Life in La Citta' De Rosas

Just Checking In...

2010-08-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to check in, in case anyone ever comes by anymore. I haven't written anything in so long. I have a good excuse though. I've been working hard and researching our wedding. The Italian will be arriving in a few short weeks and we'll be getting married a few months after that. I had know idea all the details a wedding entails. I've spent countless hours researching! Alas, it looks like we will just have something very small here in the states and our relgious ceremony will be in Milano. I have to wait until everyone comes back from vacation to really start planning for our big wedding in Milano.
The Italian and I are going to be starting another blog together. Once he gets here, we will be getting the help of a fellow blogger to put it all together. Check back in from time to time - I will be posting the link to the new blog here!
Hope you are all well and enjoying your summer! My absolute favorite season - Fall - is almost upon us! In fact, the leaves here in Portland are already starting to change colors, believe it or not.

A presto!

I Won the Oil Shop Giveaway at Italyville!

2010-04-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for some time now (sorry Joe!). Back in February Joe over at Italyville.com had this giveaway contest for some really good olive oil from oliveoilshop.com and I won! It's very rare that I win things, so I was pretty thrilled (I'm easily pleased).
Joe's got a great blog. He's is a first-generation Italian-American, born and raised in Massachusetts and posts lots of great recipes, pictures and talks about life growing up Italian. Joe travels back to his parents native Calabria often and posts really beautiful pictures of his ancestral lands. Hop over and check his blog out, I promise you won't be disappointed!

iTunes Tuesday - Moda' - Sono Gia Solo

2010-04-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

I discovered this band a few months back when I was searching for Italian music videos on youtube. Turns out they are from Milano like the Italian. I wish I had had the chance to see them live when I was there this past Xmas, ah well, next time. There is one song of theirs that I absolutely love but they haven't made a video for it and in the future I am going to use it for something, so I'll post it later. What I understand about the song is that it's about relationship issues. I usually post a translation with the lyrics but I don't have too much time to do it now, so I will just post the Italian lyrics. Enjoy!

Sono Gia Solo

Troppa luce non ti piace
godi meglio a farlo al buio sottovoce
graffiando la mia pelle
e mordendomi le labbra
fino a farmi male, bene
senza farmi capire
se per te è più sesso o amore
Poi fuggi, ti vesti, mi confondi
non sai dirmi quando torni
e piangi, non rispondi, sparisci
e ogni quattro mesi torni
Sei pazza di me come io lo son di te

Resisti, non mi stanchi
mi conservi sempre dentro ai tuoi ricordi
e poi brilli, non ti spegni
ci graffiamo per non far guarire i segni
e sei pioggia fredda
sei come un temporale di emozioni che poi quando passa
Lampo, tuono, è passato così poco e son già solo

Tornerai, tornerai
altrochè se tornerai
ma stavolta non ti lascio
ti tengo stretta sul mio petto
poi ti bacio, poi ti graffio
poi ti dico che ti amo e ti proteggo
e poi ti voglio e poi ti prendo
poi ti sento che impazzisci se ti parlo
sottovoce, senza luce
perchè solo io lo so come ti piace
e ora dimmi che mi ami
e che stavolta no, non durerà solo fino a domani
Resta qui con me perchè son pazzo di te

Resisti, non mi stanchi
mi conservi sempre dentro ai tuoi ricordi
e poi brilli, non ti spegni
ci graffiamo per non far guarire i segni
sei pioggia fredda
sei come un temporale di emozioni che poi quando passa
Lampo, tuono, è passato così poco e son già solo

Resisti, non mi stanchi
mi conservi sempre dentro ai tuoi ricordi
e poi brilli, non ti spegni
ci graffiamo per non far guarire i segni
sei pioggia fredda
sei come un temporale di emozioni che poi quando passa
Lampo, tuono, è passato così poco e son già solo

On Long Distance Relationships and Naked Lady Parties

2010-04-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to a BBQ hosted by one of my book club friends. The first half of the get-together was a Naked Lady party wherein you take clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry and the like that you no longer want and offer them up for exchange. Whatever is left goes to the Goodwill, a womens shelter or some sort of charity. It was pretty cool. I only took a few things but I think next time I will really dig in my closet and drawers and take more things. If you ever get invited to one, go and take lots of things. You'd be surprised the little treasures you can find. Many of my friends wear really cute clothes and when I ask where they got them, they almost always answer Goodwill or at a Naked Lady party. Fun!

As those of you that read my blog know, the Italian and I have been at this long distance relationship for 4 years. We were hoping for him to be here by last year but what with the global economical meltdown, we had to put that on hold. We are hoping he can be here by the summer or at least the end of the summer. To be completely honest, I've sort of put a dead line on it. This type of relationship never gets easier. I'm sure the odds of a relationship like ours actually standing the test of time aren't very good. Our relationship, thus far, has survived the time and distance but it has not been easy. People tell me all the time that they don't know how we do it. I'm not one to give advice. I can only speak from my own experience but this sort of relationship is not for the faint of heart or weak-minded people. You have to really want it to work and you have to really trust the other person. If you are the jealous type, forget about it. You will not be able to sleep at night. Speaking on the phone can be a challenge due to the time difference, schedules, work and even just the tone of voice you hear on the other end.

If the other person has had a bad day but doesn't want to spend their limited time on the phone with you talking about it, it can create a misunderstanding. You can hear it in their voice and naturally, you ask if all is well. They say no, but you know there is etc, etc. These, are some of the challenges the Italian and I have come up against but nothing serious enough to create a rift because we are both very dedicated to each other and to making this work.

Ultimately though, we are both humans with feelings and it is hard, extremely hard to be away from one another. In social situations, my friends always ask, when is the Italian coming back? Those that haven't met him, ask when he is coming and are anxious to meet him, as am I for him to meet them. Last night was one of those nights. My friends were at the BBQ with their husbands and kids and they all asked when he is coming and that they look forward to meeting him. It should be easy right? I mean, he should just be able to hop on a plane and make his way here or vice versa for me. But really, it's not. There are legal fees to be paid for immigrating, one would have to financially support the other until such time as a work permit can be obtained, etc etc. I'm way more spontaneous than he is. I can be a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of person, but the Italian is so not like that. He is way more conservative in that respect. He believes these sorts of things take careful planning and a lot of consideration, he's definitely old school. I mean, I just met his family after 3 years because he wouldn't take anyone home unless he was sure to marry them. This is another difficulty of LDR's. Cultural or religious differences can break relationships. Our cultures are not so different that this would be the case for us, but it can happen. Ultimately, our cultures, fundamentally speaking, are quite similar. Mine has just been Americanized a bit but essentially we have the same morals and values. We are both Catholic so this hasn't been a problem for us either. He has expressed to me though that he wouldn't marry someone who was not Catholic.

What it boils down to is that we are best friends. We trust and respect each other and that's why this has worked for us. Again, I will say that it has not been without effort. When we are physically together, we are a team. We work so well together and are so supportive of each other. We like to joke with each other, cook together, read together, watch movies, go for passegiate, concerts, etc etc. Politically, we tend to disagree but it makes for interesting conversation.

He helps me clean and do laundry. I love that he is always ready and willing to help me. Not all men are that way, unfortunately. I've known from the beginning that he is the man I will spend the rest of my life with and I can no longer imagine life without him. The attraction was instant. This fall our LDR will culminate in marriage and these last 4 years of phone calls, flights, emails, texts, tears and laughter will come to an end and our life together will finally begin.

Trust and tenacity are what it takes to survive the test of distance and time. Without these two, fuggetaboutit!

I Need You to Try Something On

2010-03-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

Getting back to my trip to Milano, that night that I arrived and was so tired, the Italian had said to me that he needed me to try something on. I was so tired that I said ok, can I try it tomorrow and he said yes, of course of course. I had forgotten about it for most of the day and it was Christmas Eve. He told me to take my time getting ready because we weren't due at his home until dinner. He also promised to take me to il centro (downtown) to see all the Christmas decorations. We took the underground into the center and there were people still out doing last minute shopping. I then remembered to ask him what it was he wanted me to try on. He said oh yes, and had this strange look on his face, then he pulled out a little brown box and said, "I hope you will marry me"

It was so cute! I was not expecting it! I thought he wanted me to try on like a sweater or something. Of course I said YES YES YES!! SI SI SI!! It was the happiest Christmas Eve of my life.

We celebrated by having an Espresso e cornetto at Bar Cova. A swanky little place on Via Montenapoleone. Think Rodeo Drive.

And so it is official. We are engaged, extremely happy and so deeply in love! We are hoping to be married in the fall but it will really depend on when he can finally get here, then we can start making our plans.

I am really behind in all the posts I have planned but there have been many changes, which I also plan on posting about soon. I have a lot of catching up to do!

Happy World Nutella Day 2010: Nutella Olive Oil Cupcakes

2010-02-04T23:18:00.000-08:00

It's World Nutella Day everyone!! It's been declared by Bleeding Espresso and Ms Adventures In Italy that February 5th is the day we celebrate Nutella! It is also the Italian's sisters birthday so Auguroni L!! Here is my contribution to World Nutella Day:

Nutella Olive Oil Cupcakes

Makes 12

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl, mix well and set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg, yolk and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes. On low speed, mix in the oil and vanilla until blended. Mix in the sour cream and Nutella well. Mix in the dry ingredients until incorporated well and the batter is smooth. Fill paper cupcake cups in the tin 3/4 full. Bake 20 minutes, or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool before putting on the icing.

Nutella Icing:

1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup creamy Nutella
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup whipping cream
toasted hazelnuts for garnish

In a large bowl combine the confectioners sugar, Nutella, butter, vanilla, and salt with an electric mixer on a medium-low speed until creamy. Add the whipping cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

And this is the result!

Check out www.nutelladay.com

How will you celebrate?

Le Tre Torri

2010-01-25T17:23:00.000-08:00

Once we arrived at the hotel I was so exhausted, I laid in the bed and didn't want to move. The Italian asked if I wanted to go have dinner with his family and I felt so bad because I was too tired. I needed to bathe and I knew once I did that it would be a matter of minutes before I knocked out cold, but I was hungry. I told him that I really wanted to but I was just too tired to muster up the energy. He understood and offered to go out and get me some pizza. I agreed as this would give me a chance to take a shower and freshen up.

I stumbled onto the website of Le Tre Torri somehow when searching for a place to stay. The price was right and it's right on the green line which goes to the neighborhood where the Italian lives with his family. I had him go and check it out and it seemed like a nice place and the owners were very nice. The room was a little spartan with Ikea furnishings but it was clean and suited my needs. It's not really a hotel but more like a self-service room rental type place. They also offered free Wi-Fi. The Italian was a little skeptical about the neighborhood called Lambrate because it has a bit of a past but they seem to have cleaned it up and it was very convenient when we wanted to go into the center of Milano as well as going to his families house which we would drive to rather than use the metro. I really recommend this place if you need an economical place to stay in Milano. The longer you stay the more discount they offer. There is a communal kitchen and dining room as well as a washing machine. If I had to, I would definitely stay there again.

The Italian promised to bring me back a really delicious pizza. I was starving so I was really looking forward to it. Well, he didn't disappoint! Wow, I don't know if it was because I was starving but this was among the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Trattoria Pizzera La Cappelletta was near the hotel and seems to have a little history. This is what is written on the box:

Narrano leggende che ai tempi dei Romani, nel luogo ove ora sorge la Cappelletta vi fosse un santuario cristiano. Forse era solo un sasso, ma con il passare del tempo e' diventato un simbolo, che ha acquistato una forza e una simbologia da caratterizzare un intero paese quale era Lambrate. Oggi purtroppo non la si nota quasi piu', sommersa dalle case e dalle auto, ma e' bello sapere che un luogo cosi' ricco di spiritualita' a cui generazioni di lambratesi hanno affidato le loro preghiere, sia sempre qui a portata di mano.

The pizza was like no other pizza I have ever had before. The crust had a bit of a sourdough taste to it and it was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, because I was so hungry I didn't think to take a picture of it until after I finished it, so I took a picture of the box instead. He just bought enough for me as it was way too early for him to eat dinner. He stayed with me until I fell asleep, then he went home to eat with his family. I asked him to please give my apologies to his family but I was just way too tired. He kept telling me not to worry, that they would understand. When he came back from his dinner I woke up and he let me know that his family completely understood and that they looked forward to meeting me the next day which was Christmas Eve. I was so relieved and went right back to sleep.

Airport Meetings & Destination Milano

2010-01-10T01:44:00.000-08:00

I went to bed around midnight on the 21st knowing I had to be up 3 hours later. There was just so much to do before I left. I had a 6:30am flight and what with all the snow storms going on all over the place, I figured I better get an early start just in case. My friend Darcy graciously offered to drive me to the airport at the ungodly hour of 3:30am. Thank goodness for good friends! She also took care of my car for me while I was gone which saved me close to $200 had I parked at the airport.

The best part about having to be at the airport so early was the coffee! I love Coffee People! They used to have shops all over Portland but now they only have 2 locations at the airport, so this was truly a treat!

