простоквашино

новый год без этого мультика не новый год!

balcony music

already a week i have been working with live music on the background. first time today i went out to actually say hi to those guys who are standing on the balcony with guitar and loudspeakers.


every morning and till late evening 3 boys are singing nice georgian and christmas songs. some people frown but most of the people are walking smiling. what a nice way to put a smile on people's faces on a cloudy thursday.

i love lucy

i remembered of once really loving the show 'i love lucy'. few days ago i decided to watch the series again in order to remember and have fun. i really adored i love lucy. i think it is the ancestor of all the sitcoms we love now - friends, seinfield, how i met your mother ... and i understood where the modern scenarists get the ideas for their jokes from - i love lucy's series had jokes which i have seen very often in friends.

if you want to have a good laugh, and know friends already by heart - i love lucy is definately a great sitcom to watch.

my new painting

as i have mentioned in my posts before, i am attending painting classes. this is an absolute best way to keep yourself happy and calm. after hard day at work, at 7 pm i start painting and finish at 10. from february these classes will turn into a 6-hour-classes. tiring, you should think? very inspirational, i should say. 

i'm not super-talented, but i enjoy things that i paint. yesterday i started a collage of jack vettriano's painting, one of my favourite modern painters. before it is ready, please let me know what you think of my flower's painting in gouache. i know, it is too-over-colourful, but just as usual, i was planning to draw a painting in pastel shades, but those beautiful colours in the palette just didn't let me.

 

 

ჩემი დედიკო

მე ჯერ არ მომიყოლია ჩემ დედიკოზე. დღეს სპეციალურად მივუძღვნი მას ამ პოსტს ქართულად. შეიძლება ისე კარგად და მხატრულად არ გამომივიდეს, როგორც სხვა ენებზე და შეცდომებსაც მიპოვით, მაგრამ დედიკოზე ქართულად მინდა დაწერა.

ყველა ადამიანისთვის თავისი დედა საუკეთესოა, მაგრამ დედაჩემი საუკეთესოებს შორის ყველაზე საუკეთესოა. არ ვიცი როგორ შეიძლება ადამიანში ამდენი სიყვარული იდოს. იმ დღეს ვიღაცასთან წავიკითხე რომ ბავშვი, რომელსაც გვერდში უდგას მშობელი სწავლობს დაცვას, რომელსაც აქებენ - სწავლობს თავდაჯერებლობას, რომელსაც უქმნიან უსაფრთხოებას - სწავლობს ნდობას, რომელსაც ასწავლიან სიმართლეს - სწავლობს პატიოსნებას, რომელსაც ენდობიან - სწავლობს თავისი თავის პატივისცემას, რომელიც უყვართ - სწავლობს სიყვარულს და სიყვარულის გაზიარებას. მე გამიმართლა, მე მასწავლეს ეს ყველაფერი და კიდევ მილიონი სხვა რამ. და ამაში დედას უდიდესი დამსახურებაა.

ჩემი დედა მთელი ცხოვრება ზრუნავს იმაზე, რომ ჩვენ ვიყოთ კარგად, თავისი თავი სულ ჩვენს მერე უყენია. არ არსებობს რომ გაგიბრაზდეს და მერე არ მოგეფეროს, არ არსებობს რომ ზუსტად ის არ გირჩიოს რაც ყველაზე კარგია შენთვის, არ არსებობს რომ არ დაგიცვას ისე, რომ ვერავინ ვერაფერს ვერ გაგიბედავს. და როგორ გივლის? როცა ავად ხარ, არ ხარ ავად, ყურადღება გინდა - სულ ყველაფერს გრძნობს. ყველაზე სასწაული რა არის იცით? როგორ უსიტყვოდ ხვდება დედა ყველაფერს. ერთი ხმის გაგონება, ერთი ნახვა, და დედამ ყველაფერი უკვე იცის.

ღმერთო, დიდი მადლობა რომ მე ესეთი დედა მყავს. დედა რომ არა, მე ვერ ვიქნებოდი ისეთი, როგორიც ეხლა ვარ.

my blog-book has arrived!

i just got my 1st christmas present. as promised, i'm showing you how my blog's printed version looks. its hard-cover, 103 page, almost A4 in height. and it is amazing. i love it!!! :)

always more holidays

first day of winter started for me with turning the page on my calendar at work. and there he was - santa, ironing his pants with the slogan of our water likani - always more holidays. yeheeeei - so starts my favourite season with the biggest amount of holidays - birthday of my dad and my cousin, birthday of my mom, new year, christmas, old new year, my angels day, my other cousin's birthday..

let the celebration start! wish you all a great festive season!

