Öne çıkan

This letter is for you;

Hello,

I’m sharing my very first letter with you right on World Letter Writing Day. What a wonderful coincidence—it feels like such a lovely embrace. 💌

Let’s get acquainted: I’m Özge, but you can just call me Oz for short. Shortened names have always had a warmer, more friendly touch, almost like two close friends addressing each other. 🫂

I work full-time at a gaming company, and I also write children’s books—which means I have published books! I’ve been invited to schools to read my books to children, and it was an incredible feeling. Leaving a mark on this world seems to be an irrepressible desire within us all, and leaving a mark like this is truly priceless.

Here, I plan to share inspiring daily mottos, uplifting quotes, book recommendations, and occasional glimpses into the flow of life.

We also definitely need to talk about the songs we discover. After all, aren’t songs the absolute best way to brighten up a day?🎧❤️

Today is the first day of September, bringing us right into autumn. I can’t wait to share posts with that cozy, blanket-warmth feeling. 🍂🍁

A warm welcome to me, and a warm welcome to you. May we all feel right at home here and share good vibes.

Adding a sweet note for today:

It’s never too late for wonderful beginnings. You are here. I’m so glad you exist—as long as you’re around, anything is possible.

Sending armfuls of flowers and lots of love, 💐

Oz

The Magic of the Holiday Season 🎄✨

The holiday season always makes me so happy.

The moment a Christmas tree goes up, it feels as though a little bit of magic enters the house with it. Red candles, twinkling lights, snow globes, the spirit of giving, and so much more.

Some years, we don’t even take the tree down at all. Even on warm summer evenings, it still stands there, blinking at us with its little lights. ✨

And then, just as Halloween approaches, that excitement starts to grow even more. After that comes the countdown, wishes, hugs, and sometimes even postcards…

For the past few years, we’ve started a little tradition at home: making our own Christmas tree ornaments.

And honestly, it feels wonderful.

It’s also such a lovely activity for parents with children. There’s something so special about creating an ornament with your own hands and then hanging it on the tree.

On our tree, the bottom row is reserved for the decorations we’ve made ourselves. After my son Arden and I finish making them, he hangs them on the branches he can reach.

If you ever come across one of these DIY ornament kits, you should definitely get one. ♥️

These are the ones we made last year. 😎

And these are the ones we prepared this year and added to the collection;

The picture on the box showed very cheerful reindeer, but since our kit didn’t include a Santa, we decided to make some of our reindeer look a little grumpy instead. 😄

The DIY kit didn’t include pink cheeks either, so we simply added those ourselves with colored pencils. 😎

It turned into the perfect little family-time activity. We had fun, spent time together, and ended up with unique Christmas decorations without spending very much at all. ♥️

I think it’s safe to say we’re ready for the holidays months in advance. 🖖😍

Armfuls of flowers and lots of love,💐
Oz 💌

Sometimes, It’s Just Like This

I had so many plans for this weekend.

I was actually planning to get a lot of work done. I have reports I need to finish, and I find it so much easier to focus in the evenings when everything is quiet.

At the same time, I had also planned to start recording some of my stories.

I write children’s books, and I’ve been thinking about opening a Spotify account for the stories I’ve written that haven’t become books yet.📚

But… once again, life had a few surprises waiting for us while we were busy making plans.

My son got sick, so I kept him home from preschool, and I didn’t go to work either.

Anyone with children knows that when they’re sick, they can get extra clingy and need so much more attention. The kind of attention where they want to lie on top of you all day and you can barely even make it to the bathroom. 😅

I think mothers will understand me very clearly here.💔

So now, instead of doing any of the things I had planned, I’m going to eat this sushi and get a very good night’s sleep.

There were books I wanted to talk about this week, and a few movies I’d watched that felt absolutely perfect for autumn.

But first…

It’s time for a quick mental reset.🙌

Tomorrow, I’ll be at a book fair to sign my books and meet some of my sweetest little readers. Here’s hoping tomorrow is a beautiful day for all of us. 🌷

Armfuls of flowers and lots of love,💐
Oz 💌

With Halloween Just Around the Corner 🎃

With Halloween just a month and a half away and the weather slowly starting to cool down, the season of curling up on the couch with movies and TV shows has officially begun.

Last night, I finally watched Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a movie that had been on my mind for quite a while but that I hadn’t managed to make time for yet.

Of course, I watched the legendary first movie beforehand too. I’ve seen it countless times since I was a child, and it has always had such a special place in my heart.

