bella primavera

Even though I'm about a month late for the official beginning of spring (primavera), I've been thinking about the new beginnings around us and the little things to appreciate through the hectic changes.

Finally the lovely Star Jasmine that engulf the trellis of our front stairway entrance have bloomed! It was a funny year for weather, so it took some extra time for these flowers to emerge. It's one of our favorite times of year, because we are greeted each day with the super fragrant aroma of this vine. Also, the temperature is almost perfect, the sunsets are gorgeous (we've been taking a daily walk on the beach each evening),....and yesterday Chris spotted a turtle in the yard, (I think a red-belly). *look closely in the first photo* -I thought Alyson would appreciate this, since a tortoise wandered into her garden in Florence last week!

Also, tomorrow marks the end of Chris' "My-life-is-too-hectic-because-I'm-working-about-3-full-time-jobs-too-many" period that he's been in since the beginning of the year. He'd been working an office job in Jacksonville that he has really grown to like (especially his co-workers and the possibility for further growth), but it was a commute each day and also wasn't going to allow for continued work from abroad. So, several months ago, a steady freelance opportunity came up and after the last couple months of extreme stress and introspection, Chris made the decision to take the freelance on full-time and gave his 2-weeks notice at the office job...which couldn't have gone better! It even included an invitation to return anytime from the CEO and encouraging words from all the employees - saying how they couldn't stand in the way from a life dream, and that they are so excited for us! aaaahhhhhh...we seem to be sighing much more lately as burdens get lifted from us and things keep lining up for our move. There are still a good handful of "to-do's" on our list, but there's still the summer and things are moving right along...

only 3-months-and-something left to go!

the smoothie i'll miss

For a while now, after being introduced properly to the yummy Açai smoothie when we visited Hawaii, I quite regularly make a smoothie in the morning from this great fruit! This Brazilian berry, which is becoming more and more well known, (and was even touted by Oprah as #1 on the Top 10 Superfood List), comes in great pureed, frozen smoothie packets by Sambazon which I buy at our local health food store. I think I'm going to greatly miss this meal in the mornings (unless, by some stroke of luck - I find a store that carries this in Italy...but I'm not holding my breath).

Our morning routine in the bel paese was to get a cappuccino or caffé latte with a creme-filled croissant from the local bar. And, according to Life in Italy, this is considered the "Classic Italian Breakfast"! We always said that if we didn't walk an average of 8-10 miles a day (as we did on our trip) then we would have come back 8-10 lbs heavier! Good thing we won't have a car and will be walking up and down stairs everyday while we live there too....hikes throughout the Chianti hills, here we come!


Simple Açai Smoothie recipe:
- Small handful of your choice of berries
OR
- 1/2 fresh peach

-1/2 Banana

-3/4 cup Orange Juice OR Apple Juice
-1/2 frozen Açai smoothie packet

Blend until smooth. Top with 1/4 cup granola!

a zoo of coasters

This past weekend we headed to central Florida to visit with my family and take a day out from our current, hectic work schedules. We visited Busch Gardens with my parents, sister, and bro-in-law and enjoyed all of the animals and roller coasters in this "African"-simulated environment. Theme park culture is a topic that deserves it's own post, but part of the day was just spent "people-watching" and there are many interesting phenomena to observe. I will share several examples, but will spare the visuals:
Exhibit #1: "tied ham" = the effect that occurs when a girl insists on wearing a skimpy tank top that has strings laced up for the back, even though it is 5 sizes too small and sometimes the strings get lost within the rolls
Exhibit #2: "what-was-I-thinking-tattoo" = scenes such as a bad sketch of Gene Simmons' face under the KISS logo, Tasmanian devils, a plethora of Asian calligraphy that could mean "ketchup" but the wearer swears it means "peace", the good 'ol rose on the ankle....this list could go on forever
Exhibit #3: "I'm a teenager and I make-out in public" = self explanatory
Exhibit #4: "birth control" = screaming kids...hundreds of them


