Cat Encounters

Today is pretty much a regular rainy Saturday in London, where the weather seems to be playing tricks with people. The minute I look out the window, it is sunny and lovely outside and I start to think of postponing my chores and house cleaning related activities. Then, literally a few minutes later, it is drizzling heavily so that I have to shut the windows in my room.

On days like these, back home where my parents live, I would normally occupy myself with chasing cats around the house trying to catch and snuggle them (my parents love cats and have 5! :)). However, not all their cats appreciate my cuddles and so they run and hide from me, which makes it even more fun and challenging to search for them or to trick them into coming towards me.

However, here in London I can only enjoy company of street cats or neighbours’ cats. Since I am forced to stay indoors for the day due to the rain, I decided to upload photos of all the different cat encounters I have had for the past year in London (house cleaning can wait!). I have mentioned before that I happen to live in a very cat populated neighborhood of London, so when it is nice and sunny outside, one can see cats almost everywhere, to my great delight! Naturally I have to pick them up and give them my warmest hugs :) !

In the photo below, I am cuddling one of neighbor's cat. She is quite friendly and most often then not she appreciates my company!

This cheeky and very moody lady is not as sweet as she looks...after the photo she bit me! It seems to me she was looking for some male company and I happened to disturb her.

This fellow is just pretending to dislike me, but in fact he is a big lover of my hugs :) !!! He lives only a few houses away from me, so anytime I go out, I make sure to pass by his place to say hello!

This lady is very lazy and simply adorable! She lets me to pick her up anytime I am around and never seems to mind my embraces.

Then, in the photo below I happen to be wearing black coat and black trousers with a furry white scarf...and I met this black and white buddy on my way to the library. He looked so charming and so in style with me I could not just pass him by.

I love this ginger cat I met one day in my local park! I like to call him Romeo. He is very fluffy and quite big and very very kind. My hands were naturally drawn to him immediately when I saw him strolling near me. My husband kept warning me that the cat several times showed his long nails to me...but my love for ginger cats ignored the nails. Even if he did scratch, which he did not, the hug I gave him was worth it!

Me and my Romeo!

Then, my trip to the local post office was highlighted by the presence of Her Majesty...she probably was in a very bad mood that day and kept hissing at me even though my hands never came within her reach. She purposely turned away from the camera and that time I did listen to my husband's advice...to leave her alone...

Another bad tempered cat that I met on my way to the GP. She actually lives either in that building or in the house next to it. I see her every time there and every time she refuses to be touched...and yet she keeps rubbing herself against my legs...

...however, I did manage to pick her up one day and she was not pleased...

Have a great weekend !!!

Bollywood Fever

Recently, I have attended a really fun Bollywood night. Every month, I take Bhangra dancing classes. Even though some of my friends think it funny and not as active as gym or Zumba, for instance; however, I find these classes very energizing, fun and a very enjoyable experience. 

The reason I started taking these classes is that I love Bollywood movies, their songs and dancing. In fact, not only do I enjoy Indian movies, I also love their spicy food and sparkly bright coloured costumes! So I wanted to be able to learn to dance if not as well as the heroines in the movies, at least it would make me feel part of it.

So, after every 5 week course, teachers and choreographers from my class organize special Bollywood nights, where students can perform what they have learned during classes, socialize and dance to Bollywood music. 

All of the performing students are not professionals and some of them are not really gifted in dancing; however, anyone from the Bhangra course can participate in these dance shows. We are taught different steps for several Bollywood songs and then put them together into a medley. Choreography is slightly advanced and the music is fast paced, as most Bhangra music is, nonetheless, the purpose of these shows is simply to have fun, enjoy and dance :) ! I love these Bollywood evenings, as it makes you feel as if you are in a Bollywood movie, people dress up in beautiful Indian attire, performers in dazzling costumes all surrounded by Bollywood tunes. Plus such events also give motivation for attending classes, not that if there were not any shows I would not attend.

Anyways, we meet up outside our class times and practice and socialize as well. Then we discuss and order specific costumes for the dance, sometimes there is even a particular theme.

For the one I attended this week, the theme was red, gold and black. Men would be in black Indian attire and ladies in red and gold, which are considered festive colours in India. 

For this occasion I curled my hair, as there is not much I can do with my short cut. All girls ordered same red kurta with gold and black embroidery at the front. I wore mine with black skinny jeans.

In the photo below, you can see my elaborate green and golden eye make-up. I normally wear a lot of eye make-up, so for such occasions I like to create something even more dazzling and creative, using green and black eyeliners, sparkly powders and green and golden shadows. I went for green colour for my eye make-up, since black would have been too strong, red does not suit me and golden was just too easy for me...:)

Then, I accessorized my look with golden and black bangles. I have also included some green coloured bangles, since even though the colour palette was black, red and gold, I thought some contrast will add a nice edge to my entire look. Thus, I also painted my nails in sparkly green, otherwise there would have been too much red and gold.

Then, I found these gorgeous big earrings in green and gold. Unfortunately my camera did not capture the beauty of this jewelry piece; however it did coordinate lovely with my look, adding that contrast of green that I wanted. On my fingers, I just wore simple golden rings.

In my hair I wore a sparkly head band to create some volume in my hair. I could not really wear anything elaborate, because of dancing :) Finally, I put a green Bindi on my forehead :) and with that my Bhangra costume was complete.

Here are some shots of me in action :). 

I would not say I am Katrina Kaif or Kareena Kapoor (famous Bollywood actresses) when I dance, but even if I make accidental mistakes, no one notices because of loud Bollywood music, dazzling costumes and cheerful smiles!!! 

