Goodbye 2013...

The Christmas Season is rapidly proceeding through the various celebration: Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day are past and done. Next holidays to look forward to are New Year Eve, New Year and the Epiphany.

I've never been a fan of New Year Eve. As a teenager I wasn't smart enough to attend parties and I usually spent the last day of the year at home with my parents and sister, reading myself through the midnight and into the new year.
When I started dating my hubby R. back in 2001 I also began to attend New Year Eve parties. I still remember the weird feeling of sorrow and guilt of that first time I left my parents on New Year Eve! At first it was fun, every year we did attend a party with our common friends and it all went fine for a good few years... untill all of them friends became couples with someone and as the group grew relationship between its members grew in complexity. Soon some people fell into quarrels and New Year Eve became a nightmare again. Who are we going to celebrate with?! Whose house will host the party this year? It was no more fun, but actually a stress to get everything sorted.
Last year, R. and I spent it home untill midnight watching some Disney movie and then went to a nearby town where they held jazz concerts.
This year we are thankful to a couple of friends who will get married on New Year Eve and will hold a big party for all of their friends. We'll get to celebrate together with our friends and with a smart party and all! No stress as to how to organize this New Year Eve party! Hooray them!

As the New Year comes many people rethink the year that's coming to an end and make wish for the year that's about to start.

If I have to rethink my year 2013 I can only say it's so far one of the best ever spent! In March we decided to get married and we spent most year getting ready for our big day, refurbishing the new home, organizing and dreaming of our future together. And now we're living the dream! How can a year ever be better than this one?! Sure, I lost my job in August when my contract wasn't renewed, and I am still looking for a job... But I am a lucky girl, indeed. Job will hopefully come in 2014 for me, I am as happy as a loved woman can ever be!

New Year Resolutions. Well, I almost quit making any some years ago, after many years of failing at keeping any resolution further than the month of March!
I can only make a wish for the new year, and hope I can make my best to make it happen.

First wish for 2014 has to be about my already happy life with beloved R. We can't be happier than this, the two of us! We love eachother and feel so immensely happy together. I wish it lasted not only all 2014 long, but forever! Love is something amazing and I am lucky to be experiencing it with R.!

For sure I wish I could read more. I have not read as much as I used to do this year, mainly because of job and wedding stuff that needed to be done. Now that I am more or less settled in the new home I wish I could go back to my old habit of reading everyday before bedtime. I miss reading.

I also wish I could keep up going to the pool regularly. Twice a week would be perfect, but I will be happy if I go once a week at least! There's a nice pool not too far from home and I have already gone twice there before the holidays. I will start again past the Christmas Season and I'm actually looking forward to it: it does help me feeling fit and relaxed.

I of course wish I could find a job to live of. I would do any job, as long as it left me time enough to spend with my beloved husband and to take care of our home. I am seriously considering going back to working for my parents, even if it's always been a job I wanted to avoid. Now that I am a wife I want to work any job that gives me something to bring home and still leaves me time enough to be a good wife to R.

I wish I did all of my compulsory assignments at the university, incl.the final professional training exam in June. I know it's a hard job and I must work hard to achieve it all in time, but I hope I will make it!

I wish I kept writing to my penpals regularly. Together with many other aspects of my private life, penpalling was kept on hold in 2013, mainly due to stressful job and wedding. But now I am almost caught up with all my mail and I hope to keep myself up to date with replies from now on! I owe it to my pals, who've been so kind and patient to wait forever for their letters to get a reply!

Finally, but not the last of my wish-list options, I wish I could bring my dog to live with hubby and I. The dog is already 5 and couldn't get used to the new home, so he's still living at my parents'. But I miss him so much! And I can see he misses me too, but he's way too scared of anything new and a new home definitely is the scariest experience he ever had to endure in his life. Hopefully he'll make it and win the fear so that I can keep him with us. We'd make a happy party of 3!

Do you have any resolution/wish list for 2014? What are your New Year Eve plans?

