51/52

It's week 51 and I'm so in love with with this project! We are spending our holidays in Italy, enjoying family time and eating ice creams all day. I'm posting two photos this week, because I just couldn't decide which one to use.

This week you:

• spent hours with your grandparents and aunties;
• learned everybody's name, including the cat;
• ate gelato with gusto (finally!);
• Loved the feeling of sand on your toes; a very different story from this past summer...;
• fell asleep in front of the TV for your afternoon nap;
• went to bed way past your bedtime hour;
• screamed like hell when we went to see the paediatrician;
• refused to take your medicine and learned how keep your mouth completely shut.

And this week I'm loving the portraits of the Little Red Vikings; and Mila's face eating a bowl of chocolate is just my favourite.

If you are curious about this project and want to know more, you can check Jody's blog @ Che and Fidel.

All my previous posts can be found here.

This view

We have been waking up to this view for the past two days. It is so familiar to me and yet I'm amazed every time I look at it.

We are loving the sunshine and the long walks along the seaside. The peacefulness of the empty beaches and the magnificent colours of the sunset. Italy if we could trust you, we would move back straight away. For now we will just enjoy our holiday time here.

Pick of the Month: December // Merry & Red

1. Knitted Tunic Dress from Purplish London/ 2. Macbook Pro 13” Case from MadeByJulie on Etsy / 3. Box Flannel Shirt from VANS on Two Seasons/ 4. Chilli Pepper Mohican Shoes from VANS on Two Seasons/ 5. Colour-a-Months 2014 Daily Diary from Moleskine on Amazon.co.uk / 6. Red Chunky Waffle Capped Gloves  from Accessorize/ 7. Arpillera cardigan from Peruvian kids/8. Chicken shirt from White Stuff/ 9. Racoon Pyjamas from Mothercare

It’s almost Christmas, time for presents and some rewarding shopping. We (read I) have actually bought all of the above, in time for our upcoming trip to Italy. Lots of red for this year’s holiday season! The red shoes might be a bit too much, but they are my favourite and add some colour into my plain daily life. My little one has recently developed an obsession for a green Peruvian cardigan (I’m not joking; she won’t even take it off for the night!). And so I bought her another one in orange, but should have really picked a red one to stay in tune with the season. And can you see the Moleskine set in the middle? That is my Christmas present, kindly offered by my other half…following several reminders. Feeling already festive and jolly for the holidays.

50/52

It's week 50 and I'm thinking of doing this all over again next year! This week went by quickly, getting ready for our Christmas holiday, still opening birthday presents and meeting little friends.

This is you eating pancakes on the floor half naked on saturday morning

This week you:

• Ate a lot.
• Well behaved most of the time.
• Undressed youreself many times during the day and loved going around half naked.
• Played dressing up with papa's underwear (it was clean in case you are wondering!).
• Kept talking and talking and talking!
• Brought E’s photo to nursery and didn’t want to wear nothing but your favourite jumper.
• Enjoyed opening more birthday presents.
• Loved playing in your friend’s room. I guess it’s time for you to have your own room!

If you are curious about this project and want to know more, you can check Jody's blog @ Che and Fidel.

All my previous posts can be found here.

30 Days of Lists // December 2013 // Lists 1-10

The december edition of 30 Days of Lists has started! So many new topics, so much fun for me to play with a different format than previous editions. Here is my take for the first 10 days!

Follow my dailiy lists on Instagram here or under the hashtag #30lists. My lists are also on Flickr here or  under the 30daysoflists group. 

Why don't you join in? There is still time to register and lots of giveaways to be won on the private blog!