I was about the 3rd person in line to check in and the guy behind me commented on my stack of suitcases. "You don't travel light, do you?" I laughed and said, "No, I've never been one to backpack anywhere. Plus it's Christmas so I'm smuggling gifts!" Turns out he's from New York and a graduate of the Maritime Academy in the Bronx which is located in the neighborhood I lived in for 4 years. Nice guy. He came into Portland on a ship and said that he really loves the city :-) He mentioned that he liked it a lot better than Seattle. We got to talking about what Portland is known for and he specifically said he loved the variety of beer here and that the East Coast just doesn't have the quality beer that Portland does. I loved hearing that, I just wish I were a beer lover! I'm more a wine person. I do enjoy the Ruby from McMenamins but that's about the size of it. He wasn't on my flight though, so once I checked in we wished each other Happy Holidays and off I went to the gate. While waiting for my flight a woman sat next to me and we started talking. It turns out she is my neighbor, literally lives across the street in the townhomes and she is married to a man from Italy. Quite the coincidence! She was going to NY to visit her daughter who is in college. She was a vicitm of the snow storm that hit the East Coast and was actually supposed to fly out 2 days prior. This trip started so well having met these two nice people. This is what I love about traveling. Meeting diverse people from everywhere. These two I happened to have a bit in common with :-)

When I arrived in NY I walked over to Terminal 1 and went up to the departures area to check in for the next portion of my flight. I should mention that the first portion was on Delta and the second portion was on Alitalia, which is a Skyteam partner of Delta. I arrived to the news that my flight was to be delayed 9 hours due to snow at Malpensa. I was really disappointed because every moment I have with the Italian is precious, so every moment spent in Terminal 1 was a moment lost with him. Alas, I had no choice.

Initally I called my friend Rachel who lives on Long Island and she was happy to come and pick me up but I told her I needed to check with the airline to see what they wanted the passengers to do. They asked that we check in and wait at the gate in the event that the snow stopped and Malpensa was back up and running. So I called Rachel back and told her I'd have to stay there. I really wanted to see her and her son who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting since the last time we saw each other was when she came to visit 2 1/2 years ago. The airline gave us a $10 voucher (which buys you all of a bottle of water and some pretzel's in NY), so I settled in and started watching movies on iTunes. One by one I watched several planes take off, Paris, Mexico City, Taipei, another flight to Paris, Munich, etc. I started to feel like I was on the movie Terminal! No communication from the airline whatsoever. I felt particularly bad for the families with small children. They were all restless and crying. The parents exhausted. This sort of put it into perspective for me and I stopped feeling sorry for myself asap!

When they finally announced boarding, in true Italian fashion, everyone bum rushed the gate. Forget boarding group 1, 2, 3 and 4 in that order, it was every man, woman and child for themselves!

It was a long uncomfortable flight and I got absolutely no sleep. I felt like a zombie when I finally arrived around 4pm Milano time which is 7am Portland time (the next day!). It took about an hour to get my luggage, then when I finally walked out the door, I looked through the crowd of faces and didn't see the one I was looking for. Then out of nowhere I got the biggest hug and kiss. I was so happy! Exhausted but happy. It was as though not a moment in time had passed since we were last together. I'll admit that I was a bit worried about this as distance and time sometimes puts a damper on relationships but I was immediately put at ease with his warm reception. We took the pullman (which is what the locals call the bus, which is not a city bus but more like a Greyhound bus) to the Stazione Centrale, then took the underground to my hotel.

Still here in Milano...

2010-01-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

I'm still here but headed back in a couple of days. I have lots of posts planned so stay tuned. I'm pretty sad to have to go back so soon because I've had such a great time here, but such is life. Back to reality. A presto!

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Bread and Book Club

2009-10-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging much lately. Shame on me but things have been pretty busy around these parts. This Saturday was my monthly book club meeting and it was lots of fun. The Italian says we should rename it to drink club with a side of book because we always end up talking about the book for all of 5 minutes and spend the rest of the night eating and drinking wine and/or beer. Well, wine for me anyhow. It's always so much fun! So this last months book was "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World" by Eric Weiner. I really enjoyed this book. I won't write a review here but I will recommend it. It's a light read and full of humor. It's very enlightening and great for lovers of travel as well as for those that haven't ventured very far but would like a perspective on the world as someone else sees it. You can read about it here.

I baked a Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip bread and it was a huge success! My friend Claire's husband did a dance for me just after his first bite :-)

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip bread recipe:

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 can solid pack pumpkin
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup of water
3 tablespoons Canadian maple syrup
1/2 bag of semisweet chocolate chips

Optional: substitute chocolate chips for walnuts or use both!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl combine sugar, oil, applesauce and eggs. Add pumpkin and mix well.

Combine dry ingredients; add to the pumpkin mixture alternately with water.

Pour into two greased loaf pans, or one loaf pan and one cupcake pan, or one bundt cake pan...etc, many possibilities!

Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until the bread tests done. Drizzle maple syrup over the top when just out of the oven. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Personally, I like to slice into it while it's still warm and add a dallup of Cool Whip!

Sorry there's no pic of the bread sliced. I didn't take my camera with me to book club but I am sure I will make it again really soon, so perhaps I'll post some pics then. Plus my photographer is in Milano so with only two hands it was hard to stop and take a pic so I just used the point & shoot.

Let me know if you try it and how it comes out!

Portland, Oh How I Love Thee.....

2009-09-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the new Travel Portland video. I was so excited when I saw it that I had to share it here with you. I love this city and all that it has to offer. We are the most ecofriendly city in the states, microbrew capitol of America, Willamette Valley wines, no sales tax, Cannon Beach...the most photographed coast line in America, Mt Hood ski and recreation area. One hour to the coast and one hour to the mountains, the Deschutes River among so many others with great river rafting, the abundant Hood River Valley, coops, community gardens, Farmers markets, great restaurants....and so much more!! Have a look for yourself and if your ever in town, please look me up!

Blast From the Past

2009-09-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

This Facebook thing is quite the phenomenon. It has it's good points and it's bad points. Sometimes I get friend requests from people who went to the same high school but never uttered a word to me. I don't approve those because it's obvious that they are just after the status quo. The more friends you have, the cooler you are...meh! I can honestly say that all the friends I have on Facebook are people that I have either broken bread with, relatives or have had some sort of exchange with, even blogger friends. But I don't need to have 500 friends to feel validated. Anyhow, I am amazed at some of the people that have found me and vice versa. Case in point, my ex-boyfriend from high school's sister and mother. Wow, I hadn't heard from these people in like at least a decade, so I was happy to accept their friendship. One day I had a message in my inbox from the ex's Mom on her birthday because I had sent her some b-day wishes earlier that day, so I read it only to find out it wasn't from her.

As I am reading the message, I realize OMG, it's C, the ex himself! He doesn't have a Facebook and when he went to visit his mom on her b-day, she showed him my Facebook and apparently he felt compelled to contact me. You see, ours is story that didn't end on a good note. No, in fact it ended quite badly. C was my first serious boyfriend, my first love. We met our junior year of high school when I moved out to the burbs from the inner city of L.A. We were together for 2 years. I'm going to try to condence this story as much as possible because it's quite lengthy.

After our high school graduation we decided to take a road trip to Vegas to celebrate. C invited some of our mutual friends and I invited one of my friends "S" from the old neighborhood who had just broken up with her boyfriend and was feeling kind of down. Anyhow, long story short, we got incredibly drunk one night and I passed out on the bed and while I was passed out my boyfriend and my "friend" S started making out with each other. Of course I had no idea what had happened. When we got back to my house, I was feeling horrible and I went to my room and my sister came to my room and told me that something wasn't right. She said she thought there was something between them because they were acting strange. I thought there was no way this was possible so I just ignored her. Later we took S home and C went home. My sister kept insisting so I called S and asked her what happened. She came clean and told me everything. Needless to say, I was shocked. She apologized but it didn't seem sincere. I called C and confronted him about it and he came over and told me that he was confused and he didn't know what he wanted. I told him that if he was so confused than he obviously didn't want to be with me anymore and I sent him on his merry way. This was really hard for me. I was betrayed by two people that I trusted so much. I was devasted. I couldn't eat or sleep for weeks. I never heard from either of them again. Our mutual friends filled me in on what happened. A few months later S got pregnant and they ended up getting married. I remember I saw his brother-in-law about a year later at the mall and he said that they missed me because S has no personality. I'll admit it was nice to hear that :-) So, a few years later I was told they got divorced. And that was the last I had heard about that.

His message was very apologetic. He said he was young and did a lot of stupid things at that point in his life. He said that karma had come back around to get him because S did the same thing to him that he did to me. He said that he almost didn't recognize me from my pics, that I look great and that his Mom always liked me. Wow, I wasn't expecting any of this at all. It was so long ago. For a split second I felt like justice had been done but then I caught myself and said, no, there is a child involved and that changes everything. So I wrote him back and thanked him for his apology but that it wasn't necessary since so much time has passed. I told him that while it did hurt me quite a bit, I got over it and come out of it a much stronger person because the human spirit is not easily broken. I also told him that I was sorry about his karma as that is something I would not wish on anyone. His response to mine was a bit disturbing. He said that he couldn't believe how nice I was being to him because every other woman he's had in his life has said that he ruined their lives. He said he had been getting therapy for the disaster that was his life. I couldnt' help but feel bad for him, but I suffered a lot back then and I just had to let it all go. And that is the extent of our communication. Wow, amazing this Facebook thing I tell you. Anybody else have a blast from the past connection story?

I wanted to post this song which is about letting go and addictions. I think people mistake this song as just being about relationships but it is so much more than that. If you pay close attention to the lyrics, it's most certainly about addictions. Addictions are not just limited to food, drugs, alcohol, etc. We can also get addicted to people. While I wasn't addicted to C, I certainly was attached and it was very difficult for me to let go. I'm sure some of you out there can relate in someway. So here it is. It's called Gravity by Sara Bareilles. Lyrics are listed on the video. Enjoy!

Yes or No?

2009-08-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've been contemplating buying one of these however, it's a pretty major purchase and with my impending trip to Milano and a subsequent sidetrip that we are planning, I am wondering if I should spend the money. One could argue that this is a good reason to make such a purchase. I will come home with beautiful pictures of our travels. When I think of all the beautiful pictures I could have had from all my previous travels, I say to myself, you have to buy it! My little point-and-shoot Sony digital camera did an OK job, but nothing spectacular. Nothing like what I could have with this baby:

Oh the joy this little beauty would bring me! Of course then the frugal and very logical person in me (who the hell is that??!!) thinks of how much smaller my bank account will be when I slap the money down for this and I think, I really shouldn't.....sigh... I'm like a paranoid schizophrenic arguing with myself about this. Best Buy has this package deal but being that I don't know a whole lot about digital SLR's, I'm not sure if I should go for it. Then of course I will need memory cards, an extra battery and such. The price is really going up! And do I really need to buy the Geek Squad Black Tie 4 year protection plan for $249.99??!! Of course, we have no sales tax here in Oregon, so that's an instant savings on that alone! But still....

I live in one of the most beautiful states in the union and there is so much opportunity for beautiful pictures here. I don't travel as often as I used to, or as I would like, but I still travel at least once a year, more or less. (I'm trying to justify this major purchase here, in case it isn't obvious) The Italian says there is always new technology coming out for these things and that as soon as I buy one, there will be a better one to follow it. Of course there will be. That's true with just about anything these days, but I am sure that this toy will last me many years to come and will bring me lots of joy and treasured memories. I can blow-up and frame my own artwork. I would have to take a class or read a book though because until now, I haven't even mastered my point-and-shoot, but to be honest, I never really cared because I knew that it could never do what an SLR can. I'd like to make my blog more interesting with pictures of Portland and her surroundings. Of the beautiful Oregon coast, and all the other places we will be traveling in the near and distant future. Of life and our future together. I'd also be doing my part to stimulate the economy, no?

Do those of you out there with an SLR think it was a good investment and have no regrets?

I've made my case. What do you think? Yes or No?

A Change of Plans

2009-07-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

I've really been neglecting my blog. It's not on purpose, really. I've been working a lot of overtime and by the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is stare at a computer screen. Usually afterwork I play tennis or go to the gym, so by the time I make dinner and sit down, I'm pretty much spent. I don't even have kids yet! That's going to be interesting! I don't know how you Mamma's do it. Kudos to you!

The Italian and I have been talking about his coming to Portland and his plans were to come here with plenty of money since it will be 4 or 5 months before he can even apply for work. Unfortunately, he is the latest victim of this global economic crisis and has not been paid by the University since September of last year. I don't understand how they expect people to survive! He won't leave until they pay him otherwise he'll never see that money. He even took a second job just to keep himself afloat but even that has been hard because it is a commission based job. I'm pretty bummed out because usually around this time of year I am preparing for his arrival. Not this year. Long distance relationships really aren't for the faint of heart. I like to see the glass as half-full so I am just seeing this as another bump in the road. Fortunately, I have some job security so we decided that I would go there for Christmas and New Year. This way I could meet his family. The last time I was there we had just met and he is pretty traditional in that he doesn't bring anyone home unless he intends to marry them. So, I will be the first woman he takes to meet his family. I have to admit that this is a little strange for me, having been raised in the states. It used to be that way in Mexico, but those are things of the past. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. According to the Italian, southern Italian mothers really scrutinize their sons choice for a wife. Maybe the fact that there is a language barrier will work in my favor!! I would like to learn some of her recipes and I am sure she wants me to keep her son well fed, so I think this may be a way to bond if we can understand each other. I'm thinking I might take some Mexican ingredients and show her a few of my dishes. I doubt there are any good Mexican restaurants in Milano.

