Spending some time in Greece...

Back in late November, I had the pleasure of interviewing and being interviewed by Yiota, of the Greek blog Shells and Bells, Flowers and Showers. I'm so sorry that it's taken me such a ridiculously long time to get her interview up here for you all to read! Renovations and that nasty flu, Christmas and New Year and going back to work totally threw me off, and I kept putting it on the back burner. Not because Yiota isn't lovely, but because I always have a hard time reformatting word documents or emails into a blog post. And I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to fonts matching and spacing being just right. Sorry, Yiota! I hope you'll forgive me! 

Read her interview below, and if you'd like to read mine, go here. It's fun to imagine I spent the morning in Greece, chatting with Yiota! 

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Tell us your name and where in the world you live Hello everyone! I’m Yiota from Greece and at the moment I live and work in the North- East of the country. What does an ordinary day in your life look like? Weekdays begin at 6:30 when I wake up to cook and pack my son’s bag for kindergarten. He needs to be at school by 8:30, so I take him to school and come back  home for some me-time before I go to work. Me-time includes coffee, blogging, reading or crocheting. The evenings are quiet. If the weather is warm we go for a walk, usually by the river, otherwise we stay indoors and do crafts, watch TV, play … What's your favourite time of year? What do you find most inspiring about it? I’m a spring girl. I love to see everything come to life after the long winter months. May is my favourite month; all those blooms, the colours, the smells. I literally jump with joy when I see the first blossom of the season… What's your favourite comfort food?  It’s not really something specific; when I seek comfort in food, I want something warm – it could be soup or a grilled-cheese sandwich or even freshly-baked biscuits. Do you have a favourite Christmas tradition you could share with us? Each country has such wonderful ways of celebrating. I'd love to hear about a Greek one! I guess what warms my heart and soul is the early morning service at church on Christmas day, which takes place when it’s still dark outside. Other than that, I love starting new traditions with my family, like making ornaments with my son. When did you first start blogging? Why? Is the reason the same now as it was back then? I discovered the world of blogs about a year and a half ago. At that time my mother was very sick and we were all going through a very hard time. Reading blogs helped me get my mind away from it all for a while. I started my own blog about a month after my mum passed  away. The description then was ‘focusing on the bright side of things’ and this is what I really focused on; positive thoughts. It helped me move on, made my days bearable. I took this description off when I started writing about things that bring me down, too. It feels more realistic. I’m an optimist by nature  so the blue days are usually over very quickly, but even more quickly when I blog about them. Where do you blog from?  Usually from the kitchen table. What are five things you'd like to see/do/accomplish in the next five years? I’d like to see my son starting Primary School next year and really enjoying it, hopefully. I long for the day that he’ll be able to read books on his own and discover magic worlds. I want to travel. Scotland is my number one destination. I’d love it if we could move to a house with a garden. We’ve been thinking about it for a while but now with the financial situation at this unstable state, I don’t see it happening any time soon. I hope and pray I’ll be back home next year (I live about 500 kilometres away from home and hubby for this school year). And there’s one faraway friend I hope I get together with at some point. And, because I'm a children's librarian... What was your favourite book when you were a kid? Did it help to shape the person you've become? Tell us a bit about it. When I was a child, the only books people where I grew up were familiar with were the classic fairy tales; things like Cinderella and Snow White… I can’t say they made an impression on me. I love some of the books we read with my son now.  Our favourite one is The Four Seasons by Marco Simsa (I’m just translating from Greek but the original is in German!). It’s inspired by Vivaldi’s music and there’s a CD of the music at the back. I blogged about it, if anyone’s interested. *** My thanks to Yiota for letting me take a peek into her life in Greece, and for sharing so much about herself with all of you. Visit her lovely blog and get to know her better. You'll be glad that you did!

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