A Few Things Before Firenze.

This week I've been prepping for my weekend trip to Firenze (Florence!)

My main priorities were making sure I acquire a local Italian phone #, purchase the correct train/bus tickets, find a place to stay (for free, preferably) while out of town, and make sure I get back to Spilamberto in time for work on Monday!

The kids grandma came to visit on Wednesday, she only speaks Italian and is so so sweet. Despite our language barrier, she took a keen interested in me and for a while we were at home alone, just the two of us! We really made an effort to communicate, and alas, it worked! After many hand gestures, dictionary look-ups, and repeated phrases, I know know the following:

1. According to her I'm very tall for a Chinese person and am very pale.
2. She wanted to know if I had any brothers or sisters, but more importantly, a boyfriend. She wanted to know when I was planning on getting married and what my husband will do for a living.
3. I un-intentionally shocked/startled her when I told her I had no religion. She asked me first if I was Catholic, then if I was Christian, when I said neither she yelped a bit and seemed to want to save my soul. To sweet. As a grandmother of 5 and a mother of 3, religion is a very important part of her life. 
4. She said that she has visited the Grand Canyon and thinks that Las Vegas is amazing, in general she thinks America is really beautiful. Funny thing, isn't it? I've never really stopped to wonder in how beautiful America is, but I come here and stare in awe at everything. Beauty really is all around us, we just need to open our eyes and want to see it.

(** Correction: I was baptized in a Methodist church, and failed to mention that. Does that make me a Christian? Yes, in some ways. It's up for debate. I have my own ideas about this, but it is something that is a part of my history and a part of the story that grounds who I am today.  **) 

Success in getting a local phone number! It's just a super plain and ordinary pay-as-you-go phone, but it gets the job done. Pretty strange going from using an iPhone to one of these though... :/ Texting is so hard. I was able to purchase tickets & am heading to Bologna Friday night and meeting with some fellow "couch surfers" and staying with my 1st "Host!"After that I have a 6:00AM train ride to Florence where I hope to attend some "Wine Town" events; I am staying with a sommelier there so some good wine shall definitely be had. 

Little Carlo, who may be the most spoiled child I have ever known, was actually pretty good the other day! His older brother Matteo had his 1st day of football practice, so I had to stay home with Carlo alone. Usually he cries like CRAZY whenever his mother leaves, but instead we played with puzzles and board games! Success! Crying children really are stressful, it's so annoying to hear and makes me NOT want to have kids for a long long long time. 

I was able to check out the Wednesday Market again, this time I came home with some goodies! Although vintage is pretty hard to find here, I have hope - I'm thinking Florence will prove to be a treasure trove. 

1. An Ombre Tee.

2. A Purple L/S Velvet crop top. 

3. Riding Pants. 

4. Knit Tank.

Going to try and be up and active before my usual 7:30am "call time" tomorrow. Have lots of errands to run and things to plan for my 1st out-of-town weekend trip! I really wish I could have wifi all the time, it makes life and planning so much easier. It's amazing how much I rely on my iphone, but I am happy to be filling up so many journal pages & glad I stocked up on good pens before I left ;)