I've been a little busy

I could offer up all the usual excuses like school runs, dirty house, vacations, laziness, forgotten passwords, and while those would all be true I actually have a much better excuse! This past August we welcomed the loveliest baby girl into our family. It has been wonderfully all consuming, not much time for washing my hair, none-the-less blogging. So for anyone who still checks back now and then, all the best from our family to yours.

a song by s

we've had the sniffles going around the house lately. lots of water, chicken soup, kleenex and trying any and everything we can to keep happy and as the kids call it 'un-bored'. here is stella practicing an oldie but a goodie... complete with an annoying little brother cameo.

Untitled from elg on Vimeo.

girl time

last weekend stella and i had a girls night in the historic center. it's only about 10 min in the car from our house, but it's a world away if you're 6 years old and really happy to have your mom's undivided attention! it was really good fun, we stayed in a beautiful pied-a-terre of a friend on the famed via margutta. we walked the cobblestone streets til our toes were throbbing. we talked and took pictures and daydreamed. we went to bed early and woke early too. the streets were still free from the drones of tourists so i took the opportunity to rush stella around to see the sights without the crowds. she was a real trooper, she even sort of seemed interested. i tried to tell her some bits of history as we went along, and now everything we see or do she openly wonders "did the ancient romans do that too?". so sweet. we've decided to do this more often!

hanging out

I've not fallen off the face of the earth, just off the face of blogger. We are back from vacations, back in school, back to work, back to reality. While this space has become a tiresome excuse for a creative outlet, i've been working on something new... and hopefully improved. For all three of you who might still be reading, thank you, and I hope to have something better for you're viewing pleasure on the horizon.

Until then, I'll try and post random pics of life around these parts. I might have gone all radio silence, but I'm still lurking around looking at everyone else's blog, I've just lost the ability to post or comment!

A DAY AT THE BEACH

It seems the rains have really stopped. Wow. This was a loooong Winter, which seems to have changed instantly into Summer. No Spring, and while that's a bit sad, i'll take these sunny blue skies and beach filled days over the cold any day.

This weekend we headed North into Tuscany to our weekend home. It was the first time this year that the weather permitted us to live it like it should be done. Flip flops, bikinis, sand in the toes and sea water in the hair. Late nights with friends around the pizza oven and kids running with fireflies in the garden. My poor babies are COVERED in bug bites, but aside from that there was nothing but goodness.

Excuse my gritty blackberry pictures, they are worse than the iphone but it's all I had with me at the time (yes, I know I just did a post on my new Leica, shame on me!).

This is the beach you find directly under our house. Its what our kids call 'the rocky beach' for obvious reasons. While the rocks pose certain challenges for little toes, the water is crystal clear and the restaurant behind these beds serves up the best food of the area, hands down.

I might have mentioned in past posts how much I love this little beach. It's literally like stepping back in time, back to the fifties. I'm pretty sure it's frequented by mostly 'original clients'. Actually a waiter last year told us the locals call it L'Utima Spiaggia, which translated means the last beach... you get where I'm going with this?

So while many of the fellow patrons are members of the original La Dolce Vita era, we have no problem blending right in as a young family. It's not polished in the classic sense. The beds don't match, the flowers pots are random, if it had a style, shabby chic, would be an understatement! But therein lies it's true beauty. It's a tiny slice of life left untouched. It's a little sliver of the world where it really is only about the sun, the sand, the water, the beauty, and the food.

Stella applying sun cream herself! Phew, I am so glad we have reached this point. I'm hoping this will make the Summer treks to the beach all the less stressful. It's no fun creaming up 2 wiggly kids who don't want to sit still.

The first swim. The water was A LOT more beautiful than my icky picture lets on. The kids were beyond happy and I went for a chilly dip myself.

Now we are back in the city, tanned and decidedly more relaxed than last week. Just two more weeks of school to go and then days like this can become the norm... at least until September rolls around!

Summer

After what seems like an eternity, it seems the rains have passed, for the most part. This year has been abnormally wet here in Rome, and let me tell you this town was not built for the rain. Everything on offer revolves around being outside and around walking. In a town where there are literally no parking lots, having to take the car or a cab everywhere can lead to some very miserable outings. Times that by 6 million people, 6 million ITALIANS, for 6 months and well it's a recipe for disaster. So it's easy to say that this has been a tough Winter. I think I speak for everyone in Rome when I say the Summer sun cannot come fast enough!!!

This morning after dropping the kids off at school I hung around with some other mothers for a coffee and a chat, a very welcome non-rainy day activity ;-) We are all gearing up for vacations, something the Italians take very seriously, and it got me thinking about our trip to Watercolor last year. What a fun trip, filled with friends, family, sun, sand, and all the beauty that the Gulf of Mexico has to offer. This in turn reminded me of the most fantastic photography session we had with the most talented and charming Marla, and lastly lead me to reflect on the sad state of the Gulf of Mexico. So in honor of all of those thoughts, I'll leave you with these shots from last Summer. I know that, at the very least, my mom will be happy... until she remembers that I still haven't sent her copies, sorry mom. You know it takes me about a year to get around to these sorts of things!

Girlfriends & Jewel Tones

I love everything about this picture. The people, their clothes, their expressions. The setting, the flowers, the colors. Hope your day is full of beauty and a good laugh with a good friend!