3 trips, 458 steps, & 4 books

This week has been quite busy (nothing new) but was mixed with relaxation and preparations. Over the summer, we knew that there were 3 more visits that we had to get in before moving (one to NC to visit Chris' family, one to Charleston, SC to visit friends, and one more to central FL to visit my family). Every other weekend is a work-weekend for us on freelance projects, and since we only have 3 more months before leaving, this left 12 total weeks, 6 of which were free, and so that means every-other week that we have free will need to be used for a trip. We have flight vouchers that we're trying to use to go to NC, so we're at the whelm of the airline for this flight. We tried to get a flight for this week leaving last weekend - no use since it was a holiday. So with that trip on hold until July sometime, we're headed up to Charleston this weekend to visit our friends for some much-needed fun time...boating, wake boarding, dock parties with boiled peanuts and watermelon! Good 'ol southern charm. And I'm sure I'll have reports of yummy plates of grits as well when we get back.

Finally at the end of last week, I went out surfing for the first time of the season. I can't believe how late in the year it is already, but hopefully more days filled with sun, friends, and the beach will come. Chris has been going out regularly for the past month or so and has put on his "insta-tan" (he's blessed with nice olive skin)! I walked to the beach a couple days ago alone to catch up on some reading and counted the steps from our door to the sand :: 458. I've often wondering about this number after many years of walking down this same path, and finally counted! So know I know this strange factoid and I'm sure I'll walk it in my mind when we don't live near the sea and can't hear the waves at night on our porch.


our visit to Bramasole • the shrine outside the home • entry drive among the terraced gardens

With the swarm of lists, preparations, work, and planning in my head lately, I've been using books as a nice getaway. I finished Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes, which I began a couple years ago on a stone bench in front of Bramasole the house that the author restored in Cortona. I only got a couple chapters in during our trip and can't believe it took me so long to pick it back up. I then made a smooth transition into Mayes newest book, A Year in the World, where she descriptively writes about travels through Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, British Isles, Morocco, and Turkey. I did find some interesting places I'd like to visit, and many strange meat dishes that I will never be touching. After pages and pages of poetic sentences, I was ready for a quick easy read - so on to The Broker by John Grisham. I'm normally not one for dramatic crime novels, but since this one was set mainly in Italy I took the recommendation and breezed through in two evenings. It was fun to read the sentences of Italian as the main character was learning the language. Today I stopped by the library for a Florentine classic, Room with a View by E.M. Forster, which I'm excited to start!

so much to zoo

Yesterday we visited the Jacksonville Zoo with my parents who were visiting for Memorial Day weekend. Although I haven't been to a zoo in years, we've been twice now in the last 2 months. It only took us about 3 hours to get through the park, but it was nice to finally go and visit our area zoo since we've never been. They have a good primate exhibit with two Siamangs who "sing" in the morning with a distinct call that can be heard up to 3 miles away, and also a big area with jaguars which was one of the main exhibits. There were the mainstays like elephants, giraffes, and a lion.


One of my most favorite areas was the "Savannah Blooms" botanical garden exhibit with a beautiful lily pond and walking paths. It's funny how we've started to want to see more of our current home before we move - but it's a nice side effect. "Italy-fever" has started to become a reality and I watch the days pass quickly. How there is at least a task a week to do on our "before-we-move" list....

places to see :: i trulli di alberobello

I just discovered the town of Alberobello (beautiful tree), this week after reading an article in La Cucina Italiana. This village in the southern part of Italy, in the heel of the boot, is home to strange cone-shaped, whitewashed buildings called trulli that serve as homes, hotels, & community buildings. Other towns in the Bari region also have clumps of this unique architecture, but the largest collection is in Alberobello. It's not known exactly when these dwellings were constructed, but many experts agree that it was probably around the Middle Ages. Known for the natural insulation properties, the trulli's construction allow for a cooling effect in the summers and warming during winters.
*this video show a little of the layout of the village among the trulli*

ghiacciato caffè e una strata

Thanks to a couple tasty recipes shared by fellow bloggers, I now have a few new concoctions that we have enjoyed this past week. (although not at the same meal, since sweet coffee and spinach don't mix too well). Sognatrice shared her fatto in casa (homemade) iced coffee recipe and it looked so good that we've made it about 5 times already. Then KC shared her Spinach and Cheese Strata which reminded me of the breakfast casserole that we have on Christmas mornings. We made this dish tonight and am looking forward to finishing the leftovers tomorrow!

