All posts filed under: Italy Vacation

Sunday Cravings: A Week By The Poolside – Italy

Published by

We’ve made it through the first quarter of the year, although really I don’t know how we got here. Wait. I do know exactly how I got here. I was too busy helping with three moves in four months, a remodel, a book edit going on sale April 16, the ear to everyone’s problems, the one doing all the comforting, ego boosting, problem solving and care giving. I know exactly what filled my days. On Saturday, instead of staying home,  I got up early, showered, and actually got dressed up, even wore my make up and left the house. To have breakfast with a friend who called to say she was in town for a vet appointment.  Spending the entire morning with her, on Chestnut Street, having breakfast, chatting up a storm, then window-shopping, checking out the books on display at my favorite Books Inc. store, and even grabbing a freshly squeezed fruit juice in a bottle. It turned out to be a nice day. In our conversation, both of us longing for a week-long …

Lifestyle: Married Couple Hobby Travel Turned Lifestyle

Published by

Every years the hubs and I remind ourselves how great we are when we travel together. Jokingly discussing doing it as a permanent career, if you will. Or better yet opening a business together of some sort while traveling the world. And then I think real hard and although I truly appreciate having this man in my life, I couldn’t for the life of me see myself traveling full-time or running a business with him. I am one who needs and values her space too much. So it was interesting to read this article from a couple detailing how they ditched their lives, to travel together, creating a new lifestyle and relationship, and along the way discovering  a new kind of business.  It got me thinking, that perhaps I wasn’t seeing the glass half full and that maybe, just maybe it was possible for us to consider such a lifestyle. Because, as tired as we are of the mundane and the norm, we tend to be the better person of ourselves when we actually do …

Travel: All About Italy

Published by

I have settled on a trip to Italy late September, early October this year, as my annual destination in Europe. And, although I have been to the country every year for the past decade or so, I cannot get enough of it. Alternating cities every year or not, making the trip always memorable. So here is what I am thinking:  Venice, Verona, Florence, Rome, Sorrento, Positano, Capri with a few Tuscan cities in between.  I haven’t done this combination nor been to the southern Italy for a while, so I am excited. Of course research is always fun, and I have found some interesting articles to keep the momentum, and set the mood. {featured  image credit }

Travel: The World and If Not Then Italy

Published by

Year in and year out, I do my best not to include Italy in my annual trip to Europe because I think I’ve seen it all. But I fail miserably, finding a new tiny village to see, recreating a travel plan including this fascinating country. With that said, I have included some of my favorite articles from around the world, in travel that is. {click here for The American}

Missing Tuscany…

Published by

I think I took my annual trip to Europe too soon this year (in May), because I am having withdrawals right about now. Usually we go in October.  Italy is always on the list. Tuscany a must. I pick a different place each year and we spend a few days taking it all in, and wishing we could simply buy a villa and remodel it “Under The Tuscan” style. The sad thing is I add to my misery by searching online for everything Tuscany, of course I’ve also subscribed to a few sites so you can imagine my inbox daily, reminding me that I am not there. So, Tuscan desserts  will have to do from this site to get me by through the holidays, and into the next year,  when I begin planning my annual trip – for sure October 2016.  Until then I share with you these recipes:

travel: it’s all about italy

Published by

What is it about this wonderful country most of us Americans can’t get enough? I can only speak for myself of course when I say I am madly in love with Italy – Rome, Florence, Venice, Genoa, and every other corner in between  from the hillside small villages of Cinque Terre, to the wonderful Como district, the country the most romantic in my opinion –  and very different  from the well known city of love – Paris. That is where I chose to base  my first novel Piazza Navona, the story unfolding in my imagination and mind, over a cup of espresso sitting in a cafe on the historic Piazza Navona. One day, while I sat in a cafe in Rome-in Piazza Navona, staring at a small stationery store, I realized I wanted to write a novel, about a woman who falls in love in Rome. But I knew I needed a twist on a story that has been told a thousand times. So in 2011, after my return to San Francisco, I began working on my first …

what is it about rooftop restaurants

Published by

I have a favorite, which I’ve been to many time. It’s in Rome, in Piazza Navona at a five-star hotel – Hotel Raphael. This location I used in my first novel, it has much meaning to me and I spend an evening dining there every chance I get when I am in Rome. There are rooftop restaurants everywhere, and according to Bazaar online, here’s their list:

happy autumn 2014

Published by

For decades, I’ve only welcomed Summer. I suppose it had something to do with being young, and looking forward to not being in school. Then in later years, I considered Summer time the only time for vacations, loving the chaos of it all anywhere I traveled. In the last five years however, I’ve started to notice Fall, and decided to travel off season (being Fall) to avoid the crowds, the chaos, quickly realizing it’s the best time of the year to admire your surroundings while on holiday/vacation. At the same time, I’ve grown to appreciate Autumn in a different way, preferring the season even more now, the older I get. It’s a slower pace, a warm and glowy season, a time between brisk mornings and chilly nights, and bright sunny days – all bundled together enticing you. {Photo source}

inspired to write in portofino, italy

Published by

When I worked in the travel industry, I thumbed through hundreds of travel and tour marketing brochures, aiming to learn everything about the business. At the time, I turned the pages, marking with a sticky note or a paperclip, all the places around the world I wanted to see. Portofino was one of those places. I finally got a chance to go there two years ago, and the moment I arrived From Genoa by train-to-bus to the small fishing village, I was completely taken aback by how perfectly surreal the place was. Enchanted if you will, surely one of the best places to photograph and fall in love with. I spend hours at an outdoor eatery, people watching and taking in all that I could about the place, while imagining how people lived and vacationed in the quant town. I couldn’t get enough of the best facaccia bread also , baked perfectly with local olives and grilled onions among the dozen or so other ingredients; all choices displayed in small bakeries, lined along the narrow …

e-book gift idea for the woman in your life

Published by

I am happy to announce, my first novel, Piazza Navona (the correct version) is finally available in e-book. I had trouble with the 1st edition, being that is was the incorrect one uploaded through the distribution company. But now, edition 2 is the final copy and available right now. The book is an ideal gift for any woman over 30, you are considering buying an e-book for or the first download for  their first e-book reading gadget you plan to gift. I promise you won’t be disappointed.  Click on the photo to be redirected.