Happy bithday to me

Last week, on October 26 I turned 32 years old.

Those who've been reading my blog since it's start 6 years ago know that I have a difficult relationship with my birthday. On the same day 6 years ago I've lost my father (with whom I also had a very difficult relationship).

To think of it - there were quite a few bad things that happened to around my birthday over the years. Really bad ones in fact, like losing my job, for example. Until one day when it got really bad.

Ever since then I'm always very confused around my birthday. Should I celebrate? Should I mourn? Should I "Secret" the hell out of this day and believe that everything will go well? Prepare for the worst?

This year I decided just to let it go. I didn't want to have any huge celebration, but then, in the end, I had three very nice ones, with lots of good food and good people. I wasn't planning on getting any presents, but I got quite a lot of very nice ones. I wasn't expecting to have a special day, and in the end, I had a very special week. 

After such a great start I'm very motivated to have the even more special 32nd year of my life. 

So when I'm 32, I want to:

- proceed to the second year of my PhD with grace

- finish NaNoWriMo with something to show for it
- work more on Saathi and bring it to the place it deserves

- renew my permit of stay as fast and easy as possible

- see at least 3 more countries

- one of them being Tunisia, as I'm planning my trip there for two years now

- go back home for 2 weeks

- have a great NY celebration

- make a big progress on my research

- write more articles because it makes me ridiculously happy

- learn to play ukulele!  - this is the important one!

#45daysofblogging 08: 100 things about me - part 1/5

Day 8 - August 25

100 things about me has to be one of my favorite types of posts and youtube videos. But I never thought that finding even 20 interesting fact about myself will make me drink endless cups of tea and look through all the old photos I have. 

But I did it! So here is the first part of my "100 things about me" series: 

1. I was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

2. My name was given to me by my dad, who had this name in mind and didn’t listen to anyone.

3. BTW, my name is exactly the same as name Marina, but in Ukrainian transcription it’s Maryna.

4. I’m bilingual, as in my family we always spoke both Ukrainian and Russian.

{cat story}

Once there were the cat. He lived in a beautiful city, near the beautiful antique fontain, in a nice restaurant on a ground floor.
All the visitors loved the cat so much. He's been the mascot of the place, it's lucky charm and the part of the family.
But then there was a fire. A horrile fire, that ruined the restaurant and killed the cat. The owners were devastated, and not just because of the restaurant. As soon as they've re-opened, they put a monument to their favorite cat near the entrance. And people from all around the world are taking pictures near that monument.
True story)

Жив-був кіт. Жив він у прекрасному місці, поряд з гарним старовинним фонтаном, у хорошому ресторані.
Всі працівники та відвідувачі дуже любили котика - він був талісманом закладу, амулетом на щастя та членом родини.
Та якось сталась пожежа. Страшна пожежа, що зруйнувала ресторан та вбила котика. Власники ресторану були невтішні, і не лише через збитки. щойно ресторан відчинився знову, вони поставили неподалік від входу пам*ятник котику. І люди з усього світу приходять та фотографуються поряд із ним.
Чесне слово)

Blink

Thrifted top and skirt,

Ostin sweater

Blink wedges

Handmade bracelet

Earings from street vendor

No brand purse

You know like there's always something you just can't do? Mostly because you think you can't, for no apparent reason. Happends to all of us, happends to me all the time.

What's the cure? No idea. The best solution I have is to do it anyway, whether it's wearing short skirt or making a move to follow your dream. It's scary as hell, but who knows - wouldn't it be great if it'll pay off?

Photoshoot... a kind of a photoshoot

My company recently started updating all of our web sites, so the pictures of new employers became a necessity. And a few days ago our photographer took me out of the office and made me pose near the graffiti wall.

So here I am.

Take Me on the Floor

Things I'm super excited about today:

- short work-day and long weekend - it's Easter week in Ukraine, so we are working till 4 today and then we have 3 days off. So I'm so happy - finally I'll caught up on some sleep.

- evening at Murakami with my good friends - sushi and Japanese noodles, yes.

- my new black pumps - if next week's gonna be a little warmer, I'm gonna finally wear them (on the photo)

- new dresses - light and lovely (on the photo)

- my handmade jewelry is on sale at the handmade fair right now.

- I have a few good books to read, for example the second part of Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy.

So, life is actually good right now - and it doesn't matter that I've broke the last big cup I own this morning. It was great and tall, and I've bought it almost 3 years ago in Starbucks in Moskow. My favorite mug, you are already missed.

But stilll - super excited. And want to go dancing today, after sushi. 

Have a nice day, friends, and happy Easter to everyone!

outfit post

Jacket - Wallis (thrifted)

Sweater - Oggi

Tweed skirt - don't know the brand, bought it at Metro (these photos don't do it justice - it has a beautiful big tweed bow on the belt, but here it blends with the background )

Boots - Sketchers

Angel earings - made by my mom

Snake ring - my mom's (vintage)

Ring - Parfois

Bracelets - a gift from Poland

Lunch hour

Coat - Oggi

Striped top - bought it in Metro

Scarf - thrifted

Jeans - Zara

Booties - Carnaby

Satchel - Derby

Earings - from Thailand

I went out to get a cheese chiabata and latte, and decided to take some pictures near this weird old building. I love weird. And old.

