Deƨigual at Macy's - I'm Seeing Stars!

"Afterwards we went into a shop called Deƨigual where a unique jacket had caught my eye. The jacket was really expensive but I ended up with a brightly-colored top and a new favorite store."
- Spring break last year in Barcelona

Last weekend I went shopping for a business suit at the Center City Macy's in Philadelphia. Glanced over to the designer clothing department for a minute, spotted a unique-looking jacket and said to my friend, "That reminds me of a design I fell in love with in Spain last spring," looked at the label and sure enough, Deƨigual! So excited to see them making their American debut, unfortunately the price tag is about the same - around $450 for the jacket, which is similar to the €300 price tag I saw last year. What can I say, I have good taste.

Here's the Spring '09 promotional video on YouTube:

Gadget I've Been Dreaming Of

Just learned of a new gadget via this press release: "SANYO Internet Radio Makes It Easy to Listen to Thousands of Free Internet Radio Stations, With No Computer Required."

Silly me, I've been searching "bluetooth speakers" for so long now I was beginning to give up on the idea of a wireless music-listening experience. But this solution uses your existing wifi connection to connect directly to the internet, giving you access to internet radio stations and your own shared music from anywhere in the house.

It's so quiet downstairs right now. We don't have a CD player / radio / mp3 dock. Just a TV with basic cable. And the only noise from that contraption comes on Sundays during the football games, now that the political debates are over. I'd love to bring some music into our lives without having to burn CDs all the time, or relying on traditional FM radio to play the songs we like. Unfortunately this Sanyo thingamajig (omg: ff spellchecker knows thingamajig - did I add that myself?) won't be out in the US until January 2009. So no pleading with Santa possible :-(

Happy CyberMonday

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday break. Did you shop on Black Friday? I didn't make it out this year but I hope the sales continue to Christmas so I can shop in peace! All the "door busters" and "last minute sales" and "today only" things drive me a little nuts.

I saw a lot of good deals on Thanksgiving, but I haven't been in the shopping mood lately. There's a lot of stuff I'd "like to have" but I think I'll wait until December 26 to spend my hard-earned savings from my internship this semester. Plus I have to get my car fixed from the fender-bender I had a few weeks ago. I don't know if the economy is contagious or what, but I've been in a SAVING mood lately. So strange! (Che strano!)

Did you go out and shop or did you buy online? According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent an average of about 7% more this year than last over the Thanksgiving weekend. So despite this declining economy, retailers did well this weekend. They say online shoppers helped a lot.

Fun with Photos

Messing around with Flickr a lot lately. I'm starting a group project in my Technology in Marketing class where we analyze how a brand of our choice can improve its use of social media (and all the Web 2.0 technologies). Our group chose Kodak. Remember those Kodak moments??

Anyway, I found so many cool things to do with my own photos while doing "research" online. A lot of them use Flickr's RSS stream. Check it out: Moo.com, QOOP.com, imagekind. And, finally, my own portfolio, now integrating my Flickr stream right in the webpage (whenever I upload a new photo to Flickr it will upload there as well).

I'm looking into getting a domain name so it's easier to find my homepage. Maybe amyinkonline.com ... what do you think? The ones I've seen are only about $25 / year.

On another note, I'm entering the photo contest for International Programs at our school. I have to print out the 3 photos that I choose, but I haven't decided which ones to enter yet! The deadline is this Friday and I just ran out of ink on my printer. Eeek.

UPDATE August 17, 2009: I meant to post the pictured that I entered into the contest above. Two won honorable mention and were displayed in the glass case outside of the International Programs office for the rest of the year!

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If you guess correctly which two won in comments I'll give you a prize :-)

Mmmmmacy's

Shopping trip at Macy's today, King of Prussia Mall. If anyone needs hints for my birthday... here's a very subtle one.

MICHAEL Michael Kors "Berkley" T-Strap

Roma - Chunk 5

*I am doing these updates in a series of chunks because it’s too much for one post!

DAY 10

Goodbye, Spring Break.

Homa Roma again.
I’m glad to be back. Especially because it feels about 60 degrees outside and spring-y in contrast to the Prague and Berlin climates. The Romans are all still bundled up in their winter jackets but I’ve left mine at home these past two days.

It also helps that all the stores have their spring collections out, no more winter left-overs, and I just bought myself a dress, two pairs of shoes, and a gorgeous handbag that I love to death had-to-have. Oops.

If you want to see all 321 of my Spring Break photos, and some of Sara's, and maybe order some prints or just bask in their beauty, click HERE.

This Weekend, and Last Week

Since my past two weeks were quite eventful, now that I think about it, here is a second post for your reading pleasure...

So this Friday (two days ago), we all met at school to buy tickets for Saturday night's soccer game at the Stadio Olympico. You need a passport when buying the tickets, according to a new law. So we waited in a long line to pay our £25 each. Some of us were too hungover to wait on line and sat in the sun instead?

After that, I went shopping, since we were already out on Via Del Corso. I ended up buying sunglasses for £8, a Sandro Ferrone shirt for £15, a purple necklace from Rossa Fish for £15, and a black dress from United Colors of Benetton for £15. It was a great day to go shopping because the period of Saldi, or winter sales, was ending so everything was marked down even more than it had been during the month of January. Of course it wasn't the cream of the crop selection-wise, and the dress and shirt need minor repairs (I bargained for an additional £5 off the dress because of this, in broken Italian yay!) but overall, I am very happy with my purchases and the fact that I restrained myself up to this point shopping-wise. Arianna was also very happy to see my Sandro Ferrone shirt, and showed me the jackets she owns by him in her own closet.

