Dacha

I might not be the biggest appreciator or a frequent visitor (last time I've been here was 2 years ago), but I am still thankful for my family's dacha - this traditional Russian house in the country side. Although it is very tradional here and so many families own even if just a tiny one, there are still those who don't have a dacha and wish they did. I'm thankful I have a choice and choose not to go because I don't want to as opposed to not having an opportunity... Know what I'm saying?..

Best of Both Worlds

I'm thankful that whenever I read something on gender differences I feel like I'm not really your usual woman, but nor really a man either - I really do understand where both are coming from most of the time. I'm guessing I was definately a man in my previous life, and my past life memory is still going strong, ha ha.

Each Day'n'Night

Not sure where exactly I got that from, but I'm feeling very thankful for a useful creation that is a toothbrush.

Highlight of Yesterday

Just imagine the situation: we're sitting there on one of the Red Square's cafe's summer terrace/patio, having our lovely breakfast, talking, people watching... Yet another group of tourists passes us by, this time Asian tourists (I never found out what country exactly they were from). Then, all of a sudden they stop, and at least 5 of them pull out their cameras and start taking pictures of us from all angles, giving us the thumbs up and screaming "Beautiful!! Beautiful!!" in broken English - and it lasted for at least a minute or two! This was very unexpected and a little weird, but very funny and kind of flattering nonetheless, and I am definately thankful for the laughs! This was the first time I truly felt like a celebrity out on the town, ha ha!

Breakfast on the Red Square

I'm thankful for having been able to take a day off today and for having used this perfect opportunity to have a breakfast on the Red Square... Pure perfection.

No Hate

I'm so thankful I don't feel hate any more. Hate is a very strong word, and it's nothing to be proud of, but some 8 years ago I used to hate an ex best friend of mine with a passion. She deserved it though, and I even wrote a little hate poem to her back then. She never got to hear it, and never did I even share it with anyone - I guess it was my own outlet of those poisonous emotions. But here's the poem, just for the laughs of it, because it does make me smile now - it feels really good not to have felt anything like that for so long, and I am thankful that feeling such genuine hatered at a tender age of 14 or so didn't turn me into a vindictive dark little person.

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I hate you when you speak,

I hate you when you're silent.

You always make me sick,

B***h, you make me violent.

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Now c'mon laugh with me!.. Ha

Multilevel Dreams

Having watched Inception on Friday, I remembered those kind of multilevel dreams I get to see sometimes - rarely, but they're so cool. Now let me try to explain just what kind of multilevel dreams I'm thankful for!

The whole "purpose", if I can say so about a dream, is for you to get a whole picture, to experience the same situation from a different point of view and then just gather it like you would a puzzle. Basically, it's like watching the same dream over and over, only you get to "live" in every character's skin each new time. thus getting a new perspctive on things You get to see and hear what each of them sees and hears and then, at the last "level", you're supposed to make everything right and use all the information you gathered and get out of a given dream situation alive. I swear I do see such dreams sometimes and they're super cool to watch.

Celcius / Farenheit

Celcius / Farenheit

It's so hot in Moscow and I'm so thankful I don't mind it at all.

Let Stay & Let Go

I realize I've learned a very valuable thing this year. It's seemingly obvious, but I am thankful I now not just know it but actually practice it too.

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It's easier said than done, but let people show you who they are. Once they do, believe them. If there happens to be tension and someone wants to walk out of you life - let them go. If it all goes wrong and you're ready to give it up, yet they want to stay - let them stay. What is truly yours would simply always make an effort to claim that special place in your heart. Many people would need you and care about you for various reasons, but only a handful would truly care about your feelings too.

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P.S. If you liked what you saw in my previous water post, vote for me in the photo competition! Just leave a comment on THIS PAGE, saying you vote for photo #9 by Julia Osovskaya. Thank you!

Water!

I feel so thankful now for making it to the final 17 in the GOOD's Water Picture Show contest! And not just because being featured was something I dreamt of ever since I joined their website a year ago, but even more so for reminding me to give it up for water! I am sincerely amused I haven't yet done so until today. There were thanks for the sea world, for boat trips, for swimming pools, for bubble baths and showers even... High time I devote a thankful post to clear waters and the staple of life - drinking water! Please take a look at all the amazing water photography submissions HERE, and, if you like what you see, vote for my picture! To vote you need to leave a comment saying you're voting for photo #9 by Julia Osovskaya. Out of all people, you know I am the one who would be truly thankful, right?...