The iced coffee was a good use of the espresso that Chris throws out each day if it cools too fast. I like coffee, but hardly ever drink it because I don't want to get dependent on that morning boost (a sin in Italy I'm sure, but I do have a daily drink when we travel). And because I don't drink it too often, the caffeine doesn't sit well in my system...but for this cold drink I thought I'd give it a try and ease into the Italian routine. Now, after the (at least) 2 pots of espresso Chris makes each day in the Moka, he'll pour the extra amount in a jar with some sugar and put it in the fridge to cool. Then I'll add ice and milk when I'm ready - sometimes even a little Baileys or chocolate shavings (you can see if the photo) is a nice addition! The first two times I made this is was the first thing I had in the morning, and both days I got slightly sick because of the caffeine on an empty stomach. The last couple times I waited until the afternoon which helped the digestion!

For the strata we made tonight, I had to find Gruyère cheese -which wasn't an easy task -but I finally found a smoked version that was sliced at the deli -and worked quite well. Because it was sliced, we just layered the pieces on top rather than sprinkling the shredded version the recipe called for. Last night we made Baked Endive with Ricotta and Spinach from La Cucina Italiana (which is now Italian Cooking & Living magazine). Belgium endive is expensive and although it was fun to make, it wasn't good enough to want it again.

mona lisa smile

When we visited Paris a couple years ago, we made sure to get all of our touring done during the first part of the trip so we could leave an entire day (our last day) for the Louvre museum. Knowing full well that an entire day would not begin to cover one of the largest museums in the world housing over 35,000 works of art in over 600,000 sq.ft.- an entire week would probably not be enough, we thought we'd at least hit the highlights... Saint Francis of Assisi Receives the Stigmata- Giotto, Louis XIV - Rigaud, and of course, da Vinci's Mona Lisa. We took our time walking along the Seine and lingered in the Louvre courtyard and admired the pyramid. We went underground to the inverted glass encasement -even before we were aware of the climax of the Da Vinci Code but a curious thing occurred to us: it didn't seem to be very crowded. Where were the 50,000 daily tourists? "Oh well", we thought as we excitedly walked up to the ticket counter...but wait?! what is this? bars on the entrance?! OH NO! yep, it was Tuesday, otherwise known as "the ONLY day of the week that the museum is closed"... deep breaths. reminders that we'll be back, so don't despair. Too bad our plane leaves early the next morning. But as we left, we did snap a photo of a Mona Lisa poster outside the Louvre wall.

Today in Italy Mag they announced that the birthplace of this famous painting subject was found on Via Maggio in Florence - just across the Arno river from our apartment. And the house where she lived most of her married life is off Via della Stufa, which is only .33miles from our flat. I'm sure we'll make it back to Paris soon and we'll see the masterpiece in person, but for now it's interesting to know that we'll be living just down the street from where Lisa Gherardini-Giocondo used to walk.

la lingua

lan·guage
–noun
1. communication by voice in the distinctively human manner, using arbitrary sounds in conventional ways with conventional meanings; speech.
2. the system of linguistic signs or symbols considered in the abstract (opposed to speech).

This second definition is interesting to me because language can be much more than talking, but just a way of communicating - and being in countries where we didn't speak the language well (or at all), we still could communicate in ways to the people. It helps me not feel too intimidated thinking of moving to a city where day after day our brains will swell with the new vocab, conjugations, and genders. I know we will still be able to "talk" with others at least with broken sentences at first and lots of gestures. Many people have told me that I should fit right in in Italy because I look a little Italian and I use my hands A LOT when I talk. The rhythm of Italian is in my head, but it gets stuck somewhere in my throat and rarely makes it out so fluidly. I want to get in the habit of reading Italian out loud just to get the words to come out, whether or not I understand them at first.