If any of you out there have some tips for me, please, I need all the advice I can get!! I think I am more worried about saying the wrong thing and offending someone. I am going to be there from December 23 thru January 8th so I hope to learn as much cooking as I can while I am there. I am soooo looking forward to all the wonderful dishes the Italian's mom makes for Christmas. He has described them to me over the phone and I am left salivating everytime. She makes capitoni but he doesn't like it. I like fish, so I think I might like it. I hope these next 5 months fly by because I am so anxious to see him. At that point it will be a year and a half that we haven't seen each other. Too long! I am hoping that once I come back he will follow me here shortly thereafter. My first Christmas in Italy!! I am soooo excited!! I better lose a few extra pounds in preparation because if it's anything like the culinary extravaganza that goes on in Mexico for the holiday season, I'm bound to pack a few pounds on!

I have more to write about the situation at work, but I'll save that for another day. I hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer.

New Beginnings, Fender Benders, and Racism

2009-06-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

How's that for a title? Well, I'd all but abandoned my blog and I thought it was about time I revived it.

I'll start with the new beginnings. I finally found the Italian and I a new place to live. My previous place was the size of a shoe box and not a whole lot going for it but when I moved to Portland, it's all that was left in the neighborhood I wanted to be in so I took it. Now, there's a surplus of apartments in this area and as a result, I found us a great deal! This place is so much bigger!! It also has a balcony and a beautiful view of Mt. St. Helens and downtown Portland AND it's two blocks away from work! I love not having to drive and saving on gas as well as saving the environment. I come home for lunch, it's great! I had some friends over this weekend and they could not believe the deal I got. I can't wait for the Italian to see it!

I had a fender bender a few weeks ago but no one was hurt except for my poor car. I accidentally backed into my friends car. His car had not even a scratch, thank goodness. I was on a really steep hill trying to parallel park. There goes my good driver discount....Boo! I had never had to deal with a body shop and insurance before. What a pain! My insurance was actually really nice, it was the body shop that made it difficult. They kept my car for 3 weeks. Who knew one could have separation anxiety from a car!

My job is going great! I am doing really well. I have only been there two months and I already got a promotion, however, it was not without drama. This is where the racism comes in. I was hired as an assistant although the person I was assisting had no background or education in that position. She has worked in the medical field but as a medical assistant. Medical assistants really don't make much so she took a job as the clinic receptionist and was actually making more money. When the position became available she volunteered for it and the office manager decided to take a chance and train her. This isn't really a job where one can just be trained. There is so much more to it. It takes some education. Eventually I was hired as an assistant because she (we'll call her "A") was really struggling. "A" knew that I had the educational background and ever since I started working there she has been really snippy and condescending. I can hold my own, but being that I was new and her assistant, I didn't want to be insubordinate. So, I let a few things slide. Everyday I would catch mistakes she was making and when I presented her with them the look on her face was clueless. The sarcasm on her part got worse. Now I see that perhaps she was threatened by me. One day we were discussing Spain and she said that she was treated badly there because of the way she dressed (she's very hippy/bohemian, not that it matters to me but just to give you an idea) and then she said that Spaniards are the "lowest" of the European community and my response was that I had never heard that and that I disagreed with her. She continued to say, "You know, just like how Mexicans are the lowest of the Latin American countries". She said this to my face knowing full well that I am Mexican. I could feel the blood rushing to my face and my fists clenching but I wasn't going to indulge her in a reaction like that. I knew she was trying to push my buttons. I just told her that that is absolutely not true and I had never heard such an ignorant thing. Her response was, "Oh, I don't feel that way, but other people do". I decided to let her ignorant commment go. She obviously doesn't know any better and has no class or tact whatsoever. I later found out that she insulted Spaniards because she thought the Italian was Spaniard. Can you believe that?? I mean if she doesn't like me fine. But to generalize a whole culture and to put someone down that she has never met and knows nothing about??!! I feel sorry for her.

Shortly thereafter, my boss came to me extremely frustrated and asked me if I wanted "A"'s postion because she was making way too many mistakes and costing the clinic money. I can't tell you the feeling I had inside. I was so happy and the term poetic justice rang like a melody in my ears! Of course I accepted and she said she would put "A" back into her original receptionist position, which would now make me her boss. I knew "A" would not be happy. She started with her sarcasm again, but this time I gave it right back to her. Now she is acting really nice and is acting like she is relieved not to be in that position anymore. I know this is just a defense mechanism of hers. It is a very challenging position and there is a lot of attention to detail. I'm sure she is humiliated but she needs to learn to be humble. She goes around the clinic acting like she knows more than everybody else. As terrible as it sounds, I hope she leaves. Everyone else in the clinic is so cool, she's the only moody one. Can you believe now she is actually inviting me to see her boyfriends band play...Ha! We will never be friends. I don't surround myself with people like that.

On to a happier note, as a result of my promotion I get to do to Dallas for a conference on June 10th for 4 days!! Things are going great for me career wise and in my personal life. The only thing missing is my Italian and I am really hoping he makes it here by August so that we can start our life together!

Ch-Ch-Ch- Changes

2009-03-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

So many things have happened in the last two weeks and I decided I wouldn't write until I had some sort of outcome. First of all, I quit the job that I had taken to pass the time while I searched in the medical field, without having gotten a job to replace it with. At first I thought it was a pretty cool place to work and I am actually a consumer of it's product and have been for years. After about a month or so, things changed, drastically. They brought in a new VP that wanted to run things the way he did at his former place of employment. In my opinion, if he liked the way the old job was working for him, then he should have stayed there. It was horrible, I went from being treated like an adult to being micromanaged. I wasn't eating or sleeping well. I found myself turning into a moody person and I am normally a very positive happy person (unless you piss me off, of course, haha!) but seriously, it was beginning to affect my health and well-being, so I had to make a decision. It was difficult on me because of the health benefits I would be losing and we all know that not having health insurance in this country is like walking a tightrope, and given my health history, I would be taking a big risk. Add to that the fact that me not having a job would prolong the Italian's arrival. I seriously cried on the phone to the Italian the morning I decided not to go to work anymore. That was exactly two weeks ago today.

Yesterday I went to lunch with some friends from school and out of the four of us, only one had found a job in the medical field, but she was offered a really low salary. I honestly don't know how she is going to survive on that. Admittedly, I panicked a bit, but as soon as a worried thought enters my mind, I try to follow it with a positive one. I decided I was going to do what I could to market myself well and not sell myself short at the same time.

This morning I woke up and decided I was going to call a woman I had interviewed with back in November and again about 3 weeks ago. We had been going back and forth about this job for 3 months. This was going to be the last phone call. If she didn't respond or gave me the run around, I figured today would be the end of it. When I called, the receptionist acted as though she was waiting for my call and put me through to the woman I interviewed with. She told me she was so glad I called because she had been thinking about me over the weekend. Long story short, she offered me the position. Finally, after 3 months of back and forth, I finally got the job with the pay that I was hoping for, and after 90 days, if all goes well, possibly a raise. Although one might be leery given the history of the pursuit of this position, I am going to be cautiously optimistic and hope for the best. I really feel a sense of relief and I am so happy.

Now the only thing that is missing is the Italian. I hope the 90 days go by fast so that we can expedite his arrival. I miss him so much! I am also thinking of getting a new place before he returns. The rents are decreasing and there is so much out there right now. I want to stay in the same neighborhood though. I just love my neighborhood and so does he. New job, new home....and next a new..... :-)

True Love Never Dies

2009-03-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sure most of you have seen this poignant video, but I thought I would post it anyway in case you haven't. I could watch it a thousand times over and I would still cry everytime. Man or beast, we never forget when someone gives us love, affection, care and attention. Love knows no distance or time and I think those of us that have or are enduring a long distance relationship, can really relate to this. There was a time when the Italian and I had no communication because I was sick in the hospital and could not speak, but our love for each other never subsided. In fact, I would say it grew stronger and I truly have a greater appreciation for him for having been so patient with me through my recovery. I am truly lucky and very blessed. Happy weekend!

I Love Pandora!!

2009-02-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

I am officially addicted to Pandora. Pandora Internet Radio is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Seriously, it's that good and it's free! For those of you that are not aware of this little gem, it's a website that creates radio stations for you based on your favorite artists. They created what is known as the Music Genome Project which analyzes up to 400 distinct musical characteristics by a trained music analyst. This is how it is described on their website:

These attributes capture not only the musical identity of a song, but also the many significant qualities that are relevant to understanding the musical preferences of listeners. The typical music analyst working on the Music Genome Project has a four-year degree in music theory, composition or performance, has passed through a selective screening process and has completed intensive training in the Music Genome's rigorous and precise methodology. To qualify for the work, analysts must have a firm grounding in music theory, including familiarity with a wide range of styles and sounds. All analysis is done on location.

The Music Genome Project's database is built using a methodology that includes the use of precisely defined terminology, a consistent frame of reference, redundant analysis, and ongoing quality control to ensure that data integrity remains reliably high. Pandora does not use machine-listening or other forms of automated data extraction.

The Music Genome Project is updated on a continual basis with the latest releases, emerging artists, and an ever-deepening collection of catalogue titles.

By utilizing the wealth of musicological information stored in the Music Genome Project, Pandora recognizes and responds to each individual's tastes. The result is a much more personalized radio experience - stations that play music you'll love - and nothing else.

This website is truly a music lover's dream and a great way to discover new artists based on your music preferences. They have artists from all over the world. It's truly amazing and for those of you with iPhones, there is even an iPhone app for Pandora. Unfortunately, for now, Pandora is limited to the United States. They have not yet acquired licenses to stream in other countries. It is something that they would like to do in the future. You can read their blog for any updates directly on the website.

I am desperately seeking a Blu-Ray player by Samsung (model BD-P2550) which has Pandora and Netflix Instant Watch programmed right into it. It was such a popular item during the holidays that it is sold out everywhere. Are we really in a recession?? People seem to be spending. Boh. I keep hearing that it is going to be in stores again soon. My current BR player just isn't cutting the mustard anymore and I'd like to sell it.

I hope you check it out, if you can and let me know what you think. You can even connect with friends and share music. Have fun!

For the Love of Calcio aka Futbol aka Soccer...

2009-02-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

The Italian and I share a love for the sport. My Father played in a Semi-Professional League in Mexico and then a league here in the States, so I grew up around the sport. Not to mention the fact that Mexico has a spectacular national team known as El Tricolor (the Italian national team is known as "i Tricolore"). My favorite regional team from Mexico are known as "Las Chivas". They are the team with the most wins in Mexico and are from Guadalajara, which is near where my Father is from. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of money for the sport in Mexico like there is in Europe. In fact players like Rafa Marquez and Andres Guardado often leave Mexico in search of better compensation for their talent. Rafa plays for FC Barcelona and in fact when I was in Barcelona visiting the futbol stadium, the employees there expressed to me how much they love Rafa, which of course made me very proud.

Ale, is an FC Inter Milano aka "I Nerazzuri" fan. I would say it's his second love, but who I am kidding?? I remember in the beginning of our relationship he said something to me like, an Italian mans calcio team will always be his first love because a wife can always be traded, but his team, never. Ha! I like to think I have taken the lead in that race, or at least I am neck and neck!! Anyhow, on my first visit to Milano, Ale treated me to a match at San Siro against Parma. Now I have been to many sporting events. Laker games, NFL games, college football games, baseball games but nothing compared to this. I have to say that Italian (and maybe German) soccer fans are truly the craziest fans I have ever come across. I've never seen anything like it! If I remember correctly, I was the only woman in that section, also known as the Bob Uecker seats here in the states, so it's probably better that I didn't understand too much Italian at the time because I am pretty sure there were some pretty vulgar things being said. I had fun though and I hope to go to many more matches in the future, especially against teams like Juventus, AC Milan and Roma. Am I being too ambitious?? I have to admit, their song is pretty catchy. Have a listen and admire the hotness!

When I saw this video of this amazingly talented 6 year old, I was stunned! This kid truly has skills. It's like he's dancing with the ball. His name is Madin Mohammed and he is from Algeria but has lived in France for the last 3 years of his life. He is being compared to Zidane and is already on the radar of several big clubs. Let's hope there isn't too much pressure put on this little guy.

Mexico and Italy's national flags have the same colors. It's kismet!

Ale wrote a nice post about about a project by Inter called Inter Campus here

Valentine's Day....A Few Hours Early

2009-02-13T17:33:00.000-08:00

To My Chiquito Lindo:

Although we are separated by an ocean, you are always right here with me in my heart.

Te quiero tanto, tanto, tanto, tanto, tanto...cada dia un poco mas. Bacione.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody. I hope your day is filled with lots of love and affection.

I'm Back...It's Been So Long....

2009-02-11T21:57:00.001-08:00

Well, what can I say? So much has happened. I have joined the ranks of the nations gainfully employed, albeit in a field that has nothing to do with medicine. But, with major employers announcing lay-offs daily, I am lucky to have anything at all. The hospital that I was hoping to get a job with, just announced 500 lay-offs, so that went out the door. I did have an interview there, but the position was given to an internal candidate..surprise, surprise. I was told there may be another position opening soon, however, that was before they announced the layoffs.

