Phoenix- If I ever feel better...

They say an end can be a start
Feels like I've been buried yet I'm still alive
It's like a bad day that never ends
I feel the chaos around me
A thing I don't try to deny
I'd better learn to accept that
There are things in my life that I can't control

la nostalgia

[11:26:42 AM] LILL: mi manchiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
[11:26:57 AM] Matteo: omg non hai idea
[11:30:14 AM] LILL: awww
[11:30:20 AM] LILL: no YOU have no idea
[11:30:38 AM] LILL: ogni respiro ogni immagine che vedo e sento in questi giorni riesce a trasportarmi in italia
[11:30:50 AM] LILL: e' STRANISSIMO per quanto e' cosi' vivido
[11:30:53 AM] LILL: non so spiegare
[11:31:09 AM] LILL: ieri per esempio ero su Charles Street (Beacon Hill) dove ci sono i negozi come starbucks ecc
[11:31:16 AM] LILL: ti giuro sentivo l'italiano
[11:31:23 AM] LILL: dai turisti ecc ma mi sembravano cittadini/residenti
[11:31:38 AM] LILL: poi...l'atmosfera e i negozi erano molto all'italiana, con le luci e le finestre bellissime piene di roba messa in una mostra artistica e bellissima
[11:31:45 AM] LILL: poi oggi mi sono vestita come mi vestirei in italia...comoda ma elegante, jeans stretti con le ballerine a punto, collana multicolorata
[11:32:09 AM] LILL: poi andando in bici ovunque e lungo il Charles mi fa rivivere le serate estive che tornavo da centro a viale europa, lungo L'Arno...
[11:32:21 AM] LILL: c'e' una aria umida all'aria fiorentina
[11:32:26 AM] LILL: sempre fresca e profumata...con un vento tepida dalle montagne
[11:32:32 AM] LILL: sono TROPPO nostalgica!!!
[11:32:41 AM] LILL: ma in un modo troppo piacevole
[11:33:07 AM] LILL: e' finalmente mi sento normale...tranquilla...e' forte
[11:33:15 AM] LILL: da LUGLIO nn mi sentivo bene...non mi sentivo (io)...nn sapevo chi ero o chi sono
[11:33:17 AM] LILL: ti giuro
[11:33:26 AM] LILL: purtroppo hai visto/vissuto la fase peggiore
[11:33:40 AM] LILL: nn c'entravi nel fatto che stavo male
[11:33:58 AM] LILL: era proprio una fase che ho dovuto superare...non c'era verso evitarlo...come si dice in a ditch?
[11:34:13 AM] LILL: ma purtroppo sofrivi anche te...anzi tutti...
[11:34:41 AM] LILL: ero stressata, disorganizzata, senza voce, senza communicazione senza sentimenti senza sonno ma senza energia
[11:34:46 AM] LILL: ora mi sento liberata...e' non so perche'...

ma sono libera. sono io.

The up's and down's of English

Mio fidanzato italiano had the most frustrated reaction to the unnecessary idiomatic insertation of "up". We are "putting it everywhere!"

What's up? Oh, you're feeling down? Don't give up! Shut up! Are you warmed up? Cool down! Did you two break up? Can you make up? Did you put on your makeup? Get up! Time's up! What you up to? Do you feel up to it?


I told him to take it up with someone else. It's not my problem every language has its ups and downs.

Moments of Grace

My yoga teacher used to ask the class what we described as a "moment of grace"...I answered that it is when there is a moment in your life that makes you smile. It makes you smile because it a moment when you realize the continuous connections and circles in our lives to people, the past and ourselves. A moment of grace to me is when you can smile and appreciate a beautiful coincidence that presents itself in that moment.

For example...today I received the April letter from mio amore. Unsurprisingly, it made smile...but throughout the day I began to see the connections weaving Florence into my life. My italian music by Nada, Elisa e Tiziano Ferro played while I read his letter, and then subsequently I came across Julia's description of her visit to Florence. And then another reference to Florence came by gmail from an acquaintance there.