Of course, I've been thinking about language a lot lately; and just after I finished writing my last entry, I came across a much more eloquent interpretation of the Italian language being "sing-songy" as I wrote about. Frances Mayes in Bella Tuscany, although chock-full of flowery speech and sometimes paragraphs that I have to skim, wrote a chapter titled "Lost in Translation" that was very insightful into my present thoughts...

"I've had the late realization that English is a spoken language, whereas Italian is sung. An opera teacher at Spoleto told me she has her American students listen in class to someone speaking ordinary Italian while following the tones with their own voices la, la, la-ing. Then she has them perform the same exercise with someone speaking English. The English voice-graph modulates gently and regularly up and down while the Italian zips dramatically around. I knew this instinctively."

I think the trick of mastering a new language is learning how not to translate, but to instead go from the foreign word straight to the idea - without having to first change it into your native tongue in your brain. I love it when this happens every now and then without realizing it!
...once again, many on the same course have stated it better...

"At times I am not translating; 'arancia' is 'arancia' and I'm just listening, the image of an orange flashing in my mind, not the word. This is a mystery to me, those moments when the English melts between the Italian and the meaning....They become natural. 'Gioia' is not longer joy, it's the buoyant feeling of 'gioia'." -Mayes

italian word of the day

assolutamente [asz-so-loo-tah-MEN-tay]:
absolutely

Today's Italian word of the day is one of my most favorite Italian words to say. Although the main accent falls on the "MEN" syllable, it seems to also fall on the 1st and 3rd syllable as well, making the entire word very "sing-songy". It goes up UP-down-UP-down-UP-down -and sometimes when I say it I find myself making gestures like a music conductor. The best is to follow it up with a firm "NO!". I'm not sure what I'd be saying absolutely not to, but it's really fun to say. Just like a song gets stuck in your head for no reason, assolutamente, no! gets stuck in mine. weird. I guess if a greasy guy ever asks me if I'd like to get into a shady van in the middle of Rome, I will have a great response!

For other (more useful) Italian phrases, watch this great video from Florence:

pesto alla genovese

Last night for dinner we made Pesto Alla Genovese from a recipe off of Mestolando. We'd planned on this meal earlier in the week, and then yesterday I also read on Florence Night&Day that there was pesto tasting in Firenze as well! I guess we just wanted to get into the spirit of the northwestern Italian coast. Our version actually turned out quite well. Pine nuts, basil, olive oil, parmesean, romano, and garlic (sans anchovies) go a long way.

The only thing is that we don't have a processor because ours broke a while back, so we used a blender which ended up to take about 5x as long for mixing, but worked well in the end. A small hand-held processor (that can double as a smoothie-maker) is on our list of "small appliances to buy when we get to Italy". Other than that, I can't think of an electronic (small) appliance that we'll need...except maybe a coffee grinder. I've even been taking inventory of what we use a lot at home now, and we've moved away from most electronic items and prefer the manual tools:
• moka (which I think is provided in most furnished apartments)
• whisk
• fork (which I use for all my mixing since we don't own an electric mixer -and I even bake all the time)
• scissors (one of my most favorite kichen tools)
Lately I've had a growing interest in owning a food mill after seeing it's versitility on several cooking shows. I don't know if we'll venture into making homemade pasta, but if the desire ever hits us, maybe we'll invest in a pasta maker as well!

double-digits

Guess what?! I woke up this morning and as soon as I pulled up my Google Homepage...I saw that we only have 99 days left until we fly out for Italia! We're in the "double-digits"... just a little over 3 months - and this entire year is going faster than ever. I can't believe that we're into the middle of May already. Our classes in Florence will already be over this time next year. It's exciting to think of all that will be experienced between now and then. We received our official enrollment letters from the school last Friday and I'm getting the final documents in order to turn into the consulate next month with our visa application! Everyday I try to do something, even if its small, to help organize and simplify our routine as we get ready for the trasition. We're involved in so much, including our jobs, that it's taking a lot of planning to make this move as smooth as possible with the right people to take over a little of our work so that we won't be working as much while we're in Italy, and the weeks that we're travelling things will be taken care of. It's so much to think about that it wakes me up at night several times a week...I can't imagine what my stomach will be doing the night before we fly! I'd love to hear some other expats descriptions of their last night...not eating, going over their checklist about a billion times, packing and repacking...