Like so many people, I’m a huge fan of Tim Burton’s films. Maybe that’s something we should talk about properly another time.

But back to the point…

I absolutely loved the cozy atmosphere of the sequel.

It really is such a perfect autumn movie. 🍂

And once again, the soundtrack is wonderful. How do they manage to choose songs that feel so perfectly placed every single time? I especially loved the choice of MacArthur Park.

If I had to point out one thing that felt missing from the movie — actually, I suppose I should say two things —

Barbara and Adam. 💔

I genuinely kept waiting for them, right until the very end. I have to admit, the movie felt incomplete to me without them.

And seeing Winona Ryder all grown up in the same role was such an emotional moment.

My sweet little pumpkin. 🧡

All in all, it was a lovely way to open the season.

Let’s keep our coffee warm — we have plenty more movies to watch. 🍂🧡☕️

Armfuls of flowers and lots of love,
Oz

National Read a Book Day 📚🧡

What a lovely day for us to meet again. 🧡

I feel like today calls for a cup of coffee, with a cookie or a little piece of chocolate on the side. Almost as if we’ve met in a sweet little café, with a song playing softly in the background, gently brushing against our souls. 🫂🧡

Today is National Read a Book Day.

Just like everyone else, there are times when I drift away from books in the rush of everyday life.

When that happens, I first give myself permission to simply be. I don’t push myself at all. I make space for whatever I need in that moment.

And then, eventually, I find my way back to my dear old friends — books.

Of course, it’s never an instant return.

I usually start with the thinnest, easiest books to read — the ones that can sweep me away before I even realize it.

This year, I’ve also invited quite a few new genres into my life. One of them is manga.

If you’d like to give manga a chance, I have a very sweet and wonderfully fun series to recommend:

Witch Hat Atelier.

And since we’re slowly making our way toward Halloween, I’d love to introduce you — if you haven’t met her already — to a sweet little girl who is trying to become a witch. 🧡🎃

There’s also one book that warms my heart every single time I read it, and over the years, reading it at Christmas has become something of a tradition for me:

Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story.

I own such an old edition of this book that it isn’t really a traditional book cover at all — it comes in a little cardboard case.

I loved that case so much that, for a while, I even had it hanging on my wall.

It’s truly beautiful. I wish they would publish it again in exactly the same format.

This is one of those books that feels as though it wraps itself tightly around you while you’re curled up under a blanket. 🧡

If I hadn’t already watched the TV adaptation, I would absolutely want to read A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.

And, of course, I’d recommend it too.

And Harry Potter probably doesn’t even need mentioning. ⚡️

So today, here on this little platform that brought us together, let’s all pick up a book we love and give each other a little note for the day. 🧡🫂💐

I’ll go first:

“If you love a flower which happens to be on a star, it is sweet at night to gaze at the sky. All the stars are a riot of flowers.”
— The Little Prince✨✨✨

Armfuls of flowers and lots of love,
Oz 💌

Life Is What Happens While You’re Making Plans

We had been away from home for more than two weeks, spending our holiday at our summer house. Yesterday evening, we came home in such high spirits, genuinely excited and missing our home more than I realized. 🏡

I even wanted to buy myself a beautiful bouquet of flowers, just to make the weekend feel a little more sparkly.✨🧡

And I wrote this note to myself;

I had been dreaming about baking a delicious pumpkin cake over the weekend. 🎃🧁

So, on our way home, we stopped by the grocery store, picked up some pumpkin and the few ingredients I was missing, and finally headed home.

But the moment we walked through the door, we were greeted by a terrible smell.

We spent a while trying to figure out where it was coming from, until we discovered the unfortunate surprise: while we were away, our refrigerator had broken down. Everything inside had spoiled, leaked, and turned into an absolutely horrible mess.🙄

What a lovely welcoming committee. 🙈

Anyway, we started emptying the fridge.

Just as my husband was about to pour a jar of bone broth down the sink, it slipped out of his hand…

And landed on the rug.🙈

Meanwhile, our four-year-old son desperately wanted to go out into the garden.

At this point, we were basically an orchestra where everyone was playing the wrong part at the same time. 🙈

So I took our son outside, while my husband put the rug in the washing machine and emptied the fridge.

I have to say, I’m quite pleased with this division of labor. 😅😎

Today, we’re going shopping for a new refrigerator.

But hey — everything is under control now.