Overall, we did have a fun day just hanging out with the family, trying to walk straight after a crazy roller coaster, and eating ice-cream...including Shamu bars and Dippin Dots!

places to see :: la selva

Thanks to a post on the life I choose, I was introduced to this amazing organic, self-sustaining retreat lodge of sorts called LA SELVA (which roughly translates to the woods or wild from the word selvaggio). It's taking me a bit to get through translating the pages on the simple and creative website...but from what I've gathered so far, it's reachable only by foot on super narrow paths - about 15-25 minutes from one of our most favorite towns, Positano. There are beds throughout the complex, including the open terrace that faces the radient aqua hue of the Mediterranean Sea. Several retreats are held here like yoga, dancing, theater, and even rock-climbing. I'm still trying to get the full picture of this complex, but I do understand that they grow all the (organic) food on the property (olives, tomatoes, lemons, etc). Even if you can't read Italian, it's worth a visit to their website to view all of the beautiful photos!

It slightly reminds me of the organic work-farm we visited in Costa Rica called Pura Suerte. It was a definite "back-to-nature" experience with all naturally grown food from the farm, open-air hut houses with hammock beds, bamboo pipes for water, and outdoor showers. Even with all the bugs and humidity through the night, we did wake up to one of the most beautiful sunrises over the fields of vegetation and Costa Rica's largest waterfall in the distance.

Pura Suerte- La Florida, Costa Rica

a delicate case

The book I finished reading about a week ago was a small book, and from the dramatic yet bleak first line "Florence has always been a popular destination for suicides..." I thought it would be a quick read...unfortunately, I was mistaken. The first few pages and a few towards the end were interesting accounts of the city and it's history, including stories of the "mud angels" who came to Florence to help clean up after the infamous flood of 1966. Other than this, Florence: A Delicate Case was just too much of writer name-dropping, artist name-dropping, and even more famous expat name-dropping. Sometimes it made me want to drop the book. I was excited to read this, although I just happened upon the title at the library, because the author, David Leavitt, is a professor at the University of Florida and splits his time between Florence and Gainsville, FL. His other books on Italy did get better reviews - so I could stand to give another one a chance.

...Now on to the New York Times' best seller: "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis -this one may take a while...

italiani, pranzo, e giardini

Yesterday we had a wonderful time meeting several Italians who are amici of our friends here in St. Augustine, enjoying a tasty meal, and exploring the beautiful Washington Oaks State Gardens... I'll back up a little to give a quick run-down of how we know the people involved. A friend of ours, who now is in graduate studies in TX, was involved with the group St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association during the time he lived in St. Augustine. This group is run entirely by volunteers and helps with humanitarian/environmental "sister-city" activities with Baracoa, Cuba; and is one of the very few groups that get permission to travel to Cuba from the US. We started to volunteer last year (sorting/packing large containers of supplies to be shipped, graphic work for publications, etc), and hoped to participate in the last delegation that went to Cuba, but had to postpone for another year because of our plans for Italy. I've gotten to know one of the founders and have discussed our plans for moving, etc. She and her husband (who is also a head member of the organization) have lived all over the world and worked for farming cooperatives and human-rights organizations; and now split their time between the US (Florida), South America (Argentina), and Italy (Rome). They, of course, speak several languages, including Italian, fluently and are a great encouragement for us as we plan to move.

