antique market + sketchy thursdays

here’s my take on this week’s sketch at sketchy thursdays!

having exams on friday so i better hit the books now!

my 1st colour combo galore challenge

because i love the colour combo so much in challenge #167,

i decided to take a break from studying to create a layout. here’s my take on the challenge!

supplies: patterned paper – prima marketing, alpha stickers – american craft, others – jennibowlin, jim holtz, making memories.

i’ve used quite a number of knick knacks for this layout – cream lace, twine, button – that aren’t bought in any scrapbooking shops. love getting them from Chinatown. and part of the challenge was to create pleats. was wondering what i could do with the lace when it dawned on me that i could use BRADS to create pleats on the lace. it was fun (:

a little story behind this layout – this is my 2nd layout on venice. here’s my 1st – venetian masks and couture shots.i absolutely love venetian masks if you realise. bought 3 in one day. now i wish there will be a masquerade party where i can show my mask off! HAHA. the girl in my layout in najiah – my awesome roommate (:

time to hit the books again! ciaoo.

gelatoooo

supplies: patterned paper – my mind’s eye, making memories, cosmo cricket; brads – making memories, my mind’s eye; thickers; american craft; alpha: jenni bowlin, doodlebug design

my italian is still not as fluent as i wished it was. but if there’s one phrase that i have to know ( and know very well), it has to be “una coppetta piccola”, which means “one small cup” and it comes with TWO flavours. very useful when it comes to buying gelato in italy. haha.. ask me any italian phrases regarding gelato. i know it all. this shows how addicted i was to gelato. not just any gelato but ITALIAN gelato. i swear i have never had so much gelato in my life.

craving for some crema di grom and stracciaterra now. mmmm.

tuscany love

this was what i have done with girl’s paperie on holiday series

PS: i love the camera die cut!!!
supplies – die cuts: girl’s paperie, alpha stickers: october afternoon, border sticker: cosmo cricket, brads: Jim Holtz

went on a tuscany trip with Cheryl in June during my exchange and we signed up for the GRAPE ESCAPE DAY TRIP organized by Plus Florence. it was definitely the highlight of our trip as we visited vineyards, learned more about wine tasting and explored the chianti region. here’s more picture on the day trip!

we also visitedSan Gimignano, a medieval city in the tuscany area. apparently, the world champion gelato is right in San Gimignano. we tried it but i honestly don’t think it’s that fantastic. i’ve had better ones, like GROM and SAN CRISPINO.

gosh. i miss italy terribly =(

venetian masks and couture shots

Supplies – Paper: TPC Studio, Black Flower Lace: Prima Marketing, White flower: BoBunny, Black crystals: MarkRichards, Black tape: 7gypsies, Tag: Maya Road, Silver sequinn: Prima Marketing

Venice was my first trip out of Milan on exchange and we went there during the carnivale itself. I LOVE taking photos with jason because he adds so much life into every photo that he takes. no more boring-smile-awkwardly-into-the cam moments.

cinque terre

cinque terre trip – great company, sunny weather, breathtaking scenery, yummy-licious food what’s not to love?

Upon reaching Riomaggiore on our 1st day, we checked into our apartment. Little did we know that the apartment was only reachable by MANY MANY STEPS. Check out the top left photo of carolyn completely dead from all the climbing. haha…the view from our apartment was definitely worth the climb though.

We decided to take a stroll on Via dell’Amore and then train from Manraola to Monterosso. Because we love Monterosso SO MUCH, we went there on our 2nd day in cinque terre as well! The sun and sea made us really cheery. No sand on the beach though, only stones which hurt so badly that we had to hop our way into the sea. See the photo of the super hot lady? Well… the focus was supposed to be Zaki and Carolyn. Try spotting them! haha.. AND i would love to have a romantic dinner anytime by the cliff.

After tanning and kayaking at Monterosso on the second day, we went on to hike from Monterosso (Town #5) to Vernazza ( Town #4). The initial hike was an endless uphill climb, but after getting through it, the hike seemed a lot easier. perhaps due to the fact that we decided to start singing. Lady Gaga, Backstreet boys, Madonna, etc. Awesome fun even funnier when other hikers started commenting stuff such as…

Comment #1
Us: Let’s sing Paparazzi!!
Hiker A: NOO. I don’t like that song. Sing other Lady Gaga song!!

