Noto, Sicily and family pictures

Noto is part of the UNESCO, the UN's organization funded to preserve and promote places, cities, towns, buildings, monuments, etc. around the world that are considered important for our human heritage, that are most unique or speak most to the shared human experience in history. Noto is known for its elaborate baroque style of churches, buildings, town, all adorned with the details of little baroquean gorgi or sirens, which we saw many suspending balconies throughout the streets. I thought it was really neat the yellow stone they used, which was carved out directly from the canyon in which it the city stands. I think the last picture we are still in Taormina.

Taormina, Sicily and view of Giardini di Naxos

The last picture is actually a close up of the view of Mt. Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe, that we saw from Taormina. Taormina is a beautiful old medieval town on the hills that rush from Mt. Etna to the sea. We were actually lodging at the Gardens of Naxos, a smaller town edged in a bay next to Taormina, which is also one if not the oldest Greek colony during 200* b.c. I loved Taormina and although it was quite touristy I still enjoyed its narrow and windy roads throughout the old town, the balconies, the old churches standing up close to the buildings, the amazing open piazzas that you came up to quite unexpectedly, and of course the secret little stairs that bring to other little lookouts. The first picture is of the famous greek ampitheatre at Taormina which they still use for concerts, as they were in fact getting ready for one the day we visit. The second picture is a view from my favorite piazza at the entrance in one of the main gates of Taormina. The view is of the very bay of Giardini di Naxos were for a whole week we would go bathe and bask in the sun!

Sicilia

It is late right now, not a good time to start a post, but I thought maybe some people are waiting for some pictures of our trip, maybe some dream of traveling too and would like to see the proof of this distant, old and enchanted land that the greeks once called their home as many other seafare nations and kingdoms did. Here are just a few. The pcitures will be my words for now, and I know already they will do a much better job of describing the land, the people, the food, they will be more interesting and especially they will show off the photographical talent of my husband.

Birthday Boy

This was my first birthday party, the theme was "Frog" :) I think I did a pretty good job frosting my very first cake. Of course, it wasn't all perfect. You can't see what happened underneath all the frosting! I also made cupcakes, you can see them on our flickr link.
Enjoy!

I'm leaving on a Jet plane

But I do know I'll be back again :) However I will be flying back home to Italy to stay for 6 weeks! I want to update my blog more often there than I have been lately. My last post was a little melancholy...ok, lame. I guess summer times has too many advertisement of skinny bikini girls running around, though I have yet to see the beach! And I will, I am going to Taormina, Sicily, not far from Mt. Etna, for about 5 days. I can't wait, it's been so long since I've seen waves wash upon a shore, retreat and come back anew...and that view, of the sea meeting the sky...ah...the sand between my feet, salty smell, the breeze and the rhythmic sounds. Yes, I am going to enjoy it a lot. Hopefully it won't be too busy where we are. I have these dreams of me waking early with Jeremiah, leaving him with my mom and walking to the beach, empty and doing yoga and meditation, morning and evening. Also a lot of reading under the ombrellone. And my son, who just turned one. (I am going to update with pictures on that, next :) I can see him chasing after those waves, laughing with glee, and stopping him from stuffing his face with sand. With luck we will be able to make it to the Alps, or the pre-Alps, like the Dolomites behind my parents' apartment. That way my hubby can leap with glee up some mountain trails and look over the glacier lakes and pine trees. If not he will probably want to climb up Mt. Etna, a very nice active volcano near Taormina (uhm...)

side note: I am having a hard time concentrating b/c dh is watching a movie on tv, Johnny Q I think, and I've never seen it and it interests me 'cause it has to do with our messed up health care system. Which should be free, the important stuff I mean (not plastic surgery) and especially for children.

Back to my travel plans. I'll be overseas till the mid of August, part of the time just me and j-man. I hope to keep in touch with everyone over there as well. Thank you to all of you who wrote such encouraging comments on my last post. Again, I know that was truly silly (and more b/c I shared it with the world), so thanks for reminding me about something I should already know: I am wonderfully made. And the most important part is the inside, the only one that matters. Character modeling should be my #1 priority.

I am guessing me next few posts will be mucho more interesting!

Pace e Amore!

Why do I think that...

...being skinny means being happy? Is it only me? Of course not, this whole crazy society we live in tells us that repeatedly (and that skinny is beautiful. That's it. Your are skinny than you must be pretty too).

I hate that I keep struggling internally with this. I went to work out with this wonderful group of women. We meet at a church building and we work out, laughing, encouraging one another, even praying. But here I come home, take one look in the mirror, from a far away position and realize that I still look just as big as I was before I started working out. I still ate some chocolate today and peanut butter. Not too much. But in my mind that is what has happened. The ugly critic inside me says "You will always be fat, you will never be pretty."

