This isn’t your typical last minute gift guide. In all honesty – this isn’t your ‘typical BLOGGER/Influencer’ Gift Guide. You’re not going to find a bunch of links to the things you want to buy, because let’s be real – you’re a last minute shopper.

Maybe waiting til the last minute makes you feel alive or perhaps you’re an extremely busy person, all reasons are valid here at the Style Stratigi. Regardless of why you’re just a few days away from Christmas and still have people to check off your list, here are some ways to get your brain jogging on those last minute gifts :

Give an Experience

• Popcorn, candies & an Amazon Prime gift card for a movie night at home

Give a Pat on the Back

• a Coffee gift card says “You’re amazing & doing great!”

Give some Alone Time

• A gift certificate to a Spa or a nice restaurant

Give Self Care

• slippers, a mug, relaxing tea & an aromatherapy candle

Give Growth

• A really nice journal & pens that write really well can get anyone to make journaling a daily habit
• **Bonus : Add a nice note inside the journal to get them started!

Give Festive Wishes

• Anything Christmas, Holiday or Winter related is always a warm token of the season

Any gift you spend intentional time & thought towards is worthy of your recipient! Don’t create too much of a struggle when trying to find the ‘PERFECT’ gift. I can assure you that perfection doesn’t exist, and it certainly cannot be found within some material object. Instead, spend time considering how you can help someone this season or how your gift can improve their life, not just clutter it.

I also posted a last minute beauty gift idea guide on my Instagram, hope you check it out 😊

xoxo

Seeing multiple numbers, especially repeating 1’s, is a special sign in astrology and numerology. You might not believe in all that, but something about 11/11 feels pretty powerful & magnetic to me.

November is almost halfway through and then only one month left of 2021. By the end of last year, we were giving ourselves a ton of slack for surviving it all. This year feels all sorts of crazy – we’re trying to process last year’s trauma while still in the middle of a pandemic, all while learning to figure out and re-navigate this ‘new’ normal.

I know with the return of normalcy, I’m already seeing a lot of content floating around that this is the time to realign, focus on your goals and to make the most of these last few weeks. But you know what? After the dumpster fire that was 2020, we should really carry over that same energy we had there at the end. Just because we’re ‘back to normal’ come 2022, doesn’t mean you have to burn yourself out around the holidays to accomplish everything before the year’s over! Those patterns are so 2019. There is no rush to accomplish anything before midnight on December 31st. It is also completely valid to use this time for rest, relaxation, reflection & recharge so that you can start 2022 ready to make progress on your goals.

There really is no wrong way. However, no matter how you choose to finish off the year, BE intentional with this time!

Here are my end of 2021 Goals & Intentions :

• GRATITUDE – thankful for each day to live, enjoy & experience in 2021
• Hydrate & NOURISH – the drinks pour easy and the sugar intake is high this time of year, but it’s not about how my body looks, this is for how my body FEELS
• Be Present – enjoy every moment remaining this year
• Go with the Flow – things tend to not go according to plan around the holidays, know that it’s only temporary
• Caring for your space is SELF CARE – make space, clear things up, clean, dust, decorate. Taking care of the space you live in will help you take care of the space that you live your entire life in – your body.
• Prioritize Stillness & Rest – after celebrating the holidays over Zoom, we are ready for in-person festivities. But you don’t have to do it all.
• Fill your cup first – the more I give, the more I receive.

Reality is yours to create. The holidays and end of year doesn’t have to be a crazy, overwhelming time. In fact, in can be a very enjoyable, peaceful, reflective time. It’s all up to you!

How do you want to finish off this year?

xoxo, Maria

HELLO JUNE ☀️

Christos Anesti! Pasxa seriously feels like 2 weeks ago and only a month since Western Easter, yet here halfway through the year. It’s incredible how fast time is going; I think coming off 2020, “getting back to normal” feels strange and the new concept of time doesn’t make any sense! Yet, time stops for no one and we leave in (less than!) 6 weeks for Greece to FINALLY get married!!
I’m kind of freaking out – like, feeling ALL the emotions at once, but it’s kind of amazing..

It’s been hard to focus on my wedding the last few of months, and if you asked me back in March – I was STILL processing the whole ordeal! Covid, the pandemic, lockdown, postponing our wedding, all of it! Heck – I think most of the entire world’s population was still in the middle of processing March2020 this past March. But now that summer is here, life feels great!!

my life in the last few months:

Lent, Pasxa and LOTS of Spiritual/Inner Reflection

• Another Lent and beautiful Holy Week has come and gone. This time of year always brings more meaning, intention and clarity into my life, but this was the most reflective Pasxa season I have ever experienced. After spending Easter2020 in lockdown during a global pandemic, my eyes were opened to parts of me that seriously needed God’s healing! Last year was hard for so many, and likewise found myself in a very, very dark, deep void. My foundation never broke, but I knew that the soil on which I was being planted would need constant watering. I started each day with prayer and meditation, grounded myself in the Word daily and kept my thoughts centered on constant gratitude. By Palm Sunday, I was ready to spend every single moment in church, experiencing the greatest sacrifice and blessing of God’s LOVE! I must commend my fiance for going to church every single day of his first Easter season as an Orthodox Christian.
  • It wasn’t a “normal” Easter – we had a very small gathering versus our large Stratigis Greek Easter celebration, but we got to spend it in church, together with family, and there was still lots of lamb, wine & dancing!

