Autumn love and a pinch of romance

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I have always been a romantic person.
Most of the times I don't show it. Most of the times I prefer to be practical, realistic and down to earth person. This suits me better with the routine tasks as a mom, wife and partner and keeps me from distraction.
However each time autumn approaches I turn into a irrational version of me with her head in the clouds and butterflies in her stomach. Each year September marks the start of my most favourite season and brings out those hidden character features that would best suit a Jane Austen novel or at least a Downtown Abbey star. Just because I fall in love all over again.
What do I mean by this you may wonder.
With this blog post I want to tell you (and hopefully persuade you) why autumn is the best season ever. To make it more readable I tried to summarise it.
COLOURS
You may be a see lover all you want but even you cannot be blind to all the majestic colours in the nature in autumn. September comes with a soft touch and makes leaves switch their all green pallet with nice cold toned yellowish tint that gradually turns into more saturated hues. October brings even more colours in this beautiful picture - orange, red, even tobacco hues and it's wind gently takes those colourful drops off the branches on the ground. November brings the chill and morning frost that makes it all look a bit sad but more picturesque and photographable. It all works together to create the perfect exterior design that can hardly be achieved by mere humans but God himself.
FOOD
They always say how important it is for us to eat fruits and veggies that are fresh and it their season. This is why autumn is the best time to try all the flavours it has to offer. Apples, pears, pumpkin, quince, plums, berries... They make meals tastier and healthier. Autumn makes it OK to start spicing things up with cinnamon without feeling christmas-y all too soon.Not to mention different tea flavours and hot chicolate or cappuccino with caramel topping... It is definitely season for experimenting with aromas and flavours as autumn creates the perfect mood for it with the chilly nights. Which brings us to:
COOL NIGHTS
And days. Here comes the cardigan and the jumper and the trench. They all wave goodbye to the summer shorts (that I actually never wear as my figure looks ridiculous in them) and tight tops. Now I can actually get out of home and be active without having to change sweaty clothes every 30 minutes (hands up if you wear spare clothes in your bag for this reason! )
This season also allows me to feel more comfortable in my skin as I can wear outfits that actually include clothes not some fabric pieces meant to be clothing. It also makes is so perfectly OK to ask for a hug because I am cold <3 .Or to hold hands while walking in the park just because the chilly wind is blowing <3
GET COSY
Another thing I love about this season is how effortlessly it is to make my husband go shopping for small household items to make us feel more homey. I tend to create our perfect little place where we can all sit and be together - whether we watch a movie, talk about the future, play games, have guests or just enjoy a nice candlelight dinner. He doesn't mind to invest some money in this family nest if it means less nights out and more home made dishes so we all are happy. It is never something big but always something special to brighten up the room - new picture frame, soft quilt for movie nights, set of aroma candles, diy chandelier, pair od cute mugs with love sayings...And because I am romantic to be at home with the ones I love sound just perfect...
BOOKWORMS
Ever since I was a child I used to find a book and don't let go until it is finished. During the years I created a habit of reading something all the time. Even thought my movie fan side is strong, books are the ones that make me live in imaginary worlds. Since I became adult and so responsible mom I do it less often and pick up non fictional readings as well. Now I try to make my son love books too - as the day gets shorter and nights get longer I use the time before bed to introduce a good story. He can't read yet but nevertheless I am convinced it sinks in his cute head. We are Christians and the Bible is the most important story teller I use but the classical fairytales are also present. So come on cold weather, you can't scare us!
CHANGE
If I rewrite the song it will say 'Change is in the air'. I can actually feel it every September. Even though autumn is a season that marks the end of something it also gives hope for the new seasons to come. Most of the times in my life when I was in a transitional period it was during these three months. Maybe it is an old habit from school when I used to motivate myself that summer is over and time for some seriousness has come - so next year I would do better, know more, achieve more... There is time for everything under the sun and this time it is time for some getting-things-done time. Or maybe it is simply because new year is just few months away and I am still at point 1 from my new years' resolution list....
Whatever the thing is, make it happen!
Isn't it exciting!
LOVE
Like I told you I am romantic. Autumn inspires me to find ways of expressing my love more often. I love my husband but does he know it? I love my son but does he hear it often enough? I love my family but how do I show it? Contrary to the common belief (me, me, it us all about me) love is not selfish and is not about me. It is the opposite of me-we. You may think that spring is the season of love with all the birds, bees and flies (we all have herd this, right) but it's the finishing that counts not the beginning. The fruit not the seed.
In the early autumn the seeds are burried in the ground to spend there the whole cold winter so new life would be born and fruits would be born.  So God help me, I must learn to love :)
ME&MYSELF
Now this is a controversy, right. Actually not at all. This season is also about being aware of myself and the things in my life. To archive the previous point we all need to start from the inside of us. Autumn inspires physical change - get healthier, get stronger, get fit. Not because other people would like me but because I need to take care of this body to do all the things I want.
It inspires me to look inside me and find what old bad habit has to die and what needs to be taken care if so can survive the hardship and bloom in the next season. Too often we look only at the appearance, the outfits, the face and seldom we find the strength to find who are and what is the purpose for doing things.