60 seconds of happiness

i haven't been quite a poster this month: with many 'not very positive' things going on i was not sure i was able to write very positive posts. and if i would express all the feelings in here my blog would turn into a whining blog :)

but i think there are such periods, which should pass by and with the help of nice people, good friends, positive emotions those periods are easier to overcome.

in the end,  for every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness. so everyone, get out of the bad mood. q u i c k !

dead poets society

for some reason i have never seen this movie from beginning till the end. i have scene episodes, actors, but not the whole thing. until today.

now i am ready to share with you my emotions on it. this film is an absolute must-see for all the parents, all the teachers and all the students. it shows you how a wrong attitude towards children can spoil everything and proves that a talent should never be lost. we only live once and i truly believe we deserve to do what we want. very often we don't have a person to guide us through our life, to help us understand it and understand ourselves. hold on to such people if you have them, hold on to such experiences and seize the day.

that is the best lesson from this movie - life is truly worth living in full.

snow makes you feel happy

millions and zillions of things make personally me happy. today one small thing made my whole day - snow. for those of you living in moscow it isn't something so wonderful and extraordinary. neither was for me when i lived in moscow: yes, the snow was there from september till may.

but in tbilisi there is no snow; even on new years. for me a new year isn't a real new year until i see snowflakes falling down. so probably this evening was more a new year for me than 31st of december last year and the year before.

i went out of the tbilisi fashion week, heading towards my home and just stopped. the snowflakes were everywhere. yes, i stopped and did what i always did in moscow - looked up in the sky, opened my mouth and started eating falling snowflakes.

positive post

here are some positive pictures for you to bright up your day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

cake boss sali mokia

i have a great friend - sali mokia, who has thousands of talents - she is nice, sweet, very very beautiful, she drives the car like alonso, dances georgian dances like sukhishvili... but there is one talent of her which we didn't know before - she bakes like a real cake boss!

last sunday i had a great chance to enjoy her desserts, which she has been baking the whole day for us - apple pie (my favourite), tartlet with meringue and cornel, and chocolate pudding with cream.

below is the picture of what i took with me home for bachi to taste. i should say he is a big food critic - and he just couldn't stop eating - they were all so delicious.

 

somebody already broke my heart

bachi once told me that sade's songs are probably the most and only romantic songs for him and showed me the live performance of this very song. i loved it, especially the moment when the drop falls down and so does the sound of guitar.

sade's music is definitely the synonym for romance, just like barry white's. and i would really like to go and listen to her live on one of our anniversaries - that would be a true romance.

 

have a nice and sunny saturday everyone!

have a nice and sunny saturday everyone!

embarrassing song

the picture above says: 'probably everyone has several songs on his player that he is ashamed of'.
my friends sent us the picture in our private chat group on facebook and we began remembering those songs. it was very funny and so true!

i am sharing with you my embarrassing song, which i love to hear, when it suddenly pops up in my iPod :) and what are YOUR ipod's embarrassing songs?

apple miracle

until my blog has finally become a christmas blog, i will turn to the cooking part of it. this apple pie below my mum has baked for me in the morning and sent to my work. once i brought it to my room the smell of apple, cinnamon and bake was spread all over the office. it arrived warm and so light that i honestly think its clouds there instead of dough.

anyone nearby wishing to taste it are most welcome at 25 chavchavadze st, borjomi office ;)

то, что дает надежду

это не я писала, но прочла сегодня у кого-то и захотелось поделиться с вами, так как очень тронуло мое сердце. я за надежду - всегда.

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21 год назад беременная женщина Карла пошла к доктору, который сказал ей, что у нее родится умственно отсталый ребенок, вероятно с Синдромом Дауна. Этот доктор убедительно просил ее сделать аборт, но она отказалась. В августе мне будет 21, и я идеально нормальный.Моя мама всегда дает мне надежду.

Мой дедушка был в больнице, и ему оставалось жить 12-14 часов. Все приходили для того, чтобы попрощаться с ним, зная, что он все равно не может ответить.Я зашла в палату, когда пришла моя очередь. Я его единственная внучка. Когда он услышал меня, он открыл глаза, улыбнулся и сказал мое имя.Он прожил еще два месяца.Вот что дает мне надежду.

4 месяца назад у меня диагностировали облысение. Через месяц я потеряла все волосы. Мне было страшно идти в школу, потому что я думала, что все будут пялиться на меня. На следующее утро я услышала стук в дверь, и десять моих друзей стояли на крыльце с полностью побритыми головами.Двое из них были девочками. Они мои лучшие друзья навсегда!Вот что дает мне надежду.

Сегодня утром я узнала, кто косил мой газон каждую неделю после того, как умер мой муж. Это была моя 12-летняя соседка Офелия. Ее семья сейчас также страдает из-за финансовых проблем. Она делала это каждую неделю, по собственному желанию, без каких-либо просьб.Ее доброта дает мне надежду.

Сегодня в переполненный автобус зашла пожилая женщина с очень большими и тяжелыми сумками. Не было ни одного свободного места, но маленькая 4-летняя девочка встала и уступила ей место. Доброта, неподвластная возрасту, дает мне надежду.

Парень, которого я знала в школе, всегда приносил две дюжины роз на День Святого Валентина. Он давал по одной розе каждой девушки, у которой, как он наверняка знал, не было своего Валентина. Он знал, что каждая девушка должна почувствовать себя особенной. Я была одной из этих девушек. Мы женаты уже 3 года.Он дает мне надежду.