oh excitement though :)

you say moon snail, i say shark eye

Shell collection, Sea glass, Positano loot
We have been collecting a particular type of shell for years now during our evening walks on the beach. We didn't know exactly what they were called, but figured it was somehow related to the Nautilus family. A shell was found worthy of keeping as long at the center of the spiral was intact - and we know have several jars full of these smooth circular exoskeletons. I did some research and found out that the official name is polinices duplicatus, a.k.a. Bubble Shell, Atlantic Moon Snail, or Shark Eye. I keep wondering what we'll do with all these shells, and think that one day I'll sink them into some sort of plaster so that all the colorful tops are at the same level and make a large display - maybe for a table top under glass or a wall piece. Not sure.

St. Augustine -rocky shore line after the hurricanes of '04. That day we found more than glass...
We also like to collect sea glass, although this is a rare find now-a-days.Our beach used to be more rocky, but was dredged a couple years back which covered all the sea rocks. This used to be a great place to find sea glass and we'd make an evening routine during the summers of getting shaved-ice cones and climbing on the rocks looking for sea glass between the large barnacle-covered piles.


Our most favorite seashore find and current collection is our jar of glass and mosaic tile pieces from Positano. We spent an entire morning walking the shore by ourselves looking around like, "um, doesn't anyone else see all of this in the sand?!" It was great finding such interesting pieces. We filled a jar and lugged it around in our backpack for the rest of the trip - definitely our most heavy souvenir that we brought back. I hope to make something out of these pieces someday as well.

...for now we enjoy looking at them through our glass jars.

to our wonderful mothers

To both of our moms....Hope you have a wonderful day! Thank you for all of your love. You are wonderful and we love you!

for your viewing pleasure

I happened upon this video on Florence today and enjoyed watching the entire thing...but then at 6:37 into it (the last section) it shows Orsanmichele. If you remember, this is the church next door to our apartment building. You don't hear much about this building that was built as a grain market in 1337, so it was great to see it have it's 15 minutes of fame (or rather, it's 1min & 17sec of fame!). If you have 7 min or so, take a peak at the entire video that gives some general info on the hot-spots.

alla spiaggia

Finally this weekend I was able to enjoy a proper day at the beach. Although I only stayed an hour or so, it was the first time this year (other than a couple of minutes a month ago). We walk to the beach almost everyday, but normally in the evening when it's cooled down - and since our days and weekends have been so busy, we haven't made it out to just relax. A couple friends of ours from California came to visit and so I spent some time catching up with them and got my first bit of color. Chris has been going out to surf now several times since last week as well - but I'm still waiting on better conditions and a bit warmer water. Luckily this weekend wasn't too bad with the smoke in the air from the wildfires that are in the county to our south. But the winds picked back up yesterday and we woke up to a smoke-filled beach this morning along with the nasty smell in our house.

You can barely see the pier from the smoke in the air (which is better on the beach than anywhere). The strong wind turns the sand into strange patterns.This year seems to be a popular year for fires because I know we're not the only ones dealing with this. Even reading nyc/caribbean ragazza's blog this morning - I know those in L.A. are now dealing as well. The stories of the loses really put things into perspective.

Fill in the blank...."Even though there's lots of smoke in the world, I'm thankful for ___________"

100 things

This is a long post. I'd read on several other blogs (bleeding espresso, 2 Baci, and others) this list of "100 things about me" and found it very interesting and fun to read. It's interesting to find the items that make you laugh, or others that have you saying "me too!" out loud. This started as a "meme" tag game between bloggers so I thought I'd join the fun.

