Author Archives: Zhenya

Style?!

I Admire Women Who…

Can really walk in heels and don’t look like they are trying to look like they can walk in heels (been there).

Are also comfortable in said heels.

Don’t pressure themselves or stress about style, however they dress and whatever amount of time they invest or don’t invest in putting an outfit together. Clothes are (so much!) fun, but they aren’t the be-all.

Are friends with their fashion individuality. You can see it because they are relaxed, smiling and clearly picking things to wear on their own terms and with their own considerations in mind. Moody, sparkling, quiet and all sorts of days included. Just goin’ with the flow.

But most of all, I just admire women who are happy and do what they want.

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Seen/Heard/Read

James Sirius Potter, We Are Pleased to Inform You

What a day. James Sirius Potter is starting at Hogwarts!

As reported by Mashable, J.K. Rowling tweeted a request for good wishes and the Pottersphere predictably exploded. The Potter fans are numerous and their Potter emotions are strong, and I think ever since the books (and later the movies) ended, these emotions have become even stronger. OUR emotions have become even stronger. Because when you love a work of fiction that much, reminders and actual calculations of dates relating to characters from the book are a smile-inducing trip down memory lane.

It also has a curious effect of making you feel like the books are not finished yet after all. You remember about the scarlet steam engine departing from platform nine and three quarters. You remember one of your (many) favourite parts in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – when happiness fills Harry up as he finds out he can visit Hogsmeade with his friends. “His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad/ His hair is as black as a blackboard…” “Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon…” Your eyes wander to the seven book set always within reach and you know that you will open them again, and again, and again.

All the best, James, have a magical start at Hogwarts.

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Seen/Heard/Read

Colouring Books for Adults

When I was a kid, I drew a lot. In those hours when I didn’t feel like drawing or working on a drawing issue (horses are difficult), I would turn to colouring books. I loved them. I was very good at neatly filling in helpfully bold outlines and the suspence would gather as more and more coloured bits joined together as a whole.

There were so many discoveries involved in the process: childish fingers learning to use thin-tipped pens and pencils, sharpening crayons, rebellious departures from the established dress colours of Disney Princesses. My neatness sometimes resulted in harder pressure and I quickly found out that the colouring books with thinner paper didn’t take kindly to this. I also had a series of real books meant for reading, but with colourless illustrations meant for colouring – my joy knew no bounds. It felt like I had participated in creating the story.

This happy past-time gradually ceased for quite a while. Until I was reading a magazine article the other day that said colouring books for adults are all the rage now! Wait, what?! And this has been going on for some time?!

A quick search online confirmed this fantastic news. From celebrities to TV shows to shoes (oh, yes, oh, the sweet rapture), the topics spectrum is very broad. Sainsbury’s in the UK said at the end of August that over a million of these colouring books have been sold since April. Consumers are enthusiastic about the de-stressing aspect colouring provides and shops are expanding their stock to keep up with the demand that shows no signs of stopping. Popularity is rising across the U.S. as well. The world has remembered.

Buzzfeed has put together an inspiring guide that’s a good stop for those of you making a choice. Based on the first look, I’m intrigued by Secret Garden by Johanna Basford (she’s created quite a few intricate looking colouring books with a nature theme). It’s on the Amazon.co.uk bestseller list in this category. The Midnight Colouring Book by Richard Merrit makes my fingers itch to live out the love for Cirque du Soleil on paper.

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Style?!

5 Current Fashion Truths That Make Me Smile

You can wear anything you want nowadays. Anything. New, not new, forgotten, rediscovered. If it’s old, then it’s not old, it’s vintage, should anyone be so involved in useless time filling as to actually try to tell you your clothes look old.

Individuality and personal style are on the rise. Whatever makes you feel like yourself, you wear it. Regardless of whether you saw it in a magazine, have loved it forever or reverted to (adult versions) of things you wore as a child.

Successful and gifted artists, like Lindsey Stirling, admit to loving dress-up! There is room for everything in this century.

Bright and wacky sneakers that are still comfortable and wearable.

And finally, the fact that you can find clothes your favourite TV show characters wore ONLINE.

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Thoughts

Thou Shalt Call Customer Service

‘Twas a fine summer evening, but I couldn’t enjoy it, as I had to call three different customer services of three different online retailers. One very large, the other somewhat smaller, and the third just a shop. It couldn’t be put off anymore. Not that I wanted to – I wanted to get it over and done with as soon as possible. But the usual paradox was that I felt less than enthusiastic about calling customer service. I wonder why. They don’t know me. I don’t know them. They only know what I ordered. Then there was that thing about just not wanting to be on the phone, because I guess that’s what I thought the internet was invented for. But we must do what we must.

Call Number One

Excitement and adventure. After some clicking around hoping to find a hotline or general number, I found encouragement to let THEM call ME. This was unexpected. But after reading the extensive descriptions on what I would be asked and how much more damn effort it was to call by myself, I had to silently agree with the cheerful assurance at the end that it was much better for them to call me. All that was left for me after that was an impossible to miss button labeled CALL NOW. With a shaking hand I pressed it and jumped as my phone immediately began to ring. A very competent and energetic employee listened to my (rehearsed and succinctly phrased) question and promptly answered. The unexpectedly simple resolution of the issue relaxed me so much that I temporarily morphed in to what customer service workers probably experience all the time: I started babbling about what had worried me etc etc. Stopped just in time before it got embarrassing. In the subsequent feedback they sent me I gave them five stars.

Call Number Two

Classic. I listened to the waiting line music for a while and the appearance of a human voice seemed very sudden. After a (rehearsed and succinctly phrased) question I was forwarded to someone else, to whom I once again had to recount my (rehearsed and succinctly phrased) story. I felt tired. I had to repeat some points, but the issue also got resolved.

Call Number Three

Am I talking to a person? I open my mouth to state my (rehearsed and succintly phrased) question, but I’m confronted by a repetition of all the information I had just carefully read myself to save time. Somehow I get the feeling interrupting is not expected, and after all someone is just doing their job. After the recital is finished and I literally hear inhaling and exhaling, I state my purpose. Another reading of the fine print I had perused myself. Then the question that seemed very sudden after the monotonous speaking: “What’s lacking in the product?” “Nothing, it’s just too small”, I mumble. There, they made me say it.

An exercise in patience, elocution and manners.  I hope I was nice. They were all asking what they could do for me.

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