Life // The sun in May

Today was a scorching day, and I was happy to spent it at the office. Leaving my comfortable home, getting up early and heading out isn't my idea of an ideal day but when it's so incredibly hot it is nice to be in the comforting embrace of an aircon. Hardly very environmentally friendly but it was already rather hot on the way to work. I did feel a smile come over my face when I entered our office and felt the cold air waving away. Really wonderful.

Overall it was also just a lovely day with a small group of colleagues. We did have a bit of trouble with a pigeon who launched itself into one of our windows, made an awful loud smack but we do think he survived it since we couldn't see a little corpse on the ground floor. 

A few weeks ago I also made a recommendation for a job opening that we had, and the person was hired which means I will receive a nice bonus and I was able to spin the wheel! The wheel is a fun little contraption, rather like Wheel of Fortune? You spin it and you win whatever it lands on. There were some fairly expensive options on there such as wireless earbuds and some type of speaker. In the end my pointer landed on a beer package though.

I was asked if I liked beer, and to be honest I do not really enjoy it. It is always a bit awkward to win something that other people deem as a 'lesser' gift but I was still pleased with it. I don't care for beer myself at all but my father does so it will make for a lovely gift for him! I think perhaps they were trying to subtly offer me to spin again but that wouldn't be fair. 

It's also nice because my father did go out of his way to check out a lovely wall cabinet that I had seen at one of my favorite second hand stores. I don't have free days until Saturday so I was a bit afraid it would be sold by then. It was still available, and only thirty five euros! A great deal, so they brought it to their home and I will pick it up later. I will post some photos of it at a later point in time as well.

Not sure where I will hang it, I am running out of space little by little. But it's so beautiful so I am sure I can find a spot for it. It has all the hallmarks of a cabinet I would find beautiful, a little shelf with a railing for some lace curtains, a glass cabinet door and the most wonderful details. Can't wait to decorate it with my trinkets.

-Lily

Life // Floating along

I feel like I just had the most marvelous summer day, and I am quite happy with the purchases that I've made today as well. Overall the heat isn't really my friend but I do really like the concept of summer and I feel a bit sad if I don't at least try to enjoy the good weather. Therefore we just headed into the city for a bit of light shopping, it was quite busy though and the overflow of tourists is always a bit bothersome. It seems like people just forget how to behave the second they leave their own country, so strange? 

The first course of action was to head to the health and beauty store. They had a great deal on various products so I purchased a honey day/night cream, a soothing aloe vera gel and two types of face masks. I bought a charcoal clay mask, and a green clay mask. My skin is fairly sensitive so I hope they'll wash off nice and gently. But the tubes are so nice since you can choose to go light on the application so that'll be very good for me.

I did also quickly pop into the fancy storefront of the company where I work. Finally the product that I had wanted for a while was back in stock! It's a lovely roll on serum which smells of lavender. Not quite my favorite scent in the world but it's relaxing and it's so cooling when you use it on your temple or maybe the wrists. I may place it in the fridge too, it'll be lovely when it gets hotter. 

And finally, I managed to get the latest Richard Osman! I can now see that I've spoken about it in the two previous entries as well. I hadn't been very lucky, when the paperback first came out it was a much larger version that the ones I already had. Beautiful but I can't manage to get one that doesn't go with the other books in the series. So finally today I've managed to get my copy. Can't wait to read it but of course I'll have to get on with Lucie first.

I think for now I'll make a cup of tea, and get comfortable in my window nook or maybe on the balcony. The view into the courtyard is lovely but there are a fair few neighbors about and I may unconsciously listen to their chatter instead of focusing on my book.

And tomorrow after a lovely three day weekend it's back to the office. Not so bad either, my coworkers are really lovely and the air-conditioning at the office is just stunning. It also means tonight I can take a nice shower, probably a cold one! Would be lovely right before going to bed.

-Lily

Life // A golden existence, all sunshine and poetry

Summer has arrived in our side of Europe this week, and I've been suffering with it. I've been reading a lot again lately which has been enjoyable. Today I started Letters from Egypt by Lucie Duff Gordon and in the blazing heat I was a bit baffled by the notion that everyone thought her health would improve if she just spent more time in more tropical surroundings. I'm not sure if it did that much for her because she did kick the bucket in a rather untimely manner but maybe there is a point in it for some? I think I would probably die on the spot mere seconds after having left the airplane. 

Aside from that today I also finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. I had wanted to read this after having finished a lovely biography about Agatha and I did feel the need to continue with her for a little while longer. Those vintage pockets are just lovely, very snappy reads. Actually I did feel the need to go for another pocket of hers after but I decided on Lucie after all. I've been dying to start in one of my fair few books of letter collections, reading correspondence is so fascinating to me.

I was just speaking to a friend of mine from Nafplio (Greece) and I told him about Gerald Durrell, he was a naturalist who spent his childhood in Corfu in the 1930s. I've spent a great deal of time in Greece as a child, all our summer holidays were there. We went to Corfu as well, the most gorgeous island! Now that I am typing this I realize that when I was at my parents house this afternoon I should have taken a look at our photographs from that holiday. Perhaps next week! Anyway my friend will look into Gerald, he had never heard of him before.