They invited us over yesterday to meet some friends of theirs who are visiting from Florence, so we could make connections, practice Italian, and take a breather from our crazy week of work! Wow, as soon as we walked in the door we were greeted in Italian and it took a good half-hour or so to switch my brain over to be somewhat acclimated to the foreign language. We met a retired schoolteacher, her son who's a doctor in the city and his 7-yr old daughter, and a friend of theirs who is a retired office manager. We were able to speak about many things over the meal and it was so comforting to meet such nice people who will be in the same city as us. I was surprised how much I was able to communicate with everyone helping us with new vocab and sentence structure. I even had a great time looking at clam beds on the Intracoastal shore and jumping on rocks with the young girl (who is learning English) in exchanging basic words...she'd find a leaf, look at me and ask, "Come si dice foglia in inglese?" (How do you say 'leaf' in English) and I'd ask her, "Come si dice...(then I'd jump up and down) in italiano?" -she'd laugh a little then tell me matter-of-factly "saltere". If I'd pronounce it a little off, she'd have me repeat it until she was satisfied that I said it correctly.


After lunch, we went to the gardens to explore and look out for a family of owls that have made their home in the park this season. After a while of unsuccessful sightings, we came across a group of professional nature photographers who had their cameras pointed skywards. We asked if they'd found the owls and they quickly handed me binoculars and pointed out a large brown owl in the tall tree. We had to leave early to get back to work, but the group said they also saw baby owls, a snake, deer, and a manatee!....what a fun day.

look closely for the elusive owl

coin raiders nabbed

...and now for a silly report from the online ItalyMag that I read occasionally.


Trevi Fountain Coin Raiders Nabbed
By Web Editor. Filed under News from Italy, Generalon April 15th, 2007
Two men were nabbed Thursday night after taking an Anita Ekberg-like plunge into Rome’s famed Trevi Fountain - in search of tourist booty rather than film immortality.
The two Italians waded into the fountain at around ten thirty, fully clothed and carrying metal detectors, to the amazement of the many tourists still in the square at that time of night.
The city cops who guard the fountain, turning a blind eye to the coin-throwing which is officially banned, were less impressed.
The police closed in to nab the raiders but the pair began to struggle violently.
One managed to wriggle out of a policeman’s grasp - but promptly threw himself back into the fountain.
Coming to his senses, he dashed off down a nearby alley but was caught by a back-up patrol.
The men, aged 28 and 49, turned out their pockets to reveal a rich haul of the coins tourists throw into the Trevi’s waters, making the traditional wish to return to the Eternal City.
The older man, who turned out to have a record for petty theft, had only managed to pick up 33 coins but his more energetic companion handed over a booty of 103 euros and 119 foreign coins.
The two were fined on a Rome law which bans bathing in public fountains.

...um, nice! And this concludes this special report...

we have an official future address

Click on photo for larger view
YAY! Well, I'm so excited to be finally writing about this...I've held off for a couple days, because Monday will be the day we get the official receipt/paperwork, but WE FOUND AN APARTMENT! For those who didn't know - here's a quick summary of the past apartment drama that transpired over the past 6 weeks or so: After months of searching for the right apartment for us (have-to-have features, want-to-have features, budget, location) we though we'd finally found THE one! We were so excited, had kind of "adopted" this as our new home...it was great: nice modern style, great location, near markets/school/sights, good price, larger than most flats (about 900sf - which is our house now), and had a TERRACE! Then, the day we were sending in our reservation request and money, the rental agency said it was rented to someone else and we'd have to keep looking. I was almost depressed for a couple days and then we took a deep breath and continued on, thinking that it must have meant there was just something else better suited.

During all of this I'd been in contact with 2 other wonderful agents that were very prompt, courteous, and honest with our dealings and so I reconnected with them to see what they had to offer. We ended up working with Lorenzo of Enjoy Home agency. The apartments they rent are all-inclusive (which include all utilities: gas, electric, DSL, water) which is great because we'll know exactly how much our housing budget is with no surprise costs and not having to deal with new bills. We studied 3 different flats, all with unique features - and within a moderate price range from each other. We considered all the options...location, features, style, etc and was even encouraged to take the less expensive one from Lorenzo because he said the location was comparable to NYC's Fifth Ave! It's located on Via dei Calzaiuoli which is one of the most elegant shopping streets in Firenze -and also one of the widest, pedestrian-only byways as well. A "pedestrian-only" street was on our wish-list, but because this is a super popular tourist street, the noise from the shoppers may be as bad as traffic. This leads to another point about the apartment: it's on the 3rd floor (which is 4th in American terms, since most of Europe starts on zero/ground floor), but there is a lift! This fact should help with the street noise, and our windows are off of a small side street as well! The Orsanmichele church and museum is also located just outside our windows (this is the tall building in the first photo)...so besides moving to an entire city that's a "living-museum" within itself, we'll be (literally) feet away from sculptures by Donatello and other masters.

