New Year’s makeup: some glitter please

Last year our Christmas night was kind of relaxed and homey. This year I plan to practically do the same; a lovely home-made dinner and some fun movies. Both Jimmy’s family and mine are far away so we have each other to keep company and celebrate new traditions together.

My mother-in-law and my brother-in-law are coming to visit and spend New Year’s Eve with us so I hope we have some time to go out and celebrate!

I was searching for some make up inspiration on Pinterest and decided that this New Year is going to sparkle big time. I am going for shimmer and glitter!

Here I present you my inspiration for New Year’s Eve makeup.

Resolutions 2015: almost achieved

My resolutions tend to be more of a to-do list than anything else. I try to always focus on being healthy, learning new things, live new experiences and most of all…be happy.

Last year I achieved 100% of my resolutions but this year I arrived to a 80%. But really, who cares? I added new things on the way and I am still pretty proud of everything I have accomplished.

Here is the recap of the year:

• Finish the first draft of my book. 

The first draft is done people! Now I need to correct and clean up everything. I am so excited to start organizing everything and who knows…maybe I’ll share with you guys some chapters.

• Start dancing flamenco again. 

This did not happen this year. I won’t get sad or frustrated, it simply did not happen. What did happen though was me starting to love Crossfit-training. Now that is something I feel really good about. Sorry Flamenco, maybe next year.

• Decrease my diet soda intake.

Big round of applause for me! My soda intake decreased to a 90% this year. It was kind of hard at the beginning but after making it a habit it is now part of my life. Every time I order something to drink it is always water, just in special occasions I drink a Zero Coke because I really enjoy it.

• Take a lovely vacation.

My lovely trip did happen this year when I went to Greece with Jimmy. We had three days of work and then free days! That was also the last time I saw my Grandma. She passed away two weeks ago and I still can’t believe it. This resolution definitely brought me joy and I will remember this trip forever.

• Attend a concert. 

This did not happen either. I was supposed to go to a couple of concerts but we backed down last-minute for different reasons. Oh, maybe next year…

• Acquire a new skill. 

My new skill acquired this year is that I got better at communicating and organizing our internal logistics. Let me explain: when we make videos there is a person who keeps everybody organized, on time and above all things happy. That person is…. (wait for it)….me. This year I got a little better at it.

• Keep up my good work from last year.

I am exercising at least 5 times a week, when I’ve had a good week it could be 6 times. I am also trying to keep a healthy diet most of the time.

So this is the update from this year and soon I will be posting my resolutions for 2016.

Do you guys have your resolutions ready? 🙂

 

Merry Christmas to you all

May this day bring  joy and happiness to you and your loved ones

Always remember that the best gift you can give to yourself is to love you for who you truly are

Merry Christmas from The Golden Limoncello

 

How I prepare for Christmas

I normally get in the Holiday spirit around the end of November but this year it took me a while to feel the vibe. I started decorating my home on December 5th and after that I added one or two accents every week. In our last home I couldn’t decorate much because it was so small that I really didn’t want to saturate the place.

I used our mini tree from last year but this time I added a small stool so it now looks bigger. I also bought some pillows and added a little fun to our fridge door.

Today I’m still working (from home) and I am feeling Christmas more than before. It is a lovely cozy feeling…

 

My 12th Anniversary: Beauty gifts

Jimmy and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary on December 20th and I still can’t believe how long it has been since we met. It is always a special day for us and we celebrate it (that is why our artistic name is 12/20).

I was really excited when I opened my presents because I saw some M.A.C products (yey!) and some ESSIE products which I love (just to make things clear: this post is not by any means sponsored, I just truly love them).

A bonus with my present were those beautiful earrings; last month I told Jimmy in a casual conversation that I had lost and earring and he got the clue (my smart boy).

 

 

5 lovely things: December edition

Lately, I have a new small ritual in the morning; I wake up, turn off the bedroom heater and go to the kitchen to have my coffee. Nina wakes up exactly 15 minutes later (I truly think this happens because she somehow knows that I am the one who turns on the heater in the kitchen). I give my little monster her treat and then she goes back to sleep on my lap while I have my coffee while watching Snapchat stories.

I want to share with you five lovely things in this December edition (most of them include coffee drinking) It was hard for me to get into the Christmas feeling, but eventually I did.

This is my new cozy corner in the house: right next to the heater and some Christmas candy

I sometimes wish I was really small so I could fit inside Nina’s bed and have a cuddle party

They didn’t let us film that day our video clip, but I couldn’t resist taking pictures in this cool location 

My new favorite cookies: I am not doing the Dukan diet but their cookies are so good! 

Gifted myself this amazing shades: Merry Christmas to me

 

 

And we made it to the final round!

I am absolutely and extremely happy to announce that we made it to the semi-final of SRF Switzerland Eurovision song contest! WE DID IT!  Thanks to all of you who voted we made it to Zürich to the live shows and (drum roll………..) we also made it to the final that is going to be held on February 13th, 2016! Can I hear a whooooooooooa!

I want to thank William Luque for including me in this project and believing in my song writing. He is an amazing producer and I can’t be prouder to also have him as my friend. I also want to thank Jimmy for making such a cool video in such a short period of time, Stanley Miller for having that strong and powerful voice and also to the Zürich Gospel Choir for accompanying us, making the performance even cooler!

I had such an incredible time in Zürich; the city is beautiful and I had the chance of meeting wonderful people like Peter and Tony from the Zürich Gospel Choir. They were so nice with us and so kind that it made my trip even better. Also the rest of the choir for making us feel like home: Fabio, Chrissa 1 and Chrissa 2 and Sarah. Juan Lopez and Joseph for being part of the journey and all the crew of SRF behind the contest for treating us so well.

I didn’t bring along my camera so here are all the pics from my phone. 

 

 

 

Color me red: holiday accent

There is something chic and yet quite sultry about wearing red.

A red accessory gives that extra accent to an outfit or if you are feeling the whole red vibe then I think you are going to love the pop of color that it will give to your day. I rarely wear red (wore a red backless dress to a friend’s bachelorette party and then a red jumpsuit on Halloween).

This holiday season I want to incorporate some red lips here and there and I will be in the pursuit of finding the perfect chic red dress.

Here some inspiration for the day:

Let’s bake something

I don’t know about you guys, but me…this time of the year…it means baking.

I was reorganizing and taking a look at my Culinary Tuesdays and came up with the idea to share with you guys my three favorite sweet recipes of the blog. I will bake some new stuff and share with you the process really soon, but meanwhile…let me indulge you with some fun recipes that you can cook this holiday season and share with your friends and family.

Cinnamon Paleo cookies

Carrot cake

Lemon Pie

Dear Yiayia: I am going to miss you every single day

This is my sweet Yiayia (grandmother in Greek).

She passed away last week and I still can’t believe she is gone.

I have a big hole in my heart right now but somehow feel a deep peace inside me. The last time I spoke to her I told her «Yiayia, my song is in the top 19, I don’t know if I am going through to the top 6 in Zürich» she breathed through the phone and said to me in her sweetest voice «Agapi mou, you are definetly going to the top 6. Your song is beautiful and talks about love and love always wins«. And it did.

She passed away a day before me going to the Zürich live auditions. I wished she could have seen it on TV. I wish I could have told her that she was right. I wish she would have heard the happiness in my voice. Something inside my heart tells me that she did.

I love you Yiayiaka. I will always love you. You taught me to be kind, to always be nice to people, to think, to be gentle, to be loving and to always remember to give love.

Thank you for being part of me, thank you for bringing sunlight and love to my life.