how to feel appreciated

The weekend is almost here and for me it's going to be a long one.

I am off on  Monday because my manager is going away for 2 weeks, so I will be working 6 days in a row during that time.

But besides a 3 day weekend to look forward to, I have another reason to be very happy and thankful for, something that would make anybody appreciated.

Our company requires that we have 2 staff appreciation activities during the year (every 6 months). Well, every year for the past 3 years we have been going out to dinner with everybody and our spouses, and that is always treat but kind of always the same thing.

Well, this year we have a new manager, a lady that is very nice, very proactive and has a lot of new fresh ideas, and besides for the first time ever our whole staff is all women (besides my big boss, the artist, that is a man). So she has put together an afternoon of pampering at Hibiscus Spa at the The Westin Hotel.

We are all getting an hour massage of our preference, a facial treatment and a pedicure. But besides those treatments they have a steam and sauna that we can all use for the afternoon. The whole heavenly experience starts at 2pm and ends around 6pm. Isn't that a wonderful treat? Makes you feel really appreciated.

Can't wait 'till tomorrow afternoon, will share my experiences in the next couple of days, meanwhile enjoy your weekend, otherwise I'll make sure to relax and enjoy it for y'all!!!

Have a wonderful weekend : )

how great Love is...

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. 

One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all repaired their boats and left. Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment.

When the island was almost sinking…Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, “Richness, can you take me with you?” Richness answered, “No, I can’t…there is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you.”

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel, “Vanity, please help me!” “I can’t help you Love,you are all wet and might damage my boat,” Vanity answered. 

Sadness was close by so Love asked for help. “Sadness let me go with you.” “Oh…Love …I am so sad that I need to be by myself!”

Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her! 

Suddenly, there was a voice “Come, Love, I will take you.”It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the elder his name.

When they arrived at dry land, the elder went his own way. Love, realizing how much he owed the elder, asked Knowledge, another elder, “Who helped me?” “It was Time,” Knowledge answered. “Time?” asked Love. “But why did Time help me?” Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, “Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is.”

Isn't this a lovely story? I was able to share thanks to my cousin Mariam that send to me by email. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did.
Have a wonderful day! <3

Xmas in Aug.

Yesterday after work I stopped at the post office to check my mail.

Oh what a great surprise, I got a beautiful package all the way from Greece.

It's such a wonderful feeling to get mail, I love it! The thought of something travel so far to find me, that somebody was thinking about me and that they even made the special effort in sending me something, makes me feel very appreciated, fortunate and blessed.

beautiful Geek Kitties and a lovely post card

Thank you Joan, your packages are always beautiful and very well appreciated. I feel sad that the one I sent you last is still not there, so there's another one coming soon as well...

I loved the kitties she sent me. Last year when I visited my mom she had one like those I received yesterday, (but that one has a longer tail to hold rings for when you are doing the dishes). Well, that one kitty is been pretty lonely, but not anymore, now he was company, only thing, he needs to learn to speak Greek or teach them some Spanish!!!

3 is company

How exciting was to receive this yesterday, it was like Christmas in August!!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday
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Silver Sides

My weekend was very enjoyable, we got some good weather during the day but also some nice and heavy showers for the plants, so we are all happy!

Yesterday we went to see my brother and sister in law and did 2 boat dives on the North Side Wall with the company they work for, they took us to some amazing dive spots.

First one was Babylon (named after the hanging gardens of Babylon because of the coral formations that literary hang from this huge coral pinnacle), unfortunately my camera was not cooperating with me so the pictures came out quite blue, here is my favorite and possible best one of that site.

my husband cruisin' along

Now, on the second dive site, we visited a place called Dragon's Lair, and we had one of the most unbelievable underwater encounters, but this time it wasn't with a big fish, but many, many tiny ones.

Here's a video I took of the Silver Sides on that dive.

Isn't it amazing??? while you are going through them, at times it's a very thick "cloud" and you can barely see the person right in front of your, in fact during the whole video my brother was leading the dive but I can't see him most of the time... Here's a picture of what it looks like.

It was an amazing sight and a one of a kind experience, I really enjoyed the dives and spending time with my brothers, now I am fully energized and ready to take on another work week.

Hope your weekend was also nice, have a wonderful week!