Tweet Tweet, This little bird is ready to fly

Well Happy Monday to you all luvvies! I hope you've all had an enjoyable weekend. So guess what? I have officially joined the land of Tweeting after a little continuous encouragement from the beautiful Bella of The Citizen Rosebud! Huge hugs and thank you to those of you who welcomed me - you guys are seriously awesome! If you're also on Twitter come & find me here. The addiction to comment stalking commences! Tweet Tweet, tout de suite!

via DailyInfoGraphic

In the past weeks, some of you may have noticed some tweaks here and there, with the most obvious change being the aesthestics of this blog. Whilst the look of any blog is important, so are the other elements that comes with building a better blog. I don't neccessarily mean successful, as determining what a successful blog is can mean something completely different from one blogger to another (pageviews, blogging community, land a job or work with a brand?) it's all down to the perspective of the individual.
What I love most about blogging is the community, discussions, inspiration, the close-knit and regularly interactive family of consistently loyal readers.

I'm not exactly a pro on building a better blog but if you are looking to get noticed and grow your readership, note that this will not happen overnight. There are however, plenty of amazing, inspiring successful bloggers out there who share their wealth of information with us and who can help you along the way.
Here are some exemplary, informative reads from blogger buddies I heart! I'd offer them Blog Oscars for their knowledge on how to Build a Better Blog if I could!

• IFB's Responding to "Follow My Blog!" Messages and Comments. I'm sorry guys, whilst comments absolutely make my day, there are some comments like the aforementioned that are slightly irritating, some that just feel truly insincere, especially the one liners (unless they're from blogger buds you know) or the ones who only visit once asking you to follow them and are never to be seen or heard from again - you know the ones! This is a major pet-peeve of mine and also an example of how NOT to grow your readership/traffic! Having said that, I do always make a point of writing back on their blogs though. I invite you all to read Beautifully Invisible's "How to not be a savage blogger".
• Grechen Blogs - really love the '5 Things I've learned about Blogging' project. NEWBIES to blogging, this is a great read featuring different bloggers
• Blogging is like a Roller-Coaster Ride by Tanvii. It sure is but Tanvii takes all of this in her stride. There is always going to be a little Love & Hate - also see her post on Anonymous commenters.
• The stylish and lovely Mis Papelicos posted about building a better blog here and also brought my attention to how annoying Word Verification can be on Blogger Comments. Disable Word Verification in Blogger. Go to 'Settings' then click on Comments tab, scroll down to Show word verification for comments? Click on NO. Easy.
• Onto my fave bloggers: B of Beautifully Invisible recently wrote about "10 Blogging Myths Debunked" - BRILLIANT READ. Plus her other awesome post on "10 things about your blog that drive me crazy" .
• For html, blog design, custom fonts etc check out Faye's blogging tips here.
  
• The building a better blog guru & genius, Vahni of Grit and Glamour has a whole section on her blog dedicated to this subject here. I love her philosphy of "sharing is good", you'll learn heaps from this gorgeous, intelligent, funny, stylish lady!
• Last but not least and slightly unrealated to building a better blog, is Jennifer Fabulous, a fantastic and funny blogger from I know, right? Whose post "Parody of a Fashion Blogger" had me in total, utter stitches! Don't worry it's fictional, she isn't being mean, she's just freakin' hilarious!

via here

Changes I've made:

• Added a Favicon icon - the little personalised icon in the web address bar. If you already have an image you'd like to use, check this link out for instructions on how to add a favicon icon.
• Joined StumbleUpon - brilliant for sharing posts you like, discovering new websites (with your interests in mind) and booking marking sites you love. You can submit any posts you love by clicking the thumbs up icon or hovering over the little social bookmarking icons at the bottom of each post and the StumbleUpon icon is right there.
  
• Added 'Add this' to the post footer on each of my blog post. This service helps share content and drive traffic - a brilliant sharing/bookmarking site.
• Joined Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB)- This site is the brainchild of Jennine Tamm of The Coveted. Seriously have to join this if you haven't already. There is so much info shared here on building a better blog along with amazing blog links & good reads.

That's all folks! Have a great week! Καλή εβδομάδα σε όλους!

Steal of the century: The Ultimate Convertible dress!

