Valentina

Book Launch – Party Bus & Atonement TN Book Fair!

21 Oct 2018 4 Comments

by Valentina in Books Blog Tags: #AtonementTennessee, #PartyBusBookLaunch, #TeganGenevieneAuthor

Being a cultivator of the good life, I would also like to add good reading and interesting authors that contribute to the well-being of people and entertain with their stories. I am reblogging Teagan’s Party Bus for the launching of her new book “Atonement Tennessee”.
Go to the link inside the post and see who else Teagan has on board her bus. We are all authors helping each other spreading the word.
This is fun! Congratulations Teagan with your new book “Atonement Tennessee”.

Teagan's Books

October 20, 2018

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit — Atonement in Bloom is finally published! It was a wild ride, even after I finished all the work on the novel. Meaning I’m not best pleased with all the bumps in the road from the Amazon take-over of Create Space… Now, let’s get this party bus on the highway!

Atonement Blog Party Bus Loaded The bus is headed to Atonement, TN, the fictional town of my urban fantasy series. The stories in my “Atonement universe” are not romances, not science fiction, not family drama, or religious — and they certainly are not high-brow literature. They’re whimsical, suspenseful, magical, fantasies set in our current real world.

All aboard! Beep-beep, yeah! The party bus is here. (Click here for theme music Magic Bus!) Our first stop is in Connecticut to pick up Dan Antion, who has a handy guided tour…

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Hat Statement | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

20 Oct 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #HatFashion, #HatsDesigns, #HatsForEveryOccasion, #VintageHats

Last Friday, I showed this cloth package. Inside there is something I bought at a store which uses new and donated fabrics to make new garments or “fresh vintage” as they call it. This store is in tune with the concept of saving the environment. Instead of giving away a paper or plastic shopping bag, this store puts the purchases in a cloth and closes it like a candy. I said I was going to disclose the content on my next Friday Fashion.

Here it is, a large pie hat with a few frills hanging in the back. The beauty and the attraction of the hat is all in the back. The front has only a large elastic black band.

And this is the way I wear it. What do you think?

Some people think one must have the right face to wear hats. Nothing can be more false, there is a hat for every face, just need to find it, maybe need to find it with the help of a designer who has a clinical eye and can balance all the lines of the body, skin textures, skin colors and shape of the head with the right hat.

Hats have many functions, from elegant, casual, and very sporty. They add an interesting element to the outfit, they hide a bad hair day, and add an aura to the face, with the hat one even assumes a completely different behavior and attitude. I believe we should go back to dress for ourselves first, and bring back that charm women had in the past. Are you encouraged to wear hats? Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear. To better help people all over the world, she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Born A Libra Under Venus | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

18 Oct 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DesigningWithZodiacSigns, #Libra, #LibraCharacteristics, #LibraColors, #LibraStones

Planet Venus the lover and planet Uranium the visionary passed over me the instant I came out in the light and in this world. Ever since my life has been a colorful succession of events. Venus seduces me in every moment of the day with beauty and Uranium shows me the path. I was gifted with many talents that I have successfully blended into my profession. The intention of my planets was to keep them hidden for my enjoyment, instead, I made a business from all of them. The projection of how people see me is incredible, but they don’t realize, I must work twice as hard to be credible and be taken seriously.

(Photo: https://www.123rf.com/clipart – Artist: Kisslilly)

A Libra like myself has powerful emotions and knows how to control them. Libra people are attracted intensely by people who share our same love of beauty, otherwise, we totally ignore them.

Being ruled by Venus, a Libra seeks peace, harmony, and balance, three keywords I use as the foundation to build a stylish home or a wardrobe.
The charge of a Libra is positive, which always reflects in the work I do. In fact, I think my home interiors seem happier, more colorful, less structured than others, but always harmoniously balanced. The characteristic of a Libra is to balance, unfortunately, aside from the preoccupation of having everything always perfect, we tend to put on the scale even people and situations, this when they don’t meet our criterion, we let them off the scale.

Libra belongs to the element Air, it is the sign of ethics, logic, and justice, prefers laws that work and that everybody respects, rather than living in a freestyle society, where rules don’t matter. That same ethics establishes the foundation of our life, we thrive on long-lasting relationships with friends and loved ones.

