Anastasia

Summer Time

Dear Diary,

Yet another school year has just come to an end. Right now, I feel terribly exhausted after two hectic months at work. Today, at 12 : 00 pm, I signed the last final report for the school year 2004-2005. When I left the office this afternoon , I went to the beach, had a swim for an hour or so and then I enjoyed my own company as well as a delicious Chef Salad at one of the many restaurants on the Promenade.

While gazing at the sea, I indulged in day-dreaming. In about 2 weeks from today, I'll be lying on one of the golden beaches in Crete, I'll be thinking of seagulls and seashells and I'll be wearing my bikini and sarong all day long. No make up , no worry what to wear the next day. And , of course, I'll have the chance to go to concerts held in the open air under the stars, see old friends who I haven't seen for a long time and , naturally, go to my gym classes every single day!

Vive les vacances !!!!

6:50 pm

Mon cher Journal Intime,

Eh bien ... façon de parler.....pas tellement intime!! Mais, j'ai promis à tous mes amis francophones que j'écrirais un jour un peu en français. Et je pense que je vais le faire un peu plus souvent maintenant.

Alors! Vive les grandes vacances !!!!! A partir de cet après-midi, je suis officiellement en vacances! Je reviens au travail en septembre. Je ne vois pas le moment de partir à Crète ... dans deux semaines!! Le doux farniente ou quoi ..  J'ai terriblement besoin de me mettre au soleil- en espérant que je vais quand-même bronzer un peu- de nager dans des eaux de crystal; de laisser mon regard se confondre au bleu éclatant de la Grèce - unique au monde à mon avis.

En attendant ... j'ai envie de faire tant de choses que je n'ai pas le temps de faire quand je travaille, comme par exemple aller à mes classes de gym plus souvent, revoir de vieux amis, me balader au bord de la mer sans regarder l'heure, lire, faire du shopping, faire la plage chaque jour et pas seulement les weekends.

Et surtout... me reposer!!! J'en ai terriblement besoin!    

Letter To Andreas

11:25 pm

"Misfortune shows those who are not really friends."
-- Aristotle

Dearest Andreas,

I really cannot find the words to thank you enough for your comment and those exquisite photos of the Night-Blooming  Cereus you attached to your email. I hope you don't mind me using them on my site and sharing them with the world.

But most importantly , I would like to apologise for the delay to get back to you due to pressure at work and also for having to answer a few phone calls when you IMed me the other day.

  As far as I am concerned, I want you to know that my friendship will be forever, because, as Henry Ford said : "My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me."  And you do.

                                         Love

                                             Anastasia

PS  I have a hunch...I am sure that night-blooming cereus will bring you luck. Download kalimera.mid

 

Anastasia's crash diet!!

BREAKFAST

- A bowl of Kellogs Red Fruit cereals

- Small low-fat yogurt preferably red fruit flavour

- A small croissant with a teaspoon of orange jam preferably from Trimiklini

- A very small piece of brie or edam or gouda (full fat)

- 2 cups of black coffee (no milk / no sugar)

- A pint of energy-boost cocktail : 2 grapefruit, 2 oranges, 1 lemon - all freshly squeezed

- 3 glasses of very cold mineral water preferably Vittel

OR

-2 big croissants

- A teaspoon of blueberry jam

- 1 green apple

-Coffee and energy-booster fresh juice (see above)

OR

- 4 slices of medium-size toasted brown bread with some jam and butter

- 1 cup of  aniseed tea ( no sugar)

LUNCH

- 3 KFC hot wings

- 15 chips

- 1 coleslaw salad

- 1 small glass of 7up diet

AFTERNOON SNACK

-1,5  litre of mineral water preferably Evian

- 6 crisps

OR

- 1 pint of beer

OR

- 1 frappe (no milk / no sugar)

- 2 biscuits

DINNER

- 1 grilled fillet steak/ OR grilled chicken/ OR grilled fish

- 1 teaspoon of barbecue/tartar or bearnaise sauce

- 12 slices of grilled aubergine

- 2 small slices of bread

- 2-3 glasses of red dry wine preferably Domaine D'Ahera

- 1,5 litre of mineral water

MIDNIGHT SNACK ...in case you are still hungry

- 9 cherries

OR

2 slices of melon

OR

3 teaspoons of ice cream with whipped cream

OR

1 Grand Marnier and 6 cashew nuts

CONDITIONS

1. You must never follow this crash diet for more than 2 weeks

2. You must drink a lot of water in-between meals and snacks

3. YOU MUST NEVER ..BINGE !!!

4. You have ONE free day weekly (see below)

5 YOU MUST BY ALL MEANS COMBINE THIS DIET WITH CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE, PILATES, AND BODY PUMP ...AT LEAST 4 TIMES WEEKLY!!!