Comment #2
Us: “You are my fire. The one i desire…”
Hiker B: “Didn’t you see a “no backstreet boys sign”?”

and here’s my fav photo of the trip

Last trip in italy before the end of exchange. Glad it was one of the best trips ever

inter!inter!inter!

note to self: never visit the toilet before half time is up.

and so i bought the 59 euro tix to watch the inter-chievo match.

i’ve always enjoyed football but was never a crazy fan. was pretty hesitant to fork out 59 euros for a football match but thanks to jeanne ( who told me that this was a pivotal match for inter and we won’t have a chance to watch it in milan anymore), i was hesitant no more. haha.. let’s not think in terms of S$.

before the match…

love this shot =)

in the stadium…

let’s just say that the 59 euro was money well spent. the atmosphere was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. i’ve never seen such passionate spectators. the inter fans were insanely enthusiastic. they were chanting, cheering, jumping, singing. some of my thoughts from the match:

- it sucks not to be the home team. whenever chievo scores, the stadium would be in dead silence as if no goal was made and the game just continued. or worse, they get boo-ed by the fans.

- it’s amazing how the inter fans know every single player in the team. the commentator will scream the number of the player over the speaker and every single fan will chant the player’s name. AWESOME SHIT.

- i’m even more astounded by the fans’ multi-tasking ability. in the midst of the match, inter fans started cheering and jumping. turned out that there was another match going on ( AS Roma vs Cagliari) and they were cheering cos Cagliari scored a goal which meant that inter was definitely going to clinch the title.

- i wished there were replays of the goals. can’t believe i missed one goal cos i decided to go to the toilet 5 minutes before half-time. damn it. thank gawd i saw the other 6 goals.

- FINAL SCORE: Inter 4 – Chievo 3

- I wanna learn the cheers and songs!!!!

how to spend an awesome weekend in milano

1. go shopping around duomo alone.

most of my friends were away this weekend. and it was such a waste to stay at home cos it was bright and sunny.  i thus made an easy decision to head towards duomo for some alone shopping time! feeling a little narcissistic, i decided to to take a few self shots before i leave home. heh.

i love shopping with friends, but sometimes shopping alone is pretty therapeutic too. i don’t have to feel bad for making my friends wait for me, i can take my own sweet time to decide which colour i want to buy. Basically, i can just shop at my own pace. In the end, i bought 1 cardigan and 1 skirt from Zara, 1 top from Bershka and 1 top from pimkie. awesome saturday!

2. visit the antique market @ navigli

The antique market occurs on the last Sunday of each month. Zaki and i decided to head to Navigli to take a look. After experiencing winter, i think we learn to appreciate good weather even more. The antique market was really fantastic. Here’s some pictures of the antique market!

It’s nice to see people enjoying their meals outside the bars and restaurants, strolling along navigli, having gelatos, rummaging through the vintage stuff, etc. and OMG. Spring.is.officially.here.like.finally. See the pretty flowers blooming! gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.

I’ve always loved any sort of street markets and this antique market definitely didn’t disappoint me at all. Check out all the different vintage finds!

I was squealing away while walking around the antique market as there’s way too many cute vintage finds. The above are a few of my favs! the buttons were so adorable, the vintage bags were irresistible and check out the cinema seats! If i had a physical store that i can decorate, i swear i would have gone broke at this antique market. I’d get the cinema seats, some vintage posters, typewriters, old telephones, old suitcases, … URGH.

so here’s what i have gotten from the antique market.

it’s a pair of vintage belt buckles. thinking of adding chains to make necklaces

3. have gelato

yet another sign that spring is here – long queue outside grom. i can’t believe they ran out of the flavour of the month- green tea with white chocolate!! and today’s the last day to try it cos i’m leaving tml for budapest. boo.

can’t stop loving milano =)

bologna

over the weekends, naj and i visited pietro and marco’s hometown – bologna!