Now that I have some extra income, I have been playing tennis and taking Krav Maga lessons. I didn't realize how much I truly missed tennis. I used to be really good and participated in tournaments. I hadn't played in over a year and a half. Now that I am back on the courts, it's going to be hard to ever get me off again! I just love it so much, so I am extremely content to have the opportunity to play again. Krav Maga is Israeli self-defense. Krav Maga is used by the FBI, CIA, INS and several law enforcement agencies. It is very intense. Not only do you get a great workout, but you are learning to defend yourself also. It's not for the weak. I've had a few bruises already and have been extremely sore. I haven't felt those muscles in a long time! Maybe my next post will be about Krav Maga....

The Italian is still in Italy, but we are hoping he can make it here by late spring/early summer. It's so hard to be away from him, but we speak on the phone as often as we can and email and text almost everyday. This global economic crisis isn't really helping things much, but we are both optimistic. This is the land of opportunity after all! See, it's all in the attitude, isn't it?

Portland has been in the news in the last few months. First we had the snow storm of the century, dumping almost 2 feet of snow. The city was completely shut down. No one knows how to drive in it, nor is the city equipped to handle it. I just had a chuckle because I have lived in two different states where 2 feet of snow is considered a light dusting. Then Portland was in the news because some nutjob was tired of living, decided to get himself a gun and go to the club district, which is like a mile away from my apartment, and randomly take out some people. The people he victimized were foreign exchange students. 2 died and several were gravely injured. The girl that was most severely injured was a foreign exchange student from Italy. Rome, to be exact. She was shot something like 11 times. Or was it 17?? I don't remember, but it is a miracle that she made it. Her parents came here and I believe are still here with her. It looks like she is going to ride out the school year here. Her family says they love Portland, and they realize it was completely random. I'm so glad that she made it, but I feel terrible for those kids that didn't.

I've also been on Facebook a lot. It's addicting!! I've connected with people I hadn't heard from in years. Are any of you on Facebook?

I've Been a Bad Blogger.....

2008-12-08T22:24:00.001-08:00

There are a few things going on in my life right now (all good) but they are causing a major malfunction in my time management. I have so many things to post about but not enough time. It should all get sorted out in the next few days and I'll post all about it as soon as I get the chance. Plus there's a great blogger contest going on right now that I am going to be posting about too. Sorry about being so vague, but it's all I have time for right now. Be back soon!!

Hope you are all having a nice holiday season!!

Shameless Plug: il Presidenzialista

2008-12-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

I'm back from a nice 4 day Thanksgiving weekend up in Gig Harbor, WA with some very good friends who I consider family. I'm going to post about that later though. This post is to plug the Italian's blog. I had been meaning to do it a while back, but never got around to it. So it's my great pleasure to send you over in his direction. His blog is both in Italian and English. His thing is politics but his posts will run the gambit. I am so happy he decided to put up his own blog because he's brilliant! Yes, I am biased, but seriously, he is! Ok, so go have a look and say hello or ciao ;)

il Presidenzialista

And here is his opinion of Starbuck's Espresso.....haha!

Elisa Concert

2008-11-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

The Elisa concert was really fun! I had never been to the Doug Fir, only driven by and it looked like such a small place. Downstairs is where they have the concerts. There must have been maybe 100 people. I was right up front and took some good pics, well, a lot came out blurry because I couldn't use my flash, oh well. I was able to make a video, but got caught 3/4 of the way by her tour manager and had to cut it. Of course, there had to be a few stronzos in the crowd and one plowed his way to the front when she started singing, "Gli Ostacoli Nel Cuore". The guy was obliterated and he threw himself on the stage. Elisa just kind of looked at the guy in disbelief, or maybe it was disgust??!! Then there was one guy who kept yelling, "Canta Caruso!!" and she seemed to get annoyed, and told him, "If you want to sing Caruso, why don't you come up here. We've got an extra microphone." Then there was Lucia, the "godmother" of the Italian community of Portland who had to let Elisa know, "Tutti siamo Italiani" Mamma mia...

Anyhow, at the end of the show the crowd was being shuffled out by security, unless you had a bracelet which allowed you to stay for the meet and greet. My group was sort of all huddled in the corner and we just kept speaking Spang-talian amongst ourselves and just smiled and nodded when asked if we had bracelets. They never checked, just asked. So we weezled our way into the meet and greet!! Elisa was really nice, and really humble. There were a few Italian medical professionals amongst us and Elisa commented on how she had met a young Italian doctor who had come to the States to pursue his career here in Arkansas. The guy drove seven hours to see her show and she was totally humbled by this. She said, "E veramente un pecato" that Italian professionals have to leave home to find a better life. I had a lot of fun and met some really cool people. I just wish my Italian could have been here too. Soon baby, soon!

Here is the link to the pic that was taken with Elisa. I couldn't copy it, so I have to ask the photographer about buying it from him. That's me on the right next to her :)

http://flickr.com/photos/scasso/3055518922/in/set-72157609797932470/

Elisa Toffoli

2008-11-21T21:58:00.000-08:00

Elisa is a very famous singer in Italy and also sings in English. She will be performing tomorrow here in Portland and I get to go see her!! I believe this is her first ever US/Canada tour for the purpose of promoting her CD Dancing in stores now. She is such a talented artist and I am really looking forward to her show. Her lyrics resonate in my soul and listening to her music even brings me to tears. Here is just a sample of some of her beautiful music. The first video is a short clip from the show Che Tempo Che Fa and is the acoustic version of the song Dancing, which was also featured on So You Think You Can Dance.

This second clip is the same song, but it's the full version. Get yourself some Kleenex!!

I'm going to take pics and videos of the concert and I will post them on Sunday. It's a small venue so I am hoping to get to meet her!!

Love Thursday

2008-11-19T23:07:00.000-08:00

OK, so I am actually writing this on Wednesday at 11pm, but I won't have time tomorrow and am feeling the love tonight.

In honor of my first Love Thursday posting, I'd like to post a picture of the love of my life when he just a little guy. Circa 1970 something in Milano...isn't he just the cutest little boy?? With his Peter Pan-ish collared school uniform and his cute 70's haircut. I love, love, love this picture!! Sei molto carino amore mio.

Happy Love Thursday Everyone!

Ti voglio bene mi vida!!

Book Club and Sugared Walnuts

2008-11-18T13:36:00.000-08:00

My friend Sarah invited me to join her book club and of course I graciously accepted. The first meeting was Friday night and the book for that meeting was Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. Not normally a book I would pick up on my own but I'm an open-minded person, so why not, right? I'm actually not done with it yet. It was a little hard to get into at first, but now it's got my interest. In a nutshell, it's about a woman who is transgender, although she hasn't had the surgery, it's more about her identity. She really goes through a lot in her life and it's really terrible the way transgendered people are treated. Although this is a work of fiction, it really is quite obviously a memoir.

The other women in the book club are really cool and the hostess's husband was an absolute riot, so I had a great time!

For the book club we are all to bring a dish or dessert and wine. I decided to bring my "famous" Sugared Walnuts. They were a big hit! (Further proving the Italian's theory that I am a golosa!) So I'm going to post the recipe here for you all. These are great for the holidays or sporting events like the Superbowl, or even just to munch on while watching a good flick. NOTE: You can use any kind of nut you like, as long as it's not a nut that burns easily, i.e. pecans.

SUGARED WALNUTS
Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
4 cups shelled walnuts (approx. 1 bag)
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1/4 of a stick of butter
2 tablespoons of vanilla (if you can, use the Mexican kind, it's just better!)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a medium size pot over medium heat, combine the sugar, water, cinnamon, butter, vanilla and dissolve.

Add the walnuts and continue cooking,

Stirring frequently until the walnuts are completely sugar coated and the sugar is crystallized and there is no syrup left.

Pour the mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet, spreading and separating the walnuts as much as possible.

Bake until the walnuts are golden, about 12 to 15 minutes, stirring at 5 minute intervals.

Let them sit for a few minutes to allow them to harden.

And voila'! The finished product! They are so good while they are still warm...yum!

Please note that I doubled the recipe, so it looks like a lot in the pics but you won't have as much if you stick to the recipe I posted.

Our next meeting for the book club is on December 5th and the book is Flight by Sherman Alexie. I'm so looking forward to it!

Are you a member of a book club? What are you reading?

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-12T19:12:00.001-08:00

iTunes Tuesdays

2008-11-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

I love the All American Rejects. This song is a little on the sad side, but it's about new beginnings and taking a stand. I'd like to dedicate this song to my blogger buddy MissB in light of recent events in her life. Stay strong girl!

Your subtleties
They strangle me
I can't explain myself at all.
And all the wants
And all the needs
All I don't want to need at all.

The walls start breathing
My mind's unweaving
Maybe it's best you leave me alone.
A weight is lifted
On this evening
I give the final blow.

When darkness turns to light,
It ends tonight
It ends tonight.

A falling star
Least I fall alone.
I can't explain what you can't explain.
Your finding things that you didn't know
I look at you with such disdain

The walls start breathing
My mind's unweaving
Maybe it's best you leave me alone.
A weight is lifted
On this evening
I give the final blow.

[Chorus]
When darkness turns to light
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Just a little insight
Won't make this right
It's too late to fight
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.

Now I'm on my own side
It's better than being on your side
It's my fault when your blind
It's better than I see it through your eyes
All these thoughts locked inside
Now you're the first to know

When darkness turns to light,
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Just a little insight won't make this right,
It's too late to fight,
It ends tonight,
It ends when darkness turns to light
It ends tonight
It ends tonight, just a little insight
Won't make this right, it's too late to fight
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight,
Tonight,
Insight,
When darkness turns to light it ends tonight

Slip of the Tongue...??

2008-11-10T14:59:00.001-08:00

So as most of the world knows, the "youthful" and often tactless Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi made a remark about our new President Elect being young, handsome and even "tanned". Hmm..anyhow, here is how some Italians have responded to his remark:

http://www.notspeakinginmyname.com/

iTunes Tuesday a Day Late: Special Election Edition Barack Obama

2008-11-05T20:32:00.000-08:00

I went for a walk today and even though the skies were gray and the ground was wet, people had smiles on their faces and the atmosphere in Portland is joyous and victorious. Last night history was made and there were fireworks, revelers in the streets. The employees at Trader Joe's were happier than usual. It felt like midnight on New Years. I've never seen anything like it, but it's good, really good. The world is happy!! A friend of mine in California sent me this and it's infectous so I had to pass it on. So rejoice, turn up the speakers and get up and dance!!

A Proud Day for America

2008-11-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

We did it. My country voted in the right man for the highest ranking job in the country. I have always been a proud American, but never more so than now. Barack Obama has defeated McCain in a landslide. The people have spoken and the truth prevails. No doubt that he has a tough job ahead of him. Much like Clinton, he will have to clean up the mess that the second Bush has left behind. But true to history, I am positive that a Democrat administration will be good for our economy. There was definitely a ceiling shattered tonight. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!

I can hear people screaming in the streets!! OMG, I even hear fireworks!!

What's Grosser Than Gross?

2008-10-31T15:54:00.001-07:00

When you go to the grocery store to buy apples for bobbing on Halloween, and the guy standing in front of you at the check-out lane licks his credit card, then slides it through the point of sale machine. Ew!

Where? Fred Meyer's on Burnside. Beware!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It's not really a holiday because we don't get the day off and nothing closes, but it's fall and the beginning of the holiday season and I love it!! I have already admitted my addiction to Mellowcreme Pumpkins, because you know, it's all about the candy! But I also love the costumes that people come up with. I have many great memories of Halloween. I remember going trick or treating in San Marino and South Pasadena, some pretty affluent neighborhoods of L.A. (well, at least the closest ones to my neighborhood) Some of these people would actually put out a bowl of money and we would reach our little hands in and grab as much as we possibly could. At one of my former employers, on Halloween we had a contest. Each department was given the task of coming up with a theme. Well, I jumped at the opportunity and orchestrated the whole thing. I turned our department into Skid Row. There was trash everywhere, newpapers, cans. Even plastic rats and little houses made of cardboard with graffiti. It was great! Everybody dressed like bums. I blacked-out a couple of my teeth, ratted out my hair, put make-up on my face to make it look dirty. I even had a plastic booger. Ew! Then I had to take a little something from Eddie Murphy in Trading Places and rolled myself around the office on a crate with wheels. It was pretty hilarious. I'm proud to say that we won first place! Second and third place were the 70's and the jungle.

So in honor of my favorite pagan holiday, I'm going to post some funny costumes. First is a costume designed by some medical professionals, who almost always have a sick sense of humor. I couldn't help but laugh the first time I saw this:

Next we have the dirty old man, retired Hooter girl costume:

And how about a little Magnum P.I.

This next costume had me in stitches. I dressed as Wonder Woman when I was a little girl. Lynda Carter was my idol. I even had the Wonder Woman Underoos! Remember those?

Well, I hope I didn't look like this when I wore them!

And for the cutest/funniest costume, a character from a movie that I found funny, although the Italian didn't particularly like it, we have little Nacho Libre. Isn't he soooo cute!!

I'd say it's a pretty good rendition, don't you think??

One more cute one that I just couldn't resist posting. Isn't that just the cutest little lobster you've ever seen??!!

Where ever you are in the world, whether you celebrate Halloween or not, I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend. Now go have some candy, guilt free!