Via dei Calzaiuoli
The one main negative thing about this flat is that it was in the smaller size range we found (although many were only 400-500sf) - ours is about 600sf (one bedroom, sofabed in living room, separate kitchen/dining area). We tried to live with this idea for a couple days (marking off space in our house and imagining the smaller space). It will be do-able and we hope to not spend most of our freetime cooped up at home, although we want to feel comfortable and it will be where we do our work. Because the ceilings are high and there seems to be good lighting, this helps with the size issue. The interior isn't really our taste, but more of the old Florentine style with wood beamed ceilings, terracotta floors, antique furniture - but because it was one of the lowest priced places we found, we decided that we could use a part of the money we saved (the other money will go toward more travels and eating out, etc :) ) to take a trip to Ikea outside the center and buy some things that will make it more of "our home". The more I thought about this idea, the more I got excited about picking out our own housewares (rugs, bedding, curtains, wall art)...so this is our plan!

italian holiday

We got confirmations today from the places we've booked to stay in Italy during our travels the 2 weeks before we move into our Florentine apartment. After stopping through Germany and Switzerland, we'll be going to the Cinque Terre and staying, once again, at Manuel's casa in Monterosso. This was one of our favorite stops during our previous trip and we're excited to explore this area again. photo 1: hand-written sign for Manuel's. photo 2: view from our room. photo 3: some of the many, many stairs leading up to his guesthouse

In Rome, we'll be staying in the "Belli Suite" at fellow blogger, Shelley's, bed and breakfast Really Rome Holiday Apartments in the lovely quarter of the city called Trastevere. This will be a 3-night stay and the last stop before ending up in Firenze!

buona pasqua - happy easter

Buona pasqua! What a beautiful Easter morning it was today. I went to a sunrise service this morning on Crescent Beach with some friends. We arrived at about 6:30 and the beach was already filled with hundreds of people on blankets, beach chairs...and bundled in warm coats! I'm not sure where this chilly weather came from all of a sudden, but I had to unpack a sweater and scarf today - where'd the springtime go? Last weekend it was in the 80s and today it began in the 40s. But it was a nice service, and a wonderful way to watch the sunrise.


I was thinking back to last year today which was our first morning in Hawaii, visiting our friends Richard & Amy on the North Shore. We went to an Easter sunrise service on Waimea Bay (home to some of the largest and most famous waves in the world during winter months, regularly reaching 30' - we only saw 1' waves that morning) - what a spectacular introduction to the island, and breath-taking way to celebrate Easter. (notice the tent on the beach where the service was held - complete with hula worship dances).


Both years blessed to be in the beauty of creation...

I'll end with a small reading from Jim Wallis' blog about "The Victory" (Director of Sojourners). He explains that the resurrection can be celebrated within us for "when we act in obedience to Christ, we are demonstrating His victory. Every time we act upon Jesus' lordship in our lives, are reconciled to a brother or sister, refuse to be controlled by the economic system, deny the absolute authority of the state, claim Christ's freedom over our fear, tear down the walls of race, class, and sex, love our enemies, stand with the poor, or resist the violence of the nations by acting for peace - we are demonstrating the victory of Christ in the world. His victory is present wherever it is claimed and acted upon. We are those who evaluate themselves and the whole world in the light of Christ's victory."

dancing (or flailing) around the world

Just thought I'd share an excellent site with a guy named Matt who "in February of 2003, quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around the planet until it ran out. A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt the idea of dancing* everywhere he went and recording it on his camera. This turned out to be a very good idea. Now Matt is quasi-famous as 'That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I'll send you the link. It's funny.' " -wherethehellismatt.com.
* The term "dancing" is used loosely
I saw his first video somehow last year, and just found out about his new video that was sponsored by Stride Gum. Apparently this company found his first video as well, contacted him about an all-expense paid trip to MORE places around the world (of course he said yes and quit his job), and sponsored his second video which is even better!

