One of the trends that I’ve noticed going on in Italy are cruciani bracelets. Practically everywhere I go, I see loads of (mostly girls) ranging from teenager to young adults wearing them.
Cruciani bracelets are a type of lace bracelets that comes in different designs – most popular being the hearts, the butterflies and the four leaf clover and in a vast array of colours.
They are supposed to be unisex and worn for good luck and friendship. And they are quite versatile. As it looks rather simple, it can go with many types of outfits from the casual t-shirt or dresses. And you could wear them alone or in multiples and layer it with your favourite bracelets or bangles.
These bracelets was created in Umbria and was made popular by celebrities like Dita Von Teese and Michelle Rodriguez who were seen wearing them.
Personally, I think they are cute and reminds me a little bit of my carefree teenage days when I had a habit of layering loads of colourful rubber bands on my arm.
But I think it’s overpriced at 10 euro each. I’m not sure if it’s a worth it as the bracelets do not have a real clasp, which can be a hassle trying to put it on.
Thank goodness there are imitations available for about a euro each. I’m pretty sure that’s what the young ones are wearing, especially since there aren’t any Cruciani stores in Rome at this point of time.
Nevertheless, what do you think of this trend? Yay or nay?
This is a hazelnut semifreddo with biscuits on top. Semi means half, and freddo means cold. It’s a type of ice cream cake. And this was my birthday cake! (Without the candles and customised words unfortunately … that’s standard! )
I was so upset that Cart, valiantly tried to carve some words into the cake. But I can’t make out what he wrote!
But it was really good though! If only I had teleporting powers, I’d send a slice to you!
In any case, thank you to everyone who took the time to wish me a happy birthday! You’re awesome! Like … previous … years … it’s becoming a sort of tradition for me to make a thank you video and how I spent the day. So here it is
Haha! As if I’m winning an Oscar award! The only thing missing is a podium! Nevertheless, thank you for all your friendship and I wish for health, happiness and prosperity.
Not particularly sure what to post for today’s blogpost today since it’s my birthday. I should be slacking around because it is my birth right to do so, but it’s the fasting month and I don’t have much things to do anyway
Quick thoughts about being in my thirties. I feel much more confident about myself, more mature, more beautiful and open minded compared to when I was in my twenties. The only bad thing is that I now actually feel physically older. What a horrible price to pay.
Nevertheless, I intended to do a proper bday post on Friday when all the well wishes are over. In the meanwhile, I’m gonna put up a few nice recent pics of me, cos I’m narcissistic and it’s my personal blog anyway.
Me with my hair just done at the salon yesterday. I absolutely love my hair! Wish it could be this silky and bouncy 24/7!
Me with winged liner I learnt from this awesome tutorial! I just need to learn how to poof my hair and my Amy Winehouse tribute will be complete.
Oh, speaking of mekap tutorials, I’ve recently been passed a whole cornucopia of mekap. Thanks Jess! Felt a little overwhelmed just thinking of attempting to bring them all to the pan within the expiration limit.
But on the other hand, this makes for a great weekly blog topic. Trying out each item for a week and giving my honest review of it. What do you think? I’m not really a beauty blogger, but I love playing with mekap
Anyway! The only present I really want is this one. I want to be in a music video like this!
Even it might not be possible this year, I hope that it’ll come true for the next one! Hehehe! Pass the word around for anyone who’d be willing to help with my dream!
Hullo everyone! Cart and I have been going all around Rome all for the sake of finding a pair of shoes for my brat sister. And since it’s now the last few days of the summer sale, we thought that we’d take advantage of the situation before prices goes back to full price.
But as it’s the fasting month and coincidentally a heatwave going on, it was really challenging, and I had to control myself not to bite anyone.
Anyway, the shoe in question is a Superga. And this is how you pronounce it :
[audio:superga.mp3]
Superga was born in 1911 in a town in Torino. It started off as being a cheap pair of shoes that were meant for average, ordinary people. Which is the reason for it’s tagline – People’s shoe of Italy. But then it became popular, and evolved to become a famous brand internationally.