The Job Search is Turning Into the Twilight Zone

2008-10-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Seriously, what's happening here?? I know we are in a recession, but this is getting ridiculous! I wrote before that I am working with an agency that places medical professionals, well apparently they have different divisions for different professions/skills. The woman I interviewed with told me to call her this week about the position at a clinic that is about 5 blocks from my home, so I called her on Monday and left a message but she never called me back. So I called again this afternoon and her colleague answered and told me that the woman was not available and if there was anything she could help me with, so I explained to her that I was to call this week regarding the position discussed with me. She said that the position was not yet available, apparently the clinic is installing a new computer system and they are having problems, but she has another position available. Great! My ears perked up. Then she told me what it entailed. These were her words:

"We have a position doing some door to door canvassing for the McCain/Palin campaign" WHAT THE?????? OK, first of all, this is Oregon. The most liberal state in the union, so why would she just assume that I am a Republican??? Or is it that she just assumes my situation is that of desparation, so I'm willing to do just about anything. I told her as politely as I could that I was not interested in a political career, my career is in Medicine. To which she replied, in a sarcastic tone, I might add, "Well I just thought you'd want to put a few extra dollars in your pocket." I was floored. So I'm just supposed to set aside all my morals, beliefs and convictions to campaign for something and someone I don't believe in???? That's like selling my soul to the devil himself. Well, I'm not that desperate, nor will I ever be. I'd just as soon go work at McDonald's flipping burgers before I work McPain. I'm a little worried now though because I wonder if this will somehow ruin my chances to get a good position through the agency. Boh!

I know that I still have a month of school left, but I was hoping to find something before I finish school. To be honest, it's never taken me this long to find a job. I've always been quite lucky. I can't help but wonder sometimes if it's something about me. Am I hideous?? Do I offend?? It's not like me to be negative or a pessimist. I'm normally a positive and confident person, but this is getting to be a bit much. I'm not one to quit or give up easily, so I'll just keep my head up and keep searching. Que sera, sera...Whatever will be will be...

And now, I'm going to drown my sorrows in some Mellowcreme Pumpkins. That ought to do the trick! :)

I Was Attacked By A Bag of Mellowcreme Pumpkins

2008-10-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday before going to school, I stopped at Safeway to pick up some bananas for my Morning Banana Diet when it happened. There was I was, innocent as ever, waiting my turn in line to pay for my bananas when out of the corner of my eye comes flying this bag of Mellowcreme Pumpkins. I couldn't believe it. I had been avoiding them like the plague because these little orange bits of goodness are like crack for me. I'm insanely addicted to the little orange happy smiling pumpkin dudes, but my insane addiction only comes about in the Fall. How could I possibly resist?? Plus, they were on sale, 2 bags for $4. I'm a sucker for a good sale, so I caved. I admit it. My name is Piccola and I'm a Mellowcreme Pumpkin-aholic. These tiny bite size wonders have been available since early September, so that should tell you how long I have resisted purchasing these little bastards. This is the last week they will be available, so I gave in. I hope my ass doesn't start taking the shape of a pumpkin...oh God no!

I took one bag to class and gave it to my classmates who proceeded to tell me, "Oh sure, you're on a diet so you brought us the candy. If I can't be skinny, let my friends be fat." How could they dare think that of me?? I showed them that I had purchase one bag for myself and have justified the purchase because I am allowed one sweet snack in the afternoon at 3pm. I also noticed that Weight Watchers allows a serving for 3 points, so there. They won't kill me and for a brief while, they will make me happy. So I'm going to eat them until my teeth hurt. I know the Italian is reading this, gritting his teeth and saying, "Golosa" Si amore, golosa io sono golosa!! Mi dispiace pero'.... :) But hey, they're made with real honey!

There is no comparison to Mellowcreme Pumpkins. Not even candy corn, which can be had any time of the year, can compete. In conclusion, Mellowcreme Pumpkins are a heaven-sent joy that can only be had once a year. Go out and get your bag today before they sell out!

More on the Jobsearch.....

2008-10-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have probably applied for like, oh a hundred or so jobs in the last 2 months and let me tell you, the competition is fierce. In the last few days I've gotten about 3 or 4 rejections (I expected it because although I have experience in the field, I am going to graduate from my school program in December, so in that sense I am considered too new), but with the exception of one, they were all really nice rejections. All via email and very professional. It gets a little easier each time and I know that perfect opportunity is right around the corner.

Today I had an interview at an agency that places medical professionals and it went quite well. I did work for this agency last year before I got sick. If I hadn't gotten sick, I'd probably still be at the clinic where they placed me. Anyhow, the woman that I interviewed with and I had a really nice conversation (we both lived in the upper midwest and bonded about life there) and she just may have something for me!! I don't want to give too much away yet, but as soon as I know something, you can bet I'll be posting about it here!! Wish me luck!

What's Wrong With This Picture?? And an Important Message

2008-10-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Can you spot it? This just confirms her ignorance, but hey, thanks for the support Palin.

And now an important message from young America.

Rejection: Dodge Ball Style

2008-10-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

So I got my first rejection for a job. It was (technically) only my first interview. I did have an informational interview with a professional recruiter too, but that went well and I made a great connection.

On to the interview....It actually went really well. I first interviewed with the Office Manager, then with an RN. The office manager was really cool and made me feel comfortable, the nurse however, not so much. The thing is, she started discussing salary with me, which in my experience, doesn't really happen until an offer is made. So she asked me what my expectations were and I told her. I also noted that since they wanted me to use my Spanish language skills, I would like to be paid a little more, which is standard. I don't think she liked this much, but I'm not going to sell myself short. When she told me what they wanted to pay, I was a little shocked to say the least. She was trying to low-ball me, but I figured there would be room for negotiation if an offer was made. The office manager told me that they would be making a decision soon because they really needed someone.

Let me just tell you that this clinic, without revealing too much information, is a super high-tech specialty surgeons clinic. These guys have money and I wasn't asking for much. I mean I was actually quoting the lower end of the pay scale hoping to negotiate my way up. One MD won't even see patients unless they are willing to have surgery. Yeah, one of those.

So after my interview I emailed the office manager and told her thank you for taking the time to interview me and that I look forward to hearing from her, etc etc.... Then I called her and left messages 3 times. She never called me back. On the 4th call, the receptionist told me she was available and put me on hold, then hung up on me. When I called back, someone else answered the phone and told me the office manager wanted her to relay the message that the position had been filled. I'm not stupid. I knew they gave the position to someone else. What I wanted was to get feedback regarding my interviewing skills. She wouldn't even take my phone call for that. I think it's kind of strange. Other interviews I have been on in the past, that I didn't get the job for, I either got a phone call, letter or email. Rude. That's what I think.

So as I was writing this, I got a phone call for an interview. Cool! I'm moving on and this job pays exactly what I want. Pray for me!!

I've Been Tagged!

2008-10-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

By MissB in California She devirginized my blog! Ok so here's how it's gonna go down:

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share 6 non-important/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5 Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up

1) I am a foreign film geek. I have a whole collection of movies from around the world. You know, I'm into the whole neorealism movement. Now I'm downloading Italian films without subtitles in an effort to immerse myself in la bella lingua.
2) I once got 2nd place in a tennis tournament for both singles and doubles.
3) I love to travel and have had the good fortune to visit 14 countries so far. I had my 15 minutes of fame in the Philippines. (Don't ask!)
4) I have somewhere near a hundred pairs of shoes, which brings me to my next item...
5) I love my feet. I really do! Haven't posted a pic of them yet, but after my next pedicure, I just might!
6) I am a card-carrying member of the Ultimate Girls Fight Club. Mess with me and I'll kick your ass, hahaha! ;)

OK, who will I tag...

Lulu in Toronto
Leanne in Rome
The Shock of the Old
Ceci Reporting From....

I cheated..only 4 blogs :)

Vote!!

2008-10-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

So my official ballot arrived in the mail on Friday. This is the first time I will be voting as an Oregonian. I have had the pleasure of voting in other states such as California, New York, North Dakota and now Oregon. Things are done a little differently here in Oregon.

I asked at school if we were going to be allowed to miss the first hour of class so that we could go to our local polling place and cast our votes. The whole class looked at me like I was smoking crack. What?? They said, duh, you mail it. What?? Um, hello, this is my first time voting in Oregon and every other state I've ever voted in, you go to a polling place and vote. Oh ok, so they understood. I was kind of surprised by this method. I mean, anybody could steal mail, even if it is a federal crime. Just recently, I swear, someone was stealing my Netflix movies and watching them and then returning them. (In my apartment building you leave your outgoing mail out above the tenant mailboxes) It's usually a 2 day turnaround from sending in the movie to getting the next one. Well the last 2 weeks it was taking 5 days to get to the Netflix distributing center which is right here in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland. So that's my theory and now I walk them over to the mailbox on the corner.

When I told the Italian about having to mail in my ballot, he laughed and said, oh, that would never work here in Italy. All the ballots would be stolen. I'm sure the same thing would happen in Mexico. So I'm a little uncomfortable about putting my ballot in the mail, but I guess I have no choice.

I thought it was kind of funny that there is a "secrecy envelope" that goes within the outer envelope. I mean, is this really going to deter someone who wants to take a peek at my ballot?? If they've opened the first one, why stop there, right??

It took me a couple of hours to research all the measures on the ballot and the politicians running for local government. It was pretty interesting. Did you know Oregon has a cap on the tax deductions you can claim on your tax return??!! It's only $5,500. As a student and someone who is paying medical bills, I find that a bit hard to swallow. So you can guess which way I voted on that one. I wonder if I can claim my IRA losses?? Anybody know?? So my ballot is filled out and I will walk it over, along with my Netflix movies, to the mailbox tomorrow afterschool.

I did something kinda evil too. You see, the Italian and I like to play jokes on each other and so I thought I'd rub it in a little (remember, he's a Republican sympathizer) and took a picture of me filling in the little circle next to the Obama/Biden choice. I emailed it to him with a big I LOVE YOU written in. Ah, bipartisan love conquers all, doesn't it??

The Morning Banana Diet

2008-10-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a shortage of bananas in Japan and that's because of the Morning Banana Diet craze. The lastest fad diet to hit Japan. There are literally no more bananas in Japan and the Philippines can't keep up with the demand.

This is how the diet started:

A Japanese white-collar worker named Hitoshi Watanabe (currently 31 years old) had ballooned from his college days weight of about 135 pounds to about 175 pounds. Through various fitness and diet practices he managed to get himself back to 160 pounds, but he couldn’t get any lower.

Enter Sumiko. Hitoshi’s girlfriend was a pharmacist with additional training in traditional Chinese herbal medicine, yoga, and various natural and alternative health practices. When Hitoshi confessed that he wanted to lose that last 25 pounds, Sumiko suggested the ideas that became the core of the Morning Banana Diet: a banana for breakfast, room-temperature water to drink, and dinner well before bedtime.

Hitoshi lost the weight before his marriage to Sumiko, and he was so excited by the diet that he uploaded his before and after photos to the quarter-of-a-million-member Yaseru (”slim down”) community on Japan’s most popular social networking Web site, Mixi.jp. Many members tried it, asked questions, made suggestions, and the diet took off like wildfire.

I was kind of surprised by this since most Japanese people are quite healthy, unless they are sumo wrestlers. OK, maybe that sounded ignorant....Okinawa has some of the healthiest people in the world, who also happen to have the longest life span. So this banana diet sparked my curiousity, because you know, I am perpetually on a diet. What woman isn't these days?? Plus, I love me a good banana!! So I did a little research on the internet and found this website It's not a starvation diet and is much easier to follow than the Extreme Fat Smash Diet which I have done in the past. The Extreme Fat Smash is very limiting and I was always starving on that diet. The banana diet is much more reasonable. The rules are simple:

Eat a banana for breakfast

* You can eat more than one, and in fact the inventor of the diet often ate four bananas in the morning, but don’t stuff yourself to the point of fullness or discomfort
* Eat only raw, uncooked, unfrozen bananas
* Some variants of the diet allow other fruit to be substituted
* If other fruit is substituted, some variants require it be restricted to one type of fruit per meal
* If you are still hungry 15 or 20 minutes after your banana, you can eat other food (the inventor of the diet sometimes ate a rice ball two and a half hours later, about 200 calories worth)

Eat anything you want for lunch and dinner

* Dinner must be eaten by 8 p.m. at the latest (6 p.m. is better)
* There are no limits on what you can eat or the amount, including fried foods
* However, you should not eat a dessert with dinner or any of your meals
* At all meals you should eat only until you’re satisfied but not full or stuffed

Drink only water

* The only beverage allowed at most meals is water, preferably mineral or filtered
* The water must be at room temperature, not chilled or hot
* The water should be drunk in small sips and not used to wash down food
* There is no quota of water to drink, and you should not drink it in excess
* Outside of meals non-caloric beverages like tea, coffee, and diet soda are generally allowed but somewhat frowned upon, and in general water is encouraged as much as possible; milk products are not considered compatible with the diet
* On social occasions you may drink beer or wine

Eat your food mindfully

* Chew your banana and other food thoroughly and be mindful of its taste

You may eat an afternoon snack

* A sweet snack of chocolate, cookies, or the like is allowed at about 3 p.m.
* Ice cream, a donut, or potato chips are not recommended
* Some substitute fresh fruit for their snack, but if you want sweets you should not deny yourself
* Some Japanese who like salty snacks eat salted konbu (seaweed) snacks
* Some Japanese who are very hungry in the afternoon substitute a filling, fist-sized rice ball for sweets
* If you are hungry after dinner, you may have a second snack of fresh fruit, but this should not be a habit

Early to bed

* Go to bed by midnight. If you can manage to go to bed earlier, all the better

Exercise only if you want to

* Put no pressure on yourself to exercise
* If you want to exercise, go ahead: the test is to do what puts the least stress on you

OK, so I don't agree with the exercise only if you want to rule. I believe that exercise is key to a successful weight loss and lifestyle change. I'm going to be a guinea pig and try this diet. What have I got to lose but this tire sitting around my waist?? If it works, great, if not, I'm sure I won't gain any weight, right?
There are many health benefits to eating bananas, such as:

Bananas ease depression
Bananas treat anemia
Bananas help regulate blood pressure
Bananas are brain food
Bananas reduce constipation
Bananas cure hangovers
Bananas soothe heartburn
Bananas help avoid morning sickness
Bananas calm nerves
Bananas ease peptic ulcers
Bananas are a cooling fruit
Bananas help to quit smoking
Bananas help reduce stress
Bananas minimize stroke risks
Bananas help prevent cramping
Bananas help reduce swelling and irritation from mosquito bites
Bananas help kill off warts

So after my Italian class this morning, I went to my favorite grocery store Trader Joes and was thrilled to see that they had plenty of bananas. I'm going to start it on Sunday morning and see how it goes. I'm on a quest to get my bella figura back! I'll keep you posted!