The point of that was actually that I also have a lovely book with letters from Gerald to Henry Miller. The cover is rather unusual though so I think I will not be reading that book in public. I also have my eye on a nice collection of the books he wrote about his youth, so I think it would be nice to read that beforehand. I do wish to go back to Greece sometime in the future, but I don't know where I would need to go to re-capture the feeling of my childhood.

After having written all of this I do feel like I would want to go to a few book stores tomorrow but as it's a holiday I doubt many of them will be open. I still have to get The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman, I've had to wait a while for the proper paperback version to come out. I've waited so long I can imagine he's almost ready with the next one! That would be lovely, although again, I would have to wait for the paperback...

Well I think that was it for now though because I'd like to get back into Letters From Egypt. Please enjoy a picture of my lovely Luna lounging in the sun as a parting gift! 

-Lily

Life // Start again

It's been a while! Though I can gladly say that it's been a positive few months for me, in which I found my routine again. In the last post we had just welcomed in the new year and I was still a little unsure of what the future would hold for me. At that time I did already know that I had a few job interviews lined up but I didn't know that the very first application I made would be the one. Even through out December I breezed though their process, and I had the final interview in the middle of January.

Visiting the office for that interview was like a dream. A bit of a weird dream I suppose, realistically speaking I don't really dream of laboring under the machine. But I think I wanted to try my hand at finding a position that suited me a little better, and I found the entire office to be very relaxing. There is a lot of light inside, and a great many plants. There are lots of appealing shapes, the building is round so there are a lot of curves which add a lot of charm to the building.

And the office itself was filled with their products, and just fascinating characters. I felt like it would really suit me, so I felt a bit off after the interview. Up until that point I had thought well if it doesn't work out I'll go for the next one but on the way home I did think, well I really want it now? Thankfully the next day I received the call that I was hired! It was just a very liberating moment, I did not expect to have something new that fast.

I've been enjoying myself ever since. The training started on the 1st of February and it was a joy! Really funny trainers, and the material was easy to understand. Once I met the team I felt comfortable as well since it was such a diverse bunch of people. I've been really enjoying the work as well, it is still customer service work but since it's essentially for a beauty brand it's much more relaxing. I also have the chance to really chat with them about the products, so it's not just resolving problems! 

Overall, it's just been wonderful. I've had a few meetings with my manager and with mentors who all indicate my numbers are excellent so I'm really happy with this. I feel like the pace is so easy going, or maybe my last job was just hellish? Nobody knows, but I am very relaxed everyday! 

Aside from this not much has happened I suppose! I've obviously cut down a bit on my reading but I do hope to pick it back up because I'd love to finally get through Wuthering Heights. I'm also still hard at work on finishing the full Father Brown stories but god they're so dull. The person who turned that hellscape into a cosy and cute television series should receive all the awards. 

And next month The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman should arrive in paperback form. I haven't read it yet, as I only have the paperback versions and I didn't want to get an odd one out. So next month I can finally get my hands on that. In the mean time I've been soothing myself with the idea that by the time I am done he'll be at least seventyfive percent through to the next one! Although I can imagine I'll finish it in a handful of days like the others...

- Lily

Life // Joyful New Year!

I thought it would be nice to write a new post on the first day of this fresh new year. I hope everyone (Who is reading this?) had a really nice transition into 2026. Well I guess none of us really noticed it that much because time has been a bit of an illusion since 2020 hasn't it? I am hopeful that 2026 can be a really nice year for a change, that would be great.

The entire past year wasn't really the best one for me, although I can't say I noticed it that much while I was going through it. The first half of the year was marked by an ever increasing workload at the office with a project manager who'd be better of working with numbers than people. It was also plagued by the ever present gloom of a reorganization, which unfortunately took my job from me at the beginning of August.

It's a fairly bitter end to a eleven year career but I am trying to see it in a positive light. After having worked in one place for such a long time it feels natural to become a bit stuck but also to become unhappy with the changes in the company. Yet I don't know if I could have made the decision to leave on my own? I guess I couldn't since I didn't.

I received a few months of garden leave, and now I have been officially unemployed since the first of December and 'enjoying' my time in unemployment benefits. However I am in the final stages of a really interesting job application so it would be nice if that could work out.

It's weird to think in 2026 I will be essentially starting over and becoming the new one again. It'll be weird to have to think so hard about everything again when I was so comfortable in my knowledge before. It will be a real change but maybe it will be a good one? A change of scenery is always good right?

Aside from finding my way into a new job I don't have any incredibly clear New Years resolutions because in a way I find that they're a bit stressful. I'd like to spend more time in nature and pay more attention to my diet. Perhaps spend a little bit more time rummaging around in bins for vinyl treasure too.

So, here is to a hopeful 2026! 

- Lily