How to support local business: choose to buy local | After Covid tips

Fiori del tempo Artigianato Firenze
Fiori del tempo Artigianato Firenze

Think local.

It’s the first useful thing you can do in a critical situation as the current one.

Shops have been closed for a while, now they are re-opening little by little, hence it’s on us to help them.

Let’s think about the local shops instead of the giants or luxury brands that could survive also without the ‘general’ benefits. Local artists who show their handcraft, people who have worked for a whole life because of passion and roots, people who dedicate time to truly shape their objects, fabrics, clothes and so on. Choose to buy local.

Here you are an example of what I’m personally doing: trying to support local Florentine small business, as in the picture above with a wonderful handmade ring made with chalcedony, a variety of quartz.

  1. Fiori del tempo, Firenze – Have a look at Instagram

You can have a lots of ideas about bijoux, nice jewelry, handmade jewels created in a small lab in the streets of Florence.

2. Estetica La montagnola – Have a look

Just for fun and help for this local small beauty center and nice cosmetologists, why don’t support them instead of those giant chains?

3. Local pizzeria and great artist too – Have a look to those pics by Miralou

Support local business – by Miralou

4. Choose to buy local. It works also for your favourite flower shop and that wonderful florist that always gives you more than flowers: stories, local tips, smiles and happy thoughts.

This is what generally happens when you try to connect with your neighbourhood and you get on well with the local people and their stories that make you feel part of the same story.

Then, if you’re sporty enough, choose to buy your accessories in the local shops. For example, for runners who wants to run also in the rainy days, I can suggest to buy specific running shoes, that may look like other sneakers, but they contain specialized technology to help you run.

5. My tip: Neverland Firenze – Running, trekking, Ski, streewear – Have a look!

Hoka - Neverland Firenze_ SHOP
Hoka – Neverland Firenze_ SHOP

Those are the proof of specific accessories bought in a local shop.

In addition, talking about food and upcoming Christmas, you will surely buy enough traditional cakes or pie, Italian panettone or something similar. Well, also in this case, you can choose to help foundations as for example:

6. File foundation that through The Party Society – a charity organization – helps to fundraise for several initiatives in favour of associations protecting women, children, victims of domestic violence, illnesses and so on.

This is the tasty panettone for this year:

You only need to think local.

#SupportSmallBusiness #thinkLocal

#NoteOfTheDay: Pure Love, Dolores O’Riordan ft. Zucchero

Healthy Food makes you look bright and colorful

Here you are a list of reasons why you should go for healthy food that looks great and colorful.
They could help your mind feels better.
Listen to ‘Feed your head‘ a song by Paul Kalkbrenner, while having a look at the following pics 〰️

Cheese box – by @Foodyfarm restaurant in #Florence

Pink Burger – by @FlowerBurger in #Bergamo

Green.

Tortellini with Pistachios – by @FICO in #Bologna

Sesame Icecream – by @Gelateria Santa Trinita in #Florence

Orange.
Handmade Orange jam – by @Mamy in #Valsinni

Red.

Red dried peppers – handmade in #SanNicolaArcella

Italian grapes – in #Fiesole

White.

White bread, cream and wine – in #Barcelona

Colorful.

Choose yours – feed your #head.

Feed your head by Paul Kalkbrenner

How to be a complete #Amsterdammer in few days

How to be an Amsterdammer. This is the aim of this post, I’m going to show you some little details and pics of the wonderful city, some places you can enjoy in few days 😎

Take a walk and breathe: iced air, wide open views, happy people and ☀️ 

The xxx, the symbol of the city, which represent the 3 crosses of S. Andrew
The only windmill in the heart of the city

People waiting on comfortable seats near Amsterdam Centraal – the central station

After the city center, it’s time for art 🎭

Museumbrug – arts’ area in Amsterdam

First stop at Moco Museum to enjoy disruptive and pop art by Banksy, the street writer from Uk, and Roy Liechtenstein, one of the pop artist with a bit of pointillisme in his works:

Crazy happy colorful girls 🌸

Here you are Banksy’s most popular paintings and stencils:

The rat by Banksy

The boy throwing flowers
The girl with balloon 🎈
The Banksy of England
The kissing coppers
Kate Moss + Marylin Monroe
Pink Mona Lisa by Banksy
Cloud Dj
View from Moco