What is worse? The fact that I am traveling in Italy in less than two weeks. AND I am going to a beach. An Italian beach. My sister knows what I am talking about. In Italy it seems everybody is skinny and beautiful. The truth is that Italians, especially women, are Obssessed with looks. They probably pay the most for beauty care and products. They truly are material/physical people. I don't know how often since I have lived in the states and have gone back to visit in my home country that I have heard :"Oh, Miriam, ti sei ingrassatta" (read: you got fat). Ugh. I am dreading hearing these comments. In my mind I want to be able to reply "And you are just as unfriendly as ever" or "And you have too!" Mostly it is older people who comment like this. The fact is that it will still hurt and I do not even k now if I will have the confidence to stick up for myself. But this is what I would want for other girls in my situation. To realize that their beauty is not from the outside. But I keep coming up against all this stuff that tells me otherwise.

It's a war I guess! Sometimes I feel like I am winning, but most times I feel such a weight on my self. On my spirit. When I get down on myself a lot of times it is because of what I think of myself physically. But isn't this so superficial?? Why don't I get down on myself because of what I am spiritually or mentally? Because of my mean parts, the pride or prejudices I have, why don't I beat myself because of that? Is it because after all I really think my worth is in how I look?

Yes. That is the simple ugly truth. I think that if I were skinny I'd be happy. Because I'd finally have meaning, I'd be perfect.

I wonder how many skinny people are happy......

Feeling Loved

So Sunday was my 25th birthday. Quarter of a century! I had a very special day, but even the weekend and the week before was great (hubby took me shopping on Wed. Just the two of us all day! And I actually found stuff I loved on sale!)
Usually my birthdays go by with a few phone calls from my family overseas, maybe a special meal and cake, and cards with perhaps a little money gift. This is all special, and by no means am I trying to diminish the love I receive from my hubby, parents, in-laws, grandparents and more. I love the attention and care I get from them this day and every other day as well. But it's been a while since I have had a b-day with friends over (been a while since I would ask "Mom, can I have a party?" and prefer to have a surprise one). This past weekend was also Memorial Day weekend and since we are to enter a very busy month before we depart for the Bel Paese (aka Italy) we decided we'd go visit friends and church family over there. It's been nine months since we first left and haven't been there at all since before Thanksgiving.

So our friends Russ and Liana (not to be confused with Ross and Rachel), who graciously hosted us this weekend, threw a party for me, with a white and pink frosted cake with my name on it, and friends from church to come eat dinner (lasagna!) and play really hilarious games...the more hilarious because of how much fun our friends are when we all get together. Yep, we had a good time. But what really made me feel all warm and fuzzy and even emotional was all the love and care, the fact that people would give me cards that say "We love you!" "You are special", that they would pay for my dinners and desserts, send me emails and cards, and wrote on my wall on facebook. And the presents I received, all were unexpected. I felt bad that I don't have the budget for getting presents for friends or even family right now, but it felt good to know someone had thought of me and bought me something just because they care. I had a very emotional week the one before, and I worried too much about what others thought of me, if the liked me, feeling like I was still in 6th grade.

What I received this weekend was the confirmation of the love from friends. Especially since they don't have to love me or even like me, the fact that they do, and I feel so underserving, makes it so special. so appreciated. so meaningful. So thank you friends for your love. It's the best gift ever!

PS I even got a free drink from the restaurant and only a waring on our way back when we were stopped for speeding! Thank you Lord for friends and unexpected freebies and grace!

Ascenscion Day, Scripture reading and Winner

Today is the day many churches who follow more closely liturgical calendars are celebrating Ascension day. I have finished reading about Lauren Winner's experience in an Episcopal church (author of Girl Meets God. I recommend this book, which is a very engaging spiritual autobiography of an orthodox Jew who became Christian in her twenties...she might be still twenty-something, so it is a very recent account. I might blog about it more later).


