Le grand Bleu

How odd!  I just received an email from my first love back when i was seventeen... It didn't last long but for me it lasted a lifetime. I relish that year as one of total happiness, my grand-mother moved on with us as she wanted "to divorce" after fifty years of marriage as my grand father didn't make the celebrations of half a century they spent together. We didn't take it seriously but loved having Mamie around everyday she cooked us different and delicious meals, sewing in the afternoon, her hands never at rest. 
My first love looked like Mickey Rourke, one of the handsome guys in school and he asked me to date him!  I was feeling whole, my dreams had came true. I remember him as one does with first love with romantic eyes, we never argue, we had fun, we danced... we spent endless hours talking. He had this "mobylette" that i thought was sooooo cool riding behing him feeling his male scent how unerving that was and exciting! We were free spirited but still so shy. He was very protective over me, felt for the first time beautiful and bright.
I remember how my grand-mother loved the idea, how i could count on her. I used to smoke at the time he didn't...clever guy! 
It was 24 years ago...but a simple email brought it back as it was yesterday. I loved those months one of the happiest in my life.

What a pleasant and unexpected surprise. It all come out through the blog. As i look back now i realize that all my past is in my present and certainly in my future. I keep on with friends from childhood who know me for ages, who know me by heart from friends that i have met up recently where souls recognizes themselves out from criativity. Love this continuity,  this balance, this knowing where i come from but this freedom to be who i want to be and hopefully there's a lot ahead of me. I have learned my lessons over the years, don't take anything for granted.
How odd that my first love and my forever love over the centuries  share the same passion for a film a a music " le grand bleu"Eric Besson  when they aren't the same age nor from the same nationality.
God's way i dare to write....
Have a good week
Xo

2011...you go girl!

  Between Christmas and New Eve time stands still,  there are always a lot of joy and gratitude in the air.
 It's a moment of peace where families and friends get together, share, exchange, bounds become more profound each year. It's a moment to remember with tenderness the ones that are no longer but will remain forever in our hearts. It's a time of rest where the worries lay aside, where we take good resolutions hoping that this year maybe we can keep some of them.....for a month at least! December is a blessed month for me, preparing with love and care the presents, forseeing their happiness, knowing that mom is cooking delicious meals that i won't find anywhere in the world. It's a moment to remember those who are alone or like this year who have their flights cancelled and couldn't make it to their destination. It's a moment to make amend. I cherish the dream that next year will be better that the crisis will pass that abundance will return that we have learned the lessons out of it.
It's a moment of expectation
 What is there for me in 2011?
 What insights will i receive?
Will i grow and evolve?
Will i understand what is there to be worked out?
Will i have the guts to do it?
So many answered questions .....

Have fun
Remember to laugh every day
Give 
Listen 
Share
Create
Dance with your love
Cook chocolates cake and drink them with champagne
Right love letters to your love and hide them in his trousers
Breath
Pray

Live life fully

Joyeux Noel

Wish you all a very good christmas

Thanks for your kind and encouraging comments

Meet you in 2011

Peace Love Happiness

XO

Yes I can

Love my new spoons...there are more in my studio but the weather was cloudy this morning and i had to rush to take my flight...who is more than 3 hours delayed but still i will manage to arrive in Paris tonight 

Tomorrow heading to one of the few towns where i would love to live for a year...you name it New York but then Shanghai appeals to me and Rio de Janeiro as well. Different energy different people but i love to mingled and wouldn't mind settle for a while and discover the "real"town not the tourist one.

If i had to pick one then it would be Port Towsend. There's the amazing mountains views, the beaches, the art galleries, the fabulous mixed-media workshops, Artfest, Artifiberfest, the fisherman's all this in a small wonderful little town. No crowded plenty of fresh air

 

2010 is ending

2011 new resolutions

GROW

LOVE

GIVE

CREATE

RECEIVE

FORGIVE

LEARN

BELIEVE

BE HAPPY

ACCEPT

UNDERSTAND

EXERCISE

MEDITATE

DANCE

LAUGH

COMUNICATE

ACHIEVE

LISTEN

2011 wishes

Be inspired

Create

Visit Rome

Learn how to take good pictures

Take a lot of sunbath

Dance tango with my man in Buenos Aires

Create(am i repeating myself...)

Learn some chinese

Improve my spanish

Learn new receipes from my mom

Improve my sewing

Eat plenty of tiramisu

Ok make a light diet...

Eat plenty of chocolate cake

Exercise...