A few famous people were born on the day I was born as a Libra.
October 22, 1811 – Franz Liszt Composer
October 22, 1917 – Margot Fontaine Dancer
October 22, 1942 – Annette Funicello

(Photo above: http://www.gemstonebuzz.com)

The color of a Libra comes from lapis lazuli, amethyst, clear quartz. The sun enters Libra on or around September 23, the day of the autumnal equinox. Even though the colors of Libra gravitate around a blue palette, there is a lot of positive predisposition towards the warm colors of Autumn, especially orange and yellow. The walls of my bedroom are a pretty blue ocean, the morning sun rays reverberating on the walls gives me a feeling of a big hug from the Universe and my day starts in a positive way.

This brief description will help you understand someone you might know in the Libra sign. If you give them a gift, remember their colors, if you live with a Libra person, also remember they like order. Keep in mind they are loyal people when they get hurt, they are very clever in hiding their feelings.
This article was published also on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine by Sally Cronin.
Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in interior and exterior, color analysis, kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She also was seen on RAI, Italian National TV, and has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of four published books, one of which ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors. Her newly published book The Road to Top Of The World is available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Ricochet | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

06 Oct 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #CustomMadeFashion, #FashionRemade, #Ricochet, #RicochetModelingAcademy, #VintageFashion, #WearableArt

Welcome to my Friday Fashion.
Ricochet is a French word meaning “Bounce”. It’s true, fashion goes into cycles and every 20-30 years comes back as new, but to make fashion out of found fabrics and remnants is a real art. This is what Jill Pillot does. A native of Belgium, Jill brought with her all her creativity, artistry and love for fabrics when she crossed the ocean at age of 21 and landed in America. Her story is so fascinating that I have invited her to my TV show next November to tell it with her words. Emigrants usually work twice as harder than locally born people to prove that nothing faces them in the making of their dreams. She wanted to become a fashion designer, lived rocambolesque events until one-day things started to fall in place.

She owns a beautiful Bohemian fashion store, well decorated and full of her creations. One doesn’t really know where to look first, there is no focal point, brain/eye activity is very fast, now you are looking at something beautiful here and a second later you spot something else more interesting than the previous item. I was attracted by the various styles of lighting, from modern to vintage, country to funky, those light fixtures share the space beautifully, a space lined with whitewashed wood walls and wood floor. In there she teaches fashion, sewing, and modeling. This is a true treasure trove of beautifully orchestrated fashion mixed with some décor pieces and a plethora of fun events.

Her fashion creations are unique and are meant for people who appreciate art in clothing. She produces original, one-of-a-kind pieces due to the limitation of fabrics. Her approach to fashion is free, mathematical calculations and patterns are out of the window, she rather instead piecing various textures and colors together. This is the old fashion European way of constructing a garment, as my mom did as well as a designer. Jill lays fabrics on the table and sees the direction she wants the fabric to take, just by following her instinct, then sews it together. The result is unstructured, flowing pieces without sizes. In fact, the amount of fabric she has to work with determines the size of each garment. I will leave the rest of Jill’s interesting story for my TV show.

Ricochet Window

Wearable Art

On The Wall

Ricochet

Ricochet

Ricochet Display

Where would you find a store so in tune with the concept of saving the environment that gives purchased merchandise wrapped in cloth looking like a candy?
In my next episode, I will disclose what I bought from Ricochet, Fresh Vintage, as they call themselves.
Nice touch Jill !!!
Visit Ricochet in person: 1600 South El Camino Real, San Mateo, California – or virtually: http://www.ricochetwearableart.net

Stay tuned for my November TV show called: Ricochet – Fashion that never dies. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion-Interior Designer and author, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear. She is also a TV producer and host at KMVT15. The goal of her shows is to entertain, inspire and inform, while she is living her passion. Find Valentina Design Universe TV, here:https://goo.gl/2tbN3N

Get a copy of her books here:
Amazon – http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

My Personal View Of A Far Away Place | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

27 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #BooksByValentinaCirasola, #PugliaArchitecture, #PugliaHistory, #TheRoadToTopOfTheWorldBook, #TravelPuglia, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

