antoniapneumonia’s Neighborhood

yeeeh boy!

I like them boiled for 5 mins, run under cool water afterward and served with crusty toasted dark rye with avocado, cracked pepper and a twist of lemon....

How do you like yours?

Hi Folks!

It has been a long while in between entries... I will get there, I promise! But for now... follow me on twitter!

http://twitter.com/seratori

Cheers,
Sarah xx

So I thought Salzburg was going to be my final destination, however I had promised to visit a few friends in The Netherlands all year and realised I'd never followed it through…

In 2004, Amsterdam was my final European destination and coincidentally, it is yet again. My friend Tristan (whom I used to work with at Ernst and Young) had relocated earlier in the year to Holland, also a guy I met at a friends house in Sydney over New Years 06/07, Lars, who also lived in Holland - and it was these two lovely gents that I had promised to visit.

Another friend, Julius, also ex-Ernst and Young had only just arrived in London a few weeks before, so we thought it would be a great idea to venture out to visit Tristan and Lars... and this time... we were flying from Healthrow... not a nasty budget airline! Lovely! However the alarm going off at 5:00am wasn't lovely at all!

 

We arrived at Schiphol and met Tristan! He was a marvellous host, and let us stay at his apartment in Leiden - a really beautiful town. We wandered the cobblestone streets, ate Dutch cuisine and lot's of it and then headed into Amsterdam for the evening - which I cannot devulge any of the nights events aside from getting soaking wet from wandering through the red light district in the pouring rain and no umbrella.

The following day we went to The Hague and strolled the surrounding streets which were beautiful. Then we headed to Utrecht and saw the Dom Tower and again wandered through the pretty cobble stone streets, over many bridges, and past over a million bicycles.

 

It was fantastic fun! Even though we were only there for both Saturday and Sunday, we saw so much and had a fantastic time! Although I only got to spend a short amount of time with Lars at the airport, it was so good to see both the guys! Anyways… I won't ramble… but I have attached some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

 

 

 

 

 

Ray LaMontagne is by far one of the most wonderful performers I've ever seen.

For a man who can belt out an amazing song - something that is really sung from within, his normal speaking voice is soft and tender.

November 6th, 2007 at the Royal Albert Concert Hall in London, I finally got to see Ray Live. It was worth every cent and more.

If you haven't heard him before, you simply must. His songs send goosebumps down your spine.

Oh and watch out because my lovely talented friend, Krista Polvere will be touring along side him in the USA in 2008!

And one of my favourites from the night....

Hold you in my arms forever

When you came to me with your bad dreams and your fears
It was easy to see that you'd been crying
Seems like everywhere you turn catastrophe it reigns
But who really profits from the dying
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you forever
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you in my arms forever

When you kissed my lips with my mouth so full of questions
It's my worried mind that you quiet
Place your hands on my face
Close my eyes and say
Love is a poor man's food
Don't prophesize
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you forever
And I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you forever

So now we see how it is
This fist begets the spear
Weapons of war
Symptoms of madness
Don't let your eyes refuse to see
Don't let your ears refuse to hear
Or you ain't never going to shake this sense of sadness
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold on forever
And I could hold you in my arms
I could hold forever

 

 

Yes, you heard it right! My final European destination was Salzburg, Austria. This hill were alive with the sound of music and so where was the bar I stumbled into with my new friends Ashley and Andy (but more about that later).

 

A few months back, I scored myself £12 return tickets to Salzburg with Ryan Air, so I couldn’t not go! But in saying that, if, for some reason I wasn’t able to, it was no big deal. Anyway, Saturday morning, dressed as what looking like a Michelin Man, I ventured towards Stansted Airport headed for my winter wonderland that was Salzburg. Only a 1 hour flight out of London, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I flew over snow covered mountains… and once landed and waiting for the bus, I couldn’t help but touch the snow and giggle like I was 5 again and seeing snow for the first time!

 

Everything was covered in a blanket of white, and it all looked so incredibly beautiful – so much so that I forgot it was on -2ºC! Having arrived in the early afternoon, and feeling incredibly tired due to lack of sleep (sometimes I would like to strangle certain housemates and their guests!) I decided to wander over the Salzach River and into the old town and see what I could find. By 5pm it was pitch black, but still, in all its darkness, so peaceful and picturesque… in its dim glow I could see the Hohensalzburg Fortress up on the snow covered peaks. Whilst wandering the streets, I managed to stumble upon an outdoor bar, overlooking an ice rink, serving hot ‘punsche’, I opted for Apfel Punsche! It was a perfect accompaniment to a frosty evening, certainly puts the pink back in your cheeks.

