Dreamy

The sky tonight, from my little terrace in central London. Worth a picture, and a blog post, I think.

Ball chair

I still don't know what the main style of our new flat will be. Most probably it will end up being a mixture of everything, as usual. I am looking at all sorts of furniture at the moment: french, retro, modern, Scandinavian, vintage...I am very curious to see what I will choose in the end and how I will mix all these pieces together. 

While flipping through magazines and browsing the Internet, I have discovered Bodie and Fou, "...a chic inspiring online boutique for design lovers in search of cool modern styling for the home...". I love the feel of the website and there are so many things I'd like to buy right away from it. But one thing attracted my attention in particular, the Ball chair. I am thinking to keep the colour theme of the decoration very neutral, I am a big fan of white in the house, but I'd love to put some pops of colours here and there and I love the idea of bright pink. I'll need to double check with Rob first though!

What Kind Of Wellies Are You?

It's pouring down in London today and I wonder what kind of wellies you wear?

Are you a classic type? For this, look no further than Hunter.

Or a designer type? I am wearing these by Tory Burch today, for example:

Are you a cute type? Joules have some great options:

Or are you a funky type? Again Joules have some nice ones.

It's in days like these that I wonder why I am not roasting at the beach in Pescara!?!

P.S. It's currently 40 C degrees in Pescara. My mum and grandmum are coming to London tomorrow and will be staying for a couple of weeks. They will welcome some breeze, right?

A Dorky Reaction

I was on my way to the office this morning when I bumped into British fashion designer Henry Holland. Instinctively I felt to say: "Oh, Hello!" but then thankfully, I was able to control myself. Wait a second: he doesn't know me??! I felt very sheepish. Two seconds later I am annoyed at myself for not saying anything. I should have said hello, I thought, what's the harm in that!? I recognised him and felt to say hi, I honestly don't know why I stopped. It would have been cool and perhaps he would have liked it, and who knows…we may have become friends and he may have given me free clothes and invited me to catwalks and London Fashion Week…Dreaming apart...

He was wearing his perfect uniform, jeans shorts and a navy jacket and was chatting with a blond friend (why are all his best friends blond? See Pixie Geldof and Agyness Deyn).

Living in London, this is not the first time I happen to see celebrities in the streets; nontheless, I still can't act cool! Damm me! What's your reaction when you see a celebrity? Do you shout at them and ask to take a picture with them? Do you act cool and pretend not to even notice them? Or do you feel sheepish and do not really know what to do?

P.S. Henry Holland fashion line, House of Holland, can be a bit pricey but do you know about his cheaper collection for Debenhams, H! by Henry Holland? The collection has HH's signature all over it, with its funky T-shirts and edgy clothes. Worth a look.

I {heart} you, Shad Thames

After weeks (months!) of moaning and whining about our failure in finding a nice flat in London, finally, Rob and I have spotted a lovely place that we are both happy to call home. In the last couple of months we have been searching for a new place to live in every bit and corner of the city; we explored new areas which we really like (see Parsons Green) and were open to move anywhere as long as it was a nice spot. Little we knew that our home was just around the corner from where we live now, waiting for us to notice it...

Shad Thames is an area in London we both absolutely adore. The cobble stone, the narrow streets, the Tower Bridge, the Tower Bridge Piazza, the cafes, the little restaurants and boutique shops and all those warehouse conversions are only some of the things we love about it. We looked in the area for a bit but then we gave up when we realised it was really a *wealthy city types* nest. Until, we saw this cute flat in the Vanilla & Sesame warehouse conversion (isn't the name lovely?), in the very heart of Shad Thames., that we could afford. Our new home is less than a minute walk to the Tower Bridge (where Rob proposed, remember?) and just behind the restaurant where we ate the night of the proposal. We like to think that this is our area. Panta Rei, said the Greeks...

All the pictures below are taken from this site. But soon, I'll be taking my own pictures and will document the move and all the new discoveries we make in the area. I can't wait!

Out of the *gray*

I was walking to work this morning, as every single day, when it started raining.  And for once I was prepared. 

It was quite sunny when I woke up, actually, but when I checked the weather forecast at breakfast I saw that rain was on the way, so I took an umbrella, which I almost never do. Around 9.15am, while I was half way to the office it started to pour down and out of the blue all Londoners, me included, took their umbrellas out of their bags and opened them. It was fascinating to see how normal that gesture was. When I was in Pescara, I got used to cleaning all the sand off my feet after a long stroll at the beach; here, in London, I got used to opening an umbrella nonchalantly :)

And then I focussed on the variety of brollies and believe me, I saw it all: bright colours, dots, stripes, flowers, skulls, leopard prints...the range of umbrellas mirrors the range of individuals in London completely. My umbrella, which is in fact Rob's, is so dull: black with a dark wood handle. That's not me for sure!

