ò.ò___ò.ò___ò.ò

 R.Cavalli  Spring 2012

 Parashqevi Simaku

Singer but most of all Albanian sex symbol of the '90s (I am not saying this to sound in a bad way)

I posted her only folkloric song (hmm I guess) and you can also see how beautiful and charming she looks even with a traditional costume 

( if the youtube link doesn't work try this other one: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xj8tck_parashqevi-simaku-kallma-cigaren_music#.UVzTGpOBo7c )

 with a cake like this, artsy inspired and full of chocolate inside, I would consider celebrating my bday (for realz) :D

 !

 Illustration by Jason Levesque 

From the series: "My fav. gardens" 

 Holland's Keukenhof Gardens A showpiece for Holland's unique and beautiful tulips, the manicured landscapes of Keukenhof Gardens abut the rainbow rows of blooming Tulips near Amsterdam.

 A Hawaiian garden in Hanalei Valley on Kauai

 near Dumfries in South West Scotland

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation Strange landforms abound in Charles Jencks' Garden of Cosmic Speculation

 Huntington Library Cactus Garden, USA

 Versaille, France

Probably the world's most famous garden, was built for Louis XIV and designed by André Le Nôtre

 Japanese Zen Garden, Kyushu, Japan

 Powis Castle, Wales

 Villandry, France

 LongHouse Reserve, USA

 Missouri Botanical Garden, USA

 La Majorelle, Morocco

 Las Pozas, Mexico

 Bali (indonesia) rice terraces ♥__<3 [A DREAM]

 The Garden of Cosmic Speculation

near Dumfries in South West Scotland

 Claude Monet Gardens in Giverny (France)

The pool with nympheas

ò.ò=Confusion

Random things that I like [part 3]

heat 101

Original Title: The heat of Ghana and Burkina Faso brings me back to the memories of Greece

I checked out all the blog [http://www.thewanderermagazine.co.uk] and this was my favorite postcard.
This is the trip of Gus Arrowsmith and Sophie Lythgoe through Ghana and Burkina Faso. They have made some videos during the trip and I was fascinated by how genuine their "guided tour" is. 


You can read everywhere polished travelers blogs letting you know which are the best places to visit and so on and so forth, but they are always so distant from the reader. 
Meanwhile with Gus and Sophie's videos you feel like you are sucking wet under the sun with them and the songs come by like a fresh breeze :)

In the summer of 2010 I spent a week in Leptokaria (by train: 40min apart from Thessaloniki) in a forum regarding European Youth Parliament. It was in the first week of August and it was insanely hot, like you couldn't breath that hot and humid it was. We were in a little village and our hostel was near the sea but you kind of had to walk 20min to get in the sea. I remember that, only one or two shops were open and they had the weirdest timetable, I mean they had no timetable at all-they opened and closed whenever they felt like, so sometimes you needed to go several times a day to purchase something. I remember that Ouzo (greek national drink) came cheap, 3 euros a bottle; nevertheless all the prices of food and drinks were really good. Our hostel didn't have internet and I never found open the internet center in the village, so practically 1 week without internet. 


One day we did an excursion in the small island of Skiathos, in the northwest Aegean sea. At first I was so existed and I liked the visit in the town, with the little handcrafts shops, 100 tinny roads where you can get lost easily, the contrast of blue and white etc. What I liked best where the houses in white with blue windows and doors and the greens growing out of them, sprawling plants everywhere. After living the town we went to the beach, but the combination of tiredness and extreme heat and sand (I hate sand, it gets attached everywhere) made the rest of the day not so enjoyable for me.

 our hostel

 the best view of sprawling plants in the island 

for food's sake (1)

Since I have moved to Italy ,I have developed a different way in valuating food. Here food is everything, it's like the seed of the root of culture! 