So enjoy, laugh, roll your eyes, or take a nap :)...but buckle up, it'll be a long ride.

100 THINGS:
1. My name is Erin.
2. I was going to be named Gracia (gray-shah) after my mom told the nurse that looked over her mother who was dying of cancer a month before I was born, that she would name the baby after her.
3. Dad didn't agree
4. So I was named after the little girl on the Waltons
5. I wanted to be "different" in high school (like everyone else) so I began to spell it "Airyn"
6. I really liked names with "y"s...and "q"s although Q didn't fit
7. But quickly reverted to the original and am now proud of my name and the Irish heritage that I have somewhere on my maternal side of the family
8. I also have English and French - but no Italian
9. My husband has some European as well, and Cherokee Indian (which is why he has no hair except for his head)
10. but also no Italian
11. I was born in Illinois in a one-stoplight town and always wanted to move to Florida
12. I thought Florida was all beaches, palm trees, and parties with Mickey Mouse
13. I remember hating the cold weather and the biggest decision as a kindergardener was: a) do I RUN from the bus to the classroom and be colder, but for a shorter amount of time, or b) do I WALK and not be so cold from the wind, but take a little more time to get inside
14. When I was 5 we went to Disney for a vacation and I got seasick on the ferry
15. I still loved Florida after that
16. When I was 6 my parents sat me down and asked where I'd always wanted to move - I said "next door" since I was trying to be more realistic and next door was a 2-story house
17. They said "how about ANYWHERE?" -and I said Florida - then they said we were moving there - and then I cried.
18. I had to get glasses in 2nd grade and then quickly upgraded to contacts in 3rd grade - which I still wear
19. My sight is really pretty bad, and I hope to get Lasik surgery in a couple years
20. I thought cuss words were invented in the mid 80s. I guess this is because it's when I began to hear them occasionally.
21. I thought I was popular in school, but looking back I really wasn't popular as in "cool" so much, but more just "known"
22. I got straight "A"s all the way until 10th grade, then had some "B"s thrown in. Even through college I never got a "C" -but looking back I'm not sure what the big deal was.
23. One of the worst photos I remember being in is in 6th grade, wearing high-waisted pants that were royal blue and stopped above my ankles, white thick socks with brown leather penny loafers, a tucked in college logo t-shirt, and the "big bangs"! (now you know why I wasn't the "cool" type of popular)
24. Either this one or my marching band photo in 7th grade with my hat that was taller than my face. This is because the hats were proportionally tall as wide and I have a really big head.
25. No, I'm serious, I've measured - only me and the tuba player had to get size Large. ...no one believes me because the rest of me is so small.
26. I've played piano since I was 8, and studied under college professors from 7th grade through 12th and attended a performing arts high school.
27. I played the saxophone in middle school and guitar since high school - but not very much and I'm not very good.
28. I miss having and playing a piano - we've never had enough room to bring mine from back home.
29. Once when I was little, Mom told me that she could breathe out of her ears. She told me to feel for her breath out of her nose or mouth -which I proceeded to do for (what seemed like) a long time, and never felt any breathing. ...I still don't know how she did it - maybe she can breathe out of her ears!
30. Steve Martin reminds me of my dad for some reason (just a little goofier)- so his movies always give me a warm nostalgic feeling. I almost cry the entire length of Father of the Bride.
31. My dad and I stayed up the night before my wedding to watch this movie together because we for years we'd said that it was something we'd do
32. I met my husband, Chris, the summer after my freshman year in high school at a youth event in North Carolina. He was passing out pencils and I needed one.
33. We hung out for 4 days and then I went back to Florida and told all of my friends that I was going to marry him.
34. He is one year younger than me
35. This is true for most of the couples on his side of the family...the older women with the younger men!
36. I think our wedding was one of the most tearful ever (a good thing!) - I literally giggled and balled at the same time walking down the aisle
37. All 4 of our parents spoke during the ceremony - they all got to say whatever they wanted and we didn't know what it was until that day.
38. I forgot to throw my bouquet when we left
39. Fun wedding facts: We had a fondue buffet and live butterfly releasing at the reception, our recessional songs were by Weezer ("You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" mp3) and Reggie & the Full Effect ("From Me 2 U" mp3), we rented a huge inflatable "bouncy" castle at our rehearsal dinner
40. 5 movies I'd bring with me to a deserted island: Talented Mr. Ripley, Amelie, Father of the Bride, Vanilla Sky, and (*space open* b/c it always changes)
41. I use a Mac and prefer to only use a Mac, and love to talk people into getting a Mac - but don't consider myself a complete Apple-snob
42. I grew up with a dog, and thought I was a "dog-person", but now we have 2 cats and I am much more a "cat-person" -dogs are too much like kids
