#candvinathens

[cocoandvera]

“Tell me what you really think…” That phrase makes me cringe every time I hear it - especially when it’s directed at me. And it is, often. I’m honest, always, without being unkind and not shy about asking for what I want or setting expectations. That’s not a trait that’s looked on particularly favourably in women. Many people still expect us to manage the emotions of those around us, to consider ourselves last if it means making other people more comfortable. I’m not here for it. I grew up believing that I needed to be nice, at the expense of my own comfort, in order to be considered likeable, because my value was external to me and dictated by others; that if someone didn’t like me, the fault was mine and I needed to try harder or be better. And if someone did like me, that didn’t mean I could relax; I still needed to prove myself to them, every single day, with kindness and unflagging loyalty and constant giving of myself, regardless of what resources I had left. And then, once, I pushed it too far. I tried to protect someone from an uncomfortable truth that I could never hold back forever, thinking I was being kind. When I finally couldn’t my lie anymore, the fallout was far worse than if I’d just told the truth in the first place. So I will always tell you exactly what I really think. I will always be forthright, even if it makes some people a little bit uncomfortable. Well-behaved women rarely make history and they rarely, I know from personal experience, feel very good about themselves. Speak up. What you really think matters - to you most of all, and you deserve to be heard 🖤 #candvinathens (at Athens, Greece) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpfYSs9LpI-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cocoandvera]

Forever dreaming of sandal weather… 💭 But since it’s still snowy outside, I’ll be staying safely indoors (wearing slippers instead of sandals) and doing something I’ve never tried before - going live at 11 am this morning to talk all about the Saint-Antoine series. If you’re staying inside today, too, I hope you’ll join me 🖤 #candvinathens (at Athens, Greece) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpXyBzyr9bF/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cocoandvera]

It’s not my birthday - but just in case anyone is wondering, I’m a size aisle seat in plane tickets, and I would dearly love one right about now… 💭 Seriously craving all the adventures (and mostly just warm weather to enjoy life in, this whole six months of winter in Canada thing has been a fact of my entire existence here but it gets more tiresome with every passing year, as does, I suspect, my complaining about it 😏) #candvinathens (at Athens, Greece) https://www.instagram.com/p/Co227hSvDwN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cocoandvera]

Staring down my to-do list like… 😎 For most of us, today marks the return to reality, or the first work day of another year. That includes me. And, admittedly, I didn’t prepare myself super well for it. I’m sitting here frantically filling in my calendar for the next three weeks as I type this out, but honestly, it’s fine. It will all be fine. That’s the attitude that I want to bring into and carry through this year. All these little things that feel so important and urgent are really just little things… in the grand scheme of it all, they only matter as much as we allow them to. As someone who has never met a problem that she didn’t want to make her own, and never encountered a responsibility she wouldn’t take on, this will be easier said than done… but it’s a worthy goal, I think, and I’m working on it 🖤 Happy Tuesday! dress | @zara sunglasses | @rayban earrings | @agapestudio #candvinathens (at Athens, Greece) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm9J_ZSLZwx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cocoandvera]

Happy New Year, my friends! It may be the first of January, but really, this is a Sunday like any other. The story continues. There is no need to reset or restart unless you want to, no reason to resolve to change your life simply because the old year came to its inevitable end. You’re good enough just as you are now. You’re already doing enough. In fact, you could probably rest more - just saying 😉 However you’re starting 2023, and whatever you’re hoping it will bring for you, I wish you all of it, and more 🥂 shirt | @hm shorts | @zara flip flops | @havaianas bag | @etsy sunglasses | @oldceline #candvinathens (at Athens, Greece) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm4KkmSrUEP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cocoandvera]

There is a younger version of you who is so proud of how far you’ve come - or so they say. I’m pretty sure my younger self is staring at me in disbelief. She had, a teacher once told her, a healthy dose of skepticism; this was meant as a compliment, and it was also true. But it spilled over onto everything, including her belief in what her life could be - she wanted so much more, but it felt impossible, unattainable for someone “like her.” If I told her this would be our life now, she’s scoff at me. I know it 😏 #candvinathens (at Athens, Greece) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl3oikLrp2P/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cocoandvera]

Details 🤎🤍🖤 top | @almadalabel blazer | @aritzia shorts | @hm necklace | @oldceline #candvinathens (at Athens, Greece) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl1DxYnrnJa/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cocoandvera]

A little bit of Friday fantasy… 📷 Imagine it… it’s a summer day in Athens. Still early - you were up before the sun climbed over the mountains, ate breakfast in the warmth of darkness on your patio. The rays are still fine and pale, not high or bright enough yet to peek over the top of the taller ruins. You love to sleep, but this is the best time of day to see the sights, while everyone else is still in bed, and there’s one in particular you want all to yourself: Hadrian’s Library. It’s not a library anymore, just a pile of crumbled marble and beautiful bricks, but once, centuries ago, it was home to a collection of scrolls so extensive that is might have come close to rivalling the Library of Alexandria, the one all book lovers still mourn because it burned. Hadrian’s Library doesn’t live in our collective memory in the same way, but it was no less impressive in it’s ambition: it was meant to be a mecca of cultural life, a temple to the written word. Now, all that remains is a single wall, a partial staircase and the last remnants of beautiful dream that ended so quickly it’s almost as if it had never begun 🖤 #candvinathens (at Athens, Greece) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClYu_kVrdWA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=