Wedding Cake Cookies

While searching for the perfect wedding cake I found these, aren't they super super cute?

Sale: The Magic Word

{image from notonthehighstreet}

Today, without leaving the flat for not even one minute, in the comfort of my kitchen, wearing my pijamas and sipping a cup of green tea I managed to spend money. All I needed was my MacBook and the amazing Internet. Let me just say: I think I have become addicted to online shopping. You may argue that my addiction actually started a long time ago, which is true, but I think now I am not even particularly enjoying it, I just do it. It's so easy and tempting. I almost feel like I have to do it. How can one avoid to buy something online whit all the good deals available? I am registered with so many online shops and companies that every day very religiously send me recommendations and suggestions on what I should buy. Every day I have a look at the items selected for me and almost every day I find something to buy. Sometimes I resist the temptation, may times I buy very nice and useful things, other times I just end up buying things I don't particularly like or need buy hey, they were on sale, it was a very good deal, I could not avoid it, right? In case you are curious: Today I bought some Orla Kiely bath towels and pillow cases (very lovely!), a TBA silk cream dress and a See by Chloé top. All on sale. It doesn't really matter that I probably didn't need any of these items and I don't really have space where to store more towels and pillow cases, let alone clothes. They were on sale, I liked them enough and I bought them.

So, what's in this magic word, SALE? Why am I so attracted to it? Why am I so weak? I am sure I am not the only one so please tell me you do it too!

My New Bag Fantasy

Every new season brings a bag I love, this time my obsession is a See by Chloé lovely pink satchel. It would be super sweet with capri, skinny jeans, white t-shirt and a navy blazer. Love it!

Designer Crush: Erdem

I can't get over Erdem dresses. They are so beautiful, romantic, sweet, cute and edgy. I would love to wear one of these two dreamy dresses at the Welcome Aperitivo my parents are organising for the night before the wedding. Let's see how much I will be able to save until June...

In Love With

these fabulous JCrew shorts. I can't wait for Spring!

A Tourist in London

I absolutely love acting as a tourist in London! Since I live here, I don't really get to experience all the wonderful hotels that the city has to offer, so every year I very much look forward to the end of January when Rob organises a big conference with his company and he always gets a room in the hotel they are staying. And usually, they pick very nice hotels. So far we spent the night at Claridges and the Radisson Mayfair, both very lovely options. This year they had picked the Intercontinental Park Lane and let me tell you, I was a bit disappointed. Of course I am not complaining, I didn't spend one penny to stay there but if I did, I think I would have been a bit upset. While the hall is quite welcoming and nice, with lovely chandeliers, nice sofa chairs and beautiful and modern flower arrangements everywhere,

the rooms are outdated to say the least. Mustard carpet and peach and cream striped wall-papers, thick yellow and red curtains, heavy furniture...seriously? It's nice to have a great entrance to welcome guests but it's even nicer if the upper floors and the rooms are lovely too!

Anyway, I had a very nice evening nontheless. My friend Elena joined me to the hotel at about 6.30pm, we chatted in the room for a little while and then we headed to Automat for dinner.

We kicked off with a yummy Cosmopolitan and then enjoyed some very good American food (i.e. Crab Cake with Guacamole as a starter and a great cheesburger with even better fries!). After dinner we went back to the hotel and enjoyed a cup of peppermint tea and talked and talked like only women can do! I felt on holiday for one evening and I truly enjoyed it!

Wedding Cake Search

I love the venue we have chosen for our wedding reception for many many reasons one of these being the fact that the baker has given me no restrictions whatsoever as how the cake should look. He simply said: choose the filling and send me a picture of how you'd like it to look. How wonderful is that?

So, I have started looking for the perfect wedding cake and so far these are the two that caught my eye. Different, but equally beautiful. Any favourite?

For a Stylish Bathroom

Remember my post about my love for the wonderful Mademoiselle Chair? Well, sometimes, blogging helps! My best friend Ilaria who will be my witness at my wedding has expressed the desire to give us a Mademoiselle Chair as a wedding gift! I just have to choose the print! How exciting is that?!

