When you least expect it

The garlic in the pocket can be explained but won't.. Let's just say it's not his.

Ok, so, tried not to start this post with a photo but somehow I can't manage to get space inbetween the photo and the upper edge...

Just a quick post to tell you I'm well and still alive...

Still a sales merchandiser in Rome, Italy and still loving it. Living it up all over Italy and sometimes also abroad.

One of those abroad trips actually led to something very nice. Still so fresh and just a fling, but still adorable. And he makes me smile.

While I was taking pictures of this...

 He took pictures of me...

What did I just say? Adorable.

Mental home decoration

..Mental because it's only in my mind and mental also because I feel I'm going mental only focusing on different furniture, styles, brands, ideas and themes.

My keywords for the new place, hoping it will be the one I've already looked at, are space efficient, light, economic and elegant- but still personal. It's hard, only looking at options for apartments I realize they rarely build them the way I'd prefer. Often I look at small rooms with limited daylight, small windows and horrible colour schemes. And, what I wouldn't give to get a balcony!

The ideal situation would be renting unfurnised but unfortunately I'm not made of money. Getting all the stuff from Ikea (the only option here in Italy for normal-priced furniture that doesn't look like it's been owned by people who are now dead of old age) would set me back at least €1000, easily.

So, hunting around for inspiration, as an attempt to focus on beautiful things and to recharge on positive energy. Still a little under the weather (and under a ***tful amount of work related stress) but focusing right now on the upcoming weekend. Lots of time to drift away in thoughts on the perfect kitchen table or bedside lamp!

Here are some of my favourite things currently in my Evernote inspiration folder! Enjoy!

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPs9PdWaw82t9c5oR0b34SRim2A1V22F2VKJjZXMeXIKNjBcNi17t5iMTFA7YqPQQgC-csUvTwXrpT0OJ7KFHisDg8SvLCu-MLXuxnfmrWsmj-MpXoG-pfRPrFxoZDuydV_v4IA1nY9ZI/s1600/DSCF2417.jpg

Source: http://parisapartment.wordpress.com/page/3/

Kartell Bourgie lamp

Flos Skygarden lamp

Bad conscience

Hi all,

I am truly sorry for my lack of posts since July. I know it's been two months of silence.

Well, let me tell you; so much has been going on. Work, as always, super hectic and super much. Plus, vacation times, change of seasons (fashionally speaking), after summer stress, autumn cold and a certain gloominess... Plus, I have started looking for a new place to live as my neighbours are driving me insane. So, I am actually looking forward to counting in 2012 in a new apartment with Ikea boxes all around me! Keep your fingers crossed, I might just have found the place!

Will keep you posted. I promise you. I will update and tell you all. Right now, I need to sleep as I had a meltdown at work today after suffering this cold for weeks. Left early and tucked myself underneath the sheets for the rest of the day.

Good night!

July 2011 so far

Florence

Florence

Padova

Paris, Cafe Delaville


Birthday celebration 30th birthday, Rome

The Florentine wedding bliss

Ceremony at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, held by the Florentine mayor. Rice throwing and cheering in Piazza della Signoria. Reception dinner and party in the Tuscan countryside. A six-course rustic dinner and locally produced wine while looking over the green hills, then on for dancing until the sun rose again.

Fantastic.

Birthday gift!

Just bought this lovely wrap bracelet for myself for my 30th birthday! Very happy, excited for when it arrives. It's from House of Harlow, Nicole Richie's company, and is made of 14ct gold and black leather. I hope I will like it. I'm having it sent from the UK to my parents' house where I am going to celebrate my birthday with my closest friends and family.

Surprise gift!

You know sometimes when you are waiting for a gift. You know it's in the mail because the person in the other end has given you the heads up. Everyday is like Christmas morning when you get home, hoping that bulky envelope will be waiting for you by the mailbox.

This has been my everyday since I got back from Sweden at Easter. I got the heads up from my friend in New York who said he'd found a perfect gift for me, about a month ago. Everyday since I have been eagerly waiting for that gift to arrive. Last week I thought I'd write him to tell him that some sneaky neighbour must have stole it since it hadn't arrived. And then, today it did.

Such a surprise, on my way home from the supermarket I bumped in to the signora who runs the downstairs coffeeshop. She asked me for my name and said the mailman had dropped it off today since the envelope was too large to fit in the small mailbox. She said they thought it could be me. I thought it was very sweet of them to think of me.

I unwrapped it as soon as I got in the door. It was the most sweet book ever. A children's book about Rome! With water colour paintings inside and the dearest little texts to make them company. It's like a guide book for small children but it's very clever. It made me very happy to know that he knows me that well, my old friend.
(Click on the photos to make them larger)

By the same author there are also the earlier books "This is Paris" and "This is London". This book was originally created in 1960 but has not been published until recently. The author's name is Miroslav Sasek.

I can highly recommend them for cute reading and extraordinary paintings!

