IKEA Catalog 2012 is here !

IKEA Catalog 2012

 I never mentioned it but I love, love Ikea for so many reasons. Each year I'm patiently waiting for the new catalog - it's like this old crazy habit of mine, can't help it. Looking trough the new Ikea catalog=joy!
So click on the picture and flip trough the pages chock-full of inspiration...enjoy! 

IKEA Catalog 2012 is here !

Fruity Summer Cake Recipes

I was just searching for the recipe to use the raspberries I have when I stumbled upon Sweet Paul's digital magazine. What a delight! This summer issue is full of delicious treats, lovely DIY ideas with instructions and everything is so beautifully photographed too.

If you are not familiar with Paul Lowe's work (I sure wasn't), he is a New York based food and interior stylist whose very successful blog is also worth bookmarking. Get your dose of summer by flipping through the gorgeous summer issue of  Sweet Paul Magazine!

I'm off to make those divine raspberry tarts with mascarpone cream filling. Enjoy your weekend!

P.S. Some more summer delights for you to make : 50 Best Summer Cake Recipes

Fruity Summer Cake Recipes

Simple Photo Editing Software

If you have a blog, you most certainly have to take, edit and post photos. If by any chance you have and use Photoshop, this post is not meant for you. I wanted to share with you the simple and comprehensive photo editing software I use. If I take a photo and it absolutely must be edited before posting, I don't like to spend hours doing it because first, I'm am not overly patient and second, my skills being limited, I can't make it perfect and I don't see need to do so. The software I use is IrfanView. This image viewer and editor is my longtime favorite, and with good reason. IrfanView is simple, fast, and free.

This program lets you open and edit images : cut and crop, apply batch conversions, add, sharpen, or blur effects, create panoramas and change color modes easily. The interface is not fancy but I find it simple and intuitive, it should be easy enough for most users to figure out. It contains simple Erase, Draw, Fill, Rotate, Draw an Arrow, and Color Picker commands. You have to download it and install it on your computer, but it's very light, only 1,5 Mb. You can easily find online an IrfanView tutorial for beginners.

The other one I love for many reasons and use very often is Picasa from Google - great editor and picture manager. This one must be installed on your computer too.

There are also many excellent and free online photo editors. Here is the collection of 10 online Photoshop alternatives for simple photo editing. Have fun!

Simple Photo Editing Software

My Heart is Overflowing

This is a thing I rarely admit to anyone: I love people. Just like that, people in my everyday life or even people I read about. I so love people who are nice to others and to the world in general, who made a discovery benefiting to the humanity or who just help an old women cross the street, those who make us laugh I love dearly and those, men AND women, who are able to give an uplifting compliment to every women they know, hence to every human being they know - we all need it. I have this thing, this moment when I feel my heart overflowing with love and joy and in some of this situations I have to restrain myself from hugging people around me.

Now don't get me wrong, I've been hurt by people and I suffered but I forget easily and I simply am not able to hate - I'm so happy about it!

I too love doing nice things for people around me. Just last week I made some "faux" cupcakes for the birthday of a young girl I work with. I bought brownies but I decorated them with cheese frosting and colorful sugar sprinkles. Everybody loved them, but there was a young girl who is allergic to peanuts and she couldn't eat them, didn't want to take a chance with bought brownies. So I decided to make it up to her and I baked  cupcakes myself, decorated them exactly like those brownies before and brought them to her in the beginning of this week. She was flabbergasted! She couldn't believe I've made those especially for her. I got a big hug and she was so happy, she even called her mom and her friends to tell them about it.

But to tell you the truth, I'm the one who has gotten the most from it: one of those priceless moments that fill your hearth with joy...

My Heart is Overflowing

Down And Back Again

It feels almost weird to write a blog post again but I'm so glad I'm back. Last couple of months were a bit of a roller coaster. I was struggling to maintain my daily schedule and the little energy I had went to my job, after that I was like a balloon without air. I knew it must have been a matter of health but I couldn’t find the time to go see my family doctor - you know how it is with a new job. And usually when something goes wrong in life, it's an easy downward spiral from thereon. And I went on neglecting the warning signs my body sent me until I fell unconscious and ended being transported to the emergency room. I was diagnosed with anemia, the kind that develops when the body has had a low level of iron for a long time.Two blood transfusion later I was able to go home. It took me almost another week at home to start to function normally and to slowly go back to work. There is really nothing intelligent I can say about my self-neglecting (read: stupid) behavior. I can only hope that I learned my lesson.

Why is it that sometimes you have to loose something in order to learn to really appreciate it? Like your health...or other things money can't buy.

On a more cheerful note: am I the last one who learned about Pinterest? When I came back to the blogland, the buzz war all about pinning, everywhere! Learn more about it here.

Needless to say, to an image junkie like me this is the most needed source of daily dose of inspiration.

 Thanks for visiting and please stay healthy!

Down And Back Again

Salvation Art - part four

It's been quite a while since I last bragged about my little "Salvation Art" collection. So here it goes again!

This is an oil painting that I found about ten years ago in a little shop that doesn't exist any more. When I saw it I was immediately transported by it's atmosphere to the narrow streets of my beloved Istria and Dalmatia. I saw myself strolling slowly in the late afternoon sun, listening to the sounds and voices coming from open windows, being comforted by the sight of the clothes moving gracefully in the wind on the clotheslines suspended between the old stone houses...

I decided to buy it right away, I think I paid about 15$ for it - my second most expensive Salvation Art piece!   It's about 90 cm by 60 cm (3 ft x2 ft) and signed by "Etta". I couldn't find out  more about the artist, there is an American artist Etta Deikman but I haven't been able to establish the link between her and this painting.

I love to look at it and I'm still stunned by the calming effect it has on me. Can't change it, I'm a romantic, nostalgic fool... I'm already looking forward to show you my next piece of found art!

Salvation Art - part four