In all honesty, I don’t get the hype (by my sister) I mean, they look like ordinary pair of canvas shoes. So what’s so special about them? She actually first noticed Cart wearing them on his trips to Singapore.
And he’s been wearing them for years and he swears by it, insisting that it’s a high quality pair of shoes that would last for a long time.
And so, on our quest to find my sister’s shoes, we headed to the nearest Superga shop which was about 10 minutes drive from where we live where Cart took the chance to buy for himself and me a pair of superga.
It’s like an eyecandy there! The classic model comes in a wide variety of colours, it was hard to choose one!
Cart tells me that the design has been unchanged since 1911. So wearing it, is like wearing a part of history. Only the quality wise has vastly improved after the WW2. And trying them on, they are very comfortable, just slightly heavier than regular canvas shoes as the rubber soles are made of pirelli rubber (the same brand that is used to make tyres) The canvas feels much tougher too. So I suppose these are very durable. But I am very rough with shoes, so lets see!
In the end, we chose for ourselves the colours Navy (for Cart) and Sherwood Green (for me). Not my favourite shade, but it was the few that was available in my size and it was on offer for 69 euro for two pairs
The problem is, the colour that Diana wants is Ottanio which is a sort of turquoise shade. For her size, the shop ran out of it. We then headed to another shop. Same response. And another … and another … Nothing! This colour seems to be very popular!
By the 5th shop, I was so tired that I was ready to throw in the towel and just buy a pair of shoe and get it over with. “Any colour will do!” I wailed, arms flailing. But no! My dear pignolo perfectionist Cartcart insisted. “We must persevere!”
Despite us being half dead, Cartcart always take requests as a personal challenge. It’s a commendable quality I suppose. But it can be very frustrating at times. Ah well! Married life!
Finally we decided to go to the city center and we finally found it!
I also took the chance to get this super cute purple ballerina shoes which was on sale for 27.50 euro
Ok, so it’s not the same colour as what she requested for, but it’s close! The price is more expensive because it’s in a touristy place … but ah well. I’d pay a bit more just to get it over and done with!
And there you go, my dear sister!
Colour in Blue Caribbean. Much more expensive than mine! Grrr!
Happy birthday, baby! I hope you’re happy with it! And I hope you are satisfied and grateful for the lengths that we had to do to get it for you! So tiring! No more presents for you for a while
There are two great sales in Italy – One in January and the other in July. Clothes, shoes and bags are on sale from 30 – 70% off. But watch out though, it could be a very scary experience when you have to wrestle with a whole conglomeration of people all around you!
Anyhow, this time I head to Castel Romano, where by chance I found a bag that I completely love. It’s a Kathy Van Zeeland and it has giraffe print and I’ve been searching for it for ages and it’s beautiful and it was 50% off!
Come and take a peek at my video gushing bimbottically about it! 🙂
I was on the phone with my mum this morning, advising her on what to do when she arrives in Rome. She’s never been overseas so far away on her own before. Her trip to Mecca didn’t count, she said, as it was in a tour group!
Anyhow my dad, my mum and my brother will be in Rome in the first two weeks of September. And I just realised that the dates that they will be here coincides within the 30 days of Hari Raya. A Roman Raya!
Anyhow, our topic of discussion tends to always go back to this :
Mum : So! Anything from Singapore that you want us to bring with you?
Me : Well … since you’ve mentioned it. I would like some stuff!
And since my mum reads my blog too, I thought that I’d share with everyone here some of the things that I’d like 🙂
Food stuff :
1. Keropok
Cart hates the smell of them. But I love eating them! Usually, it’s fish paste. But it could be prawn paste or veggie paste or lobster paste, mixed with flour and spices. They are typically fried but you could use the microwave oven to cook them.
These are wonderful to eat when you are feeling peckish, but not hungry enough for a full meal. Personally, I think that they are better than potato crisps. I could buy the keropok sold in the Chinese shops here in Rome, but taste-wise, I prefer Malaysian and Indonesian ones.
