Another Sunday in Como

Today was rainy..........i'd like to be able to tell u it looked like this.......................

But in actual fact it looked more like this....................

On the plus side the boredom did motivate me to do some drawings and since the internet hasn't been working all day I went in search of a video store and found one!
Tomorrow is a bank holiday so at least if this weather persists i'll have something to do :)

Milano

I wrote this post yesterday but as usual the net was playing up and cut out before i had a chance to publish.......i think i need to go down Californy way.........holla if u get that reference ;) anyway.............yesterday i went to Milan with Tulay :)
we hadn't planned this any further than 'lets go to Milan in the morning' so there was some confusion when i woke up to find Tulay already dressed and half way out the door!! I did finally get myself together though and (after a quick coffee stop) we enjoyed some bitching on the train..........i'd like to tell u what about but i'm far too classy for that ;)

I thought this journey was worth documenting........

When we arrived we were supposed to meet Lima (a girl from comON) but in her absence we found a fountain!

We were harassed by a colourful man with a bunch of jewellery made of string who we paid to leave us alone (its great being posh) and then we found Lima who took us to Duomo which looks like this............

All the gasping at this amazing building had made us hungry so we went for lunch.........but first we stopped for coffee........:)

That man really knew his coffee!!

From left Tulay, Lisbeth, Lima, me and Wishva

Deciding that the dessert at this restaurant wasn't quite up to scratch we went in search of somewhere better. Of course you can't have dessert without coffee!!
Unfortunately i don't have pics of dessert but i do have some of a cool shopping centre.......

In the shopping centre there was a hole in the ground for making wishes with very specific rules, here i am following said rules......apparently wishes don't come easy!

Totally wired at this point we went for a wonder and found an ice cream shop so we stopped to eat :)

By this point our coffee high was wearing off so we made our way back to Como.

Thank you Lima for taking us under your wing for the day ;)

This was a really long day coz it continued after we got back to the hotel. we had just got in when I got a txt from Chiara asking if we wanted to join her and some friends for dinner (which was handy as all our dinner food had run out). After a quick drink we went to a seafood restaurant which made a nice change. Here we are enjoying a night of seafood and prosecco :)

Thanks for a great night guys, happy birthday Chiara and Laura!!!! :) xxxxxx

Cibo!

Continuing on with my theme of everyday living I present to you FOOOOOOOD!!!!!

An average day in Como

Today I have been asked to construct some designs to advertise Textra in Cannes this month. I'm told that my creativity will bring something different to the design and that I'm free to create anything I like as long as it represents the company. I have three days to come up with an idea and then, together with Chiara i have to finalise a design before the end of the month.......so no pressure then........!!! I will keep u informed of my progress :)

In the meantime i've been giving some thought to what i'm going to write about now that all the exciting events are over. I realised that there are a number of holes in my coverage of daily life here in Como, so with this in mind I'm going to turn to something which seems to occur at least twice a week............destruction!!

Since arriving at the hotel just over two weeks ago we (me and my room mates) have broken 2 spoons, 2 knives, 2 glasses and a mug! I have also managed to break a necklace and Zeffira has spilled ink not only in her bag but on the sofa as well! I do in fact have some photographic evidence of this for your viewing pleasure :)

 

       
I particularly like the image above right because it shows the person responsible for most spillages, breakages and general clumsiness in all our lives ;)

I'd like to take a moment of silence to remember those items which were too damaged or which had already been thrown away  by the time this post was published and thus will not be living on thru my blog. God speed brave kitchen utensils, God speed!

Up to speed

Now i'm all caught up with my blog (except for yesterday but i'll get to that now). This week it's back to work for me. I love it here!! right now all but one of the men are out of the office so its a really nice gossipy, chocolate eating environment :) yesterday was the first day since i've been here that i didn't spend all day designing, instead i got to spend the morning rifling through a big box of fabric :) :) :)

Also i feel its worth mentioning that i am now the ultimate master of channels.......at least for the purpose of textiles design........and for anyone who is interested (or maybe also struggling with channels) I was shown yesterday how to save them as JPEG's! yes, i am excited about this, trust me its super useful and quite simple as it turns out :)

Today i'm working on designs for a mix & match range. It's not something i've done before so i'm enjoying the challenge. Its more difficult than I thought coz i'm having to create a set (or sets) of three prints that work as a group but are also appealing when they stand alone. I've just had Chiara's seal of approval for the first one so i must be doing something right :) 

It would seem that my learning for the day doesn't stop there, no no. Today I have also taken my first steps towards learning the value of simplicity. It sounds easy enough but its asking quite a lot of someone who's final year collection looked like this................!!!

http://aimeesthill.com/artwork/1419010.html

Moving on...............I'm hoping to have a nice relaxing evening, possibly watch something stupid online if the internet holds up. Me, Zeffira and Tulay did a big shop yesterday (which reminds me I owe Tulay some euros) so we won't be going hungry tonight! last night we made a big pot of chilli so i'm hoping we won't have to cook at all! Fingers crossed!