With the release of my new book, I feel obliged to talk a bit about my hometown and offer the audience an unfiltered view of the city, just as I have always known it. Bari is a large sunny city in the South of Italy, located on the Adriatic Sea, six hours South of Venice and four hours East of Rome. It is the major city of the region of Puglia and it has been named the “Milano” of the South, without the fog and industrial smokestacks of Milano. Bari is lined with palm trees, embraced by warm weather, scorching, by some people’s standards, fresh fish, colorful people and a life of “dolce far niente” (sweet do nothing life).
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

People of Bari are warm, affectionate and sociable because the warm Mediterranean weather affects them. They know how to enjoy life, too much I say.
Their mornings start at the last minute when the notion of being late to work is a known fact. Too much traffic is always the excuse. Once they arrive and get briefly situated in their work post, it is already time for coffee. Around 10:00 am, coffee shops are brimming with people indulging in espresso, they like it hot, short and to the point, standing up at the bar counter, shooting the breeze with other colleagues while passionately tasting a fragrant cornetto (croissant). The talk during the coffee time is either the latest news on the local soccer team, politics, or the juicy romantic conquest from the night before and not necessarily in that order!

Via Sparano – Bari – Photo: ©Valentina Cirasola

On the way to school, students bite with enjoyment into savory focaccia made with Puglia olives and tomatoes (this is after they have already had a breakfast at home: caffe’ latte and biscotti). At 1:00 pm, on the way back home from school, they will go through the same ritual… they will have another slice of that savory focaccia that makes the dead come alive again.

Work in Bari takes a different twist. All businesses, stores and schools shut down at 1:00 pm every day to allow people to go home and have lunch with their family.
If you are a smoker, consider yourself lucky, as only tobacconist shops are open during this time to help feed your vices.

Between 1:00 and 4:00 pm people do whatever they like for relaxation, but having lunch with one or two glasses of wine is the most important part of that relaxation. In fact, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and no one will ever think drinking wine for lunch is a sin, you will never hear anyone say: “No wine for me, I must return to work” and they do return to work, alive and kicking more than they are in the morning.

At 4:00 pm, activities resume until 7:00 or 8:00 at night, the streets get clogged with cars and people crawl. Contrary to those who must return to work in the afternoon, there is a category of people who have full-time jobs whose hours are only from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. Yes, people who work for the government are considered full-time workers with only six hours of work!
In the afternoon, students, independently wealthy, housewives, and teenagers stroll along Via Sparano, Corso Cavour, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza del Ferrarese, Piazza Mercantile and Lungomare arm-in-arm, like lovers, because Italians are touchy-touchy and kissy-kissy people and those are just a few of the most elegant places in the city, where to see and be seen.

The night stroll in Bari Vecchia is not completed without a cone of yellow butcher paper containing piping hot fried “sgagliozze” meaning triangles of salted fried polenta, fried in caldrons set in the street, outside the home of the woman who makes them. You must burn the palate with hot sgagliozze, otherwise, they are not good, say local people.

View of the Adriatic Sea from the Fortino – Photo ©Valentina Cirasola

Bari is composed of Bari Nuova (new city) and Bari Vecchia (old city). The charming old city is mysterious and magical, especially at night. This part of the city has the most character. Centuries ago, this was the heart of the city called “Muratti” quarters where a treasure trove of millenary arts, history and culture developed.

Bari Vecchia looks over the balcony of the Adriatic Sea like a lady waiting for her sailor. The aroma of algae and salt water mixed with the delicious smell of food coming from homes and restaurants lined up along the bank will fill your nose and permeate the air. On the spur of the moment, you might find yourself going to a seafood restaurant as if some magic spell has been played on you. No, you don’t need a reservation as restaurateurs will welcome you at any hour of the night as if they were welcoming you to their own homes. The people of Bari are night crawlers, so when I say any hour of the night, I do mean any hour. It is very common to find restaurants working at their full capacity at 3:00 am.

Castello Svevo

In Bari Vecchia “Castello Svevo”, a Norman-Swabian castle stands tall. Emperor Frederick II built it in the Byzantine-Norman-Swabian style. The Cathedral of Saint Nicholas is another important historic landmark, proud of its presence in the city. There, celebrations of Christian Mass for Italian people and Orthodox Mass for Russian people downstairs in the Crypt happen together.

