Archive | friends

update from the beach

July 30, 2013 at 9:13 am

What images does “summertime” evoke for you?

In my mind, “summertime in Sicily” is a slowed-down, stretched out pile of images with heat-shimmered edges. Irresistibly sleepy summer afternoons and cold Italian lemon ice, achingly bright sunshine and warm peach juice dripping down my arm. This past weekend formed more memories of a Sicilian summer, with fluttering beach umbrellas and lulling conversations drifting across the sand, lapping waves warmer than bathwater and leisurely days with good friends.

More soon when we return to the home front!

5 :: in friends, holiday, travel

blogger & military wife meet-up in Catania

July 25, 2013 at 2:03 pm

A few weeks ago I got a wonderful email from a fellow military wife and mom named Stephanie. She said she was coming to Sicily for just a couple weeks while her husband was working here on base. She had found my blog and saw that I have the same strolleras she does, and so she wondered if I would recommend bringing it with her for her trip.

Pretty soon we were sending emails back and forth and then planning to meet up while she was here. Today I drove into Catania, walked into the main piazza (pictured above), and waited with Lena and Gil and my stroller… and looked for the other mom with with two kids and the same stroller! We spotted each other right away and started wheeling towards each other. The first thing she said was, “Oh, I wish we’d gotten red instead of black!” in reference to our strollers. You just never know what you might bond over, right?

We had a great time today taking our kids to a playground, fending off a sketchy guy who wanted to know where we lived (hah), discussing fun things to do in Catania, and eating local Sicilian fair at a cafe in the main piazza. I was totally inspired by her sense of adventure and the fun things she’s discovered in Catania. Wish you lived here, Stephanie!

I didn’t get any pictures of all of us, but I did snap this one of my kids sharing a seat. Time to get two seats in the stroller instead of one… baby Gil is ready to move out of his car seat and into the big leagues!

P.S. If you’re new here, thinking of visiting Sicily, or have questions about moving here, I would love to help you and meet up with you just like I did with Stephanie. My husband also hosted a vet student that he met through his blog while the kids and I were in the States. These connections are so much fun and make the world a smaller place! Last night I updated by About Me section on the blog, so you can check that out to get to know us better or send me an email anytime. I love to hear from you!

2 :: in friends, Sicily, visitors

bits + pieces from Virginia

July 3, 2013 at 3:51 pm

Lena, Gil, and I have been having so much fun here in Virginia with our extended family. Visits to the farmers market, lunches with friends, mornings spent running through the sprinkler, and Mama getting to sleep in… mmhmm, life is good. We have two more weeks here before we’re reunited with hard-working Elliott in Sicily. Despite all the fun, we are very eager to be back together as a family again.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from our recent adventures. The first photo is of my dear friend Abi, who was my college roommate, one of my bridesmaids, I was one of her bridesmaids… and then our babies were born 3 weeks apart! Isn’t her daughter Lucie the sweetest?! Those cheeks! Those ankles! Gil was nonchalant, but… I know he was just playin’ it cool.

Here those two are, “playing” like 5-month-olds do.

She’ll stay on the toilet forever if Gil is there to talk to &
matchy-matchy with “Auntie Ema.”

Blowing bubbles with Aunt Leslie.

A blurry picture of Gil’s first meal. He ate about 3 tablespoons! Hungry, much? He’s wearing a bib that I wore as a baby.

Sipping cider at the farmers market.

Gil Garber. Nuff said.

And finally, below is the poor creature that Lena spotted and identified as “Monster.”

5 :: in family, friends, home sweet home, life lately, Virginia

Gil’s 5-month photo shoot

June 24, 2013 at 8:31 pm

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to friends, I have a special place in my heart for those who have these three character qualities:

Good taste
Incredible handicraft skills
Adoration of your child that rivals your own

Do you have friends like this? They are good people, these friends!

My sister-in-law Eden and my own mom are definitely in this category for me. Another wonderful friend is my “Aunt” Leslie, who I have known since before I can remember and who absolutely loves my two little ones. She owns an heirloom clothing business called Rosebasket and has made beautiful clothing for Lena and Gil. She made the darling outfit pictured above for Gil after he was born.

Although it probably won’t fit Gil properly until next summer, just for fun we dressed him up in this outfit last week and took some photos. I have been wanting to do another Gil photo shoot after the last one went pretty well (although his first photo shoot was a bit of a bust!). I loved how these photos turned out. He’s such a cute little munchkin!

Now, Gil, can you please learn to be as good at sleeping through the night as you are at taking pictures? I love you, my adorable baby boy.

Love,
Mama

——–

P.S. Winner of the bike seat and helmet giveaway is announced here!

7 :: in friends, Gil, Rosebasket

a little update from Virginia

June 11, 2013 at 9:53 pm

Friends, I’m sorry. We’ve been in the States for almost a week now and I haven’t managed a single post. Here’s a quick attempt at an update, and then later in the week I’ll hopefully have more news, photos, and… the most amazing giveaway this blog has ever seen. (I’m especially excited about that one!) In the meantime, here are some fun photos from this past weekend and a little update on life.

Anyway… we’re in Virginia! We left Sicily on Thursday after a whirlwind, last-minute decision to fly commercial instead of taking our chances with free military flights. After Elliott spent hours on the phone calling military terminals, he could tell that it would be unlikely that we would be able to fly all the way home on Space A/military flights. With the chance of being stranded in Spain or Maine with two lusty-lunged, jet lagged children, we opted for the last-minute bargain on Delta flights. This mama is so glad we did! It’s good to be “home.”

We were especially keen to get home because of Reunions this past weekend at the University of Virginia. Elliott graduated in 2003 and I graduated in 2008, meaning that this year is his 10-year and my 5-year reunion. How could we not go back for that?!

We had a fabulous weekend visiting with so many old friends, some of whom we haven’t seen since we “walked the Lawn” at our own graduations years ago. More wonderful friends of ours — Will and Johanna — offered their house as our home away from home, and that’s just what we needed with two little children and jet lag. We spent the weekend visiting our favorite old haunts in Charlottesville, reuniting with some of our favorite people, and dreaming about moving back there one day….

If you were there this past weekend, it was wonderful to see you… and let’s not let too much time go by before we meet again!

Waving at the pilot as we boarded in Sicily &
he slept on my lap like this all the way from Rome to Paris

Charlottesville City Market early on a Saturday morning!

A photo that I stole (hi, Kim!) from a lunch with some dear friends. Kelly (far left), Tara (next to her), and I were all in nursing school together at UVA… and now we’re all grown up, married, and have kids!

Lena and Gil met and loved our friends’ children: Sasha on the left and Cornelius on the right.

Hanging out in the Center for Christian Study with Cornelius… which we all hope they will be doing again as students in about 18 years!

My dear friend/roommate Abi and her new baby Lucie (Gil was born on Lucie’s due date!) &
Auntie Jess (now a nurse in Charlottesville) snuggling with her nephew for the first time