or wordless mercoledi if you will.

so thiiiiiis is pretty much how my girls are feeling about each other right now.

check out the faces in the back seat. yeah. last nerve.

being in one to two rooms with each other since june 16 is kind of starting to wear thin.

you would not believe the tattling and button pushing that’s happening right now.

thankfully i live in the land of prosecco and nothing helps the tattles like some bubbly does.

that is all.

xo

s

Buona Sera! Though to you, it’s not evening probably. Here it’s 11 pm and I’m not tired…I swear I’m still not adjusted to this time zone!

I thought I’d take you on a picture walk through our new “neighborhood”…downtown Vicenza.

Thank you so SO much for all of the scrapbooking advice yesterday. I’ve definitely decided on the 12×12 format. And I love all of the “keep it simple” advice. So ready to get started!

Hope you enjoy these photos. I know the blog is “Italy overload” right now but that’s what our life is. Italy overload. 🙂

Sidenote: So GLAD I bought an iPhone 5 over here. The picture quality is just amazing.

Have a beautiful and blessed weekend y’all! Ciao!

xoxo

S

Hello beautiful!

I thought I should start this post with the words my girls get EVERYWHERE they go.

As they follow me around town like a gaggle of geese, those words float on the air all around us. Offered from men, women, young, old..

Ciao Bella!

Ciao Bellissima!

and they love it. 🙂

Things are just great in Italy. We are slowly but surely making progress towards the apartment.

Things just move slower here. Which is a change I needed. But at the same time, my efficiency loving heart is having a big wake up call. Slow down. Be patient.

Every day from 12:30 ish-3:30 ish is riposo

Here it’s pretty common to have to go places many times to get something done. Or to go somewhere over and over to get something done and then the last time you are there they tell you they can’t even do that thing for you.

The other night we got locked in a mall. Like for real. Went to eat at a good restaurant in the mall. The mall was closed so we had to do Mc Donald’s instead. Yes. In a country where we are surrounded by the most beautiful, most fresh food…we had McDonalds.

Because everything else was closed. Bahahaaha!

Lights started going off, gates down over exits. All escalators were stopped. None of this with any sort of announcement.

We had to exit out of what was pretty much a large fire escape.

Italy…I love you. You can be infuriating and I can see that we are going to butt heads on many occasions. But I’m learning to slow down and appreciate you.

Learning to take in the view and forgive the incompetency. These next three years are going to be an interesting dance, il mio amico.

Oh- on a decidedly non-Italian front…many of you have asked about MME. My savvy blog readers have noticed that the person posting for MME on Facebook is not me and y’all are asking if I am still with them.

MME decided to hire someone new for FB and Twitter,Pinterest,Instagram, etc. I’m still doing the blog for now. 🙂

Thank you so much for asking and caring. And thank you to all of you for your encouraging words, comments, tweets, and emails. Each of them mean the world to me when I am feeling very far away and lonely.

xo

S

Farewell, sweet friends!

I wanted to take a chance to tell you today, as I don’t think I’ll have a chance to update the blog before we leave.

In two days we will fly over the Atlantic Ocean to Venice.

We are about to embark on a 3 year adventure. One that will involve seeing places I’ve dreamed of my entire life. I’ve wanted to go to Italy ever since I was a little girl and saw Roman Holiday for the first time.

As I type this I am full of confliced emotions.

I am scared. I am nervous. I am already homesick. I am thrilled. I am worried. I am excited. I am already thinking of the things I will see and wondering if I will simply weep when I see them.

Most of all, I am overjoyed.

I am going on this adventure with five of my most precious gifts.

We are so lucky that we get to do this. That I get to give these children a gift like this.

I love this country so much and I am so blessed to have been born and raised here.

But…

I am off to learn to cultivate la vita bella. I am ready for more wine and delicious food…and less worry and “give me more” and “latest and greatest”.

Ready to go somewhere where there are over 100 ways to say I love you and perhaps life won’t be a competition of who is busiest.

I’m ready to spread my wings and fly. And become a better woman for it.

So with that I say…

Arrivaderci!

Ti amo troppo (I love you tooooo much 🙂

xoxo

S

practicing our Italian hand gestures.

P.S. We will be living in Italy in FIVE DAYS!!!!!!!

xoxo

S