Happy Eve and may you all live a gorgeous 2014!

Merry Christmas you all!

So, our first Christmas was fan-ta-stic! I am absolutely satisfied with it and already look forward to next year's Christmas together with my R.!

On 24th night we had an Eve dinner at R.'s aunt. We were a party of 13 and we dined with fish from starters to main course. We then exchanged gifts and I received a beautiful box of my favourite parfume. Lucky me!

At midnight we attended the Christmas Mass and then spent one hour with friends and gave them some Christmas muffins we'd baked at home on 23rd night.

It was past 2.30 am when we came home and finally went to sleep.

At 9 am on Christmas day we were wide awake and we exchanged gifts sitting in front of our Christmas tree. We had so much fun and spent some quality time together!
I was spoilt rotten this Christmas also, I received many beautiful presents and I am thankful for them all!

books: because they are my favourite gift ever for every occasion!

a warm blanket for our cozy nights in, curled on the sofa with a good book; the box of my favourite parfume; a pool towel and a wool hat.

the three kings to add to our beautiful crib! An hamburger maker that I am looking forward to try, a cookbook and a wooden box of herbal teas. 

I can call myself a happy woman with all that I got!

The remains of Christmas day was spent at my parents' first, where we had a big lunch with my grandparents and aunt and R.'s parents. We had some nice time together and I was happy to have both our sets of parents together on such a special day. We had dinner at R's parents' with his side of the family: uncles, aunts, cousins. It was nice as well, Christmas means family to us and with family is the way we like it to be celebrated!

I am now relaxing on Boxing Day, with the perfect reading for this time of the year: A Christmas Carol, by Dickens.

Happy Season to you all!

'Tis the season to be jolly

Fa la la la la, la la la la....

We all know that Christmas means to most of us family, home, traditions. Dickens liked to picture in its Christmas stories the families get togethers. And it's the very same picture I can think of when saying it's Christmas season.

Yes, because Christmas means to me family. As weird and disfunctional a family can be, comes Christmas and they still find a way to get together and forget all (or almost all) problems for the day and feel the merry air of Christmas.

This year R. and I are a family, finally. We'll wake up together on Christmas morning and will open our gifts together in front of our gorgeous tree. We'll make it a tradition soon.

This year Christmas is both tradition and novelty for us, and I admitt it's so exciting to just think of it! We're only 4 days away! Can't really wait for it!!!

On 24th night we'll dine with R.'s family. They usually exchange gifts on that night. We've picked up a name from a jar and we have to think for a gift for that person whose name we chose. That'll be fun! It's my first year of this tradition, I mean I usually spent the Christmas Eve at home with my parents and sister and we had a simple dinner together and then got ready for the Mass. This year it'll be fun to do something new!
Comes midnight and R. and I attend the Holy Mass. I love that Mass, it's special. No Mass is as special to me. After the holy celebration we usually eschange gifts with our friends. This procedure may take up to one hour and we're never home before 2am on Christmas day! This year we'll give money we would spend for buying Christmas to some family who's in need. So we won't exchange proper gifts. Still R. and I thought we can bake some muffins and give them instead, one each friend. I found a perfect Christmas muffins recipe: honey and nuts. I tried them the other day and we love them so much!

On 25th morning we'll wake up (I hope I will be able to stay in bed 'till 9am but am not sure about it because I can be really excited on Christmas morning!) together and have our Christmas breakfast (I hope R. will allow me to play Christmas songs on our musicplayer!) and then open our gifts (that we've already placed under the Christmas tree at home).
Lunch we'll have at my parents'. This year R.'s parents are joining us and I am really happy about it: we'll have our whole family together. This year my sister and R.'s brother won't celebrate with us because they're at their respective partner's. But I think it's natural when you grow up and have serious relationships that you have other traditions to embrace and extended families to celebrate with.
In the afternoon I usually help mom tidy after the big meal and so I will this year. Then we'll drive to R.'s parents' where we'll join the rest of the family for dinner.

