Pencil Mia in?

Sunday's here again

2012-01-22T12:30:00.003Z

Sunday is, unfortunately, my second least favourite day of the week. It is the last day of the weekend and I always find it hard to enjoy because I know that without a doubt it will wuickly leak into and then become Monday. Monday is my least favourite day of the week.

To try and help me feel positive about Sundays, I am going to remember all the amazing things about this week and try to keep today full of life!

Did you know that I stopped smoking this week?! Of course you didn't, but it is true none the less. It was on my list of big things to do this year and I decided on a bit of a whim that I wasn't going to buy anymore cigarettes, ever again. And That was it... it's going superbly, though it has only been a few days. Wish me luck with staying off them.
I had the flu (that's not the good part) but today I woke up feeling like an actual human being again! YAY! Of course, I over did it a little and am now paying with exhaustion, but it's nothing a nap won't solve.
I got my shipment of amazon books this week and with time off work, I've been reading, reading, reading and learning too of course. I love having time to really read, especially when I can read in bed. It's so comforting and cosy, even if I am ill!
I have been looking at lots of blogs and websites and collecting inspiration for wedding days. No, he hasn'r proposed yet, but we've been talking about it more and more and I figure I might as well get ahead on some of the ideas no? I am feeling very creative in all aspects of my life right now (despite being ill) and it's wonderful to feel so inspired
The freezing cold seems to have snapped and we've had a wonderful weekend full of sun! Nothing is more cheering that sun after a long period of dark, cold, fog and grey. Hello Mr. Sun! :D

Here's to next week! *raises an imaginary glass*

Working on a Saturday

2012-01-14T12:03:00.003Z

Wow, this sucks!

Actually, it's not that bad, hehe. It was so relaxing to get up and know I had to go to work, but two hours later than usual. I even got in a coffee before leaving the house, but it was decaf, so I don't know if it counts!

I've been thinking and writing and planning a lot lately. I have a lot to think and plan and write about. I want to dig out my 2011 aims for the year and see what I achieved and what I didn't.

While I'm at it, I'll let you in on my aims for 2012:

Read at least 14 new books
Save money (also known as stop frivolous spending)
Don't ignore my emotions. Listen to them, hear them out and let them rest in peace.
Learn Italian. For real this time.
Be more organised on a day to day basis
Keep our apartment clean and tidy (i.e. don't let it get to pigsty status)
Keep losing weight (only 20-27lbs to go)
Be healthier (mainly stop smoking) and prepare my body for conceiving.

Yep, I said conceiving. I am probably making a mistake in putting this out there for the world to see, but I don't care, it's such a HUGE step in our lives and our relationship, I just want to SHOUT about it... we have decided to start trying for a baby in the next 6-12 months, depending on how life goes.

This is the biggest news of the year. I can't imagine anything will top it for me and I said it was going to be my year... I was right ;)

*technically I am cheating because we actually decided this back at the end of 2011, but y'know, I was still right, hehe

Buzz, buzz, busy

2012-01-08T21:36:00.003Z

Yep, I've been a busy little bunny today, cleaning, tidying, reorganising. I've got two rooms totally down and they were two of the worst to tackle. This week is going to be tough, I'm going back to work tomorrow but I'm determined to stay on top on everything, staying cool, sticking to my routine, not getting caught up in the usual b.s. that tends to engulf me if I'm not careful. I am also determined to keep up our healthier ways of cooking together, eating together and making sure we clean up before we go to bed.

Positive mental attitude.

2012 is going to be a big year, it is going to be my year, by the simple logic that 12 has always been my favourite number. After years of loyalty, I'd like to think that the number 12 has got my back... I guess we'll see how it pans out eh? ;)

Happy Monday to ALL :D

The last week of 2011

2012-01-07T09:29:00.004Z

We spent 6 days amazing, relaxing and fun days in the stunning Italian Alps over the xmas period. It was made even more special by the fact we were joined by two of our best friends here and it was, in fact, their last week in Italy.

Mr has an invaluable internship starting on Monday in London with a huge design and advertising comapny and Mrs is 5 months pregnant, so it's going to be a big year for them and they decided to move back to the UK, doing what is best for them and their future as a family.

They will be sorely missed, but luckily they are not too far away and we got to spend this amazing week with them and their puppy before they left. I'm so thankful for that! I wish them the hugest amount of luck, I am sure big things will happen for them, they really deserve it.

Holiday Day 3

2011-08-21T10:07:00.002+01:00

Last night we went out to dinner and I saw the perfect chance to wear this lovely dress I was given as an end-of-year present from one of the parents at school. I also managed to have awesome hair and awesome make up. I was feeling fantastic and we had a wonderful meal :)

Beautiful night time coast

The view from our balcony the same night.

We're sadly left Polignano yesterday and we're now in Ostuni in a cute little apartment on a tiny little street with a cool, but a little scary roof terrace (read roof!). More pics soon xx

Holiday Day 2

2011-08-20T13:37:00.001+01:00

I got a camera for christmas last year and managed to break it within 3 months :( So I decided to buy a new one for my holiday. I was willing to spend between £80-£100 but for a mere £20 over budget (i.e. £120) I got a shockproof, dustproof, freezeproof and WATERPROOF camera!

I was so exicted to try it out yesterday... although it made treading water a little difficult ;)

The sea was lovely and warm and in the bf's words 'pleasant'. Wow, we're getting old!

Holiday!

2011-08-19T13:16:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was our first day on holiday... our real holiday. We arrived in Polignano a Mare at around 2.30, checked into our hotel and then...

We wandered through the old part of town which is beautiful.

Stood at a few vantage points to take in the view.

Stared in awe at the beautiful sea.

Had a little break from the heat with some TV

Then got dressed up and went out for dinner and drinks.

I definitely do not regret buying my new camera. It's awesome, as you'll see more evidence of tomorrow ;) xx

I'm not dead

2011-06-19T10:38:00.003+01:00

I've just spent well over an hour trying to catch up on the goings on of my favourite bloggers. IT's been nearly 2.5 months since I posted here and nearly the same amount of time since I even logged into blogger!

I can't even remember all of the awesome and awful things that have happened in the past few months, but here are a few to whet your appetite

+ We had amazing sunshine in April and May, I've got a fabulous base tan and serious white bits ;)
- June has been pretty crappy by comparison with thunderstorms a go-go
+ Random hail storms aren't so bad when you get stuck huddling for shelter with crazy rockers while drinking wine and amaretto
+ I spent a glorious Sunday in May lounging on a huge rock at the beach, dipping in and out of the warm Adriatic and soaking up the sun and beach life
- I did get a little sunburned that day due to not having anyone to properly apply sunscreen to my back
- I got a really bad chest infection aroud this time, coupled with an inexpicable skin rash. The infection has gone and the rash is going away, but leaving little patches of pale, untanned skin instead. I feel a little like a leper.
+ I have a second job working after school with one of the kids from my class
- This is making me very, very tired :(
- This past week at work has been the most stressful and emotionally draining since September
+ Me and my californian colleague have been singing our way through the days to help keep spirits up... think musical episode of a bad sit-com
+ The school year is nearly over and we're all excited to get a proper break
+ The girls and myself are finally going to use our spa vouchers NEXT SATURDAY! This means I am going to lose my massage virginity, once and for all YAY!
+ The parents from our class gave us gift cards to a department store at our end of year party, shopping and spa? Hell yeah!
+ I've been indulging in coffee and pastries for breakfast most mornings
- This is not helping the weightloss
+ I bit the bullet and am wearing shorts for the first time in my adult life!
+ I got my haircut a few weeks ago and it looked like this...

although, it's now a fair bit longer, I still flippin love it! :D

That is all for now. Hopefully it won't be another 2 months before I post!

Some things that have happened in the past 6 weeks...

2011-04-05T08:46:00.000+01:00

Work has been crazy... crazy colleague driving everyone nuts, preapring for and executing parents meetings, changing panels, updating child info etc.
I sacrificed a sunny saturday for training at work - BOOOO!
But then got thoroughly drunk afterwards with work mates - YAY!
I broke my camera, which was less than 3 months old at the time. Not happy.
I bought myself a couple of new, summery tops
The bf's best friend came to visit us from Germany
We saw 'Italy in Chocolate' as part of the chocolate festival in Turin
The bf and I have been invited to ROME for easter :D
I keep spending too much money each month
I am trying to let go of the negative and embrace the positive
I have conjuncivitis and so I am not at work (I'm going to soak up some sun on the balocny again today!)

forgive my absence. I will try harder next time :)

Best compliment ever?

2011-02-24T20:25:00.002Z

I had a tummy bug. I dropped 8lbs in 4 days. Of course, I've regained some of that. Well, around 2.5lbs anyway. Seeing as I have mostly survived on coffee and chocolate this week, I can't imagine that I will keep that weight off for much longer...

However, last Saturday we decided, hell yeah, why don't we just get on a train and go to Turin to have dinner with the bf's parents? I mean, it's not like we don't have tonnes of stuff to do at home (as always) and it's not as if we can really afford the tain fares, but heck, you only live once right? And it was a flipping good dinner!

Sorry, I digress.

We were at dinner, I was already pretty tipsy and decided to chance getting up to go to the toilet before we left so I wasn't busting by the time we got home and had to face the inevitable queue for the bathroom. When I returned to the table, the bf leaned over and told me that his Dad had called me a grissino as I got up to leave.

A grissino? I hear you cry!

Yes, a grissino, also known as a breadstick. It's apparently the Italian term for someone who is slim. Now, I don't think I am slim, by any stretch of the imagination, but I am starting to resemble what I consider a "normal person's shape" and I'm a mere 5lbs off a 'healthy' BMI, which is exciting, although pretty abstract and meaningless all the same.

But, seriously, I am so going to take that compliment and use it to keep me going through all my chocolate cravings (and consumption). Me? A grissino? You ain't seen nothing yet ;)

Things that have happened...

2011-02-13T16:11:00.002Z

This Tuesday gone was mine and the bf's 6 year anniversary.

He sent a text to my colleague telling her to keep me at work for as long as possible and then surprised me by turning up at my workplace when I finished and whisking me off to a 5* hotel in Milan. We hung out there for a while and then went to a fancy seafood restaurant for dinner, where we had the freshest oysters ever and drank a little too much wine. I was treated like a princess and best of all I got to have a lie in because our hotel was in Milan and so I didn't have make my commute that morning. Best boyfriend ever xx

(pic was taken 3 weeks ago... the only pic I got on the night wasn't all that good)

New Hair

2011-01-23T19:35:00.003Z

I have a confession, it didn't come out exactly how I imagined....

...it looks way better and I love it!

P.S

2011-01-22T10:00:00.000Z

Right about now, I should be getting my hair chopped off. Wish me luck ;)

Gatrecrashing.

2011-01-19T18:45:00.002Z

Something pretty big and awesome happened to me during the month of December. I solidified real friendships, outside of work. It may sound pretty small to other people, but without friends, it just didn't feel like I lived here. Sure I have a job, I commute, we rent a flat and have it almost fully furnished, but there was something missing. Now there isn't (*ahem* apart from a puppy).

Over the short period I spent in London, I only managed to get my act together and see one of my friends, who actually came up from Brighton to spend the day with me and the bf. We spent the afternoon in a couple of typical British pubs - read dark and dingey - and it was lovely to see him again.

Me and Dan being goofy.

Being equally goofy but not on purpose ;)

Last weekend me and the bf got totally trashed with some friends here by going to see live music, making friends with the band, accidentally crashing their after party and getting 4 rounds of drinks for free. A nice, cheap and entertaining night. I've still not recovered from the lack of sleep! Sadly, I forgot my camera, so no stupid drunken photos to share :(

I love having friends here, but I still miss my oldies from 'home'. I hope you all miss me as much!

Hormones?

2011-01-16T17:20:00.003Z

I am in strange broody mode. It's all I can think about and is getting a little annoying for me, but terribly annoying for the bf.

We spent Friday night and half of Saturday with friends who have an easily excited, very cute springer spaniel, so now all I can think about is having a dog.

I feel like a spoiled child screaming inside myself 'I WANT, I WANT, I WANT!!!' especially when I know we can't have one, but still, here is what I want.

(From)

I really want a little dachshund. Either a shorthair or a wire haired black and tan little puppy.

Sigh.

Never before have I ever wanted a dog so genuinely as I want one now. I hope it passes soon!

Eight days into the new year.

2011-01-08T11:23:00.004Z

(My mother's Christmas tree)

The holiday season is officially over. La Befana has been and gone (bringing the kinder goodies I specifically requested) and so now we must face real life and the prospect of work on Monday.

(My favourite picture from the holiday season of 2010. My little nephew looks drunk and yes, that is champagne through a straw... for me at least. 31/12/2010)

My few days back in Italy have been spent in a haze of mad men and late nights on the sofa. I feel the need to become sexy and glamourous, but I can't bear to take off my dressing gown ;)

Goodbye 2010, you are long gone now!

Buon Natale!

2010-12-26T15:58:00.000Z

How was your Christmas day?

Mine consisted of eating oysters, goose, drinking champagne and taking a nap due to exhaustion (also known as too much food consumption).

I got pretty home sick when I spoke to my family in London and they were all a little tipsy and kept asking about presents etc. But I had a good day, nonetheless. I'll be hanging my stocking up on the 5th of January for La Befana!

And if I don't get sweeties, I will be a very unhappy little girl indeed ;)

Life is busy. And cold!

2010-11-28T09:02:00.002Z

I have been mostly absent from the internet world for such a long time now I've forgotten what I've actually been doing instead of updating here.

I can tell you that I've have a blasted cough for nearly three months now, but only just got a doctor, so am planning on getting checked out soon... ish. Oh and I've had two icky viral/bacterial infections in the past month alone. BOO!
I can also tell you that I've had a string of really late nights, mostly because of parent and staff meetings at work. This inevitably led to a 12.5 hour marathon of sleep on Friday night, which also led to a FANTASTICALLY great mood yesterday and found me ironing for several hours while singing and dancing along to my iPod.
Our floor shall be finished TODAY and when it's done I will show you pictures as promised ;)
I've been walking to and from all train stations since my poor bike was stolen back at the beginning of the month. This seems to have helped in the weightloss department and I'm now more than half way to my goal (42lbs down people :D )
My beloved mother is coming to visit for the few days I have off work, from Friday until the following wednesday, which is my birthday.
I'm not looking forward to being 26.
It's started to snow. This is ok from the point of view that I bought a cheap, yet functional waterproof winter coat on wednesday, but not ok from the point of view that it's already started to screw with the trains :(

When you combine my busy DIY weekend schedule, my constant illness, my lack of sleep, the extended working hours and overall cold and tiredness, I'm hoping you can understand and forgive my general lack of presence and activity both here and in letter form.

We're hoping to get most of our 'flat stuff' finished today, which should be a welcomed load off my shoulders and will hopefully induce better and longer sleep, so I can get more done on my commute :)

I'm SO looking forward to my 5 days off work, you have no idea ;)

I hope you're enjoying a great weekend my lovelies! xx

What shall we do with the drunken sailor?

