Find simplicity

{A moment of sweet sun in our new place}

Out of clutter, find simplicity.
From discord, find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.
-Albert Einstein

Although it's been a too-long workweek and I'm still finding new rhythms in a new town, we're sloowly creating order from chaos, forging new chapters. I wouldn't want it any other way.

~ Have a wonderful weekend, full of simple harmony! ~

P.S. Just for fun, has anyone seen Black Swan? I'm so intrigued!

(Black Swan image via FanPop.)

The Double Life of Veronique

Only because it's one of my favorite movies, exploring life's mysteries. I get a different feeling each time I watch it and the cinematography (another kind of photography :)) is lovely.

(Images via Bill's Movie Emporium, Wonders in the Dark, the rasx context(#3,5) and the moviedb.)

A Midnight Turkey {+quiz}

I once co-hosted a Friendsgiving, to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, with my urban NYC tribe.

To paraphrase a friend, we drew on one another's cooking skills to round out (and heck, overstuff) the meal. The turkey was served at midnight, but it didn't matter - the city never sleeps!

To see our Midnight Turkey recipe, just head on over here. :)

Meantime, I've been tagged by Ginta at Hunting and Gathering and Hitomi Neko to answer the I Love Your Blog quiz! Thank you! Ginta has a lovely way of mixing terrific 2nd-hand finds with current pieces to create something utterly new. Hitomi says she's a blogging newbie, but I've already enjoyed her film reviews. :) Here goes...

1. Why did you create the blog? I may have mentioned this before, but because of my nomadic life, it was a way to feel more connected to faraway family & friends.

2. What kind of blogs do you follow? I love blogs by people who have a passion or just good fun writing about their joys!

3. Favorite makeup brand? I'm not terribly loyal, I'll try anything that sounds promising. :)

Jason Wu's Spring 2011 collection

4. Favorite clothing brand? My latest kick is Jason Wu. So classic and feminine.

5. Your indispensable makeup product? Burt's Bees lip balm.

6. Your favorite color? For clothes, lilacs, dusky roses and rich browns. For interiors, bright colours (one of my last apartments was completely in primary colours!) or soothing neutrals.

7. Your perfume? These days, very occasionally, Kiehl's musk. Before that, girly Flor (and I'm not that girly, even!).

8. Your favorite film? Most recently, the French film Lady Chatterley - not at all rubbishy, more like a sensitive love story with the exquisite Marina Hands as leading lady.

Verona, Italia

9. What country would you like to visit and why? I'm dying to return to Italy, and always wanted to visit an old friend in Norway (I owe her several trips!)

10. Make the last question and answer to yourself: What invention would help your life? Something that instantly transports me to any part of the world! And anything that makes me look like I get 8 hours of sleep & workout 2 hours everyday!;) XO

(Images via Channel4, newbatteri, Travel Holiday, Fragrantica, and Destination360.)

Stuff that made my weekend

Finding this fuzzy photograph I took with a disposable camera, the view from my second-to-last apartment in New York City

Incredibly dense, moist chocolate babka

{Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows}

Hearing just British accents (and glimpsing London) again :)

{Isabel}

{Underligne by Doo.ri dress, SS/10}

More lovely photographs from Wai Lin Tse

Unpacking the last box from our latest move, yippee!

~ Wishing you an incredible week ahead! ~

(Top photograph was taken in Manhattan, of George Washington Bridge in the mist. Remaining images via Good Bread This, NY Daily News, Wai Lin Tse and GigPark.)

Candy-colored Deneuve | Spooky Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

This bittersweet movie has been on my mind lately. (Have you seen?) It's not to everyone's taste - every word is sung - but there's a famous candy-colored set (the clothes and wallpaper match!)...

The opening credits (here) are so beautifully choreographed...

And the movie of course made Catherine Deneuve a star.

And since it's Halloween! Something from the spooky end of the Deneuve spectrum...

Deneuve plays a *very* unhinged woman in Repulsion, and it does a good job putting you in her shoes. Too good...

Cracking up, Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion

Because I seriously felt unhinged too! As I fell asleep, I could've sworn I heard my walls cracking (like the movie) & thumps in the flat, even though I was home alone (like the movie).

{Luckily: The next morning, I saw the plaster in the hall had cracked (the cracking noise) and fallen to the floor (the thumps). I was NOT crazy, yippee!}

~ Have a candy-colored and spooky Halloween! ~

(Images via Musicals in Vancouver, Flow TV, heavensabove, Film Forager, Movie Mail, Criterion Forum, Seattle Times, Somewhere in the Depths of Cinema, and "Repulsion" film stills via heavensabove.)

10 small pleasures I love {+lovely bloggers}

{I love long soaks in a bath - wouldn't mind this one}

Wonderful Stacey at Design Addict Mom and lovely Amber Blue Bird passed along the Happy award - Amber also passed along the Substance award. Thank you so much!

