It's been exactly two weeks since I'm back here and I already made a sheet-like calender to cross off the days until Easter. I'm hoping I'll get one or two visitors around here...or maybe even more... Everybody, you are most welcome to come visit me!! Besides the money issue, there shouldn't be anything standing between you and a week or two of vacationing in Porto. Just that.

The weather has been so and so. We had rain and wind, unpleasant days, and then there are the sunny nice days, but they are still kinda cold. So I just want to stay in bed and watch movies. I guess everybody is just trying to get through these darn winter months.




I've been thinking about various things. I enjoyed these series on wardrobe changes and all that. I guess everybody's been doing it since last year. Trying to cut down on your clothes and wear just a certain number, 30, something like that. Oh, here's another proof of it, and a whole blog about it. It would be nice to do so, just try to keep only the stuff you like and really wear the heck out of them. And also makes you think about your style and clothes and what matters to you, being comfortable, being 'a fashion diva' and what not...
Just making things simple, clear, uncomplicated.



photo via Rmtl

In parallel with this closet rethinking and simplifying things in your life I've been reading this book, that talks about a new way of rethinking your time and efforts, that you can't do it all, that you have to choose what to do with your time / because otherwise others will choose for you, that you have to accept trade offs.

Another book I want to read soon enough is this one. And here's an article or two about it, if you think you're into it...
I don't know...this time spent here in school, my teachers and my colleagues, even what I'm studying: menswear have got me thinking about re analyzing everything, simplifying, organizing, planning on every level. I guess it's the way people do things here (in school).



I have a little series  /it's called High Maintenance/ I've discovered and would like to share with you. It's a bunch of 5-10 minute episodes about different people and their weed guy. It's in New York
so of course I love it. I love to watch movies and documentaries about people living in NY, so this was perfect. Hope you'll enjoy it too, if not who cares.
As you probably know, Girls is back on for a while now, and thanks to Nadia I have seen the first two episodes and I love it. I've watched them in the morning before going to school and it's just the perfect thing to help me day dream all the rest of the day in classes. I'm so glad it's on again.

I enjoyed this TED Playlist on Finding the right Job, since clearly I'm in need of help on that matter.

Until next time, I leave you with some school and bad weather pics, cause that's what I'll be experiencing in the weeks to come.

Christmas at home

It's really been a while.
I was home for Christmas and although it was short and tiresome it was totally worth it.

 {lights on Copou}

The weather was Ok, I guess. We had a little bit of everything. Some sunny decent days and then some hardcore freezing mind numbing snowy ones.

Precious time at home was the most important.

 

 

{monkey bread}

There was coffee in our new french press almost every morning, cooking, a bit of baking, loads of dirty dishes all the time.

I finally tried monkey bread. I followed Deb's recipe, of course. It was delicious and everything you would expect, like hot miniature cinnamon doughnuts. I made them in the evening so we could enjoy them the next morning with our coffee, cause there was no way I was waiting for the dough to do it's thing in the morning. I have to admit they were better right out of the oven, still warm, as we ate the whole thing on the left right then and there and the monkey bread loaf on the right survived until the next day in the evening. Other than this I did no other baking.
We did cook a bit. I made the Soba Noodles with Peanut-Citrus Sauce recipe I was talking about here a while back, but with no soba noodles, of course. R liked it a lot, I like it too, so we made it like three time. Other than these two recipes I did not do anything else remotely special. We mostly ate at other peoples places.

  We watched the Back to the Future trilogy three nights in a row while at home at my parents' house with my sister and good pizza while it was brutally snowing outside. The movies were as awesome as I remembered, and having seen them when I was little I wanted a hover board like that.

Also while at home I had to throw away my fashion magazine collection and it was a pain in the back. Literally. R was kind enough to help me carry them to the dumpster. I did however kept a stash of magazines I really like: D/ la Repubblica delle Donne. I prefer it over any other magazine out there. But it also felt so good throwing out things you don't like anymore, and keeping just the essential things.
I went to school once or twice before Christmas hoping to meet up with some colleagues and Dna Maria. It was good revisiting the familiar sewing workshop where I'll be starting work at the end of summer, people I know from school. Sadly it was too short, all of it.