“Girl I’ve been shaking my ass all the way up this hill”

July 2

If you don’t know this quote…we are not friends!

Went for a run and it was Assault of the butterflies!Wild flowers line the roads and on my little run all the startled butterflies were all over me.

So I enjoyed my run a little too much this morning! I had to be one hilarious sight! I started with “mellow me” playlist and just jogging along… Then realized I was up a mountain with no one around in the middle of nature (not your everyday work out environment)

SO…switched my ipod to the “get low” play list and commenced in dancing my way through the forest. Shaking it to “laffy taffy”!! haha.

I had to be quite the entertaining sight because I'm not talking a little extra pep in my jog…full on shaking my ass like I was in the middle of a dance floor and could actual dance!

I had fun.

Oh and in the middle of my Cupid Shuffle here comes a car (and if they were looking had plenty of time to catch my Amazing dance moves)…………………HAHAHA!

It was Alfonzo and Elia!!!! Said hi and got right back to my little dance/run! Planning on making this a routine for a few times awake; taking advantage of this amazing setting for a run!

Had a delicious lunch of spaghetti with ham and an egg sauce. Yum.

Afterwards planned to go on a countryside joyride but a storm rolled in. BUH! What’s up with all this rain?

Next few days I’ll just be getting ready for our trip to the beach! YAY!

A three year old took off his shoe and threw it at my head…gotta love kids

Tuesday June 30

So I wanted to go somewhere today but Alice said last night that we would go to the top of Lignano in the morning. Got up early….got dressed…10…11…12 oclock. Guess not. Little annoyed because Ive spent a little too much time indoors and was anxious to leave for the day. Rain keeps rolling through during the afternoons. This rainy summer is unusual for them.

Oh well. I’ll go tomorrow.

Spent the day going through travel books and looking at things to do in some of the surrounding cities. Christine gave me “The Little Black Book of Florence” so I went through there and mapped out places I want to go…shopping and food wise of course. The museums and tourist sites are a madhouse right now…Tried to go see a photography exhibit at The Academy (where The David is)…LINE WAS INSANE!

playground photography

Dedo returned to play in the evening. Yippie. In his usually fashion he actually took off his shoe and threw it at my head. I took a little more active role tonight and started telling Dedo no…don’t do that…don’t do that or not to play with Elia” That’s about all I can manage to get across in my Italian. Dedo is not use to combo English – Italian – charades like Elia is.

Too bad he doesn’t have a cute older brother…

Monday June 29

Another mellow day…off and on looked like it would storm. Did lots of journaling…watched some episodes of “Weeds”
Have I mentioned I'm hooked on “Weeds”...?
It’s been on showtime for a while. Widowed suburban house wife deals weed to support her family after her husband dies. I Love Mary Louise Parker. So I download a couple episodes every few days and watch them when I go to bed. My tv time. It entertains me.

So Elia has a little reoccurring friend we play with now. The boy (ledion)…dedo to Elia…is almost 3 and a serious pain in the ass. His grandpa brings him up often and he absolutely does not mind him AT ALL. The first few play dates really consisted of me playing with Ledion to distract him from his big blue jeep…so Elia could play with it.

Kids aren’t so fond of sharing…and trying to get them to is EXAUSTING!

So now Dedo is Elia’s friend and he is very excited when he comes to play…and they make sure to find us when they come…if we aren’t outside they get us from the house.
There is no hiding from dedo!

So too bad dedo isn’t brought up here by a cute older brother, nope…big bellied grandpa. We usually just sit at the playground and I let the grandpa deal with them mostly…since its Dedo that needs most the dealing with.

The biggest problem with Dedo is he spits. Yes…SPITS. A lot and usually in response to the word no and directed at the person saying no. Not the best behavior.

And elia copies EVERYTHING…so Dedo spits…Elia spits. This is not ok. Thank goodness he doesn’t really know how to spit much…Dedo on the other hand. Gross.
Mama got a little preview of the bad influence that is Dedo. The restaurant was slow and we played outside the restaurant with Mama before going up to get ready for bed. Elia was spitting and throwing rocks (at mom) with no hesitation or response to being told stop.
I just looked at her and said DEDO.
Duhn duhn duuuhhn!

Did you just eat a napkin?