2010-10-25T19:28:00.002+01:00

I have had a lingering chesty cold for some time now, I believe it's been over two weeks now and the cough seems to be getting better, and yet worse at the same time.

It has the ring of something that wants to become a chest infection, so I've decided to take some precautionary antibiotics. This means I can't drink a dingle drop of booze and so I'm envious of the drunked sailor, even if he does have to stay in the long boat until he's sober.

I am taking this measure because I don't want to be ill for my weekend which will be spend in VENICE! Plus coughing so hard that you vomit isn't fun. And it's annoying. And painful. So yeah, if it doesn't shift I may actually have to pay to see a doctor. No fair :(

So my dears, wish me luck in shifting this darn cough so I can fully enjoy my long weekend in Venice.

Oh and wish my beloved bf a Happy Birthday this time next week. He's hitting the big 25 and isn't happy about it, bless him ;)

Sunday evening.

2010-10-17T20:49:00.002+01:00

I'm just about to indulge in my second Love Tea of the evening. Not exaclty high on the scale of indulgences for most, but I haven't enjoyed tea in a while and this is just scrummy.

Although I haven't done a huge amount this weekend, I don't feel rested, or accomplished. And quite frankly, Monday is arriving far too soon.

I did however have a lovely few hours on Friday enjoying drinks with the new guy at the bf's workplace and his gf who is crazy Italian, just the way I like 'em ;) You know you've made a good impression when someone you only met two hours ago invites you to come and spend a weekend at their place so you can see the city they live in for the first time. Which is some 140 miles away, somewhere we've never been to before and would love to visit, so y'know, that's pretty fabulous!

In exactly two weeks time I'll be getting ready to say farewell to Venezia. I'm so excited about this trip, you can't imagine! I've been going through the guidebook and me and the bf are going to plan some things for Friday evening and Saturday or Sunday daytime. I can hardly believe that I'm going to Venice :D

Also, the other big news is that the heating has finally been turned on in our building (as of the 15th) so we are no longer freezing our arses off the whole day!

Hopefully I'll have some more exciting house and possibly hair related news for you next week... as for now I've got to get some sleep. I have a ridiculously early wake up call for tomorrow :(

What has changed in the land of fog?

2010-10-09T14:13:00.002+01:00

Did you know the name Novara (aka where I live) is derived from some crazy Roman name (which I forget) which means the land surrounded by mist? I'm starting to see why.

I LOVE autumn, with a serious passion! I love misty evenings, the wonderful earthy smells and the colours of the leaves as they turn and fall.

I hate how the condo heating is not turned on until the 15th of October... as per the law. It's too damp outside for washing to dry and it's too cold inside for the washing to dry. What a nightmare!

Ok, I am very aware of how terribly dull this makes me seem... worried about washing of all things ;) So to make myself seem uber trendy, I'll tell you about how we tried a new cafe for breakfast, the cake was ok, the coffee was ok, but nothing special, so we went to our favourite 'Gambero Rosso' for another coffee to make up for it and then explored some hidden alleyways before getting some sushi for lunch.

Considering we've been home for over an hour, we really haven't gotten much done on our huge 'to-do' list for the weekend :( I can't wait to have all the furniture bought and placed and all the boxes to be emptied and put into the garage so I can start to share pics of our place with you all!

Hopefully by the end of the month that will have happened... but don't hold your breath ;)

Lately

2010-09-18T17:10:00.002+01:00

Lately I've been listening to music (in between sleeping) on my train journeys to and from work. It helps to sooth my soul and drown out the talking. How do they find the energy to talk so fast and loud before 7am??

We were planning to go to Turin today, but it was raining so hard and we had so much to do in the flat we decided to stay home and get cracking. So far the medicine box has been organised, the bathroom has been cleaned and the broken washing machine is on.

I'm so tired. All the time. I can't wait to fall into a routine so I can stop feeling so rubbish all the time. *YAWN*

Tomorrow we are going to Turin. A couple of friends from brighton are in town for another friend's wedding. Me and the bf weren't invited (the wedding is today) but it's ok.

I'm hoping for a good, long nights sleep tonight. Having to get another two trains on my weekend off makes me a little sad. But tomorrow is forecast to be sunny and we're going to enjoy coffee and ice cream AND panuozzo. Tomorrow will be a good day!

busy busy busy

2010-09-11T10:23:00.002+01:00

This week has been busy.

I get up somewhere between 5 and 5.30am. I get on my bike at 6.25 and bike to the station, my train leaves at 6.46 and I listen to music, gaze out of the window and sleep a little. I get off the train between 7.45 and 7.55 depending on the terribly unreliable train service and walk to 15 minutes to work. I change clothes, go to the loo, talk to the other teachers about the plan for the day and get activites ready.

The days at work follow a similar pattern, regardless of our actual routine. It's messy, with some children crying a little and a couple crying more or less all day. Lunch time and nap time are blissfully quite and easy. I generally leave 1 or 2 hours after my official hours are over and do the commute all over again.

When I get home I change into my pjs and spend time talking and laughing with the bf. It is the most important time of my day. While Guido was here painting our apartment, I lacked this time of laughing and joking that is so integral to my life and our relationship and the negative effects were pretty clear to me. My mood, my actions, my general disposition reflected my need for this interaction. I'm glad to have my bf all to myself again, hehe, how selfish love is.

This weekend I have a huge list of things to do... aesthetic needs, cleaning the house, finding documents, reorganising all our belongings that were 'put away' for the painting of the apartment, calling UniEuro about our dancing washing machine, planning meals for the week, a supermarket trip, cooking, baking, writing letters and most of all, sleeping.

I can't wait for our place to be finished.

To accomplish this status we need to find bookshelves that we love, go to ikea to pick up some bits and pieces (planned for monday after work), spend some money on some beautiful art work, put up shelves and pictures and finally wait for our sofa to arrive.

I'm counting down the days...

By the way.

2010-09-06T19:25:00.002+01:00

I am SO tired.

Today was the first day of the school year and it involved a lot of crying, a lot of distraction tactics, a lot more crying and eventually some peace.

Oh and a lot of 'Italian' last minute changes.

Moh!

I'm thinking tomorrow will be better... as soon as I decide on and plan an activity!

Any ideas for fun things to do with 2-3 year olds?

Novara - Milano - Novara

2010-08-30T12:40:00.002+01:00

It's seriously windy here today. The curtain on our kitchen balcony keeps trying to free itself. I would tie it back, but then I would have to contend with the fierce midday sun (that being the point of the curtain to start with.. blocking out the sun). Anyway, lots, lots, LOTS has been going on.

I bought my annual train pass which cost a mere 570E!!! That's 47.5 a month - flippin bargainous!

We also bought a floor. Yep, a FLOOR. I don't know if you remember our hideous floor tiles in the living area? (if not, scroll down for a peek) Well, we went and bought some laminate to cover it all up. Yes, it's going to mean planing/sanding the bottom of the front and balcony doors down, and in all honesty, I think it's a hassle, but the floor is really nice! It's not your average beech or birch laminate that looks exactly like what it is... laminate. It's matte and greyish in tone, Rustic Pine I believe it's called. It cost a small fortune, but no more than a couple of huge rugs would have. Bring on the new flooring!

I went to work today to sign my official contract and met most of the other teachers in our school, they are all really lovely (2 Italian, 2 American 1 Scottish). Two of them worked there last year and the other three are new. It's all exciting and scary and I'm back tomorrow for training. Eep!

I still have a lot to do here in the house. We have a family friend (who is an artist out of work at the moment) coming to stay with us from Tuesday evening and he's going to paint our flat. Before he gets here, we need to remove all the nails in the walls and fill the holes (seriously, there are at least 50 nails in the walls here), we also need to dismantle all the empty boxes and put them in the cantina, and we need to tackle anything that hasn't been put away and some stuff that has been put away, so that it's as empty as possible for ease of painting. Hey, this time next week we should have colour :D

Also, this time next week is the first day of term and hopefully I will have overcome my nervousness by now!

Anyhoo, I must get on, I am off to Cameri in a bit to pack up the last of the stuff (which is all bits and bobs, sigh) and give the place a quick clean. And then to tackle the new sound. YAWN. It's never ending!

Itchy finger

2010-08-25T07:15:00.004+01:00

Yep, I've been spending! I looked at my accounts and decided to spalsh out on what I consider my last kawaii stationery haul, of this year (at least). I've got my eye on a few boxes of Cavallini stickers, so I won't say it's my last stationery haul of the year, but I may ask for the stickers for my bday or xmas, so maybe it will be??

I also bought some vintage playing cards on etsy this morning.

The bf and I both LOVE vintage pin-up girls and had some ideas for wall art, but sadly what we want either doesn't exist or it's just VERY hard to find. Four of the playing cards are vintage pin up themed and I plan to put them in a frame to probably go in our living room. They're pretty fantastic. Unfortuantely the seller only had those four, but said she;s always on the look out for more, so I've put in a request for her to let me know if she gets any because I'd love to snap them up and make a collection. The other 6 cards have funky mexican style designs on them, which I'm planing to use in the kitchen.

My idea of the perfect kitchen is sleek and modern meets mexican kitsch. It's hard to describe, but imagine bright colours, yellows, reds, blues, oranges, greens and pinks, beautiful pieces on display, candles and/or fairy lights, but with our stainless steel modern appliances. It sounds pretty hideous to someone who can't see into my mind and sadly we're unlikely to achieve it in this kitchen BUT when we actually own a place, I'm going to go wild and do it exactly as I want it!

Our plans for our current kitchen are pretty basic at the moment and only stretch as far as yellow on the walls and some shelves we've picked (but not purchased) for above the sink.

But we'll get there. Eventually :)

Feeling good? Feeling GREAT!

2010-08-24T09:57:00.003+01:00

I'm feeling fantastic right now :D

I got up at 5.45 am, I had a coffee, I ironed the bf's shirt for the morning, the bus timetable is back to normal, so he only has to get one bus in the morning to work, I picked up Shirley from Cameri and I rode her aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way home!

I must admit I was pretty terrified about riding on those state roads, there just isn't much width and people never slow down or leave much room when overtaking cyclists. But it was a BREEZE! Before I knew it I was in Veveri and then BAM I was at the train tracks, where I promptly wimped out and walked my bike over the bridge. Hey, it's pretty damn narrow and windey and I didn't want to get hurt ;)

My thighs are complaining a teensy bit and I was drenched in sweat by the time I got home, but after a shower I was ready to take on the WORLD!

I'm pretty darn pleased with myself and I'm so glad to have Shirley here! It will make trips to the Brico and supermercati so much easier and I can start exploring. For real! :D

5.6 miles or 9km. I'm pretty flipping stoked.

Then again, this is flat land, there were only two uphill parts (seeing as I wimped out on the bridge), but still, 9km :D What a great way to start the day!

Please click to enlgarge :)

To-do List

2010-08-21T08:47:00.003+01:00

Things to do today?

Go to the Municipio and get our residency papers and maybe bus pass photocards
Check out some paint shops and see if we find any we like
Check out some sofa shops and see if we find any we like

Sounds simple enough right?

Then you've obviously never experienced an Italian queue... or the mayhem of a Saturday morning when everyone who works finally gets a chance to do their necessary paperwork.

At least Sunday might be lazy? Oh wait we have to move our stuff from Cameri :\

I hope you all have a buon weekend! xx

p.s.

2010-08-20T14:17:00.001+01:00

We have electricity! WOOOOOO!!!!!!

Progress/sleeping badly

2010-08-19T07:49:00.004+01:00

This is me hiding behind my second coffee of the morning and all I want to do is go back to sleep. I slept really badly last night, it was humid, too warm, I was scared of mosquitoes, so tried desperately to stay covered, which added to my warmth and I couldn't get comfortable all night.

Why did I sleep so badly? Because we spent the previous night at the new flat, or the new sound as we like to call it (Mighty Boosh anyone?).

Our first night in the new flat was great, we bought a bigger table for our kitchen because the small breakfast table we used in brighton was perfect for that long, narrow kitchen, but in the new flat, it just created a huge wasted space in the middle of the room. So we got a 4 person table and it fits perfectly, it uses the space well, it is bigger which is always a plus for what I think of as Italian dining, i.e. put everything on the table and help yourself, as opposed to English dining where everything is served onto plates in the kitchen and the plates are brought to the table, and yeah, it looks good.

Seeing as our electricity is still not connected, the bf bought a selection of cold goods from the supermercato, ham, crackers, insalata Russa, fritatta, focaccia and we had ourselves a little feast.

complete with screwdriver from making the table.

The light is poor because as the sun set, we kicked ourselves for not picking up some candles, but it added to the romantic nature of our first night there.

We finally slept in a real bed. Not just any bed, but a bed with a HUGE matress, bigger than our old one, which is firm and soft at the same time. I slept like a baby and enjoyed a nap after the bf had gone to work in the morning. Bliss. This is why I slept so badly in Cameri last night. The crappy mattress, the poor, unsupportive bedframe, yuk, it's done me no favours :(

Our order from UniEuro was delivered yesterday, so we now have a dishwasher, cooker, fridge and washing machine (courtesy of the bf's Dad, Mr.C), but still no gas or electricity :\ I jigged our kitchen around a little bit and I can't wait for the worktops to be fitted this weekend. It's finally starting to look like a home. Well, the kitchen is at least ;)

A Tour of the empty apartment.

2010-08-15T13:30:00.000+01:00

The living room from the kitchen door

The Living room from the balcony

Living room floor tiles.

Kitchen from the door (looking right)

The Kitchen from the balcony (looking right)

Master bedroom from the door (looking right)

Master bedroom from the balcony

Second bedrom from the door (looking left)

Second room from the balcony, plus built in storage

Bathroom from the window

Bathroom tiles.

Moving Part II

2010-08-15T12:16:00.000+01:00

Unpacking the van wasn't so bad. I got my usual job of standing at the lift/elevator doors and taking all the boxes and whatnot from there to their respective rooms. Now that the boxes are in, it doesn't seem like much. This flat is much bigger than our last. That and we have next to no furniture.

The bf's parents have given us their old kitchen. When I say old, I mean they stopped using it last year when they moved, so it's not 'old', just old. We've put the cabinets where we want them, and the bf's dad put up wall cabinets in the kitchen and a couple in the bathroom. He also sorted out a couple of light fittings for us yesterday too. Bless him :) It's pretty handy because he has more tools than your average handy man. Seriously.

Yesterday we also ordered our 'white' goods, which are mostly grey, except for the lavatrice/washing machine. We're not sure when they will be delivered, possibly wednesday or thursday, but they said they will call the day before delivery. I'm excited to get the kitchen looking more like a kitchen :) At the moment we have a half-sized kitchen. It has a sink and draining board, an electric hob with only 2 plates, 3 drawers and 2 cupboards for storage and almost no worksurface space. The biggest space is wide enough for a kettle and that's what is there. A kettle. It's going to be a joy to cook in a real kitchen and have a real freezer and a decent sized fridge that works properly. YAY!

The plan for tomorrow is to call all utility companies to get everything turned on and get it in our names. Well, probably the bf's name. Seeing as he's back to work tomorrow (BOOO!) his Mum is driving over to help me sort that out. We may also try and get a worksurface for the kitchen and she may even coerce me into deciding on a sofa.