Good night peeps!
Tomorrow I'm off to Veneto, the area surrounding Venice. We are opening a store in Portogruaro next week and I have to go and have a look!
Exciting!

Sunday lazy

Lazy Sundays. You either love them or hate them. I usually don't like them, they make me anxious of the coming week and instead of being all chill about it I stress.

So today I thought I'd do differently.

After listening to crazy smoking lady cleaning her house and smelling the fried garlic my Chinese neighbour family was having for breakfast I decided to escape the house. Put on my new fancy jacket from Zara (love Klein blue, just discovered it's my colour!), took computer under the arm and headed out in to the sunshine. Went to my fave bar on the corner of Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, just a stone's throw from my house, and had caffé latte and a small croissant for breakfast.

I also wrote a few emails and tapped away on my MacJournal (like a diary program). Got a few looks from passerbys (is that how you write it or did I just make that word up?), I think it looked funny hawking over my computer screen in sunlight in the middle of the street. Whatever. Or, I looked extremely handsome in my new jacket!
Woop!

I eventually had to switch sides of the table as you can see, I was almost getting sunburnt on one side only. The difficulties of everyday life, haha. Soon I'm off to lunch with my friend Melina. We have found this nice little trattoria down the street from my house, basically 20 meters from the Colosseum. I always throught it was a classic tourist trap but passing by it one evening I realized it was almost only Italian people eating there! So, we tried it and we really liked it. Classic rustic Italian food and friendly service and cheap prices. How great!

Last week I was out and about for most of the days. After an extremely nice weekend by the sea I was well rested and super motivated.

BBQ at a friend's roof terrace, watching a game of soccer of course

The beach in Maccarese, the Roman coast

Lunch in Maccarese, spaghetti alle vongole and a glass of white wine with a couple of friends

Lunch in Fregene, always the spaghetti alle vongole and a crips glass of white wine

The summer campaign is in all stores now and bikinis are flying out quicker than we can get them in. It's so nice to be a part of all this! Bikinis for the people! We popped over to lovely Torino, in the north west. Such a nice little city, super lovely and very pretty. It also had a Swedish calm to it, in the evening the streets were empty and silent. It was lovely for a change but I think I'd go crazy after a week.

My colleague took me to a Sicilian restaurant (he promised me the Torinese food was more winterish and rustic and not ideal for the warm spring evening we had) and we had great seafood and even greater wine. The waitor had to explain the whole menu for us since it was written in Sicilian accent. It was a fun experience though, and a little bit of practice for when I have to go there!

The day after we were visiting shops in the area and then we spent the evening in Milano. Oh Milano, how I adore you. We found a small bar, from the outside it looked like a student bar but inside they had a small garden where we had great aperitivo with a huge buffet of nibbles and pasta and cheese to eat. How nice. Then dinner at The Kitchen, a legendary Italian restaurant run by Chinese people. It was super good and apparently very popular since the terrace was full!

The spring is finally here now and the days are long, warm and lovely. I'm getting more into Rome mode and I am actually beginning to like this town. Slowly slowly.


What have you been up to lately?Is it springtime yet, wherever you are?

Milano!

I just came back to Rome after a quick two-day trip across Italy.

I went to check on a future store opening and then I went to Milan in the evening. A brisk walk to the hotel and then out for late dinner and drinks with one of my best friends from Florence- Tommy.

We had dinner at a small Abruzzese restaurant (L'angolo d'Abruzzo) where I among other things had to try the "wet mozzarella", a semi dissolved mozzarella which tasted mainly of creamy milk. The sensation was not so much of the taste but more of the weird wetness (almost perverse I have to say, it even made me blush)! We had booked the table based on a tip from a guy working for Tom Ford. I had hoped to see Tom there but I guess he's to gorgeous to frequent places where ordinary people go. :)

Then drinks at a local trendy gay bar, Mono, where we met the Italian Ryan Gosling! He looked just like him, just not as tall (after all, he was Italian). Gorgeous. It was his birthday and we celebrated by having him buy us shots, haha.


Great evening with a great friend. We always laugh our heads off together.

Also, I have to say, I think I picked the wrong city. I don't feel at home in Rome, the city is beautiful but it's hard to live a modern life in an ancient city. It's like living in an open space museum. And the smell. Gee. And the public transport. Milano on the other hand, it was like an Italian Sweden. Wide streets, fresh air, open spaces, friendly people and quick traffic. Darn.

Photos from my new life in Rome!

A new buddy

Hi all,

feeling like the worst blogger on the planet. And, yes, I am the worst blogger ever!!

I haven't forgotten about you, life just got in the way. And no, still no love life, just a busy life with work, friends, laughter, fashion, food, events.. Ya know.

Blogging quickly before I'm off to bed.

I feel like such a cheater for writing this, on my old friend Fred, but Wednesday evening a new member of my tiny family will see the light of day!

A smashing MacBook Pro! I am so happy, I've wanted this for so long. Fred is still a great companion, although a little old and rusty. So I'll let him live his last days as a retired old man at my parents' house. He'll do good there, he'll assist my Mun when she's typing out all her english-class homework.

