Possession 12

One of my most priced possession is something my son gifted me a couple of christmases ago…I treasure it first because it’s from him and second because of what it represents. I tried teaching my kids that gifts should always be meaningful, it’s not the price that matters but the thought behind it (and since he is young and doesn’t have a lot of resources, he really squeezed his mind for this!) …

 

He took my favorite picture of me holding him when he was just a few months old, blew it up and had it made on a board! I cried so much when i opened my gift, it really was the best thing i have ever received…This picture is almost 23 years old, and i was only 19!!

What is your most meaningful gift to date?

Ode to technology

For those who are new here, i am a mother of four and they don’t live with me (due to the unfair laws in this country)..They are aged 22,19,15 and 11. I won’t go into the details of how it’s affecting me or how it breaks my heart every single day…I am grateful for one thing though, technology!

First off on the list are mobile phones! Each one has a phone and i can reach them anywhere, know exactly what they are doing, pick their clothes(they send pictures!), with whom they are. We can even play games together even though we are miles apart. BBM and Whatsapp allow me to be in contact with them every second of the day, i know first hand about their grades, their moods (emoticons!), their needs…

And then of course there is the internet! I can see how they spend their time with their friends, the jokes and gossip that happens on Facebook. Twitter allows me to know what they are reading, what their interests are. Email, sending links to each other, sharing mutual hobbies or interests via blogs, tumblrs….And the best of all is Skype, where we even do homework together sometimes! I wonder sometimes what mothers did before the internet, when they were separated from their kids…So, yes, i am hugely grateful for technology, for making my life easier and less painful. A BIG THANK YOU! (can you please invent a device that could make me touch their face, pretty please!!)…

*images,pinterest

 

 

 

Monday inspiration

Hello dears, how was your weekend? We can already feel spring in the air around here, It makes everything better doesn’t it?

Here is a peek at my weekend!

Horsing around with my girls, that’s an app my daughter told me about, laphotocabine, fun! (how come they always know more stuff than us!!!)

These are some of the mother’s day baskets we are working on (as i told you before, mother’s day is at the end of the month here in the middle east).

Let’s move on to this week’s inpiration..

Gold Chinoiserie screen in the kitchen, would like to see the rest of this room!

Such a relaxing reading nook…

Love these black and white photos..

Yep, that’s what i would like to have in my backyard!

Eating this on a sunny afternoon,mmm,bliss!

Hope you all have a lovely week, xo….

*images,pinterest,vintageluxe,livebreathedecor,hautemamasfaves,dreamlovecure

At the moment..

This is what i’m thinking about at the moment;

-Make: what an original mirror to do for the kitchen! We could use our own old cutlery and make a sunburst mirror out of them!

-Quirky: this painting is so full of humour, notice the eyeglasses and hot pink bra! Such a contrast to the era of the rest of it. Adore it!!

-Peace: i love tea, tea cups, tea pots, the whole thing. I always feel a kind of peace when i have a cup of tea..

-Memories: i made my daughter take ballet classes for 2 years when she was 7, and she hated every single minute of it!! But she looked so cute in her tutu! I don’t think she will ever forgive me for that ha!

-Love: i love this room for many reasons, the colors, the mirrored bedside tables, the curtains, the stool, the peace cushion, the photo above the bed, the chandelier…I think it would be a great room for a teenager, don’t you think?

*images,labellevie,gipsypurplehome,pinterest,mixandchic

Prom dress

Today was the last day of my daughter’s school year (her exam is on the 23rd of may, it’s the official french baccalaureate). Strangely enough i feel sad and apprehensive, 15 years of school are over (at the french system they begin at 3), and she’s beginning a new phase in her life…I still can’t believe she is 18 and going to college next fall!!

Yes my lovelies, two kids in college already..How and when did that happen?!

So next week, i have a mission; running around looking for a prom dress! And shoes, and….so much easier if she was a boy!

I know we will fight over dresses (she like this, i like that!), but the outcome will be great i’m sure!! mmmm…looking forward to next month!

If you know of any websites that could be of help regarding prom dresses, i would be more than grateful!

A teenage question..

Why do we need school?

*Music: We have YouTube for that.

*Sport: I have a Wii

*English: Everything is shortened anyway. (LOL, BRB)

*Math: That’s why we have calculators.

*Geography: I’ll buy a globe.

*Drama: That’s why i watch Eastenders!

*History: They’re all dead anyway.

I got that from my daughter’s friend, It was her status on her Blackberry!…..What a generation, and how different from ours!

Life is so simplified for them, and so visual…No need to pour over books for hours researching. One click, and you have the world in front of you..

Your opinion

I have two daughters, one 18 and the other is 14..and let me tell you one thing, this is so true. Girls are motivated to lose weight by what they see in ads and on TV. What they don’t know is that most of these pictures are retouched. Actresses, singers, models. Everyone is slim to skinny. Why can’t they be inspired by a normal person? Because they are not constantly bombarded by ads of a normal person!

