what a beautiful life!

Day ONE in Florence, with my wonderful family! We started out the day with a giant breakfast/lunch consisting of: banana pancakes, eggs with bacon and bell peppers, and potatoes. Breakfast of champions.

I took them all around Florence, showing them all of the wonderful piazzas, churches and streets and I'm pretty sure they loved it :)

Important stop on our tour: The PJ Statue. 

Everyone I know that came to visit and know PJ told me that this Poseidon statue looks 

JUST LIKE HIM. 

I agree.

UNDENIABLY HIM.

PJ and Kelly in Piazza Signoria

Mama and I in front of the Ponte Vecchio

I wanted them to get a good view of the whole city, so I took them to a cafe that sits on the rooftop of a department store in Piazza della Repubblica. We ordered some drinks, rested our feet, and enjoyed the beautiful weather (and view!)

I love them :)

Pops and I 

That night we went out for Pizza and it was delicious, as always. I'm really going to miss the pizza when I go home, it's just not the same back in America.

Ironically, that same night, there was the MTV TRL Awards happening in Piazza Santa Croce, so things were pretty crazy! Florence was packed with young people and there was a huge concert. PJ, Kelly and I met up with my friends later that night. They all absolutely LOVED PJ and Kelly, and kept saying "now that we met your brother, you make so much sense!!!" and "Becca now I see why your so cool, because of PJ!" and another comment from Alessandro (who had an instant infatuation with PJ) "Your brother held me longer on his bosom than my mother ever did"....yeah.

We ended up at Brittani's house, with all sorts of people there. Brittani, the lovely caring giving person that she is, made PJ some food like a true Italian mother.

Oh but this was not just ANY type of food.

It was a Piadina ( a sandwich made with a tortilla). Inside it was:

Prosciutto (ham), formaggio (cheese), rucola (lettuce), cipolla (onion),

and

POTATO CHIPS.

Britt used all her food to cook for PJ because he was "our special guest". :)

That is why we are friends :) such a sweetheart!

let the sun shine

a lovely song by William Fitzsimmons Beautiful Girl

la mia famiglia...in Firenze!

After a two week Euro-trip with my family, I finally made it home to Florence. 

Slept for 13 hours, made some banana pancakes, and now will begin to post some photos of our trip.

So the first night that my family arrived in Florence, my roommates and I made a big ol' italian style dinner for them.

il menu:

Bruschetta

Crostini con sausage and cheese

Pasta primavera

Salad

Vino

....and...

Chocolate covered strawberries!

one big happy family

I have a feeling one of the things I will take with me from Italy is the importance of sharing meals with people you love. Allw we do here is cook for each other, have dinner parties, and...eat!! buon appetito! 

sud italia fieldtrip

well, this is waaay long over due, but it's getting posted nonetheless. On our final fieldtrip with school we headed down to Southern Italy to visit Napoli, the beautiful Amalfi Coast, the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the greek temples in Paestum.

(I'm not going to lie, we also were prepared to get our eat on since Napoli is where pizza was invented and hence is the BEST pizza in the world).

The crazy thing about Herculaneum was that back in 79 AD, the volcano Mt. Vesuvius erupted and completely buried the entire town in 60 ft of ash and mud. Over time they built overtop of the city, completely forgetting about what was underneath. It wasn't until some rich dude was digging a well when they discovered the ancient city underneath their own.

Herculaneum 

a street in Herculaneum

Pompeii was also buried in ash and mud in the same eruption, and apparently they had a freaky-deaky side to their culture. All over the town there are fallaic symbols on the sides of buildings, on altars, carved into the cobblestones... fun fact: they have the first recorded brothel in history there, with ultra-luxurious beds made out of stone.

Pompeii

Pompeii

laynie and I

Then we went to Paestum and saw Greek temples STILL STANDING from around 550 BC.  NUTS.

pretty excited.

And of course, I had to post a picture of the pizza that rocked my world, and a photo of the coast of Sorrento. 

sunday funday

My Sunday line-up:

1. wake up early.
2. eat banana while walking over to the Soccer stadium with friends to by ticket for Fiorentina vs. Milan game tonight.
3. Trip on curb while throwing away banana peel, get laughed at by German tour group. Proceed to tell them that "I'm okay!" and curtsying.
4. Buy ticket, a sandwich, and a Fiorentina jersey.
5. Watch a guy crash into a curb while riding a Segway and eat it hard. Second time I've witnessed this in two days.
6. Go outside, sit in piazzas and draw the beautiful city I live in.
7. CALCIO PARTITA!!! (soccer game)

now I will leave you with this delightful video.

new artwork!

So I started a new series of paintings-- Le Portone Fiorentine--The Florentine Doors! 

Here are the first three.

Here are some pictures of my studio---it has been absolutely wonderful lately because I have been able to leave the windows open! 

sunshine makes me HAPPY

iced coffee while sitting on the steps of the Duomo...

relaxing on the shore of the Arno river...

and of course, blowing bubbles!