I found my heart in Florence

Old city walls

I have often thought of getting the title of this post tattooed on myself. When I first studied abroad in 2006, little did I know how much my life was going to change. Not only did I discover my love for travel and exploring new cultures, I also found Jon. 'Nuff said. If you haven't been to Florence, I would love to give you a good old fashion slap across the face with a white glove (it just sounds fancy) and knock some sense into you. Florence is a fantastic town with amazing food, art, and things to do. Even though we only spent a few days there on our wedding trip, it was worth the time to remember how much I love the city.

Neptune's fountain sculpture in the Boboli Gardens

Dinner at Trattoria da Guido

View of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

Palazzo Vecchio at night

Rolls of beautiful wallpaper found in a boutique while shopping

Comments

#stayhome

I look at this photo and it seems ages ago. I took it while laying in the sun on a hotel rooftop in Miami. In reality, it was only taken 3 weeks ago today almost to the minute. Since then, a pandemic has taken this world by storm. Mother Nature is shouting from the rooftops and people are being forced to listen. We are being told to stay home, don't leave the house unless necessary, and practice social distancing. Such a funny term: social distancing. What will this do to human connection? To human culture? Behavior? Our future perspective in this world is about to go through a massive shift. "Are you ready for this," Mother Nature asks? I sure wasn't. I have been learning so much about myself in the past 2 weeks. How does one react in vastly unknown and uncertain times? I am no longer in a rush to do things. It's strange, I never felt that hurried before but now there is ample time to focus on things I didn't spend that much time on before. Connectin...

Cake in a Pie Pan

Usually when the weather turns warmer, I find myself coming up with excuses to have parties and other random get togethers. It's really just an excuse for me to cook and bake, and not eat everything myself. This past weekend I wanted to do a little baking for Sunday night dinner, and found this recipe in one of my new cookbooks, Barefoot Contessa 'How Easy is That?' by Ina Garten. A cake in a pie pan?! It was way too intriguing to pass up. As I began to gather my ingredients, I realized that fresh cranberries are not available this time of year. Since I couldn't decide between cherries or blueberries, I made two cakes instead, one with blueberries, one with cherries. The end result was a wonderful and easy desert that satisfied my sweet tooth and my itch to bake.

Yes

I said yes There are so many beautiful love stories out there. I have been so fortunate to have one of my own. Jon and I met in 2006 in Florence Italy while I was studying abroad. He was finishing his MFA in classical painting and I couldn't help but fall in love with this handsome artist. We moved the first part of our relationship quickly (we moved in together after being in the same city for 4 months), and enjoyed the years to follow. After 5 1/2 wonderful years and many special moments together, Jon asked me to marry him. It was the most amazing moment of my life. I am so blessed to have found a person that I enjoy being with so much, and even more fortunate that he feels the same way. We have decided to get married in Italy, where our love story started, with a small intimate gathering of family and close friends. I'll try to keep the wedding planning posts to a minimum, but don't be surprised if I start complaining about m...

Lady Nine

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