43. We don't see having kids anytime soon at all -but we still have time if we ever decided to...and most of the time think about adopting if we did want a family
44. I once dared my younger sister to stick her tongue out at a passing car while we were on a family bike ride when we were little - she did - and she got in trouble
45. I once sassed my mom on a family bike ride - and then she washed my mouth out with soap - then I got sick that night - so I made sure to wake her up
46. Over the past year or so I've been wanting to get rid of "stuff" and simplify our lives - although sometimes I still want a bigger house... but most times I'm content with our small home on the beach and am glad we don't have much to deal with
47. I try to be a Jesus-follower
48. I don't use the word "Christian" so much anymore because I think Jesus would be embarrassed to be associated with so many things that bare this description
49. I'm not right-wing
50. I respect creation and try to do my part to protect what has been put in our care instead of raping it for our immediate desires
51. I try to be conscious of what I buy and how it effects others on this planet - knowledge changes everything
52. My grandma's homemade mac & cheese is one of my favorite dishes
53. I have a mean sweet tooth
54. but I don't have any cavities
55. I love eating meals that consist of "small things" - like fondue, tapas, apéritifs, fruit & cheese plates, etc
56. My hair is now the longest it's been since 9th grade when I cut it from below my shoulders to a pixie cut.
57. I write a to-do list everyday
58. I recite at least 3 movie quotes a day
59. I hate the smell of cooking mushrooms
60. I'm a vegetarian
61. I went to college for business and fashion merchandising, then changed the fashion for advertising, then went back for graphic design and fine arts when I completed my business degree.
62. I'm now in real estate and also do freelance graphic design
63. Staying with one thing too long normally makes me restless
64. My biggest fear even when I was little (beside tornadoes) was growing up to "live-to-work" at a 9-5 office job
65. I'd rather "work-to-live" and am so glad that our jobs allow for flexibility (even being able to work abroad)
66. Moving to Italy has been a long-time dream of ours and it's finally happening
67. and I'm so excited!!!
68. I daydream about speaking fluent Italian
69. I keep a list of all the places in the world I want to (will) see one day
70. and this list just keeps getting longer
71. I'm inspired by those who quit jobs, sell stuff, and do whatever it takes to take off a year (or more) to travel the world...because really, who would ever regret this?!
72. I have 3 reoccurring dreams: one where my hands swell bigger and bigger, one where NYC is a theme park in a small harbor, and one where I'm on the edge of a building with the big waves of the sea crash up against it - this last one is quite ominous
73. My favorite color is celery green
74. I bungee jumped for my 17th birthday
75. I don't like to talk on the phone too much - especially to people I see regularly
76. Our cats use the toilet
77. ...again, not joking - we don't even own a litter pan
78. I really love my friends
79. and my family, and as I've grown older I appreciate everyone so much more and I find the beauty and wholeness in embracing your background and learning from elders
80. I sing out loud in my car when I'm driving alone (and sometimes not alone)
81. ...but I tone it down when I'm stopped beside someone at a stop light
82. I have a manual 6-speed car and like to drive it
83. but I'm looking forward to being without a car in Italy
84. we name a lot the animals that live around our house: a garter snake that lives under our A/C unit named William, a rabbit in the bushes named Robert, a corn snake under our stepping stones named Toby, and a frog that lives in our dryer vent named Nelly
85. I tend to name all animals with boy names (our 2 cats: Solomon, Bengal and our snake: Urriah)
86. Once, I went to buy a mouse to feed Urriah and it chewed a hole through the transport box and got loose in my car. We could see it through a little hole in the side of my door but he wouldn't come out, even with food and traps.
86. Four days later he died somewhere in the inner workings of my dashboard...and my car still smells funny.
87. I have a small handful of gray hairs already
88. I used to read a lot when I was younger, but then was hit-or-miss for years. Just in the last couple years I started reading consistently again.
89. I think I'll always see people who are older than me, as older than me in photos where they are younger than me now.
90. I think my grandparents' generation all looked like they were pushing 50 in their high school yearbook photos.
91. My parents raised me with a good grasp on how to handle finances (tithing, saving, and spending w/in your means) - and I'm very thankful for this!
92. I'm not sure that I'll ever buy a brand new car, and I will never rack up consumer debt or own a store credit card.
93. Shopping isn't fun to me unless I can find things on sale
94. I really don't enjoy malls very much (at least after about 3 stores)
95. Anthropologie overwhelms me (although it's one of my favorites shops) - so I normally leave without buying because I can't decide on anything
96. I prefer wildflowers to roses
97. I like to laugh a lot...especially those rare times when it leads to tears
98. I'd like to keep living simpler and simpler
99. and making dreams with my husband
100. and loving people more

