Markets, final stages of the clearout and Crafting...

Yesterday we went to Alsancak to the Christmas Market. We either arrived too late or it was basically a bust. I wont mention the name only that it was in a church and that i had to silently tell my husband (whom i had convinced to come along with the lure of food ) to hush afer he announnced " Isla this is crap" ahhem my dear we are in the house of god !!! oops. I bought one jar of  very very overpriced Jam. My husband said "why are you buying that" oops. When you go to a Charity event ( even if only a % of profit goes to charity) especially when it is in a Church its a tad rude to wander in announce its crap and leave. I got no response. 

We then walked to the Gift Fair that was at the Fuar in Alsancak. He was much happier there as there were lots of stalls with food..model cars..model planes.. lamps..wooden products and shiny things to keep all of us occupied. We saw a few things we liked and agreed to return the day before the Fair closes to secure the best price. The main reason beautiful glass lamps that are a little over our budget and if they are gone ? well then it just wasnt meant to be...

We then walked in the rain, Ceyda and Baba puddle jumped and i took a lovely pic.

My Bee and Baba walking in the Rain

We had chinese, then stopped off at Stabucks followed by a long rainy walk.I had to pass my favourite Christmas Store window and take a picture.

So Pretty !!

I have gradually been continuing with my clearout, my material cleanse...I am nearly there. I now have an entire room full of the things that i need to go through and refile. Hmmm. So the house is pretty much clear except for this one room.I have a deadline though Friday as i am hosting a small Christmas Party for friends. Although the door does have a lock.Lets see how that goes. 

Tomorrow is Christmas shopping day followed by crafts. Ceyda and i will make a new Angel for the "other tree" as the  weight of the Star is not helping its leaning status. A nice light Angel should do the trick. I am taking the design from toddlercraft pics to follow.after this we will attempt Toilet Roll Santas.  : )

Sweet Dreams xx

A kind of Magic...

I came across this video this morning and felt as though my heart stopped. My greatest love before husbands and babies..horses..and dressage..This video to me is pure magic !!, this horse is magic, a Stallion the son of Gribaldi. Almost all of Gribaldi babies have shown an incredible talent for piaffe and passage. (Piaffe,Passage) This a beautiful testament to the talents we and they ( horses) gain from thier ancestors. Many horse professionals believe Moorlands_Totilas will be the greatest dressage horse of all time. His owner Edwards Gal once described that when he rode this horse he felt as though he had a guardian angel.

This is them competing and winning the World Freestyle (to music)Championships. You can see the horse connecting with the music its as though 3 of them the music the horse the rider are one. I always loved that in Dressage the horse is the Star not the rider : ) : ). I remember that feeling well, while practicing dressage..the key words that spring to mind are Balance,Lightness and Engagment you cannot ride a Dressage horse with heavy hands and legs. I should also note that i support dressage with the use of natural aids.Enjoy !!

 * the music has not been added this horse is actually dancing to the music. 

Christmas Crafts

Today Ceyda and i made sparkly Christmas Tree Reindeer. I should add however that when i asked Ceyda if they were for the tree she said they were for the grass..so we may need to make sparkly reindeer family a pasture....

Ceyda chose the glitter colours.. she did not want to mix the colours. We also coloured a large IKEA box at the same time and this kept most of the glitter where it was supposed to be. : )

Materials 

* Ikea cookie cutter for the reindeer

* Card sparkles, glitter crayons anything  infact i thought a collage would be fun next year !!

Here are the pics

Ceyda proudly showing off her Card

Materials : ) : )

When Ceyda pasted the reindeer card with glue she over ran the edges the end result was a lovely Reindeer outline 

The finished products well done Ceyda Bee !!

I just finished a star so we can make some Stars for tomorrow, i am sure Ceyda will come up with another creative place for them to stay. 

Tomorrow we have a Family Christmas Market trip, we live in Izmir Turkey so Christmas Markets are few and far between.I think we are all excited.. the mention of home baked goodies for sale was enough to lure my Darling...and i am sure Ceyda will have fun too !!

Behind..

I am really behind with blogging, i have all these things that i have been thinking about, that i really wanted to blog about since Istanbul but it feels as though time is chasing me. So instead here are some of the highlights of the last 2 weeks.