On 26th we usually spend a day at home, enjoying our gifts, but this year R.'s brother and his partner invited us at their place to have a meal all together with R.'s parents and his brother's partner's parents. Will that become a tradition as well?! Time will tell...

Our Christmas this year promises to be a merry and nice one. And I am eager to live it!

Dear Santa...

... Christmas is rapidly approaching and I count 8 nights only left to Christmas! I am growing absolutely excited about it, because you know how much I love this day! I practically live through the other 364 days of the year waiting for this very Christmas day! And this year R. and I have a house of our own and we'll wake up on Christmas morning together and everything will be even more exciting that it usually is.

With our wedding being only 2 months ago we can say we got everything we'd hoped for: a roof on our heads, a place to call home, our family (finally)... We can ask for nothing better and should really ask for nothing more. Still, a girl can always dream and I filled a list of things I would still love to achieve in a (close?!) future.

- An additional bookshelf for our many books. We have a tiny space near the sittee where we'd love to fit a bookshelf in. We still haven't found the right one for us, but I think this one I found online is amazing!

- A Workwerk hoover. I got a cheaper hoover when we married and I can do with it so far, but I know hoover by Workwerk are special. They clean a lot better than the one I currently own. But they also are incredibly expensive, so I think I'd better postpone this one wish to happier time (economically happier, I mean).

- A cook book by Martha Stewart. I need someone to inspire my cooking now that I have a lovely husband to please (oh, my dear one is easily pleased and he's always praising my cooking, still I like to surprise him with something new!).

- A table clock. I need one. I wish I had a digital table clock. A clock with alarm, in case I have to wake up earlier than R. if/when I'll have a job again.

- My favourite eau de toilette: Omnia Crystalline by Bulgari. Its scent is my favourite ever. If only it wasn't so expensive!

- Lastly I would love to get a Christmas tablecloth, one of those with matching napkins. I want to give small Christmas gatherings here during the festive season, inviting friends and family to join us in our new home, but I need a festive tablecloth to make my table look festive and warm.

I think I am already lucky having what I have, still dreaming and making list is something I can't really resist to!

'Tis the Season

With Christmas approaching having a home all of our own feels even more exciting than what it already is.
R. and I did our Christmas decoration shopping, looking for bargains and quality items at the same time wasn't easy task. Eventually we came up with some good stuff and still managed to keep our expense on a low level.

On Saturday we set up the Christmas tree. We have a fake (I come from a long tradition of fake-still-looking-like-real Christmas trees and I couldn't buy a real tree this year) 180cm tall tree that is hopefully lasting for many years to come. And decorations we bought are in gold, silver and red. Still I had to borrow some more decorations from my parents. They have many and won't miss a few of them. It took us a good couple of hours to set up the tree to a satisfying enough result, but it was worth it! We now have a lovely tree that warms our home with its lights and decorations.

We also set a nativity standing on a side of our tree. We were given a Thun nativity set for our wedding and we decided to go with this one for our first Christmas. It's not the typical nativity set I am used to, yet the final result isn't as bad. Actually we enriched it with some fake wood and pallet and some sheeps and it now looks nice.

I of course took a picture of our Christmas corner and want to share it here.

 

I am trying my best to make this home look festive, warm and comfy and so far I am pretty satisfied with the result. It's not too bad for a new home, judging from our breakfast table today, is it?!

Lady Susan (Jane Austen)

I am back on my reading mood and a Jane Austen work was what I really needed to spend a good summer day with.
I got Lady Susan at the mall months ago but never got the chance to read this thin book before. I picked it up on a very hot summer day and it only took me four sits of 20 minutes each to read it all.

Lady Susan is a young widower of 35 (my, she's almost my age and already with a teenage girl she's trying to get married to some gentleman).
She's the master at seduction and she seems to fancy any young and handsome man she meets. And men all fall for her.
Married men seem to be her favourite choice and she hunts on human prey all along the book.