Since the big news landed into my brain, I have been thinking and imagining where to accommodate Her. I thought that perhaps the living room or the bedroom, or maybe the study room or even the nursery (in an imaginary house!) would be the best options. I would have never thought to confine Le Mademoiselle in a bathroom...but then I saw this photo on Apartment Therapy and, let me say, I love it! Perhaps I need more than one chair??? One for each room? Of course, I would pick different prints...

What do you think? Would you ever put such a lovely, and expensive, chair in a bathroom?

It's a small world

Sometimes I should remind myself that we live in a small world...when I feel low and miss my family and friends I should just remember that they are around the corner, really. I can call them, email them, text them, tweet them, talk with them and see them via Skype or if I am feeling very low, I could even just book a cheap flight home. These days communication is so easy and flying around the world is very accessible and affordable.

I saw this embroidered wall hoop last night and it made me smile. How adorable is it? I should buy it and put it on my bed-side table to remind myself that we all sleep under the same sky.

Sweetpea and Willow Chaise Lounge

I have always loved chaise lounge chairs, since I was a little girl I dreamed to have one; I think they are very beautiful and classy. I would not dine leaning on one, Roman-style, as I would be afraid of a) messing it up and b) choking, but I think it would look amazing in a neutral, simple and elegant living room. I am saving this for future reference (we will buy a house one day, right??).

Valentine's Day - My fabric cards

And now, my cards...

{Two Hearts}

{Strawberry Heart}

{Love Set}

Do you like them?

Valentine's Day - Letterpress Cards

Valentine's Day is about a month away but hearts and heart shaped objects seem to be everywhere already. I am working on my Valentine's items and while browsing for inspiration I could not avoid to notice these beautiful letterpress cards. Aren't they lovely?

{FatBunnyPress}

{finedaypress}

{penelopespress}

{tuttaloupress}

Hair Dilemma

So, this model and I have very similar hair: same colour, same lenght (almost) and pretty much same texture. Why do I love her hair and hate mine?

I am always looking for a new colour, new treatments to remove even the little bit of wave I have, think about having a fringe pretty much every single day, debating whether I should have an hair cut or not? ...why am I constantly unhappy about my hair!?

I hear a lot of girls can relate to this. Do you feel the same way?

Bracelets Obsession

Those of you who have known me for a while and have been hanging out with me in the last couple of years may have noticed my obsession for chunky faux pearls and rhinestones bracelets. I have so many, and I keep buying them.

It all started about two years ago when my friend Ilaria gave me two braletes for my birthday, one was with white faux pearls and little, clear rhinestones and the other with black and white pearls. As soon as she gave them to me, I started wearing them, pretty much every day, pearls really go with everything. And then I bougth more, very similar bracelets; and then I received other bracelets as gifts, this time with colourful rhinestones. I believe I now have a huge collection of pearls and rhinestones bracelets, of all colours, shapes and sizes. It should be enough.

However, I have just seen this, and it's on sale!

Crafty Needs

I have had a terrible and super frustrating day at work today. And now all I can think of is how nice it would be to have some time to dedicate to my hobbies and crafty projects. I wish I could work part-time and be able to attend all the courses I would like to take, learn how to sew, screenprint, letterpress, speak Spanish...Oh, there are so many things I would like to learn...Sometimes I feel like time is going by without me fully enjoying my life.

Don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful life, I live in an amazing city, I have a very sweet partner and a super caring family and am surrounded by amazing friends. However, sometimes I wish I didn't have to spend most of my time inside a not-very-inspiring office!

That's it, I am planning a *Learn How To* series of events with my friends! Fancy joining us?

Anything Branded?

I spent the last hour or so browsing online, looking for shoes to wear at my wedding. And I found some ridiculous, and ridiculously expensive, shoes. I had to share some of them. These, to me, are simply ugly.