Slowly but surely things and shaping up :)

Moving

2010-08-13T11:04:00.004+01:00

I've spent the past 9 days in London, helping out my mum, feeding the cat, enjoying the sun and packing. Why is it that packing always leaves me with horrid bruises on my forearms?

Just before we started to move things from our storage compartment in London, my bf suggested I take pictures of the process. He was half joking, but I wish I had now, I would have loved to show our amazing packing skills and would have made for a pretty boastful post.

But alas I did not.

The most important points in the moving/packing process went like this...

fitting a 150cm wide matress into a 154cm wide van where the door space was only 147cm wide.
Said mattress was too tall to stand up in the van, so we had to pack a bunch of boxes (which were rearranged by me twice to use the space most efficiently) and then lay the mattress ontop of them.
Then realising we needed to fit more boxes in underneath we had to suspend the mattress as best we could from the ceiling of the van and slot more, very heavy boxes in underneath.
This also involved propping said mattress up with shoulders and/or heads while manouvering/shoving boxes into any space available.
We then had to squish the bedframe in between the mattress and the ceiling of the van. This was not easy either and involved 3 people pushing, pulling, squishing and swearing for at least 10 minutes until the miracle was performed.
Me using the side door and previously redundant space to fit in any slimmer items like folding chairs and clothes drying racks, so the van looked like a twisted game of tetris crossed with a bizarre and difficult jigsaw puzzle.
Realising we hadn't packed the breakfast table, tv, pc, shelves and tank for the snake and having to shove them in at the back willy nilly.
THEN realising we still had 20 4-packs of baked beans and 4 bottles of sauce to shove in somewhere. These too got shoved in at the back wherever possible and led to almost crushed toes when opening the back doors of the van.
A last minute scramble in the morning trying to pack the snake's tank in somewhere because it was too big for the spare seat at the front of the van.
Accepting that we'd have to leave behind our amazing selection of cocktail liquors, my white boxes full of random crafting bits and a box randomly packed last september which just happened to contain my FAVOURITE mug.
A final sigh of relief as the bf and his brother drove off to Dover to catch the ferry.

I am pretty proud of how much we managed to fit into that van. If either me or the bf had ever seen the inside of a renault trafic, I'm sure we would have pleaded for a master, but seeing as we got the van for free, we didn't complain too much. Although there was a LOT of swearing on Wednesday.

The tightly packed van is currently in France but shall be arriving in Italy this afternoon.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much I'm dreading unpacking the darn thing.

I want it!!!

2010-08-04T21:16:00.003+01:00

I desperately want to own this lamp, but at $100 I never will... someone wanna buy it for me??

Porcini Lamp

Thank you

2010-08-03T09:56:00.002+01:00

Thank you for all the wonderful links you've left me :) I've spent a number of hours scouring the sites and had a lot of fun too. We've even decided on some colours ;)

It's weird, I feel like it's still the weekend because the bf is on holiday from work. It's difficult to keep track of the days of the week when not much is going on :\

I'm off to London this evening, but first I must put our names on our new mailbox and take pictures of the new flat.

I'm tired and still ill. It's not fun and I'm not particularly looking forward to this flight, but it must be done! The same goes for all the sorting and packing... booooo!! I foresee many trips to the charity shop with black bags full of clothes and whatnot. Oh joy.

But still, I'm hoping London will be cooler, as the temperature here seems to have risen somewhat, and that we can manage to fit a little culture into our trip too. Despite the stressful nature of our trip, I'm looking forward to being back in my beloved hometown again... :)

Away for the weekend

2010-07-30T15:14:00.003+01:00

I'm not very well :( I've got a mild bacterial infection/virus living in my throat. It means I've got gloopy mucus coating my vocal chords and my voice keeps coming and going. Far from sounding sexy (ala Phoebe from friends) I sound a little posessed and feel a bit crappy. Luckily it's not too bad and I'm not in too much pain, or coughing too much.

It does mean I'm not particularly looking forward to our weekend in Turin. But it's necessary, so I'm happy to go.

In the meantime I'm getting excited about decorating. I found a really amazing blog and am hunting for more that give great inspiration, tips and tutorials on renovating, creating and DIYing furniture, accessories and anything else to do with decor, from wallpaper & stencils to photoframes and kitchen cabinets.

I need your help!

Do you know of a great site, blog or community that has similar things? It really doesn't matter about the style, it's the inspiration I'm looking for, because we'll be decorating and furnishing on a budget and I'd like to either make or revamp as many items as possible.

Even if you could leave me links to some pictures of fantastic rooms or furniture or corners of amazingness, I would be really grateful! It can be from your own house or room too, it doesn't have to be some fancy designer or well known blogger :)

During our moving/decorating project I'll be sure to ask you all for opinions and help and whatnot, as well as keeping you updated on the progress, so you'll be rewarded with pictures and thankyous all round :)

My brain is working overtime now, hehe. Be sure to have a wonderful weekend everyone xx

Living on a plain..

2010-07-29T09:14:00.003+01:00

...is it better or worse than living in the mountains?

You'd think the rain would have deposited itself back there (points north) over the alps, but no. This is the second HUGE downpour/thunderstorm we've had in a week. As opposed to rain in England, this rain is a relief. It drastically reduces the humididty and is usually followed by gusty winds for a few days which does the same and keeps the summer temps lower.

It has ruined my plan for another bike ride in the Parco del Ticino, but I'm quite enjoying sitting here, listening to the patter of the rain fighting with Nirvana to reach my ears first. The rain is currently winning.

It's getting heavier. And I just saw my first lightning flash to accompany the thunder (it's about 4 miles away now...). But last Friday's storm was immense. There was HAIL in JULY! Let me show you...

HOLY SHIT! It's right over head now... I love that amazing ripping sound you hear when thunder is directly above you. It's as if the sky is splitting apart, right over your head.

That's not rain you're seeing. It's hail, the size of half an ice cube

A nice illustration of them bouncing off the roof. One attacked me after bouncing off the balcony rail. It hurt.

It was so much fun to be out in. I felt like a child, excited by the weather. It spoke to something deep and primordial inside me.

The size of those buggers. Though they had melted some because of the heat. (Please excuse my grimy feet, I'd been running around on the wet balcony in my excitement, but I left them in for reference)

And in the amount of time it's taken for me to upload these pictures and write the captions the storm has headed off to the east, it's some miles away now. It's so cloudy I can't see the lightning unless I look for it and the rain is but a gentle pitter patter in the background.

I love this crazy weather. But not enough for it to do this constantly ;)

ps, it's now a chilly 19 Degrees outside. The first time I've seen it below 20 in the day time since the middle of May!

Hmmm...

2010-07-28T15:08:00.002+01:00

There have been a few things going on here and there, but I keep forgetting to post about them. I photographed a freak occurence last Friday and I took step by step pictures of two home made meals from this past week, but my uploading skills seem to have escaped me and you've all been left in the dark :(

I promise I will update a little more now that our internet is back up and running properly.

Also, my bf's parents gifted us 6 bottles of red and 6 bottles of white wine *squeeee* I love free booze ;)

We're going to sign the tenancy agreement for our potentially new apartment in NOVARA tonight. I'm super excited and can't wait to get the keys and start decorating etc. But first the precautionary measure of putting down cockroach poison (I shan't be caught out again!) and then the move from London. We'll be in my hometown from the 3rd of August helping out my mum, packing up our stuff, seeing old friends and eventually moving all our crap back to Italy.

It will be awesome to have my bf off work, but BOOOO!!! to the amount of stuff we have to do. I was sincerely hoping for a nice relaxing holiday, of at least 3 days this year, but it seems very unlikely now :/

Oh well. Such is life. but YAY for new apartment joy :D

TFI Friday.

2010-07-23T07:35:00.004+01:00

I know I'm not working, so I don't have as much of an excuse as all the workers out there, but I am so grateful that it's Friday. I've had an insane week and have taken 8 train journeys in the past 7 days. I'm so tired and was so pleased when the bf gave into my pleas to stay in Novara this weekend. I can't face another train journey. I hope I find the inner strength and peace to face a life of commuting to Milano. And I also hope I find it pretty soon.

It rained last night... we got caught in it on the way back to Porta Nuova station in Torino. It wasn't fun, but it seems to have helped to cool down the day... in fact it may rain again. The clouds look heavy.

I'm sitting on my front doorstep (suprised? ;) And the lovely white and brown micio (little cat) is sitting on the far end of the balcony, ears twitching as I type. I wonder if he wants more food or if he just wants to hang out...?

As you may, or may not know, I went to London earlier this month and had a great time with my sister's two eldest children. I took my niece to Madame Tussauds and we got a bunch of cool pictures with various wax works. Seeing as I haven't posted a picture in a while I thought I'd share some with you...

Yes, I may have a little bit of an obsession with Mr. Depp.

And yes, he tasted goooooood ;)

(although my face does look terribly ridiculous, heh)

ARNIE! I first went to Madame Tussauds with my Mum when I was about 7 or 8

and had my pic taken with Arnie as you entered by Staff. We paid for the pic and I

still have it. It's one of my favourite childhood photos. I'm so glad he's still there :)

David Cameron. The British PM. I loathe him and his slimey tory ways.

I couldn't pass up this opportunity. Funnily enough there was no queue

to have your pic taken with him...

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. Another tory toff who always

looks as if he's just rolled out of bed. Another with no queue... do we

see the pattern forming here boys and girls?

*cough*down with the tories*cough*

Me and Nick Fury looking AMAZINGLY cool. Though I'd rather have

had an eye patch than those 3D glasses. They were really uncomfortable.

But after our first 4D experience, my niece and I decided it was all pretty cool :)

I'll have to dig out that pic of me and Arnie from many moons ago and scan it. Oh the joy of memory ;)

Have you been on any fab day trips or adventures lately? Do you have any planned??

Journeys

2010-07-22T10:07:00.001+01:00

What do you do on journeys? I love to listen to music and stare out of the window, my mind will wander and I'll feel perfectly at peace with the world.

As long as it's not pushing 40degrees outside and the train isn't to busy (yesterday's homeward bound journey was a nightmare)

I've got 4 train journeys to take today and I'm contemplating bringing my netbook, but the tourist in me is screaming *NO! DON'T DO IT! IT WILL GET STOLEN!!!!!!!*

So I think I'll leave it at home.

Sadly I'm not in the best of moods... but I'm sure I'll get over it. I'm wishing you a happier Thursday than mine x

Giveaway!

2010-07-19T10:29:00.003+01:00

I'm having a giveaway over on my postal blog, it's open to followers of Pencil Mia In too, so pop on over and join in :)

Hot and Humid

2010-07-16T10:53:00.002+01:00

I'm terribly hot. It's terribly humid and so I'm terribly sticky.

I cannot wait to move. Apparently we should get the keys to our new apartment on the 29th of July. I'm counting down the days :D

I'm really looking forward to homemaking, the new place is unfurnished, we'll be picking up our stuff from the UK early in August, but there are other things we need to get hold of too. Like a kitchen. I'm hoping to buy a bed for the 2nd bedroom now so we can start moving our stuff from here and living there asap. It's too hot to sleep here.

Oh and it's flying ant season now. I've already been bitten by one this morning. On my foot, so it's flip flops for me until it goes away. Good job I brought some back with me eh?

DIY

2010-07-11T22:27:00.002+01:00

When I bought work clothes for when I was at the ISL I spotted this t-shirt in the mens section of H&M, I knew my bf would like it, and seeing as it was only 4.95 Euro, I thought I'd take a chance.

As it happens, he did love it, but as it was a cheapy there was a slight defect in the shoulder seam that he just couldn't live with. As I loved it too, I got to keep it and happily chopped away and wore it on the plane last week. I <3 it loads!

Sorry for the terribly MySpace pics but the full length ones I took looked horrid. I hope you get a decent idea of what it's like. A bargain if you ask me ;)

Lazy

2010-07-08T09:54:00.002+01:00

Why is it that when everything is a mess I have no motivation to do anything. It's rubbish!

Because my sister and her family were here before I arrived, my mum had to move all my crap out of the two spare rooms to make way for everyone. There were loads of boxes in the front room and the box room was covered in my crafting things from my jewellery and swap making. This means my bedroom is littered with stuff. The floor space is piled high with boxes and ikea bags and my desk is a foot high with paper, letters, magazines, pens and pencils and any other random bits and bobs you can think of.

This abyss is making me reluctant to do anything, I just want to sit here on my pretty new netbook and play games all day. Having unlimited internet is fun, but deadly.

I have a huge list of things to do, not including taking my nephew and niece out and about. It goes something like this...

Tidy room
reply to letters
send swaps
go to storage and try and sort some boxes out to bring home (where the F I'm going to put them though is beyond me!)
wash dirty clothes
sort out things to bring back
call 7 different places to cancel/suspend/set up/enquire about various services

And I'm sure there are plenty of things I've forgotten about.

Oh yeah, dye my hair.

NIGHTMARE!

But I did get my pretty new netbook, so expect lots of low quality snapshots form it's webcam and more up to date posting of pics and such ;)

I hope you're having a more productive week than me, I can't believe it's Thursday already!!

Leaving on a jet plane...

2010-07-06T07:12:00.003+01:00

Today I fly back to London. I'm nervous just thinking about it. I hate leaving my beloved... even though I'll be back next Thursday. I love having a bed to myself but I hate sleeping without him. I hate not being able to see him and I hate forgetting little things, like the way he smells, the feel of his lips of mine and the way they taste.

I'm looking forward to being back in my city more than I can express, but this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach is tainting that excitement somewhat. I guess I'm worried that flights will be delayed and I'll have an awful trip again?

In that case, I wish for only one thing, that my trips will be hassle free and on schedule, so I can enjoy my time in London and make it there and back safely.

I'm also looking forward to seing my eldest sister and her family. The eldest two are staying in London until nest weekend and her, her hubby and her youngest are flying back to Ireland tomorrow. Another reason why I hope my flight is on time, if I don't get back until 4am, the time I have with them will be ruined somewhat by my dull eyes and tired body.

I'm planning on going to the cinema, having tourist style fun in town and maybe getting myself hooked up with technology again after my laptop died a couple of months ago.

All in all it should be a good trip. And who knows, maybe by the time I get back, the bf will have found us the perfect flat in Novara so we can move out of the night storage heater we're currently living in. One can only hope!

Italian Adventures

2010-06-30T09:11:00.003+01:00

I've had a few Italian adventures over the past month, but I've been too busy/lazy to upload pictures, sorry! I'm going to start with my most recent adventure and work my way back.

This past weekend the bf's parents drove down to Italy from Lyon and I went with them. We didn't go straight to Turin because they had an appointment with a carpenter who was measuring for windows in their house in the mountains which is currently being renovated. So I had an hour to while away in Fenils. It's a tiny little village, just houses and a church kind of tiny. I've been there before, but never in such glorious weather, so I decided to snap some pics. I also got some in the car on the way to Fenils, the clouds were doing some crazy things and the drive through the Alps is just magical :)

Enjoy...

I love the little houses nestled into the mountainside.
(Probably going at about 170km an hour here)

Waiting by the side of the road. (Excuse the reflections in the car window)

Amazing sky.