Super ‘Busy Season‘

• If you haven’t read my first post yet, it’s a quick read and I go into detail about what I do for a living!
  The Atlantic Hurricane Season started June 1st, and until the start of the season, work life is chaotic and depleting! Everyone is making sure to have insurance coverage in place and the current state of the market is absolute bananas. I’ll spare boring details, but my fiance and I are just glad we’re finally on the other side of 6/1. Time to breathe a little.

Self Love Practice & Processing Wedding Grief

• Last fall, prompted by many catalysts – my postponed wedding included – I started to dig deep into my shadows. I peeled back layers and layers of badly bandaged wounds caused by traumas from my youth. I made mental health a priority and started seeing a therapist. I made self love a daily practice, a ritual and unbreakable promise to myself. I made it a habit to pour love & forgiveness into my own cup each and every day. And I started healing.
• For the longest, I wouldn’t allow myself to process any wedding grief. How could I feel sorry for having to push back my wedding by a year when people were dying from an unknown virus? How could I be upset about my destination wedding not going as planned when people were losing jobs and unsure of where their next meal would come from? How could I be sad about something so silly and frivolous? And I felt that way up until April! As I started to love myself more and step into my light, I created a safe space for myself to feel and honor each and every emotion. I was upset about my wedding, and that’s OKAY!
• This probably deserves a much longer post, more details to come!

Wedding Documents

• Short of having to promise my first born child, the hardest thing about getting married in Greece has to be the paperwork. Add in trying to get married in Greek Orthodox Church in Greece and the hoops you have to jump through now have fire. Then, combined with the fact that documents cannot be dated PRIOR to 90 days before the wedding, 3 months to get foreign papers certified, translated, Apostilled and sent via courier service is barely possible in a perfect world. We’re currently trying figure out how this works in a post-Covid world.
• Another topic deserving of a much longer post, so more details to come!

Birthdays, Holidays & My Parents’ Wedding

• Western Easter, or as we Greeks affectionately call it – “American Easter”, is always a good opportunity to let everyone know when Orthodox Easter is. This year, the two holidays were a whole month apart – Easter beginning of April and Pasxa beginning of May!! We still celebrate both and between the two, we had a couple crawfish boils, celebrated a couple birthdays and Mother’s Day. Then, the event of the Spring – 43 years after being married at City Hall, 3 adult children and 2 grandchildren later, my parents got married in the Greek Orthodox Church!
  • My mom is Catholic and my dad is Greek Orthodox, in both religions, marriage is a sacrament! In 1978, my parents decided to get married by Justice of the Peace and do make their sacrament of marriage later. Doesn’t matter that it took 4 decades, they did it and I am so proud of my mom & dad!!! They are a true testament to sticking through, showing up every single freaking day, and making it work even when you really just want to walk away from it all. It was such a special occasion and to be able to witness the union of the two beautiful souls that created me, brought me into this world and protected me since birth, alongside my siblings and niece and nephew was absolutely priceless. And, it’s made me excited for my own wedding!

Not to mention nursing my sinuses back to health after a severe sinus infection, I’ve been a VERY busy bee protecting my energies and wellbeing. The last few months were necessary for my growth. I am SO excited for what’s to come. And now that work is less hectic, I’m excited to bring you more content.

Stay tuned! xoxo

2021 has taken some getting used to, but I’d say halfway through March – I can feel the winter blues melting away with the longer days, sunshine and warmer weather, and it makes all the collective trauma a little easier to process. It’s crazy to think that this time last year, the Coronavirus was shutting the whole world down and we were convinced that it would only be a 4-6 week ordeal; not to mention processing a dangerous and crippling winter storm that caught us Texans off guard a month ago. The biggest adjustment has been working from home through natural disasters and pandemic fatigue. I went from thinking we’d be work-from-home for just a few weeks to a permanent situation! Even working from home, I still get the ‘Sunday Scaries‘ and Mondays still feel like Mondays. Especially considering we are currently in the middle of Busy Season and it’ll only get busier from here til June – Sundays feel scarier.

I started this blog at the end of January with high hopes for consistent posting, and it feels like just another excuse of mine to not post or share, but my stress & workload has really ramped up, as I knew it would given the time of year. I have to commend myself for what I’ve been able to do and get done in spite of long, extra hours at work and on top of long work to-do lists.  

If you’re curious to know more on ‘What I Do’, keep reading

Underwriting Analyst – Commercial Property Insurance