Saturday and Sunday 27-28

Not much more eventful then the last the previous two days. Crazy storm rolled through on Saturday that blew out one of the fridges in the restaurant. 2000 euro. Sucks. Alice was NOT happy.

With the crappy weather…I just started re-reading the 7th Harry Potter. Read it all in pretty much one long sitting like a nerd the first weekend it came out two summers ago. So I wore my sweats, curled up in bed and read all day Saturday. Very nice.

Sunday was a beautiful day but not crazy packed up here with the bad weather we had the day before. Elia and I just played outside all day. He was pretty good. For dinner we had pasta, crustini (bread with some sort of meaty topping), fresh mozzarella di bufala, oh and Elia ate (bit, chewed, and swallowed) a good portion of his napkin. He thought it was funny. I did not so much. I also did not think the three dirty diapers I changed today were funny. Really? 3 times.

Dirty diapers aren’t that big a deal. I don’t really mind…except he sometimes freaks out when you change him and you have to fight him to get him cleaned up and in a new diaper. So im not much a fan of fighting…but if the person I'm fighting is covered in poop…wtf… I forfeit. Except I can’t forfeit….and let the kid spend the day sitting in his own poop…so I have to enter a battle with an opponent covered in poo. Let’s hope this is the only time in my life I am in such a position.

I plan to counteract my last few lazy days with some much more productive ones. Except not tomorrow. We have now established that Mondays are worthless and I will not waste my energies trying to go anywhere on Mondays. But after that…

maybe redo some shopping time in Arezzo and visit Cortona. Its right around the corner and I have not gone yet.

I also might explore what my scooter trip options are. I really enjoy scooting so maybe there are some easy places to visit by scooter. As long as the directions are simple I wouldn’t mind taking my scooter for a Tuscan countryside trip.

Also I will be working everyday this week and transferring my night off to the following week. Vanessa and the RCs have a ten day break so I'm going to take two nights off to go the Cinque terre with the girls. It’s gorgeous. Five little towns on the coast are linked my walking trails. It’s amazing and I’m super excited!

June 25-26

Very mellow days. Just hung around Lignano and read a lot. Not great weather. A bit chilly and looking threatening rain. Makes for a quiet day with very few visitors. Elia has been really good the last few days. I really enjoy him when he is sweet. Been really tired though. I usually have more energy for Elia in the evenings if I was actually more active during the day. When I just lay around and read and get sun…I'm usually dragging a bit with him. And you can’t really drag with a two year old. He doesn’t allow it!

Galileo and the 6 euro waffle

Wednesday June 24

Went to Florence with Arlene (rc at santa chiara). She is a sweet girl and figured it was good to hang out together in case I do stay as an rc as well. We would be roomies and around each other ALL the time. I think she would be easy to get along with. If the rcs don’t get along it is really a strain. You are around each other so much…no breaks….eat dinner together every night. I don’t think I would have trouble getting along with Anthony and Arlene.

So we went the Galileo exhibit. Really interesting but made me feel just a little insignificant or maybe just dumb. It is amazing what they were figuring out hundreds…even thousands of years ago….and so much was just over my head. The exhibit showed everything that lead up to or formed the basis of Galileo’s discoveries. So it went back to Egyptians etc… very interesting.

Mainly we wondered…and ate. Got gelato from “Grom” (another rec of V) and also had waffles.

So these tourist waffles of Florence are quite tasty but make sure you ask how much FIRST!!!! We ordered and went in to pay. 6 EURO!!!! Holy crap! We thought he was charging us for both together. Oh but no. Atleast the price was for two but still INSANE. They are a little bigger than the palm of your hand! So we made sure we took a seat and enjoyed our waffles that cost more than lunch.

From now on everything will be priced relative to these waffles. A tank of gas for the scooter….2 euro less than Florence waffles….gelato from mondo….3 trips equal one Florence waffle.

Also stopped in the food market and bought dried fruit. Delicious. So I not only enjoy my fruit in gelato form but in dried/sugared form as well. If only I liked the ACTUAL fruit. Baby steps.

Galileo probably would have been smart enough not to spend 6 euro on tourist trap waffles

Haircut Tuesday - and have no pic...Sorry

Woke up and went to get my hair cut at manuel’s family’s salon (manuel is vanessa’s boyfriend and the family I stay with when I sleep in town…love his mom). His brother Ramon cut my hair. Really like him. Very funny and sweet…really makes an effort with his English. He is married to Brit from Colorado and they have two kids. I met them another night that I stayed at v’s.