Now, Chris and I can't seem to get this song out of our head!

we're flying!

Whew! One big task off the Italy-move-to-do-list! I'm so excited...now on to the next thing -but we're one step closer. We now officially have only 139 days until we take off from Tampa International Airport (literally to-the-minute from when I write this at 1:05pm). We will be flying to Newark, NJ for a 3 hour layover then on to Frankfurt, Germany. We ended up getting a round trip ticket to and from Frankfurt since it was the cheapest option (but will just not use the return). It has been weeks, of daily research to find the best way to do this, but since our return date is too far in the future and we don't even know exactly when it will be, we decided to just find a new ticket home in 08. My mom and dad will be going with us as well, and we'll be visiting Tina, our past exchange student ('88, 89'), in Germany along with her family and new husband and baby. It's been almost 20 years since we've seen them which is quite unbelievable. We lost touch for many years, but by the wonder of the Internet, have reconnected and now are very excited to be planning our first trip to their home.

We'll be traveling in Germany for several days, then on to Switzerland. We'll probably cross over into Italy on September 1 and plan to visit the Cinque Terre (and hopefully stay at Manuel's Guesthouse in Monterosso - one of our favorite places), then on to Rome and finally Florence to move in to our new apartment. Mom and Dad fly out of Florence on Friday the 7th and we'll have the weekend to relax a little before classes start the following week.

blogs, blogs, & more blogs

It seems the longer I'm involved in blogging, the more I'm realizing that there is a huge sub-culture of bloggers from all walks of life, writing about almost any subject that one may be interested in. It's been great to find new friends in Italy before we move...some of which I've already planned to meet up with when we arrive, others who have offered to have us over if we travel to their Italian town, and even several whom I just spy on regularly :) Well, I guess it's not much of spying since blogs are published for the world to see. My list on Google Reader (a blog list that is updated in near real-time where I can check all the blogs I read in one place) is growing rapidly and everyday I read updates from most of my favorites.

There are a couple that I'd like to mention, including Florence Night&Day which is a very informative blog by Nelli, who also writes the Italian version Firenze Night&Day. In the past, I've used the Italian site as translation practice on smaller entries, but the English site is wonderful to read and offers many tips about living in Florence that I'm sure we will use when we're there. I look forward to many evenings out for apperitivos and torta Pistocchi. Another one of my favorites is the life I chose by Nicki, a London transplant, who now lives and works in the beautiful (one of THE most beautiful places in Italy in our opinion) coastal, hillside town of Positano. Her beautiful photos and vivid entries take me back to memories of this magical town that I can't wait to visit again.
...Other new blogs were added to our side bar.

I was talking with Mom on the phone today and she mentioned a family who she saw on Oprah last week that she thought I'd be interested in learning about...a family of six ranging in age from 4-38 who are in the middle of a year-long treck across the globe. Of course, I was sure they probably had a blog...and I was right. SixInTheWorld found it's way onto my blog list today and I'll enjoy keeping up with this inspiring story.

italian word of the day

bel paese [BELL pah-AY-zay]:
beautiful country

Today's Italian word(s) is a name that is commonly used in referring to Italy. I may have used it in this blog without explanation before, so now you know what it means!

(It also is a type of mild, soft cheese that is produced near Milan.)

*We also added an audible Italian word-of-the-day widget to our sidebar!