Barese people love to exhibit themselves while going to the theatre, dressed up to their teeth and competing with each other, it’s like going to the Oscar, they will show up with the best designer outfits and wonder who wears it better. The theatre Petruzzelli is the fourth largest in Italy for its dimension and stature, where many famous opera singers and international actors have marked the stage. Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Nureyev, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Liza Minnelli, Juliette Greco have performed there, along with the unforgettable Italian comedians, dancers, opera singers, poets and cabaret singers like Eduardo De Filippo, Riccardo Muti, Carla Fracci, Luciano Pavarotti, Piero Cappuccilli, Giorgio Gaber.

Bari was founded by the Greeks and later became a Roman municipality. In 840 AD, Bari was attacked and dominated by Saracens pirates, an attack which lasted many years. The city was saved by a Venetian fleet and remained under the Byzantine’s power for some time. In the 12th and 13th century, Bari changed the ruling power and soon, the city passed under the possession of the Normans and Swabians (today’s Bavarians). The Swabians rebuilt the city, Emperor Frederick II revitalized all activities, the city port and remodeled the castle. In his court, arts and culture flourished. “Stupor Mundi” he was surnamed, meaning amazement of the world, attributed to his high taste for refinement. The history of Bari is so much more interesting than one short paragraph, this is a city a city with a rich heritage which continues to thrive and renews itself as civilization evolves.

Due to the favorable geographic position with easy passage to the East Road, the Middle Eastern countries, and the vicinity to the Mediterranean, Bari has been the main center for trade and commerce with Levantine countries. Modern Bari today is also an active economic center, with the second largest population in the South of Italy. It has become the principal center for technological research with the Polo Universitario and Technopolis, in addition to the annual Fiera del Levante, the international trade show where many countries exhibit their specialty and products.

The Road To Top Of The World, my fourth book, full of my photography and a lot of interesting stories is done and well cooked, it is available on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8
Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, her native land, Valentina’s intention is to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. She wants to encourage them to visit areas of Italy not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of local customs, art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, she wants them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia! Check out her books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Yellow For Manifesting | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

16 Sep 2018 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #YellowAccessories, #YellowColor, #YellowColorScheme, #YellowEnergy, #YellowFashion, #YellowFood, #YellowForManifesting

September comes and I feel the end of the year is already here. With schools reopened, I am sure many feel the same way, thrown back in a hectic routine of preparing kids’ lunch, homework, taking them back and forth to game practices and school events. I don’t have kids, thus I am out of this kind of routine. I have clients who push to finish their work before the holiday start and that happens very soon with Halloween.

September reminds us that nature will go on hibernation soon, leaves will turn yellow and will fall to the ground lifeless. That’s the dark side of yellow, but we are not going to look at that for the moment.
September is the month to manifest new ideas and new things we want to happen in the new year, in business or personal life.

Yellow is the color to focus on for manifesting. The sun wakes us up every day, fills our rooms with a bright light and illuminates most of our day. The sun acts as a battery charger and so does yellow. As long as we manifest our wants, needs, and desire imagining a yellow light going through our body, surrounding ourselves with yellow flowers or objects, wearing yellow/gold clothes and eating yellow food, we will vibrate as if the sun is going through our body. It will take a few days, but we will see a clear picture in front of us and we will take actions to make things happening the way we want.

Then we will go to green, the heart chakra, because we will feel at peace that what we have manifested is taking shape with our actions.
Luckily, most of my walls are yellow, from dark to light and golden, I get naturally energized. However even I need a bit more yellow when manifesting. This week, I have worn ochre, sun yellow, light Chartreuse and golden, mixed with blues, browns, greys, bronze, and white.

Small-Antique-Mirrors-Gallery

Yellow food has a large part in manifesting, it instills positivity. For me it is not difficult to do, I love food and I love to cook. This week, I picked up some yellow mini peppers and stuffed them open face or whole with various ingredients and then baked them. These are some of the ingredients I use often for a fun variety of the same recipe:
1. canned tuna, olives, capers, cherry tomatoes, bread crumbs, olive oil, salt & pepper.
2. ground meat, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, spices, beaten egg, olive oil, salt & pepper.
3. rice, cherry tomatoes, any cheese you like, beaten eggs, olive oil, salt & pepper.
The list could on forever.

Mini peppers stuffed open face with saffron rice, spinach, beaten eggs, breadcrumbs, spices, olive oil, salt & pepper.