I've mentioned Stacey here before - I can't seem to get enough of her delightful posts (but it's a healthy obsession, heheh) and addictively-jaw-dropping images. Amber Blue Bird not only has the sweetest sense of style, but her awesome musings just make me smile :)

I'm to reveal 10 things I love, which I did recently, so I'll reveal 10 simple pleasures I love...because it's the small things, isn't it? :)

#1. Sipping Earl Grey tea (or a cappucino or hot cocoa:))

#2. Sushi

{Mastroianni in Fellini's 8-1/2, 1963}
#3. Hearing Italian, especially if Marcello Mastroianni is speaking

{Franz Schubert as a youth}
#4. Playing Schubert and Chopin on the stereo or piano

#5. That first sip of beverage when you're thirsty

#6. A package in the mail

{Latest magical sightings: Hawaii and Guildford, UK}
#7. Shooting stars

#8. Swimming at night (mentioned previously, bears repeating:))

#9. Singing at the top of my lungs in a car with girlfriends {Recently, we did so to this song (click here if music won't play)}

{A wonderful Alicia Keys ode to NY}

{Cape Town, South Africa}
#10. Watching waves - the best things in life are free!

I'm to pass each of these to 10 people, but many of you have these awards! I'll try to avoid the blogging police and give the award only if you don't have it (to my knowledge;)).

{Although you may not have time or inclination to make lists or pass on awards, I just wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed your blog!}

Substance award to:
Stacey @ Design Addict Mom
Signe @ SignePling
Melissa @ Oh, My Darling
Connie @ Sogni e Sorrisi
Melissa @ So About What I Said

Tiffany @ Dancing Branflake
Jessica @ The Beat My Heart Skips
MarchMusings @ Style Nuggets
Jeanette @ Everton Terrace
Krysten @ After I Do

Happy award to:
Rowena @ Rubber Slippers in Italy
Kat @ Our Adventures in Japan
Ren @ Lady of the Arts
Lisa @ White Cotton Tee
Justine @ Justine Gordon
Rosie @ Rosie's World
Ashley @ browneyes.42
Annie @ All Natural Annie
Bombay Beauty @ bbNY
Nicole @ Scraps of Color

Thanks again Stacey @ Design Addict Mom and Amber Blue Bird!

(Images via Arzhine, Rsms, bluewaikiki, E-Film Blog, free-scores, Pedro Moura Pinheiro, Evie Marie, Science Facts, Bali Villa, Moneywise and neilalderney123. Joan and Justine, thanks for #9 :)).

The magic hour

{End-of-world feeling from "Days of Heaven," see young Richard Gere?}

Hope your weekend was great! I've been trying to get an earlier start these days, and you know what? Being up at the magic hour is nice in a super-quiet, end-of-the-world way -- barely a soul is stirring!

~ Wishing you a magical week ahead! ~

(Image via Sarahnomics.)

I love food in movies

{Disney's Lady and the Tramp}

I think this is how it started...

{Babette's Feast, 1987}

I was too young to understand the nuances, but it got me hungry!

 {Like Water for Chocolate, 1992}

{Eat Drink Man Woman, 1994}

{Big Night, 1996 - Isabella Rossellini looking stunning as usual}

The '90s served forth many epicurian treats (food + more :)).

{Chocolat, 2000}

{Ratatouille, 2007}

And I couldn't say no to Juliette Binoche or cute Pixar creatures.

 {Eat Pray Love, 2010}

I admit, I read the book first and the movie (understandably) couldn't capture all those evolving inner thoughts. But it will make your stomach cry: vino, pizza and pasta! (And then you'll want to hop the next plane to Italy :)).

{I'll be traveling all day and so sorry I can't visit your lovely blogs right away! Can't wait to visit and comment when I'm back online!}

(Images via starpulse, Dimsy's Top Period Dramas, Virtual Gourmet, mubi, Apronistas, film-otaku, The Cute Blog, Recipes for Trouble and IMDB.)

Surprisingly perfect

{Kenilworth Castle ruins, Warwickshire, England, UK}

Hope you had a great weekend! Although work events foiled my plans to visit a lovely area of England (above), all was not lost.

I got to enjoy pseudo sangría...just to lubricate the brain cells. :) (My quick-and-dirty recipe* would make an afficionado cringe, forgive me)...

{I wouldn't mind these Giuseppe Zanotti's}

Dressy heels imparted a snazzier home office vibe (beats working in a robe, no?)

Soaked-up the incomparable Nina Simone (good for brain waves :)

Even savored pseudo, 35-minute paella with the pseudo sangría.*

{That's amore! Julia's pizza pie, Da Michele, Napoli, Italia}

Once the crunch ended, a friend dragged me to "Eat Pray Love" -- in all, it was a surprisingly perfect weekend.

~ Wishing you a surprisingly perfect week! ~

*PSEUDO SANGRÍA
1 bottle (750 ml) chilled red wine, a few strips orange zest and lemon zest, ~7-10 optional ice cubes (if you don't have time to chill the wine), 2 tbsp (30 ml) sugar, juice of 4 oranges, juice of 2 lemons, 3 cups (750 ml) sparkling water (a little less if using ice cubes), and optional apple and/or peach wedges. In large pitcher, mix wine, orange & lemon zest, and ice cubes. In small bowl, stir orange juice and sugar until dissolved, then add to wine. Add lemon juice, sparkling water, and apple/peach wedges to wine. Stir and muddle things up a bit to get fruit juices flowing, garnish with mint, lemon & orange slices, if you like, and ENJOY!

(Images from Jason Twist via Pictures of England, food network, fashion magazine, Amazon, Stockmann and EOnline.)