Some news:

- I've bought a new laptop. My old one is having so many problems that I can't work on it properly. And I have a lot of freelance translation jobs now and lot's of creative ideas (short stories and articles). So it was inevitable.

- we're having an annivercsary party at the office tomorrow. Well, basically we're working for like an hour and then we're going to the paintball club for a game. I'd really like to go, but there's a huge chance that I won't make it - I'm having an event on Monday and client haven't approved of a few details yet. Well, possibly no paintball for Maryna.

- work's been interesting - sometimes boring, sometimes nerve-wracking, sometimes really boring. Craving some nice projects - I like organisation and planning, not writing policies.

That's pretty much it. I wish everyone a nice day and getting back to work.

Spring?

Jeans - Zara
Coat - Oggi
Cardigan - Fat Face (thrifted) 
Shirt - Kyiv street vendors (bought almost ten years ago and altered)
Satchel - Derby
Booties - Carnaby
Brooch - Vintage (my Grandma's)
Crown earings - made by my mom

My faces

My office has a webcam system - supposedly for discipline purposes, but for us it's mainly a sourse of joy and entertainment. I have good pics, bad pics, funny pics - tons and tons of them.

My voice

I'm still practicing for my radio demo, and yesterday a guy from the studio sent me one of my tracks.

I'm speaking Ukrainian about some movie news. So, if anyone is interested in hearing my voice - press 'play'. I'm still disappointed by my intonations, but at the same time impressed with my spelling. Constant work is a necessity.

Buried in work, craving spring

I'm so tired I have no words to explain how much exactly.

I work at office again (9:30 a.m. till 18:00 p.m.) and we're launching a huge project, so it's a lot of work from the very first day. Then I come home (I'm so lucky it's just two subway station from my home) and I sit down and work again, translating Community till 0:00 or later. Then, if I'm lucky and my eyes are not hating me yet, I watch something or read a few pages of a book. Then I sleep till 7:30. And it's all repeating.

Can't wait till weekend - I'd have to translate too, but I also have Finnish sauna booked for me and my friends on Friday night and studio production on Sunday.

I'm feeling like the worst blogger ever, because I don't write much. But after the whole day of writing scripts and policies, and then translating I don't have any interesting thought whatsoever.

I'm sorry, guys, I'll try and plan my next week better, because this lifestyle is so not healthy.

Good news

Denim skirt - Jennifer

Striped top - MNG

Blue top - Oggi

Birdcage necklace - handmade

Crochet earings - my shop, Antares flower buttons

Crochet flower brooch - my shop, Antares flower buttons

Tights - don't remember

Socks - Marilyn (I guess)

Boots - no brand

Handbag - Debenhams (thrifted)

Life's been pretty crazy (and amazing) lately.

First of all, I'm starting on a new job on Tuesday. Still an event planner, but now it's a place in the advertising agency. It's been a while since I had to get up early in the morning and actually go to work, so I'm excited and freaked out at the same time.

I also had a call from one of the TV-channels I occasionally freelance for. I've agreed to take a new project - translation of 'Community' into Ukrainian. I just cou;dn't let anyone else take it - I love this show too much.

So now I kinda have 4 jobs at the same time. How cool (and scary) is that?

Well, that's pretty much it. And this is what I wore today for a night of movies, sushi and beer with my friends. This and also the parka.

Breaking mugs

That's exactly what I've been doing these couple of weeks. I swear, I've broken more mugs these days than I did for last two or three years. I'm really sad about one particular mug - it was a present from my mom and it had cute geese on it. I wanted to replace it with the same one, but their are making them really tiny now (mine was huge, and it made tea delicious - it's a weird thing to say, but it's true)

So, I have no mug and now forsed to drink tea from my Starbucks mug. It's not bad, but not the same. And no one seems to understand my huge drama because of the broken favorite mug. People can be so cruel!

I really like whole "7 interesting facts about myself" thing, which I saw at Vintage Vixen's, so I'm tagging myself. I don't know why, I guess I'm just too lazy to work now, because I just got home from radio school class and have to leave again in about an hour)

So:

Antares flower buttons

I'm feeling a bit down now, I can't even explain why. Lot's of work (and I'm so not happy about it - yes, it's paying the bills, but I've never intended to become a translator and never enjoyed it too much), broken laptop (it's been broken for a while, but the guy who's usually taking care about it is still traveling somewhere), broken PC monitor (now I have use my mom's acient monitor that's randomly changing colors - my eyes are not pleased). Plus I'm sleepy all the time. I think I need some pomegranates or some pomegranate juice - it always gives me energy and hepls me not to brood about such random and uncatastrofic thing like broken laptop and actually having enough work to pay the bills.

I'm still waiting for Ira to send me all the pictures from holidays, so I don't have anything to post except for this one:

Me, using free wi-fi in Murakami. I think it was taken when one of my tweets mysteriously disappeared, that's why I'm looking so sad.

But you can see some of acessories I'm making for sale - crochet earings and the ring. I've been in love with this color lately.