And if you’re wondering about the flowers…

Yes. Of course I still bought myself that bouquet on the way home. 💐

And before I go, I want to tell you about something wonderful.

The plants outside our window had grown so much that their branches were beginning to cover the glass. On the Friday before we left for our holiday, I cut off one little branch and placed it in a vase of water.

Last night, after buying my new flowers, I went to empty the vase and throw away the old branch.

But there was a little surprise waiting for me.

It had grown roots.

And somehow, after everything that had happened that evening, that tiny rooted branch felt especially beautiful.

It reminded me of a song I know. So let’s make this today’s little note:

“One side of us sheds its leaves, while the other is a garden in spring…” 🍂🌱

Have a nice weekend🧡

Armfuls of flowers and lots of love,💐
Oz 💌

I have to admit, I’m completely in love with Stars Hollow.🍂☕️

The first time I ever watched Gilmore Girls, I was on the metro. My mom and I hadn’t spoken for days after an argument, and I randomly put something on Netflix just to take my mind off things.

I’ll try not to give too much away in case there’s anyone out there who still hasn’t seen it. But there’s a scene where Lorelai reluctantly shows up at her mother’s door because she needs to ask her for money — and her mother agrees, on one condition.

That was the moment I found myself sitting on the Metrobus with tears streaming down my face.

I think Gilmore Girls has found its own little cozy place in the heart of almost everyone who’s watched it.🧡

And every autumn, don’t we all find ourselves going back to our comfort show, keeping Lorelai and Rory company over those endless cups of hot coffee at Luke’s? ☕️🍂

And now that that time of year is here again, I’ve been watching little bits of Gilmore Girls while also looking for something new.

And that’s how I found Everwood.🍂🍁❄️

It has officially become the second TV show to make me cry in its very first episode.

It has that same warmth — a small town, sweet and complicated family relationships, and that comforting feeling you just want to settle into.

I’ve only watched the first episode, but somehow, I’m already getting that same safe, cozy feeling I get from Gilmore Girls.

I’ve only just discovered Everwood, so I’m sure many of you already know and love it. But if you haven’t seen it yet and you’re looking for something warm and comforting to watch right now, consider this my heartfelt recommendation — even though I’m only one episode in.

Let’s talk about it again as I get further into the series. 🍂

Armfuls of flowers and lots of love,💐
Oz 💌

Love Sounds the Same in Every Language🎶💌

Do you ever listen to songs in languages you don’t speak?

I especially love doing this when I’m visiting another country. If we’ve rented a car, I love turning on the local radio, listening to songs from that country, and — even if only for a little while — feeling like I belong there.

Some of my best discoveries, though, come from the Spotify radios of artists I already love. 

Somehow, we always seem to have a few musical tastes in common. 

I hope I’ll find some common ground with those of you reading this, too. Or, even better, maybe we’ll discover some wonderful new songs through each other.

📌 I’ve never been to Spain, but I absolutely love listening to Mónica Molina. 

There’s something about her voice that feels both like the tenderness of a mother and the heartache of a woman deeply in love.

Here are a few of her songs I’d recommend:

Paso Lento
Ay Amor
Como el Aire

📌Once, while we were in Greece, I discovered this song playing on the radio in our rental car:

Ola Ta S’Agapo — Notis Sfakianakis

There’s something about this song that touches me so deeply, right in the heart…

📌And how about a singer from Mali?

Then let me introduce you to “Kanou” by Fatoumata Diawara. 

Whenever I listen to this song, I feel completely at ease. And can I share a beautiful little detail with you?

“Kanou” means “love” in Bambara.

Exactly what the song feels like.

But wait… is it just a coincidence that all the songs I’ve recommended seem to have love running through them?

❤️ Ay Amor
❤️ Ola Ta S’Agapo
❤️ Kanou

When I started writing this post, I simply wanted to share a few songs. I hadn’t chosen a theme at all.

And yet, here we are.🙌

Maybe my heart must be filled with a little more love than usual these days.💕

I have a feeling there will be many more music posts around here. But I’d also love to discover your songs. If there’s one you think I should hear, leave it in the comments. I’d be so happy to listen.💫

And one day, we’ll definitely have to talk about autumn-perfect movies and TV shows — and, of course, the soundtracks we’ve fallen in love with. 🍂🎬🎶

A little note for today:


Connecting through the exact same emotions in the same songs with people who don’t speak our language is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

Armfuls of flowers and lots of love,💐
Oz