I’d love to know what your favorite colors are, and why.

I have a dog and a cat, and I love both of them in two different ways. My dog is my buddy – she sleeps in my bed, she plays fetch with me, and she follows me around all day. Cats, though, are much more independent – my cat will take off for hours on end, coming home only to feed herself. I’ve grown up with at least one cat in my house since I was born – my mother was always taking in stray cats and finding homes for them. At one point, four of our female adult cats (who were barely a couple of weeks shy of being neutered) got pregnant at around the same time, which meant that we had over ten kittens running around our home at once. We found homes for all of them eventually, but our household was quite lively until we did.

Although I agree that  dogs are man’s best friend, I will always have a soft spot for cats and kittens, and I would easily bring as many home as possible if my parents allowed it. It’s hard to say no to those adorable little ears and paws.

I was originally going to have a large group of friends over, but too many of them canceled because of other plans couldn’t get a lift to my house (I am highly deprived of any sort of public transportation). It was advertised as a pool party, so even more canceled when they heard about the weather (some friends I have, huh?). I ended up completely canceling the event this morning, deciding that I was not in the mood for a party that no one wanted to show up to. Needless to say, I am not in the mood I was hoping to be in for my birthday, but I’m trying to make the best of it. My parents keep telling me that I should do something “special” and not let this day pass by without doing anything (or I’ll regret it, apparently), but is it wrong for me to spend my birthday the way I want to – lounging around my house and relaxing? I’m not one for crowds, and I much prefer to spend my time at home watching television or a movie than hanging around at a club pretending to have fun.

This hasn’t been the most positive post, but I do truly love birthdays. At least birthdays from my childhood. They’re always so colorful – with the balloons, the cake, candles, sparklers, and the presents. I actually stopped having birthdays when I was around twelve, but I haven’t forgotten how happy they used to make me. When I have kids, I plan to make sure that they don’t miss out on all the merriment that birthdays can provide.

So, before, I go on with the pictures, I ask you: How did you spend your most recent birthday? How old did you become?

I absolutely adore summer, and for as long as I could remember I have adored swimming. I have always been around water. When I was really young I spent a lot of time in my cousin’s pool, and when I got older and my parents bought their own home one of the first things they did was have a swimming pool installed. Everyone in my family knows how to swim and loves the water.  I personally prefer swimming in the ocean, but I also love my pool. One of my favorite things about swimming is being underwater. I like to hold my breath and sink down to the pool bottom and just sit there and stare at the water around me. There’s something very peaceful and soothing about being underwater and not really being able to hear or see anything or anyone around you. It’s like being in your own little world.

(Most of these photos were taken by taken by the photographer Elena Kalis, who takes quite a few underwater photos. She’s very talented, and you should google her to take a look at some of her other photos.)

Anyways, I decided to randomly type “jump” into We <3 It, and these are the pictures I got. They’re all so beautiful that i decided I’d share them with you guys.  I love how happy everyone is in them.

I’m Greek Orthodox, and since I was a kid there have always been certain things that I’ve done with my grandparents or my parents. The week before Easter, we would color eggs and make lots of cookies, called “koulouria”. Our godparents were responsible for bringing us a new pair of shoes a couple of days before, as well as our special candles which we would use on Saturday – they would also usually pack in some money or chocolate. On Good Friday, we would go to church (we would always take the day off if our Easter didn’t match up with the Catholic one) and do this ritual called “epitaphio” ( I have no idea what it’s called in English, so I spelled it out phonetically). It’s where we would wait in line and crawl under altar with pictures of Christ and the Virgin Mary.This was actually the first year where I haven’t done this, since I’m getting too old for it.

We wouldn’t do this every year, but later that night we would walk around the town behind the priest and a bunch of altar boys who would hold up the altar and would sing hymns (I always wondered what our non-Greek neighbors thought of this cult-like behavior).This would usually last an hour, and then we would head back home and go to bed.

The most important tradition is on Saturday Night. No matter how religious you are, this is usually one tradition that every Greek upholds every year without fail. We would go to the church at midnight, at which point the priest would light a candle with a “blessed” light, which he would pass around the church. Once everyone had their candles lit (the name for the candles being “lambatha”) we would pile into the car, hope that no one caught fire, and head to someone’s house for a small feast, since most people do some fasting – either a week, or 40 days – before Easter. If you live in a neighborhood where there are Greeks, you’ll usually see a large group of them heading to their homes with candles in their hands. You’re supposed to make a cross outside your door (we actually have scorch marks on top of our door at home, and my dad makes sure to do it in the same spot ever year), and once you’re inside the house one person from the household takes their light and lights a previously-purchased candle. Most families try to keep the light going as long as possible, and even buy multiple candles throughout the year so that they can keep it going until the following Easter.

Then, on Sunday, we would go over to multiple people’s homes and do nothing but eat, eat, eat. (And yes, we do roast lamb on a spit – it’s kind of disgusting, really). This post might have made it seem as if I’m really religious, but I’m really not. The Greeks actually consider Easter to be more important than Christmas, and therefore there’s a lot more tradition and thought that goes into it.

Now that I’ve done enough rambling about our weird culture, onto the pictures!

LOL. Couldn't resist.

I would never actually wear these designs in my day to day life, but they’re pretty to look at anyways. Some of them are absolutely wild (like the leopard print one), but some of them are simple, yet still beautiful.

Anyways, today I am going with my family to what we Canadians call a “sugar shack”, or “cabane a sucre” in French. It’s basically an outing where we go to the places where maple syrup is processed – there, you’re able to taste fresh maple syrup as it’s being made, and you usually have a big dinner of scrambled eggs, ham, pancakes, baked beans, and lots and lots of maple syrup. I used to go when I was younger with my school, but my family tries to go at least once a year because it’s just so yummy!

In preparation for tonight I was looking at pictures of pancakes, and I thought I would share them since they are just so yummy! Just looking at these pictures made my hunger skyrocket. I can’t wait to taste some of these – yum!

And because this was too cute to resist (:

What are your thoughts on Winter?