So, yeah, that is why I fall in love in autumn all over again each time September is here. I hope it helped persuade you.

Zhanina

Weekly motivational #2

Hello everyone!

If by any chance you are reading this blog since it's beginning you must have noticed that the weekly motivational series is a bit late.
It was supposed to launch on Sunday but here we are on Monday evening.

The previous week passed so quickly for me and my family. We started an adventure together - packed up some bags with essential items, put them in our car and headed trough all Europe  towards the United Kingdom (some boring works stuff...)
This is an adventure that will yet reveal many great opportunities for our family and will, of course, give me many topics for this blog.

Even though I am super excited I already am facing challenges and hardships. To help myself get motivated and probably help you too, I chose theme close to me.

Today's weekly topic will be about belief. Normally when we meet difficulties we tend to loose hope and faith.
When we stop believing we loose our focus on things so we easily miss the aim.

You may be in school, university, college; you may have your own struggles in your family or your friends might have given you hard time.

This week I want you (and me for that matter) to start with new attitude towards things. Maybe we can turn our won'ts into wills and the negative thoughts into good confession.

Sometimes it is all in our mindsets.

I know you herd this but faith can indeed move mountains!  I have seen it in my life, definitely you can see it in yours.

So when you wake up again try to have your mind set to this - I believe!

See you soon
Zhanina

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Привет на всички!
Ако четете този блог от самото начало,  може би сте забелязали, че мотивиращата седмична публикация
малко закъсня.Трябваше да бъде публикувана в Неделя ,но ето ни в Понеделник вечер.

Предишната седмица измина прекалено бързо за мен и моето семейство. Ние заедно започнахме едно приключение - стегнахме багажа с най-нужните неща, натоварихме го в колата и изминахме цяла Европа и се насочихме към Англия( скучни неща свързани  с работа.)

Това приключение тепърва ще разкрива различни възможности за нашето семейство,но също така ще ми даде много теми за блога.

Въпреки че, съм много развълнувана вече съм изправена пред много предизвикателства и трудности.За да помогна на себе си да се мотивирам, а да помогна и на вас, избрах тема близка до мен.

Днес седмичната тема ще бъде за вярването.Нормално когато срещнем трудности - изгубваме вяра и надежда.Когато спрем да вярваме губим фокуса си на нещата - изпускаме лесно и  целта.

Може да си в училище,колеж,университет;проблеми в семейството или  неразбирателство с приятели.
Тази седмица от теб искам (и от мен също така)
да имаш друго отношение към нещата.Може  би да превърнем "не" във "да"  и негативните мисли в положителни  изповеди.

Понякога всичко зависи от нашето мислене.

Знам че, сте чували за това, но вярата наистина може да премества планини!Виждала съм го в моя живот, със сигурност може да го видите и във вашия.

Така че, когато се събудите опитайте се умът ви да е настроен така-аз вярвам!

Ще се видим скоро!
Жанина

Weekly motivational #1

Hello everyone!

As the new week approaches I usually need lots of wisdom and motivation to help me have the best week I can and to live it the best way I should.