Would you ever wear them? And not for free! They will cost you at least 500 £!!

{all from Net A Porter}

Bridal Shower Gift

Looking for a Bridal Shower Gift? This Moschino Cheap and Chic top may be your answer!

Girls Night Out - Four O Nine

Last Tuesday was Girls Night Out for me and my lovely girlfriends and we had a superb time! My friend Natalie picked this very beautiful and romantic place in Clapham North and she could have not made a better choice! The atmosphere was absolutely magical and I really enjoyed the food as well. We sat at a long table since it was eleven of us but I'd like to go back with Rob to sit at one of those adorable round tables and try those super confortable chairs.

Four O Nine is the perfect venue for a special evening out and I would totally recommend it to all of you. Valentine's Day is on its way...

Once again, thank you London! I will never get bored with you!

Wood Basket

I don't have a fireplace in my flat in London but if I did, I would like to have one of these beautiful wood baskets!

New at valeasc

It's a lovely Sunday morning, it's very sunny out and I feel regenerated after a long night sleep. Rob is not feeling well these days, unfortunately, so we are home resting. I take this opportunity to update my etsy shop.

I have just listed two new items, go have a peak! The gift tags are a colour variation of my quite popular red and white, balsa wood gift tags. Do you like them in lilac too? While the pom poms and doilies cards are something I have had in mind for quite a while but I had never had the time to work on. What do you think? Aren't they super sweet? They would be lovely for a baby shower, don't you think?

Happy Sunday to you all!

Mademoiselle

As soon as we move to a bigger, and better, place, I want one, or two, of these Mademoiselle chairs by Kartell!

What's the future holding for us?

Remember my post Who am I? Well, these days I am having another down moment and I find refuge in this blog and you.

Every time I go home I come back to London a little bit different and need some time to re-adjust to my “normal” life here. But what’s normal? And what do I really want?

I left my Country, my town and my wonderful family and friends seven years ago, you would think with time I got used to being away from them but actually it was much easier seven years ago than it is now. I originally left Pescara driven by a strong need of adventure; I was seeking a new experience, a new experience abroad, with the aim to learn a new language and mix with a new culture. I left Pescara to enjoy one full year in the ever so beautiful town of Durham in Northern England. There, everything changed, and forever. For the first time in my life I lived a considerable amount of time away from home and my beloved ones; for the first time in my life I faced the difficulty of not being able to communicate with people, for the first time in my life I felt alone. However, with time I met the most wonderful people in Durham, boys and girls who themselves left their own families and countries and who were experiencing the same difficulties as me. I got very close to them and they became my “abroad-family”. My life in Durham wasn’t easy for many reasons: my English wasn’t good and I hated being silence or unable to say things exactly the way I wanted. But I found my way; you can always use your hands, I am Italian after all, and as long as you smile, people understand you! I was away from my family, my adorable family who has always supported me and never ever made me feel guilty for my decision of leaving them: “As long as you are happy, we are happy, wherever you are!” This is what they kept saying. And then I met Rob. We clicked instantly and then we just played a game that had clearly been designed for us. Things got more complicated then. Rob is American. First questions and concerns about the future: where are we going to live? What are we going to do? London was the answer. We moved to the big city at the end of our Masters, I began a PhD and Rob started looking for a job, though with no success. After months of depressing search he was forced to go back to his Country and we spent one year apart. We kept ourselves sane with an active and healthy communication but it wasn’t easy. When we were about to give up Rob got a job offer in London, life was bright again. We moved in together and we celebrated almost every day, we felt lucky. More than four years have gone by since that day and so many things have changed. I finished my PhD and started working as a researcher at King’s College London; we have travelled a lot and enjoyed our life together; Rob finally proposed.

The same questions are now coming back: where do we want to live? And what do we want to do?

We both love London and realise it’s the best option for us: London offers good job opportunities, it’s an exciting and vibrant city and the rest of the world is easily accessible from here. There is only one tiny problem: both our families are far from us and at times we feel lonely…