Cardigans I: The Classics

A few years ago, if you showed me a classic cardigan like these two below from J Crew, I would probably grimace and claim that it was too old for me.
Now that I've reached legality worldwide though, I can't seem to get enough of it. I've already bought this J Crew cardigan in both colors shown above. I've even raided my mom's wardrobe for cardigans and found some gems like classic Vivienne Westwood and Ralph Lauren twin sets in a navy, gray and pink. They are the best staple a girl can have. It can be by itself with black pants, for a casual office look, Or with jeans for a casual but put together look. It can be worn over something pretty but sheer or summer dresses, to keep the chill away.
And it can paired with printed tees (like the ones above from UO- I LOVE these two printed shirts, one of the few things from UO over the years that I absolutely adore) or bold colored tanks for a fun combo. I personally love these two last ideas, it is put together, sophisticated but still casual and fun. And here's a quick tip: pair the blue printed tee (above) with the white cardigan and the red printed tee with the cobalt blue cardigan.The printed tees by itself may possibly be misconstrued as waitress-like (seriously, I tried mine on and that's what my cousin told me I reminded her of). But in combination with the contrasting colored cardigans that doesn't take away from the design, it is the perfect mix and match combo.

I'm so glad I rediscovered these gems that I'd previously discarded!

Image Source: J Crew and UO

I'm not finished yet

I love reading books, but I have a bad habit of not finishing them. I read very slowly, underlining and making notes to digest what I am reading. But before I finish a book, I often come across another book and begin it. So there are many books (maybe half of the ones on my shelf that I have completed) that I have yet to finish, but all of them are books that I would like to finish.

To give you an idea, I have compiled a list for you (in no particular order). I have not included books that would not normally be completely read, such as reference books, text books, or collections of essays and other compilation .

Listening to the Past: The Place of Tradition in Theology, by Stephen Holmes
Christ: The Experience of Jesus as Lord, by Edward Schillebeeckx
Common Witnesses to the Gospel, Ed. by Jeffrey Gros, et al.
An Outline of Biblical Theology, by Millar Burrows
The Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad, by Hal Lindsey
The History of the Church in England, by J. R. H. Moorman
Hail, Holy Queen, by Scott Hahn
Revelations of Divine Love, by Lady Julian of Norwich
Celibacy in the Early Church, by Stephen Heid
About Being a Priest, by Frederico Suarez
The Unity We Seek, by Robert Runcie
The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, by Alphonsus Liguori
Three to Get Married, by Fulton Sheen
The Memoirs of Cleopatra, by Margaret George
The Signature of God, by Grant Jeffrey
What if the Bible Had Never Been Written? by James Kennedy
The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels
The Divine Commission, by Frank Wilson
Church Building and Furnishing, J. B. O'Connell
Love and Responsibility, by Karol Wojtyla
The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages, by C. H. Lawrence
The Theology of the Body, by John Paul II
The Birth of the Messiah, by Raymond Brown
Women in the Priesthood? by Manfred Hauke
Defence of the Seven Sacraments, by Henry VIII of England
Liberal Fascism, by Jonah Goldberg

3 Days in Vienna

Continuing from Budapest, the next place we went to was Vienna.

The first (and very hot) day we went to the Belvedere, which like the other palaces, consists of a palace and a large garden. Unlike other palaces, Belvedere doesn't have the typical apartment tours but instead are art museums. We spent the afternoon walking leisurely in the meseums attempting to learn about the artwork.

Next, we saw the Hundertwasser Haus, which looks like a colourful building from a cartoon but was actually a block of council flats. This building was fun to look around and discover its quirks!

At night, we went to the Musikverein. There, we watched an orchestra perform music by Mozart. I was amazed by how many songs that I know or have heard before are by Mozart. There were also two opera singers who sang with some of the pieces, although I didn't enjoy those performances qutie as much since they didn't sing in English and I have no idea how to appreciate opera singing.

The next day we visited the Schonbrunn Palace. We thought this was the most impressive palace in Vienna, although we were definitely liked the back garden more (below.)

The main attraction of the garden was the Gloriette, which just looked like a very fancy ornament to the garden to us. And yes, we walked all the way up to see the Gloriette up close.

In the afternoon, we visited Stephansdom. After visiting many European churches, many of them have started to look very similar. But I really like and remember this one -the exterior and interior remain very old-looking and authentic. The inside of the church was dark and grey, and you could really appreciate the Gothetic style inside. It's honestly one of the few sightseeing churches that has made an impression on me.

On the last day, we visited the Hofburg Complex. There are a few exhibitions and tours inside, but the one we really liked was the Sisi Museum. After going through all the guided tours in the past few days, I feel like I've really learnt something about the history of Vienna -or at least the history of the Austrian Royal family!

For the rest of the afternoon before going to the airport, we decided to just chill in coffee shops and try the cakes Austria is so famous for: the Sachertorte and apple strudel. To be honest, the Sachertorte wasn't that great -it just tasted like a dry piece of chocolate cake. And while the apple strudel was tasty, we weren't all too impressed by it either, (probably because all the cakes were so hyped up that we had high expectations for them.)

Walking around Vienna, the general feeling I got was the Vienna was much more tourist-friendly and had a very holiday-feeling to it. Everything there felt very artistic, creative and cultured, although I'm sure that's just because we all already know that Vienna is the 'music capital of the world'.

Image Credit: the blog