I said I wanted to keep the length but he could do whatever from there. He said he was going to cut only one or two inches…an hour later and lots of talking and cutting…my hair just got shorter and shorter. He probably took 6 off. Eh. No big deal. Its about what it was the last time I came to Italy. Still nothing drastic. Lighter, some layers. He did really well with the bangs. Really like them…maybe my fav bangs I’ve had.

He spent about 20 minutes styling it…to which I said…I'm about to just put on a scooter helmet…."oh no. you take my car!” Ha ha

Went to lunch at the school before heading back to Lignano.........So I made a decision somewhat about staying. Nothing is at all set and we have no idea that it would work out. V and I have only talked. She has not talked to anyone at the school. But I did say I would stay to work in the fall but I didn’t think it would be good for me to stay till may. So we will see. It might not work out. The job overlaps with my nanny job…and they might need someone that can commit for a whole year and not just a semester. So we will see!

Another reason Siesta is a pain in my ass. Scooter gas. I tried to ask what kind and what I should do about getting gas but Alfonzo said for me just to go when the attendant is there and let him put it in.

BUT THEY ARE GONE FOR A CHUNK OF THE DAY…and this chunk is usually when I need gas.

You can pay a machine and get your own gas but I thought that the minimum might be ten euro and the scooter barely holds five.

Due palle.

Of course V to the rescue. After lunch I really needed gas so she went with me to make sure I figured it out. We called Manuel to make sure what type of gas and the min. was five euro. Didn’t quite get the whole five in. Got a credit back for 25 cents. Already have no clue where I stuck that. Oh well. I got gas though!

I think it’s kind of funny that I can ride a scooter up and down a mountain…catch trains and buses on my own but what was I worried the most about…putting gas in the damn thing!

Well now that’s figured out! Yay!

Mi Cocina Monday

So I took Monday off because Vanessa was having a concert at Santa Chiara tonight. Was going to spend the day shopping in Arezzo…oh wait...

So Monday is worthless! How did I forget this????Most things close down. Tricky Tricky. Fell for it like Mi Cocina on a Monday. Wanted do some shopping but Monday combined with friggin siesta really put a damper on my options.

Due palle
(siesta – Italians shut down and break from 1-3 or 4)

Siesta is a pain in the ass…while I respect is as a lifestyle (taking the afternoon to go home to family)…it makes the afternoon of a day trip super limited! Buh. So my day trips really need to be that I get up early and spend my mornings in town and go back to Lignano for siesta like all the other Italians. I’ll give this a shot with Arezzo again (the bigger city near me). Probably soon. I need more notecards and there were some shops I really wanted to stop in. (but it was mi cocina Monday) Mainly a little vintage shop called Oscar. And I need to pay a visit to Violetta of course…the best gelato in Italy.

So the da was Blah weather. Wondered. Read. Ipod. Another very in my head day. What do I want to do about staying???

Went back to Castiglion and had dinner at the school. Sat with Vanessa and her band at our own little table. Felt very much like a groupie! Concert was really good. Inside because of the weather. Cozy.

Hung out for a while after and counted coins. I gave them all my cash to take their change from the bar off their hands (the rc’s bar in the school) and took it back to Alfonzo. They always need change for the bar and restaurant.


Spent the night at V’s. I mentioned needing a haircut and she suggested I just go in the morning. Sure. Why not?

Sammontana Gelati freezer took my computer outlet

Saturday -Sunday – June 20-21

So the lemon chill on a stick that I have so fondly described in previous blogging is made by Sammontana Gelati. They (alice and alfonzo) had an extra freezer for it laying around and needed a place to keep pasta when they make a whole bunch for the restaurant. So they put It in the office in the house. Pretty funny when I came in to find an icecream freezer in the house.

Alfonzo made a joke that I could fill it with limperli. I told him to order me a box the next time the icecream man comes!

Mellow weekend. Chilly/windy. Not many visitors to Lignano. Played mostly inside.