At home everyone eats really good and in some restaurants, in the north and (kind of also in) central Italy there are some restaurants that are called Osteria [osterie also exist in the south but they aren't that popular and are really few in number compared to this other part of the country]. Osteria is a restaurant more down to earth, the prices are lower than in a normal restaurant and it's not that swell. It is a more familiary environment and they cook only typical food of the region/city and everything is biological and in the most vast cases it comes from their garden and then everything it's hand made. 

Italy it's not really open to other food cultures especially if you are not leaving in a metropolis. They tend to see you in a wired way if you cook with butter as they commonly use olive oil (and tend to use it even more if in the recipe is written ":xxx gr of butter"). 

food, connecting people

 brunch in Munich 

in a village in south Albania

Ma tu voliv' 'a pizz... 'a pizz 'a pizz.... ca' pummarola 'ngoppa...ca' pummarola 'ngoppa...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 while making Babagaouch 

 preparing pitas

 carrots and beans in roasted almonds sauce (I cooked it, on my last day home in summer '11)

 my univ. mates in one of the most famous restaurants of Napoli ....Pizza Margherita! what an amasing moment for my taste buds ..... the birds where singing in my head, what a joyyy **

 The Nutcracker

celebration

A really interesting video on how to make raw strawberry pie mmmmmm ^^

"playing dead" at museums

I am an art gallery/museums junkie. When I'm travelling I try to spend as much time as possibles in art galleries/museums or even other kind of museums and (art) inspiring environments, that I find interesting at that moment and I have time to spare.


When I go at art museums most of the times I take the guide (the one with headphones) the info papers that they distribute and I fool around. 
I always try to take/write notes, but "my style" of notes is kind of wired (unfortunately I apply this even in school lectures). I never write the whole thing that I have in my mind, like the analysis that I am doing or the feelings instead I just write words, separate words associated with numbers. 
I always and up having a massive headache after the tour, so most of the time I try to get myself together and take a nap at the benches of the museums. If the bench is big I just lay down (best case if I have the ipod with me) and nap, I mean I actually don't sleep (ok, I admit it, I slept for more than a half hour at Reina Sofia but I was exhausted) but I close my eyes and put my brain in hibernation mode. What I hate are the loud people in museums (especially when they chit-chat with each-other in the exhibition room, grrrr :@) and the sun because I can't stand it when it heats/hits my face (even-though in the first moments it's nice because I am all frizzed up after the exhibition; btw why those rooms are always so "fridge fashion forward"). 


It has been a dream of mine, to actually have like three days in visiting a museum so I can take notes properly, fully enjoy it and not to be so exhausted.


I try to apply a selection criteria to the museums or art galleries that I visit, it always depends on my mood, the art style and the artists. It's quite rare that I visit a art gallery in little cities, maybe it happened twice cause it was extremely hot and I couldn't chill in the park or I had nothing else to do. 

"Playing dead" is best served with:

the scent of fresh lavender (and...)

the perfect light that caresses your eyes

a cup of cappuccino 

baseball bats to shut up all your chaotic thoughts and just chill for some minutes (and....)

and with fresh air that blows you away. 

ò.ò___ò.ò

 Dazed & Confused + Givenchy Haute Couture 2012= breathtaking 

Tirana 

I first heard this song as the soundtrack of the movie "Mine Vaganti" directed by Ferzan Ozpetek.

 !

I must try this

and this

 I agree 

"I found my love alle 5 Terre" in every possible version

ò.ò=Confusion

Random things that I like [part 2]

Pathzzz

Oh Land~ literally and figuratively 

Meanwhile on my fb status:

(I super sadly announce the change of hour and how out of the mood I am now

X= friend of mine

F= I ) 

X-So it means now is 5.30....couldn't you let me live in ignorance 

F-No, you should suffer with me. (6)

X-nooooooooooooo (thunder, F's evil laugh is heard, her figure is shown against a background rocks, zoomout through a window showing that she is inside of a huge Transylvania-like castle....screams of horror, black)