But the moment of grace that tied all of this together was when I read my favorite blog, www.melindagallo.com, and saw that the definition of giglio, which I had until now translated and understood as something else, a symbol I worship, I obsess over, I collect in any shape way or form and that I'd tattoo on my body before anything else if I were the type to get a tattoo, is translated as Lily.


This makes my sister's words resonate with me in a way they never have before.

"Her name is everywhere in this city and it makes me miss her like c-r-a-z-y. This is her city and it made me so sad and nostalgic that she wasn't there. It's almost like she belongs there more than Boston..."

new 2009 interests

My life so far....

Reading "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series....it brought back my whole middleschool-hood
Quilting with my grandma....it is literally a patchwork of free leftover scraps
Babysitting....in exchange for housing in Boston
Completing my TEFL...so I can somehow get a teaching job in Italy

Did I mention my New Year's Resolution?

Learn CPR. Teach overseas. Write to my overseas penpals, J, S and M on a monthly basis. Bake more. Write a Six-word Memoir (CHECK! see below.) Be creative...Design more. Run daily. Go to Asia. Relax more but be more productive. Get a real job. GET ANY JOB. Run marathons all around the world. Do something adventurous. Learn an extreme sport like surfing, snowboarding or frisbee. Don't be such a wimp and a non-risk-taker. Teach Italian or English (CHECK! I tutor on Mondays). Volunteer more. Smile more. Complain less. Pay off debts. Get my own apartment in Boston. Go back to Italy. Try a new hairdo. Write a "This I Believe" essay. Read more. Snuggle more.

how to shoot bear the real way

Click here to see what will take your breath away.





PS- you fell for the shooting joke, didn't you

sticks and stones may break my bones, but six word memoirs can never bore me

Six-word memoirs are addicting. Thanks to NPR, I found out about the compilation of these memoirs on the Smith Magazine. I set out to write a few of my own--which you can find in my blog entries from November. I read the new ones on the site daily. My latest discovery was the blog by a fellow Smith Mag reader, Miandering. She writes a six-word memoir for every country she visits in her travels. BRILLIANT! Before I found out about her idea, I too was inspired by a country, and it was in Italy that I happened to write my own six-word biography:
I build my future on love.
It's addicting, I'm telling you. So, I did another for the Food Life:
Why can't my dinner be cake?
And then another for Six Words for America (and Obama):
Proves that American dream is alive.
...and then I wrote another about Love & Heartbreak:
true Romeos do exist in Italy.
Then there are a few others of mine on the SmithTeens website...

As you can see, I've been reading six word memoirs for a while now. Even though I only wrote a few insignificant entries on my SmithMag page, to my pleasant surprise, Larry Smith, who started the Smith Magazine, wrote me an email! At first I thought...This is just some automated site email...sent out to Smith Mag community members like me, but it was really him, the real Larry!

He wrote:

"Hey, thanks for the link on your blog. I too share a love of Italy and in fact Eat, Pray, Love. Elizabeth did a six-word memoir for our first six-word book, and our new one coming out in January. She's not in this video, but you might like it, anyway...."

(Six-Word Memoir video on Love & Heartbreak)

best,
Larry

And then I really knew it wasn't automated when he reported that his wife is a Smithie too! "Smithies show up everywhere," he said.

Couldn't have said it better myself.
....and hey! there you have it. My six-word thought of the day!


PS- sneak peek at the Six-word memoirs book: Not Quite What I was Planning

The party type has been determined

Definitely Party Type number 5.

Despite the below freezing cold weather and the mild buzz...the concert was unbeatable and the perfect event for New Years Eve. I absolutely loved Passion Pit and Giantess at the Great Scott in Arlington....

And all I have to say is nothing beats a large pizza and Sex & the City in pjs to recover from a long night....

Happy New Year!