*I realised that any romantic ideas i had about tree decorating with a toddler were..well romantic notions..  the end result was a broken tree. My attempt to pop the Star on the top was thwarted by Ceyda grabbing leg while i balanced on the sofa and me rather elegantly snapping the Ikea tree in half... : ( : ( to stop me crashing into the (unlit) fireplace. 
The tree has since been repaired with what appears to be piping, playdough and tape. It now leans softly to the right.Very Pretty though.
* Who thought 2 trees were a good idea !!!
*This year feels so chrismassy and i am so happy. I forgot how much i loved this time of year. I put Christmas trees up early and have turned into a Christmas crafting monster. Cards, decorations toilet roll santas...we have calenders and daily chats about Santa and his reindeer.It even snowed a little here last week. This is not common at all and the day it happened the temp dropped 20 degrees from one day to the next brrrr. Next week i am planning a Christmas Baking week. 
Here are a few pics some of Ceyda at her Christmas Party for playgroup and one of her standing proudly in her party dress beside our non broken tree. 

Party Time

Playgroup 

Ceyda and Mrs. Santa

Fun Santa Games

Oh Istanbul....

My new Nikon camera was an early Christmas gift from my sister.I love photography although i am barely good at it. I have a facination with how things interact with each other..light..buildings... moments the best photographs i took were ironically taken in Turkey 10 years ago when i travelled here as a student in my final year of University. The photographs hung proudly in the halls of my university..i wonder if any are still there ? Photography was my hobby at weekends i would spend hours in the darkroom. A love that i had honestly long forgotten i hope to welcome this old friend back into my life however i am very old school, isnt that a weird thing to say when you are only 30 ?. Now though it is a digital world....I have of course taken plenty of photographs over the past 20 years.. Auto style...

and so to Istanbul.. all my pictures are moody and dark. 

The Bosphorus

Topkapi Palace Meeting Room

Topkapi Palace

Walkway to the Harem

Gates of Dolmabache Palace

Sunset in Kabataş

Blue Mosque

Aya Sofia

Our hotel the Celal Sultan was wonderful. Comfortable rooms..polite super helpful staff.. good food and very very central.

Istanbul and Realisations....

Sometimes it is impossible to see somethingor understand something until you literally come away from yourself. The weekend in Istanbul allowed me this...

Wonderful beautiful and magical the three words that spring to mind when i think of Istanbul add a lot of sister love and you have the perfect trip. I have always loved Istanbul i love that i could/can loose myself there, i guess i still love it for the same reason. I lived in Istanbul for 3 years at the very start of my relationship with my husband, young and fearless i left London and the careers that awaited me behind without a second thought.( literally) 

I am still that way and it was this most recent trip that showed me this. No i didnt do anything fearless or wild but i did realise that i have that same urge to live life completely and deeply, to never look back and say" i wonder what would have happened". That same urge allowed me to completely change my life 9 years ago is different now. It is more urgent, all consuming, a deep feeling within that i perhaps have a calling that has not yet been answered. For the last year i have feared this, been confused by this and at times doubted myself as mother. I give 100% of myself to my daughter i adore her and love that i am the guide to her life yet I felt guilty for feeling or thinking that i needed more. The weekend in Istanbul (this is 3 days of clear thought) let me see that the 2 are growing into each other.. like grape vines they are nothing without the other.Instead of thinking of it as needing "more" or " less" i realised that i can merge the person that i am with the person i will become and that it ok that  its takes time.. the time is what matures the grape vines..makes then ready.

So what did we do ? I wasnt there to see the sights i was there for my sister and as it turns out to retrieve a message from myself. I dont think she was there for the sights either, but  i hope the beauty and the mysterious energy that Istanbul has,  allowed her to take a breath away from her life and stop long enough to realise that she can only give so much of herself. When we give too much to everyone.. we leave nothing for ourselves.. i hope that she asks the ghost of loss that lives in her to leave and that her healing can begin.Love you bee. 

Here are some pictures of the trip.

my beautiful baby sister 

View from Ortakoy

Skyping with our older sister ( who lives in Canada) on the roof  balcony of our hotel

All the photographs above were taken by my sister. The blog post to follow will include my pictures and the details of where we did visit as well as our lovely lovely hotel. Celal Sultan.

Almost finished..

I am almost finished my blog update on my Istanbul trip..i am suffering a little from Bloggers block : ) : )
In the mean time i just finished reading a lovely article in thinksimplenow. Simple moving beautiful and powerful ..
The peice is by Kent Nerburn here is a quote from one of his other books..I would love to hear your comments.

We may not all live holy lives, but we live in a

world alive with holy moments.”

~ Kent Nerburn