2. Lingham Chili Sauce
I love chili sauce. To me, Lingham’s would be the king of chili sauce. Bar none! They are so awesome. They taste just hot enough and yet delicately sweet and makes great dipping sauces for practically everything.
I love it so much that I even made a fake ad for it. You can keep your sriracha. (It’s not even hot) I prefer my Lingham’s.
Kaya is a type of egg and coconut jam that you spread on bread. I’m kind of neutral about this but I grew up eating Roti Kahwin and Cart absolutely loves them. He would always ask for them whenever we were in Singapore, be it the green pandan or the yellow nonya style kind.
Asking for this might seem silly. But I grew up on this, especially the curry flavour and I really like eating it (with an egg added!) and it’s great for those lazy days when you’re not in the mood to cook and want a quick meal.
5. Fresh Pandan leaves, Curry leaves and Lemongrass
I love drinking tea. And one of the loveliest tea that I’ve had has to definitely be the Durian Brand Tea. It’s a humble brand which might not be as popular as perhaps Lipton, but for those who’ve ever had it, will attest to it’s robust, flavourful taste and it’s recognizable scent.
Sundries :
1. Biore Aqua Jelly Makeup remover
My Biore cleansing oil is running out and while I like it enough to repurchase, I didn’t see it for sale the last time I was in Singapore. This Aqua Jelly looks interesting. Hopefully it’ll be a good replacement.
2. Axe oil
This is something that people should carry more in their purse. It’s an all in one quick fix! This can help with headaches, nausea and insect bites. It is really invaluable to me when I have blocked nose and flu.
But as it is made mostly out of camphor oil, the smell might be too strong for some.
3. Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa
Impressive I could find this pic in an old blog post! Whatever happened to that Chia plushie I used to own? I used to be so crazy about Neopets.
Anyway Nin Jiom Pei is a thick herbal syrup that helps with sore throats and eases coughs. Some might find it a tad sickly sweet. But I find that it really helped a lot during my bad bouts of cough. So far, I haven’t found anything in Italy that helped me as well as this could.
By the way, this is my favourite advertisement for Nim Jiom. I remember singing this all the time!
Random stuff :
1. My Singa Lion and Mr Moo plushie
I love these plushies. The Singa plushie Cart bought for me while we were in Sentosa and Mr Moo aided me a lot during stressful times. I can’t seem to find them when I visited Singapore. I hope they are still around.
2. Seeds
I know I am not the best at gardening. We’ve been trying to grow lime, curry leaves and ginger and while it hasn’t been successful, we’d still like to continue trying and hopefully have fresh usable spices for the future.
3. Bolster pillow
Don’t judge me! I’ve always been hugging the bolster since I was young when going to bed. And since Cart and I have different sleeping times, with this I don’t need to hug him any-more.
I think that’s about it for now. I’ll update when I can think of more.
On the other hand, is there anything that you would like from Italy? This sounds like an interesting future blog topic. Yes? 🙂
I was in a Swatch shop some time back and noticed the “Lady Collection“.
I really fancied it! I liked that it was made of plastic, since my skin is allergic to impure metals. And it looked really stylish how you could double wrap it like a bracelet. Arm party! I could layer it with some of my bracelets.
I remember that it was close to 50 euro, so I gave myself a sort of buffer time to decide if I really wanted it or if it was just on a whim. I wouldn’t want to get something on impulse and then not use in the end.
But then I was walking at a bancarella in Eur Fermi and I found one! So pretty! There were heaps of other colours, but I was so stoked that I found one in green. (my favourite colour)
Ok, so, it’s not the genuine stuff and Cart snarkily commented that it might not last long. But for now, who cares. For the price of one Swatch watch, I could buy another 8 of these back to back when it breaks
By the way, I’m completely happy to wear knockoffs. It’s even better for us consumers! But I don’t support it when a manufacturer pretends to be something they are not. Like imitation Chanel bags or Tiffany Bracelets which claims to be genuine but is not.
But if Swatch wants to send me one for me to do a side by side comparison, *ahem* I’d be glad to
Last week was Cart’s birthday. Because of the heatwave going on in Rome, we preferred to stay indoors. It was a very simple affair. Cart made cold pasta and I made him cupcakes.