Took the scooter to the grocery store on Saturday to pick up a few things that I felt like ONLY I was eating…like cereal. Alice was not a fan. Said I could only do that this one time. I probably won’t do that much anyways because I just bought a bunch of snacks I don’t need to eat. I was craving sour candy.

Vanessa and the RC’s came for lunch and to visit the new baby goats. Ate lunch from the bar with them. Had a tasty sausage and cheese piadina from the bar. (hot sandwich in a big tortilla) I really like them. I request them for dinner sometimes.

Still talking myself in circles about staying?????

Talked to trey on the computer. He shrugged me staying off as no big deal. Pointed out that if I came back for 6 weeks that way more time then I come home usually over the course of a year. Hmmmmmm
Tried to catch Ryan on the phone. Getting anxious about not having talked to him.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY SUNDAY. They do have father’s day in Italy but not this month. Mothers day is in may though.

Fun in the sun

Friday –

just laid out and read. Got a little pink. Almost have “The Birth of Venus” finished. Turned out to be really good…set in 15th century Florence. Very good.

My back got red because it was really hot and I mainly sat up with my back to the sun so I could read.

Ha. Looking at my journal from that day just reads as a series of questions. Will I be ready to go after four months? Would it be a mistake to take a year off from starting my actual career? Is it selfish? ….only time in my life I have such freedom to even consider….what to do?????

ya, im actually journaling...and then look at that to write this blog. The journal is a little easier to keep up with day to day and then I can look back at it every few days to write these posts. Im getting more up for it I guess. the blog will be nice to have as a record and the journal can be more pointless personal ramble.

Sure I’d love to get on the wrong bus and take a trip out to the hospital and back…

Orvieto Thursday - June 18

I was going to try to catch the 7:50 train to try to go to this little town outside Orvieto.

Its an hour to Orvieto…and hour bus to Bagnoregio...thirty minute walk to the town of Civita.

It's only accessible by a little footbridge and there isn’t much there. Roundtrip is five hours to visit this little town. I wouldn’t mind doing it though. But for today…I didn’t catch the early train…I don’t like buses (the schedules confuse the hell out of me) and I need to get back to grab dinner with Vanessa. So Orvieto it is...

It is a walled city set pretty high up on a hill. You take a bus or the funicular from the train station.

I looked up in advance what bus to take…not like me…and got off the train, bought a ticket and went and got on the A1 bus.

So I got a little hour tour of the not interesting surroundings of Orvieto and made a trip to the hospital and back. Buh. So for sure not going to try going to Civita. I was lucky this bus came back to the station!

Orvieto is a beautiful town. We came on a school tour…it has a pretty major cathedral, museums, pretty extensive underground tunnels etc. I did all that last time so I just wondered… Surprise Surprise.

We were lucky as students that we were here in off season from the major tourism times. Orvieto is swamped! After having lunch, gelato, wondering through the tourist and some of the shops…ceramics is big here….I went to a park overlooking the valley and read and journaled. Really pretty day…little warm but still nice.

I spent my siesta time in the park and then went for a walk along the outerwall. It’s pretty much a walking park with amazing panoramas at all times. This was such a relaxing time because there wasn’t a person in site for hours. No tourist wondered away from the main plaza and corso so I had my wall walk ALL to myself. Very peaceful…flowers, benches, plush green grass. And so quite. I kept my ipod on all day ( I usually don’t listen to music when I'm playing tourist) but it made for a very enjoyable day. Maybe a little too much in my head but that’s ok. Va bene. Get a lot of "in my head" time here!

me standing on the wall overlooking the valley

my walk

Caught a 30 minute late train after six…then scootered up to Santa Chiara to meet V.

Went out to eat and sat and talked for a long time. Ordered pasta that was creamy with ham. Very good and a nice change. Pasta is pretty much always tomato sauce…or pesto. While of course tasty, I like a little change!

V and I talked about the possibility of me staying to be an RC at the school.

If you don’t know what that is…its former students (usually all recently graduated) and you live at the school doing a wide range of jobs. I guess the major would be helping in the kitchen and serving meals, handling food deliveries, babysitting in general….

They could use someone that would stay in the fall and spring. Which would put me here a whole year. Wow. I would have 6 week break at Christmas which I would for sure come home for. Hmmm. Lots to think about.
For every reason I have to stay there are two reasons/responsibilities to go back home. Buh. I don’t like growing up! So thinking this over takes up much of my next few days! I just talk myself in circles about it…I can talk myself into as easy as out of it. What to do?