Her daughter Frederica is instead the typical Austen heroine, shy, romantic, with good qualities that make a young lady worth marrying. And she's mostly hated and despised by her mother because of that.

All the story is told in the form of letters: a deep correspondence deploys through the 125 pages that make the book: Lady Susan to her lovers , Lady Susan to her best friend, Mrs Vernon (Lady Susan's sister in law) to her mother... The epistolary prose makes the story even the more enjoyable to the reader (especially if the reader is a snailmailer herself).

I think I must rate this one 3 stars only, though. In spite of it being an easy and fast reading, I feel the characters are not round characters.
We miss too many aspects of Lady Susan's life and of the rest of people we meet through the pages.
I finished reading the book and still missed useful elements to picture each one of said characters.
If only Jane had drawn each one of them better, I am sure I would have hated Lady Susan and would have felt for young Frederica by the end of the story. Instead, I closed the book and missed none of them.
Still, it's Austen we are talking about and she can earn no less than 3 stars for any work written by her pen!

My friends, the books!

Today I want to share a books meme that I stole from a couple of friends' journals on Livejournal. I so much love reading and talking about books I couldn't resist it and had to take my time and answer all of the meme's many questions. Enjoy reading it and take a turn in answerig the questions if you like!

1. Favourite childhood book?

I think my favourite book(s) (because it actually is a series) was Little Womens and its sequels. I had fallen for the four March sisters and I couldn't really choose my favourite of them all. Meg was so nice and caring and I probably wished I was like her. Jo is the main character in all the books. She's smart, she's strong and she writes and reads a lot! And Beth, well she's Beth! She was too good and you couldn't but like her. Amy probably was my least favourite of the four, but still I was fond of her, because she was the little one. I had hardcovers of the four books of that amazing series by L.M.Alcott, and I think that my favourite was Little Men.

2. What are you reading right now?

I am currently reading NW by Zadie Smith. It's a bit of a struggle, because the style doesn't make of it an easy reading, still I am interested in it and will try and read it to its last page.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?

Even though  I have a library card I don't like to get library books, the due date puts pressure on me and I can hardly finish a library book in time!!! 

4. Bad book habit?

When I am halfway throught a book I really like I take a peek at the last chapter to find our what's happening to my favourite characters. I can't help it. Another bad habit of mine is that of putting the book down if I don't find it interesting enough by page 30.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?

I think I've not browsed books at the library for a year or so.

6. Do you have an e-reader?

I own a first generation Kindle. I like it pretty much, but I'm lately going back to real paper books reading. 

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?

I tried to read more books at once, but I can't really go on in the reading.. I am now sticking to my old habit of picking one book at a time. I am not as multitasking as I thought I could be!

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?

I don't think that reading habits changed since starting a blog. Rather, it changed with my growing age. I am now reading some non fiction (that was not something I liked at all in my teen years) and I pretty much like it! 

9. Least favourite book you read this year (so far?)

Don't know. As I said before if I think I don't really like a book I put it down past page 30... There are a few I put down this year. Last one being March by Geraldine Brooks (a disappointment for me because I had such high expectations on it)

10. Favourite book you've read this year?

Mmmm... So far I haven't read a book I really really like in 2013... I really liked Romancing Miss Bronte that I read in January, though. 

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?

I try not to read out of my comfort zone actually because then I fear having to put my reading down with disappointment.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?

Historical novels, real life stories, classic English literature, women literature. 

13. Can you read on the bus?

I adore reading when commuting!

14. Favourite place to read?

At the breakfast table, early in the morning!

15. What is your policy on book lending?

I am a member of bookcrossing, so that pretty much answer the question! If you also are a bookcrosser, then check my profile  there please!

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?

erhm... yes I do... Bad habit you say?!

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?

No

18. Not even with text books?

Oh yes, whit those I do.

19. What is your favourite language to read in?

English. I think translations ofter waste the spirit that originally is in a book. English is my favourite language, since most books I read are by english speaking authors.