The day before, I was dragging Claire with me to hunt around for presents. I had in mind an e-reader since he loves to read. Have you seen our house before? It’s overflowing with his books and comics (which sometimes I am very tempted to sell away to save space)
In the end, he got a Kindle. He was so excited when he did the unboxing and proceeded to play with it, and completely ignored me for two hours.
But *ahem* I did have an ulterior motive as I chose that as a gift so that I could use it myself. I like that there is a dictionary option inside. It makes trying to read Italian so much easier when you could press on the word that you don’t know and it’ll give you the definition (albeit in Italian itself)
I spent close to two days sprawled on the sofa using the kindle to read Last Chance Saloon which Hart had generously given to me. Marian Keyes is one of my favourite authors. But her books unintentionally tend to make me lose faith in men.
Anyway! Last Friday was a holiday in Rome as it was a patron saint’s day. Apart from getting a frappé, we didn’t go out much. We didn’t go out much during the weekend as the heatwave rised up all the way to 39 degrees in Rome, and in some areas up to 42 degrees even.
It was really hard to breathe. And all through the week, the sky looked very strange to me – completely grey but it didn’t looked like clouds at all. It was as if the blue was replaced with dirty grey. I had to close the shutters down so that the heat doesn’t penetrate through.
My poor Dahlia plants are dying though, the purple ones are all dried up and my pink ones are starting to go too! It’s so sad! I don’t know how to save them.
That’s the last that I’ll see pretty flowers like this I guess :
Last Sunday, we watched the UEFA finals between Spain and Italy. And while I’m pretty much apathetic towards soccer, I feel bad for Italy. It would have been less painful if they had one score at the very least. Maybe we shouldn’t have eaten gazpacho on the day. Perhaps the score would have been different 😛
Yesterday Cart had the day off and I took him to try the new buffet restaurant in Eur Palasport. Which is probably my new favourite buffet restaurant. The place looks nice, the food seems fresher and you can eat all you want for 8 euro. I think it’s a great deal. I think we ate a little too much though and were stuffed geese by the end of our lunch.
Later on we went to a gommista to have a look at Ash‘s tyres. They are fine for now, but I should change them before winter comes. By the way, I find it odd that in Italy there isn’t much all-in-one mechanics. You need to go to a specific mechanic for engines, a specific mechanic for tyres, a specific mechanic for the exterior, a specific mechanic for the interior…
Engine checked, tyres checked. Next I’d like to replace the hifi and recharge the air conditioning when I have more money.
Oh, and for my July personal challenge, I’m gonna try to finish reading “Tuesdays with Morrie”. I’ve already read it in the original language (which I found inspirational) so it’ll be interesting to give it a try in Italian.
And that’s about it for my (somewhat) quick updates. Lazy type of blogging is better than not blogging at all 😛
Yesterday, I did a sagio which is basically an open lesson where parents come over to have a taste on how I conducted my lesson with their children.
It was a source of anxiety for me – I had fears that parents would be unsatisfied with my lesson. Moreover, I was doing it by myself, and if I messed up, I’d probably not have work when school term restarts. Luckily, it went smoothly, and I’m glad that it’s over!
And the day before, was our sort of graduation from my Italian class. I have a nice certificate now … and a cute ceramic elephant that I won during the lottery! LOL! So school is officially over for the term. Let the vacation commence!
Places to roam! YAY! Food kiosks to discover! YAY! Shopping to do! YAAAYY!
By the way, Eataly (a sort of shopping center which revolves around food) just opened in Rome! Andiamo! Jom pergi! Lets go!
Only problem is, all through this week, Rome has been hit by the heatwave with temperatures almost reaching 40 degrees celcius! What I’ve been doing all these while is to hide at home, with the shutters closed, sitting in front of the fan and taking multiple showers.
It’s that hot.
In fact, I’m still radiating from the one hour trip I did in the afternoon last week, which progressed to sunburns and heat rash that I’m still trying to heal from.
Oh boy. I don’t know if I can still survive the Singapore heat when we come back in December.
)
