the Versatile Blogger Award

bring out the Cava and let's drink to the good times!

So surprised was i when the lovely Jeanne of Jeanne Marie and Company bestowed upon my humble online abode the Versatile Blogger Award! i am so very grateful for Jeanne for trusting me with such a badge of honor.

Jeanne's blog is always a joy to visit. so creative, so resourceful and ingenius are her ideas when it comes to repurposing her thrift store finds. her talent for crocheting the red bird from the "Angry Birds" and other characters is spot on! (i seriously think she should post her work in her etsy shop) reading her blog is therapeutic as she likes the colors of the sea. from soft baby blues to teals to turquoise to aquamarine and with the right splash of lilacs and lavenders, it is obvious that Jeanne's love for the sea is embedded in the heart of her blog. i always, always visit her blog for inspiration.

The Versatile Blogger Award rules are: you should pass the award on to 15 recently discovered blogs. i'm following Jeanne's lead however, and doing just a few, as i am a pretty new blogger and a stealthy one as well (egad!). some of my choices follow me and some ignore me but these blogs I am awarding I make sure I visit every new post. Let the bloggers know that they have been nominated and share seven things about yourself. Be sure to thank the award giver and link back to their blog. Please place the icon of The Versatile Blogger Award somewhere on your blog page.

here are seven totally random things about myself:

• i moved to Gibraltar 3 years ago to be with my husband and i created this blog to chronicle my life on a rock.

• i never say "no" to an adventure (i try to experience something new every chance i get).

• my perfect getaway is a morning at a flea market with my big Le Pliage bag and warm white coffee.

• i am attracted by the same qualities in things as in people—wit, humor, depth, character. to me, its really not sufficient for a thing or a person to be pretty. “pretty” will not hold your attention for long. to live with an object, it has to bring more to the table than the way it looks. it has to BE something.

• i don't like winter.

• i have a weakness for earrings.

• currently, i am reading Salman Rushdie's "The Moor's Last Sigh"

here are the blogs that I have chosen to pass the award to. Take a few moments to check out these blogs and perhaps leave a comment and hopefully become a follower.

Salt and Wine (a cooking, thrifting, design and style blog with great music to go along with it)

So No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way (a blog about life truths and the gift of love and family and friends and everything in between)

please mr. postman

"...look and see, oh yeah
if there's a letter in your bag for me.."

i ordered some stuff online before christmas and i still haven't received them yet :( perhaps maybe the postmen have been smoking again?

SPOTTED this inside the post office the other day... i hope they will finally deliver my package before the post office turns into a graveyard!

Year of the Black Water Dragon 2012

Xi Nian Kuai Le! (in Mandarin)

Kung Hei Fat Choi! (in Cantonese)

Kiong Hee Huat Tsai! (in Hokkien)

you might think i am a bit too late in greeting you all with a fiery dragon dance to welcome the Chinese New Year (the celebrations was last 23rd of January 2012), but the official arrival day of the dragon is actually today, the 4th of February.

what is the dragon to the Chinese?
the dragon is a legendary animal and the symbol of the Emperor of China. it is considered the most powerful animal in Chinese astrology. its scales are of such mysterious color that the Chinese consider it untouchable and unpredictable. it is said that people cannot see its head or tail at the same time. so that can only mean a lot of unexpected things will happen to us in 2012.

why is it called the Black Water Dragon?
there are five elements to the Chinese Astrology and 2012 falls on Water. the color of Water in the Chinese Five Elements is Black. thus, the name.

what is my chinese zodiac?
i am a Water Ox. since this year the dragon is also in the Water Element, i will be riding on the back of the dragon for luck.

if you wish to know your Chinese Zodiac and your birth element, you can find it out here.

life's unexpected surprises

guess what i got in the mail the other day? a neat little package full of yummy goodness!

a very good friend of mine from the States sent me an unexpected bundle of delicious-ness. we both have a sweet tooth so when i saw that it was from this sweet friend, i instantly had an idea what was inside :)

chocolates! marshmallows! spoons! my hot chocolate will never be the same again!

i haven't had cinnamon hard candy ever but i am sure this will be yummy :)

loving the colors of this pretty little journal too :) don't you just love surprises?

the uh-ma-zing spidey

news flash! spidey was seen sunning himself in a bus stop here in Gib!

squeeze me quick!

this post is inspired by this little guy that i found last week. i just love the sign he's holding and the cheeky way he sticks out his tongue just so to remind you to squeeze someone today, if not everyday!

i have been so busy the past week that i haven't really written anything noteworthy. i have been helping the mister with his model-making and now that he's finally happy with his figures, its time i post some of my finds from last week:

a pair of vintage, ceramic christmas ornaments from Spain that i found in a pick-and-mix bag in the shop

i love coming across hard to find books such as these hardbound, limited handmade edition "illustrated novels" by the author of the bestseller, "The Time Traveller's Wife", Audrey Niffenegger

i love its eerie, almost weird, postmodern etchings... the stories have a supernatural quality to it and the drawings are surreal

this is not a picture book for kids nor for the fainthearted. it has graphic images complementing its implicative nature

these books are an acquired taste so much so that when you read them, you need to have an open heart and an open mind because art resides inside its pages

this last book is a collection of not-so-old photographs depicting Gibraltar life in 2002

looking at the pics, one thing is sure.... Gib is very much laid-back and its charm lies in its people. warm and patriotic, fiercely protective of each other but very accomodating to people from other places

i love how Gib opened its arms to me when i first came here. never demanding so much from me and loving me solely for who i am :)

*linking to Thrift Share Monday @ Apron Thrift Girl :)

the Dove of Peace

not everyone may not like his paintings, but who hasn't heard of Pablo Picasso?

he was an artistic virtouso born in Malaga, Spain with an astounding 20,000 or more paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures in his 70-year career. when we visited the city last year, we can see and feel the undertones of Pablo Picasso in every street corner, the city's nod to their most famous son.

he has, no doubt, an unrivaled influence in 20th century modern art. his works have been splashed on posters, mugs, teatowels, tiles, etc.

but none could be as surprised as i was when i saw this plate in my favorite thrift shop :)

a decorative hanging plate (very popular in Mediterranean houses) of the iconic symbol of peace, the dove. painted by Picasso when he used it on a poster for the World Peace Congress in Paris in 1949. bought for a ridiculously low price and still in its original box, it has a teeny-tiny chip at the back but i reckon it isn't even a major issue. i tried to research on the company XLART Prod. but i came up with very little info except that it was a company based in Barcelona who sells prints of Spanish artists including Miro, Dali, etc.

*linking to Thrift Share Monday @Apron Thrift Girl :)