It's miiiiiiiiiine! I repeat, I finally scored my dream dress.... I haven't bought anything this epic in ages. One seriously cool dress & 15 ways to wrap and wear it!

Ma-jor purchase in royal blue, one size fits all, talk about genius!

Most of you will know that when a special online sale is due to take place, you do not step away from the laptop. In my case, I dragged mine with me knowing that Cocosa (UK) was hosting the Two Birds designer sale, which was about to kick off in a mere few hours.

I swear I only react this insane when I want something reeeeally bad, ok, no that's probably an understatement. But since I missed out big time on the previous Two Birds sale, I told myself I would not be making such a rookie mistake again. Last time all the amazing dresses sold out like an hour and a half, and I was gutted to say the least. (The collection has sold out already at the time of writing this).

So let me relay how I very nearly did not get this dress.

• Cocosa emails me the day before with a preview of forthcoming sales, I see the Two Birds brand and a little birdie inside my head tells me that's the label I missed out on before.
• Eyes pretty much pop outta my head as I oogle all the fabulous dresses in a myriad of jewel colours. The dress I want was £250, now £119, i'm thinking, 'baaaaargain - I-must-have-it-now!!!!'. Really, this dress is going to get some serious wears.
  
• Set alarm to remember to go online at midday the next day.
• Today: Click on the page of the dress in the colour I want and close laptop set to that page.
• It's nearly midday UK time, need to find wifi connection, done, phew.
• Ok, it's 3 seconds gone and the sales are open, click on add to basket... noooooooo! The screen is blinking, and screaming 'checking availability' at me. Next thing I know it says someone else has put the item in their basket, should they not proceed with the purchase it will then be made available again. I click back to the Two Birds sale page (back and forth at least 5 times) and literally click 'add to basket' on 2 other dresses (held only for 7 minutes by Cocosa) - gotta have back up, know what I mean?
• So after a good 8 minutes of not being able to breathe properly I click back to the royal blue dress and find it's available again, breathe, click 'add to basket'. I had to uncheck the 2 other dresses I didn't want and finally, hoorah after filling in address and payment details it is MINE!

Honestly, I felt like tearing my hair out at one point (B if you're reading this, i'm sure you'll sympathize with me), especially when I kept clicking back and forth to the royal blue dress page (which loaded really slowly each time) & it kept telling me there was none available.... aaaagh!

So, why am I so kerrr-aaaaazy about this dress? Well, sometime last year I saw Vahni of Grit and Glamour in a stunning knot and tie dress, seriously V looked a million bucks (as she always does, see here) & the dress looked gloriously amazing. But for the life of me, I cannot find that particular post of her in that dress or who it was by again, all I knew was that I wanted a similar-ish dress.

The different ways to wrap/wear this dress

So what do you think? Score of the century or what?

Have any of you had any interesting or shall I say desperate, 'me-wants-now' online shopping attempts only to have someone (almost) beat you to it? Seriously, if this were in a shop and there were only one dress, i'd have versions of Rachel, Monica and Phoebe shopping (hunting) with me, whistles blowing all the way!

images via twobirds, edited by me
NB: twobirds is available in US, Canada, Australia and also the UK.

Little Black Book by Vahni of Grit & Glamour

This weeks Little Black Book features secret & stylish addresses from Vahni of Grit & Glamour, a Blogger who needs no introduction. But for those of you who are not familiar with G & G, you'll discover killer writing skills, posts that will keep you coming back for more - be it for discussing & questioning, and learning how to build a better blog (calling all new bloggers, this is a must check out, there's a goldmine of info there). You'll also be drooling over her seriously amazing bling/personal style as well as checking out what this hot lady's up to & reading over Sunday morning coffee. Over to you Vahni!

Grit & Glamour's Little Black Book; restaurants, bars, beaches & boutiques.

Thank you Vahni!

*Little Black book - a nifty little address book that does a semi-concierge job of sharing secret & stylish global addresses with you to check out and enjoy fabulously to the fullest! *

Refer to last weeks feature here dolls, alternatively click on the tab under the header.