In the market for a husband?

June 18

Met an American/Italian couple last night that came up for dinner at Lignano. Elia and I came downstairs to play outside and Alfonzo gestures…says something about Americana and leads us to the side patio. He wanted me to meet the American. Haha

So Megan and Sebastian met 6 years ago when she was a student. She never left! Finished her school here. Crazy! They have been married 3 years. Super cute and so sweet.

I sat with them through their whole dinner because they kept insisting that I stay and talk. They said there are 27 married couples (American/Italian) from the Castiglion Area. YIKES!

It’s not THAT big! So I don’t need to hang around here too long or I might end up with a hubby! Sebastian talked a lot about falling in love, romance, fate…. Most things I just kind of laugh off.

That’s bad.

He asked if I believe in the power of love? I just laughed and said I was pretty anti-love right now. He said I was too young and sweet to not believe in love…he said he could find me love so easy….

I'm good.

Megan warned me that you find it when you aren’t looking so I better watch out how anti-love I am.

I enjoyed talking to them. They have a jewelry store in Cortona called Del Brenna. I will have to visit! Sebastian and his brother design and make silver jewelry. I liked her engagement ring. Just a band of diamonds but unique. The jewelry design did intrigue me...I THEN asked if he had any single friends in the business!

Hello Terrible Two’s!

June15-16

Mon and Tuesday was pretty low key. ITS GETTTING HOT!

I'm beyond grateful that it cools down every night!

Just hung around the house and read a lot. Finished the new book I picked up on Friday and have been watching the HBO series online that is based off the books. It’s interesting and kind of nice to watch some TV. Elia and I never turn it on. They don’t like for him to watch…and can’t understand it anyways! The one thing I have wanted to do lately is just curl up in big comfy blankets and watch a movie with candy and popcorn! I will probably take Thursday off and go to Orvieto. It’s a beautiful town about an hour train ride away. I’ll probably make it back early evening so maybe I will see about having a movie night with myself! I'm sure I can round up some popcorn and candy before I come home!

So I'm glad Elia broke me in slowly…he really was just WAY too well-behaved to be true. He is still not bad at all and I for sure know he could be so so worse! He can be a lot of work though sometimes. He is two so you have to expect that! Last night he decided to keep throwing his sheet out of the crib and then asking for it over and over and over! This kid does not get tired of saying the same word over and over if he wants something. I'm not talking about saying something five times…he can go on for twenty minutes saying the same word. Ex. For a solid thirty minutes when I was giving him a bath and getting ready for bed it was “Loli, loli, loli,…..” Loli is “outside” in Elia language. Aww! There might have been a few gestures made of pulling a trigger or cutting my wrist! I picked up the cutting the wrist gesture from Alice…she does it a lot when Elia is being a handful!

Weekend

Busy at Lignano so I didn’t do much. Finished the book I picked up in Florence. Really need to learn to read a little less obsessively!

Just finished watching Elia all day Sunday and wow he wore me out! He was a little roller coaster today…worst for me at lunch and dinner. Had to just send him off a few times and tell him bye but I was going to eat. Worked a bit. It was the hottest day we have had so maybe that just put him in a weird mood. Hope not seeing as we’ve got a couple of hot months ahead of us. I'm glad it cools down at night though. The evenings are really nice and its not too hot to sleep. I cant handle being hot and trying to sleep!

How was he bad? NO TO EVERYTHING!!!! And he is really starting to understand that you cant MAKE him. He just says NO!

Ha. Luna is laying beside me (the lab) and must be really dreaming…pretty much running in place right now. Pretty amusing!

It was INSANE how many people were here today. Cars parked everywhere, lots full, streets filled, traffic jams…poor Alfonzo and Alice have to be exhausted. I think she said the restaurant served 60 for lunch and 120 for dinner. Its not that big of a kitchen. I bet it is SO HOT! I'm glad its cooler at night but it was sweltering at lunch. Felt bad. Alice looked so flustered and rushed when she dropped lunch off. I feel bad that they always fix everything. I sometimes cook some meat or pasta for elia but usually its done for us.