 

The following day I was up at the crack of dawn (after falling asleep at 8:30pm) and on my way to the Sound of Music tour, which I have to say, was fantastic! It was a great way to see Austria in such a short time – I even cracked my first beer at 10am on the bus! We were taken to various locations where the film was shot and also told various behind the scene stories that you would otherwise not have known! I also met two fantastic girls who were also travelling alone, and after the first stop, we had all hit it off really well! Ashley was a girl from Brisbane who worked in Austria as a Nanny, and Andy was from the US and working for one of the Big 4 on a project role in Germany! We had such a great time on the tour that we spent the rest of the day together, and later on Ashley and I ripped up the dancefloor of an old Irish Pub in town (we would have opted for a more traditional Austrian style bar, but they were closed). We met numerous fantastic people from all over, and had the most fantastic night. Suffice to say, my head hated me the next day and everything moved very slowly.

 

I spent my last day, with a nasty hang over and beautiful Salzburg sunshine… the snow started to melt and trickled off all the shining roofs. Had to watch my step! Again wandering through the beautiful streets of the old town, past a group of old men playing chess on a huge life size chess board. Next to Mozart’s birthplace, I had my last piece of delicious Apfel Strudel, took a last glance towards the mountains and got myself safely to the airport and back to London.

 

 

 

 

After reading my friend, Oliver Happy’s blog, ‘Olly at Large’ recently, it inspired me to write this piece. Often we wonder what on earth to buy for someone for Christmas, and you buy for the sake of buying… and generally you buy some crap that they probably neither want nor appreciate. In some places… there is no Christmas, no giving, Santa does not visit some children, and after being directed by Oliver to a particular website, I think I’ve found something worthwhile…

 

ROSA LOVES is a bunch of everyday normal folk who give a damn. They realise that we are capable of performing tangible acts of service that will meet individual and immediate needs in order to affect wide scale encouragement. They hope to encourage individual people to get involved in the community around them on a somewhat tangible scale. They will accomplish this by providing financial support to those in need by infiltrating the t-shirt industry with a new perspective of how clothing can serve a purpose other than outfitting. Everyone has a story. Everyone has a need. By using art and creativity, they hope to foster hope and encouragement through the aid of apparel. Each story will be told through stimulating graphics and actual text that will appear on the inverse of the shirt directly in line with the heart, where the Rosa Loves movement stems from.

 

ROSA LOVES is less about charity and more about awareness, awareness that we are all apart of something greater and are therefore joined by common threads.

 

The website is very informative, so I do encourage you to pop online and have a look. The Tshirts are uber cool and serve a damn good purpose.

 

So I know what I want for Christmas… one or two, or maybe more of these T-Shirts.

FYI – size Small!

 

So this Christmas when you’re aimlessly wondering through MYER or DJ’s or wherever else… it’s not how much you spend, or about just buying a gift… Christmas is about giving, not just to your family and friends but to those around us – and this, I feel gives so much more than that bottle of Gucci Rush you’re thinking about buying, or that latest CD of that artist you saw on Video Hits (who mind you is probably rolling in cash) – unless it’s a CD by Krista Polvere or other Australian or unsigned talent… don’t buy it – but a Tshirt from ROSA LOVES!

 

Note to my immediate family and friends – THIS IS A PRETTY BIG HINT!!! Again SIZE S.

I can’t go into too much detail about this one (due to loss of memory), but… J.Ro, Gabs and I went out for a masssssive weekend. Friday night started off at WAX with a few (maybe 4) lovely Long Island Ice tea’s, following by a bottle of Mumm Champagne, several wines…. Then the rest of the lovely young lasses came to meet us J.Ro had invited us all out to some special VIP night at a new bar that had opened up in Soho… however I don’t really remember leaving WAX and ending up at Zebrano’s. I also have no idea who broke the toilet in the ladies that night – it wasn’t Bonnie (J. R’s housemate). The night finished off late and in a dark alley eating MacDonald’s before catching the night bus home. A fun time was had by all.

 

Saturday was a whole new experience…. My Fabric cherry was popped. Having all forked out £16 to go to Fabric (can you believe how expensive it is to go to a nightclub?? Umm hello, ever heard of a guestlist? I mean, do you KNOW who I am?), we decided we should all meet in Farringdon and have a few bevies at the local pub before all heading towards the club – good idea! I bought a bottle of wine all to myself, and then discovered that they had PacMan, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong… this makes Sarah very happy. I entertained myself with that for a while and then heard the word ‘olives’, as someone left a whole bowl of these deliciously dark bundles of joy at our table. I pretty much devoured the entire bowl. Oops.

It was after I had pretty much topped off the entire bottle of wine that we decided ir was fabric time… again, I don’t really remember the walk to Fabric, but I remember entering. Fabric in my mind is like a dark underground demonic club… I kept disappearing and making all sorts of strange new friends… Anyways… I lost everyone and ended up sharing a cab with a bunch on fellow Fabricians on their way to Clapham (not really where I live)…

 

Fantastic weekend… 2pm Joey Jo Jo (my housemate) and I decided vodka and tequila shots were a great idea, followed by red wine shots… It was amazing – took my hangover away pretty much instantly.

 

I will let the pictures speak for themselves.