On Joe the Plumber.....

2008-10-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Joe the Plumber is full of shit. Surprise, surprise. First of all, he's not even a licensed plumber, second of all, he owes back taxes. How does he expect to buy a business if 1. he's not licensed and 2. he can't even pay his taxes! But I love that McCain tried to use him as an example of why his policy would be "better". It's typical though. McCain/Palin can't seem to get any of their information straight now, can they?? So now poor Joe is the butt of many jokes. Here's a little video with all the heckling. Enjoy!

Politics in No Time @ Yahoo! Video

The Last Debate Before the Elections

2008-10-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, this was McCain's chance to redeem himself, instead he showed just how little control he has of his emotions. He might as well have thrown himself on the floor to complete his little tantrum. The incessant blinking, rolling his eyes, snickering and sneering. Grow up dude! It's obvious that he knows he's in trouble but instead of ceasing the opportunity to take the lead, he acted like a child. Obama had the opportunity to completely discredit Palin when he was asked if she was qualified for the VP, instead he took the high road. Did McCain when posed the same question?? No, of course not. Personally, I don't want a man or woman with a temperament like that representing my country. McCain and Palin are like two peas in a pod. Neither of them can speak eloquently, nor can they remain composed in the face of adversity. They should take their act to the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. I think that's more their target audience. Those "Joe six pack" types. Speaking of Joe, Joe the Plumber sure got his 15 minutes, didn't he? I hope he realizes that McCain isn't the right choice for him. Especially with regards to his healthcare plan. This is one of the most important issues to me both because I am still paying medical bills from last year and because I will soon be working in the healthcare industry (and have in the past). I'm not a doctor but I have lots of friends that are and this is what the very respected New England Journal of Medicine has to say about McCain's healthcare plan:

The choice facing health care professionals, like all Americans, is basic: Who deserves to be trusted with the stewardship of America's health care system? The McCain proposal violates the bedrock principle that major health policy reforms should first do no harm. It would risk the viability of employer-sponsored insurance and the welfare of chronically ill Americans in pell-mell pursuit of a radical vision of consumer-driven health care. Senator McCain's plan does not demonstrate the kind of judgment needed in a potential commander in chief of our health care system.

I'm willing to bet that Palin has never even heard of the New England Journal of Medicine! Shoot, she probably doesn't even know where New England is and I'm sure has never been there. What would be the point? That part of the country is as blue as the sky.

Here is a little video on what the analysts had to say about John McCain's anger mismanagement:

Only a few more weeks and I can cast my vote. Get out there and vote people!! I had a dream that we won and I didn't care what time it was, I sent a text to the Italian in Milano saying, "WE WON, WE WON!!" This of course wouldn't be good news to him being a Republican sympathizer and all, but man would I love the chance to rub it in his face!!I hope my dream is a prelude of good things to come.

iTunes Tuesdays

2008-10-14T20:26:00.001-07:00

Today's song is called "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Iglova. If you haven't seen the movie "Once", go out and get it immediately! I saw it early this year. I love this movie because it's so simple, so real. Friendship, music, coincidence, life, love...that's the movie in a nutshell. It moved me and this song brought tears to my eyes. If you do see the movie or have seen it, let me know what you think. Lyrics to follow. Enjoy!

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along

La Cucaracha

2008-10-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

My Mom gave me this nickname when I was a baby. She says it's because once I learned how to crawl, I got into everything. There was no stopping me. But that's not what this post is about. You see, Sunday night after I finished dinner and washed my dishes, I curled up on my super comfy couch, wrapped myself up in a blanket and indulged in my book Eclipse. The third installation of the Twilight series. (I'm loving this whole vampire romance crap!) So I'm reading my book when I see something out of the corner of my eye. What is that?? So I got up and got closer....Oh.My.God it's a friggin' roach!!! I have lived in this apartment for exactly one year and four months and have never ever had roaches. Che scifo! Que asco! Horrified, I grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be a library book, (sorry Multnomah county library, but it had to be done) threw it on top of the roach and jumped up and down on the book. Then I carefully picked up the book expecting to see guts all over the book and carpet, but no. This little bastard is a survivor. His legs were still moving. So I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a papertowel and picked up the little bastard. I had a closer look to make sure it was in fact a roach and much to my chagrin, it was indeed. I flushed that little monster down the toilet and looked everywhere for more. Nothing so far. Where did it come from??? I am anal about cleaning up the kitchen and any crumbs that might fall. I'm a clean person, so why did this little bastard invade my home?? I even had nightmares last night about having a giant roach infestation in my apartment.

Today when I called the Italian I told him, "Baby, I'm scared" to which he replied in his adorable Italian accent, "What's happened?" "I killed a roach in the apartment last night". He started laughing! He said, "Oh, I was thinking you were going to say you were scared about the financial crisis going on in the U.S. It's just a little creature. Poor guy. Don't kill it" WHAT????? I was expecting a little more sympathy. He said I should never go to Southern Italy or Africa. Growing up, my house was immaculate. My Mom cleaned everyday. She always told me that roaches came from filth. I've been traumatized since I was a child about roaches. Here are my reasons why:

1. When I was a little girl, I used to spend my summers in Mexico. There are flying cockroaches in Mexico and some are as big as my foot. No joke. While having dinner at my uncles house I felt something land on my shoulder. Yep, it was a flying cockroach. EW!!! OMG!! I screamed and my cousin flicked it off me. I was so grossed out I couldn't even finish my dinner. Everyone else just shrugged it off.

2. When I was about 12 years old my friend invited me to the movies to see The Karate Kid. I took the bus to her place, which happened to be in the projects. I grew up in the hood so this didn't bother me. Her Mom told us to go wait for her in the car, so we were in there for about 5 minutes when I felt something tickling my leg(I was wearing jeans) so I patted my leg and it stopped. A few minutes later I felt it again, so I slapped my leg, then out comes this roach from the bottom of my jeans. OMG!! I screamed again. My friend said to me, "You're in the projects, everybody has roaches". When I went home and told my Mom she was horrified! She said, "I hope you didn't bring any home with you".

3. When I first moved to New York I stayed at a friends house in the Bronx and there were roaches everywhere. These roaches could move furniture. I remember going to a restaurant in Times Square and there was a roach crawling around in the booth we were sitting in. I got up and said, "I'm not eating here!" When I finally got my own apartment I asked the landlady if there were any roaches because I did not want to move into a place knowing there were roaches. She laughed and said no, there are no roaches here. I lived there for two and a half years and only saw one roach the whole time I lived there. I did however have a mouse towards the end of my stay there and it was enough to make me stark raving mad! Luckily, my landlady acted fast on these things and got pest control to come out right away.

4. Claire Danes was chastised for saying that the Philippines was infested with roaches. She was even declared persona non grata. See her wikipedia page under "controversy". Well, I'm sorry to say that she is absolutely, 100% correct. I spent a month there and not a day went by that I didn't see at least 20 of them, and they fly there too. Don't get me wrong, outside of Manila, the Philippines is a tropical paradise with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and the people are so nice and welcoming. But the fact is that it is a tropical place and there are tons of roaches. I did not sleep comfortably the whole time I was there. I saw them crawling up the sides of the bed I slept in and I had my suitcase open one night and before I could close it, one ran into it. Argh! I was so paranoid that I was going to bring one back home with me.

And now this! Mamma mia, I will never learn to live with these little bastards. I hate them. When I got home from school today, I took all the cushions off my couch and vacuumed between every crevice. I moved my couch and ottoman and vacuumed every corner for fear that there might be a crumb lurking somewhere. I have friends with kids and when they visit, it's inevitable that there will be crumbs left from their snacks. It looks like someone moved out recently. Maybe it came from their apartment. I don't know but if I see another one, I'm going to have to tell the manager. He's new to the property and I don't think he likes me because we sort of got off on the wrong foot, but I'll save that for another post. The previous manager was so cool. I miss her! Should I buy some of those little roach motels?? I'm embarassed to do so because people might think that I'm dirty! Ew!

Did anyone ever see the commercial that started out with the roaches crawling all over the screen? When this commercial first aired, people were actually throwing things at their tv's and breaking them! I searched for the commercial on youtube.com but had no luck. I did find this article about it.

My apartment is on the ground floor so I do get spiders and other creepy crawlies. I did have an ant invasion last year for which I damn near lost my mind and my poor Italian bore the brunt of that. He ran to the grocery store to get some Raid while I searched for the entry point. Anyhow, I hope to never see one of those little bastards in here again, in the mean time I am going to live in a paranoid state. This may be a job for the Verminators.

Take That Gov. Palin!

2008-10-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time for blogging lately what with school and Italian language classes (Mamma mia, that deserves a post in itself) but I saw this video over on Mudflats and decided it needs to be shared. Keith Olbermann hit the nail on the head with this one. It's a little long, but trust me, it's worth 10 minutes of your time. Enjoy!

iTunes Tuesdays, Special Edition

2008-09-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

This Tuesday I've decided to share a really special song. I'm just gonna lay it all out there, why not?? So this song is called "Sabes" which means "You Know" and it's by a group from Mexico called Reik. They're kind of "popish" but I really like some of their ballads, in particular this one.

I first heard this most romantic song when I had just gotten back from Italy, after having met the Italian. It was a beautiful spring day in March when I fist laid eyes on his beautiful face. I knew he was going to be someone very important in my life. I spent 7 of the most wonderful days of my life with him in Milano. He was my personal tour guide and left quite the impression on me with his knowledge of all things Milano. Art, architecture, culture, history, etc. and it wasn't just limited to Milano, global really. He took me to restaurants where I was the only tourist and I had some really memorable meals. Somewhere in the course of those 7 days, I fell truly, madly, deeply (in Spanish, "locamente, siegamente, profundamente, enamorada") in love with this man. The day I had to get on a plane back to the states was torcher, serious agony. I was happy and scared at the same time. He promised me he would come visit me in the summer and I knew deep down in my heart he would, but I couldn't help but feel this least bit vulnerable. I mean I pretty much put myself out there to get my heart torn to shreds. I had never participated in a long distance relationship of this nature. When you first fall in love with someone, you want to spend every waking moment with them, and this was pretty much out of the question for us. How was this going to work?? A wise woman once commented on this here blog that "if it was meant to be, then it already is". She couldn't have been more right. Once I learned to let go and trust, the pieces just sort of fell into place. The Italian has been here to Portland twice now and our bond continues to grow stronger with each passing day. We have a bright future together, and even though we are still living apart, I wake up every morning knowing that we are one day closer to finally being together on a more permanent basis.

Back to the song, this song thoroughly describes what I have felt for him from the very beginning. It resonated in my soul. So this song is for you chiquito lindo. I love you.

Translation to go along with the lyrics.

Sabes?
You know?
No pido nada mas que estar entre tus brazos
I ask for nothing more than to be in your arms
Y huir de todo el mal
And flee from all that is bad
Que ha todo he renunciado
I have renounced it all
Por estar junto a ti
To be by your side

Sabes? No dejo de pensar
You know? I can't stop thinking
Que estoy enamorado
That I'm in love
Te quiero confesar
I want to confess to you
Que soy solo un esclavo
That I'm just a slave
Que no sabe vivir sin ti
That doesn't know how to live without you

Cuando llegaste tu
When you arrived
Te metiste en mi ser
You entered my being
Encendiste la luz
You lit the light
Me llenaste de fe
You filled me with faith

Tanto tiempo busque
I searched for so long
Pero al fin te encontre
But I finally found you
Tan perfecta como te imagine
So perfect, like I imagined you

Como aguja en un pajar
Like a needle in a haystack
Te busque sin cesar
I searched for you without ceasing
Como huella en el mar
Like a footprint in the sea
Tan dificil de hallar
So difficult to find

Tanto tiempo busque
I searched for so long
Pero al fin te encontre
But I finally found you
Tan perfecta como te imagine
So perfect, like I imagined you

Sabes?
You know?
Te quiero confesar
I want to confess to you
Que te encuentro irresistible
That I find you irrisistible
No dejo de pensar
I can't stop thinking
Que haria lo imposible
That I would do the impossible
Por quedarme cerca de ti
To remain near you

Cuando llegaste tu
When you arrived
Te metiste en mi ser
You entered my being
Encendiste la luz
You lit the light
Me llenaste de fe
You filled me with faith

Tanto tiempo busque
I searched for so long
Pero al fin te encontre
But I finally found you
Tan perfecta como te imagine
So perfect, like I imagined you

Como aguja en un pajar
Like a needle in a haystack
Te busque sin cesar
I searched for you without ceasing
Como huella en el mar
Like a footprint in the sea
Tan dificil de hallar
So difficult to find

Tanto tiempo busque
I searched for so long
Pero al fin te encontre
But I finally found you
Tan perfecta como te imagine
So perfect, like I imagined you

Sabes?
You know?
No pido nada mas
I ask for nothing more
Que estar entre tus brazos
Then to be in your arms

Just Some Fun Facts.....