Most days I find it easy just to be average, to act normal and to blend in. Like they say I just want to go with the flow. Then I come home feeling average, feeling like nobody is noticing me or what I do... So I would normally get discouraged and the next day I would again do things with no passion, no motivation, no desire...

Have you felt like this? Well, so you must know what I am talking about :)

So I decided it was time I did something differently.
Usually challenging yourself is hard so I found a simple way to help me stay focused. This is what I want to share with you.

I started collecting motivational photos and quotes so I can put them on my phone and shuffle them on the home screen. That way every time I look at my phone (which I do more often than I would admit) I see something that helps me stay focused and gives me motivation to keep going.

It doesn't really matter what you need  motivation for - eat healthier, have faith in difficult situation, change a habit, start new season... It works all the time.

I usually browse the web on the topic I want and use keywords. As I am Christian I often save Bible verses on my phone. You can do that too it you can quote smart people, famous people, successful people... You name it.

This week I chose the topic in accordance to the blog's main theme.

When I was teenager I had problems with my weight and I did not like how my body looked, I didn't like my hair nor my face. I wanted to switch my body with an actress or a model. This all ended up in me being miserable all the time missing all the fun my friends had. Worse than that - I forgot my own value and lost my self respect . Thank God I manage to change this before I started doing drugs or having mindless one-night stands but I could have.

So I had to start reevaluating myself.
I had to learn how to love myself.
And I did but it was not easy.

It took lots of effort, I promise you!

So the sooner you decide to change the better.

Here is my lovely little compilation for this week. Most of the images were found trough the We <3 it app.

Beauty is defined by much more than the appearance itself. As they say, beauty is in the eye's of the beholder.It is not important how much make up you put on it's important how hard you push to challenge yourself.

Nothing more to say. There may be sorrow in the night but joy comes in the morning!

Just accept it! You ARE beautiful!

More than that - you are worth it. You deserve to be loved, you are so so precious human being that there is no one else like you in the whole world. Cool, huh!

Here I love the word game - do not waste time to look like anyone else because you can look the best if you are comfortable in your own skin. ;)

Just see my comments above :) You are one in a billion! Or maybe more!

Now, feel free to use my super smart statements as your daliy dose of motivation.

Feel free to comment if you do.

Remember - you are loved!

xxx Zhanina

The 100 dollars table / Сто доларовата масичка

Probably you must be wondering by now what kind of blog this is and why it's called 100dollarstable.

Well, let me tell you a story first - you may have heard it and you may have come across it.
Sadly I do not know who the author is. I will share it with you the way I remember it ( I may have altered the story a bit as it is more than 10 years after I first heard it ;) ) 
I was told this story at the most dark period of my teen years and it helped me learn something very, very important.

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So, there was once an old lady that had lots of things in the attic. She decided one day to get rid of them as they were sitting there for a long time and were old and useless.
The lady organized a garage sale so she dusted the items off a little and tried to make them look nice for the buyers. She had put a label with price on each item so the potential customers could decide for themselves.
On the day of the sale there were many people who bought different items from that lady. However, by the end of the day there were few items left that nobody seemed to like. Among them there was a solid wooden table that was badly damaged by time and use. It was placed in the very back and looked like it was going to fall any minute ad the legs were not securely attached to the body.

