make a wish

On September 4, on my 24th birhday I want to wake up in Love and in Lisboa

buona sera signorina Sophie

(A short preface to this post, or I’d say letter: I know, now you are not reading my blog (and I'm happy that happens because of a good reason) but if you check an e-mail and see updates from my blog, you'll understand from the title that it’s all about you : ) )

My dear daisy girl, 

Two minutes ago there was a knock-knock on the door of my hot chocolate imaginarium and I welcomed in a beautiful Italian muse, the real donna Italiana! Now we are sitting somewhere in the middle of Spring weather and witnessing how my imaginarium leaves the borders of Georgia and arrives there in Italy to wave a hand to you!  

Needless to ask  “how are you?” as I believe you are having an amazing time and collecting amazing memories for your little box that Miss Ungala has gifted to you. I’m sure Italy fell in love with you at first sight and   viaggio Italiano appears very generous, enriching you with the unique impressions and adventures that I can’t wait to listen to on our balcony, which will meet you with a bursting blossom around!

So, I guess your journey has already covered Venice and not to put a full stop here, I hope: you took a gondola ride at the time when afternoon and evening are meeting each other and sky becomes purpelish color and that Gondolier sang an Italian song, was it so? Then there would be Ravenna coloring youwith its mosaics and Florence surprising with its roof views and museums. And now it’s Milano’s turn to host and marvel you! 

mmmmmmmm would love to take a look at you now, what are you doing? In my hot chocolate imaginarium I see you walking in a pleated midi skirt, with a little bow hair clip,  eating an Italian ice cream (maybe caramel flavor) and discussing with Ungala where to buy a pair of same bracelets next; or maybe you are in an outdoor restaurant, having burgundy color wine and talking about your little miss sunshine, how sunny she'll look in a dress you've bought for her. In any case, I know you are happy, beautiful and in love now : ) And I want nothing but you to fully embrace yourself  with as much Italian spirit as possible and spread it back in Georgia ( I’ll take my part when I’ll see and hug you)! 

Buona notte!

With love, 

Lelulu 

 ♥

P.S. I hope you had breakfast on that very balcony!

Portugal days

it's all about Portugal these days, first there was this link that combines everything i crave for: a house in Portugal, and thanks to Sophie, for sending the link :)

and then I saw a Portugal album in Loft I love with these amazing photos taken in Portuguese house

 hmmmm, a sign that soon I'll wake up in Portugal?

Carpe Diem Evening

"Over time, I've been building my castle of love, just for two, though you never knew you were my reason" uhhhh even the sweetest song sounds annoying as an alarm tone! 6:10 AM and we wake up on our second day here. We arrived late in the afternoon yesterday and walked till 2 AM. The walk was long and overwhelming with its most positive meaning! I’d say this walk was the beginning of my love affair with this city.  I fell in love with this, that, these and those, fell in love with her, him and you (for the second time).

Airport, passport checks, taxi, hotel, shower and immediately to the street.. I always knew evening would be my favorite time here, but reality exceeded my expectations.  You have to see how the city changes its mood in the evening for sunset. It looks like an irresistible woman, winking her long eyelashes, sending a gentle air kiss to the local Sun, bringing her red hot lips together and whispering “see you soon”… ah, so alluring! 

We walk. No map - I’m so not into the “you must go this way” stuff, no preparation for our trip, no idea about must see places or particular sightseeing, no excursions planned, no guides, but one and the only wish to discover the city myself and ourselves.

Buildings with faded facades, balconies and flowers on railings, tourists, locals all in colorful clothes, shadows, bushes of the greenest green color, fountains and lots of birds flying from my camera, catching each scene and bringing it back into their nest.

We stop on a crossroad, where to go. We hear a melody of a passionate song coming from several meters away from us. And aha! Here’s the direction. Following the music I get more and more thirsty, wanting to seize all of the beautiful sounds of the local language. We finally get there, a small outdoor restaurant fenced with pomegranate trees. 

"Boas vindas"  - says a handsome waiter out loud with an honest smile on his tanned face and invites us in.

 "Obrigado"- now I feel more excited, I feel like I am here!

Young musicians full of joy of life, their melodies saturated with the same energy, about ten tables, round and wooden, quilted table-clothes, vintage candlesticks with orange candles, stunning atmosphere! We take a sit near pomegranate trees to wrap up our bodies in pleasant scent.

