Hello!

My name is Ekaterina (which is Russian, long and impossible to pronounce), but the short version of it is not so bad – Katya. I reside in Miami for over 10 years now and I am completely in love with this bold, colorful, international paradise, even though I had hard times getting along with it, being originally from Tomsk - a tiny and modest, but no less wonderful city in Russia. I speak with an accent and my grammar by all means is not without a flaw – for which I am sorry and will appreciate any critique or advice!

I live with my boyfriend whom I love dearly (except for occasional urges to kill him slowly…) and I have awesome friends who I consider to be my second family. My parents live in Russia and younger best ever sister resides in Germany. We meet once a year, if we are lucky. It is tough, but thanks to Skype and things alike we manage to stay close despite of living on different continents. I am getting 32 this year  34!! (this isn't happening to me I keep saying) and until recently I wasn’t ready to settle down, have babies, a family of my own and all the following responsibilities. Until recently. Today I know that I really want all the things I was afraid of not so long ago. A cozy house, a loving husband, a kid or two, a dog and a cat and all the noise, craziness, but also all the happiness that comes with it.
Update - 2 years have passed since this blog happened and we are engaged now (read how it happened here), buying a house, having a wedding really soon and oh so close to the big change in our lives called a family!

Anyways, the idea of starting a lifestyle blog has been haunting me for some time. Every time I was feeling particularly happy and fascinated by life and its wonders, or overwhelmed with joy for no particular reason, or caused by little and so insignificant things – I felt this urge to share my journey and newly adopted positive take on living with all its simple pleasures. I am not a cock-eyed optimist. By nature, I am rather cynical and surely had my share of ups and downs. But ever since my discovery that a positive attitude turns things upside down and makes you a genuinely happy person – I’ve started watching my cynical, easily depressed nature and made great progress!

I would love to create a spot filled with positive energy and meet same minded people. I secretly wish this blog will encourage you to keep up putting positive spin on whatever events there are ahead of us, while helping me not to fall off the wagon myself.
Update - I've been blogging over 2 years now and the blog took a slightly different direction, focusing mainly on traveling, photography, books, my smoothie obsession and occasional personal post here and there.

Welcome to Atstarfish and I hope you enjoy your time here!

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You can reach me with any questions, collaboration ideas, pitches or just to say hi at: katya.starfish@gmail.com