Amazing views.

The snow melts, the river grows.

No shops, but there is a church.

Some awesome catches for the window shutters.

I hope you've enjoyed the tour of Fenils, I look forward to seeing you again on another tour in Italy.

:(

2010-06-28T09:33:00.003+01:00

I'm not having a great day.

I came back to Cameri with the bf yesterday. It was 32 degrees in Turin, but it was breezy so there was some relief from the heat. I have no idea what the temp was here yesterday, but the flat was an oven when we returned. That, however, was not the worst thing. There were several (and by several I mean 13) cockroach corpses littered around the flat and there were 2 large ones on their backs playing dead, but I killed them with some hideous cockroach killing spray. Gross. It's not that there's an infestation, it's just that we live in the middle of the country and it gets pretty humid. Perfect for the little f*ckers. And they've taken a liking to our flat.

It's a good job we're moving in a little over a month.

We spent the evening freaking out at every sound and everything, real or imagined, that we saw from the corner of our eyes, thinking it was a cockroach seeking revenge.

We went to a pizzeria, I had a calzone, it was good. It slayed my two week long craving for pizza wonderfully, but I drank a little too much beer *hiccup*. During the 3 minute walk home I managed to get ravaged by my other enemies, mosquitos. I am sporting two hideous bites on my back, which thankfully aren't itchy today and haven't swelled too much, but I also have two GARGANTUAN bites on my left arm. On near my wrist and the other on the inside of my upper arm, just where it will rub painfully on my clothing throughout the day. During the terribly hot and humid night they swelled to a ridiculous size, and now my wrist is totally deformed.

I'm not impressed. Nor am I happy.

These bites are not only itchy ALL the FREAKING TIME. But they hurt whenever anything touches them.

I bought some bite relief gel this morning. It contains ammonia, so it should help, but I fear it's too far gone to make too much of a difference to my poor left arm.

I'm afraid it really is mosquito season in Novara. I'm screwed.

Tetris Girl

2010-06-25T21:13:00.002+01:00

I mentioned below that I made a superhero costume for the themed activity day at the ISL on Thursday. It took me a fair amount of time to accomplish, and everyone loved it. I took pics so the bf could have a look and thought I'd share my alter ego with you...

Is it a Rubiks Cube?

Is it a disco dancefloor?

NO! It's TETRIS GIRL!

Apologies for the terrible facial expression.

The kids, being very young, had to take a few guesses and even then I had to explain what Tetris is to most of them, but the Rubiks Cube and disco dancefloor were two of the best guesses I had. Kids are great :D

Also, the last picture is great, because it shows the immense paleness of my legs in comparison to my upper body. I've managed a little colour on my shins over the past two days, but now they look almost stripey. I've almost managed to get rid of the tan lines on my shoulders from Thursday too. Hooray for the sun! (and sunscreen of course ;)

Buon Weekend!! x

busy busy bumble bee!

2010-06-24T17:08:00.002+01:00

I've been really busy this week. I got back to Lyon really late on Sunday night and I've been tired out ever since. I guess the 10+ hours of walking on the weekend didn't really help.

Luckily we have sun in France and the temperature is rising everyday, so it helps to take the edge off the waves of tiredness. Here's what I've been up to...

Did something dodgy to my wrist on Sunday so I'm wearing a bandage to school but have to keep taking it off because it hurts more when I wear it?
Spraying with TWO mosquito repellents and killing any of the bastards I can find in the room.
Getting up before 7am AND managing to eat breakfast everyday :D
Making and wearing a FANTASTIC superhero costume for the activity day at school (which was today)
Getting a little sunburned because said activity day was outdoors and I didn't realise the strength of the sun :(
Painting Kingergarten faces
Writing letters (3 down, 2 to go)

I'm back to Italy this weekend, I had plans, but now the plans have changed, so it will likely be a lazy week of bike riding, reading and letter writing. Maybe with some baking thrown into the mix. Oh and we'll probably end up in Milan next weekend.

I've also been looking into various schooling methods and trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with my life. All this is terribly exhausting and as a consequence I can't remember any of my dreams... this makes me a little sad and I long for some restful days so I can wake up with the strange, yet fabulous memories of my subconscious play time.

I hope you're all doing well and looking forward to the weekend :D

p.s. I may be getting a hair cut, exciting times guys!

Will I ever have a quiet weekend?

2010-06-18T09:30:00.000+01:00

When I am in Italy, we go from Cameri to Torino every other weekend. On the other weekends, we might go into Novara, or into Milano, or once in a while we just laze around the flat (usually not wearing much because it's so frikking hot and humid in the daytime).

I only got to France last Saturday, but I miss my bf and need some extra clothes (yes, ontop of all the clothes I bought on Tuesday!) so I'm going to Torino this weekend. Back on Sunday evening in time for dinner and sleep before work at the school on Monday. Seriously, will I ever get to have a relaxing, truly relaxing weekend? Maybe not.

As this is being published I should be on my way to Torino. While I am there I am going to buy some more of these:

And I'm going to go here and here and maybe, if I'm feeling very naughty here for a Fiorio sundae... mmm, marsala. I'm also going to hunt down some Italian treasures for a girl who needs her spirits lifting and I'm going to eat some of this:

but not necessarily those flavours. (I'll probably go with Bacio e Crema di Grom con panna montata... YUM!)

I hope you all have a buon weekend! xx

Spoiler alert - For the boyfriend only ;)

2010-06-16T15:31:00.003+01:00

There is a cool shop in Lyon called Pylones, it's got similar stock to Octopus in the UK. I've only been in a couple of times because it's often really crowded, but I went in on Monday and bagged a couple of cute bits...

One of those cool hook thingies so you can keep your bag
secure under the table at a cafe or restaurant... or on a
train too I guess. Well, anywhere with a table really.

These cute little book marks and peanut erasers which will be gifts.

And these awesome eggcups. I'm sure the bf will love them too.
I couldn't resist their cute design and bright colours :)

Yesterday I had to buy clothes for my work experience placement, I went a little overboard, but I love everything I got (haha, as if I wouldn't) It's all very casual, but I really love the little shoes I bought, so maybe I'll do an outfit shot in the near future to show them off ;)

Have you purchased anything funky lately? Or do you have your eye on something or maybe just an awesome shop you should tell me about? You know I need another excuse to spend money ;)

Good Things are coming our way...

2010-06-15T08:53:00.003+01:00

Today I'm off to meet the headmistress of the International School of Lyon, where I'll be doing a volunteer work placement for anywhere up to two weeks. I'm excited and nervous, as always. It will be nice to be actually doing something, although I'm a little sad that I'll no longer be able to just sit at the computer all day and watch Lost.

Yep, Lost. I know it's all over now, but I never followed it when it was on TV. I have a terrible time at remembering to watch TV programmes that are on once a week. One day I may invest in a digi box where you can record TV, but then I'd probably end up with no social life. I watched maybe the first two or three episodes, then saw a handful of random episodes up until series three I think? I gave up. I had no clue what had happened and I'd missed out on too much.

But here I am with unlimited internet access and I have had a lot of free time in the past couple of days, so I decided to make a bum shaped dent in the chair and see how far I could get. I'm on episode 11. I really REALLY want to watch more!!

I think today will just be a short meeting and introduction, so maybe I'll be able to come back and catch a couple more episodes ;)

Monday Musings

2010-06-10T09:06:00.010+01:00

This is an odd sort of update... nothing of real substance, more of an excuse to show you some pics I've been hoarding ;)

I haven't really been dressing up, it's far too humid to wear tights and my legs are not ready to be disclosed to the world yet. Also, if I don't wear tights, I can't bike in my dress... so that's a definite no-no. But I miss my dresses :(

Here is one of my much loved outfits of late. I really love the lacey tights, these are my peach/nude coloured ones, with my peach dress. I wore this to go sunbathing at the lake a week or two ago. I got many stares and realised this dress is just a little too short to bike in. But I did it anyway (with one hand on the handlebars and the other holding the hem of my dress).

And here are my nails. I got really bored and decided to repeat the leopard pattern I attempted before, but using this nice mint green colour I picked up in Primark over my 2 day trip to London.

On Friday I decided to go with curly hair. My hair is really fine and has a really annoying wavy shape to it. It's not wavy enough to be nice, it makes waves in weird places and if I just leave it to dry naturally it's rubbish. I managed to get some quite nice curls this time though, which is rare for me because curls usually fall out pretty easily in my hair.

I towel dried my hair and then just twisted large sections around themselves and pinned them into little coils close to my head. When they were almost dry I undid the coils, combed my fingers through the sections to define the curls, scrunched them with wet hands and gave a final spritz of hairspray.

I'm in France now for at least a week. The weather here is much cooler than in Italy and it's nice to get some decent, non-sweat-drenched sleep... although I'm missing my bf immensely. I'm going to go into Lyon city centre when the shops have opened after lunch. I need to get my brother in law a bday card, I also need some shampoo and conditioner (nearly 5 Euros a bottle at the supermarket around the corner!!!) and I wanted to look in some of my favourite shops here, but just window shopping ;)

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend, I start my work experience this week, so I'm sure my updates will be even more slack than ever ;)

Shirley's adventures.

2010-06-10T08:55:00.002+01:00

So a while ago I think I mentioned discovering a couple of small lakes near Cameri. They're about a 7 minute bike ride away. I could look up the Km, but I'm to lazy :P

I came to the realisation yesterday that I've never published the pics, which is a shame as it's a beautiful place. Also a great place to sunbathe.

These need no explanation. A small little pocket of wonderful peace and beauty. I also love the poppies that have seeded everywhere in the countryside... even in towns and between train tracks. Sadly their season seems to be ending, I see less and less of them everyday. I desperately want to pick some and have them in a vase, but I know they are infinitely more beautiful by the side of the road, or between train tracks.

Stuck.

2010-06-09T10:43:00.002+01:00

Do you ever get stuck?

I have a strange feeling inside, like my soul is stuck in heavy mud, or my feet are sinking into, not so quick, quicksand. I feel like I need to vent... but I have no idea what I'm actually feeling.

I have a notion to go to the lake, but I know that place brings out strange feelings and thoughts, ones that must have been hidden for so long that I'd forgotten they existed, but then burst suddenly into the light, taking all my knowledge of myself with them and flying away.

Maybe I'll just go for a bike ride. That helps to clear my head... but I'm worried that by trying to clear this feeling I'll just push it further down inside until one day, it breaks free in some beautifully isolated place and I will have to face myself, which is always scary.

Maybe I'm just bored. Maybe I'm thinking too much, or thinking too little. Maybe I'm indulging my self destructive side too much by being so lazy these days. Maybe I just need to get up and get out. Maybe spending time in Lyon would not be such a bad idea... I'm always running away.

At times like this I don't know what to do with myself. Is it hormonal? I hope so. At least then I know it will pass. I guess the real question is which chemicals are causing this feeling? And is it only temporary? I don't think I can face the darkening of my days just yet... not when the nights are so light and it's so hard to sleep.

Sawwy

2010-06-08T11:13:00.005+01:00

Sorry to all. I've really been slacking with blogging. I've been pretty lazy all round to be honest... ok maybe that's not strictly true, but mostly true.

I went back to London for a couple of days last week. Wednesday was Republic day here in Italy, so my lovely had the day off and we lazed around for a while, then I packed and we went to the airport. For an international airport, Malpensa is not very well connected. Or staffed for that matter. My flight was delayed by three hours... they put me on an early flight, which was also delayed by three hours, but was planned to take off an hour after my original flight was scheduled to leave.

Me and the beloved bought a huge stack of home magazines (we're going to BUY an apartment here in ITALY! :D ), ate some grimy food courtesy of easyjet vouchers and I smoked many cigarettes.

The flight did not leave at 22:15. The plane didn't even land in Malpensa until 22:45. There were no airport staff around to give information and the one police officer at the internal passport control got a serious bollocking from angry Italian people. Airport staff gave out more vouchers and very limited information... our flight eventually took off at 00:15.

So Tired.

I got into London, waited half an hour for a train, then 20 minutes for a bus, laughed at drunken people getting naked in the fountains at Trafalgar square and finally made it home as the sun was coming up. I was in bed at 4:30, joined by the lovely Benji cat who was very surprised at my sudden and strangely timed presence, but couldn't sleep for ages because I was so wired from the awful trip.

Walking back to my Mum's house and the sun is rising.

I got about 3 hours of sleep and then spent most of the morning opening my post.

POST! :D

I spent Thursday talking to my mum, sunbathing and being tired. I spent Friday shopping, attempting to pack, eating Chinese take away and being guilted by the cat who knew I was leaving again when he saw me get out suitcases.

I got about 3 hours sleep on Friday night and left at 4:30 to get my early flight back to Malpensa. Luckily this one wasn't delayed and I got back to Cameri without a hitch. Apart from the old man who tried to come on to me at Novara train station. Oh and getting fleeced at an airport bureau de change.

We went to Milano on Saturday, it was my beloved's first time there, we met up with one of his workmates and his wife who gave us a tour, treated us to EIGHT EURO soft drinks at a bar with views of the Duomo and spent the whole day decidedly uncomfortable because it was at least 30 degrees and severely humid.

I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures form Saturday, but I do have a couple from earlier in the week.

Castello Sforzesco - Piazza Castello

It's a fantastic Castle.

With pretty couryards, art exhibitions and the huge Parco Sempione.

I promise to update more often. My internet time is limited, but I'm thinking of shelling out for an internet key of my very own... but I also need to either get my laptop fixed, or get a new one. Decisions, decisions.

I hope you all had lovely weekends and that they were overall, somewhat better that mine :)

Italian Adventures.

2010-05-29T09:55:00.003+01:00

Ok, so not such a huge amazing adventure, but it tickled my funny bone none the less.

We went to the supermercato to get some beer as part of our celebrations on Tuesday and I found this great beer. The bf commented on it's name and I just had to get it!!

Baffo D'oro = Golden Mustache.

I laughed in the supermarket and snapped it up. It was actually a pretty nice beer, although seeing as I didn't already have a mustache, I didn't get a golden one as a result of drinking said beer and I was very disappointed. If I get it again, I'll be sure to create a large head of foam and take a pic of the golden mustache of wonder ;)

Occupying oneself.

2010-05-27T09:45:00.000+01:00

When you are unemployed, you have to create an occupation for yourself. Some people choose to be professional TV watchers. In London I was a professional internet surfer and Weight Watchers advocate. Here in Cameri I'm struggling. The TV is in Italian and the internet time is limited which also has a knock on effect on the WW advocation.

Here are some of the things I've turned my hand to since becoming bored in Cameri.

Painting my nails.

I suddenly realised the other day that I bought a bunch of nail varnishes with me, so I sat on the front step and dutifully painted my nails. I don't have any tiny brushes, so the nails aren't very detailed, but it ate up some time and looked pretty for a while.

Unfortunately I neglected to bring a top coat with me, so the colours chipped off pretty easily :( Just an excuse to practice more nail art I guess ;)

Baking.