2008-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Educational background of candidates:

Obama:
Occidental College - Two years.
Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D .) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Hmmm, a couple of Lawyers vs. a couple of jackasses. The choice is obvious.
OBAMA/BIDEN '08

But don't take my word for it. See for yourself:

http://www.themudflats.net/2008/09/26/mccain-camp-realizes-palin-is-clueless/

Wordless Wednesday

2008-09-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

Twilight

2008-09-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday I had to drive out to Beaverton, a suburb of Portland, to pick up some pants I was having altered by a seamstress. She told me last week that she was going to be home all day so I could stop by anytime on Saturday. As luck would have it, she was not home when I arrived. I called her cell phone and she told me she was out running errands and wouldn't be home until 3:30pm. It was now 12:30pm. Great. Lesson learned. I should have called before I went. I didn't want to have to drive back to Portland and back again, so I remembered that there was a movie theater nearby. There are a few movies I've been wanting to see but the only one starting when I arrived at the theater was "Righteous Kill", the DeNiro/Pacino movie. All the others had already started, so "Righteuos Kill" it was. This movie was just ok, not their greatest body of work. It was a bit predictable. The Italian would have probably liked it more than me as this is his kind of movie and he is a DeNiro fan. When the movie ended, I still had an hour to kill, so I headed over to Barnes & Noble.

Normally, in terms of buying books, I scout out the book at Barnes or Powell's(Powell's deserves it's own post and that will be coming soon), then I come home and order the books that interest me from amazon.com. Unless Powell's has a used version. So when I went to Barnes, there was quite the display for this book called "Twilight". Being artistically inclined, I'm a sucker for a good display. I was intrigued. So I picked up the book and kind of thumbed through it. Seemed pretty good, so I wrote it down on my list of books to scout out on Amazon. Now I have to tell you that this book is about a love story between a vampire and a normal girl. Not normally a subject I like to read about, vampires. I like books that transport me to another place, and perhaps another time, but I used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in the day, so I thought, why not? Plus, it is listed as a young adult book, but there were some older women talking about how they loved the book. I'm such a sucker, I know, I know. Some of the other books that interest me are "The Bastard of Istanbul" and "The Flea Palace" by Elif Sharak.

So when I got home and started researching this book, which is actually the first in a series, I was sort of thrown for a loop when I found out that this book has like this total cult following all over the world. It's been on the NY Times bestseller list like forever, it's been translated to over 20 languages and there's a movie coming out in November AND it was filmed right here, in Portland, Oregon. Where the hell have I been??? People have created websites dedicated to this series of books and they are traveling to the litte town of Forks, Washington where the story takes place. I'm not normally one to "jump on the bandwagon" but all of this really has me intrigued, so I am going to order the book from Amazon. I checked the library website to see if it was available and the system has 89 copies with 471 holds on this book. Insane. I want to read it before the movie comes out, so I'm not willing to put my name on a waiting list of 471 people. After I finish reading the book, which may take a while because I have a lot of other reading to do for school, I will post my review. Off to order my book!

Here's a trailer for the movie:

The People's Republic of Portland

2008-09-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yep, you read it right. That's what Portlanders have affectionately named this great city to reflect it's increasingly left-wing personality. Portland is a mecca for liberals. People here really take quality of life and the environment quite seriously. As I stated in a previous post, it is the only U.S. city in the top 5 list of amazing green cities. You really get the sense that this is a city run by the people and for the people. Something that our ahem, great leaders in D.C. seem to have forgotten.

The Urban Dictionary's definition of the People's Republic of Portland is: nickname of Portland--it got that name because the city is very liberal.The People's Republic of Portland is located on the Left Coast. It's also been called "Little Beirut" by the Bush family because they are not so popular here.

Some other names given to Portland are Bridgetown (because we have 6 bridges in the city center alone), Brew City (because we have so many microbreweries here), P-town, The City of Roses (for obvious reasons) and Greener-than-Green-land (again, for obvious reasons).

Ok, this is a little much but I thought it was funny :)

I couldn't neglect to post the most famous (besides the Obama/Biden '08 stickers) bumper sticker in Portland:

Portland is a really fun city. There's always something going on, something to do and somewhere to go. If you're a nature lover, this is your paradise. Even my conservative Italian loves it here.

El Grito 16 de Septiembre

2008-09-17T17:14:00.001-07:00

Last year I wrote about the Mexican Independence Day celebration in Portland here and this year was much of the same, except that this year it was held on Monday the 15th, instead of on the 16th. Boh, wait, that's Italian. In Spanish we would say, "Sepa la bola". Good food, good margarita's, good music, good entertainment, good networking going on, and I had a really good time with my friends.

We have the same colors as Italy, except the Mexican flag has that really cool eagle with the serpent in it's mouth. Viva El Tricolor!!

J was super extra happy to wait in line for her margarita! Ahoooaahhh!!

The obligatory photo with the Mariachi's. I have always been the whitest Mexican on the block. In elementary school my nickname was Casper

J and I reminisced about our days as Ballet Folklorico dancers. Ah, those were the days where we had not a care in the world. All we had to do was dance, go to school and play. How times have changed.

This part made me feel like I was in Mexico, except for the Nordstrom in the background.

And last but certainly not least, my friends, the Spain's. Isn't their baby so cute!! She was bopping and dancing along to the Mariachi's. It's in her blood.

Progress

2008-09-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've lost a total of 10 pounds, although it's taken me a couple of months to lose it, any loss is better than gaining. For those of you that don't know, I was in the hospital last year for 5 weeks and the treatment that worked for my mysterious illness was steroids and some other medications that made me gain weight. I gained a total of 50 pounds, so I still have 40 pounds to go. I know I still have a lot of hard work ahead of me but I'm in for the long haul so I'll keep posting periodically on my progress. My problem is that I love to eat.(Ale calls me "golosa" but I don't eat junk food, I just have a love for gelato, oh, and torrone) This wasn't such an issue before I gained the weight because I was so active. I played tennis 5 days a week, had personal training, agility training and cardio classes. It's been a struggle to get that strength back. I still haven't really, but I'm not giving up. Since I am a student these days, it's not in my budget to play so much tennis or have personal training, so I've had to find alternatives. My boxing class is one alternative and I've been going on walks that average about 5 miles. I still have to add more things to my workout regimen, but I'm sure I'll find something. I was thinking of going on the Biggest Loser, but apparently I'm not fat enough, darn ;) I don't like that word "fat". I'd rather be called thick or fluffy :)
I took a picture of myself to see if I still had my huge double chin, but it seems to be shrinking! Just look...

Now if I could just get rid of the chipmunk cheeks and spare tire I've got hanging around my midsection, I'll be back in business! Tennis anyone??

iTunes Tuesdays

2008-09-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted an iTunes Tuesday for a long time now so I thought I would start it up again. The song I am posting this week is by the Dave Matthews Band and the song is called #41. I love this song. It's brought me to tears during hard times, but it also brings back good memories of sitting around a camp fire with friends. One of the guys would play their guitar and the rest of us would sing while roasting marshmallows. Good times, good times. I want to learn how to play the guitar just to play this song.
The video quality is not so good, but it was the best one I could find on youtube. It's acoustic so he changes up the lyrics a bit. Lyrics to follow.

Come see
I swear by now I'm playing time against my troubles oh
I'm coming slow but speeding...
Do you wish for a dance and while I'm in the front
My play on time is won
Oh, but the difficulty is coming here...

I will go in this way
Oh, and I'll find my own way out
I won't tell you what to be
Oh,no, but I'm coming to much more
Me
All at once the ghosts come back
Reeling in you now oh tell me
What if they came down crushing
It used to be
that you and me
play for all of the loneliness
that nobody notices now
I'm begging slow 'cause I'm coming here...
I wanted to play
I wanted to stay
I wanted to love you

I'm only this far
And only tomorrow leads the way

I'm coming waltzing back
and moving into your head
Please, I wouldn't pass this by
Oh no, but I wouldn't take more than I need
What sort of man goes by?
Well, I will bring water
Why won't you ever be glad?
It melts into wonder
I came in praying for you
Why won't you run in to rain and pray?
Let all tears splash all over you

The way the rain comes,
The way the rain comes down on you,
It does.

Saturday Evening

2008-09-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

Today was my good friend Rachel's wedding in New York. I really wanted to go but I took somedays off from school while the Italian was here and really couldn't afford to take anymore time off. I'm kinda bummed though. I would have liked to see her get hitched. I also missed the birth of her son. Rachel, if you are reading this, CONGRATS!! And I wish you all the happiness in the world. You deserve it.

I was invited to a small "end of the summer" get together at a friends house. She lives about a mile away from me, so since it was a beautiful day, I decided to take a nice walk there. She is a relatively new friend, but seems really cool. I met her in my circuit boxing class. I really love this class. The instructor is really cool and we have formed the "Ultimate Girls' Fight Club", seriously! We get together once a month on a Saturday at a cafe', restaurant or weather permitting, a park and just hang out. I'm so happy I get to be a part of this because I have met some really nice girls here in PDX.

After the party, Mia, my instructor, her daughter and I walked to her car and she pointed out a deli to me and said I should try it. It's called Elephant's Delicatessen and it's kosher, not that that matters to me, but it's nice to know. So we parted ways and I walked up to Elephant's. Wow, what a spread. It was a really nice gourmet deli. They even have pizza from a wood burning oven. Most things didn't have prices, which is a bit off-putting for me. Call me a miser but I like to know what I am paying for something. Their pizza had prices and they aren't bad. $9 for a pizza but I will wait for the Italian to come back because he is a pizza connoisseur. They even rent their garden for events. Hmm, this is giving me ideas for certain future events (wink, wink). I'll have to try their food first. I really wasn't hungry when I went there, so I didn't buy anything this visit.

When I got home I intended to watch a movie, but I started reading a new blog (new to me) that I just came across on Friday called "Pensieri dal Mondo" or in English, "Thoughts from the World". It seems she and I have quite a bit in common. However on this night, the more I read, the more I really felt I could relate to her. It's amazing how someone so far away can really be so near. I admire her because some of the things she writes about on her blog are things that I deal with but I keep them inside. She writes that sometimes she feels alone, like no one understands her, but I do. We both have absent Fathers, a love for Sex and the City, a love for our own feet and a bit of a foot fetish, relationships, cooking (or lack thereof), I know what it's like to be the new kid on the block too, etc etc.... What I really found enduring was little things she would say or write that are exactly the way my Ale says them in English. That's probably because she is Italian too. I don't know her name but I feel like I know her heart and I just want her to know that she is not alone.

Disclaimer

2008-09-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

Today I was told (note: not asked) by the Italian to refrain from posting anything negative about his "friend" Sarah Palin or he would have to withdraw his name as contributor to this blog. Wow, I do believe that the love of my life has just served me with an ultimatum! How do ya' like them apples??

Yes, dear readers, the Italian is flawed and my fidanzato's one major flaw is that he thinks he is a Republican. I say thinks because well, let's face it, when you are not a citizen of this country, don't live here, don't pay taxes here and most importantly can't vote, you can't really be a Republican, can you?? A sympathizer, sure, maybe, I guess. Despite this one major flaw, I still love him immensely. In my defense, he decided to tell me about this colossal flaw AFTER I fell in love with him and even then it stung pretty badly. I suppose if Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger can make it work, then so can we. I imagine we will have well-rounded children. Half-Mexican-American, half-Italian, half-Democrat, half-Republican, half-tennis players half-soccer players.....their possibilities will be endless.

Now back to the matter at hand, I said this would not become a political blog and I meant that. I did have to speak my mind, and get it off my chest. I believe I have written my peace. However, Chiquito Lindo (the Italian), if you do so feel the need to respond to what I have written, by all means, be my guest. I willfully invite you to do so. This is America after all and Freedom of Speech is one of the many benefits I enjoy as a citizen of this country. As contributor of this blog you have the right to do so. So here is the disclaimer:

The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. My views are not necessarily his views and vice versa.

It's actually great to have a difference of opinion. It makes for spirited conversation and keeps the fires burning. Don't ya think?

What say you my precious Italian??

