mini trips: art gallery
Posted in artists, film, mini trips, photographers December 29th, 2007 by piablog

It’s the weekend, so who feels like coming to the art gallery with me? This one is rather special as you do not have to wander too far from the (blog)house at all. Where am I taking you this time? Down and under to the National Portrait Gallery , and into the secreted rooms of their online exhibition, ‘Animated: Self Portraits Online’…

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This is one very inspirational gallery – I have never experienced anything like it. The curators Michael Desmond and Gillian Raymond give a perfect introduction to the work, describing it as a virtual exhibition without being physically present in a gallery.

(Click here to read more…)

First Week’s Fry Up: Spilt Milk and all…
Posted in pia's photos December 29th, 2007 by piablog

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What a week! Okay it’s been longer than a week since my first post, but let me tell you what was really going on behind the scenes!

First up I have been so overwhelmed by the support from fellow bloggers, old friends and new friends for my first week of posting. Tears have been shed! I am an artist, what can I say, and artists are a sensitive bunch who need to hear their work is touching someone, therefore I am more than thankful for those of you who like my work to have commented. It has kept me going…

…and going while I lay half conscious in bed for the entire lead up to Christmas, and the eve, and the day until yesterday – ridden with the horrible epidemic that has hit France. I won’t go into the gory details of the sickness (but you can read about this latest plague here), however I was determined to push through and deliver what I set out to for the first week albeit a little inconsistently.

I did not lose my sense of humour though, and during the heaving and head-in-a-steel-vice I would lay half asleep thinking about how I had stated in my very first handy hints post that ‘While everyone else around me is coughing and sneezing I am not.’. The stuff was bloody useless this week.

Another inner titter came in one of my comatoses when I realised I had just lectured a friend who had said she got back from a holiday with her husband to Paris and was horribly ill for the whole trip. I replied very seriously and told her that it is all too common to get sick when you have been working yourself so hard and not keeping a balance, and that the moment you go away your body relaxes and the toxins come out. I left her with something along the lines of ‘make sure you look after yourself’. Meanwhile I was juggling well more than my two hands worth and the balance of nature took hold of me.

So while I lay barely alive realising my ridiculousness, the mind image of my friend Jboo was circling around the mess like a ghost, her arms half cocked in the air with her now quoted line for when things get chaotic on set: “everybody, just caaaaaalm the #%*! down”. (wish i had an image of her for you)

I was over-ambitious for my first week I concur. There were posts I said I would write that I didn’t. But I never back out when I say I will produce something, so it is all coming in good time, and I am thankful for your patience with my little blog learning curves.

In case you missed some of the good stuff, what did we all get up to in the (blog)house this first week?

  • Trend: Christmas colours for this year. Love a bit of craft paper don’t I!
  • Handy Hint: our first was on Eucalyptus:
    magic cure for a French epidemic! (I just wanted to test out that strike through button!)
  • Handmade: The incredible laptop handcrafted to look like it stepped out of the Victorian era, who would have thought it.
  • Celebrations! Menu: easy and impressive and is in the kitchen right now
  • And mini trips GALORE: what a journey! The wishing tree was a TOTAL surprise and we only discovered it Christmas Eve morning, it was one of the most magical places I have ever encountered and I hope I was able to express it to you. I am looking forward to doing a full guide of Le Val D’Amour by season and with accommodation… I have a certain chateau in mind that I think you will love!
  • Plus I have just figured out bullet points.

    And the spilt milk? On my travels I decided to take a jar of soymilk, as I love my black tea with soy. And even though I tried to keep it upright it slowly but surely spilt all through my handbag and by Christmas Eve the jar was empty and my handbag had hardened to a crusty milky piece of cardboard fabric. Over-ambitious indeed.

    Christmas mini trips: final destination
    Posted in france, mini trips, nature, pia's photos December 24th, 2007 by piablog

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    I know it’s a little early, but I have something special for you this Christmas. Get your woollens on and wrap your mittens around a bowl of chocolat chaud. Then close your eyes and open them with the understanding you are about to be whisked away to a magical land. Enter…
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    (Click here to read more…)

    nearly there…
    Posted in mini trips, pia's photos December 24th, 2007 by piablog

    Did you think I’d forgotten about you?! No way! I just had a little nap. We are now on our way to our final destination. I hope you’ve rugged up because it is rather chilly in the depths of this deep, misty and magical land…

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    Christmas mini trips: part 4, Paris
    Posted in mini trips, paris, stores December 22nd, 2007 by piablog

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    Now don’t get too excited, we only have time for a quick stop over before we head on to our final destination. We have just enough time to sneak a peek at the windows of the very grand Galeries Lafayette

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    One of the most majestic sights to see in Paris at Christmas time, both the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores are lit up in strong competition with their sister la tour eiffel. (Click here to read more…)