I'll really miss him, his loud buzzing, his boiling temperature.. What I probably will miss (seriously) is his crystal clear 15-inch screen. New MacBook is a small 13-inch one, but I think I'll manage.

So, Fred, ol' buddy.
I've had some of my best times with you. You've been good to me, I chose you wisely but all things must end.

MacBook, I welcome you.
Next post I'll make will hopefully be from an Apple.
God knows how I'll make it but I'll give it a go.

Fred, ol' sidekick


MacBook, new buddy

My new drawing!

I just treated myself to a drawing to hang on my wall!

I am very happy, although it was not at all what I had in mind when I started to browse for paintings. I thought perhaps a Rothko, or perhaps Cassandre..
But nope!

A plain little drawing with coffee stains on it!

What do you think?
Courtesy of www.allposters.com

Photos from Florence

Flying over the Italian Alps. Always so beautiful, I love taking photos when I'm flying!

Finally arrived in Florence. Outside Natalia's house.
Travelled quite light, did my best to pack but I did in the middle of the night so I had no clue really what I put in that little suitcase.

In PIazza Signoria, in the heart of Firenze.
Was so delighted to be back, we had lunch at La Posta, my favourite hang-out!

The evening after we were invited to a dinner in San Casciano in the countryside.
Here is Natalia with her friend Hana.

All the good food we could eat. Salumi, risotto, pasta bolognese, salad..! Lots of wine.

Nati and me by the huge fireplace.

Natalia and Andrea did their best to get me drunk so I would come out with them after the dinner!

Before leaving the house to go to Colle Bereto.
Myself, Andrea, Natalia and Hana!

Hana, Melina and myself.
Both girls are great, Melina is wild and lots of fun, we hit it off straight away!

With Jennifer and Nicola at Colle Bereto. Jennifer is Natalia's friend, and Nicola is Jennifer's boyfriend.
Great great people, lots of fun.
I made many new great friends this trip!

Natalia, Gerardo and myself.
Gerardo is crazy, he has the confidence of a male supermodel.
Funny but not so nice if you catch his attention, he's hard to shake off (you face)!

This guy the girls call "the little Lord", he's half Brittish and half Italian, such a gentleman!
I really fancied him although in reality he's a little short.
At first sight it struck me how similar he is to Chris O'Donnell.
I like Chris O'Donnell!

Natalia and myself in Nicola's car.
I love this photo, we had the best time in the back seat!
On our way to the night club Full Up.

We went for aperitivo Tuesday evening, at OÈ, a Japanese style restaurant.
Ok food but the best part was the downstairs smoking lounge.

Wednesday I met Victoria for a coffee at my old University café at Via Alfani.
Then we biked off to her place for lunch, spaghetti with tuna tomato sauce, really good!

In the evening Vicky came over to our place to go out.
Here we are posing the kitchen, next to Audrey on the cover of Vogue!

On our way to Open Bar, Karin and myself are posing next to the glow-in-the-dark-policemen at Ponte Vecchio.



The vodka at Slowly.
It was by Roberto Cavalli but I'm not sure it tasted greater than any other I have tasted?
The display was really pretty though!

Next to Ponte Santa Trinità with Ponte Vecchio in the back, going for a drink at Nove to hear my old Gucci colleague Gianni spin records.
We met up with my other Gucci friends Alessandro and Pedro.
Nice wine but no food.

After Nove we met up with Alexandra at Colle Bereto (again).
Had more drinks and then went upstairs quickly.
Alex had just been to the hairdresser to get highlights, so we had to show her new hair off!

The night of the big party at Casa Sweden!
Here, Sofia and myself are preparing dinner in the kitchen!

Here Natalia and I are posing.
She had planned the party very precisely, I might hire her services the next time I need to throw a big-ass party! Kudos for all the Italian men showing up, haha!

Karin and Sofia enjoying the food (pasta with ricotta tomato sauce) and wine!

Natalia posing with Hanna!
So nice to meet up with long-lost friends from the past!

Cuddling with Vicky, one of my closest friends in Florence.
I miss her so much but at least I had the time to see her, her new apartment and her boyfriend (fiancé!).

Getting cosy with Hanna!

Toasting with prosecco brought to us by a girl from that precise area of Italy!
It was sooo good!

Alexandra and Natalia enjoying the prosecco in the kitchen!

I found Jennifer in the big crowd.
Thanked her and Nicola for last week at Colle and Full Up, I had such a great time.

After that I don't remember that much of the evening. When the others left to go clubbing, myself, Natalia and Alexandra stayed in to clean up the mess. When Karin and Sofia returned home at 5 a.m. the house was so clean they said it was like it never happened. Haha!

With Karin at La Posta before leaving for the airport.
I had a tuna salad the size of my head, didn't want to risk a tummy ache with some bresaola (like Karin had) even though I love it.