Dancing Greeks and a Halloween Birthday...

Well hello there! It's been a few days since I've posted but in my defence it's because things have been busy-busy lately. LET me reiterate my love for this time of year...so many parties, events and things to get all involved in! We were invited to possibly the cutest ever birthday/Halloween party for a 2 year old. Her mama went all out to create a fun, kid friendly party with a Harry Potter wizard and witches theme. 

{there's a spider in the house...}

{these wizards and witches came to party...}

{ I die! This birthday girl was rocking her pearls, tutu and a sassy hat}

{Cheesecake "shots", mini-donut witch booms and custom cookies. Her mama has skillz!}

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Last Saturday night Husband and I joined up with 300 of our closest Greek friends to dance the night away in  honour of St. Demetrios. (A great saint if there ever was one!)  As always the wine brought on the dancing and the band played till 4:00 am- no big deal.

{self portrait time...why does drinking always make it seem like a great idea?}

{These Greeks got down to business,,,dancing, drinking, singing, drinking. Repeat.}

Alright all you witches and wizards, Halloween is only 3 days away. The count down is on and tomorrow night Mama is going out for drinks with the girls in full costume. Are you gonna get your BOO-on and go out this year? Don't tell me you're too old...you're never too old! 

Blogger meet-up!

So while we were in Greece visiting my mother-in-laws village, I finally had the opportunity to meet up with another fabulous blogger, Irene from Blushingloves.  It just so happens that she lives in a city (Kalamata) about half an hour down the road from our little village and she was just as excited as me to meet up for a frappe (iced coffee) and a face to face visit!  I've been following Irene's beauty blog for almost 2 years now and she's most defo deserving of her blog popularity as she's one of the best European beauty bloggers out there!

We've all heard of meeting up with fellow bloggers IRL (in real life) but I didn't think I'd ever really have the opportunity to meet one of my blog "friends" as they're scattered all over the world. It just worked out so well that this pretty lady happened to live so close to where we were staying. It was meant to be y'all!

 And what a doll she is! We had a great time chatting about beauty products, blogging and family- ohhh we could have talked for hours! She brought along her hubby and 3 beautiful kiddos and they played great together with our 2 little guys, in fact our husbands really hit it off too...

{love this lady!}

I brought her a gift bag of some of my favorite makeup goodies and brands that she's not able to get her hands on in Greece like ELF, Annabelle, Wet n' Wild ,Cargo and NYX.

 Irene was such a sweetie and we had a great time chatting about everything and anything, it was a fabulous blogger meet-up! 

Check out her gorgeous beauty blog for great reviews of her fave beauty products, amazing pics of Greece and more from a girl who loves all thing makeup! 

Universal Truths...Mediterranean stylez

Hey dolls! Once again I'll start by apologizing for the sparseness of my posts but I just haven't had the time (or motivation) to blog much during our vacation. Honestly my head is in the clouds and my toes are in the sand.... 

But I am looking forward to getting back home soon...I'm missing my friends, family and my own BED something fierce. 

The kids are driving me a bit wackadoodle and you best believe they're heading to Nana and Grandpa's for a 2 night sleep over as SOON as we're back home.

But all that aside we have been having a great time here in Greece and I'll be sure to bore amaze you all with pics of our trip. Stay tuned!

For now I'll share some universal truths I've learned about this place....

1) Finding a lizard living under your mop is a sure way to scare the bejeezus out of you while you're house cleaning...

{Sweet Mother of Pearl- GET OUT now!}

2)  Explaining that the cool air from air-conditioning and fans does NOT cause illness such as cold, flu, backache, toothache, headache and strep-throat is a pretty common occurrence. For some reason most people around here must have skipped biology class in high school because everyone (young and old) believe that sitting too close to the A/C unit will bring on some dire illness or condition?!?  They're called viruses...

{This is not the enemy people...}

3)  No matter how many times I come to Greece I will NEVER get used to not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet. Apparently the plumbing infrastructure just can't handle t.p. so you have to toss it in a little bin beside the toilet. My poor kids just DON'T get it and cannot remember to put their t.p. in the garbage ever...

{Say what? ! Can you say ick?}

4) Regardless of the lizards and toilets here, we're having a great time. Any day at the beach beats the pants off of a day at work or school or a snowy January day.  I'll enjoy every minute of it while I can!