This lovely umbrella has been on my wish list for quite a while now, perhaps it's time I take a trip to Orla Kiely!

P.S. Speaking of rain, have you see the Renault *Kiss my Glass* campaing? I think it's hilarious!

Casa Dolce Casa

As house hunting is not going great in London, I am trying to focus my attention and energy on a different and more productive project: the refurbishment of my parents' top floor at their house in Pescara, Italy.

The house where my parents live now is not the house where I was born. We moved there when I was eleven and I have always had a sort of love-and-hate relationship with the place. I equally loved and hated the location; I loved the view, the sea from one side and the mountains from the other and I loved the garden that goes all the way round the house. But I hated the fact that it's a twenty minute drive to the city centre and you need the car to go anywhere. During my teenage days I complained with my parents on a regular basis on how far the house was from all my friends' houses and the fact that I needed to be driven everywhere by them. That until I turned fifteen and received a blue scooter for my birthday. And then, just a few years later, I had my own car, so it was no longer a big deal. 

The house was designed by my dad and I still remember all the sleepless nights he and my mum had discussing about the house. It was their dream and they were living it together. Only now I understand how important that moment must have been for them.

I started to appreciate the house only when I got a bit older and I was able to throw big parties in the big garden and invite lots of friends. My birthday is in July, so it really helped to have a nice garden to decorate and entertain friends in. My graduation party was probably the best: there were drinks in the gazebo, a live band playing and the atmosphere was simply magical. The graduation party was in July-2003 and in October 2003 I left for the UK. Living in student accommodation for three years and then in small flats in London really made me realise how beautiful my parents' house is and how lucky I am to have the opportunity to spend my holidays there.

Now that I am married and plan to have kids at some point relatively soon, I think of that house as my house again and how I can use some of the space to create a little nest for me and Rob and our future family. 

The house is on four levels, so after some discussions with my parents, we have decided that they will keep the ground floor and the basement and Rob and I will get the first floor as well as the top floor. This might be the biggest space we will ever have, certainly we can't afford that much space in London. I am excited to finally have a space to decorate and make it my own and have been looking at interior magazines and online websites and blogs for inspiration.

I have started from the bathrooms. The place will have two bathrooms, one of which en-suite. I am heading towards Bisazza, who wouldn't? But given their high prices, I may need to re-think things through a little...for now, I can dream of a super girly bright pink bath tub in the en-suite bathroom

and a classier green and gold main bathroom with lovely chandeliers and a white Louis tub....

Thinking of Coco

Londoners, this is for you: Have you ever seen the fashionable lampposts in Westminster? Have you ever noticed the two cc engraved on them? And their resemblance to the Chanel logo? Well, I have and yesterday, finally, I had an aswer to my questions.

{photo via The Telegraph}

Legend has it that the second Duke of Westminster, Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, had an affair with Mademoiselle Coco Chanel back in the late Twenties. To impress her, he ordered all the lampposts in Westminster to be adorned with her initials, alongside an ornate W - the Duke's crest. Poor old Hugh was left heartbroken when, despite his extravagant gesture, Chanel turned his proposal of marriage down saying: "There have been several Duchesses of Westminster, there is only one Chanel".

A less romantic interpretation, as the the city commissioner of transportation for Westminster City Council reveals, is to consider to the two C's as a symbol for City Council. Not sure what the truth is but I like the Chanel story much better!

And speaking of Coco, did you know that her La Pausa French Riviera house is for sale?

Now, if you could, how much would you pay to be at home with Chanel?

Dyson Ball

It doesn't happen that often that I get excited over a £300 purchase that doesn't involve shoes or bags! But let me tell you, this little *toy* has made my cleaning days much brighter.

I have been wanting a Dyson vacuum cleaner for a while because it's cool and because it's eco, but until now I haven't been able to justify such an expense. But a couple of days ago our old hoover died so on Saturday afternoon Rob and I headed to Argos and chose and bought its replacement: A wonderful and über-cool Compact Dyson Ball.

I tried it right away once home and this thing is no joke. I love the design, the ball technology and mostly the fact that there are no bags involved, we just need to clean the filter once a month. Easy peasy!

Ella Valentine Eggs

I first spotted these super cute eggs on the lovely Yvestown Blog where the bright pink box appeared in a picture of the blogger's kitchen. Since then I have been dreaming about these eggs. And yesterday I realised that they are a British product and are sold at selected Sainsbury's stores. How cool is that? 

Ella Valentine Eggs are large free range baking eggs and a box of six eggs costs 1.29£.

If you, like me, go nuts for packaging, this is for you! Head to Sainsbury's today and make sure you check Ella Valentine site to download their recipe ideas!

Oh the Sale!

It's so difficult to resist the sale these days...there are further reductions everywhere!
I have just bought this lovely shirt dress

so me and so perfect for our trip to New Zealand later on in October...can't wait!

Are you going sale-crazy too? What have you bought?