Sunday 25 April 2010

a good day...

...is better than shoes! And I will explain why in the paragraphs to follow, beginning by the definition of a good day. So, in brief a good day is one that from the moment you open your eyes in the morning you start smiling! Perhaps with a good reason, perhaps of the previous' night's memories (or company...) or even without one... You open your eyes, you start smiling, you get off the bed and when you pull the curtains you see a brilliant sun shinning and then you have a coffee that tastes just slightly better than usually and, yeah, I forgot to mention, it's a Saturday and you don't have to go to work!

And after a nice breakfast you get out in the city, cruise the shops, keep smiling at people and, sometimes they even return the smile, yes, even in this country where people are stingy with everything and politeness above all, sometimes they do smile back... And you find this amazing set of underwear that combines the right amount of cute and sexy and then you go do your hair and, miracle of miracles, the guy finally understands what do you mean by "I hate gold highlights..." and you leave the salon with the smile you had when you got in.

Then you go home and take a nap and then you get ready and you go out in a warm evening to see a film, that proves to be a gem, and on top you get to meet great friends there and chat and laugh and drink a glass of wine and when you get on your way home, under a starry sky, you realize that still you carry the same smile you had when you woke up the same morning...

And all this is a good day! Perhaps not a spectacular one, no... perhaps not one that you will remember forever but certainly one that made you feel happier than usually... And life is full of days like this... the spectacular ones are never this many but the good ones come often and sometimes go unnoticed while we are looking for those exceptional ones... So, the message today is do not look down on a good day... it is better than shoes ;)

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Carrot cake!!

Is it really the time to talk about it?... I mean, I suppose at a time like this, when thousands of people are still stranded in an airport somewhere, unable to return to their home and without a shower for far longer that they would admit (and I would want to know...), without money and without a concrete promise of a flight, and all that because Mommy Earth decided to, hmmm, fart... yes, admittedly, at a time like this it sounds a bit awkward for me to talk about carrot cake...

But, I have made a promise which I do not intend to brake and that is that I will be talking about the good things in life in this blog and I will not use it just to bitch about all the bad things that happen... Yes, I will avoid be talking about how my life very often sucks and I am pissed off and frustrated and sad and all I want to do it complain... I will refrain from using this podium to externalise my dismay or anger or to comment on all the things and all the people I do not have the guts to confront...  I will keep making an effort to find nice things to talk to you about, even when it is very difficult to do so...

So, today's post is about carrot cake! A reach, delicious, traditional carrot cake, filled and covered with mascarpone cream that I tasted in a little place in my city where organic, vegetarian food is offered... And, no, in case you are wondering, I do not do vegetarian... but I ended up in this place for a brunch and everything was yummy!! And yes, I will be revealing the name of the place on demand :)

Perhaps it is an overstatement to say that carrot cake is better than shoes... This specific one though, not only it was delicious enough to qualify but is was also eaten on a lovely sunny day, during one of the best weekends I had in a long time, with the best company I could ask for and in the best of moods! So, yes, under the circumstances,  it was better than shoes! It was better than my snake skin Jimmy Choo ballerinas that I had put on for the first time while I was enjoying the cake ;)

Monday 12 April 2010

to ditch...

...like when in school, when we would skip class to go and have a coffee... at a cafeteria!! Ok, admittedly I only remember doing this once, escaped from education with my (very briefly...) high school  boyfriend on his scooter and went to the city for coffee... it wasn't even a good day... was cloudy and cold... Anyway, the point is that I do not normally skip class... or work... Being an adult all my life, as my kindergarten teacher once said I was never a child (poor me... what a waste...) I always took my responsibilities very seriously and and now, as a professional, I do the same... usually...