{smiling in the sunshine...}

{"working" hard in the sand...}

{Even a rocky beach is a great beach...}

Another Big Fat Greek Wedding...

Hey lovelies! Sorry for the lack of posting, we've been in Greece for about a week now on our annual summer vacation. The kids are finally over their jet-lag (thank God) because waking up at 4:30 am everyday for a whole week is less than awesome. We went to a huge wedding (almost 400 people) in the small town of Astros and had a great time with all our fam and friends. In fact almost 100 people came from Canada alone for the wedding...nothing like a 9 hour time change to bring home-town friends together!

 One of these kids is not like the others... Mama's too tall and in need of a tan!

 Up "the mountain" at the brides family home, starting off with some traditional dancing before heading down to the church for the ceremony

 The tradition of walking the bride to the church to meet her groom

 Arriving at the church

 Joining the rest of the guest waiting for the wedding to begin

 Inside the church during the ceremony

 Waiting for the couple to exit the church, not all the guest "fit" inside the church so they waited outside!

 The happy couple...they're married!

 The get-away (Smart) car

 At the reception dinner, traditional Greek desserts and candy coated Jordan almonds called" Boubounaries"

 Mama feeling good after a few glasses of wine

 The couple arrived to the party by boat!

 The reception was outside by the water..dinner for 400!

 The bride got the dancing started at around 1:00 am

The groom busted a move, dancing the traditional Zeibekiko dance

The wedding was a blast and of course we didn't make it back to our hotel until almost 6:00 am and the band was still playing...

More updates will be coming but our internet is a bit sketchy and I'm not sure how often I'll post... tho I'll try to keep you kids updated as much as possible!

Hope your July has been fun in the sun, where ever you are!

Dress Dilemma,,,

In July we're off to sunny, hot and financially floundering Greece.  I'm beyond looking forward to our annual summer in the sun. Mama needs a tan and a holiday beyond badly. We're a part of some special events while there including the baptism of our good friends daughter.  We're going to be her God-parents and for Greeks this is a super HUGE deal because God-parents (Koumbari) are like family forever.

Greek baptisms are a major production. A big event in a child's life that is celebrated with the same enthusiam as a wedding. Hundreds of guests and huge reception-dinner after parties are completely standard. Many people spare no expense and hire professional photographers, have lavish dinners, live music and bring in entertainers or clowns to keep the kids occupied so the adults can drink and dance the night away. It's a good time.

{after a baptism outside the church- balloons for the kids to take home}

{at a friends baptism in 2006}

{at the after party}

{At our boys 2009 outdoor baptism reception}

{My son's God-Mother and my sister-in-law at the reception}

But as the God-Mother (Nona) what am I going to wear?  A lot of the women in Greece are as fabulous as they are glamourous and I need to look great while still dressing appropriately for the church. I'm torn between 3 dresses that I have and honestly none of them really excite me.  My practical side says don't go too crazy and  that I should wear something sensible that will look good in photos 20 years from now. 

I'll pair the black dresses with black patent heels and the pink and grey dress with nude heels. And of course I'll accessorize (heavily) and have on enough makeup to pass for a drag queen for it to last all day in the heat. 

Which dress would you choose or should I go for something completely different? 

Help a sister out...I'm totally open to suggestions!

Tacky Christmas lights, fat little trees and purple sparkle

It's Christmas time all up in here! And while our outdoor Christmas lights are about as classy as the Griswolds, my kids think I'm an electrical engineering genius with this "display" of lights. 

Moving inside I"ll bore amaze you with our indoor decor. Honestly I'd like to do so much more with the house but Kid # 2 is at an age of pure destruction. He's just so excited by the lights and ornaments that he wants to touch (and break) everything. I'll give our poor tree a week before he pulls the whole thing down onto himself...

 That's one fat little tree, but he's real! 

On the weekend we got our drink on at a pre-Christmas house partay.  These pics were taken way later in the night after much wine/scotch/rum/vodka had been consumed...

 Green party cups mean drink up!

Mama in purple sequins

We love wine. As always.

 Since almost everyone at the party was Greek Canadian it quickly turned into a basement dance party. Who dances in a basement? We all do apparently...

Basement pole dance...

After shots of Ouzo, shirts were being unbutton. Husband decides to rock out on a pink guitar and it seemed awesomely cool at the time...  The picture obviously proves otherwise!