american cats & gatti italiani

One thing that we will miss while we're gone is our cats. We have 2 cats: Solomon (black, American short-haired) & Bengal (part lilac Siamese) - both that we adopted several years ago from the Humane Society. We stopped at two, because Chris has a theory (which I tend to agree with) that if you have more cats than people in a household, you become one of those "weird cat people". Not always true - but it keeps us from collecting any others. At first, we'd thought that we would plan to bring them along for our move, since we knew we'd be stationary for at least 8 months in an apartment, but then the rest of the year we'd be traveling and would have to send them back to the US. The transportation issues didn't seem too bad, since Italy doesn't require a quarantine, but the more we thought about it, the more we didn't think it'd be such a good idea. They almost go into shock even driving them in the car to the vet and there are some scary stories about pet transport in planes. Also, since we're traveling for 2 weeks before moving in our apartment, they wouldn't be able to be on the same flight, which I found out creates a whole new problem. Then there's the spontaneous weekend trips we plan to take while we're studying and I'm not sure how easy it would be to find a pet-sitter.

Right now, we leave for a couple days and all we have to have someone do is pour more food in their dish (we have a water dispenser that lasts about 2 weeks)....and flush the toilet! YEP!...our cats use the toilet. We trained them about 3 years ago to do this. (In the photo, you'll see the walls of an aluminum pan which is part of the training process, but it's open at the bottom so anyone can use the toilet like normal as well.) And our friends who are living in our house while we're gone are excited to have the cats as part of the package. It does make me feel better to know that Solomon and Bengal won't be taken our of their comfort zone and they'll have friendly people watching over them.

But one thing that there isn't a shortage of in Italy is cats.

We came across many feline friends during our visits to different Italian cities, including a pair of strays in Monterosso (photo 3), and an amorous tabby who took a liking to Chris at a cafe one night and then found him again in another cafe the next morning (photo 5). The Cinque Terre trail had food and donation buckets for the strays along the paths that were caught, neutered, and released again by the local animal group (photo 2). Rome, of course, was full of entire packs of cats among the ancient ruins (photo 4), and Positano had many animal-friendly watering bowls outside the steep mosaic-filled sidewalks (photo 1).

We may just have to adopt one for our stay in Italy...well, at least maybe just find a "regular" near our street that we can name and pet occasionally.

our library has a funny ceiling

In the past several months I've (re)discovered the joys of the public library. Since I've been making a point to read more this year, I remembered that there's this great place in town that has thousands and thousands of free books - so I paid a visit to one of the newer branches of our county library. It's a very peaceful place and completely updated, and even has nice outdoor benches that surround the unique layout of the building that sits next to a pond and wooded conservation area. The selection of books and movies is great and (I'm so sure that I'm way behind the times with this next statement), but when they didn't have a book I needed, I requested it online and they transferred it to the branch of my choice when it was available, then called me when it was ready for pickup. Also all renewals, holds, requests can be done through your online account.