Why can’t women and young girls be satisfied with the body they have? Because of men? Because of the influence of ads? Because of women themselves?

I wasn’t skinny in my youth, i don’t have a great body, nor long skinny legs, i guess I’m just normal. And to top all that, I’m as lazy as they come! Yeah i don’t exercise (which i’m trying to change , only for health reasons)..

Some years ago, i was going through rough times, and i lost a lot of weight, i became skinny. I won’t say it didn’t feel awesome to be skinny (you look good in anything!),  i had no breast to speak of, and of course no buttocks (like an ironing board, my mom used to say!). On the downside, i looked older, my bones were sticking out, and i was always sick.

So to get back to my point, we are all born with a certain body that is just right for us. Be healthy, exercise, but don’t think that becoming skinny will change people’s opinion of you. You do that. By being your lovely self. We understand all that, but for teenagers it’s the end of the world (i wont wear a swimming suit, look at my legs!!!!, yeah right, look at mine!). I just wish ad agencies used more “normal” girls and instead of pushing adolescents into becoming anorexic, just promote good health combined with fashion!

*image,pinterest

Electronic madness!

Children wait all year-long for xmas ; it’s the only time they can ask for that special gift they were longing for all those months..We aim to please, since we are parents, but when it comes to teenagers, they are very hard to satisfy (psp,cellphone, nintendo, ipod and so on). Why can’t they wish for better grades?! (yeah right!). Electronics have taken the place of regular toys, and kids are not excited with the train anymore!

I can see the difference between my 21-year-old and my 10-year-old: with an 11 year gap, the birth of a cyber generation! They play on the net, surf and browse better than you and me; when i get a new electrical device, i have to read the manual to understand the semantics (and that’s if i understand!), while they just click click click and voila! They are in business! So how do we expect them to enjoy playing blocks?!

When i tell my kids about the gifts i used to get at their age, they laugh and say “oh, but that was so longtime ago!”. Mmmm, well not THAT long time ago! Life has evolved so quickly these last 20 years, that for them, even the thought of a time without cellphones is incomprehensible..

I wish this generation read more books (real books), played more educational or board games, went outside and played more with nature’s gifts (twigs,mud, branches, stones..), then i realised that all this generation is “i” prone (iphone,ipad,ipod,i,i,i,!!), not only my teenagers, but all teenagers around the world! Their imagination is being fed by the net not by books.

Times have changed, and i think we have to evolve with it and stop comparing our youth with the youth of today…

Do you have kids that aren’t electronic mad? And what do your kids want for xmas this year?

Oh sister!

A friend of mine was talking the other day about how much trouble her daughters were having in communicating with each other(maybe they should text each other!), and she made me think of sisters…Aaah, the magical world of sisters..

I always wished i had a sister, but sadly i don’t. But i do have two daughters, and that is a joy in itself..Watching sisters grow up; from pulling each others braids, to fighting(still do), to having screaming matches(did i say joy??), to nagging in that annoying voice only girls have(mom she took my pen) or now(she wore my blouse without asking)….

To tell you the truth i had no idea what sisters would be like. I always thought it would be cuddles, hugs and lots of love…yeah? Hello? Where is that?

My daughters are 17 and 14 now, and i know they are there for each other when needs to be(in life or death situations!), and that they will reach the age where maturity takes over and they will always rely and look out for each other when i’m gone..

Sisters have their own world, their secrets, their jokes, even though they fight more than talk! Sisters have an unbreakable bond, they are a clan.

The love/hate relation sisters have is too complex to understand or analyse. It’s not a relationship you can have with anyone but a sister, it’s them against the world, them against us the parents. Stuck together from birth, they share history, memories, fights, sad moments, good moments…You can break up a friendship forever, but you can never break up the bond of sisterhood.

So my dear friend, don’t worry about your girls…fighting is normal!!

*image,pinterest

Dont’t run!

I was out today doing some early Xmas shopping(i’m always rushing at the last minute), when i bumped into a group of teenage girls, not more than 13-14 years old; wearing make-up, heels, and handbags!!

Usually i am a pretty cool mom, but seeing these girls today made me wonder at the changes we are living, with our children..

Gone are the days of the ponytails and braids( i actually can’t even imagine my daughter in braids!). We are looking at a generation that dresses like their mother, uses cell phones more than a pen…and wears heels!!

I still can’t believe what i saw; i wore my first heels at 18, and they were pretty low comparing to today’s heels.

When did the line get crossed? Why is it allowed for kids their age to walk out the door dressed as a 20 year old? I can’t see any difference anymore between those two ages, there is no more gap, no more slowly growing up and slowly getting into our older sister’s shoes..Now it’s, move over, i’m here, i exist!

I don’t want this for my daughter, i want her to glide slowly and smoothly into womanhood, while experiencing each step accordingly.

Why get onto an express train to adulthood?? Enjoy your converses, your clean beautiful skin..Your time will come girls!