20. What makes you love a book?

when I understand what a character in a book thinks and feels, then I can really say I love a book!

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?

If I really like a story I just can't keep myself from reccomending it to everyone I know! I so much loved reading Extremely loud & Incredibly close that I gave a copy of it to all my dearest ones for their birthdays! 

22. Favourite genre?

Historical novels and real life fiction.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)

I wish I was more sensitive and found poetry at least a bit interesting... but I don't!

24. Favourite biography?

Anne Frank's... I read at least 3 or 4 different biographies of her. 
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?

Tried to but it's not something I really like

26. Favourite cookbook?

I have no cookbooks, mainly use blogs for recipes. 

27. Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?

Wednesday's Child by Shane Dunphy

28. Favourite reading snack?

I usually have breakfast when reading. 

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.

Can't think of such a case sorry.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?

Don't really care of critics, I read reviews on goodreads if I want to read some other people's opinions on a book I want to read.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?

I think reviews are personally and it's our reader's right to express both positive and negative feeling on a book.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?

I am happy to read in English. 

33. Most intimidating book you've ever read?

mmm... Can't think of an intimidating book... Or maybe "The betrothed" by Manzoni, but it was no more as intimidating once I was halfway thought it.

34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?

Maybe russian classics. 

35. Favorite poet?

No poetry for me thank you.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?

one and that's enough for me. Told you, deadline puts pressure on me. 

37. How often have you returned a book to the library unread?

erhm... often.

38. Favorite fictional character?

Hermione Granger

39. Favorite fictional villain?

None that I can think of at the moment.

40. Books I'm most likely to bring on vacation?

A book that's located in the same city I am visiting at that moment.

41. The longest I've gone without reading.

4 months, when I started a new stressful job!

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.

March, as I said earlier. 

43. What distracts you easily when you're reading?

Nothing, I get absorbed in the reading.

44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel?

I always like books better than movie adaptations. 

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?

Too many.

46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time?

50€?!

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?

Sometimes, as I confessed earlier.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?

If I can't really find any interest in it.

49. Do you like to keep your books organised?

Of course I do, they are organized on descending order according to their size.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?

Depending on the books. Sometimes I keep and re-read, sometimes I give away or release in the wild.

51. Are there any books you've been avoiding?

No. 

52. Name a book that made you angry.

A child named It. It had me so mad at that abusive mother! (I am a social worker, so...)

53. A book you didn't expect to like but did?

I think that Kinsella's shopaholic series pretty much entertained me and I didn't expect it to do that!

54. A book that you expected to like but didn't?

The Casual Vacancy sort of disappointed me a bit, but I still liked it ok.

55. Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading?

Chick lit, sometimes. 

The Wednesday Sisters (Meg W. Clayton)

"Friends. Writing friends. The Wednesday Sisters Writing Society, we like to call ourselves. But we're more than that, too. So much more than that." (The Wednesday Sisters, page 276)

Brett, one of the Wednesday Sisters, the smarter and my favourite, sums the whole book in the above phrase around the end of the story.
Clayton brings the reader back at the end of The Sixties, in Palo Alto California. Time and location already earned this book two extra points. The rest Clayton deserved with her prose.
Through the pages the reader gets to meet and becomes friendly with 5 young women, mothers and mothers to be, wives, living in Palo Alto in middle class houses with their husbands and offspring.
None of them works, husbands do, they meet at the park where they bring their toddlers to play.
Their friendship initially start thank to books, and here Clayton earns an extra point with me, a friendship born on the common passion for reading can't but being on my top ten list! They read, those five women, they love books and love to talk about books together. But they are not yet The Wednesday Sisters. Not untill one day they decide to start something new, they follow their inner dream: they start writing. It's a journal at first, they write and share what they put on paper. It's awkward at first but they are determined women and they write and again write.
And their writing keeps them together through the many things they have to face: illness, miscarriage, cheating, secrets... Their friendship grows and becomes stronger. And they go through publishing, editing and emancipation together.
I won't go any further with what happen in the book because I don't want to spoil the fun for anyone who wants to read it.