I know I am possibly romanticizing another Christian tradition/heritage. It is easy to do for me, I am very dramatic and prone to daydreaming. However, the idea of a more set, disciplined form worship both on Sundays, and everyday with the reading of the Book of Common Prayer, something so ancient, so time tested, is intriguing. In some ways what intrigued me was what Winner wrote in one particular chapter about why she chose the Episcopal Church, or Anglicanism. She said that a lot had to do with the way they read Scripture, they just didn't ditch all Christian authorities and writings, century old commentaries on scripture and other writings. they read scripture like the Jews read the Torah. This most intrigued me simply because my heritage is that of reading the Bible and coming to understand it for yourself. (and it is possible, sometime I'll write about a beautiful, fun story of the California surfer guy who found a Bible on the beach)
Obviously growing up others taught me Bible lessons and told me the stories (and what to believe or not) but once you are somewhat more mature and able to read and comprehend more on your own, you are expected to just 'know' what the Bible says. Well I can read the Bible, and I can tell you what it says, but I am often confused exactly what it means. There is the literal meaning, which is important to take down first, but then there is more, the allegorical and something else. Lauren Winner explains all this much better, for she is far more of an accademic intellectual than I am (bit of a snob, but I know she wont' take any offense! I think she is lot like my mom in the fact that she reads all the time and reads almost anything and I think my mom is the best!). Now, I think it is great that I can read the Bible on my own, and I should stop typing and do that very thing since I don't do it much at all. What I am saying is that this is very interesting way of putting things, something I have never thought of before. Aren't 'study' Bibles designed to enlighten us since there are thousand of years that separate us from the time the Bible was written and our own mindset and culture and understanding? Furthermore, they used much more allegory than we do nowdays as well. Don't we need help in reading these passages? It's hard to know exactly, I don't think we should be extreme as in some Christian traditions who believe only the Priest can explain things for you, reading the Bible wouldn't do you any good (The Bible, one of the 'banned' Books of the Pope for centuries). But then again, I don't think I can expect to understand EVERYTHING (esp. not the OT).

Sooooooo...................going back to Ascension Day. I guess those churches are gathering together to read about Jesus' return to Heaven to be with His Father. I think the idea of celebrating every year these important marks of the gospel story is very meaningful in the way we keep 'reminding ourselves', and for me, a very disorganized person and undisciplined in all things, it is a way to keep feeding me the food I need the most. The Story. And even on those days I don't feel an once of faith or 'spiritual' savoir faire, the tradition, the discipline of going to church, sitting, kneeling, standing, repeating, listening, singing certain hymns, reading certain verses...maybe I won't 'feel' God, the Spirit, but I will be blessed by know, yes HE still is here. Even when I can't see or feel or want, I will...because it is about bending the will "not mine but thy".
Thinking this way has made me see my own traditions at Church in a much better light. Reading about another and how interested it made me in them, I realized I can do the same with my own small ones, they are downplayed in my heritage (although very present and imporant to some), however I can take them in and let them help me in being more 'present', disciplined in my worship approach, bending my will, telling myself "M. I know you want to think about that movie and what you would have the President say and how you would conduct the sermon this morning, but focus: this is about GOD, not you. You made a promise to Him. Worship Him. Give Him honor. Think, talk, let it be about Him. Give your sacrifice of praise."

The best part of a day like today...I can look up into Heaven, imagine Him going home, and then daydream about Him coming back down. Every time I see rays of sunshine flowing from Heaven, through big cotton like clouds, I think...maybe today...maybe this is the day He'll come back, just like He went up.

Happy Ascension Day!

I am still around!

I have so much to say, too little to say, not sure how to say it, wish I could just sit down and chat over a nice glass of ice tea (yes, it is hot today).

I want the world to be a better place. I wish people wouldn't conform to others ideas just to fit in. I wish that there was no violence, that video games wouldn't make war entertainment and that guns were not invented. I wish for world peace. But I also wish that we didn't have beauty pageants. Please do not use bottled water. We are consuming in atrocious ways. I could write more and I know this is just a stream of consciousness like Ulysses Joyce coined. Just a sampling of my rambling.

TTYL. Really, I'll be back with more coherent thoughts.

PS I had written something a little too personal. I felt I was hanging dirty laundry for all to see here on this blog. It wasn't anything bad, but it was still personal. I know I am an 'open book', always have been. But that doesn't mean everyone wants to (or needs to) hear what I have to say. (Now you are probably wondering what it is uh? LOL! Keep you hanging...)

A few very good picts!

We are doing fine, the three of us. Adjusting to a new living space. Jon is doing great at school, but now has to really buckle down for finals end of this month (or beginning of next... can't remember which!). Jeremiah is so much fun and joy. We have never been quite as popular as now when toting him around. In fact it is now not "Hi, how are you?" but "Hi Jeremiah!" He is already quite a chick magnet, however big burly fellows are quite taken by him as well. Here is a picture we took last week of J-man. You can find more on our flickr site. Jon put up a real cute one, my fave, with a caption that is quite insightful on his blog. And me? So much stuff on my mind at times I think I am going to explode! So much I want to do, wish to do, have to do, don't want to do. I guess what I need is inner peace, and just embrace simplicity. Not to worry or fret. And learn the art to be 'content in every circumstance'. Yeah. Especially that last part!