My bf's parent's subscribe to a great cooking magazine Cucina Italiana. The recipes are always delicious looking and those we've tried have always been amazing. In Torino there was a copy of said cooking bible in the flat which we pored over and decided to hijack and bring back home with us. The main reason being a recipe for White Chocolate macaroons. It's odd, because although I've eaten and enjoyed macaroons, I've never once considered making them. I thought they would be too difficult and complicated. I was right. But never fear, one day I shall conquer this beast of deliciousness and you, dear readers, will be among the first to find out how it went.

Until I muster the courage to tackle such an involved recipe (and find a food thermometer) I decided to bake some simple things. Mainly to try out the oven I brought with me, but also because it would slay my boredom. The results are to be found below.

I made a batch of 12 plain cupcakes. ½ of them became butterfly cakes filled with apricot jam and buttercream icing.

The other half were butterflied, but without the addition of the wings and were filled with strawberry jam and buttercream icing.

The apricot jam was a little too delicate for these cakes, which is why I decided to go with strawberry for the second half of the batch. They were yummy and were devoured in two days... by two of us! (Oh the cake loving shame!!)

Reading

I've once again developed my love for reading. It is at times like these when I great really into the written word and throw myself head first into a volume, only to surface for cigarette and toilet breaks.

The day after my interview I picked up Murakami's After the Quake. It is a short book. A series of short stories. They were wonderful, a little heavy, a little strange and everything I love in a book. I read this within an afternoon and my thirst for fiction had been awoken.

I picked up Murakami's After Dark the following day. I started reading it that morning and finished it the following afternoon. Again, it was strange, a little dark, a little fantastical and full of unanswered questions and stories. I really liked it, but was glad it was finished, those hours of night just before dawn can stretch forever if you are longing for the light. This was how the book made me feel... that I wanted the morning to come and yet it seemed it never would.

We went to a couple of book stores in Novara. After two or three steps into the first shop, we realised we had made a mistake... the titles for each section seemed to be centred on theology, philosophy, spirituality and there were Nuns there, running the book store. Yes, we had stumbled upon a religious book shop. The nun's kindly informed us on where we could find a book shop that sold English books and my dear beloved spent over 60 Euros on virginal pages, longing to be devoured by some hungry mind.

He kindly bought me a book too. After saying I'd never read any Austen and declaring I wasn't interested, I gave in and asked him to pick his favourite Austen book for me. The change of heart came from one of my resolutions this year, which was to read more new books, but also to expand my reading repertoire. I decided this was a good way to keep that going and I should push myself out of my comfort zone every once in a while. I've only read about 10 chapters, but I like it already, I can see humour in the characters which I am not sure is meant to be there, or if I am bringing the humour to the book like some intrusive alien. Whatever the case, it's making me chuckle, which is always a good thing.

Biking

Now that I have my wonderful bici, I have been exploring Cameri much more and have found many a beautiful nook and cranny. You don't have to go far to find yourself in the middle of the country side, surrounded by canals, farms and rice paddies. It is a lovely trip to get slightly outside of the little town, the land here is very flat, so you can see for miles and it never fails to take my breath away when I look up from the road and see the snow capped Alps staring back at me.

I'm sure there will be many posts about mine and Shirley's adventures :)

Our House.

2010-05-26T22:31:00.000+01:00

Well, our flat really. I thought I'd show you what I can see from home, because, well, I spend most of my time here :)

I spend a lot of time sitting on the doorstep, with ample cushioning under my bum, because it gets stuffy in the flat and although we have two windows, we don't get a lot of light inside. So I tend to spend my morning on the step reading with tea or coffee, and I spend my afternoon there reading (between bike rides and supermarket trips).

Here is what I can see from the doorstep.

My bici ♥

And to my left, some washing.

And here is the view from the balcony.

To the left we have the pasticceria which faces into the town square and is next door to the church. Here you can see the church clock tower, complete with bells. And, just incase the bells aren't loud enough, you have the speakers underneath too. Seriously, the bells are annoying. Really annoying.

This is what the flat looked like before I tidied up. (Yeah, I know, it's tiny and dated)

It's just a studio, but we have a fiar bit of space and all the provisions one could need :)

Here is the view to the left of the front windows.

This is the main road that runs thorugh the town square and beyond.

And here is the view to the right.

You can see some police hanging out in front of the town hall and behind them is the town square. This place is tiny!

I think one day I'll give you all a tour of Cameri. Don't worry it won't take long ;)

w00t!

2010-05-26T08:03:00.003+01:00

Ok, an impromptu post to tell you a little about yesterday....

I got the call in the afternoon on my Italian cell phone. I knew it was about the job because I'd only given my number to them... I was nervous, really shaking, I was sure they were going to tell me that unfortunately I didn't have the job, but I was wrong! I jumped silently around the room as the firector talked to me and I'm going back into Milano on Monday to finalise everything and get my letter of intent to employ (so I can sort out all my documents here). My contract will start and be signed in September, but my training will probably be in June. I'm super excited, but also really nervous. Ack, I have such terrible confidence, I get nervous so easily!!!

Anyway, so the job is at a Reggio Preschool 'One to Three'. I went to the school in the centre of Milano and it's so nice! I love the Reggio approach to preschool education, it seems so creative and nurturing. I'll be a prechool teacher, which is a job I've wanted to do for some years now, but short of studying for an NVQ in the UK, I wasn't going to get the job there. I'm going to have a pretty nasty commute in the mornings, but it's totally worth it! I was made for this job :D

It's actually handy that I won't start until September, it means I can tie up all my loose ends in the UK, bring a bunch of stuff back to Italy with me (again) and try and pass my driving test there. The sad part is that I won't see my beloved for some two months and I likely won't be there during August which is when a bunch of people were planning to visit :( But it's really important I get my licence... unless I attempt to do it here?

Last night my beloved took me out to a really fabulous sea food restaurant and I quickly snapped this pic before we went. Don't mind the awful poses or the insane mess behind us, we were rushing out of the door to make our reservation!

Neither of us are used to drinking anymore and a bottle of wine between us took a lot of effort to drink. All we did when we got home was complain about our bulging stomachs and our wine induced headaches. That'll teach us ;)

p.s.

2010-05-25T13:54:00.002+01:00

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!

I'm way too exicted right now... but will tell you about it later :D

Summer is here!

2010-05-25T09:22:00.002+01:00

It is really warm here, averaging around 29ºC everyday now. I decided it was time to strip off the jeans and slip into the dresses. Apparently, this is not received well in Cameri! It seems to encourage much staring from the locals (much more than ususal), especially so when I bike while wearing a dress. Don't worry, I'm not flashing the poor dears, I'm wearing tights, I'm covering my modesty, honest. Maybe it's the colour, maybe it's the style of the dress, maybe it's that I stick out like a sore thumb, maybe it's that I smile at strangers as I bike past them, maybe it's just that I'm new and therefore the most interesting thing on that street at that time, merely by default. Who knows. But it's getting to me a little.
On a lighter note, I bought some great shoes. No really, they are GREAT! Our flat has tiled floors, not only does this make for a lovely dust collections, it's also pretty chilly at night (well, it was until it started reaching 30ºC during the daytime). The bf asked me to pick him up some slippers, so I decided to get some for myself but before I reached the aisle with the slippers, the special offers display caught my eye. Sitting there, in all their colourful glory, were a huge bunch of croc style slip-ons from Fila. At under 10 Euros in an array of bright and wonderfully garish colours, I had to have some. I settled on these awesome violet pair and wear them whenever I'm safely inside the boundaries of our flat/courtyard. They are great fun and really comfy. I kinda forget I'm wearing them and have nearly burst onto the street with them on a couple of times.

Don't worry, I didn't wear them out. I opted for converse instead.

Also, I waited an age for Primark to get some lacy tights and at £2 a pair, I am delighted with these. I also got them in peach/flesh coloured ♥ ♥ ♥

Bici!

2010-05-24T09:10:00.001+01:00

I really enjoy cycling. I have problems with all my joints, due to many years of dancing, my ligaments and tendons are quite loose. This means certain exercises are really painful for me (like running) but cycling, on the whole, is pretty good. There is also a sense of freedom to owning a bike, I imagine it is similar to when you own a car. There are few better things that cycling down an empty country road in the sun, wind on your skin and in your hair, green all around and the smell of Summer peeking around the corner... bliss :)

When I lived in Brighton, I really wanted a bike. There was a cycle path along the seafront and I had a dream of getting fit; cycling to a secluded spot on the beach to enjoy the sea; fitting my bike with baskets and being able to make the trip to and from tesco without any hassle or bus journeys.

But I was quite particular as to what sort of bike I wanted to own. I either wanted a dutch style ladies bike, step through with sit up and beg handle bars, or I wanted a little Raleigh shopper style bike. To buy new, these bikes cost more than I could afford and the second hand ones were always snapped up before I ever had a change to contact the seller. So... I never got a bike in Brighton and I let my dream wither and die.

Where I lived in London, there were no cycle paths, the traffic was treacherous and I never even entertained the idea of getting a bike.

When I came to Cameri, one of the first things I noticed was the number of bicycles around... parked in the street, without a lock or anything! Just about everyone here seems to have a bike, from kids to grannies and mothers with up to two kids seats attached. Now I'm one of them!

Seeing all those bikes breathed life back into my dream and when I saw they sold bikes at the local supermarket, I got excited. My excitement went through the roof when I saw they were selling my idea of a perfect bike (side stand, bell and dynamo lights included) for only 109 Euro! I ummed and ahhed about it for a few days and finally gave in. I finally own my perfect bike :D

I went into Novara to get my hands on a lock (the Londoner in me can't bear to leave it unlocked in public) and some baskets and now my bike is totally pimped.

I wondered what to call it and the name Shirley popped into my head, It feels right, so now she is Christened. *Drumroll* Everyone, meet Shirley...

Sitting on our balcony like a good girl :)

Look at her fine behind! ♥

Introduction for the Week

2010-05-24T08:59:00.003+01:00

The past week has been busy and yet boring. I spent a lot of time sitting on the doorstep to our flat reading and drinking (coffee, water and the occasional beer) and smoking. Although I actually did a fair bit last week, I have also felt immense periods of boredom. These periods of boredom are a product of not being able to come onto the internet whenever and for however long I feel like. We have a mobile internet key with 100 hours allowance per month and for people as addicted to the net as me and my bf, this is not very much. Sad but true.

I've really missed blogging and have come online a couple of times to read email, catch up on new posts, check google maps and train times, but that's about it. Therefore I have a lot of news to tell you all and a handful of pictures to post.

I'm unlikely to spend as much time online as I'm doing today, so all my posts will be scheduled. I'll try and keep up with all you lovelies as much as possible, but if you comment or email me and don't get a response very quickly, now you know why :)

Here's the downlow on my past 9 days.

Saturday – Spent in Turin, we slept late and then rushed around doing all the things we should have done in the morning like go to the market and get some plug adapters and extension plugs. We ate way too much pizza and I drank too much at R&A's place (my bf's cousin and her bf).

Sunday – Again, we slept late and missed our planned early train trip back to Novara. Upon arrival at Novara I checked the ridiculous bus timetable to find our bus (Linea 1) stops running before 9pm. This ruined our plan to go to Milano that afternoon, knowing we just wouldn't have time to go home, dump our stuff, eat, get back into Novara, get to Milano, do what we needed to and get back to Novara before 8:50. Instead we went home and chilled out.

Monday – I took the trip into Milano on my own. This was both exciting and scary and Milano is crazy. It reminded me of London, everyone is bustling about, on a mission and determined to get there, no matter the cost. It's also filled with lots of trendy people and I would estimate 85% of the 18-40 year old females wear high heels and have big voluptuous hair.

Tuesday – I spent time at home, it was an uneventful day. I can only assume that because I don't remember much about it. Time is funny when you aren't working, the days seep into each other, memory fails you and everything seems a little grey tinted.

Wednesday – I spent time preparing for my interview. Again, like going to Milan this was exciting and scary. I felt really under prepared, but I put this down to not having experience in this field. The director said they preferred no experience to train new staff from scratch, but this all made me very nervous.

Thursday – Back to Milano for my interview. The train timetable is a bit weird. I can get a train that gets me into Milano for quarter past the hour, quarter to the hour or ten to the hour. It's a little frustrating because ideally I'd like to get there at half past. However, it is not as frustrating as the bus timetable which makes no logical sense and meant I had to hang around at the train station for 40 minutes, or arrive just after my train had left. Interview completed, I should hear back from them this week.

Friday – I felt free and easy. I started to read a book, I took a trip to Carrefour, I biked around a fair bit and I made cupcakes :D

Saturday – Cake for breakfast! We went into Novara and had a little adventure. We ate pizza that evening, I drank too much beer and Inter won the Champions League. This meant there were people driving around Novara and Cameri all night tooting their car horns in jubilation... much to my dismay.

Sunday – I went on a biking adventure and found a couple of small lakes just up the road. This will be my new favourite place to go in the middle of the day when everyone else is holed up inside eating their lunch. The bf's mother came to visit and we went into Novara, ate ice cream, had a wander and I am now the proud owner of possibly the largest English/Italian dictionary I've ever seen. We also bought a digital decoder to bring the huge and ancient TV in the flat into the 21^st century. This means we have a bazillion channels now including boing!, which is my new favourite. I spent half an hour watching sanrio cartoons yesterday, I can see this becoming a regular occurrence.

Monday – Today – I plan on blogging, ironing, taking a trip to the supermercato, eating lunch by the lakes and reading. A lot. I may even make some biscuits later if I have the time, but most of all I want to get some sun to erase the accidental watch strap mark I managed to acquire during yesterday's bike ride.

Nightmare.

2010-05-17T07:40:00.002+01:00

Don't get me wrong, I love Italy, I love the gorgeous food, the climate, the architecture, the traditions and culture and myriad other things. However, I don't think you can ever appreciate how lucky we are in the UK until you live in somewhere like Italy. When you are on holiday you don't mind so much that nothing is open on a sunday, that everything closes in the middle of the day and that banks are open less hours than the average person works.

When you come here on holiday, you don't mind that everything is unorganised, that people don't queue, that there is no rule for which side of the escalator to stand on, that the automatic ticket machines at the station are slow and likely to crash which is why there is always a huge queue for the manned ticket booths.

When you come here on holiday it doesn't matter that the buses and trams in the cities are unreliable and that intercity trains can be delayed for up to 4 hours because of heavy rain. It doesn't worry you that buses to smaller towns stop running at 8:30 in the evening or that a taxi for an 8km journey costs 20Euro.

I think you can see where this is going.

In the UK we are spoiled with a wealth of information intended to aid the average person as well as tourists i.e. it's easy to follow. People queue on the right of the escalator, so you can walk down the left side, people form an orderly queue when a bus or train pulls up instead of pushing their way to the front (Ok, not in central London), there are buses that run 24 hours a day and trains that run until at least 3 in the morning.

We had a lot of difficulty in getting home from the airport. The bus to our town stopped running at 9pm and the tickets we were sold for the train were useless because they used a route that (you guessed it) stopped running earlier in the day and used a rail replacement bus service that ran every TWO HOURS!? Thankfully we encountered the nicest strangers I've ever met in my entire life. People volunteered information without asking, they walked us to platforms and pointed out timetables and platforms and escalators to us, a random guy at one of the many train stations we ended up at, actually drove us to another train station and told us how to get home. Maybe he should be working for Tren Italia? Why the actual employees of the rail company couldn't have informed us of the a) correct and b) easiest way to get home at that hour is beyond me, but at least we met such kind people on our journey.