Friday night, no one was answering their phones so I didn't have dinner plans and I rushed to the GS Supermercati which closes at 20,00 (8 o'clock), to buy some fettucine and tomato sauce. Probably not the best combination but I was desperate and pressed for time. The fettuccine was dough-like, made with eggs but not cooked all the way through, and instructed me to cook it for 4 minutes. It sounded good. It tasted good. But the next day, it didn't sit too good in my stomach.

Anyway, that night we went to a lounge/bar/club called Radio Cafè which, in all honesty, I thought was called Radio City when we arrived because of the distracting blue neon lights. You go in, pay the £8 entrance fee, and descend a stone staircase. Down below you find a space which might be best described as dungeon-turned-runway. On either side of the glowing runway are low tables and many cusions and ottomans, which lend it that NYC lounge-y feeling. A little further down the runway, passing underneath stone archways, is a dance floor with a DJ booth for the apse. We grabbed two tables and many pillows, and had ourselves a seat. We talked, danced, drank, and went home around 3 am. A good time was had by all.

Until I woke up Saturday with the worst stomach ache / nausea ever. Not hungover. Just "mal di pancia" which caused me to not even hold water down until later that night. However, I did force myself to go to the partita di calcio (soccer game) which I had already bought tickets for. I didn't even stay for the halftime show, but was able to catch the end on TV with the kids. Roma won!

Lo Stadio Olympico

I drank some tea. I ate some crackers.

Today I felt better, and had pesto and pasta with the family for lunch around 14,00. Then I went to school, made another print, worked on some Spring Break plans with Sara. We went to dinner near the metro stop by school - thanking goodness something was open at 20,00 on Sunday - and had a great chicken with rice for £7 each, while sitting outside of the Piazza del Popolo. I also learned how to correctly pronounce rice ("riso" with a rolled "r").

Outdoor Dining with Sara

Came back home, Arianna wasn't here but the kids were watching another soccer game on TV. A little after midnight, she came home all decked out and perhaps a little ubriaca (intoxicated) because she said she'd been at a feste (party) for Acquario because it had been her birthday on the 3rd, and a few of her friends were also Aquarius(es?). She looked great and didn't stop smiling - it is so nice to see her healthy again, since she has been recovering from her two eye surgeries for the past few weeks. She scampered off to bed and on that note, I must do the same.

Fare le spese: the Necessities

(To do shopping)

Today, I finally found some useful necessities which I have been lacking for the past few weeks. Balsamo (conditioner), for example, which is very hard to come by because most of what they sell is shampoo. I had been running off of my travel-sized samples and/or washing my hair less frequently, like the Romans do. Now, my hair feels so silky smooth! Deodorant, also a necessity but hard to come by. Q-tips, a small mirror for my room, and face wipes were also included in the €18 purchase. Cosmetics and medicines may be the only things cheaper in Italy than in the States. Less demand = lower prices, hehe.

By the way, I am calling it “the States” now.

Still to find: face wash, nail polish remover, band-aids.
E devo fare la spesa (And I need to do grocery shopping)!
Then my life will be complete.

Carnevale or not Carnevale?

So the trip to Venice was not exactly what I had expected, but at the same time it was everything I had expected. Having been to Venice in high school, I didn't just want to see Venice - I wanted to see it during Carnevale. I also wanted to go inside the Basilica di San Marco, which was being renovated last time.

Unfortunately only half of this really happened. We spent a majority of time window shopping and eating, which was definitely nice and relaxing, but the festivities were postponed due to the death of two workers, and the Basilica was closing when we finally arrived at the Piazza on Saturday evening at 5:30 pm. So we made it inside, but not to the top overlooking the Piazza. However, we had two wonderful, Italian-style meals which lasted 3 hours each: a dinner on Friday evening in a cozy Osteria, including various seafood for antipasti, primi and secondi piati (first and second plates), wine, and coffee. On Saturday afternoon we had a three-hour lunch for 6 with various pastas, a salmon dish, and EEL which were shared by all.

We attempted to take a gondola ride around 7:00 on Friday evening while waiting for the opening parties. Mistake. It lasted no more than 20 minutes ("25/30" was what they had told us) and didn't take us to where we had begun, plus the whole thing was very rushed. We complained but were then told that according to Italian law, the gondolas must be $80 flat for 40 minutes and $20 for every additional 20 minutes. So we were getting a deal, in other words, because we were only paying $60. We negotiated down to $50 after he recommended that we take it up with the cops, and our friend Dianna didn't seem to mind the prospect. I think he got a little scared but I was too. Dealing with Italian cops is not on my list of things to do here. Moral of the story: pay the $80 for a gondola ride, it's worth it and will take you back to where you started, not to where the gondolier needs to park his gondola at the end of the night :-P

We also discovered that the term "Parade" doesn't translate well. By "Parade" in the Piazza di San Marco, they mean a parade of PEOPLE and costumes, not like a marching parade with music and dancing. So we were sort of wondering the parade route and how that is possible in Venice and whether we would get to see any of it before leaving on Sunday evening. But really we saw it all... photos To Be Developed. The costumes were really cool and of course, I had to buy a mask!

Handmade in Italy :-)

Purchased directly from the artists as they were making more masks. Pretty much the best souvenir ever. It will be hanging on my wall back in Philly as it is now it Italy.