“Boas vindas” (won’t get tired of hearing the words!)  - welcomes us a charming waitress and brings the menu. It’s not in English and she doesn’t speak a word of any other language rather than her native. I don’t mind, it makes me feel happier. I choose dishes by name, order whatever sounds more beautiful and voilà! tuna salad and blueberry cupcakes are in front of me. I eat slowly, trying to savor each bite of the local taste.  Red wine in fat glasses and “cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers”, our trip has officially begun!

Melodies keep making my soul dance, thenwe stand and dance. Our laughter and joy is interrupted (roughly speaking) by a cute little girl with a hand-woven basket full of flower garlands. She says something very quickly and gives them to us. Girls put the garlands on and emotions are beyond excitement, we are princesses! She did not allow us to pay for them and ran as quickly as she talked. Later, the same  handsome man (who invited us in) tells us that the girl’s name is  Adelia, the youngest daughter of the restaurant owner, who picks the flowers from their own garden and makes the garlands herself and by the way it is her own idea and wish to give agarland to every guest (the ladies of course)! Time to say goodbye and allow the city to please us with more impressions. We are quite far from the Hotel, but still don't take a taxi, no transportation during our trip, just walking!

I walk barefoot; my mom always says that the person gets energy from the Earth, and this evening I fill myself with local energy!  We walk hand in hand; I look at our shadows and happiness tickles my palms. We talk a lot, all together, all about the same episodes of the evening, but each of us with different impression, recall every detail, talk, talk, talk without mentioning “tomorrow” or “will”, nothing related to tomorrow or next days, this is our carpe diem evening! 

"Hurry up, it was your idea to get up so early to literally start the day in this city, so hurry up", and my memories from yesterday are scattered as fluffy clouds I saw from the plane. “I’m coming”…

Good morning, Lisboa!

What Makes Love True

-You know what I thought was so cute, how he just kinda wrapped her up with his sweater, and I don’t know why it seems girls are always not taking a warm enough coat

-Right

-And the guys always have to...

-Because she wants to be cute

-I know, it worked

-You know, cause they love, she wants to be beautiful and does not take her sweater

-I think maybe she just wants a nice hug from her boyfriend every once in a while

-Yeah that’s true, that’s true...

 I loved this sweet and cozy extract from behind-the-scenes video titled “What Makes Love True”, a photo campaign "True Love in Pictures" shot by a real-life couple: street style photographer Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist) and style blogger Garance Doré for Tiffany & Co.

   Plus two details I paid attention to and loved in the video:

Scott sneaking under Garance's hood

nice cup <3

Enjoy the full video here:

 P.S. Post is dedicated to N.A. couple.

P.P.S. Scott Schuman: “It was fun thinking about the small, tender gestures that a couple offers to each other– which are really the fuel that keeps a relationship special. I love that Garance makes my oatmeal for me in the morning while I run out to get our coffee,  these are just simple small acts but that  make life happy”.

Grateful Snowflakes

Have you ever wished to let the whole world know what you are grateful for?

If you have, then oprah.com offers a brilliant chance for you! Oprah's "A Season of Gratitude" is a fairy-tale place where you can make your gratitude snow :) Here,  any person on the Earth can post her/his gratitude statement, which will appear as a snowflake among the thousands of other "grateful snowflakes". I found this "season" in the end of 2010 and was so excited about it. Besides, posting my own statement I read about 200 hundred "snowflakes" and some of them made me even cry, all of them are so honest and touching! 
I'm sharing my  snowflakes of  2010 and 2011 (in comparison with 2010 I felt much better in the end of 2011, so I posted two statements). 

2010

2011     #1

2011     #2

By the way, when I signed in (if you are not registered, you can still post your statement) there were 15, 300 snowflakes and then the number changed to :

:)

And here are some of my favorite snowflakes of other grateful people (by clicking "make it snow" you can read statements of people all around the world).

"Always providing me with what I need not I want"

I want to meet this lady!

I loved the slashes!

Electricity! I'm also grateful for having the internet!

lucky students!

this touched me so much!

so motivating!

"I'm evolving to be the woman I'll be proud of"

When I read this statement, I honestly felt happy for this person!

I can say the same about my brother.

grateful for her freedom...

"be joyful make it a mission!"

Respect!

<3

Love it!

I can spend hours on reading all the snowflakes!

And I hope you'll take your time and add a snowflake, trust me it's so fun to try to write everything you are grateful for in a little box and then try to find your snowflake!

You can post your own statement on the following link:

http://www.oprah.com/gratitude/

P.S. Besides gratitude statements of the present time, I added a message from the future!

P.P.S. If anybody ever happens to find and read my snowflake please please please print-screen   and send it on e-mail: lella_kupradze@yahoo.com        Many thanks in advance!