Orange & Black Halloween

I took some pictures this weekend that capture the colors of Halloween; orange and black. Harvest time is starting in October when things look orange everywhere due to pumpkins, autumn and leaves. This is where the orange is coming from. Black color refers to the festival of the dead and darkness which is a belief in Halloween. So this is where the black comes from. Regardless of the meanings of the colors, the combination of the two always reminds me one of my favorite holidays where I get to eat a lot of candies and chocolates like a kid :) I love Halloween...

Bits of Indonesia

My dear friend and coworker Silvie has just returned from her 3 week vacation in Bali. As much as I was happy to see her back in the office, I was also thrilled to find that cute gift bag with souveniers from Indonesia...I love the coconut candle, sterling silver jewelry and Indonesian fabric head band.

Books and bookends

Borders is closing its stores :( and we know that the reason behind this is not that people are not reading any more but they prefer using digital platforms where they have convenient access to thousands of e-books, audio books, music CDs, movies, and etc...
I did one of my Borders trip yesterday at the Palo Alto store which is having a closeout sale of 60-80%. I got 2 books at a very good deal but it still does not change the fact that my hearth is still crying for Borders.

As I was placing my new books on the bookshelf in our living area I realized my bookshelf was lacking a key element; some bookends to hold the books from sliding. As I started searching online I found these bookends at Barneys but as soon as I found these I also had to forget about them right away since they have an average price of $295 per pair. They are extremely cute though...

Spice up your shoes

Never been a huge fan of high heels ever since I was a teenager but I love to wear them occasionally such as at a cocktail party, company dinners, weddings and etc...other than at these sort of events, I am totally a flat ballet shoes lover.
Just recently I have seen an article about shoe condoms and started browsing more on the web. You can see more designs and purcase them here.

Herbs, spices...Sky Planters!

What a wonderful way of growing herbs indoors. Not only they look cute as an indoors decoration piece but also they help you spice up your food. I have always wanted to have the convenience of having my favorite herbs while experimenting my cooking talents. Sky planter seems like a very fun idea to keep some fresh parsley, dill and basils in your kitchen.

Cute little happy things

Starting a blog was a very sudden decision. Me and my family ( hubby, mom and 11 year old cousin) were returning back from an LA trip. As my dear hubby Tugrul was managing the wheel, I was trying to keep my focus on my new book  'The girl who played with fire'. The first few pages are as boring as the first book but I still can not wait to get to the mid sections where I would turn into a lady Sherlock Holmes and bring some extra anxiety to my life with all the conspiracy theories I will create from the story and the characters. Not having an ADD diagnosis in my health records, I have started to question myself about why I was having to read every page 3 times and still forget what I had read just two minutes ago. The answer was pretty simple; my mind was somewhere else. I was already getting worried about the fact that my mom and cousin would be ending their visit and going back to their towns. During their visit I had spent a majority of my time working either from home or from work. I realized that I could not share my life with them as much as I wanted to. I still had a lot of stories
to tell them about my life, friends, job, hobbies and my life in California.
I had to do something...
I would start writing, posting photos, sharing my life...I would start a blog! This was the solution! :) 

Here are some photos of little sweet things that my mom and cousin brought for me from Turkey. They made me the happiest people in the world.

 [Rose shaped portable folding bag and flower shaped hair rope that my cousin brought to me]

 

[Scented soap with evil eye, my mom's gift]

A few people who have inspired or encouraged me are;
-My husband who has always supported me.
-My parents who have always encouraged me about my artistic skills and my interest in photography
-My cousin Hazal who has proved that the talent is running in my family's blood. ( http://hazalyilmaz.com/)
-My dear friend Ezgi who for the last 2 years been trying to convince me to start a fashion blog
-My dear friend Sebnem by showing me a great example of how you can keep your family in your life even if they are thousands of miles away.
http://acarbebik.blogspot.com/
-My amazing group of friends, I know I will never run out of subject or motivation as long as I have you guys in my life.