We freaking climbed 498 steps to reach top of Torre degli Asinelli (Tower of the Asinelli). it was a good workout though! was quite proud of the fact that i didn’t stop for a break while climbing =) The view was great, but after seeing the panoramic views of both Torino and Rome, it’s starting to get less breathtaking.

Pietro gave us a ride up the hill. If i am not wrong, the hill is called Monte Donato. Too bad the weather was gloomy. but thanks to naj’s cam, we still manage to get some pretty photos. i really love the one with me holding my cam. and the shots taken with naj. and the shots of pietro snapping photos. haha.

Bologna is considered to be the food capital of Italy. here comes the yummy photos!

i spent 40 euros on food alone during my 2nd day in bologna. to the europeans, i guess it’s reasonable. but to a poor student from singapore, it is S$80. *stab my heart a few times* at least the food lived up to its expectations! had my 14th and 15th gelatos in bologna and gosh.. they were so yummy. stracciatella and happy hippo @ gelateriagianni and brownice and some sorbet ( which i paid 30 cents extra) @ il gelatauro. tortellini was so yums and the pasta with deer meat was insanely good too!

too much good food, too little stomach space. sometimes i feel like my stomach is stretching and it feels damn gross. time to moderate my food intake.

if the boys ever read this, GRAZIE MILLE for showing us around in bologna =)

roma

This is going to be a massive post. we managed to squeeze in so much within 4 days but seriously, 4 days still weren’t enough for roma!Have been taking trains for my past few trips so this was my first time taking plane within europe! many more to come! upon arriving at the train station!

Visited the St Peter’s Basilica on our 1st full day in Rome. Weather was pretty bad so we couldn’t get to the cupola.

The interior of St Peter’s Basilica was magnificent. The other churches definitely look pale in comparison. The exterior of duomo in Milan is gorgeous, but nothing can be compared with the interior of St peter’s Basilica.

and so we went back to Vatican City the following day JUST to climb 300+ steps up to the cupola. amazing view though =) Love the fluffy clouds and the bright blue sky!!

We then went to Trastevere for some awesome lunch that Denise recommended. A full italian course for 11 euros! i didn’t take photos of my cabonara cos i was hungry then. but it was one of the best cabonara i’ve tasted!

Next up Fontana di Trevi! If you toss a coin over your shoulder once, you will return to Roma. If you toss a coin over your shoulder twice, you will get an italian boyfriend. i only tossed one cos i felt stupid tossing coins.

The gelato from SAN CRISPINO was MIND BLOWING. i had honey and apple sorbet twice from the shop. couldn’t resist. Anyhow, i had 4 gelatos in Roma. such a pig. As you can tell, SAN CRISPINO is highly recommended by many travel guides! They are really professional when it comes to gelatos. Each flavour is stored at different temperature and they don’t serve their gelatos in cones cos cones are considered “artificial”.

We did visit the Pantheon as well. but i don’t really have many good photos of the Pantheon so no photos on that! Denise loves the Pantheon though so if you are in Roma, you should visit it. The walk to Pantheon was nice. I love the architecture in Roma!

Ended our trip with a visit to Piazza Navona. I really really love this square because it’s filled with many amazing artists showcasing their work. i feel bad taking photos of their work but it’s impossible to choose ONE to buy as different artists have different styles and i just couldn’t decide. was a great way to end our stay in roma.

anyway, our way back home was like a mini amazing race! We left denise’s place pretty late. but thankfully the bus arrived when we reach the bus stop. and when we reach the train station, the train was leaving in TWO MINUTES. so naj and i sprinted to our train WITHOUT getting a train ticket cos if we miss this train, we would not be able to catch our flight. While running to the train, my packets of biscuits were dropping out from my backpack cos i didn’t zip my bag properly. it was pretty amusing cos naj was behind me and she was picking up my biscuits and i was running with 2 packets of biscuits in my hands. i was pretty terrified cos we didn’t have train tickets but guess what? the conductor walked past us TWICE without checking us. THANK YOU LADY LUCK. I hope this won’t happen anymore though. my heart was pounding so hard.

Special Thanks to Denise and Damiano for making our trip so memorable =) I’ve learnt so much more about italian culture and food and i must stay i really love it so much! ( except the part that i’m gaining weight like nobody’s business if i continue the italian diet)