Currently: March 2022

I have a lot on my mind and a lot of writer’s block.  A dear family friend passed away last week and I’ve been trying to write about him, as well as some thoughts I have on not being able to go home when home is no longer your home.  I know I need/want to get all the words out, but sitting down to write just feels so daunting sometimes.  My pain level has been elevated significantly over the last few weeks, so it sucks up most of my post-work motivation to do anything as well.  

Reading:

One Italian Summer – I finished this in a single setting.  On one hand, I found Katy a bit selfish and completely annoying.  On the other hand, I also completely related to some of her feelings after losing her mom – having found myself in a similar situation after losing my stepdad in 2015.  I can remember a conversation I had with Tom where he begged me to come back to him (as in get back to myself) after months of finding me crying on the floor of my office or countless conversations about how nothing would ever be the same again.  For that reason, this book resonated deeply with me and made me cry more than once. 

Beyond that, it made me want to plan a trip to Positano.  The descriptions of the place, as well as the meals Katy enjoyed, were endearing and several are places I’ve had on my list of places to go in Italy anyway.

Wearing

I’ve been wearing a lot more dresses lately.  One, I’ve had more meetings and presentations.  Two, I just want to feel better about myself.  I need to find some comfortable shirts to wear with jeans and shorts this year.  From fall until late spring, I typically live in cashmere sweaters.  (They regulate temperatures pretty well for me.)  I’m also a huge fan of the Marta Scarampi Mondrian capes I purchased during last year’s sample sales.  (I think I write about these every month.  They are that good.)  I just recently purchased another one on Poshmark because they are so comfortable to throw on.  They travel really well, too. 

(I am so clearly not a fashion blogger with these mirror photos.)    

Buying:

I checked off a big thing this month!  After 7 years, I finally bought a painting from an artist that I discovered on our honeymoon in Venice and have obsessed about ever since.  Not being an art person, Tom wasn’t sure about it, but when it arrived, he fell in love with it, too.  We purchased this piece from the San Gregorio Art Gallery in Venice, which is a gallery you should put on your list to visit.  They carry original artists and the prices are very reasonable.  Maria packed it perfectly and it arrived in pristine condition.  Even the UPS guy was excited to hear the story about it when he realized that it was obviously art traveling all the way from Italy.  It felt like Christmas when I finally got it home!  

This painting is part of Giovanni Pulze’s City Angel series. I find the intention behind it so lovely.  

“Is it the case that when we least expect it, when we are overwhelmed by our circumstances and when despair begins to take us over, something or someone ends up helping us? If the answer is yes, then we can call that help Providence, Luck or Destiny.

Giovanni Pulze’s positive response to this is simply the representation of an ‘Angel’. Not an angel in the traditional religious sense of the term, and not a pictorial transposition for the modern cinematic kind of angels depicted by Wim Wenders. This ‘Angel’ can be any person, someone met in the street, someone met by chance or by mistake, someone who could perhaps change your day with their smile, or change your life with a gesture. The white wings therefore become a metaphor, a symbol for potential, this ‘something’ that we all have and that can be harnessed, right here right now, to offer help within this Daily Paradise we exist in.” 

It’s absolutely stunning in our home and is my favorite souvenir yet.