As I was rushing to post one more Christmas theme while waiting at the airport lounge (ahh, gold status, I will surely miss you next year! :), it dawned on me that I am defeating the purpose of what I need... a real vacation. So... with that said: Hello from Bulgaria, where the skies are bluer, the grass is greener (most of the year) and the goats are smarter. Or at least that's how glorious it feels to be home right now...
See you soon everyone and Happy New Year!
When you love something, every time you come back to it, it feels like you never left and you find something new to love about it... And my hometown Plovdiv has been undergoing a sort of Renaissance in the past few years which makes it even more interesting to visit: old ruins learning new tricks, playful modern novelties throughout, and art and culture beaming at every corner. What I love the most about Plovdiv though is how all of these seemingly contradicting things about it live so easily together.
So, here is a quick look at the old (Plovdiv's Roman stadium that housed more than 30,000 spectators; Plovdiv's Roman amphitheater which is still a home to nightly performances and houses a good 5,000 people; the main cathedral; Plovdiv's City Hall; the Main Street; and sights from the Old Town from the 19th century):
And here's a look at some of the new the city has to offer (a sign celebrating Plovdiv's selection to be European culture capital for 2019; some gorgeous murals I came across and a look at the lovely decor of a restaurant I visited):
Happy Sunday!
A very easy-to-make cake that is fast, fresh and VERY tasty. Preparation time is about 10 minutes, bake time is about 30 minutes. Read through to get the entire recipe!
I have written about the Bulgarian tradition of Name days before but today is a special day to bring up the topic again - it is my mom's Name day! Name days (имени дни) in Bulgaria are usually associated with Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox celebrations of the saint you are named after. And they are as important as Birthdays are in the US.
A fun fact? By an ancient Bulgarian tradition, everybody is welcome on Name days (there is no need to invite guests, they just show up at your house - quite an opportunity for your party-prone friends, don't you think?). Presents are expected though.
If you are to show up at your friends' place for their Name day, it's good to know that common well-wishes include "May you hear your name from grandchildren and great-grandchildren!" (Да чуеш името си на внуци и правнуци!), "May you hear your name only in good things!" (Да ти се чува името само за добро!) and "May your name be healthy and well!" (Да ти е живо и здраво името!) (thank you, Wikipedia for reminding me of that ...).
So there you have it - mom, please expect a horde of folks at your door today. They should be bringing presents with them though.
HAPPY NAME DAY to the BEST mom in the world!!!
Greetings from beautiful Bulgaria! After three years of somehow resisting the urge to book a ticket and go home, I finally took the plunge and was quickly reminded of the beautiful place I come from! For the mere three days I have spent here thus far, I have accumulated an obscene amount of pictures I want to share... so this is part one of a few upcoming insanely image-heavy, almost wordless (for I do find the pictures to be worth a thousand words) posts about my home.
Today, I wanted to share with you the charms of Hrabrino, a tiny village ten miles west of Plovdiv, that my parents happen to call their home now.
Hello! My name is Katya. Welcome to my blog! Kaya Boutique is about home design, tasty food, travel adventures and some DIY projects, or all the things that make life creative and colorful.
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A few months back, a co-worker of mine convinced me to join my company's Spartan Race team. He didn't talk it up much: he mentioned it's a long-ish run with a few fun obstacles. You know, no big deal. Something someone who runs as much as me should complete more than easily (read, you don't really need to train for it). Ha ha ha.