White Gramercy

Gramercy Park - just some blocks from us...
Pretty in the beginning, but the fun doesn't last a long time... NY's snow gets slushy and brown after a few hours...

But, enjoy the beauty...

View from our apartment:

Chris Rea

I am a big fan of Chris Rea. Love his raspy voice, brilliant songs. "Josephine" has to be one of my favorite songs EVER.

Heard that he composed that one for one of his daughters. The other one "Julia", also has a song named after her, but seriously, does NOT compare to "Josephine". If I was Julia, I would be pretty pissed...
So many others are such classics... On the Beach (I close my eyes and feel like I am in one), Fool if you think it's over...

But anyway, just wanted to express my love for all things Chris Rea.

Cheers!

Favorite things : this photo of Countess Uta

Oh my God! Just saw this picture on another blog today and had an epiphany!
I simply LOVE this statue of Countess Uta (1245-1250 AD) statue in Naumburg Cathedral, Germany.

My grandfather gave me a collection of art history books when I was very little and this was definitively a favorite.  Look at her! So pretty, so vulnerable, and look at her crown! Just a beauty.Good memories come from just seeing this!  Look at the detail below: 

Must be her husband... Ekkerhard

Norma Kamali !

Well, no offense to Wal-Mart, but when I heard that Norma Kamali was creating a line for this behemoth store chain, I was kind of incredulous. I thought that everything would look and feel cheap, would not fit, etc...
Boy was I mistaken!

Bought a TON of their stuff and these garments are fabulous! The price itself is insane and the quality (so far) is equivalent to a more upscale place.

Take a look at what I have!!!!

This classic dress was.... drumroll: $ 20 bucks!!!

But wait: it is not ONE dress, it converts to MANY different ones! 

 

 
Yep, this is me, the dress, the Sex and the City belt and my hubby!

 Then... check out more stuff from Norma Kamali that I've bought:

The top has the same concept as the dress:

Look at those batwing cardigans.... for $18 bucks each. Sooooo cute...

The gray (better not go sweatpanty with this - then it kinda looks like a pajama). Pair with another type of pants, please...

and the black:

 

God, I love this line!!! Cannot even go to the Wallymart website - too many temptations!

Books I loved: Condessa de Barral

Another biography of a strong woman. This countess was really ahead of her time ( Nineteenth century Brazil) and the long standing mistress of the second and last Brazilian Emperor (yes, Brazil had two emperors!), D. Pedro II. The book is very well-written, short and sweet. What I loved the most about this woman was the fact that she said NO to an arranged marriage to her father's friend. In those days women had almost no option and arranged marriages to way older men were the norm.  She managed to marry the man she wanted, but that didn't get in the way of nabbing the emperor's attention. Indeed, the victim of an arranged marriage was her lover, the emperor. He found in her a soulmate and confidant. She ended up being the governess of his children... Looks like a movie... But it was real.

A painting of an young Condessa de Barral, or Luisa

D. Pedro II, emperor of Brazil

My favorites: Tom Jobim

 

 LOVE his music. 

I am really grateful that I was able to see him in a marvelous show in Sao Paulo. 

Not only he was brilliant, but also a good looking guy, don't you think ;-)

I literally swoon with these two. Frank, I will make a post just for you, ok? Thank you youtube! Watched this clip like a million times!!!

AMAZING!!! 

 

Books that I've loved: 1808

I am really a history buff. It was one of my favorite subjects since I was a child.
Read many, loved many. This one, 1808, by Brazilian author Laurentino Gomes is fabulous.
It covers the 1808 the whole Portuguese court scape from Napoleon and the beginning of the court's life in Rio de Janeiro. Imagine if you wake up one day and the whole government scaped overseas to Brazil leaving you to face the enemy?

Not a good feeling, huh?

The author managed to sift through a myriad of documents and write a very witty, sometimes funny account of the events, how life was 200 years ago...Very entertaining.

Cannot recommend it enough - pity for the non-Portuguese speakers... I don't think this book was ever translated to English...

My favorite movie stars : the golden era

 

Cary Grant

My darling Gary Cooper

William Holden - great in any role

 

Here's looking at you Bogie

Oh, that smile... Clark Gable in one of my favorite movies

Monty Clift

Can you believe this shot? Jesus, Paul... 

My Favorite things: Edith Wharton

Just LOVE Edith Wharton! Love her books, love her house! Everything!
Read so many of them... "The Age of Innocence" (fave movie too!), "Summer", "The House of Mirth", "The glimpses of the Moon" and many short stories. 
I think that my favorite book is "The Custom of the Country". Women had to be "creative" in order to ascend in life in those days... Simply loved the anti-heroine Undine Spragg!

The Mount - in the Berkshires. What a gorgeous place.

Getting acquainted with the older Edith. Oh, How I wish I could talk to her!

Me and Little Edith getting acquainted in Washington DC

Amazing garden at The Mount

Now what I have to do is read her bio by Hermione Lee = such a massive volume... Kinda intimidating...

Things I have and love : Hale Bob silk dress

Amazing dress. Have it in a slightly different color/pattern.

The GREAT thing is that I didn't pay nearly close those amounts you see over here. Paid like almos a third less! Check me out with this awesome dress!

A Passion for Collecting: Tintypes

How awesome is this one? Probably two fashionable sisters from the 1880's or 1890's who decided to buy some multiple yards of fabric, make the dresses at home and go out in all their splendor out dressed completely alike. This is the coolest tintype I have. Love the "nature" background too!

The trend of the three button row was hot at this time, at least with those three fashionable ladies from the 1880's.

Take a look at those girls - incredible. Their dresses did not really differ much from the adults! Stiff and serious...

This was another great find at Etsy.com and were extremely cheap. Like less than 10 bucks for all of the four!


A quick background on tintypes...

Tintype, also melainotype and ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a sheet of iron metal that is blackened by painting, laquering or enamelling and is used as a support for a collodion photographic emulsion.

While the ambrotype remained very popular in the rest of the world, the tintype process had superseded the ambrotype in the United States by the end of the Civil War. It became the most common photographic process until the introduction of modern, gelatin-based processes and the invention of the reloadable amateur camera by the Kodak company. Ferrotypes had waned in popularity by the end of the 19th century, although a few makers were still around as late as the 1950s and the images are still made as novelties at some European carnivals.