Reasons why I think this book should be read:

- it is a page turner and an easy read. It's especially good on the summer break, when you want to engage on some light reading. It is a relaxing reading and something that doesn't take too long to finish. At the same time Clayton has a neat, direct style and you are hooked to her words and need to find out what happens next.

- if you are into reading or writing or the both of said activities, you can't but appreciate this story. A friendship born and grown on the love for books can't but being fashinating for a fellow bookworm or any aspiring writer.

- if you love The Sixties and what happens in the years between the end of that decade and the beginning of the following decade, then you will appreciate that Clayton describes some of the highlight of said years, man on the moon, women parade...

- also if you love women literature, this is a must reading, because it is a good work she did in said field.

I rated this book 4 stars, I really liked it and it has the merit to bring me back to my old bookworm attitude toward reading, something that intensive work had reduced in the past few months!

Summer Pasta Recipe

Summer has finally made its appearance in Italy, yesterday it was the first pretty hot day we had and we're longing for moderately hot days! Last year we suffered the hottest summer in centuries and I still remember going to Belgium in August hopeing for some rain and chilly temperatures, but this year it's been the other way round. We still get whole days of heavy rains and temperatures have never gone higher than 32°C, that's an ok weather, if only it lasted a few days in a row! Hopefully this second half of July and the whole of August will bring us some real summer weather, Italian-style.

Anyway, yesterday we were blessed with a hot and sunny day and I celebrated the event with a summer recipe for pasta. It's easy and cheap and fast to make, and I want to share it on the blog.

Ingredients (serves 2 at 1,48€):

150 gr of short pasta (whatever shape you like best. I had some of this pasta spiral in the cupboard and went for it) [0,24€]
1 big carrot [0,12€]
100 gr of peas [0,39€]
80 gr of gruyère [0,50€]
20 gr of vegetal margarine [0,15€]
a small stick of celery [0,08€]

When using peas I usually go for frozen peas, because they are tender if compared to those that come in tins and cheaper than fresh ones. I cooked my peas for some 20 minutes with 20gr of vegetal margarine, some salt and pepper. If you like to add some onion to it, you can as well chop it in very thin slices and let it cook along with the peas.

Chop the celery and carrot and stear them with some oil in a pan for 10 minutes. The smaller the cubicles the less you need to stir them for.

Now the cheese. Cut it in small parts, again the smaller the parts the sooner it will melt when put in the pan with pasta.

It's time to cook pasta! Bring a pot of cold salted water to the boil and add pasta. Cook according to packet instructions.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir untill the cheese has completely melted! Serve and eat 'till hot!

Enjoy your summer pasta dish!

Bookshelf please!

A bookworm who's in the process of moving home absolutely needs a good bookshelf to bring along all of her paper buddies. Ricky and I have spotted some good bookshelf but haven't bought any because they were either too expensive or too big to fit! We'll hopefully find the right one soon!

Something clean and simple, I like this one a lot! And white is definitely a colour we like!

This one isn't bad either. 

I fell in love with this one, alas it's not very cheap! 

And this CD shelf we will buy from Ikea later in August. We want to get two, one white and one black. 

Real Books vs Virtual Books

I am the proud owner of a first generation Kindle. My One & Only tends to spoil me rotten and likes to second my own passions. It was Christmas 2011 when I received my very first ebook reader. We purchased it on Amazon and it took a good fortnight for it to get delivered. The await made it all the more desiderable and finally getting it home, safe and sound, from abroad was exciting to say the least! I remember bragging about how cool it was to read books on my Kindle. I would show it everyone and tell everyone that an e-reader was the best mean to read a book. No doubts it is a good device to read books, especially when travelling and when abroad. But I am recently reconsidering the power of paper over technology and I think that both kind of books have their unique and positive points that make them special to their reader.

