White Weekend

Every year I wish to have a White Christmas.

This year, like every year, my wish wasn't answered, not a single snowflake was seen in London and even fewer were seen in Sardinia, were I spent my holidays at my parent's house.

However, when the first serious snowfall of the year eventually arrived I was lucky enough to be free to enjoy it, it started during the night between Thursday 17th and  Friday 18th, and it kept falling for most of Friday, even if very light and at times it was just flurry. 

first snow on Friday morning

For me the snow has always been magical and is one of the things that make me feel like a child, full of excitement, simple joy and genuine amazement; just to watch it fall lightly, flakes dancing in the air, following Mother Nature choreography, is almost hypnotising, like watching the flames dancing in a fire, they directly call to some deep and ancestral part of myself.

frozen berries
photo by me

Friday afternoon I dressed (not warm enough, as I was about to discover), I forced my feet into my faithful old boots and forgetting my gloves (why should I need them? it's just snowing after all XD), I went around my neighbourhood under the falling snow to shot some pics and enjoy the maybe too short, maybe first and last of the year snowfall (as Latins used to say: carpe diem). 

Garratt Park

photo by me

I went to the near park which was completely covered by snow and deserted except for a few people: a mum with her enthusiastic child jumping all over the place and another girl of my age wondering about the once green lawn and now white carpet; we exchanged a knowing smile when we crossed and each went on her way, while the swings rattled and whispered to the snow in the playground.

Garratt Park

photo by me

for the make-up addicts: 
I'm wearing MAC lip pencil "vino" under a light coat of red lip pencil;
love the deep cool red I get mixing these shades;
the colour lasted for hours, even after drinking a cup of coffee.

the face of happiness

To complete my snowy wondering I went to the local Starbucks to sip a Vanilla Spice Latte (can I say that neither it tasted of vanilla, nor of spices?) from a china mug, while looking the people in the street doing their errands, hurrying to catch their bus or chatting with their friends under the falling snow.

Vanilla Spice Latte

photo by me

Unfortunately on Saturday we had just a few flurries and the temperatures rose enough to start melting the snow, so I just stayed home to enjoy a quiet day with my boyfriend, occasionally peeking out of a window to see if it had started to snow again.

photo by me

At some point between Saturday and Sunday night the snowfall started again, light but steady; the smallest snowflakes ever seen tried to cover up the melted siblings from the previous day and by the afternoon a fresh layer of snow was waiting to crunch under my feet.

photo by me

photo by me

I really loved this proper winter weekend, I know that lots of people dislike snow, cold and all the inconveniences caused by them, especially if you are working and you can't enjoy the snow you'll see only the problems it comes with, but I wish my winters were more like this weekend and I hope that you had enjoyed this snowfall as much as I did.

PS: please do not look at photos quality, I am not a photographer, my hands shake and all photos are made with my poor mobile camera; so forgive me for the crappy quality, I'm just a girl who likes to take pics.

Snow sprinkles and a cup of tea

Sunday is my favourite day of the week since I was a little girl, and I had to wake up very early in the morning (6 am) to catch the school bus at 7 am, every day except for Sundays.

Now I usually wake up at 7am during weekdays (actually, I put set my alarm clock at 7 but I get up from bed at 8), and sleep all Saturday morning, so in Sundays I can wake up early enough to do something interesting, and spent some time with friends.

Last Sunday I enjoyed the light snow fallen on Saturday night, which by midday was already melting. I was invited by a friend of mine to have lunch by her place and then we would go to Goodge Street to meet another two friends of us.

I took some photos of my street covered by snow, children playing in Wandsorth Park  and a view from Putney Bridge.

For lunch we had a delicious chicken pie, carrots and guacamole, some pane carasau (Sardinian flat bread) kindly offered by my friend’s flatmate, and a few glasses of red wine.

We met the other two girls at Goodge Street and we all went to a bookstore nearby, this is a bookstore me and my friend were planning to visit for months. As it always happens with long planned and full of expectation things, they’re never the way you imagined them.

It was smaller and somehow “less” than I expected, but nonetheless I found some interesting books; in fact, although small, the shop was full of books, some of them ancient and rare, and it deserves a second visit.

After the visit to the bookstore, we went to Le Pain Quotidien to escape from the freezing temperatures, and we enjoyed hot drinks and some food. I love this cafés, the ambient is warm and shabby, the teas and food just delicious.