I don't know if you can tell, but the shine is starting to wear off. I need to get a scooter, then everything will start to look brighter again.

So. Freaking. Tired.

2010-05-12T23:44:00.003+01:00

I've been running around shopping, fetching things from storage, packing, making swaps which I should have done last week but left until the last minute, unpacking and repacking and ugh, I'm so tired.

I watched 'The Lion in Winter' yesterday and it's such a fantastic film, splendid dialogue with such well cast and great actors. I hadn't ever heard of it and got sent it through the post because I forgot to switch back to my list on Love Film and I'm really glad I got to watch it, because it was just really, really great. I would be more enthusiastic but I'm exhausted.

I bought something for the flat we're going to be staying in for a while in Cameri and although it's really not that heavy, it's big. Really big (I would tell you what it is, but my bf might be reading this). I had trouble getting it into my luggage, but I managed it. Then I spent ages fiddling around with liquids and electronic things that I can't take on as hand luggage and finally zipped up the bag only to weigh it and find it was 5 kilos too heavy. So I had to repack the bag a couple of times to get it right.

And don't even get me started on hand luggage.

The thing is... I got this thing for the flat that will likely be useless elsewhere and it seems the bf is keen to move asap. If I had known this was the case 2 days ago, I wouldn't have bothered and could have filled my luggage with books! As it stands, we'll just have to see what happens. And I suppose it will at least be useful for the 3 weeks I'm going to be in Italy.

So, Ciao for now. Volcanic Ash Cloud (Yes, I've capitalised it) permitting I'll be flying to Lombardia and getting a bus back into Piemonte and finally seeing my beloved again. He said it's raining loads there at the moment, but it's ok because apparently the town is filled with CATS. Big fat lazy cats... and if you didn't already know, I'm a crazy cat lady in the making ...well, apart from actually having a cat of my own that is, one step at a time eh?

♥

Monday exhaustion.

2010-05-10T20:25:00.004+01:00

I spent an awful lot of time shopping today. I went to Brent Cross with my mum, mainly to get interview clothes and shoes, but also got a bunch of other stuff inluding a Lulu Guiness obsession!

We went into Fenwicks and I found and instantly wanted these three beauties...

Raspberry Pixelated Oversize Rose Large Pollyanna Clutch - £225.00

Red Patent Leather Large Lucille - £350.00

Union Jack Tapestry Large Jenny - £225.00

I've also spent the past couple of days listening to a playlist of Marina and the Diamonds and desperately want the album. Yum ♥

Ash induced panic.

2010-05-08T21:47:00.002+01:00

I have a flight booked to Milan for this coming Thursday. I'm seriously worried that the volcanic ash cloud is going to prevent me from flying and therefore not making my job interview.

I really, really hope this doesn't happen!

Please gods of wind and volcanic ash, please move this cloud so it's not a threat to the best opportunity I've had in years.

Many Thanks
Maria
x

Fridays make me restless.

2010-05-07T17:43:00.003+01:00

I've been feeling quite restless today. I think it's partly the election result, partly the upcoming interview and partly my very well honed skills of procrastination.

I'm bored of my hair. I want it to grow quickly so I can have it long with a long blunt fringe (bangs) like so many gorgeous trendy people have these days. I love the look and spent some time messing around with makeover sites today to find that it wouldn't look as bad on me as I first thought. Fringes for the win!

But I also really miss my pink hair. I know if I bleached it again, my hair would just give up and fall out. Especially since the bleach hasn't really grown out yet. And if I do bleach it, it will take forever to grow long and I can kiss my fringe goodbye. But I really do miss the colour in my life...

My pink hair :'( and my favourite hoodie of all time.

My lovely purple hair (at a eurovision party, which explains
the union jacks)

My summer compromise of purple fringe and pink hair. Oh
and my Stalinist representation of a bear. Long story.

I've also been talking about wanting to go ginger for a while. Not a very carroty ginger, but still, orange rather than red, but I've come to the conclusion it wouldn't suit my skin tone. Neither would platinum, which saddens me to no end.

I guess I'll just stick with brown for now and keep trying to grow my locks. Maybe I'll resurrect the pink hair one day in the far off future...?

Huh.

2010-05-07T11:40:00.002+01:00

So, the results aren't completely in, but it's a hung parliament.

It looks like my friend is out of a job because Brighton Kemptown voted conservative?? Hove too?? Sigh.

I had a great time watching channel 4's alternative election night (and have totally developed a crush for Peter Serafinowicz) and went to sleep far too late for my own health and sanity. I was really very worried about how the election would turn out, but this has actually restored my faith in the general population somewhat. All the silly people who left it until the last half an hour to go out and vote and then got angry because there were queues of equally stupid people which meant that they didn't get to vote when the ballot boxes were sealed at 10pm are excluded from restored faith.

I think it's really very interesting how the population cast their votes, or rather, how the voting population cast their votes. The results also go to show that the media talk a load of bollocks. The tory papers and stupid opinion polls seem to have scared the population into going out and voting by banging on about how the tories were so likely to win. At least, that's my opinion. And seriously, who is going to trust slimy Dave? Apart from Brighton Kemptown and Hove apparently?? That still bothers me.

Anyhoo, I'm still a little bewildered, but I put that down to lack of sleep and it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks. But honestly, I don't hold a stake in this game anymore... I'm migrating to another country, where I'll be the outsider and hopefully won't be subjected to right wing bollocks.

Down with the blues ;)

Bluebells rule my life

2010-05-06T17:50:00.003+01:00

I waited a long time for the bluebells in our garden to come into bloom. I spent most of April in the garden wathcing them gorw and watching the green buds developed.

And then the cloud came and we've been suffering without sun for what seems like an age. But the bluebells have been in bloom for nearly a week now and I've been aching for some sunshine so I can photgraph them on my 35mm camera.

Today was that day it seems. I snapped some on my dying samsung to share with you all as well.

Some forget-me-nots for good measure.

All the others I took were terribly out of focus (poor camera) but I'll see if I can get anymore tomorrow. Fingers crossed for sun people! (and for a non Tory government)

Guessing Game

2010-05-05T16:43:00.003+01:00

Who spent two days working on her CV and covering letter?
Who sent it off yesterday feeling terribly nervous and stressed out?
Who got a reply back within an hour?
Who was offered a tour and interview this month?
Who booked flights to Milan last night?
Who is going to Italy next Thursday?

Yep. Me.

Me. Me. Me.

I can still hardly belive it. They got back to me so quickly, I'm really hopeful. When I think about it too much it makes me really nervous... I've got so much to do. I've dug out my psych books from Uni and I'm trying to cram as much Italian into my head as possible and it's all totally overwhelming and I feel really unprepared, but at least I have some time before they want to meet me.

Milano here I come!!

(here)

p.s. thank you for the good luck wishes, I think they helped, so keep thinking of me until I get the job ♥

2010 Year of Change.

2010-05-04T17:52:00.004+01:00

I make a lot of lists. I'm a die hard list maker. That doesn't always mean I do the things on the list, but I love making them. I made a list just before the start of this year and one of the things on my list was to read more 'new' books. I have a terrible habit of re-reading my favourite books until I know them inside out and while that is a great comfort to me, I want to branch out. I want to read something new, try new genres, new authors, new everything. I want to immerse myself in the written word as I have never done before.

As much as I love lists, I decided not to list what I intended to read, because I tend to pick up what interests me at the time (and that is also one of the reasons I always end up reading about 5 books simultaneously). I also have the luck/misfortune of having a boyfriend who is a prolific reader. This is great because he can recommend things to me without giving away the plot, but terrible because he reads about 3 times faster than me :( So I have a lot of catching up to do.

I was really pleased yesterday because I finally finished Catch 22. It was one of those books I bought some years ago and just struggled to get into. I brought it to Egypt with me in November and we instantly hit it off. This book is fabulous, I rarely laugh aloud to a book, but this had me in at least 3 real fits of giggles, much to the dismay of the general public (you aren't allowed to be happy in public in the UK), and when I had finished I instantly wanted to turn back to the first page and go again. I restrained myself. I even restrained myself from picking up another book!

I'm about 3/4 of the way through World War Z, so hopefully that will get finished soon enough. then I have Elephants on Acid and Murphy to finish (but I think I may pick up Journey to the Centre of the Earth before too long, it's calling to me from the book shelf).

What are you reading at the moment? Do you have any great books to suggest? Anything goes ;)

(found here)

Secretly very excited.

2010-05-03T13:29:00.004+01:00

I know this is really long, but please read it and share in my joy as I shout from the rooftops of happiness!

Ok, so not so secretly excited. VERY PUBLICLY EXCITED!

I'm jumping the gun a little here but I can't help it. The future was looking a little bleak, exciting but by no means rosy. For those of you who don't know, I'm moving to Italy in the summer of this year. My boyfriend landed a nice little job and moved there last week. I'm supposed to be doing all the things I need to do to be ready to go out there, i.e. getting my driving licence, any qualifications to help me get work, sorting out our flats worth of stuff that's in storage etc. etc.

The future was looking bleak. I say this because although I love Italy and I've always wanted to live there, I had a romantic idea in my head of this all being a little more planned a little less spontaneous. I had an idea that we'd go in a few years (read 5) and we'd be settled with a little money, some kind of career path we'd each be following and some valuable job experience. But, life never quite works like that. I've been struggling with the age old question of 'What do I want to be when I grow up?' but decided to do a teaching English as a foreign language course, which was my intent for our original plan to move to Japan in a couple of years anyway. So I was going to do it in June and hope for the best in regards to jobs.

I've looked at the job market, and although it's always easier to find a job when you're in the country you want to work in, it wasn't looking good. The fabled E word that has crippled many a competent job seeker stood in my way at every corner. Yes readers, Experience. Most schools are looking for at least 1 years tefl experience, many were looking for more. Sigh. So I got disheartened and decided I'd probably end up working the reception at the Ramada for as long as it took to find my dream.

Then, as if an angel guided me through the clouds of despair (well, a google search really) I found the job of my dreams. I've been banging on about wanting to do this kind of work pretty much since I graduated in 2007, or perhaps even earlier. The problem being I'd have to study for 3 years plus to gain a qualification that is worth less than my degree in academic terms and it's just not very well paid in the UK. Like several potential career paths, I crossed it from my list because of the length of training and I'm a pretty pessimistic person, so I talk myself out of it easily. But this, my dream come true, my lifeline, my perfect job stood there looking me in the face. No experience necessary, full training given, requires an appropriate qualification, one of which being a PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE!!!! Seriously ladies and gents, this job was made for me!

I don't want to say too much more, because if I don't get it, I'll be gutted, but they are actually looking for a team of staff, so I have a better chance than if they were looking for just one more staff member. I am so unbelievably excited, it's untrue. I know I shouldn't pin all my hopes on this, because they might not want me, or need me by the time I get to Italy, but I am qualified for this job, I'd be fantastic at it, it's not badly paid, it's in Milan, so commutable and I've been keeping an eye out for something like this for years. I'm going to send them a preliminary email teling them about my situation and that I really, really want this job, and that I'd be perfect for it, of course and suggesting that maybe I can go out there to meet them before the end of June and have a little meeting or interview or something. I have no commitments here at the moment, so I could jump on a flight tomorrow, assuming there is a seat. Hell, I'd even sneak into the baggage compartment if it meant getting this job. Seriously.

Thank you google angels for bringing this up on the first page of search results and thank you cold virus for making me ill so I stayed at home instead of going out this weekend and thank you my beloved for badgering me about looking for schools and work and thank you internet for existing and THANK YOU amazing potential place of work for looking for me (because I know when you wrote that ad, you were secretly looking for me, maybe you have an oracle or read Tarot, whatever it was, thank you too).

I'm happy :D

ps, wish me luck!

For the Love of Friday.

2010-04-30T21:46:00.002+01:00

Five things I am in love with... today.

Hex Code charts

(here)

Pretty nail art

(here)

(here)

(here)

Fat lazy Cats

(here)

(here)

(here)

Vintage Photographs

(here)

Amazing mail days

(here)

What are you loving this Friday?

Head.Ache.

2010-04-29T21:02:00.003+01:00

I have a banging headache and it's my own fault. I never get headaches like normal people, I usually get flash migraines. I used to suffer with migraines when I was 9 - 11 and since then I've never had anything but these INTENSE bursts of pain in my head that last anywhere between 3 and 60 seconds. They are totally incapacitating and sometimes make me think something is wrong with my head :(

Anyway, back to the story.

So, I was being crafty today and I decided to finish up my project from my bed. The light was waning, so I reached over to turn on the daylight lamp lazily from the bed. I reached for it, pulled the head of the lamp slightly towards me. I didn't manage to get the light on, but I did manage to knock over my bf's cologne which promptly smashed all over the desk causing a huge mess that was hard to clean up and ruined two hand made envelopes. Now the whole house smells of Issey Miyake and I have a huge perfume induced headache. Not pretty. Oh and I got glass in my hand :(

I didn't get round to finishing my project, but I will do before tomorrow as it needs to be posted by then. I also have to watch 8mm. I've had it since monday and desperately want to get through my love film list before I move to Italy so I need to get a move on!

I hope everyone has had a good thursday and that you're all looking forward to Friday! :D

Whimsical Wednesday

2010-04-28T21:38:00.003+01:00

I bought a couple more nail varnishes today from boots.

Orange Soda and Sherbert Lemon

The reason this is important is because I reacquainted myself with Gem's nail tutorial and it's been an age since I last did any nail art, so I thought I'd give it a go...

That was until I got half way through and couldn't find my liquid eyeliner. I stopped using it some time ago but I was sure it still held residence in my make up box somewhere. I ended up using block printing ink because I couldn't even find any black acrylic and I was so desperate to try this out! However, this was a bad idea because ink gets sticky and takes a while to dry, otherwise it's watery and doesn't cover the varnish properly. It was difficult for me to get a good consistency without it taking an age to dry and getting sumdged in the process. But Hurrah! It worked eventually ;)

It came out a lot worse than other people's attempts, but I blame that on the fact I couldn't find my flippin liquid eyeliner. Still, it was fun and for my first attempt, it's not bad, the effect is striking and pretty, even if it doesn't quite look like leopard print.

Here are the results. (click to enlarge)

My left hand will always be the better of the two.

My right middle and ring finger got a little smudged, but I was so peed off
by then I thought 'screw it, it's not that bad' and sealed the beasts with top coat.

It took me a really long time to pick which colours to use and I love the fact that you can really go to town with this. With any nail art in fact. I believe that your nails don't have to match your outfit and that your make up shouldn't (I've made hideous mistakes accidentally matching eye make up and clothes, oops!). I often end up with nails that clash with an outfit, but I like the look... I also quite enjoy clashing colours in an outfit too, but more on that another day ;)

Thanks for the tip Gem!

My new pretties, all in a row.