An ebook reader (no matter what brand it is) is undoubtedly easy to carry in a girl's bag.  It's very light at weight (mine is lighter than 250 gr) and so thin you can fit it almost in every bag! And ebook reader is not too expensive to purchase and once you get the right device you can find many free pdf files of whatever book you are willing to read. So I would add cheap to the plus of ebooks reading. You can easily find whatever ebook you are curious to read online and no matter of what language you would read that very story in,you can easily do it. Furthermore there's no awaiting when purchasing an ebook online: the very same instant you press the buy button you get it downloaded into your device. Call it fast! 

On the contrary an old fashioned paper book has its own beauty, especially when it's a second hand book we are talking about. It carrie a story with it, that lays in its yellowed pages, in the unique smell its pages hold. A paper book is coloured, enriches your bookshelf and decorate your house. A paper book is real, you can touch it, smell it, underline it (though I am not too much into the latter), lend it and ask for it back, a real paper book is thick and fill in your bag and you can feel its weight when carrying it around with you. I especially like paperbacks because I love to "live" them, as I call it. I love to bend their spine, to leaf through their pages again and again, to wear them out, untill I am fully satisfied with what I've experienced. I am lately considering going back to some good paper book reading for the time being. Of course, I will be returning to e-reading as soon as I feel like to, because as I already said each one of said books has its own beauty and merits! 

What type of books are you into reading the most? 

On wedding lists.

In Italy you can't get married without opening a wedding list somewhere. It's little use to tell people you need no stuff for various reasons, they will want to give you a proper gift (money seems to be inappropriate gift to some) and will ask again and again when and where will you open your wedding list.

We didn't want to set any ourselves, because we wanted to buy things we still need when we found an offer. Yet we had to give up and follow traditions that badly wanted us to open our own wedding list. Now, if you think it's easy to go to some shop and chose this and that to fill in an empty paper with things you would like people to give you on your wedding, well you are wrong. It isn't easy nor funny. I tried to concentrate as much as I could on the task, yet I failed at it on some extent and only managed to put in the list a few bits. I can't think of other things I would really need for our house. Especially I can't force myself to pick a set of dishes that costs some 100€ when I can find something as useful, and maybe more colorful (even if less smart, I agree) for half the price at some market. Someone has already "scolded" me that I don't look like a real bride, because I don't act as one. Now I ask, how does a proper bride acts?

Anyway, in one hour time I managed to chose a few bits. Ricky did better than me when chosing our future tv and stereo to fit in the list!

Who would ever go without an ironing board in life?! I wouldn't. 

And of course an electric iron. This one looks like professional ones. I hope it will do most work itself when I will be too tired to do the ironing myself.

Espresso maker. Because we are italian. And no italian family can go without their espresso.

When you are a dog owner and said dog is the no.1 world's hair producer you do need a good hoover and this one seemed to be the right one. It's dog-proof!

A coffee set to go together with the espresso maker, of course.

My favourite piece: a pizza set! Ain't this one cool?!

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overseas trip planning

We're almost done with our honeymoon booking. I am literally thrilled at the thought of flying to the States! I think I've been dreaming about visiting there for at least a good 25 of my 31 years of life, so the chance to actually travelling there is such a big deal!!!

Plans for the honeymoon include: 3 days in Boston, that should be enough to visit all the main sites and to spend a big chunck of a day at Harvard campus. I can't wait to visiting there! I still can't get over the fact that Rory Gilmore enrolled at Yale and dumped Harvard... Now you get a vague idea of how hyper I can be at the thought of actually stepping foot in the Campus!

Following Boston, we'll make the most of 3 whole days in Chicago. To tell you the truth, I've not got an idea of what's worth visiting there. I mean I barely know anything about said city, other than it's really worth visiting. Any suggestion is very welcome!

Our honeymoon will end with a fabulous 10 days in New York City, were we've already rented a small flat in Harlem. Oh man! I signed a real rental contract with an american landlord! How exciting! And we'll be spending 10 whole days in NYC, pretending we're real Americans! How cool!