P.S. For more of my photos from the series entered for the contest, you can check out this thankful post or take a look at the event on Facebook.

Be Smart & Have the Balls

On my way home from work yesterday I got caught in a pouring rain. And if you've been thankful with me for a while and remember those other funny work related things that happened to me this year (like this one time I ended up being bare legged at work or had my butt covered in chocolate), I'm guessing you anticipate another funny tale. You're not going to be dissapointed, and this time I even have a picture!

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So, I got caught in a pouring rain and I absolutely couldn't bear a thought of my shoes getting wet, so I just bought two plastic grocery bags and put them on my feet and walked home like that... making quite a few passerbies smile, as you can imagine!.. Thanks universe for putting me near a grocery store at the time when it started raining heavily!

Being a Woman

There are more than one disadvantage to it, but at the end of the day I can't help but love being a woman. It's true, all true - sometimes I don't let things go and try to hold on, sometimes I need too much and want to depend on you, sometimes I get emotional, get vulnerable and sometimes I'm just out of control. But if you really think of it, my vulnerability is exactly what makes me a woman, and no matter how much I'd like to experience being a man for a day, I wouldn't have it any other way long term. I'm thankful for being a woman, for enjoying to show my appreciation of being a woman and for being the kind of woman that I am.

No TV

I'm thankful I'm not addicted to TV. Kind of sad how some people are just glued to the screen all the time, letting the life pass them by.

Picnic No. 2

Having accomplished our second picnic this summer, I want to say thanks to those of my friends who made it here to my area yesterday allowing me to take Mr. Rhett Butler for a day out with us. My dog is not a fan of the underground traveling so if it wasn't for the gathering nearby my place, he would not be able to join us and would miss all the fun!..

Feelin' Good

I'm thankful for those days when you just feel really really good, for no particular reason or for a reason that is so seemingly little. Aren't you?

Turkey, Summer 2004

Six years later I'm glad I'm still thankful for this amazing experience - my trip to Turkey in the summer of 2004. Just like with the Miami trip I mentioned earlier, this journey provided enough of unforgettable memories and little life lessons and connected me with so many amazing people, some of whom I still happily have in my life.

No Dripping

It's funny, but I am thankful for how fast hair gets dry after washing in summer!!

P.S. I updated the berry post with a picture, because such beauty deserves to be seen.

Summer Soup

While I'm on the subject of berries (and apparently, breakfasts for that matter!), I just feel like being thankful for my fresh summer breakfast idea! I call it 'summer soup' - you just take small assorted berries (I used raspberries and blueberries) and put them into a bowl together with sliced strawberries and pour cold or room temperature milk over it. Fast, easy and delicious, just like that!

Now I know not many like the sound of milk with berries, but I believe it's worth a try if you like the taste of something like yogurt with mango or melon, or berries with mascarpone.

P.S. Excuse the amount of thankful food posting lately, but like with my interest in chairs, food is a passion I can't hide!

Berries

I am so very thankful for yet another nature's wonder - berries! So small and beautiful and packed with nutrients! (Did I just rhyme that?) My personal favorites are bilberries, blueberries, blackberries amd black ash berries... Berries, berries, berries! This even sounds so fun and merry, eh? What are your favorites?

Good Morning

I'm thankful for the amusing thing that is mornings. Mornings, when our minds are so fragile... Have you ever noticed that you have a completely different flow of thoughts when you're just waking up? Something that seemed like a solid idea the day and even nigth before may just easily stop making any earthly sense... Yet the morning hours pass and it all gets back to what it used to be. What an unusual and magical time - just makes you wonder what is really real for a moment or two.

FootbalLOVErsary

This summer marks my and the Netherlands' 10th footballoversary - 10 blissful years of my love and unconditional support of their beautiful play! It was year 2000 and the European Cup when I first saw the Dutch at play and fell in love with their graceful football, and it was them who inspired my interest in football and established my sophisticated football taste.

They set a high standard of the style of play for all the future football clubs I saw at play, and the only other team that was able to steal my heart was FC Barcelona. Keeping in mind this year's Spain VS Netherlands final and how many Barca players there are in the Spanish national team, today's final game is all the more remarkable to me. I hoped for this final and as much as I love Barcelona, when it comes to national teams my heart belongs to Holland. And no matter the outcome of the match, today I'm giving thanks for and celebrating my love of outstanding football. Happy 10th Footballoversary, the Netheralnds!