YOUR FREE DAY:

Absolutely anything you like - no quantity limit

TO AVOID (BY ALL MEANS!)

...bougatsa with ...krasi and pagoto !!!! (unless you wish to end up in hospital!)

ANASTASIA'S GUARANTEE

Provided you follow this crash diet to the letter you may lose 1-2 kilos weekly ...Tried and tested !!!    

Bougatsa ...krasi and ...pagoto !!!

Dear Diary,

Let me tell you all about this very exciting weekend !! Sorry I was unable to speak to you last night but we came back home at 5 am - this is to say today ...! Saturday night fever or what !!

On Saturday morning I had my nails painted ...orange.... a bright summery orange which I happened to like very much !! (I hardly ever paint my nails orange). Thanks , Christina ! Even hubby liked my orange nails and toes !! By the way, what's the colour scheme for next week ??? Needless to say ... I put my trust in Christina's artistic inspiration!

Later in the afternoon, inspired by the unbearably hot weather, I thought I'd ride Angelo to cool down, which was a bad idea after all, since Angelo was tired and hot and hardly managed a trot ! Is he getting old ???

Seeing that Angelo was in a very bad mood, I had a divine swim instead at Ormidia Bay. Considering my semi-divine nature, I did my very best to put Aphrodite to shame by jumping over the waves - an activity that I thoroughly enjoyed !!

Finally, I also enjoyed our evening out till the early morning hours !.....As Steve says ... Bougatsa with krasi and pagoto ... Oh ! Yuk !!!

Time out ..in Nicosia

00:56

Dear Diary,

I had the morning off today and  thought I'd spend it at my hometown Nicosia. For some weird reason I got lost in Aglatzia. Hey, young Cypriot men of 20 ++ !!! Have a look at the link !!!!! It's very hot! Finally , I found my way back to the city centre and shopped at Marks and Spencer. I was spoilt rotten by mum who insisted on paying my sarong and my two swimming costumes!!! That's what mums are for , anyway !

Had lunch with an old friend of mine at Mondo Cafe and really enjoyed it!!!  I ordered a grilled chicken with steam vegetables and a big portion of chips all watered down with a very cold Stella Artois. It goes without saying that I had apple tart and ice cream for desert!

The afternoon at the office was ...more than hectic !! But , I didn't mind at all since I felt as light as a feather ! Must be the beer !

I was more than happy to reach Larnaca at about 4 pm ! Much cooler!! At least in my office!

The bottom line is ... I got 2 very nice bikinis - an azure one and a pink one (of course!) PLUS a sarong ...all worth 70 pounds ... and , most importantly ...mum paid for them all!!!

Siesta Time

03:25 pm

Dear Diary,

During the summer months , lunch break in Cyprus starts at 01:00 pm and ends at 05:00 pm. It's siesta time since many people love taking a nap before going back to work in the afternoon. As far as I am concerned , I take advantage of my long lunch break to finish pending work so that by June 30th I can give clear instructions to my very efficient secretary ...i.e. as from tomorrow ... I'm given up for lost ! Or...Don't you dare give my private mobile phone to anyone...anyway ..even my private moblie phone is permanently switched off during my holidays in August....

As from July 1st ...my schedule becomes all the more enticing:

11:00 - 12:00 am - breakfast time

12:00-3:00 pm ...beach time

3:00 -4:00pm SOUVLAKI AND/OR/FISH AND CHIPS/   AND BEERS ON THE BEACH ( I am corrupted !)

5:00 - 7:00pm  SIESTA TIME !!!

8:15 - 9:15 pm Gym classes

10:15 - .....  Yahoo chat or ...dining out

Back to reality ! It's been a very hectic week! Both at work and socialising...We are entertaining some very good Swiss friends of ours tonight and I must be ready by 7:45pm ....I finish work at 7pm ...ohhh how on earth am I going to make it ??? As per usual , we'll be late again and hubby will be grumbling .. he must have been a Brit in some other life...horribly, unbearably punctual ! Although he is a very intelligent man , he hasn't quite realised yet that in Cyprus when we say 8pm we mean 9pm ...as simple as that ...and sometimes 10pm .... Ah well ...Oh , I forgot .. our friends are ... Swiss pretty much like the Brits .. anyway the wife IS British !