This is a salad of briefly boiled yellow beet with pomegranate, basil leaves, olive oil, salt & pepper. There is no better way to get energized with yellow food, but a healthy way.

Manifesting something you want to happen in your life happens in the center of the body, exactly in the stomach, where the gold chakra is located. You first think something in your mind, then it gets reworked or felt in the stomach, the gold is activated with your actions and the result will come.
This article was published also on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine by Sally Cronin.

Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in interior and exterior, color analysis, kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She was featured on RAI – Italian National TV and has made four appearances in shows on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of three published books, the latest ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors.
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

The Story Of Your Home |Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

04 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CoastalColors, #DecoratingIdeas, #HomeColors, #MediterraneanColors, #TheStoryOfYourHome, #TransitioningInNewStyle

Last week, I participated in a Challenge on Facebook Live. It’s all about the benefits a business can draw from doing live videos from that platform. I decided to dedicate my fifth-day video to the story of your home. Does a home have a story? Yes, absolutely. In Italy, my native country, we believe that the first person walking by when the foundation of a home is laid out is the person that leaves his/her spirit in the house. Chinese people believe the entry door must be set toward the East, where the sun rises, to give a positive and lucky feeling to the house. These might be superstitions, but I can tell you that every time I went into a house I was buying, a sensation in my stomach and on my skin told me if I was welcomed there or not. If the feeling was positive and I felt good about the house, I started the process of buying and thinking of the décor.

Yesterday, someone made a comment after she saw this video below, on how to transition from Mediterranean style into a coastal style when she will move to a different house and was kind of worried all her expensive Mediterranean style furniture was not going to fit in the coastal style.
My first approach to that would be to think of colors first. Second, even furniture in good condition, beautiful and expensive go out of style and need to be updated.

Coastal colors are not only made of light blue, white and light green. Looking at the colors of my shell collection and my underwater flora/fauna photo, it comes apparent the Sea colors come from algae, coral reef, fish, rocks and sand. In coastal colors is easy to find yellow, orange, red, purple, greens in all shades, beiges, muted colors, greys, and even black.

My shell collection

Underwater life and colors

In the ’90s it was the rage the have at least a kitchen, if not the entire home in Tuscan/Mediterranean style. Everybody went with beiges, browns and dark burgundy as if there wasn’t anything else in the market. I had the impression people had lost fantasy and couldn’t imagine anything else. Mediterranean colors and style are beautiful and very colorful, the interpretation was wrong. The Mediterranean basin is a sunny, very warm area of the world, it is colorful and cheerful, reflecting the weather.

I am not sure why in the US, the Mediterranean style was interpreted with beiges, dark burgundy and browns, so very gloomy! I am glad that the fad is gone.
In my gallery, I am showing the correct colors of the Mediterranean style for those who want to do it right. It is still a good style for a home.

Mediterranean Floor

Mediterranean Kitchen

Mediterranean Table Top

Mediterranean Accessories

Mediterranean Kitchen Wall Detail

Mediterranean Tiles

Mediterranean Floor

Photo Source: Romeo Cuomo FB – https://www.facebook.com/romeo.cuomo

Now, go on, find your color palette and start your story.

In my video, I tell just about all, however, I am here ready and prompt to help. It is easy to rock the boat together.

thanks for watching. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in interior and exterior, color analysis, kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She also was seen on RAI – Italian National TV and has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of three published books, the latest ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors.

Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

A New Colorful Dish | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

04 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ColorfulFood, #EasyToPrepareFood, #FreshFood, #ItalianAperitif, #PartyFood., #SummerFood

This Summer, I have worked very hard on my new book, my business, new study courses I attended and my right hand recovering from an ergonomic problem. Do I need an excuse to celebrate this Labor Day? Not at all. I am preparing a new dish after I saw someone eating it at a Mexican restaurant. People were sitting outside on the sidewalk of the restaurant, enjoying an early September weekend.

I don’t really know what they were eating, I just imagined and came up with my version. I bought corn tortillas, put them in pans with a star shape and baked them briefly, just enough to bend them. I filled the cavity with roasted chicken chopped up, October beans, tomato concassé (finely diced), pieces of Parmigiano cheese, chopped dandelions, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It could not make up a dish any easier than this. My need to see colors in my food everyday is satisfied.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

For a drink, I always go a tasty Italian stiffener. It’s not hard alcohol, it’s an apéritif drink, Campari that is, pleasant, smooth and easy to drink.
It prepares in a split of a second: crushed ice, freshly squeezed lemon juice and Campari. Some people add fizzy mineral water to it.
This is a social drink to sip not to get drunk.
I have more tasty social drinks stored in my repertoire. Before the holidays, I will write about them.

