Check out my Etsy Store

Shop my original artwork at my store, ViaFiorentina, on Etsy.com!

Here are a few things currently up for sale.  More to come!

Big Ben original print

Eiffel Tower original print

Leaning Tower of Pisa original print

Federer

So gentlemanly.  So handsome.  So classy.

And a great dresser, might I add...

St. Patrick's Day

Here comes the cold
Break out the winter clothes
And find a love to call your own
You - enter you
Your cheeks a shade of pink
And the rest of you in powder blue

Who knows what will be
But I'll make you this guarantee

No way November will see our goodbye
When it comes to December it's obvious why
No one wants to be alone at Christmas time

In the dark, on the phone
You tell me the names of your brothers
And your favorite colors
I'm learning you
And when it snows again
We'll take a walk outside
And search the sky
Like children do
I'll say to you

No way November will see our goodbye
When it comes to December it's obvious why
No one wants to be alone at Christmas time
And come January we're frozen inside
Making new resolutions a hundred times
February, won't you be my valentine?

And we'll both be safe 'til St. Patrick's Day

We should take a ride tonight around the town
and look around at all the beautiful houses
something in the way that blue lights on a black night
can make you feel more
everybody, it seems to me, just wants to be
just like you and me

No one wants to be alone at Christmas time
Come January we're frozen inside
Making new resolutions a hundred times
February, won't you be my valentine?

And if our always is all that we gave
And we someday take that away
I'll be alright if it was just 'til St. Patrick's Day

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.  Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark, 
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
     If this be error and upon me proved, 
     I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

-William Shakespeare

Happy Weekend

I've been listening to this beautiful song lately and can't seem to get it out of my head.

Such a talented artist!  Bianca's songs are available for purchase here, here, and on iTunes.

Have a beautiful fall weekend!

"I called because
I just need 
to feel you on the line..."


-"Split Screen Sadness" John Mayer

Italy vs Europe

Autumn in Connecticut

Little things

Sometimes the little times you don’t think are anything while they’re happening turn out to be what marks a whole period of your life.

- Andy Warhol

Paris vs. New York

Have you seen these yet?  Such awesome comparisons.

See more at the Paris vs New York blog

Miniature Worlds

Have you heard of tilt-shift photography?  It's a type of photography where the camera is manipulated so that life-sized scenes or subjects look like miniature scale models.

These are some of my favorite examples:

Happy Halloween!!!

Love this  :  )

Have a fun holiday weekend.

Secrets

• I could spend weeks in a single museum, contemplating each piece and making up stories about the subjects.
• Today I had caramel popcorn for lunch and pumpkin cookies for dinner (Halloween must be coming up...)
• If my house was on fire, one of the first things I'd grab is a shoebox under my bed that's filled trinkets from Europe:  leftover English pounds, Paris metro stubs, unsent postcards, and a wrinkled map of Florence
• When I'm anxious or stressed, I have a funny habit of picking my lips.  Let's just say they're pretty sore right now.
• I should be studying right now for my exam.  My laptop can be so distracting 

L'amour

"Le chance c'est comme le Tour de France.  On l'attend longtemps, puis ça passe vite.  

Alors, quand le moment vient, il faut sauter la barrière sans hésiter."

Luck is like the Tour de France. You wait a long time for it and it goes 

by quickly. When the right time comes, you have to jump the fence 

without hesitation.

Wishing I was here

Its been snowing the last few days where I'm from.  It makes me want to run away to somewhere warm and Mediterranean, like here:

Blog Makeover

I was in need of a change, but since I live in a dorm room didn't exactly have any furniture to rearrange, I gave my blog a new name and a makeover.

Welcome to A Common Thread.

The new name stems from the idea that all of us, no matter where we are reading, writing, or picture posting, no matter what corner the world we are from, what color our skin is, or what our first language is, we all have a common thread: we all have ideas, dreams, thoughts, and inspiration that we share with others through an incredible thing called the internet.

Let me know what you think of the new name and design.  


***I will probably be implementing a few more minor changes over the next few days and experimenting with html, so pardon my experimenting and indecisiveness.

Sometimes (most of the time) I hate dating

I don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer, but lately being unattached has been hard.

It's scary to be back out there after you've had your heart put through a meat grinder.  It's hard to let down that wall you've built, not knowing if this guy you've started to fall for will let you down later.

I have this fear that my heart is going to get broken again.  I'm afraid to fully put my heart into a relationship because there's always a chance that somewhere down the line I'll be hurt again.

Any words of comfort or advice out there?

Have you seen this yet?

This little video makes me smile, even after a long, stressful day.



Adorable!

First photo of Michael Phelps

Too clever and funny.

Question of the Day:

Do you believe in signs? I mean little things that you shake your head at: wondering if it's a coincidence, a little message from heaven, or just meant to tease and torture you.

I don't know if that makes any sense. Maybe I've seen the movie Serendipity a few too many times...)