Better go back to work ... I am looking at my schedule ... I might just as well be able to sneak out of the office and ....Excel by ..let's say ...6pm... Hopefully !

A colourful weekend

01:30 pm

Dear Diary,

Two more weeks to go before I say to everyone at work ... see you in September!! At the moment , I am at my office and have been issuing results since early this morning.  I am very glad to see that this year Junior A & B , Elementary and Pre-Intermediate made it and quite a few of them with flying colours.

My weekend was quite colourful in more ways than one ! Literally in the first place since I dared a colour-coordinated outfit in turquoise and light green and matched it with silver high-heeled sandals and a pink and silver Fendi bag from their Spring -Summer 2005 collection. Secondly, I really had a very nice time at Larnaca's most important festival - Kataklysmos. I even won a huge teddy bear at one of the many competitions called kazandi. Thirdly, I went clubbing at Πλατεία and last but not least on Sunday evening I had a very romantic dinner with hubby at Krateon Steak House.

At the moment ... I could do with a holiday!!!!

A long weekend

1:45 pm

Dear Diary,

It's been quite some time hubby and I have been trying to find a free weekend to get away. Yet, we always had other things to do such as socialising which we couldn't practically avoid! Same goes for this weenk as well which is a long one since Monday is a day off. We usually went away at this time of year...usually to Paphos or Protaras, but this year there's a busy weekend ahead. A very good friend of mine has her birthday party tonight and we are invited. Tomorrow a Christening at lunch time and a dinner party in the evening. On Sunday evening , we are invited to a wedding reception but we decided not to go since we do need some time off for the two of us.

However, every cloud has a silver lining, so we might just as well have the chance to enjoy ourselves in Larnaca which looks its best at this time of year. The festival of Kataklysmos- the Greek Orthodox Whitsun- has been a very old tradition for the city of Larnaca and , I must admit, we've only been to the festival twice in 20 years ! I can still remember the husltle and bustle along the Promenade - Finikoudes.

Larnaca's most important festval now equals the famous Wine Festival in Limassol and attracts people from all over Cyprus. It begins today and on Monday evening it reaches its culminating point with a variety of concerts, folklore dancing, and competitions. But for the people of Larnaca, the festival lasts six days and ends with a spectacular show of fireworks, lots of dancing and singing and, naturally, koupes (cigar shaped wheat cases with mince meat filling) and loukoumades !

Five eggs and an ...explosion !

Dear Diary,

Considering that I am a semi-goddess sent to Earth by Zeus to study the humans - I might just as well be promoted to the highly divine status of goddess...remains to be seen ...(end of digression!)...... I have a sneaking suspicion that Era, feeling terribly jealous of my semi-divinity, has placed a curse on me !

The curse being ....something connected with fire or ...burning ! Not long ago, my ethernet card was burnt out ... I can still recall the weird smell. The following day, while I was driving to work, I saw a car on fire !! Thank God, it wasn't mine ! Today, I had come home from work and thought I'd boil some eggs to use them in my new invention : Anastasia's Olympian Salad (I'll give you the recipe one of these days).

While waiting for the eggs to boil , I called my best friend in Athens and started chatting away the hours when ...all of a sudden ... I heard a terrible explosion ! Undoubtedly, something was cooking in the kitchen !!! I dropped my mobile phone on the floor and went to the kitchen to ....check on things !! I could not believe what I saw! It was a scary sight ! All five eggs would pop up and burst in all directions! I was so terrified that I forgot to switch off the cooker ! As a result, the pan was burnt , too! And there was practically no water in it!

And because of Era's divine curse ....just at that very moment ... hubby came back from work !! I ran away and went to hide under the bed amidst the shoe boxes ! ...while the eggs would still busrst in all directions...and the pan would keep burning...

I heard hubby saying ..."What on earth is happening here ?????"...and judging by the tone of his voice ..I thought it was much wiser to remain in my hiding place....

When I finally got out ....he made me clean the mess....told me off saying that I could have easily set the flat on fire ! I was even more terrified....and started crying...It always works with hubby !!! Thank God I was able to cry ! Because , after having cleaned up, he took me in his arms to console me ! And gave me his present ! Three pink roses!

The aftermath: we had spaghetti with tomato sauce for dinner ( hubby cooked it ! ). As for the eggs ...and considering my semi-divine nature, they were a burnt offering to the altar of love !