"I Do"

It has been a while since I have posted anything; however, I do have a good excuse! I was too busy planning my wedding! For those that do not know, I got engaged in September 2013, in fact it was a rainy and cold Friday 13th to be exact! So after Christmas and New Year we decided to get married. 

I always preferred spring season, when trees and flowers are in bloom,  weather softens and birds sing and since my partner did not object to a spring wedding, we set the date for the 26th March 2014. 

Before I share some of the wedding photos here, a few words about the actual wedding. Me and my partner wanted to keep our wedding personal, small and intimate, so only close family and friends were invited. Also, both of us did not want a traditional wedding and we did not follow certain aspects that are common in a wedding, such bridesmaids, best man, guest cards, white dress. We had a simple registry ceremony in the council followed by a cocktail party in a really atmospheric restaurant.

Also, I would like to mention that all photos were taken by Jack Hoyle for those who are interested. I would definitely recommend him to anyone who is looking for a quality photographer to capture their special day!

So the theme of the wedding was a slightly vintage steam punk Alice in Wonderland. It all actually started with the dress. I did not want a white dress, so was searching something in a different colour that expresses my personality and my love of detail and delicate fabrics...and as soon as I saw this dress, I fell in love with it. It seems black; however, it is not actually black. The dress is in fact a nude colour but has a layer of black embroidery and lace on top of it. The collar is high and is decorated with flower shaped sequins, while the neck has see-through embroidery. The back of the dress is gorgeous! It is open and the shoulders have see-through embroidery. Thus, the dress was a perfect cocktail dress for my wedding!

In this way, the vintage steam punk theme was developed. My partner had his cufflinks in the similar steam punk theme as well!

Since I did not want any fresh flowers for my bouquet, it was made to order for me in paper and used pages from Alice in Wonderland book with little decorations on top, which are also in Alice in Wonderland theme. Now this bouquet decorates my room and is a beautiful memory :)

Me and my partner also had custom made hats for us in steam punk/Alice in Wonderland theme. It took us a long time to find something exactly what we wanted. I had my outfit and look ready, the only thing  missing was a statement headpiece. Then, I found someone on Etsy and she was able to create these beautiful hats for me and my partner according to our preferences. I really love the birdcage on my hat. I did not want to wear a veil or a fascinator, so a little top hat with a cute birdcage was perfect to complete my steam punk vintage look. Same goes for my partner. The feathers in his hat, especially the peacock one add a nice edge to the hat. There are steam punk details on it as well!

With regards to jewelry, I only had earrings, since my dress has a high neckline and is sequined at the collar. So I chose drop earrings in the shape of a bat with a black stone, which I think adds to the dark Alice in Wonderland look. My partner decided to wear a three peace suit in charcoal colour, which was ideal since it coordinates lovely with my husky brown, grey, black nude colours of my outfit! He wore a Victorian style cream colour shirt underneath and a bow tie with a handkerchief in a brown flowery pattern. 

Above, the photos are taken in the registry. We are saying our vows :) In the photo it is also possible to see my nail polish. I did not choose a simple nude one, but decided to continue with the husky brown, black, nude colour palette of my wedding and so had the main colour of the nail painted in golden nude and the tip of the nail in black in "French manicure" style, just the darker version of it!

Above is the detail shot of my clutch bag that has similar sequin decorations as my dress and my shoes, the back of which are embroidered, so that they all coordinate with my dress! 

Then we also decided to have wedding favours for our ceremony. My partner made those himself. We bought simple artificial flowers, some black net, black ribbons and little charms in Alice in Wonderland theme. He really enjoyed colouring in the flower stems in black and creating these little pieces, which we gave out to our guests after the registry ceremony !!!

Following the registry, we had a mini photoshoot in the park near the Council. Unfortunately we did not have the spring weather that I was so much looking forward to. Instead of a warm sunshine, we had a chilly rainy day. Nevertheless, we had fun taking pictures in the rain with umbrella! Now that I look back, it was worth being cold and wet, since photos in the rain add a unique romantic feel to the whole day!!!

Me and my partner just had fun goofing around in front of the camera and made use of the umbrella ;) !

After a photoshoot in the rain, we headed to the venue. Regarding the venue choice, it took us a long time to find the venue that was according to our budget and had a real character! We had our reception and cocktail party at the Paradise by Way of Kensal Green. Fantastic venue! It had the exact vintage/gothic/steam punk/baroque feel to it!!!

One of the things I insisted we have on our wedding was a really otstanding wedding cake! I did not want one of those 5 tier white wedding cakes. I preferred something cute, small and different. So the option of having mini cakes and a main cake at the top was perfect for us! We ordered the cake from a Le Papillon patisserie outside London and it was worth it! The head chef, Neil Thornton, made our cake and it included tiramisu, banoffee cheesecake, black forest, tropical cheesecake, belgian chocolate mousse, tart aux fruits, chocolate and griotine cherry tart, strawberry cheesecake, raspberry cheesecake, strawberry tart, raspberry tart and the main vanilla chocolate cake at the top! Needless to say it was delicious and was gone in the matter of minutes!!!!

Since it was more of a cocktail reception, we had light cocktail food such as vegetable and cheese tarts, salmon tarts and sausage rolls.

This is me and my twin sister!!! She is holding the fresh flower bouquet, which was the one I threw to the single ladies and gents!

This is us dancing our first dance to the song "Wind of Change" by Scorpions. This is a special song to us :)

So that's that! I am a married lady now :) !!!

Sharing this in Not Dead Yet Style