An extra day of comON

We were all thrilled to discover that our comON programme had been extended by an extra day :)
We were less thrilled when we woke up and saw the weather!!!
It was something resembling a monsoon outside and we had been abandoned by our bus (apparently our programme had been extended but our swanky trimmings had not). So feeling less than impressed at the thought of walking around with an umbrella that had long since turned inside out and a pair of shoes that were more water than leather we took a taxi :)

We were surprised and excited to learn that there was something unexpected planned for us when we arrived warm and dry at the politecnico. Of course thats all shit coz it was another powerpoint presentation!! at least it was about something different this time........no it wasn't.

If anyone wants any information about water, anything at all i am now a walking encyclopaedia on the topic!! I am also (thanks in most part to this final lecture) now the master of angry birds!!!

Me, Tulay and Zeffira opted for lunch in the hotel's cafe which if nothing else was warm and cosy and close by ( this was very important as the whether was still pretty grim). Following this we went back to the room where we sat around doing nothing again for a while. watched some movies, drank some tea, took a snooze.........

I don't think any of us particularly wanted to leave the hotel when the bus came to get us but i'm really glad we did!!! look how pretty!!!

This trip was pretty spesh because the villa is not open to the public and the interior is all original and we got to touch things and rub ourselves up against everything as much as we liked.......as u can tell, i appreciated this a great deal! It was most definitely because we were allowed to touch and wonder around taking pictures that i didn't actually learn much about this building!! i do know that it was the summer home of some awesome old timey film producer/ director who i'd never heard of and thanks to my lack of concentration still know nothing about. I didn't want my readers to miss out on the information so i did what i do best.......well......better.........i took photos!

 Following the tour we were taken across a water logged field (actually it was more of a path but i'm going for drama) into another building which turned out to be a trade show!! I was very excited about this because i knew Bay & Brown were showing (for those who don't know they are the company i work for in London). I had a nice catch up with them and a little peruse of the show before taking a much needed break for pastry, pizza and prosecco :)

Sunday

I couldn't think of an inventive name for this post but it was such a Sunday. I did nothing! well actually i did go for breakfast at a nice restaurant at around 12. basically sunday was about sleep tho.....and internet. Zyxel kicks ass!!

Zeffira has just reminded me of one significant event from this day (she is now getting excited in the background coz she knows i'm writing about her. Zeffira you're a loser but i'm feeling the luv) i think i should write more about zeff another time......maybe tomo........

anyway........our lovely new friends Jo and Sarah left us just as we were starting to realise what quality people they are!! :(

Sad times, but we will meet again! Come Dine With Me eat your heart out ;)

Flower Power!!!

I'm catchin up quicker than i thought i would with this blog! i'm nearly up to speed......and are u noticing that my photo uploading skills are improving?!

ok so, saturday was quiet. After the festivities the night before i wasn't really in the mood for much excitement (plus i'd managed to find a spot of internet next to my bed and i wasn't moving from it). Tulay was very proactive and went with Mieszko on a boat trip around the lake. I think i'm gonna have to do the same at some point. Thi went to Milan leaving me and Zeffira alone to explore.......unfortunately after about 10 minutes of exploring with Jo and Sarah we got hungry and stopped in a cafe. We quickly wished we hadn't when it became apparent that we'd managed to find the only restaurant in Italy that didn't serve edible pasta!! To remedy this we went in search of cake!

After several hours of tea drinking and laughter we went for more food!! Pizza was on the cards and yes, i am getting more experimental. This time I had ham and mushrooms!!

We rushed through dinner coz we were supposed to be meeting the comON peeps at pane e tulipani but we were not prepared for what was awaiting us when we arrived.............

 Here we are with two of the organisers of the trip in a van in a car showroom celebrating the end of a successful week. Thinking about it this was the perfect way to sum up what was a totally random collection of unexpected events, love it!!!

As a side note, if u were at this event and are disappointed by the lack of photos of Sarah I am sympathetic...........which is why i've uploaded them on mass onto facebook! enjoy!!