Meditate in Macchu Picchu 

Going to my favorite beach Guincho

Have fun with my friends

Improve some relationships

Trust each day a little more

Grow

Have some caipirinhas

Listen to good music

Read a lot

 Open myself to the unknown

...........

Xo

Live and let die

Last year I had installed my studio in this amazing shop Fabrico Infinito and create throughout the day...most of the time having endless conservations with the owner Marcela Brunken i must admit! We had fun...She is a big fan of my work, was and still is  among the ones to continuously promote my art.
Yesterday at a fancy dinner a friend was surprised that i present myself as Alex Castro Ferreira my single name and not with my married name and as an artist. Labels are hard to remove! But it make me wonder of the importance on male tradition which is still very implanted on our portuguese society( not to say around the world) and on how people see us.
I am a flight attendant .......and also an artist.
I am a woman of passion who is eager to learn evolve grow accepting the ups and downs of Life

Live and let die...famous quote of my husband.
Enjoy your day 

On trust

a

I was just telling a friend that whatever i tell to others is always "the mirror effect" that means it can applied to me. This week-end was a huge step for me as I let my husband run the fair and just popped in around 2pm, letting  him decorate and sell my craft  in his own way. I am proud of me because trying to control everything means that i fail to trust Life. 
I trust him and the results were awesome being Luis an excellent seller. I used to say he can sell machine guns to nuns if he's in the mood! Another step on my ongoing therapy process and one that will bring me utter happiness.

Have a good week

I feel good the jet lag stayed in Shanghai... 

xo

CRAFT AND DESIGN Christmas 2010

Perfect day no clouds spring temperature lovely time spent in jardim da Estrela along with my husband, mother and special friend Alex. Last week was another story with cold and rainy weather but still the public showed up, christmas is at the door! I must say that i am running out of spoons which is cool because i loved them and am happy that people find the idea amusing and fashionable.
I was blessed last saturday with the meeting of an old (we have known each other since kindergarden) and dear friend that i haven't seen for quite a while, can't remember why life as set us apart, probably just that... Life! Last time she was single and now she is married with two beautiful sons, i met only the youngest who looks so much like her. That's the kind of gift I receive with profound gratitude, can't wait to be with her again. We are born on the 4th of august in Lisbon in 1969 same hospital! How cool is that? We used to have the same bad temper...i do sense that now she being a mother she must be more patient! I still have a long road ahead... but we share the same openness and generosity among other things.

Have a good week-end

Xo

Cadeaux de Noel

Tomorrow another market "Craft and design", the forecast is a cloudy but sunny day with temperatures around 13C which is ok considering the wave of low temperature in europe at the moment. I still have plenty of unfinished albums at my studio but running out of time to complete them so i will relax today as everything is ready to pack, must be my german side! I can say that the previous year was a determinant one for me despite my tiredness i manage to create a lot.
With insight 2010 was a determinant year for me:


I am proud of me
I love myself inside in an out
I am an artist
I  was able to create  
I have a place to create
I have plenty of new ideas
I am truly blessed
I love my life
I accept the up and downs
I engulfed into them
I love my albums
I love my spoons
I love notebooks
I love my necklaces
I love my art world
I love being alive
I love my nests
I love the circle of friendship around me
I love to give
I accept to receive
I am happy
I am blessed to be in good health
I love being who i am.....
I feel fortunate
I feel abundance
I feel enpowered
I am a woman in love
and now i can say

I LOVE MYSELF each day further and deeper
Gratitude for the constant gifts i receive
I am blessed
Have a good week end
xo

Presentes de Natal...

I am really enjoying being in my studio, savouring each moment, creating the albums above that i would like to receive for christmas! I will not decorate either my home or my mom's  this year as i haven't last year, time is short between work and the studio and i need at least a full week to decorate both houses in a very american way with almost every corner full of angels, candles etc.... it has always been pure excitement so i come up with this crazy idea (if my mother is ok? ) i will decorate the christmas tree in january and store them in her the garage, we will be ready for 2011! In the meantime, she and her friends will do the honours this years again!
By the end of october, i start thinking in cool gifts to offer and now that i'm creating them the question, will they like it,  will they treasure it, arises. It so easy to offer another scarf or perfume for aunt Lili the same sweater for Dad...know the feeling searching for a different present, something that really matches with the person...that has to be different each year!
Have a good week
I will post more  and cross my fingers that it won't rain saturday
Have fun
Xo

Christmas presents

This is for you

 Feira "Craft and Design"
4/5 and 11/12 december  

jardim da estrela

Come and enjoy

        

Looking back

L'avenir

Dream big