This isn't the best picture in the world but I had to inlclude it because it took some
artful skills involving self timer, a daylight lamp and holding the camera between
my chin and my chest like a super spaz. I'll leave you with that image :)

sob

2010-04-27T17:09:00.003+01:00

Well, the horrid day came. I took my bf to Victoria station so he could get the train to the airport and I don't know when I'll next see him :'(

I had to cheer myself up and I nearly bought the softest pj's/lounging clothes ever from Primark, but I resisted. I did however buy some new nail varnish, which I've been wanting to do for a while.

Collection 2000, £1.79 each, but were on offer at 2 for £3

I quickly tried them out over my chipped red nails and the pictures weren't any better than the rushed job I did, so maybe I'll show you better pictures when I've taken the time to paint my nails nicely.

I also bought some postcards from paperchase to send to my beloved when he gets a more permanent address. It's going to be poo without him. I'm going to fill my time with learning and planning and lists. Yes, lists sound like a good way to keep busy, I'm going to get started!

Feeling sorry for myself.

2010-04-26T14:48:00.003+01:00

I have a few things to be sad about today.

The sun is not really out. There is too much cloud, a forecast of rain and I am worried about the future of our summer.
I am ill. I had a really nice weekend, but by the time I got back ot London yesterday evening my throat was really painful and I'd had a stuffy nose on and off all day. This morning confirmed it. I'm ill. Some hideous viral infection, I hope it goes away quickly.
My lovely boyfriend is going to Italy tomorrow. Indefintiely. For-ever. I will be visiting him soon, and eventually moving out to Italy too, but it saddens me. There are so many things I wanted to do with him here in England before he left, but sadly we have run out of time.

So, I'm feeling sorry for myself. I emphasized this by eating chocolate for brunch. I'm holding out for mum's roast dinner, so I doubt I'll eat anything in between (which merely adds to the pathetic state of mind right now).

Apart from being a little pathetic, I actually had a really fun weekend. We spent a lot of it with our friend Don Michele. He picked us up on Friday and drove us to his home town, and drove us home again yesterday too (Thanks again!!). We went to Cricklade, first town on the Thames. We saw the Thames in it's tiny stunted form and Michael took great delight in saying "HA! We have the same river as you!" before I told him that where I live, we actually have a different river as I don't live anywhere near the Thames.

We took a really nice walk from whitehorse hill to weyland's smithy and spent a peaceful half hour or more talking about life. We also visited 80% of Britain's Snake's Head Fritillaries. They are a really beautiful flower, but my camera doesn't do them justice.

We met new people and we played Lord of the Rings boardgame which was really fun. I don't like things that are competitive, but this is a co-op game and I want to play it again, but with the expansion packs :D And maybe a 5th player so someone can be Fatty. (yes, there is a hobbit character called Fatty).

Sunday evening was a little rushed as I threw on my heels and bombed it to Leicester sq with the bf to have dinner with my sister and her bf. We went to Abeno Too, which is a fabulous restaurant serving okonomi-yaki and various other Japanese delights. I only care about the okonomi-yaki, so I kinda glaze over the rest of the menu, although the teppanyaki chicken my sister had looked great.

We were planning on going to Brighton for the day today but I woke up feeling like shit and the bf didn't feel much better, so we decided to stay here and chill out instead. I hope we're not missing too much sun on the coast!

Dressing up.

2010-04-23T10:29:00.006+01:00

I love any excuse to dress up. Seeing as i'm not working a the moment I spend a lot of time in trackies, hawaiian shorts, or scruffy jeans and t-shirts. I've been out with friends and family a few times recently, but the weather is too unpredictable to really go all out on dressing up, mainly because I don't want to be too cold, nor do I want to have to lug around my winter coat in the sun.

Yesterday I threw caution to the wind and got dressed up to go to the V&A with my lovely bf to see the quilts exhibition. We've wanted to go for a while now, but it's been difficult with being out of the coutnry so much recently, but he's leaving for Italy on Tuesday so we made a last minute scramble out the door yesterday afternoon and trotted down to south kensington.

Tights and jacket from Primark, Dress from Peacocks, Necklace DIY

The quilts exhibition was really nice, but me and the bf both felt they could have had a little more variety. There weren't any vintage/antique American quilts and that would have been nice. I didn't take any pictures at the V&A, we went quicte late in the day and I only just managed to get in to the gift shop (it's full of wonderful and terribly expensive delights). I'm really glad I did, I ummed and ahhed about this rig, but decided to buy it in the end because it's so damn pretty. I've been wearing a lot more jewellery recently and I'm enjoying changing it everyday and this is perfect for all my sumery outfits.

It's absolutely huge, it's about 2cm tall and it's beautiful laquered wood. I'm totally digging it.

My week.

2010-04-19T11:09:00.007+01:00

I had a pretty awesome time during the last seven days. The start of the week was fairly quiet, a nice bit of shopping and much letter writing on Monday, more letter writing and crafting onTuesday and Wednesday.

On Thursday I went into town with the bf and the brother in law. We went to covent garden, ate great mexican food at Cafe Pacifico, did a little shopping and went to the Natural History Museum. It is one of my favourite London museums, it's such a fantastic building, outside and in. I'll be sure to scan my pictures when I get them back (if they are any good!)

We spent alot of time in the earth rooms. My favourite areas used to be dinosaurs and mammals as a kid, but I could spend hours looking at and learning about minerals these days. Such amazing beauty and patterns. Fantastic.

Friday I slept late and then spent most of the day painting my nails and such in preparation for our Persian meal out. I wore my new shoes, of course ;)

Saturday was an early morning up and out, back into town to meet friends who came up from Brighton for the day. We walked 6.5 miles (10.5 km) walking through London and we went to the Tate Modern where I picked up a couple of really lovely notebooks and a PENCIL :D We sat in the sun and it was such a lovely warm day :) We then went straight to my sister's place. We'd made plans to go to the cinema, but had to drive there as the local one wasn't showing Clash of the Titans. Her mr. drives an Audi TT. My sister and I had to squish into the back of it. I'm a little claustrophobic and there was zero space back there, but it was a giggle. We stayd over at theirs and indulged in late night snacks and beer.

My sister has a really nice coffee machine and I love staying at hers because she makes a great latte in the morning. I had two on Sunday, sitting on the sun drenched balcony and it was lovely. She decided to have a bbq so we had to go buy one. We went to the garden centre where they sell myriad of amazing things and I picked up a couple of candles and this cute little ladybird pot thingy that I'm going to keep my rings in. The bbq was tasty, but I drank way too much. Beer, Pims, Champagne and Sangsters.

I'm pretty dehydrated today, but I got up to go to the shopping centre and get some paper and a couple of things for swaps. I stopped in peacocks and picked up a cute top and dress I'd seen last monday, and I also picked up this really cute sweater dress. I <3 it.

I'm totally a crazy cat lady (well, I have the potential to be one) so this sweater is going to stay a firm favourite of mine :D

So the past seven days were prety hectic in the end. I'm hoping for an equally busy and fun packed week this week too. My beloved man is leaving in a week so we want to do all those things we've wanted to do in town for a while but not gotten round to yet. I'll try and take more pictures this week :)

Sad :(

2010-04-16T11:54:00.003+01:00

I turned on my laptop this morning and the touch pad wasn't working, so I had to force it to restart and now it's broken :( It won't load windows properly and is stuck in a sad perpetual loop of trying to load and restarting... I'm really sad about this, I've had my lovely laptop since 2003 and it's served me well. I'm going to have to give the insurance people a call later if it doesn't decide to work, but it seems like there are some corrupted files, so I'm not hopeful about a sudden recovery of my little one.

The thought of a new computer excites the hell out of me, but I know that isn't going ot happen so I have to hope that a mircale will happen or the insurance will cover a repair job.

Fingers crossed.

Shopping (again)

2010-04-13T14:14:00.005+01:00

(From yesterday)

Well, I didn't go in Next because I knew that pretty dress would tempt me, but I had to return a dress from Primark and I wanted to see if they had that nice grey biker jacket in my size.

I went with my mum and we happened to have a look in Dorothy Perkins, another shop I never go in, for similar reasons as next. Trust me when I say that I wasn't looking for a bag. I have a beautiful handmade clutch that I have my eye on, but I wasn't looking for a handbag at all... however this one found me all by itself. My mum also really liked it and offered to buy it for me. I didn't refuse...

I also had a look at and tried on some shoes. Something I don't usually bother doing because it's a hassle, but the shop was empty and I was wearing easy on-off plimsoles. I tried a gorgeous dusky pink pair of peep toe courts that had pretty pink lacing on, but they were just that tad too high for me. Then I saw them... the shoes of my dreams. I tried them on, they were a little too big, but they didn't have a smaller size. I tried them both on, I felt so glamourous. I ummed and ahhed about them and decided to get them. They are just a dream.

On top of all that my mum paid for those too!! Thanks Mum!!!!!!! <3

They didn't have my size in the jacket, so I tried on a 12 and it fit ok, if I don't mind not being able to zip it up (which I don't incidentally) and I'm shrinking so I bagged it along with a second pair of black skinny jeans. For the shoes you see.

And amazing and cheap day of shopping, that made me smile no end. I also had some pretty, pretty post waiting for me when I got home, which only added to my smile.

(And yes, I'm wearing the shoes as I type!)

Wishlist

2010-04-12T09:32:00.004+01:00

I'm really into dresses. Last summer I was into dresses too, but they had more of the sun dress vibe and I wore them exclusively with leggings. This year I'm feeling something a little more expensive, a little more detail, and I'm really into tights.

Every Sunday my mum buys an unmentionable newspaper for a) the crossword and b) the magazines inserts. I hate this fact, but I love their woman/fashion type magazine, it's always filled wiht gorgeous clothes with varying price tags from £12 shoes from Tesco to 'Price available upon request'. Here is my lastest wishlist from said magazine (which I wish to remain anonymous!)

The first dress I fell in love with is from next and at £48 it's great value for money.I never buy clothes from next for three reasons, their window display always seems a little sober for me; they are a little out of my price range (I have no income!) and the next near me is always full of women with prams. However, I would venture in just to try on this dress, it's gorgeous and would be a gret excuse to buy some shoes to go with it ;)

This is from Phase Eight £120. They have some amazingly beautiful dresses, I could buy so much from them! I fell for this one because of the pretty colour and the frou frou ruffles on th neck line, it really makes something of this otherwise simple dress.

This one I saw in the magazine some weeks ago and instantly wanted it, not just because it's beautiful and would really go with my colouring, but because it reminds me so much of an adorable dress I had when I was 5 and wore to my one and oly big childhood birthday party. I felt like a princess then and I'm sure I'd feel like one now if I slipped it on. This is again from Phase Eight, £89.

I used to have a problem with dresses and skirts. I come from a family with large thighs and bums, I'm slowly growing to love and dress for my genes, but I understand ladies with larger bottom havles may be wary of exposing this part of their bodies. However, I really believe anyone looks fabulous in a dress! It's all about trying things on and getting to know what looks right for your body. Oh and tights. Whack on a pair of tights and you instantly feel better about those legs. At least it works for me :)

A day in the sun.

2010-04-09T10:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I spent the whole day in the sun. It was fab :D

Half way through the afternoon I decided to bust out the sun lounger and my favourite pair of shorts... purple hawaiian print. My bf hates them, but I think they're ace. I lay down and listened to music and took various pictures of the amazingly blue sky. Enjoy...

My decidedly pasty torso, sporting amazing shorts.

Pretty blossoms and gorgeous sky.

Maybe one of those planes has my mail in it?

The sun drained the colour from the sky somewhat here, but look at the great clouds. Pretty.

Spring has Sprung!

2010-04-08T13:18:00.002+01:00

I have been mostly spending my time writing letters and postcards of late. I've somewhat neglected my love for clothes, but that is also because I am really skint and just can't afford anything. I've been hunting for a jacket to go with some of my dresses, I wanted a grey one, because black I can do with a cardi and because I love, love, love grey. I have yet to find the perfect jacket... and I'm holding out for the right one. The trouble is that everywhere has blazers and I don't want a blazer. The other trouble is that as the weather gets warmer I'm worried I'll run out of time for actually finding the right jacket. I guess I need to get my walking shoes on and do some shopping!

It's really hard to...

2010-04-07T15:17:00.005+01:00

...take pictures of jewellery without an SLR.

I said I would get pics and that is exactly what I have done. Although they are not very good pics. There are a few reasons for this:

There is terrible natural light, so I had to rely on the daylight lamp. Not ideal
As I have said many a time, my camera is dying and isn't good at the auto focus it's supposed to be good at.
Taking pictures of a ring leaves you with only one hand to balance camera and said daylight lamp which was misbehaving and not staying still.
These rings are small, detailed and have sparkly details I just can't seem to capture on my rubbish camera

That being said, here are the rings (which I am wearing as I type) I promise to get new ones as soon as I remember to hijack someone else's camera.

My great-grandmother's opal ring. I'm not sure when she bought this but it's at least 50 years old. Opal was her birthstone. It's not mine, but that's ok, I'm not supersticious.

Those last two show you some of the awesome qualities of the opal. It's quite a pale stone, not as
firey as some opals, but I love it and the setting, because it's been in our family for 4 generations now.

(and hopefully many more to come!)

My Nanny's engagement ring (Nanny as in grandmother, not aupair (: ) I'll have to ask my mother if
she knows which year it's from, but it's definitely 30's, so 70+ years old.

I found it really difficult to capture the details of the ring and the sparkle of the diamonds. I'll
have to look up how to photograph rings properly and then comandeer a decent camera!

So I have learned several things today. Apart from the above I've also realised that I really don't like my hands :( But that's ok, they'll look better once I've lost some more weight (21lbs down people!)

Ciao for now xx

Awesome vintage jewellery.

2010-04-05T10:58:00.003+01:00

I went for a meal with my family on Easter Sunday. I wanted to wear my grey dress, but seeing as it's too big and I haven't bothered to exchange it yet, I settled for my flowery one. I wore my great-granny's opal and my mum gave me a pair of earrings to wear, which I totally creamed over. Have a look...

After the meal and a few extra drinks, my sister wanted to go through the jewellery in the safe. So we dug everything out and went through it all. I absolutely love my nanny's engagement ring, it's fabulous and I took it out to clean and then promptly stuck it on my finger, when my mum said that if I really like it that much that I can have it. I can have it? Seriously, this made my day :D There are two rings that I have lusted over ever since being a tiny girl playing with my mum's stuff and they are great-granny's opal ring and nanny's engagement ring, and now I own them both! I'm so happy and will definitely get some pictures soon.

Also, I was trying on some pearls, which actually really suit me, and my mum gave me a string of pearls too! So I'm super duper vintage/antique jewellery queen. The best Easter EVER!

Postcrossing

2010-04-03T22:07:00.001+01:00

This week I became really excited about the prospect of mail. On Sunday I signed up for post crossing and then a couple of days ago I signed up for swap bot, both of which are mail exchange sites, post crossing is based on post cards and swap bot is based on just about anything. This is on top of leaving a request on indie fixx for a penpal through the pen pal project. I got several responses to my request, all of which I have already written letters to, I set up 5 post card swaps, all of which were posted on Tuesday and I've signed up for 5 swaps coming up between now and May.

