The best of two worlds!

Emmanuelle Alt being Emanuelle Alt, not contrasting but rather symbiosing, with that perfectly relaxed loose-fit white shirt and I-don't-give-a-damn-look. You know, the frenchie thing!...

"[...] I’d sum up her style as carefully curated to look absolutely effortless!" 

Photo: Kayture

With time we learn that...

"Being happy is a very personal thing and it really has nothing to do with anyone else."

Se não ponho disfarce venho a arrepender-me. Tenho, tive, terei uma máscara que me foi dada há muito.

Sara da Costa Oliveira

E por vezes

E por vezes as noites duram meses
E por vezes os meses oceanos
E por vezes os braços que apertamos
nunca mais são os mesmos E por vezes

encontramos de nós em poucos meses
o que a noite nos fez em muitos anos
E por vezes fingimos que lembramos
E por vezes lembramos que por vezes

ao tomarmos o gosto aos oceanos
só o sarro das noites não dos meses
lá no fundo dos copos encontramos

E por vezes sorrimos ou choramos
E por vezes por vezes ah por vezes
num segundo se evolam tantos anos

David Mourão-Ferreira 

 

 

Ziiwon

Open love letter to my cities

It's no surprise that the urban life - in some cities in particular - is one of my biggest sources of inspiration.

If only I believed in other past lifes, then I think I was a city. When people talk about that - you know those superstitions bla bla - I never think I could have been "something" except a city. The way some cities can thrill me, get me immediately connected to a place and its people - completely strangers - is something that is beyond me! The feeling that "I belong here and I could start living here without even think about my people and my stuff somewhere else" happened to me only in two places in this world: Lisbon/Cascais - where I lived for 4 months and Wien - where I've been only for a weekend. This intimate feeling is so immediate and intense that I can feel it from the moment I step into that place (the case of Wien yes). The more I get to know the world and myself, I begin to understand better this feeling of belong - not only to a place but with people as well. 

Nonetheless, the other way round is absolutely legitimate too. I've lived in places I've never belonged to. I remember 4 years of my life being almost completely useless living in a place I could ever call home - I knew it from the first day I got there and cried like hell hours non-stop - and from where I was ALWAYS running from.

See? Some places got me, others don't. I know me and I know how and what I feel and where I belong to and not. Some cities steal my soul and share theirs with me. Because, you know, what is the city but the people? So probably what happens in reality is that I also feel connected with the kind of people living there.

I've never been in The Netherlands but luckily I've met some great dutch fellows and its culture and lifestyle, let's say from fashion to bicycle commuting, is something that has been attracting me for awhile now.

I found the set of photos below from Keizersgracht, Amsterdam, really beautiful and inspiring! Sometimes these are the kind of pictures I have in my mind when I think of a place I'd like to live: interesting buildings that oh! make you wonder of all the cool spaces inside and around; the mix of materials; the variety of work, food and "being" styles;  the creative class - yes, the jargon from Mr. Richard Florida; the mysterious of winter and the freshness of summer along the water canals; the bicycling-way-of-life of course; and probably a lot of other things I yet don't know...

Keizersgracht - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Photos source: GreaterThanExpected

Casual, Simple and Elegant

 Source: Elin Kling

Resquícios da noite

Aos meus caros e bons velhos amigos... músicos.

Dave Brubeck - Take Five

Milano, mi manchi!

More times than I probably notice, I still sigh about Milano city and my time there...

What's next is nothing but the result - random but very dear selection - of a moment when I bumped into my Milano-photos and decided to "confront" them, which, ever since I left the city and as good nostalgic I am, hasn't been always easy!

Duomo

Streets

Duomo

Stazione Centrale

Blue Note

More here & here & here.

Equilíbrio

Sou agora um homem diferente. Parece-me que vejo o Universo, com o único olho que me resta, sob um ângulo diverso. Já não vejo o que é feio e sórdido, mas só o que é belo, doce e puro. Até os homens e as mulheres que me rodeiam não me parecem os mesmos que eram dantes. Por uma curiosa ilusão de óptica, não os vejo tais como são, mas como deveriam ser, tais como teriam querido ser, se houvessem podido. Ainda posso ver, com o meu olho cego, boa quantidade de imbecis pavonearem-se à minha roda; mas já não me irritam os nervos como outrora; o seu palavrório deixa-me indiferente; deixá-los falar. Por agora não posso ir mais longe; temo que, para chegar a amar os meus semelhantes, me seja necessário perder o outro olho também. Não posso perdoar-lhes a sua crueldade com os animais. Penso que se opera no meu cérebro uma espécie de evolução retrospectiva que me afasta cada vez mais dos outros homens e me acerca cada vez mais da Madre Natureza e dos animais.

Axel Munthe, in O Livro de San Michele

'Alfresco'

Decor inspiration: 'alfresco'.

Good people, good food, good wine and good weather. All I need! (Not so easy to have though...)

Also, I'm loving the long table sharing concept - picnic table, they say - find it really cozy and an enabler to get people involved.

Photo: Sofi

 

Photo: Anine Bing

Photo: The Glamourai

All the rest pic: ?