corners of my home: our framed wall

Not much to report from S. Paulo, I'm still working on this never ending project, so I thought I'd show you another corner of our home that we recently decorated ... here's Sushi to give you a tour.



The entrance to our apartment is a bit uncommon, in the sense that the entrance door leads directly into the living room, and not into a hallway like in most portuguese homes. It takes a while to get used to, but I actually like it that way now.

And to the right of the entrance is the kitchen door, which means we have that part of the room that is actually a passage area. The wall beside it has been quite bare also ... until recently, when we decided it just felt too empty and planned to do something about it.



I got my inspiration from a recent issue of Marie Claire (UK) which featured an article on a scandinavian designer (whom I can't remember the name right now, so sorry) and showed pictures of her amazing country home. One of her living room walls was covered top to bottom with black and white framed photos, and I loved the idea at once.

Not sure if someday this wall will be entirely covered by frames like that, but for now I'm just so happy with this result. The frames are all IKEA, and I mixed family photos with a couple of my favourite prints.



This one is one of my favorite childhood photos, taken back in Mozambique (my grandparents' yard, apparently) and although you can't see him, my dad was holding me up.



The top one here is another favorite, me as a baby with both my parents, which I had already posted before.

In the middle is a photo of a shadowed kiss (yes, that's us) in the gardens of the Al-hambra, in Granada, and below is the black and white version of this one, taken during our last vacation in Lake Bled (Slovenia).



At the bottom, the lighthouse photo which was taken in Newfoundland (more precisely in Woody Point).



The red print is by Rachel Solomon. I just couldn't resist putting it in to clash with the rest of the black and white.
And I'm sure you recognize the bird and teapot print, which is, of course, by Camilla Engman. I love it to pieces.



Finally, on the opposite side, the middle photo was also taken during our Newfoundland trip (at the Terra Nova National Park), and the bottom one is of The Giants Causeway, in Ireland.

I'm planning to eventually replace these photos once in a while by new ones, since we have so many favorites that it's impossible to have them all on display at the same time. For now, though, it just looks perfect to me ...

weekend in s. paulo

I was very, very impressed by this exhibit ...



No wonder the human body is still of one the greatest mysteries. The complexity and detail are amazing. I was particularly impressed by the circulatory system, and the several displays of fetus and diseased lungs (if I'd been a smoker, I would've quit on the spot).
Definitely not for the faint of heart, but I highly recommend a visit. The exhibit just started in Lisbon this weekend too, and if you're lucky you might not have to wait 2 hours in line like I did (an interesting note: the entrance fee in Portugal is almost double the price than here in Brazil ..)

If you're curious, I found a few photos here

I also went to the exhibit next door, about Leonardo da Vinci. I had seen parts of this exhibit before when it showed in Sintra a couple of years back, but I can't remember if it was this big (my friend F. who worked at the exhibit, can probably tell me).

And of course, Sunday in S. Paulo is not complete without a stroll through the fair in the japanese neighbourhood of Liberdade.

hello there

oh wow, thanks you for all the comments and book advice on the last post. I'm overwhelmed and truly grateful for your response. I've made a list of all the suggestions I haven't read yet (and there are many), and so I'm all set for my summer reading.



I did read The thirteenth tale on my flight here, and it was as enjoyable as my friend had told me it would be. How could I not like a book that mentions "Jane Eyre", "The woman in white" and "Middlemarch" constantly ? This year might not be so dismal when it comes to good books after all ...



Oh, and of course ... the winners of the bookcover give-away are Sarah and Concha. Please send me your addresses, ladies, and I'll mail them out as soon as I'm back home. I'll be doing this more often, by the way, so stay tuned.



And right before I came I had just enough time to whip up this sort of travel pouch. Not as lovely as Eireann's beautiful travel wallets (love those), but at the last minute I felt I needed to have something, anything, to organize all my travel documents and keep them handy inside my bag (you wouldn't believe the time I sometimes spend trying to find my passport or my boarding pass).

So there you go, my latest crafty bit for probably the next couple of weeks (and before you ask, this brazilian project is driving me crazy, and the go live date was just postponed for another week so I might have to stay longer. Suffice to say I'm not having a good day)

fancy a bookcover ?

or maybe two ?



So last monday was not only world book day, but also marked the 2nd year I've started writing here. And because I'm me, I totally forgot. I actually thought it was later in the month, so it just goes to show you how terrible I am with dates.

To redeem myself, and because I'd like to thank you for having the time and patience to come here and read these ramblings, I've made two more of the new covers to give away (one is mass paperback size, the other is trade paperback/portuguese book size)



Not without a price, though .. oh no, you must do something for me in return. Something quite simple. Just leave a comment here with a book recommendation for me, preferably a book that you've enjoyed recently (or not so recently, but that you think I might find interesting). You see, I'm having a very disappointing year when it comes to reading (where have all the good books gone ?) and think it's time to change that. I'll draw two names sometime next week and will announce them here.



If you win one, you won't get it until I've returned from Brazil, though. I'm flying to S. Paulo again on business next Sunday, and will only be back a couple of weeks after. Yesterday, taking advantage of the discount day at the bookstore, I brought home this little pile, which will be my reading material for the trip. I can't wait to get started on the Thirteenth Letter (highly recommended by a friend), but the other two I'm not so sure of.



A last detail on the trade paperback size cover. A couple of friends complained that their books slip easily from inside their covers when they carry them in their bags, so I came up with this simple idea to prevent that. Just added two fabric strips to the interior so that the cover of the book can be slipped inside them, and still allow the flexibility for the bookcover to be used for thicker or narrower books. Such a simple idea, don't know how I didn't think about this before.





Have a great weekend (and holiday). I'll try to post here while I'm abroad, and hopefully with more photos of crafty shopping :)

#300

a new design ...


 

Materials: linen, tweed, wool and cotton (exterior), nobuck (interior) and suede (cord)



and it can be used on both sides



More to follow soon ... happy world book day !