source

Just as the woman decided to call  it a day one man approached the unhappy table. He picked up the price tag to make sure he understood the price. It said $100. The men looked at the table then at the lady seller then at the table again. He then said:
"I offer you $10 for this useless pile of wood".
"Useless?! " the lady was very angry with him. "Old maybe, yes. It may need some mending, that's true but it has still more life in it!  "
The man smiled. "OK, you are sentimental, I get it. So I offer you $20 if this will make you feel better but I tell you, it is broken beyond repair. Nobody will want that old thing in their home. The only useful thing about it is that it will burn bright in my fireplace..."
"You want to burn it? But, sir, come and have a look!" and she literally made him bend to have a close look "See - this pattern is very rare, it is sourced from a very specific type of tree. Actually, this table was given to my late husband and me as a wedding gift from one very rich relative and it was very, very expensive, now I remembered that... Hmmm, why did I ever put it in the attic..." And the lady continued remembering sweet details about this table and her family.
The man listened for a while then he interrupted her and said:
"Well, alright, I may have underestimated you - you are very good negotiator, I must admit! Even though I wanted to buy the table so I can burn it now I see that it may be put to some use in my garage or basement. However, just because you are very fond of it, I will let you have $50 for that poor old thing. What do you say about it?"
The lady answered immediately: "I say NO!"
"No? Why not? After all it is an old table that has broken legs and needs much repair. It has dents all over the top, it has some mold here and there... If you were so keen on it why did you let it get so damaged in the first place?"
The lady thought for a moment. The she said: "You know what? You are absolutely right!"
" So you will sell it for $50"?
" No I will not sell it for $50 or $100, I will not sell it at all..." said the woman quietly not taking her eyes off the table.
The man started laughing loudly. "I have never met a seller like you before, you know! You are great at selling - you made me like this old thing, I admit it. I want to buy it. I will pay the $100 you want!"
"You were not listening, sir, I will not sell it at all. After you tried to show me the table's flaws you made me realize how unique it were. I will keep it in my home and will appreciate it's beauty just the way it is!"
"So even if I offer $200 you will still won't sell it? After you kept it in the attic for nearly decades?" the man asked a bit irritated at the lady but also at himself.
"Well, sir," the lady spoke " the thing is that I had forgotten how precious this old wooden table was. I had forgotten that it got all it's dents because my kids played on it all the time when they were little. I had forgotten that my husband served me coffee on it every afternoon when he was alive. I had forgotten about all the wonderful memories I have with it. 
To be honest I am so thankful to you for reminding me of that. Now with my kids all grown up and gone and my husband dead, my precious little old table is still reminding me of them. I won't sell it, sir, not for $200 or $1000 or for all the money in the world for that matter. 
Sorry to have wasted your time but this table is not for sale."
And as she spoke she started cleaning the table again and the man walked his way.

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I got inspired by this story so much that I wanted to share it with others. Long time ago in another blog of mine ( currently non-existing) I posted just the story.  People read it and that was all.
Now, I want to go a bit further. 
I invited two of my best friends in the whole world to contribute to this blog. 
We want to make it more that just a story-sharing place. 
We want it to help you - wherever you are, whatever you are doing - to realize how unique you were made and how precious you are. 
We will not tell you the right way to dress so you can be liked by others ( even though we will share some advice on this matter), nor will we ask you to look like someone else to be considered pretty.
Our goal for this blog is to make you like yourself - just the way you are.
Like the 100 dollars table ;)

Zhanina

p.s. If you liked this post, please, please comment below. We are still working on the blog and every advice will be so very helpful!
p.p.s We will run this blog both in Bulgarian and in English ( which is not our native language, so please, please, forgive us if we make mistakes )

Септември -време за нов сезон. / September - time for new season.

Добре дошли!
Първата публикация в този блог ще използваме за приветствие, в следващите ще дадем повече информация за блога и авторите.
За сега искаме само да Ви поканим да се настаните уютно тук, тъй като имаме огромното желание този блог да бъде вашето виртуално местенце, което с радост посещавате.
Прекрасно е, че старта му съвпада с месец септември - обичайно това е време за старт на нов сезон в живота на много хора, както в буквален така и в преносен смисъл. Може да искате да отслабнете, да се храните здравословно, да промените навици, да усвоите хоби...
Ще се радваме, ако нашия и вашия сезон съвпаднат!
Ще се радваме и ако тук намерите мотивация и смисъл да продължите напред в новия сезон с увереност.
Но за това по-нататък през месеца.
Стойте нащрек!

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Welcome!
We will use the very first post in this blog just to greet you all, later on we will add much more info about the blog itself and the authors.
For now we want to make you feel comfortable and ask you to settle cosy here as our greatest wish is to create this online space that you would gladly visit.
It is so great that the launch of the blog is in the beginning of September - usually it is the time for a new season in people's lives - literally or just mentally. Maybe you want to loose weight, eat healthier, change your habits, find a hobby...
We will be very happy if your season coincides with our!
We will be very happy if in this blog you can find the motivation and at some point how to get into this new  season (and do it with confidence)!
However, you will find more about it later during this month.
Stay tuned!