Yougurt & Melon

Thanks to Egypt, I've discovered a perfect summer breakfast option some 7 years ago - plain yogurt with fresh diced melon! Tastes just luxurious! If you've read my post on mangos and not only tried it but loved it too, I recommend you try the melon variety - so refreshing, perfect for hot summer mornings!

City Boat Trips

Even if boat trips I seem to like so very much usually allow for a more fantastic scenery and more fun activities once it's an open seas trip, I've realized city boat trips can be just as much fun. So if I can't travel to a seaside destination just yet, I'd take the best boat trip the Moscow River has to offer and be thankful for it! P.S. All above links lead to picture posts and if you love water themed photography I suggest you take a look!

Tricks, Tactics & Technics

I'm thankful for a) having a brother and b) for my brother's not so easy personality type. See, I'm not married and I don't have a live-in boyfriend but I still get to learn the essential skill of how to live with a man on a pretty much daily basis. Having tried so many different tricks, tactics and technics already, I know how to get things done my way while still staying on the friendliest of terms. I can truly say I've mastered the skill better than I could have hoped for by this time, and I swear I'm better at it than my mom already. Looks like I'm definately not lying when I say I love to learn all sorts of things, ha!.. Knowledge is power, people.

"There is no knowledge that is not power" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life Saver

You're gonna be laughing... I'm so thankful for my incredible everlasting positive attitude!!! I don't know how I do it, but even through the darkest times I manage to remain optimistic and this is how I keep saving myself... from myself.

Heat

I'm thankful for the real summer we're having here right now - honestly trying to appreciate it wholeheartedly and fully each single day!

Bachelorette Bliss

I think one needs to enjoy their solo status while they still can and you really need to appreciate those moments when you're left all to yourself... With that being said, the time I've spent living by myself while the fam was away is sure something to be thankful for, ah!..

Friedrich Nietzsche

Firstly, I need to say that for the most part I'm only drawn to authors who share the same sentiments as I do - it has always helped me better understand myself, as if seeing me with someone else's eyes and being able to judge what this person is really worth. Thus my favorite philosopher has been and remains the legendary Friedrich Nietzsche. I've just finished reading his book La Gaya Scienza a few days ago, and having read this work of his just further made me think of him as my little hero. I'm thankful to this world for bringing Nietzsche into it.

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science - 341: The greatest weight.

"What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you in your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence — even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again — and you with it, speck of dust!" — Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: "You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine!" If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you; the question in each and every thing, "Do you desire this once more, and innumerable times more?" would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight! Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?"

Pleasant Neighbour

Remember the perfect gentleman from a few posts back? Well, I met him again today. Went downstairs to check the mail and there he was - joined me on my ride back up in the elevator. Funny thing is, I didn't recognize him until he chatted me up and was so impossibly nice again. Wow, I'm just really thankful for having a pleasant person like that as a neighbour! This is quite rare and I believe that's the kind of a neighbour everyone should strive to be themselves too. Thanks for lifting my spirits, Mr. Perfect Gentleman!

The Winner Takes All

Due to health reasons I had to call in sick today, and even though not feeling well can't be considered such a good thing, I, of course, found something to be thankful for.

Firstly, if I felt sick yesterday, I wouldn't attend that fancy party I was very curious to attend and glad I did (even if the whole thing didn't live up to my expectations), and secondly, if I didn't have to stay home today I would miss half of the World Cup (I'm talking football/soccer) match of my most favorite national team (Netherlands, and we won, yay!). And even if me being sick has a potential of ruining my weekend plans (something we've planned for 2 weeks), I'm sure that if I don't sweat it, I'll manage to work around my situation... The winners take all!

P.S. Just so you don't get any ideas, me not feeling well doesn't have anything to with that party I mentioned - just saying... Ha!

Newly Opened Malls

I'm not going to express the opinion of the most here, but I don't really like sales. The point being, if you need for something to go on sale to get it, you either don't even like it that much or maybe you shouldn't try to afford it. (You don't have to agree with me!) But anyways, this is just an introduction to the new thankful post - I'm thankful for newly opened malls! Nothing like a huge spacious almost empty building where you can wander not hurrying anywhere, not hearing any noise or screaming, and where you have al the hoice you need and everyone is still polite.