When I say I'm excited, it's a very large understatement, I can't express how much I like to receive mail. So much so that I kept all the letter I've ever received from family, friends and past penapls, some of which are 15 years old. I'm a little impatient to know that my mail got to it's destination, so this flippin super long bank holiday weekend for a holiday I don't even celebrate is killing me. So to make up for it, I'm going to show you something pretty I made for one of my brank spanking new penpals. She was actually the first request I had from the penapl project and I was all fired up and excited, so if you're reading this and I've written to you, but you weren't the recipient of this little wonder, don't fear, I'll be getting creative and posting you something soon enough ;)

Oooh, I love it! I think it's adorable. It's actually pretty tiny too.

Here is the letter and little address card for scale (sorry it's out of focus, my camera is dying)

I was going to write about all personal mail here, but decided it's easier to keep everything in once place. So if you'd like to see more, jump over here

The Emerald Isle.

2010-04-01T13:30:00.000+01:00

I'm sure I have mentioned it several thousand times but a couple of weekends ago we went to Ireland for my niece's confirmation. (ps I'm not Catholic, but everyone in ROI is.) My sister and her family live in Co. Galway and I don't get to visit as much as I'd like so it was a real treat of a weekend.

I spent much time deliberating between three dresses to wear and I was thoroughly pleased with my choice. I really like the bust line in this dress. Having a somewhat ample bosom means things that are too low cut just look slutty, but the print on this dress is also marvelous! It was a little chilly to only be wearing that little blazer, but we didn't spend too much time outside, so it worked out ok. I also wore my Melissa's, which was great fun, but sadly no one commented on my shoes :(

I didn't get any airport pictures, so I may have to recreate the outfit at some point. I brought along my vintage suitcase as carry on luggage and was obviously the best kitted out person on the flight ;) heh

I spent most of the weekend in Jeans and my beloved Gant hoodie because it wasn't warm enough for anything else and I also spent an inordinate amount of time bouncing around on their trampoline. I also participated in a countryside bike ride, illegal field walking/stone wall climbing with my nephew and practically off road driving in the middle of the forestry. It was oodles of fun and I really want to go back :D

Enough of my drivel, have some pictures!

This was my outfit trial. Blazer, Dress, Bag - Primark

My outfit in practice.

Me and the bf with my exceptionally stylish niece.

Trampoline fun.

The bf indulging the youngest nephew.

P'd off and tired after a delayed flight home.

Have you been away recently? Are you planning a trip? I'm always interested in holiday destinations and photos :)

London. Again.

2010-03-31T09:19:00.000+01:00

On Sunday my friend Dan came to visit me from Brighton. He got a great deal on the train... a return to victoria and a travelcard for £8.25!!! Bargain!

I struggled with what to wear because the weather is so iffy lately, I settled with a dress and tights and my big winter coat and proceeded to be sweating anywhere vaguely warm, but it did the trick.

Although I brought my camera with me, I neglected to take any pictures, so you'll have to make do with narrative. We used the loos in the National Gallery and had a quick peek at the impressionists because Dan had never seen them before, then we saw the inside of a lot of pubs before deciding on which one to eat in, then we went to the London Aquarium, which is huge and that shark walk bit is seriously scary, but on the whole, it's not as good at the Brighton sealife centre, after out underground/underwater adventure, we went to Camden where we drank until after dark.

T'was a lovely day, thank you Dan xx

Now for the outfit. Exucse the pictures, I didn't really like any that had my face in, so they're a bit pants.

Cardi - New Look (old), Dress - Primark, Vest top (under dress) - Primark, Grey Striped Tights - Primark, Shoes - Converse, Ebony Ring - South Africa, Silver Necklace - DIY

Also, apologies for the dodgy setting of pictures. There isn't anywhere except by the front door that I can get a full length shot. And there are lots of things in the way. And the mirror is a bit grimy, so I'll try and sort out a better place to take pics next time :)

Just a quick note...

2010-03-29T18:16:00.002+01:00

...to say that I have started a new blog that I'm going to use to record all post crossing post.

If you're interested, you can find it here :)

I'm also considering starting book crossing too... maybe one day!

Papercraft.

2010-03-29T09:00:00.001+01:00

Ever heard of papercraft? I hadn't until we went to the Modern Art Museum in Munich. The silly thing is that I'd seen the products of papercraft before, but had never heard of the name, or even thought to find out more.

There was a wonderful set of photographs by Thomas Demand at the Tate Modern some years ago. My bf took me to see them especially, because he liked them so much. Although he had explained them to me before I can't have been paying very good attention because it took me at least 4 minutes of studying these photographs before I realised they were paper reconstructions of original photographs which Demand had then photographed himself. His work is fantastic, you should look him up and go to see his work at any opportunity.

This was my first real introduction to the art of making things from paper (apart from an early crafting experience with quilling), but it wasn't until I saw this book in the Pinakothek der Moderne that I had a real interest and sudden thirst for recreating life in paper.

Step 1 - Purchase this very expensive but luscious book

Step 2 - Read said volume

Step 3 - Become a world master of Papercraft

These were my initial thoughts, but the world of Papercraft is so huge that I don't stand a chance. Plus making things out of paper isn't going to get me very far. Although I might try entering the Guinness world record for number of papercuts sustained in 1 hour.

I did, however, purchase the book. It set me back £29.95 and that huge dent in my bank account has left me smiling. The volume is superb and I can't wait to finish studying every single page so I can become a veritable master in the world of papercraft.

Papercraft: Design and Art with Paper. Here are some of my favourite pages, apologies for the bad photography.

Have you seen any art or books that have inspired you recently? Tell me all about it, I love learning new things :)

Time flies...

2010-03-27T15:24:00.000Z

It feels like an age since we went to Munich and I feel bad for not having posted the pictures earlier, but I've been busy with family and spending lots of money that I don't really have. But enough chat, here are some selected pictures.

Amazing food Stefan's Grandma made us.

The New Town Hall and Glockenspiel Clock

One of many pictures taken of Munich from the top of the Tower
of St Peter's Church. It was hellish to climb those stairs but worth it.

Enjoying a litre glass of beer while waiting for food at the Hofbräuhaus.

Kaiserschmarrn, which I didn't eat because I don't like dried fruit.
But it looked pretty tasty apart from said offensive raisins.

It snowed. A lot. For three days straight. It was around -5 most days. Flippin cold.

Um, I was drunk and enjoying German snacks. Darn alcoholic Monopoly!

That being said, I won!!!

This installation was nuts and lots of fun. It's called Pink Flamingo
and I can't remember the artist for the life of me. Pinakothek der Moderne.

Me enjoying the effects of the Pink Flamingo.

That's a very brief summary of our trip. We also went to a couple of art exhibitions Haus der Kunst, a fantastic building, whose history was briefly inscribed on the doors in German, English and French. The most memorable phrase of the entire holiday was etched upon that plaque, it explained that the Haus der Kunst enveloped "a cauldron of racist propaganda". Despite its Nazi origins, the building is spectacular inside, so grand. The exhibitions were good too, Ed Ruscha in particular.

We spent Sunday in the Modern Art Museum which is where we saw the installation 'Pink Flamingo'. I think it's possibly my favourite installation to date. Being in that room saturates your eyes with such brilliant colour that of course, even looking out into another room causes everything to appear shocking pink. Walking out of the room made my head throb, I thought I would fall over, it was a real down the rabbit hole experience that I enjoyed so much I went back a few minutes later.

I quite miss that rose tinted world. I may just install a neon green flourescent in my bedroom :)

If I could have one more dress it would be...

2010-03-25T12:52:00.001Z

From New Look and I know it's bad, but it's been reduced to £18 and I am soooooo tempted to buy it!

EDIT:

Ok, so I bought it. And some floral pumps... they were both on sale and I'm a shopaholic. Plus when the weather gets prettier I am going to spend all my time in dresses. YAY!

However now I'm desperately wanting these two pairs of delightful shoes from Rocket Dog to go with all my dresses.

Snippet £24.99, Rocket Dog

Snippy £24.99, Rocket Dog

Argh, so much wanting, so little money!

A sad day.

2010-03-24T17:54:00.000Z

So I found myself sitting in the garden in the sunshine this afternoon, I was smoking, enjoying a cheeky beer, colouring in a new picutre in my monsters book and feeling sad. I didn't really want to give into it, but it wasn't something I could ignore. This afternoon my bf flew off to the continent for an indefinite amount of time.

He has to renew his passport, register his residence in Italy and see a man about a job. No one really knows how long this entire process is going to take. No one knows what the outcome of the job situation is going to be, no one really has any definite answers.

This sucks.

In the meantime I have to keep myself busy. I'm going to start making things again, I have some accounting to do, I have a lot of rearranging/organising to do in my bedroom and office, I'm learning how to touch type properly, I need to learn Italian and I want to so a teaching course. Oh and I need to get my driving licence.

However, all these things won't change the fact that the bed will be empty, that I won't have any cuddles or kisses, I won't get to share stupid jokes or tickle fights on a regular basis. I sound really sappy but I'm going to miss him. The regular feeling is an instant snap of sadness and loneliness, then it clears with a joyful feeling of freedom to do what I want when I want, but is shortly followed by a long and deep feeling of pain and loneliness.

I guess I'll have to turn to the internet to drown my sorrows...

Awaiting spring...

2010-03-11T18:05:00.000Z

I didn't really get excited about spring/summer nudes until I went to the shops yesterday. It was a mistake and completley unplanned. I was supposed to be going to the cinema but I left it too late and it was packed with school kids so I hit the shopping centre instead. I hadn't intended to purchase anything except office stuff from the £1 store (which I also did) but I walked through Primark and saw a couple of lovely sun dresses, one in apricot and the other in charcoal. I picked them up, held them against me in the mirror and put them back. While walking to the exit I saw a gorgeous nude faux suede blazer, I immediately picked my size and went back for the charcoal dress. I looked for ages for a grey blazer to go with the apricot dress but to no avail so I picked a white dress and black blazer and headed for the changing room where I fell in love with the nude blazer and the charcoal dress and promptly purchased them to wear to my niece's confirmation next weekend.

Today I actually managed to get up early enough for the first Alice in Wonderland show of the day and stupidly went back into Primark where I purchased the apricot dress and a cute navy and pink floral dress. I also got an adorable mint and black polka dot top (which I'm wearing), a much needed nude coloured bra and a couple of camisoles (I hate wearing a top or dress with nothing underneath). Oh and a cute cream bag with gold detail.

My innocent cinema and errand trip turned into a miniature spending spree!

I walked through New Look to use their escalator and saw a gorgeous mint and cream lace dress and almost ran through the shop before anything else caught my eye. Now all my new purchases are awaiting better weather so I can dress up like peaches and cream. I've fallen in love with the pastels and nudes of the season and spent ages yesterday trawling the net for the perfect shoes to accompany said colour scheme.

I found them...

I honestly think I may have a spending problem.

Tomorrow morning I'm getting up early to go back into town with my mum who wants to see if she can find anything nice for next week. I think I might persuade her to buy me the cream version of the polka dot top. It's only £3 after all...

Vintage love.

2010-03-10T10:56:00.000Z

So while trawling etsy for supplies and secretly looking for pretty things, I did a search for vintage suitcases. The only ones I've ever found in person have been particularly beaten up, stained or ripped. Oh, and grossly over priced to boot. On etsy I've found a haven for vintage luggage in surprisingly good condition, but most of it is from the states so the postage is through the roof.

Can I justify spending $77 on the most gorgeous piece of luggage I've ever seen in my life, when I really don't need it and seeing as it doesn't have wheels would have to lug around and because it's too big to carry on, I'd have to get it shrink wrapped everytime so it doesn't get damaged by bag throwers, thereby losing out on the joy of having beautiful luggage anyway?? Sure I can, it's gorgeous!!! But I don't have that kind of money, so I'm going to secretly hope no one else buys it and pray I win the lottery or something so I can buy it.

Well, enough with the wishing, here are some of my favourite picks from etsy...

Can you guess which is my dream case??

Bye bye Bayern!

2010-03-09T09:44:00.000Z

After 45 minutes spent on the plane waiting for enough staff to man the air traffic control tower for take off, we made it home in one piece and indulged in our last junk food meal for a very long time at Stansted last night. Right now my body hates me, I'm seriously dehydrated, still recovering from excessive beer consumption and my uterus is cramping like crazy... but I had a great time in Munich and ate some wonderful (mainly pork based) meals.

I woke up a little too early due to the bf's alarm and still being on European time, but it meant I got to enjoy the peace and quiet of the house for an hour by myself and I spent my first cigarette of the day pawing over beautiful clothes, which I'll be sure to post about soon.

I already miss the German hospitality of our friend's Gramdma who kept and fed us for 5 days, but I'm glad to be home, with space to relax, if just for a day and to be able to go outside without minus temperatures and the heavy blizzards of Munich.

2010 Skiing and my love for Torino

2010-03-07T20:00:00.000Z

I think I actually spent less time skiing this year than I did last year... can that be true? Maybe not. My skiing as definitely improved, but I think I'm still in need of lessons. Me and MrM decided we should start a skiing fund for our trip next year. I would love to buy some skis and boots, but lets face it, skis are expensive, so maybe I'll just get some really well fitting boots. The main aim of the fund is to be able to afford two weeks worth of ski lift passes, a few hours worth of lessons to turn us into wonders on the slopes and money for the weekends when we'll abandon the busy mountains for the glory of the chocolate city of Europe... Turin!

This means I'll be saving for a possible move to Turin, the big Japan trip in 2012, a car and skiing. I better get a well paid job sorted out eh?

I really do love Torino, I think a lot of it has to do with my love of the in-law's apartment there. It's indescribable, it's not huge, nor well fitted, but there is something about it that tugs on my heart strings. I just want to hug it and love it and look after it. Strange, I know, but the thought of actually moving there for a year makes my heart skip a beat! I'd be able to spend time and love making it ever so pretty... eep! Apart from the apartment love, Torino is full of beautiful buildings, amazing ice cream parlours (Ahem, GROM!), restaurants, coffee shops (Mulassano is my favourite), chocolate shops (Agiordano), Pasticcerias (Pfatisch), there are also an abundance of squares to be found hidden around unexpected corners and the largest outdoor market in Europe where great food is so cheap it makes me cry!

Unfortunately, I rarely take pictures of things like this, opting for more obscure things in order to try and make my pictures look more arty and *cough*pretentious*cough* pretty. So, without further ado, here are a few I took in Bardonecchia/Torino/Lyon :)

Some post piste snacks (there is sure to be a food theme here)

Giant chocolate squares!

Is Christmas lingering or is the owner of this lonely wreath too lazy to
retire it for the year?

Me and the bf and some random large cutlery outside Brek.

Mmmm, Pasticcini from Pfatisch.

Trust me, they didn't last long!

I couldn't resist this view from the apartment window.
It was so autumnal, the mist hung to the ground that night.

But the following day was glorious!

The bf and I commenced morning lounging in the sun.

This is the only picture I took in Lyon. The neighbours of my in-laws keep bees
and the garden was full of them everyday. Some of them were definitely drunk...
Tsk tsk Mister Bee!