day out to the Sabinillas flea

it was a Sunday and probably the hottest day since summer arrived here in the Mediterranean and on a whim, the mister and i decided to check out a flea market (or "rastro" as they are called in Spain) in Sabinillas, Spain that a friend of ours recommended.  Sabinillas is about 20 minutes away by car from Gib.

so together with another friend of ours, we hopped on the car and looked for the place with a lot of people, hoping for an adventure.

 i love this poster but the mister wont let me buy Jet Li.

beautiful paintings of the idyllic Spanish coastline as well as ordinary things people do (such as a guy standing over a presumably dead guy!).  also, there were a lot of religious iconography scattered about.

surprise, surprise!  we saw the sword from Game of Thrones! made from Valyrian steel no less and.....ohhhhh that helmet!

tutus in all colors of the rainbow!

i love these African baskets!  

i also love this guy.  just dont know where to put him in our house!

animal skulls (maybe cows or bulls)

there's plenty of signs available for the homeowner with a house full of exits

cow bells of all sizes

this guy is rated PG though (you have been warned!)

in the end, i loved all of them but unfortunately i had to leave them all behind.  we bought loads of fresh fruits though: avocados, mangoes, loquats, peaches, green apples; and herbs (we love our mint tea!).

we've moved!

Hi guys!  First of all, Happy New Year to all of you, very late I know but its only been just now that I got a breather from moving houses.  The pre-planning, the actual move in itself and not to mention the preparation of the new house was really very tiring, both mentally and physically for both me and the mister.

I have not been going to my favorite shops as well :(  but I've been busy DIY-ing around the new house :)  I love creating new stuff for the house.  Oh the things I would want to do but ...i feel its just limited because of the fact that its a flat (apartment) and not a house.  I can't even spray paint inside the house :(

Anyway,  my first DIY was this geometrical art work I put on a section of the living room with a faux brick wall.

I got this idea from this video found in YouTube.  I just used ordinary white A4 papers of differing sizes and stuck them on the wall with double-sided tape.  Voila!  No more drab walls!

Good to be back!

Roman Holiday: design inspirations

let me start with the hotel we stayed in.  

the Rome Times Hotel just opened a few months ago and we were among the first guests.  the amenities were very modern and the rooms have dark wood flooring, crisps sheets and pillows, spacious bath and the safes are free (we've never stayed in a hotel where the safes were free, ever!).  the mister is delighted at this because he can shove all his gadgets in there without fear of it being nicked in a foreign country.

it was one of the best hotels we've stayed by far!  here's a pic of their bar below.

inside the Vatican Museum, i also saw the contemporary art of Henri Matisse defined by "gouache cutouts" made of special paper in their designs.  i love the color palette that he used! 

as we were nearing the exit of the museum, we had to go down this beautiful spiral staircase and into the Vatican post office where i mailed ourselves a postcard back home :)

in the streets of Rome:

spotted a Space Invaders street art near the Vatican! i don't know if this is one of his but sure looks like it :)

they are big on Audrey H. there by the way :)  before going to Rome, i actually watched the movie "Roman Holiday" and now it is one of my favorites :)

ahhh who wouldn't want to sit under that bougainvillea portico and sip some capuccino, eh?  la vita bella!

don't miss the shop windows!  they have the most interesting displays!  like this sea-themed one with ceramic fishes galore :)

or this leather gloves shop in all the colors of the rainbow and then some!

a beautiful stained glass display that caught my eye just as when the light of day was about to fade...

 and who could ignore CoCo Chanel?

and so, as a result, i bought these:

i saw her quietly sketching away in a corner where i found all manner of Audrey Hepburn kitsch...  she was a true artist and i could not help but love her Underground System of Rabbits!

while waiting for our coffee, this little number occupied our weary minds... made of a few different kinds of beans and a pretty little cactus, we were heady with the scent of rose in the air... 

sip, sip, sip...

in search of sushi

that restlessness again... for something new, for something challenging, for something to rejuvenate the soul... and the palate...

i've been searching for a place like this for so long... with upside down yellow chairs nailed to a pink wall...

with giant Japanese parasols suspended in the ceiling... dappled in the afternoon sunlight...

with a shadowbox full of memories and mysteries...

with shadowboxes full of remembrances and secrets...

where they hide among big banana fronds...

and then, one mouthful of my rainbow sushi and everything is alright in the world...

nothing beats old school, though... food for the famished soul and the tired hippocampus...

banana tempura... with the toasted sesame chasing the blues away... best when shared with one teaspoon...

 Surla in my mind...

 i shall return.

would-'ave, could-'ave, should-'ave

oh the things i left behind at the carboot... there were many but these i picked because i liked them...

from top left: an old-fashioned purse with a b&w picture of a retro girl, an 1879 New York and Manhattan Express collage made from parts of timepieces, a series of blue watercolor frames and a vintage iron with a cork handle

from top left: a chicken wire basket pretty much like my own (except mine was painted sunny yellow), a b&w picture of Marilyn Monroe, brand new pink Timberlands and a rug with geometric designs

flea market finds: pop and pablo p.

true story.  

i got this 34.5 x 26.5cm print of Picasso's Head of a Woman (1924) from my favorite shop for only a splish and a splash (it was, after all, raining heavily).  

i have been finding a lot more artwork (both original and prints) lately and i am totally loving it.  i am always on the lookout for them because i get giddy with excitement every time i picture them on my living room wall.   

a girl can dream... someday...

i love this pear print below.  it was given to me as a present from a very dear friend of mine (who knows me inside out).  although it is only 5 x 7 inches,  it commands attention when you enter the room because of its simple design and eye-popping color.

i can totally see this against a backdrop of a wall-papered wall... or maybe a dark one?  or maybe a plain white one? what do you think?  the possibilities are endless!

flea market finds: no swimming!

who wants to go for a swim?


there were considerably more stalls at the car-boot sale in the GASA (Gibraltar Amateur Swimming Association) parking lot than there were the last time.
 
i came by early and managed to dive into the deep and fish out some hidden gems!

a string of the most beautiful champagne-colored fresh-water pearls.  bought for a ridiculous .50p, they measure about 7-8mm each and are irregularly shaped and not perfectly round but that is just how i want them!

this is a curiosity in itself.  a 4cm diameter Medusa medallion with a quote from Dante Alighieri’s (The Divine Comedy) Inferno cto. IX-52 “venga Medusa, de la farem di smalto” which roughly translates to “come Medusa, we will enamel (of colored glass) him” or “come Medusa, we will turn him into stone”.  This was the threat given to Dante by the The Three Furies at the gates of Dis, the Infernal City.

i saw another medallion in another stall.  this time i think it is Celtic hung on leather.  the brown circular trinket box below is Morrocan and made from the precious thuya wood.

i also found these art books below for .50p each :)  they are very inspiring! 

i’ve read M. Kundera’s existential book a long time ago and there are a lot of facets that i want to read again (because i didn’t get it then and i guess partly because i am hoping for an “aha!” moment now). 

*linking to ThriftShare Monday @Apron Thrift Girl :) and also at ThriftyLove @Cap Creations :) and also at The Nifty Thrifty @a living space :)