summer... at long last!

After weeks and weeks of  rain and cold and grey and depression, finally, the summer came to this part of the world!

Timidly since last weekend and for sure after this past Monday the sun shines, the temperature is high and the mood even higher! If there is one thing we expatriates in The Netherlands have learnt over the years is to seize the day and the moment the weather smiles at us to take advantage in any way we can! So, having learnt my lesson, I was out walking for 12,85Km on Sunday, went to the beach on Monday after work and had dinner out with my best friends last night at a great restaurant... and yes, when I say "out", I literally mean "out"!

There is something about the summer, isn't there? I mean, everything looks prettier -people, homes, cities even- everything looks and feels more relaxed, everyone is in a good mood and you can notice it! Just a bit of sun and suddenly life is better, the world is a better place! Ok, I do see the irony... surely there are plenty of places on this planet where think the same for the rain... Not here though... here we have enough water and the thing we miss is the light... and when it comes, oh, bliss!

So, yes, summer is better than shoes and perhaps arguably the best shoes are the summer shoes (think embellished Zanotti sandals, you see what I mean?) and that's why it deserves a post in this blog. Moreover, with this weather I really cannot concentrate on work... time to go to the beach yet?!...

the silver lining...

... is, supposedly, always there. Hmmm... So I guess, seeing it should not be a big deal, right? Well, I don't think it is exactly like that... I think it takes quite some training to be able to see the positive side of bad things and, provided that one manages to master the art, that is indeed better than shoes!

I have been training myself in that for some time...  for years to be exact... and in all honesty I still cannot say that I have managed to be one of those people I admire so much who are able, in every bad situation, to see the positive side, to "always look on the bright side of life.. durum... durum durum...".
No, not yet there I'm afraid... but I wanna! I want to be like that, I want to sing in the rain on a Friday night when I decided to walk home after dinner and got soaking wet from the sudden (and totally unforeseen...) downpour, I want to laugh when I spill red fruits' juice on my baby blue cashmere sweater, I want to be in a good mood even when I'm fighting a migraine (and she is winning...), I want to be able to make lemonade when life throws me lemons... and I want it to be good lemonade!

I know that being positive is a state of mind and though I have not entirely put my mind in that state yet, I keep trying. I have already come to terms with the fact that lemons may always come my way, that I have little control over things and that life goes on and I will keep walking no matter what... I just want to improve on that and do it, always, with a smile on my face and no, absolutely no whining! That's what I want, that's what's better than shoes! see the silver lining even when it is really hidden, maintain a positive outlook even when everything looks sh*t, find things to laugh about even when all I want to do is cry... wish me luck ;)

a nap during Formula1...

... is better than shoes!

I have been watching Formula1 since as long as I can remember and even before than I can remember my mum doing that! Not my dad, mind you, my mum! She has been a fan forever and the germ passed to us kids, my brother and me, as it was rather expected. Many a time when I lived in Greece we would all three of us gather on her bed on warm Sunday afternoons, eating ice cream and enjoying the cool breeze the fan offered us while watching some of the best drivers on the planet drive some of the fastest cars on the planet and competing for a (usually ugly...) trophy! Ah, those were the days my friends...

Many years have past, I no longer live close to my family, as fate had it but, still, the same habits remain for all of us... sometime we have been even on the phone while watching, just to compare views and share comments... But lately, I have developed a further habit... the nap! Ok, I have not really invented naps, could not take credit for that, but I have realised the pleasure of falling asleep during a race whith the lullaby of the cars' engines and the soothing voice of the commentators... Mmm... bliss! Usually I fall asleep before the 10th round and I sleep all the way to the 40th... And yes, I do miss the race essentially... but I gain the nap!

Truth be told, I feel no longer like a true Formula1 fan... I mean, someone who sleeps through about half of the championship every year cannot claim that, can she? I still like it, in my own way I do watch the races, ok, the start and the finish evidently, and I never want to miss one... in the sense that I'm always in front of TV when it takes place... but, yes, I snooze and I sleep and I get cosy on the sofa and well, for me it a "better than shoes" thing... Wanna give it a try? ;)