So far I can only see good sides to the whole wedding thing!
... And I am sure that with a man like mine by my side forever (and ever), marriage will be the best thing I ever achieve in my life!

Note: All the photos of this entry are not mine. 

On Weddings and related topics...

I've not been online for a good month. In the 40 days since my last visit on blogger lots has happened.

First news: I am getting married! Me! My one and only and I will have our wedding ceremony on October 12th this year. We've been postponing this topic in the last few months because of various reasons, our tight budget being one of the main reasons why. Yet, we're soon celebrating our 12th anniversary and it was quite the right moment to move that important step forward.

We're not fashion victims at all, my boyfriend and I and actually hope for a quiet day, surrounded by our (many, thankfully) friends and relatives who celebrate with us our special day. Since we talked to our families around Easter we set a date within the end of the year and started planning everything.

I won't fool anyone by saying it's an easy trick to have everything sorted out, especially if you are on a budget. There's lots to organize and everything seems to get extremely expensive if followed by the W word.

I think the most difficult thing was to find a wedding dress that represented me. I am a simple person by nature, not too girly and absolutely horrified with strass and laces. Finally, after trying on some 8 dresses that made me look either like a total fool or a meringue (!), I found the plain white dress I'd been looking for! I feel absolutely at ease wearing it and, even if I am already getting doubts on it being too simple for a bride nowadays, I absolutely love it!

We also booked the place where we'll hold our wedding lunch: it's a lovely villa with an amazing garden. They promised they'll give us the reception we hope for and we're totally satisfied with it!

I even managed to find the right hairdresser for that day (and she said she'll do my make up also for a small extra) and the florist. I am pretty sure they'll please me and I am glad they both agreed to take the job.

The church, of course is our own parish, not the most beautiful place for a wedding, but it's where our hearts belong. And we'd have never considered marrying anywhere else but there.

We have still a good few things to do and we'll have to have them sorted out before the month of August, when everything and everyone seem to be off in Italy.

I still can't believe it's really happening! I am too happy and still think it's only a dream... If so, please, don't wake me up!

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Meet the blogger - part 2

Happy Easter Monday to all of you who read my blog! I am getting ready for a day out with friends (as per usual on Easter Monday) and I am all hyper to spend a day laughing and relaxing with those people I really like! Easter went fine this year. We spent it with family and it was nice and ... Who am I kidding here?! This was by far the best Easter ever spent! I am absolutely happy these few days and I can't but walking around with a big smile printed on my face! Life is beautiful for me and I wish everyone was as happy as I am!

Anyway, I promised my reader a further post on who I am. And here we go!

A dog owner. I have always considered myself a cat lover. I have always wanted a cat and literally begged my mom (some 20 years ago) to give back our new puppy Charlie for a kitten! But it wasn't a deal mom would accept and Charlie stayed in our family for 15 years, when he had to be put to sleep because of an illness no medicine could heal. He left a big empty place in our hearts and our home seemed to be too gloomy and silent without him running around. And there came Rolly. It was March 26th 2009. And it was love at first sight with him. He's some 4 times bigger than Charlie and loud and clumsy but he's adorable! He seems to understand everything (almost) you tell him and he's smart! I wonder how I could go without him. Of course he's a lot of hardwork because he needs constant walks and he is still very lively and wants to run and play daily, but he's big company and a faithful friend! 

A social worker. Well, I have studied this subject for five long years at the university. Couldn't find a job in the field once graduated and had almost given up hopes when I was offered a temporary position in a town some 55 km from home. I couldn't but jump on the wagon and give this job a try. I still don't know what I think of it. Not sure I can do it for the life. It's a challenging job and can be frustrating when things don't go as planned and you feel useless... But it's an interesting job, you meet many people and can see the human kind in all its variety and shapes. I am now working in the field for another 5 months. Hopefully for a longer time, but time will tell! 

There. I have told you all the basics about myself, my readers will now find out more about this blogger through my further posts. 

Happy Easter Monday folks! 

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