Rome and MadrId + some links too : )

My new job allows me to travel a lot : ) This month I had an opportunity to be in Rome with my students and then for an international conference in Madrid. Whereas I know Rome quite well, I have never been to Madrid which made me feel so excited!  The conference was a blast, I could finally meet everyone and learn about the policy, plans and programmes. Unfortunately, we had really busy time and to be honest the only thing I saw was Museo del Prado where (YES!) I saw Renoir's exhibition. It was fabulous! : )

I would like you to take a look at some of the pics I took (by the way, please excuse my short, "evasive" captions about Madrid: I really didn't see/know much about this city!):

1. Rome:

A lovely toy shop in Rome

Palatino

Foro Romano

A beautiful tower with colorful "spots"

Foro Romano

Foro Romano

Gardens in Galleria Boghese

Villa Borghese in autumn

 2. Madrid:

Calle Alcala

Puerta del Sol with beautiful subway station

Puerta del Sol (monument 1)

Puerta del Sol (monument 2)

Puerta del Sol (a building)

Puerta del Sol (monument 2)

Original and super cool menu

One of the sophisticated dishes

And where to try paella if not in Spain? It was DELICIOUS!

Also, this week I want to draw your attention to

• Italian IKEA catalogue that you can view here. It's sooo nice! I don't know about your country, but in Poland the catalogue is much less entertaining,. The captions and pictures very often differ (I didn't know that before, did you?). I like it so much better in Italy (BTW, IKEA in Sicily is to be opened next March/April so fingers crossed everyone!)
• Normaluisa website on which you should click on "La Gazette du Bon Ton" where you'll find lots of useful tips about how to be/look allure, smart, elegant, etc..

Enjoy your weekend!! : )

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Fashion, fashion, fashion... and sth sweet in the end : )

This will be a long post. I have found so many beautiful new pictures and ad campaigns I just cannot do otherwise but share them all with you.

1. Patrizia Pepe Firenze advertisement campaign. One of the most amusing and original ads I have seen in a long time. Go to the website and have fun discovering who Patrizia really is, what are her likes and dislikes, what she does in her free time, and many more : )

 

2. Louis Vuitton Fall 2010 campaign. Oh, it's so adorable. have first spotted it when sitting at the Catania airport waiting for my flight to Milan and flipping  through Italian Vanity Fair. Chic, style and vogue together combined with incredible simplicity and the allure of the 50's, that's what Jo loves.

I have recently come across Fashionolgie website which I find absolutely stunning. That's what the website says about Louis Vuitton campaign: 

In a follow up to his voluptuous Fall 2010 runway cast, Marc Jacobs selected Christy Turlington, Natalia Vodianova, and Karen Elson — coincidentally, none of whom walked in the collection's show — for the accompanying campaign. "This season we are working with three of the most beautiful women, I think, in the world," he says in the making-of video. "Blonde, brunette, and a redhead." They also span one model in her 20s, one in her 30s, and one in her 40s. This marks the fourth Vuitton campaign captured by Steven Meisel, who constructed the '50s set in a Manhattan studio space.

Here's the making-of-video:

3. Talking about Fashiologie, I'm so glad it confirms and reassures me: socks are in vogue this season! Living in a country where Calzedonia shops are everywhere, not getting a few pairs every season is a sin.

4. A new "outfit" for Evian mineral water bottles designed by Issey Miyake. They are so lovely!

5. Last but not least (and it has nothing to do with fashion, by the way), I followed Nigella's recipe and made these delicious banana muffins! I have sweet tooth but trust me this is a mouth-watering dessert : )

Happy Halloween everyone!

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My last two weekends...

Girls, on emore time thank you, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all the posts, comments and emails I have received from you! You're great and I cannot imagine my bloglife without you! : )) REALLY!

Today I'm going to tell you what I was doing during my last two weekends. Unfortunately the weather in Sicily is not really summer like this September and October but I manged to go to the seaside and take some pics for you!






The colour of the water this time of the year is so intense, so amazing! It's still possibile to immerse in the sea, water is cooler than in August for example but pleasant : ) I didn't out on my bathing suit but still, you can see in the pictures was too tempted to resist:



There are some splendid flowers blossoming in fall time.. just look:





Then, last weekend we went to a small village called Bronte, near Etna since there was a Sagra del Pistacchio organized. According to Wikipedia, in Italy, a sagra (plural: sagre) is a local festival, very often involving foodis often dedicated to some specific local food, and the name of the sagra includes that food; the array of gastronomic specialties covered across Italy is amazing. Among the most common sagre are those celebrating olive oil, wine, pasta and pastry of various kinds, chestnuts, and cheese.

I love going to "sagras" because of the food, of course. Naturally, there are some accompanying events like concerts, film/theatre shows, art exhibitions which are more or less interesting, but the food... guys the food is worth 2h spent in a car on a road full of curves!

Everything we ate this day was green: I had a sausage with pistache, pancakes with pistach,e ice-cream à la pistache, even coffee was with pistache! Just look:






And then to finish off and reinforce my view that Italy is a really strange country... I saw this house in Bronte... Can you see that the pines are growing out of the roof of the house...???!!!!

Tomorrow I'll show you all the presents I received yesterday! : ))

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