A few good films

We really enjoy good movies, although lately they seem hard to find. I really like it when friends and others recommend movies to us, and let us know what they really enjoy, be it a new release or a nice old one. So here are a couple we have watched recently and really enjoyed. One is inspirational, based on a true story with a wonderful performance by my teenage crush Wil Smith. It is called The Pursuit of Happyness (spelled incorrectly on purpose). The other one we just watched last night and it was one of the most original movies we have got to see in a long time! Will Ferrel definetly redeemed himself for me in this one! And what could you expect from a movie that was graced by the talents of one of my all-time favourites actress, Emma Thompson? Stranger than Fiction was a true fun movie to watch.

Movies are a big thing in my family. But not just anything. I would like to say cinema was a hobby of my parents. Not going to the cinema, but the word itself has more artistic intent and depth of insight than just plain movies. My parents and I would often spend hours discussing a movie, be it Shindler's List or The Blues Brothers! They taught me what made an actor good or bad and it had NOTHING to do with looks! (That is why I could love someone like Gerard Depardieu even when I was fifteen years old). Yes, my taste in movies are quite different from my peers. I look back with nostalgia at the scripts and screenplays of movies such as Sabrina, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Arsenic and Old Lace. No amount of special effects can make up for the beauty of a well thought-out plot and wonderful script and casting. That is why I do not like the new Star Wars trilogy, a far cry to the original one, and why the Lord of the Rings trilogy keeps me wishing for a little more of what I see laying beneath the characters and story but hard to surface because of it's flashy action scenes and out-of-this-world imagery (which I admit that is pretty good, and the story as well).

Good films are truly hard to find these days. Why is this industry constantly putting out horror films? Why do we want to watch such things? What are we supposed to be learning from these new releases? Or is that just it, that films aren't to be insightful and meaningful for us. Could that be why more and more stupid movies abound in theaters? Is it that the film industry is trying to copy TV now? Instead of the other way around?
Low-quality story for entertainment. Just make me laugh. No, better make me NOT THINK. That is what TV is these days and what most movies are as well. They are not there to make you think of what you saw, how it translates in your life. There is not internal action to take place in our dormant minds and souls. Because all I need is to not think, not connect to others, ignore my reality and the reality around me. I don't want to be roused to action. But please do help me unlearn the precious little knowledge I do have and make me as stupid as I can be. At least, that is what I think the TV and movies are telling me these days...which means at least I can still think for myself.

And that is in part because I have books. Thank Heaven I still have my books!

Quiz

Yes, El. I am a copy-cat. I shouldn't think about what others think about me, but I am just so curious!....so, could u please my friends take this quiz about moi?

27 Things I LOVE about DH

Dear Hubby (DH) turned 27 this past Sunday. Here is what I wrote to him and share out loud with the family and friends at his birthday party:

27 reasons why I love Jon:
1. He is a patient and attentive listener
2. He is kind to everyone he meets
3. He has a nice voice
4. He thinks I am smart
5. That makes him smart too!
6. He takes risks
7. He let's me vent
8. He takes care of J-man so I can go out
9. He loves nature
10. He irnos his own shirts
11. He says I love you everyday
12. He doesn't roll his eyes when I repeat one of my stories for the 100th time
13. He loves my family
14. He loves to grill
15. He can say I love you to his guy friends!
16. Plays with and makes our son laugh a lot
17. He likes a good sweat (i.e. good with physical labor like moving boxes, mowing the yard, etc!)
18. He is very handsome (I could say more... but don't want to embarrass him)
19. He enjoys watching chick flicks with me
20. He is a hard and diligent worker
21. He loves others genuinely
22. He isn't afraid to show his emotions
23. He helps me with the computer and is patient with me about it too
24. He is a dreamer
25. He is mostly content with what he has
26. He is a loving leader and servant
27. He ages wonderfully just like wine! The older he gets the better!

I should be busy packing and getting ready right now but wanted to post something quick ( we are moving into a new place this weekend)
I know I am quite long-winded bot in real life as well as in this blogging world but I will try and just give synopsis of what's running through my brain and over me in my life.