Then there is enough room for Roy Lichtenstein: at the ground floor you can enter a new extra pop immersive world like in these pics…

🌺 Flo and me in the Bedroom at Arles, pop version by Lichtenstein of Van Gogh’s masterpiece

Second stop at Van Gogh Museum, yes that modern am maybe awful building you can see here:

Van Gogh museum
Van Gogh
Flowers by Van Gogh

keep on going…freezing city, iced Dam, white sky and seagulls:

Friends will be friends 🌸

Amsterdam means…

Warm up: gluhwein
Bull Dog 🐶 Coffee shop
Byciclesss
Houseboats, yes real houses in the Dam
🍕 good pizzas too 👏
#Jamesthecat 🐱
Artistic Bull dogs 🐶
🌷 tulips

#NoteOfTheDay by Elder Island ‘Black fur’

It’s not a dream, it’s truly madly deeply Australia

  
It was almost an year ago, when I suddenly bought those tickets: Etihad, to Australia, with one stop in Abu Dabhi. My brother and me. The long wondered journey which was coming true.

‘Hi mom, daddy, how are you? Well…we bought those tickets. We’ll leave on the 17th February’ ‘Ok, you did the greatest thing you could! Enjoy it! And try not to argue during those weeks!’

Start.

 

First stop: Bondi beach, where we’re going to spend our first days with Aussies. Precisely at Orazio‘s, where a friend of us works and you can have pizza, different type of mozzarellas and tomatoes and fresh vegetables to enjoy

Da Orazio Pizza and Porchetta, Bondi Beach

Day 2 – The real start.

From Bondi beach to the Opera, passing by the Coastal Walk and the Hornby Lighthouse is near Watsons Bay in Sydney Harbour National Park, just listening to the sound of Pacific ocean towards the cliffs, trying to take photos to every single wave and cliff and sunlight and to those unlimited views.

           

 

Blokko, bro and me 🙌
2 pale mozzarellas from Europe on the beach 🌊
A giant pool made by oceans’ water – the only way to spend some hours swimming, instead of surfing

Hornby Lighthouse, near Watsons Bay
the Coastal walk

Heading to the Opera.
After kilometers of unbelievable landscapes, looking at people from all over the world walking up and down the coast and playing sports (yes, everybody plays sports there) we walked towards the city center, with that strange sensation of feeling blessed to be in the far Australia…

Free hugs? Opera and ocean

Second stop: the Royal Botanic Garden in the city center

               

Port Jackson and Sydney Harbour:

Taronga zoo and wildlife:

    

Enjoying animals: turtles lovers’ warmth and iguana.

More to come.

#NoteOfTheDay Sha la la lala by Vengaboys

My #Art of the brick – once again in London, DC Comics

My art of the brick? By chance, Southbank, London, after having a look at this ads, in the tube, some months ago.

Amazing Lego art - London 2017
Amazing Lego art – London 2017

IMG_1897
Amazing Lego Art, exhibition in London

10 mins later I was staring at the astonishing DC characters made of Lego bricks, a private collection of work of arts created by Nathan Sawaya, maybe the most popular #brickartist.

It was a private exhibit and I think it’s going all around the world. When I asked to the guy at the entrance, how Lego contributes to this kind of arts event, the answer was that the company doesn’t deal with that. None of a single campaign nor logistics or any support was done by the giant 😳 They do not support those exhibits because they already have a popular brand which is affirmed in the world, hence maybe arts only bother them.. 🙄

By the way, the collection shows a lot of giant and reflective colorful bricks, which are able to show feelings and represent the proper DC characters and also show their movement and shapes:

Lego Art of the brick exhibition – the Joker eating popcorns 

Wonder Woman – Lego art, printed

                              one of the main room of the exhibit

Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Flash…and the whole world of DC comics created in a bigger size:

giant Wonder Woman

Superman, Dc Super Heroes

Superman staring at the mirror

Gotham area

first type of bricks, they look a little bigger and pierced

Unbelievable cloak all made by bricks!

#NoteOfTheDay Another brick in the wall by Pink Floyd, 1982 – the song against apartheid and against the English school system.