There is something about the way Americans celebrate July 4th that I find genuinely moving. I grew up in Greece. We have our own national celebrations, our own flags, our own particular relationship with the idea of independence and what…
There is something about American patriotic quilts that I find genuinely moving and I say this as someone who grew up in Greece and did not encounter them until well into adulthood. In Greece we don’t have this tradition. We…
Every year, one particular Saturday towards the end of May (though the actual date moves around) I go around our Thessaloniki flat and get a feeling that things have to be altered. It’s not that there’s something wrong with the…
I have a habit of saving things. Cards, notes, messages — the kind that arrive at the right moment and say the thing you didn’t know you needed to hear. I have a message from my mother Zina on my…
I talk to my mother every day. Not once. Multiple times. Five calls is a normal Tuesday. Sometimes more if something happens that requires immediate reporting — a thing one of the girls said, something I saw at the market,…
If you are a mother reading this and quietly pinning ideas for what you’d like your children to make you — I see you. I do exactly the same thing. There is no shame in it. We know what will…
I have a complicated history with faux flowers. For years I was firmly in the real-plants-only camp. The kind of person who looked at a silk flower arrangement and thought: why bother. Real flowers have a smell, a life, an…
I used to spend ages on Instagram looking at those unbelievably gorgeous Christmas living rooms, you know, the ones with huge, high ceilings, enormous fireplaces and Christmas trees almost touching the light fitting! And each year I’d look around my…
Are you interested in learning how to turn your drab, winter-worn porch into a vibrant and magical spring porch?! If yes, you are in the right place! The journey of decorating a porch can be a creative outlet for some,…
Once Valentine’s Day is over, I’m done with winter. That last bit of holiday glow fades fast, and I’m suddenly desperate for spring. By February 15th, I’m pulling out my craft supplies and jumping into easy spring projects. It’s silly,…