I am going to try and read this spring Vanity Fair by Thackeray (it's pretty long!) and at least get a lot read of The Fellowship of the Rings by Tolkien with Jon. Although I wish I could put down a tons of other books I have learned that I must give myself smaller goals in order to follow through. Baby steps, baby steps.
I will be living in my in-laws' house in a small apartment they attached while remodeling two and half years ago. We will be even closer to campus. This will be at least through the summer.
We will be flying to Italy in July and Jeremiah and I will stay there for almost two months lord willing!
I am still trying to get fit, eat less sweets and lose weight. Not doing so good with #2. But last night at workout I got whipped and am so sore right now.
I can't believe Jeremiah is 9 months old! He is all over me these days, climbing on me and more. He also has learned the art of constant whining. That's his communication thing right now.
He says hello (trying to pull down the keyboard here).
I have been interested in my spiritual heritage lately. Among a numerous of other things.
I miss girl time something terrible. (Anyone want to plan a night out?)
My hubby is really busy with school work right now. He still manages to be the best dad and hubby even as a part-time student!

That's about if for now.


Talk to you later next week, I hope!

So instead of that spring cleaning, how about some spring reading? Just take up a book and head out for the park. Remember to take an old blanket or something to lay down underneath a shady tree while the cool breeze blows on you as you munch on an apple under a sunny blue sky day and read a just as delectable novel. Doesn't that just sound like a perfect spring afternoon? Find out more about this SPRING READING CHALLENGE. Thanks Lisa B. for introducing the idea!

So what am I going to read this spring? I will have to get back to you on that because I have to many to think of right now! I know I want to read Vanity Fair with Rachel (I think she is way ahead), I am just waiting for the book in the mail. How about some of you giving me some other ideas of great books? What do you think I should read this spring?


p.s. As a family reading challenge, Jon and I are going to try and undertake Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy!

Spring is here!

March 21~ Spring is here, and it has indeed already sprung. Daffodils are in bloom around town and the weather is warm, clear blue sky and a gentle warm breeze. Short sleeve shirts are ready and I am already in flip-flops although my feet do get cold still. I am so thankful! Thank you God for Spring! It is so nice to finally get out of the house and take a walk and enjoy the sights and colors spring brings. It truly does make everything 'new' in so many ways.

March 21 was also my nonna Siviglia's birthday. Thinking of you grandma. I love you.

For Fun- Visual DNA

I found a link to this from Lisa's blog. I thought I'd try it out. This is what I got: I'm a sofisticat, love bug, and I back to basics girl, can you believe it?

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

My hometown

Yes, two posts in a day to catch up folks! Although these aren't my pictures (found them on the web) I wanted to share my home town and the place where I grew up (all right, this is Citta' Alta and downtown Bergamo...too expensive to live there but I hang out here a LOT during high school)

What have I been up to?

I am so sorry I haven't been posting in, what, 2 weeks? 3?

We've been sick for some of this time (bad icky sick, stomach bug going around). Jon just had his spring break and so I got to enjoy my hubby a little more! And well, I fell off 'the wagon' so to speak- got out of habit of posting! (every time I use a figure of speech, I wonder if I just think it is a figure of speech and I am making one up, saying it wrong you know? I really did grow up in Italy! Please don't think I am weird.)

Others often ask me what I have been up to. I have to stop and wonder about that too. Let's see: I tell "no" and "don't do that" about 7,000 times a day to my almost 9 month old. I try and do 10 things at once (check email, watch Jeremiah, put up some toys up, read, answer a phone call, try to make a phone call or write an email, cook, clean, clean Jeremiah's mess, and just doing nothing on the computer). What do I do? Staying at home makes you feel like you don't' really do anything, although it isn't true. I know I am doing what I need and want to be doing: taking care of Jeremiah. It is frustrating and wonderful at the same time!

A lot goes inside my head too though and I'd like to share that for it is very intersting: I thought a lot about a woman's identity in Christ and not in temporal roles, about politics, war, peace, about marital relationship and how to strengthen mine, about prayer and God, the environment and what am I doing about it, a lot about consumerism and how even Christians are highly consumerists and how can I change that...I am always thinking of how I'd convey my musings and ideas to others. If you ever take a trip into my brain you would feel like you are at once sitting at an UN conference, a theological seminar and a rally. I think about how I want to change the world and I come up with all kinds of ideas and I used to think everyone else did too. Finally after my dh, my sister, my counselor and several other people told me that no, most people didn't, it hit me that I am the weird one. So although my laundry is not finished, the kitchen is still a wreck, the meal in the crockpot I made up and hope it tastes fine and Jeremiah chipped the entertainment center (he manage to take a piece of the plywood off...don't ask me how...I was on the computer), in my mind I finished my my first draft on a lengthy essay on a woman's value in Christianity and added another chapter in my book about Christians and grief and started a new group that engages Christians and others to stop thinking and acting in consumerist ways and finding ways to diminish our consumerist instincts.

Maybe I'll blog about my imaginative life more often.

Quote of the Week

But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
- Benjamin Franklin