And under a warm sun on top of it, at the end of October no less!!

Where does one start to describe it... the city is a museum, everywhere, every building, every bridge, every church, every street, everything screams of art! Even if Renaissance is not your cup of tea, you cannot but admire it! Then, there is fashion! Florence is a fashionista's heaven! From the great Italian designers (Gucci and Ferragamo were both Florentines and with their own museums there nowadays...) to the little shops and the open markets and certainly the way locals dress (men and women), all is full of style! Yep, do no go there in your fleece and trekking shoes... hmmmm, do not go anywhere in those, come to think of it...

And then there is the food... I will never forget the chicken cooked in butter nor the juicy "bistecca alla Fiorentina" (T-bone steak Florentine style) or the pastas or the "gelato" (ice cream) or even the local cocktail, negroni, which is indeed a bit weird in the first sip but it is an acquired taste for sure... mmm, I already miss all that!!

Ah, no doubt, Florence is definitely better than shoes... better than Louboutin's "Sixtizette", my latest favourite... just make sure you take a good pair of walking ones (shoes that is...) with you when you get to visit, my feet are still killing me from all the walking there last weekend ;)

the tree and the woods...

I have avoided all this time, for about two years, to comment on what is happening in my country... Greece's economic nightmare has reached all over the world and though there is a lot to be said about its causes, the accuracy of the information distributed as well as its completeness and the interests it serves, the fact remains than the world knows we are actually living in a Greek tragedy, straggling to maintain the last shreds of dignity we are left with... Tragedy... nothing "better than shoes" there... hence my silence about it...

But today I decided to break the silence and write about something that is, in my opinion, fundamental in this crisis Greece is experiencing and does fit in the concept of this blog: A tree is better off in the woods I think. If the woods are burnt, one tree alone will not survive... Same, a person is better off in a society... that's why we actually started forming those... societies that is... our ancestors were not forced to start living in groups, they merely realised it had advantages!

But, regardless of its advantages, a society cannot go on functioning for a long time if its people only think of themselves... society is a plant we all have to water! The good news is that, aiming for the common good IS better than just taking care of ourselves for the simple reason that when the society prospers, the people prosper, every one prospers. When individuals prosper individually, eventually societies fall...  and people follow... And surely I am not a sociologist but I bet you many of them would just agree with me...

What we are experiencing in my country, and in the western world generally at the moment, is not only an economic crisis, it is a crisis of values. And that is the reason why it is so deep, so serious... We have gone too far, in my humble opinion, thinking of ways of making only our little lives better and ignoring our societies, is some cases not only ignoring but intentionally harming them for our own selfish gain... for the hefty Xmas bonus, for our next luxurious holidays, for the big house, the fast car... and now we are just reaping what we sowed... And the only thing that can take us out of the s**t we are in, is solidarity, is to start thinking as a group again, start aiming for the common good, stop thinking as individuals... needles to say that I think this is "better than shoes"... needles to say it is difficult... but then again, the "good" is always difficult, it is the "bad" that is easy... time to finally choose wisely!