Я поехал в Африку для того, чтобы построить школу Опры и увидел мальчика, сидящего в одиночку. Я подошел и дал ему половину своего бутерброда, и он убежал. Тайно следуя за ним, я встал за угол и увидел, как он разламывал его намаленькие кусочки и делился им со своим классом, состоящим из 20 детей.Вот что дает мне надежду.

Я ехал в автобусе, когда бездомный сел на сиденье возле меня. Он увидел, что я смотрю на букет цветов, которые он держит, и сказал, что это для его жены, потому что у нее сегодня день рождение. Когда он сошел с автобуса, он пошел на кладбище и положил цветы на могилу своей жены.Любовь, которая никогда не умирает, дает мне надежду.

 

christmas blog

i think my blog will turn into a christmas blog over the next two months :) sharing with you two christmas tree ornaments i bought today. first one is me on the skates, and the second one - me and bachi sitting on a tree :)

shopping for christmas

today i began online shopping for christmas. i know it may be too early, but it will be so hard to get all the orders on time in december. so to be on the safe side (as the official version) and to make my mood even greater (the real version) i ordered some 10 or 15 presents today.

of course, i won't tell you now what i actually did order, because i believe bachi, my sister and my parents are reading my blog, but i will tell you what i bought for myself - my blog printed in a book. yes, it has turned out that i have written blog posts that totalled to 102 pages in a hardcover book.

i will receive it in the beginning of december and can't wait to share it with you.

have a great christmas shopping!

to paint is to love

... words of Séraphine Louis - painter from Senlis, who has learned to paint by herself, and was so poor that couldn't afford canvas to write her paintings on it. nor could she afford colours - so she created them herself: from mud, animal blood, wax from candles in the church... i didn't know anything about her before i saw move 'Séraphine' yesterday. i have never been a big fan of naive painting, but the story of her life shocked me.

person, who has no education, no money, no time for anything: because she serves in several houses, cleans, washes, cleans, washes; who lives in a small room and has no money to pay rent for, who almost doesn't eat, because few su that she earns she spends on white paint and lacquer - that is the real artist, i should say.

if you haven't seen this movie, my big recommendation for you is to watch it, not just to enjoy the story, but to learn about one great talented person, because, it is sad that so many of them are left unacknowledged.

weekend of eating

can't boast with the great quality of photos from last weekend, when my dear friends from moscow were visiting me. honestly speaking, there was absolutely no time for photography - too many things to eat and to drink.
yes, one day we dedicated to sight-seeing and museums, thanks to one member of our group - katya - who was for intellectual enrichment, while others - including me - were for eating, having fun and eating, which we did all those days left.

thank you my dear friends for this fantastic weekend: i have missed you so so much!

 

 

 

 

inspiration-loss

i always have something to write in my blog, but these days i have been suffering inspiration-loss. have anyone of you seen my muse? i think she left me for warm countries - the weather in tbilisi is something i would escape with great joy too.

videomemories

i have found a dvd with my old videos, which i made many years ago. first videos go back to my 3rd grade and show different countries, occasions and years since then: my trips, parties with friends, some more trips and  parties with friends. i was so excited that i immediately transferred them to my computer. i shared some of them on facebook for my friends who are part of those videos to enjoy.

here i will share with you our celebration of 2000 year - the millenium in Paris. i look horrible - just like a 13-year-old should probably look, so i cropped myself out as much as i could.

it is really worth keeping all the old memories and photos and videos from the childhood, it helps you to remember things, because without them everything is forgotten. a good proof to that is that last january me and bachi visited the same hotel where this video is taken and where we stayed in 2000, but i just realized it only now, after watching the video.

my mood board today

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this is a video which me and bachi filmed on our way from telavi last weekend. i haven't even thought about posting it, but then i received 33a and niaz diasamidze's new album last night. it is called saperavi and has amazing melodies in it.

me and bachi were listening and discussing each song and came to a conclusion that songs by niaz are absolutely best soundtracks to the roadtrips. especially in georgia. we added one of his new songs to the video and that is how it began to look:

and speaking of niaz songs, i think that they are great even abroad, we have filmed many road views in france, where niaz's album in cd-changer was just perfect.

ps. my personal recommendation for all of you is to buy 33a's new album - saperavi - because i will never be able to tell you with words how great it is until you've listened to it yourself. and please please please DO buy it, don't just download it from internet.

by the way, this video is closed on youtube, i just opened it for my blog-readers. i think it will be right to wait for the official video of this song before posting the one i home-made myself.

tatara churchkhela

tatara and churchkhela - two words all georgians know, second of which sounds especially frightening if you hear it for the first time. but once you taste it, the only word you can say is 'delicious'.

churchkhela is usually made in autumn, when the grape is gathered, from grape syrup and walnuts. the syrup is boiled on the fire (don't ask me the recipe, never tried to do it myself), then walnuts are threaded in one line and put into the syrup. churchkhelas are taken out immediately and hung on a stick in order for it to chill.

this is how this process looks in pictures from my visit to lopota lake, where we were allowed to make our own churchkhelas:

 
an alternative to churchkhela is tatara - without walnuts. i don't like any kind of nuts, so tatara is really my favourite. but though i have tasted all sorts of tatara, none of them will ever be close to tatara my grandmother used to make.