A Solo Journey, 22 years ago . . .

22 years ago today – at the tender age of 24 – I boarded a plane to embark on a month-long SOLO trip through beautiful Italy.

Armed with a wheeled carry-on luggage, backpack, calling card to phone Mom frequently and let her know I was ok, 1000+ page fiction novel, guide books, Lira currency (!) and 35mm camera with lots of film, I had a reservation at a modest pensione in Rome to start the journey.

Back in 1999, my roundtrip airfare from LAX to FCO was less than $400 USD, Eurorail pass was less than $400 USD! 

Il Colosseo, Roma, Italia – Febbraio 1999

During my month there, I met up with friends-of-friends who toured me through the little towns outside of Rome, connected with my cousin Laura in Firenze and stayed with her former classmates in their Florentine flat, took a bus tour with architectural grad students through the streets of Verona, stayed in a seaside hotel in the Ligure area, had my breath taken away by all of Venice and hand carried 3 bottles of wine back to the States.

Chiesa del Santi Luca e Martina, Roma, Italia

Most of the time, though, was spent in quiet contemplation about the future . . . 

Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre, Italia

What turned out to be a trip of a lifetime, I look back with delight that 1) I actually did that, 2) how different the world is now and 3) I wouldn’t do anything different. Well, I wish I didn’t have bronchitis and walking pneumonia during the trip – THAT I would change!

I would return to Italy 5 years later with my (now) husband, making even more incredible memories while reliving the great ones of the past.

Closing the chapter on the year 2020, I look forward to what 2021 will bring: more memories, hope and amazement for what is yet to come. (And more yarn, of course).

Portofino, Italia

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2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 16-17

Aloha!

Boy this year is flying by for us! Both hubby and I have been working long days and into the nights as we try to finish up our respective projects. Still having fun and my movie project, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 is looking pretty awesome!  Hubby’s next project was just announced to the public last week, it is Call of Duty Ghosts. Hubby created the skeleton head image they are using the the marketing so that’s very cool.

Here are the colors for Weeks 16 and 17.

The first is a new colorway! BOX OF CHOCOLATES was inspired by yes, a box of chocolates that hubby gave me for Valentine’s Day. The box itself was beautiful and the candies inside were so pretty that I didn’t really want to eat them. Well, got over that idea quickly and devoured them . . . after I took about a dozen photos for reference.

Here’s the outcome of my dye session: sw merino fingering yarn and mixed BFL roving.

And the inspirational photo of the box of chocolates (do you see what I mean about them being too pretty to eat?). In case you’re interested in getting a box for yourself, you can find them at  ladychocolatier.com.

I got a new yarn base that I’m adding to the shoppe and it’s 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk lace yarn (gasp!). The yarn came on a 2 lb cone so I had to skein them into separate pieces, which was kind of time consuming but cool at the same time since I could decide how much yardage to give each skein.  This is VENETIAN THUNDERSTORM in 930 yards! (double gasp!!)

And I dyed up some Shetland roving in the same colorway.

Enjoy!

Venice Light

The second time I visited Venice it was during the early fall.  The weather was still warm during the evening hours which made for a nice stroll along the waterfront.  It was just before sunset when we found a number of these ‘lightposts’ in the water with the gorgeous skies in the background.

(Venice, Italy | September 2004)