Tag Archives: italy

my italy #2

Find last year’s post on Italy here.
Last weekend I flew down to Italy again for four short days of visiting. My dad needed to go on business and I tagged along to visit my friends.
My Italy is

a warm welcome by friends both old and new.
baking summer heat, dry and salty.
swimming in turquoise water so warm it feels like silk on the skin
colorful, shady streets in the city centre.
a sweet baby boy, who I last saw when he was only a few weeks old and who has won my heart so completely that it was so hard to part from him, knowing he won’t remember me when I’ll see him next.

tiny village shops to buy the best goods in town.
waking in the middle of the night because it’s still basically too warm to sleep.
drinking copious amounts of Estathé, the taste of my childhood.

More photos and infos on Italy over on my photo blog.
I’ll just sit back and dream about sun and beaches and good food and speaking italian while trying to blend out the second cold and rainy summer in a row here in Germany. Back next year for sure.

my italy

16 Replies

I have some dearest friends in Italy, family almost, at least that’s how I think it feels for all of us. I’ve been visiting there since I was 5 years old, sometimes every other year, sometimes with a few years in between where I didn’t make it. Being in that part of the world feels a little like coming home every time and I never realize how much I need to be there until I arrive. This last visit was only short of two days and I soaked up every minute of it.
My Italy is rolling hills

and picturesque flower pots.

Wide open spaces, century old stone houses and family vegetable patches at every corner.

My Italy is noisy family dinners, with food you never knew could taste this good, deliciously prepared by 86-year-old nonna.

My Italy is lemon trees on the terrazza and trying to keep up with an italian conversation heavily flavoured with regional dialects until I give up and just let the words buzz around me pleasantly while breathing in the air that hints at the sea some 30 minutes away.

My Italy feels like home.

baby visit

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I’ve been away from this space for a couple of days and I hope to catch up with comments and blogs during the next couple of days.
But first of all, my reason for being away was that I went to Italy for the weekend to visit dear friends of ours and more specifically to meet the newest addition to their family, a beautiful baby boy.
Meet Andrea:

He’s only three and a half weeks old and has already become the centre of the whole family, his mom and dad, his grandparents, his aunt and uncle and his great-grandmother all dote on him.

It’s obvious that he himself isn’t really quite sure what to make of this world yet.

But he has a whole big family behind him to help him figure it out.

fashion friday

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I haven’t been blogging as frequently lately because there never seem to be enough hours to the day to do all I want to. Between finishing the thesis and applying for jobs and working for my dad and working on my Etsy shop the days just fly by.
This weekend I am working on the biggest shoe fair in Germany, which lasts 3 days and takes place twice a year. My dad’s been doing this trade show for about 30 years and I seriously have videos from the 1980s of me as a five-year-old crawling through the corridors and playing under display tables.
Since I started helping him out about 7 years ago I have always been looking forward to this despite the hard work and long hours, because our colleagues/boss from Italy come over and I get to talk italian for three days.
This time I caught a bad cold the day before the show so it all started off badly. It got even worse when the bus I was meaning to take didn’t show up and, after I’d made it to the train station, trains weren’t going due to an accident at another station…great. When I finally arrived at the fair 45mins late I was 100% sure the day was going to suck…badly.
Well, I should know by now I can always count on my italian friends. The minute I arrived they presented me not only with a pair of my favourite sandals from our last collection but also with a huge italian leather designer bag which they’d brought me….’just because, and your current bag’s too small for all your stuff anyway’. Need I add these are also the friends who invite me stay at their house in Italy every summer for two weeks, feed me the best italian food and make sure I have the most amazing beach vacation? Seriously, guys, you do waaay to much and I can never ever even attempt to repay you all your kindness!!!
That’s not to say I’m not in love with my gorgeous super soft new Avorio bag because I am…totally, completely in love 🙂 It easily fits my camera, a bottle of water and all the other completely necessary stuff I carry around with me all the time.

Another reason I look forward to this event is that I get to dress up for it. I have been working/studying from home for about 3 years now and I’m ashamed to admit there frequently are days I never change out of my pj’s…I know I’m not going to leave the house anyway and my cats couldn’t care less. But for those three days the fashion world turns to Duesseldorf and selling a high-end fashion label you are expected to look the part. Really good reason for shopping if you ask me!

That was the least awkward picture I could find (I am so bad in front of the camera).
And while we’re talking fashion, I did say I avoid going to the city center because it makes me spend money, right? Well, I went the other day and I just couldn’t leave those shoes be, they were calling me…

They’re off-white leather, brushed to give them a greyish-yellowish tint. The first thing my boyfriend said when I presented them proudly in the evening was: “Why would you buy dirty shoes?” to which I replied rather hysterically “they’re brushed leather, it’s called fashion!”. Duh.
While yesterday was crazy busy today it’s quieter and I even found time to write this post in between clients (yay for wi-fi).
Here’s to my wonderful friends and my dad, I’m loving you guys to bits and having a blast with you!