Because last Friday I opened my eyes and the sun was shinning so brightly and the sky was so blue that it felt that it would be a crime to go to work! So, obviously not wanting to commit said crime, I didn't go... had a cup of coffee while chatting with my mom on the phone (yes, of course I have a mom, I did not come out of a kitchen sink...) and then got ready and went out... No, I do not have any amazing stories to tell about my day off, my name is not Ferris Bueller, but this is not the point... The point is not whether I did something spectacular, which I didn't (I didn't even indulge into shopping though I did visit one of the most interesting shoe stores in the area which unfortunately had only a very poor selection to offer... I mean, who chooses merely 4 pairs of Jimmy Choo's for a respectable store, huh??...) but it is about what I did not do!

And what I did not do was the expected thing, the usual... I did not follow the routine, I went out of the track even if just for a day... A sunny day that I spent walking under the blue sky, having a drink in little cafe and watching people pass by... no, not much, nothing worth mentioning... But what I think is worth mentioning is this feeling of ditching work (or school or any aspect of our everyday life) just for once, just for fun, just to spend with one's self... and this feeling is better then shoes... A mix of pleasure and freedom and rebellion and a tad of guilt... just a tiny bit of it... ;)

Saturday 10 April 2010

Bubbles... and candles...

You thought "champagne", right? Well, not today, people... though it may very well be the case that a good french bubbly is better than shoes, today's post is (mostly...) non-alcoholic :)

When I moved in to the apartment I currently live, about two and a half years ago, I gained a lot compared to the old one: A great neighbourhood with a shopping area with two supermarkets, a dry cleaner and a shoe repair shop within 5 minutes' walk, two trams stopping outside my door and taking me to the city centre in 3 minutes, a garage so that I can stay dry everyday when I leave for work and when I come back (not to mention that I no longer need to clean my car from the ice every morning during winter time...), a big guest room and lots of storage space for my shoes!

But there was one thing I gave up... my bathtub!! And the pleasure of taking a bubble bath every now and then!! And though most of the time I think that it was a good trade-off, sometimes I really do miss it so much!!
In my old house, I would come home on a Friday evening after work, usually exhausted, and I would finish the working week and welcome the weekend with a bubble bath! I would fill up the bathtub with lots and lots of bubbles and salts and scents and oils, put on some music (I even have a play list suitable for baths in my iTunes... true!!) and light up the candles in the bathroom... Then I would treat myself to a glass of wine and soak in there until all the tiredness would disappear and I would feel like a brand new person!  And that, my friends, was truly better than shoes!!!

Yep, that's it, a nice long bath... Relaxing and pleasant, helps clear up the mind and pumpers the body, not to mention that it's excellent for your feet after having been wearing a pair of stiletto's all day... if you are up to it that is... So I miss it... Especially after a busy week, I really miss it... Not that I would give up all that I gained in this apartment for it... But enough to make sure that I have all the pluses of this home AND a bathtub in the next house, whenever that is :)

Monday 5 April 2010

Primavera!!

or, if you prefer, Spring!! No matter what the name, the meaning is the same! The time of the year when nature is reborn, colour comes back to our lives, smells fill up the air and we get rid of the heavy coats and jackets... and yes, we take out of their boxes our pumps and moccasins and ballerinas and those classic converse all stars and we wear them with pride and joy! So yes, spring by all means is better than shoes and moreover it combines marvelously with it!!!

I fear spring came two weeks ago... and lasted for about 3 days... started on a Tuesday and was over by Friday... In this country you really have to pay attention not to miss the good seasons, that is spring and summer... the bad ones (autumn and winter) never go unnoticed as they last for sooooooo long you cannot but notice them... and hate them.... But the good ones, with the exception of last year when we had a wonderful spring and a lovely summer (bless global warming...) they can come and go as fast as the blink of an eye... and if you are for some reason away from here, say on holidays in a nice and warm place, then you just miss it and you don't even believe that it happened...

Anyway, this year I was here for it... the sun was shining, the weather was warm, the mood was great and then... it was over... The cold and the rain and the (borderline...) winter came back... along with my bad mood... I know I have promised to talk about good things in this blog (not only good but better than shoes...) so I should stop the whining and the misery and just hope that what happened two weeks ago was just a preview of the spring who is just about to come for good... so that I can wear those lovely snake skin Jimmy Choo ballerinas I have my eye set on ;)