Firenze Friday

June 12

Made the 8:30 train for Florence, pretty good for me! I did set my alarm for the 6:50 train! Kind of a joke but I thought it might be nice to make it back in time for a nap. Oh well. It’s a little over an hour, just listened to my Ipod and watched out the window! Made it there by ten and commenced to just wonder! There are more tourist than I was use to when I was here but really not too bad. I'm sure it will get much worse. What I love about Florence is how walkable it is. Over the next few hours I just wondered around without a map but happened upon everything I would have wanted to pass by if I had been going around tediously following a map of all the major sites.

I did the tourist thing of course… Took photos with the masses of aisian tourist in their big hats following the tourguides holding up their tour guide batons. I still really just enjoy wondering through the city more. Most cities you get away from all the tourist but Florence is pretty well flocked all over.

I am just a tourist too but my favorite experiences of places is not the major tourist spots but just experiencing the city itself. Florence never feels like that but I still enjoyed it. I had a list of things I wanted to do while I was there…I’ll have to go back again without a list…I DON’T LIKE LISTS! Though this was actually a productive list covering day.

That’s kind of nice after this last semester of grad school. I quit making list…got sick of never getting enough done and it was just depressing to see how behind I was! My favorite list was the one Ellen made one night with one thing everyone up at studio had to get done for that one night. Everyones read with things like…sections, site plan, rendering…Brooke: sleep. I had pulled an all nighter the night before and it was still not quite to the crucial time where sleep was just not possible. That was the one night I actually got my list done! Random tangent

So Florence…
My list of things to do (not exactly all that extraneous)…Gelato (of course Vanessa was able to direct me to the best place), a kebap (also per V’s rec), more sandals (the ones I brought are pretty worn out), the paperback exchange, a journal, and some Clinique for V. Of course she was able to direct me to the paperback exchange and another bookstore like Barnes and Noble that carried moleskins.

Sidenote: now moleskin makes a soft cover. Picked one up. I'm a BIG FAN. Never liked carrying the hardcovers in my purse.

I wanted another pair of Birkenstocks and they are a little cheaper over here so I figured I'd look for another pair. I remembered there being a shop right by the duomo…guess it was meant to be. It was on the same street as the kebap and gelato.



So I ordered a kebap with everything (im working on being a better eater) then up the street for gelato and finished by picking up two pairs of sandals.

me getting gelato

My standard Madrid style I'm so fond of and a pair with more straps that might be better for longer walks.

I was going to get something with ankle straps but they just didn’t feel right. I think the pair I got will work good…besides I'm use to walking a lot in just the one strap too. I got one in a purple (haha almost maroon color). I would not call it maroon but I bet a lot of people would! I really don’t care much for the color but I guess it can be my little part of College Station in Italy!

The double straps are a black background with floral print. Like them both!

Made it to the paperback exchange and picked up two books. Asked the girl if she recommended anything…she asked what I had read last. Named a few, including twilight but said that wasn’t necessarily what I was looking for. Though I do like series. She recommended another vampire series that was more adult…I was hesitant but it had quite a few books in the series. Ill give it a shot. The book is now a show on HBO called True Blood. I started in on the way back. It held my interest and is in pretty sharp contrast to the other one I have going “The Birth of Venus.” I like a little contrast!

I picked up a regular journal, a watercolor journal…being pretty ambitious! I wish I didn’t love to read so much. I need to be studying Italian and maybe sketching but I just get sucked into books. I was pretty into this new one on the train because I had to jump up when I heard them announce Castiglion Fiorentino. Normally I would have noticed the stop at Arezzo and been ready…guess the book is pretty decent.

It was a pretty hot day but I enjoyed getting it. Is it bad how much I enjoy doing things by myself? I do like going places with others too so I guess it would be bad if I only liked doing things alone. But my enjoyment of being alone rather than getting depressed works out pretty well for my living situation. It nice! Alfonzo was concerned. The other day at lunch we had to get out the dictionary because Alfonzo was asking if I was “something” and Alice didn’t know the word. He was asking if I was lonely! Told him no worries. He has no idea how nice it is to actually be ALONE. Told him it was good for me and part of why coming here sounded so perfect! Boys just cause complications and I want a complication free life for a change! Alice said she was glad because it works out great for them too! She constantly asks if I am happy and if I need ANYTHING! I really do just adore her!