Whenever the name Firenze was mentioned, images of a city sprawled with tourists in khaki-pants and straw hats, of gelaterias swelled with a plethora of served-in-pathetically-small-sized-paper-cups-which-always-make-sure-you-come-back-for-more mouthwatering gelati, of pantomimes in every corner of the city, of long queues at every must-visit-and-must-see attraction of the city, would automatically flash across my mind. However overrated this city might be, some things, some places and the food in Firenze have this uncanny draw on me, despite the crowds, the traffic and overpriced gelati! I read somewhere that, the amount of tourists in Firenze during high season actually exceed the number of native Florentines residing in Firenze itself. I am not surprised.Bargain hunters for leather goods and souvenirs are completely spoiled for choices as leather goods (be it fake or genuine) can be found almost in every corner of Firenze. Shopping was far from my mind. I was completely content with simply walking its streets, hunting for the best gelato in town! If I were to live in Firenze, I would be one fat but happy girl because I don’t mind having one or more gelato every day . I can still recall the smooth chocolatey-texture, or the fruity kiwi scoop and that nutty pistachio at the tip of my tongue. It was simply divine, strolling the streets of Firenze with a cup of gelato in hand and the Tuscany afternoon sunshine warming the tired limbs. The magnificent Duomo beckons its ever faithful throngs of visitors over the years. Sitting down on one of the many benches around the Duomo, watching tour guides frantically waving at its followers and admiring the giant piece of architecture. Guarded by its many angels, I was happy for not being a tourist for a moment.

Some people start the new year with a bang while some prefer to take it slow whereas some like me, begin the new year with an ever increasing pile of workload and I have a feeling that I’ve never worked so hard before. They say females are wonderful in multitasking. I begin to doubt that because I can only concentrate on one thing at a time or is it concentrated-multitasking? The human brain is an amazing work of nature. But sometimes it can only suck in that much before turning into a pulp at the end of the day. And still it continues to brood over those pile of unsolved puzzles. Waiting. Lurking.

The year of the roaring tiger (according to the Chinese Lunar calendar) is here and guess what, we didn’t have a white Christmas last year but ironically we had a white Chinese New Year instead. It snowed the whole night throughout new year’s eve until the first day of Chinese New Year with subzero temperatures while my mom’s been complaining that it’s over 30°C back home. Oh, how I yearn.We decided to build a snowman to welcome the year of the roaring tiger . I’d like to wish everyone a very blessed new year and may the year of the tiger brings you plenty of luck, joy and good health! Gong Xi Gong Xi!

Alright folks, I’ve been missing in action for almost a month. This blog is like reeking of neglect and has been starting collecting e-dust for some time. Despite my resolution to write more often here (God knows how many drafts I’ve saved which I think will never see daylight), I still couldn’t find the time to really sit down and truly devote myself to write a decent post (speak, something worth reading) . I’m sort of functioning on auto-pilot mode lately. It’s been work, piano, and more work, for the past few weeks. Sometimes I do wonder why I’m doing what I’m doing? Perhaps it’s just a phase. Or maybe it’s due to the unforgiving dreary winter that’s been dragging on since forever that I seek refuge in work and hibernate? Whatever it is, I know one thing for sure, I miss sunshine.

On a side note, I swear I didn’t notice before writing this post that I had the same sentiment exactly on this date, a year ago. What a coincidence .