For my American friends, I hope they enjoyed this Labor Day and 3-Day weekend. I hope they celebrated achievements, hard work and greatness. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Most often she designs kitchens and wine grottos; outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms; great rooms and entertainment rooms. Her deep interest in food led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition and well-being. Finally, she wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine and one book on color theory, in which she included one recipe for each color. Get your copy of Valentina’s books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Challenges | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

30 Aug 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #5DaysFacebookLiveChallenge, #FacebookMarketingLive, #GeorgiaLeeLondon, #LifeChallenges

This week, I am participating to a 5 days Facebook Live Challenge organized by Georgia Lee London.

Today #4 Challenge is about how to overcome the fear of being live on videos, TV, Facebook live, and any media where our face is visible to the world. So far, challenges have been relatively easy to do, but today the topic is a bit strange for me. Today, my video will be about my fear of running out of material during the live event and start rambling. Even someone as talkative as I am can fear not having enough questions for the guests, running out of time, or having a shallow topic nobody wants to watch, or maybe not being able to respond effectively to some tricky moments while the live event is going on.

Day #2 Challenge was: Share something to save time. In this Facebook Live video I am sharing a simple tip that will save time for everybody’s involved in a home remodeling, a restyling of one or more rooms, or decorating a new home. Hope you like video.

Sorry, it looks as if I am not looking into the camera and in fact I am not, my camera is incorporated in my huge Mac monitor and I am still trying to find the correct place for the camera or the correct position for myself. It’s all about the challenge, things we need to face and fix.

Some people participating to this week’s challenge have shared some heavy fears and disclosed with courage episodes of their lives they had buried in the maze of their mind. Brave people!

What is your challenge and is it difficult to talk about it? If you like to share, I am here. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

As a designer in business since 1990, I am interested in helping people designing their interior and exterior spaces with an overall feeling of peace, relaxation and harmony that will draw them home eagerly. I am always looking to add that special touch with original findings to the spaces I design. Color is the focus of my business today, changing people’s energy and life force just by introducing them to colors they would have never imagined. Vogue Italia magazine, Gentry and many prominent magazines in California featured my work, I appeared on RAI, National Italian T.V. and nonetheless my story continues.
Find copies of my book on colors ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors and the rest of my books
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Today, In Brown And Black | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

25 Aug 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #AutumnColors, #BlackBrownOutfit, #BrownBlackFashion, #HowToCombineColors, #ImageConsulting

The combination of black and brown has been one of my all-time favorite combinations. It is classy and smart, elegant and casual for all hours of the day. It gives out feelings of solidity and dependability, thus black and brown is perfect for business, daytime events, lunches and early afternoon cocktails, but brown alone it is not gratifying after five o’clock in the afternoon. Brown is not proper to look radiant at an evening affair. Under the nightlight brown becomes muddy, unless a lot of glitters incrust a brown outfit and black accessories, shoes, clutch, gloves and even some black-gold jewelry detail the outfit.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Brown it is also the color of the Earth and wood, thus we feel enveloped and secure in brown, adding black to it, becomes powerful and mature.
Certainly it is not a color combination for teenagers.

Pretend the color brown is chocolate and all of a sudden you feel sexy.

All the primary colors make brown: red, yellow and blue. Pairing brown with jewel tone colors is exquisite and playful. Today, as Autumn is approaching, I want to prepare the wardrobe with some brown and black, but that’s not all. I know brown will show all its beauty when is paired with sapphire, topaz, ruby, emerald, gold and silver, I just want to make sure I have plenty of these colors.

Today, we can wear brown shoes with a black outfit and vice versa, or even try the jewel tone accessories I just mentioned. Can you imagine a black and brown outfit, with blue sapphire suede shoes? I can.

In my photos, the brown and black outfit is the same, but it changes the feel just by changing the scarf and the shoes.
As you see it is that easy. Please feel encouraged to use colors the way no other will do, it is energizing. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear.
To better help people all over the world she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w