End of the year ramblings

This year has been a good year. I opened an Etsy shop, I joined a few monthly projects, I completed the “oneportrait of my child, once a week, every week” challenge, I experimented. And I discovered a few interesting thing about what I love, like and dislike. I happily discovered that I like taking pictures with my Iphone and posting them on Instagram or on the blog. I like getting mini albums of events, or years, printed out. But I’m not a scrapbooker. As much as I admire those who are, it’s not in my genes, it doesn’t come natural to me. I love making notebooks, my favourites have been watercolour sketchbookswith a fabric cover. I also very recently discovered journaling, but not the traditional way, meaning keeping a diary and just write things (I’m not good at writing!). I prefer keeping a visual journal, with drawings, doodles, stamps and small daily facts or notes, or just birthdays’ reminders. I love, and mean LOVE, botanical art. It is my passion, but it is something that requires practice and time, which I don’t seem to have these days. I like sketching when on holiday or outdoor, but this year somehow I didn’t put enough effort towards it and ended up with very few sketches. I discovered rubber stamping and loving it so far. We’ll see if it will be another temporary thing or something that will stick. I discovered a lot of new artists and bloggers, and to name a few Oana Befort, Golly Bard and Jennine Zlatkis. If you happen to not know them, they are all artists whose work is inspired by nature and the animal world, and although they have very different styles, there is something in their work that makes me want to paint like them. Because I do love painting, and watercolour is my number one medium. But what I lack in, is the ideas, the coming up with a design or composition, the thinking behind a painting. And that’s where I struggle. I can copy, replicate, but very rarely I can come up with something original. Art tutors and teachers always say that copying somebody else’s work we admire is an excellent exercise for finding your own style, but to me it feels like cheating. And that is exactly what has happened to me during this past year. I’ve jumped from one thing to another, following the trend of the moment and thinking that if other people have succeeded in that particular field, I could too. But what I had not considered at all, is the lack of passion when doing something and sharing it with others. You can instantly tell if things are done to just try to make money or because they have been given some love and you have truly believed in them. And that is exactly what has happened to me this year. And it’s a good thing because now I know more about my strengths, and recognised some of my weaknesses. There’s still a lot of work I need to do, but I'm hoping all this work will get me somewhere.  

49/52

It's week 49 and the countdown has already started! 

This is you in a very bad light, opening presents on your birthday, wearing your favourite jumper

This week you:

• Turned two! You loved opening the presents and blowing the birthday candles. You cut the cake but didn't want try it at all.
• Enjoyed spending time with your grandparents.
• Got obsessed with one of your jumpers (the same one you are wearing in the picture) and refused to wear anything else. So we are now on the hunt for another some one.
• Made me print pictures of your little friends and loved looking at them.
• Learned lots of new words and started repeating the ones that you like, i.e. tuta (sweatpants), cassa (cash register) and Olaf (it's a character from the cartoon Pimpa).
• Missed your teacher Becca at nursery and were feeling a bit low, but had a good week overall.

If you are curious about this project and want to know more, you can check Jody's blog @ Che and Fidel.

All my previous posts can be found here.

You are two today!

Dear Olivia,

This past year has flown by quicker than I could have possibly immagined. You have made huge, unthinkable steps to become the tiny person you are today. One year ago, you had just started walking and now you can ran, almost ride a scooter, jump on the bed, climb the stairs. And you did this all by yourself. I’ve learned a lot about you during this past year. You like doing things without help.  You are stubborn, but the good thing is that you discovered the satisfaction of succeeding when trying hard. You learned to feed yourself, to dress yourself, to make puzzles. And so many other things that skip my mind right now.

You know what you like and dislike, and you make it very clear to us!

This past year has been a joy to discover your cute voice and not just through your screams. You started with a few words, very few, and ended up with so many more we stopped counting them.

It has been such an honour to witness how amazing and loving and funny you are. You make me laugh hard and you are such a good company now it feels like all the hard work has been paid back already. There are still days which are hard, but nothing we can’t handle one way or another. And if sometimes I don’t do the right thing is because I’m also learning on the go here.

So forgive me if I act strange sometimes or differently than usual, I can see your puzzled face when it happens.

Dear baby girl, I can only wish you all the best I could possibly can.

Here to another fantastic year together.

Love you, mamma.

On Saturday

We had a fabulous Saturday last week and although temperatures were close to zero we made it out for a trip to our local car boot sale followed by a superb brunch at one of our favourite cafes (we were lucky enough to find a place to seat and some room for Olivia's pram!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

48/52

It's week 48 and we are not so ready for the Christmas holidays yet! 

This week you:

• Made us deal with some temper tantrums for the first time and we didn't do so well. But we are learning on the go here, and after lots of reading we think we can handle it better next time.
• Loved playing and jumping with all the fallen leaves.
• Added new words to your vocabulary, and we have now stopped counting them. But we love when you say: "batti no", meaning "ciabatte (slippers) no".
• Were very cuddly and loved watching some tv sitting on our laps.

If you are curious about this project and want to know more, you can check Jody's blog @ Che and Fidel.

All my previous posts can be found here.