Italy on Film, Circa 1999

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Happy Friday! Last weekend, I unpacked my photo albums and pulled out a few of my pictures to share with you. I took these photographs during my trip to Italy in 1999 with my grandma. Her name was Rose, but actually she was born as Rosina which I discovered very late in her life. I fell utterly in love with her Italian name. Her father was from Mistretta, a tiny town (with a tiny Wikipedia entry) that we visited during our trip to Italy and Sicily. I do not have any notes on where I took these photographs, but I do remember the sparkling blue sea of Taormina.




way back before I called myself a photographer, I was fascinated by the magic of the ordinary



When we visited Mistretta on that one random Tuesday in the October of 1999, absolutely magical things happened in our family. I feel brave enough to share that someday, I hope to travel there again and photograph it all for a book. I even have a dream publisher for my book, which will be part biography, part cookbook and part travel photography. What do you think of this dream of mine?

P.S. I'm sorry I have not taken the time yet to remove the dust on these scanned images. I will add it to my to-do list, I am too impatient and excited to share them with you!

Flickr Vacation: Italian Beach Umbrellas

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I miss being at the beach, especially an Italian beach with its ironic rows of orderly chairs and beach umbrellas. Luckily we don't need our passports to go on vacation today. Buon viaggio!


Toscano Grosseto


Torre Lapillo


Enfola Beach



Cinque Terre


Saline Beach


Monterosso al Mare

Photography credits, top to bottom: 

Five New Lands

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Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of Italy's coast and over centuries villages have been built into the landscape overlooking the sea. It is one of the spots I long to visit (along with the Lakes) on my fourth visit to Italy, whenever that trip makes its way to me.



For now, I spend my days traveling the blog world and I have five classmates that I would like to share with my readers, who are building beautiful villages of their own on the global online coast.

Here are my five new lands, il mio cinque terre.


You may remember ABRE from my recent post Every Monday Matters. I go back to Carolyn's blog because the name alone means something to me, the concept that we all affect each other. This is to say nothing of her inspired, connected (to me) content.

Ashley: 31 Experiment

We both aim to live an authentic and creative life.  She reminds me that my story matters, to keep on telling it.

Alessandra: Gypsy Girl's Guide

Alessandra is parts of me, only miles and miles down the path I have chosen for myself. Her blog gives me faith and hope -- if I can dream it, I can become it. Also, she has this amazing Guide to 10 Charitable Organizations, created because she "wants her business to be sustainable and kind." Wow.

We're traveling down under now for the last two blogs.

Steph: Bondville

I met Steph on the first day of school. She's one of the ones, you know, who make you feel all comfortable on campus even though it was her first day of school too. I would say we were fast friends, an instant click, and if I ever get myself to her part of the world, watch out for some fun! Her blog is chock-FULL of goodness from Australia, such a treat to visit things like her Artist Spotlights.


Lisa shares an ancient Chinese belief as the inspiration for her blog's name: "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The red thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break." Her blog showcases amazing art like in this recent post Just My Type. I am riveted by the work a Spell by Marian Bantjes.

Mille grazie to Holly Becker of Decor8, my amazing teacher from Blogging Your Way. This e-class was about so much more than "Blog 101" or "How to Improve Your Blog in 10 Easy Steps." It was a precious reminder to me to embrace life and be passionate, be kind, and be friendly. Life can be challenging and things may not be how we want them at the moment, but if you believe in yourself and have a vision, you will get where you want to be.





The Flickr Game

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Daydream Lily played, then Ana played and now I want to play too.

The Flickr Game

A. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
B. Using only the first page, pick an image.
C. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into a mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.




The link names above reflect my answer to each question. You will really miss out on some of the Interestingness if you don't click through the 12 photos to see how the photographer titled their photos; for example and especially, this one and that one.

And that's just one!