Image credits & links:

• Becker Minty photo via beckerminty.com.
• Hall’s Chophouse via charlestoncitypaper.com.
• Ahi tuna Salad via 131main.com
• Sydney Opera House via A Brit Greek's personal album.
• Indian Home Diner locations
  
• Stoupa via stoupa-greece.com.
• Darook Park Beach via freewebs.com.

Beautifully wrapped (& a note to readers....) v.1

I love receiving beautifully wrapped gift or gifts that have been wrapped in a super fun creative way. But it also breaks my heart to rip into beautifully wrapped gifts too, so I'm much more careful when getting into a present and where possible, I try to recycle the pretty trimmings.

I also have friends who like to guess what their gifts are by rattling, sniffing (yes, really!) or shaking them, so being creative is key. I'll put jewellery, make up, sweets in Bonne Maman jam jars I've saved and wrap it... or I'll try to provide some element of surprise with different, inventive ways of wrapping gifts. Oh and one more thing I love sparkly & glittery confetti thrown into the wrapping!With Christmas literally around the corner, you may be wishing that Santa's Elves would secretly sneak into your home and help you with gift wrapping, right?
Anyhow, here are a few gift wrapping ideas to help you on your way if you haven't got it sorted already!

Pom pom gift topper madness over at Creature Comfort's blog - This is a great little discovery, if you love anything papery or general inspiration, then you'll love this blog. The DIY info is here.

Yet another great discovery, Timeless Paper has lots of papery chic inspiration. Gorgeous handmade wintery gift wrapping at it's best. I love the use of twine, mixed textures, buttons and the cool neutral tones here.

Bring on recycling! I love the simple use of newspaper (the Financial Times or Foreign newspapers are great too) teamed with bright coloured ribbon and a hand painted/doodled postcard slipped in to the side.

Empty paint cans (from the DIY store) teamed with a bit of sparkle or a gorgeous bauble will make any gift look awesome. Printed paper = instant coolness!

via bhg.com

Don't know about Martha Stewart? Holy banana's this site has more than enough ideas to take you through to next years holiday gift wrapping! I love the use of raw materials and wilderness... photocopied fabric as wrapping paper = genius & fun and also brown paper or maps.

via marthastewart.com

One final thing.

Dear A Brit Greek Readers,

I just want to say a huge thank you for all your comments, which make me smile, fill my heart with warmth & fuzziness and gives my blogging mojo hope, happiness and passion, all of which makes this blogging experience more worthwhile.

Thank you so much for taking time out to leave sweet comments, stop by, share your thoughts or opinions, as I can appreciate that you all have busy lives too. Please know that I would reply to each and every comment if I could right now, except that I have taken on a lot over the festive season. If I haven't replied back with a comment on my blog, I will be sure to, on yours soon!
You guys are such a bunch of lovely people, with cherries on top and I am so glad to have met some great blogging buddies along the way, Anyhoos, your contribution to this ickle blog is just as valuable as mine.
So here are some hugs and kisses for y'all!

Love,
A Brit Greek
x.o.x.o

p.s If you want to catch up on a fantastic read on staying connected in blogging and a bit of food for thought, check out Grit & Glamours Friend Friday post, here.

NB: *The Friend Friday project by Modly Chic is a way for fashion bloggers to share more about themselves and create a friendly connection with other bloggers. *

Happy (Halloween) Weekend!

I cannot believe how quickly this week has flown by! I know most of you are getting prepared for the festivities that is Halloween this weekend, I hope you all have an amazing time and I can't wait to see all your photos.

Halloween isn't really a big deal over and I guess I'll miss getting dressed up and scaring off kids! (Without my make up on ought do the trick!)

My slightly subtle take on creepy-fied nails using Barry M Nail Effects!

What are you all upto this weekend? Recovering from Athens Xclusive Designer Week? Relaxing? Having a bake fest? Or catching up with your favourite reads? I must mention a brilliant (-intellectually stimulating, refreshing & well executed post) by Vahni of Grit & Glamour on fashion-based social networking sites, you will be surprises to learn a few things for sure and not only that - these big fashion networking sites have responded here & here!

Amazing No-bake spiderweb cheesecake with edible spiders
Via here

1st two images above styled by Carine Roitfeld shot by Mert & Marcus (Bal Masque)
for Vogue Paris