Chris had not been to this branch and so we went together yesterday for a change of scenery from our home office and decided to work a couple hours from a quiet library table, since they have free wi-fi as well. This proved to not be such a great idea for me, since I needed the Internet for what I was doing and the connection was unbearably slow - sometimes so slow that pages would just time-out during load. So I became frustrated and instead sat and finished my current read, God's Politics by Jim Wallis. With each page turn, I got colder and colder (since public building owners sign a secret pact between one another to not allow the temperatures to reach above 50degrees) - so I went outside to sit in the warmth and read. But I quickly turned back around as I was met with the smoke from all the nearby wildfires, which has made it impossible to go outside during parts of the day when the wind is towards us. So I checked out my new book, Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. I figured I'd read through the series of novels since it's one of my favorite movies. Then I took a break and this is when I noticed that our library has a funny ceiling...it's made of drop ceiling tiles but the entire surface is shaped as large waves above our heads. And because I was to the point of staring at the ceiling and not getting anything done, we headed back home.

scuola registrazione

Today I submitted our registration fee for the language school we will be attending! We had been waiting on a big closing I had at work to go through (which closed on Monday - huge blessing!) to be able to just go ahead and pay our full tuition. I'd also been watching the USD to Euro exchange rates (which aren't getting better anytime soon it seems...*sniffs*) to find a best time to pay, but sooner than later sounds good now with the steady downward slope of the dollar. Now we just wait to get our confirmation letter from the school that we will turn in with the visa paperwork! We registered through LanguageCourse.net which is a go-between for us and the school in obtaining our reservation and also offers a 5% discount (which comes in handy with the amount we're spending); and I spoke with them this morning after submitting payment and they said that our file was complete and it should only be a couple days before we hear back from the school. This was the last of the big tasks that needed to be done before our meeting at the consulate (the others being our plane tickets and rental contract for our apartment). We'll be making an appointment for the middle of June for our trip to Miami to visit the Italian Embassy, since our paperwork must be presented in person, and turned in no more than 90 days before arriving in Italy.

For a re-cap on the classes we'll be taking (since many have been asking this lately): we are going to Scoula Leonardo da Vinci, a language and cultural studies school in the center of Florence. They also have 3 other campuses (Rome, Siena, Milan) which you can transfer during your course. This is one of the reasons that we choose this school - for the flexibility to try other cities if we want. We are signing up for the "Long-Term Semester Course" for 32 weeks and it is 20 hrs/week language training (4hr/day Mon-Fri) and 5 additional hrs/wk of cultural studies (museum visits, day-trips, culinary, wine, etc) where we can use the language in real-life situations outside of the classroom. We read many high reviews on this school as well, and the staff that I've been in contact with have been very helpful. The lessons are taught by "direct-method" from day one - no English allowed in the classroom at all. This is one reason we've been brushing up on the basics before we move!

..........
I've been thinking a lot lately of our daily routine when we're in Italia -waking up a little earlier than we're used to, taking the stairs (avoiding the lift as much as possible so we can enjoy more pasta!) down to the quiet street filled with shops that haven't opened yet, enjoying the walk between the tall buildings and past parked mopeds, strolling to a favorite local bar where we've met some of the "regulars" for a quick morning espresso, going just a couple more blocks past the Duomo and then to class for several hours. Classes ending near lunchtime for "la pausa", passing a market for fresh food, walking home (in the now, more crowded streets, past tourists shopping for Prada or a cone of gelato) for lunch and to begin our workday which coincides with the beginning of the workday in Florida, then going out to enjoy a late dinner (after we've adjusted to eating at about 10pm!).

- I know this is an ideal day which won't always be the case...but for today I just feel like daydreaming.