Portland, OR No.3 on Top 5 List of Amazing Green Cities

2008-09-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

Portland is the only U.S. city in the top 5 list of Amazing Green cities. People here really care about their surroundings. We have solar-powered parking meters and tons of green space. People pick up their dog poo (95% of the time) and when I'm out on a walk I rarely see trash laying around in the street, as far as trashy people are concerned, that's another story...just joking! Rounding out the top five were:

5. Malmo, Sweden
4. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Portland, Oregon
2. Vancouver, Canada
1. Reykjavik, Iceland

Here is the article from Howstuffworks.com:

Green City 3: Portland, Ore.

Portland lies on the banks of the Willamette River in the Pacific Northwest and is home to more than 500,000 people. It’s been a model of sustainable living for decades, smartly mixing urban and outdoor spaces.

Chuck Pefley/Stone/Getty Images
The Portland skyline is backed by Mount Hood.

Its greenness is hardly new. Since its 1903 "Report to the Portland Park Board," Portland has been inspiring cities across the United States and the world to embrace green space in their urban planning. Thirty years ago, Portland continued leading the way by demolishing a six-lane highway to develop a waterfront park in its place. Today Portland has roughly 92,000 acres of green space, including 74 miles (119 km) of biking, hiking and running trails, and has enacted an urban-growth boundary to contain the urban landscape and protect 25 million acres of forest and farms [source: Grist].

Portland was the first city in the United States to enact a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and was a founding member of the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign. It has also held rank at the top of green city lists in the United States and in the world for several years [source: Progressive Policy Institute]. The city has 50 buildings that meet or exceed U.S. Green Building Council standards for sustainability, and its mix of commercial and residential areas is pedestrian and bike friendly -- roughly one quarter of commuters bike to work [source: Popular Science].

Looking ahead, Portland has set ambitious energy goals. By 2010, the city plans to supply 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources, including innovative approaches such as solar-powered parking meters.

Yet another reason to love Portland! More reasons and pics to come soon.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words.

2008-09-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

After Palin's speech last night, I donated money to the Obama campaign. After McCain's speech tonight (one that damn near put me to sleep AND I must have downed at least half a bottle of Pepto Bismol) I donated again. At this rate, if these Republicans keep giving speeches I'm going to have to file for bankruptcy.

My bad: Gov. Palin does actually have a passport. She got it in 2007 when she had to go to Kuwait to visit the Alaska National Guard. She has also listed a "stop" (i.e. layover) in Ireland on her foreign experience resume. Pathetic. I've spent more time at Schipol airport in Amsterdam that she did in Ireland.

AND

for attempting to appeal to the "special needs" population, I say...Hypocrite and shame on you. She CUT funds for special needs programs in her state. Hmm, a Freudian slip on her part maybe?

A village in Alaska has lost it's idiot.

“Jesus was a Community Organizer, and Pontias Pilate was a Governor.”

https://donate.barackobama.com/

Palin: Are You Kidding Me?? The GOP Has Lost It's Proverbial Mind

2008-09-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here watching the RNC and listening to Palin's "speech". This is a joke, really. Michelle Obama's speech was far better. Michelle Obama is far more fit to be the VP than Palin. Palin has no where near the education or experience that Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton do. She can't even see Barack. She was a small town mayor who had to hire a city administrator to help her do her job because a town of 6,000 or whatever was too much for her to handle. Um, how about a country of millions?? Taking cheap shots at Obama saying he's unqualified, WTF??? Let's compare apples to apples here. The woman has ZERO experience on foreign policy and I don't even think she's ever been out of the country. She probably doesn't even own a passport. But I digress.

Sarah Palin is far right politically, and contrary to what the GOP would have you believe, her experience does not qualify her for the 2nd most important position in the country. This is a cynical gamble on the part of John McCain - shame on him for putting this country and the world at risk in such perilous times. It's funny how the GOP is always touting itself as the party of national security - what a joke!

Do these people realize that McCain is 72 years old and not in the best of health. If something happens to him, she becomes President. OMG! The world is laughing at us right now, seriously. The London Times is calling Palin "An Apalling Candidate". She just mentioned no earmarking in her speech, yet her record clearly shows she earmarked in the past. She is being investigated for abuse of power (i.e. corruption) after less than two years in office. That sure shows something about her leadership style. And now she says she wants to build more nuclear plants!!?? She wasn't even properly vetted before McCain announced she was to be his running mate. I won't even comment on her family.....Mamma Mia! You can read more about her here: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/about-sarah-palin-by-someone-w.php

I'm really scared about the way politics are going in this country. This blog is not going to get political, but I just had to say something. I'm going to change the channel now because I'm getting sick to my stomache. I'm so glad I live in ultra-liberal Oregon. I'll never leave this place. God help us all......!

I'm Back to Blogging, He's Back in Milano

2008-08-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

The month practically flew by.......but we did so many things and had such a great time. He made some new connections(important ones!!) and I continued on in school. I must confess, I took a few days off to enjoy with my Ale, but no harm no foul. I still got good grades on my tests, that's all that matters and I am only 2 and a half months away from Graduation!

We are total foodies and tried lots of new restaurants and caffes and have yet to post some of our reviews on Yelp because we are avid Yelpers!! He also cooked a lot. I'm so lucky to have such a good cook for my Fidanzato! I've learned a lot from him. Admittedly, I don't like to cook much. Baking is more my thing, although I haven't done much of that lately either so as not to sabotage my lifestyle change.

I will miss some of the cute things he used to say like, "field and tracks" instead of "track and field" when we watched the Olympics. "Gender Bender" instead of "Fender Bender". Isn't he so cute??!!

But more importantly, we grew closer and stronger together and there are big things in store for us, but I can't elaborate on that just yet. You'll just have to tune in and see what happens!

Here are some of our adventures:
Here he is with Smokey the Bear at Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood, Oregon. Safety first!! And us together with the volcano as our backdrop.

Ale by the Hood River and Mt Hood and the Hood River Valley.
There are more pics to share and I will post them later. Oregon is already showing signs of Fall. The temps are a little cooler and the breezes a little crisper. It's my favorite season of the year and I hope it brings good things!

He's Almost Here!!

2008-07-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

OMG....I am sitting here in class counting the minutes....the seconds....for his plane to land. It is now 11:38am and his flight is scheduled to land any minute now. I'm gonna drive to the airport like a bat outta hell!! I've got butterflies in my belly!!
Gotta run!

Stolen Again!

2008-07-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

When I got home from school today I checked my email and saw that I had a message from my Ale. In the subject line it said, "News from Murphy". Hmm....A strange but intriguing title. After reading it, I understood that he was referring to Murphy's Law. He said that as he got off the tube, he walked to the parking lot only to find that his "Cinquecento" had been stolen, AGAIN! His cinquecento was stolen last year too. He had to spend a few hours at the Carabinieri's making a report. Luckily there wasn't much gas in it the first time, and the perps ran out of gas in Monza, so they were able to recover the car. Now, another hour lost at the Carabinieri's office making a report. I hope they find it soon. Before he comes here next week would be nice. My poor Ale has had so much bad luck with his little car in the last 6 months. It also got hit while it was parked and of course, no note left. Then his sister got into an accident while driving it (she was OK, thank goodness). Those of you in Italy know that insurance and taxes in Italy for cars is so expensive, even for a little Fiat. He's so frustrated. He even mentioned the word "voodoo" in his message. I felt so bad after reading it. I wanted to call him, but I figured he probably didn't want to talk about it, so I figured I'd just message him back.

A few weeks ago my car got broken into. It's really rare that it happens in my neighborhood, but I left my backpack in my car and I guess it was just too tempting for someone not to pass up. It was completely useless to them because all it had in it was my schoolwork and some school supplies. Nothing of real value to a thief. It was of value to me though because I had to do all that school work all over again.....ARGH!! Thankfully, they didn't take any of my school books which were on the back seat because those are expensive to replace. I did have my TomTom GPS locked in the glove box, but they didn't bother to try to open that up, thank goodness! I keep it in the apartment now. I did have to swallow the cost of replacing the window they broke because my insurance deductible is $500 and the window wasn't quite that much but it did set me back $267. It may not sound like much but I'm a student now, living on a student's budget so it did sting a little bit. Street parking sucks! The police report was all done over the phone. The officer told me that there wasn't much they could do, which didn't surprise me. He told me to go looking in the dumpsters in my neighborhood because the thieves usually dump the stuff after taking what they want. Well, as terrible as I felt that my backpack was stolen, I wasn't about to stick my head in any dumpsters looking for it. Like I said, there really wasn't anything valuable in it, so I cut my losses.

It's terrible that we have such callous people in this world, but unfortunately, that's life. It's hard not to feel worried about something like that happening again. I try to think positively and hope for the best. But to have your car stolen not once but twice has got to be discouraging.

Jessica in Rome: if you are reading this, there seems to be something wrong with your site. Unless it's just me (but I've tried on two different computers), whenever I try to log on to your site, it gives me an error prompt. It says Internet explorer can not open the site. Operation aborted. It's just happened in the last week. Please let me know if it's just on my end. Thanks!

Giving Thanks

2008-07-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Those of you that have been reading my blog since last year know that I was hospitalized last year. You can read abou it here, and here. I really didn't get into too much detail about what happened to me. It was the scariest time of my life and the Dr's feared I would never recover. Fast-forward to 8 months later and have a made an almost complete recovery. I say "almost complete" because I am still having follow-up visits and have been told by my Dr's that you really need to give it a full year to be considered completely out-of-the-woods. To this day there has never been a formal diagnosis made and no one knows how I caught whatever it was. I seem to be a medical mystery of sorts. I had spinal taps, CT scans, MRI's and although they found that I had encephalitis, and my spinal cord fluid had an extremely high white blood cell count, they still couldn't pin point anything in terms of giving it a name. The "last resort" treatment was steroids, and thank God, it worked. Of course, I gained weight as a result of the steroid treament. A lot of weight. 50lbs. to be exact. This has been the most difficult part for me, in terms of my recovery. I've been working really hard to get the weight off and so far I have lost 10lbs. I'm very motivated and determined, so I'm sure I will lose it all in due time.

To be honest, I don't remember much of it. It's like I lost 2 months of my life. I got really depressed about it because it's like losing control of your life. Now I see things a little differently. I am so much more appreciative of things and I feel like I have been given a second chance at life. Even just going for walks, I take my time and really take in my surroundings. Sometimes I cry when I think about what I've been through and how far I've come, because I am so happy to be alive.

Today I was cleaning out my room and I came across an email that Ale wrote me while I was in the hospital. I won't get into the details of what it said, but it made me so emotional that I burst into tears. I can only imagine how he must have felt being so far away and unable to be with me. I am so lucky to be loved by this wonderful man. He stood by me (albeit from thousands of miles away) and never gave up on me. I feel so blessed and I thank God for him everyday.

I had the support of family, friends and strangers alike. I am so thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers. They really moved mountains for me. I really feel in my heart that the worst is over and I have a bright future ahead of me. I wake up every morning with a renewed energy. I am anxious to see what the future has in store for me!!

Ale will be here in a week and a half and I am so excited!! I must admit that I am a little self-conscious about my weight, but he knows how hard I am working to change that. I have lots of activities in store for us throughtout his visit and you can believe I'll be blogging about it!!

Again I want to thank everybody for your prayers and support. They won't soon be forgotten.

Is There No End In Sight???

2008-06-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

I was walking down West Burnside on Friday and saw this. I couldn't believe the prices at this gas station! There were gas stations not too far from here that were considerably cheaper, but people were still buying gas here. Here's a cool website where you can find the cheapest gas in your area gasbuddy.com It includes the U.S. and Canada. I've been using it, but luckily I only have to fill up once every two weeks since my school is only 2.5 miles away. I'm thinking of taking public transportation this summer. The problem is that there is no direct bus or Streetcar to get there. I would have to transfer and that gets time consuming.
I know that gas is more expensive in the UK and Europe, but still, this is getting ridiculous. We Americans are used to paying a lot less. I hope this gets better soon.

Please note: This is not a Friday the 13th joke! Unfortunately, this is very real. Happy Pranking!!

Saturday Farmers Market at Portland State University

2008-05-31T15:18:00.000-07:00

My morning started at about 9:50am. I meant to leave earlier since the Farmers Market starts at 8:30am but I had to wait for the bank to open since I couldn't make my transaction through the ATM. After I finished my business at the bank, I walked down Lovejoy from 23rd to 12th and down 12th to Everett. I had heard about Caffe Umbria via word of mouth, then had a look at their website and decided I had to try it. It was a good mile and a half to two mile walk from the bank so I built up a good little appetite on the way.

I walked in and had no idea what I wanted. I decided to observe a little first then make my choice. It was nice to see that it was run more like a cafe' in Italy than that of a Starbucks. I chose to have a cappuccino and a biscotti to go. I have to say that it was quite good.

I took my cappuccino and biscotti and headed down Everrett so I could catch the Streetcar to the South Park blocks at PSU. The Streetcar was standing room only. Lots of people heading to the Farmers Market or to the Rose Festival, which started this weekend, but I will save that for another post. Since this was my first time to the Farmers Market, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had been to other Farmers Markets before, but I had heard that this one was one of the best.

When the Streetcar dropped me and the crowd off, I couldn't help but stop to look at the beautiful greenery around me. The South Park blocks and the PSU campus are some of the prettiest places in Portland proper. It's so many blocks of tree-lined streets. These streets are also lined with Churches and museums. It's called the Cultural District.

After taking a few pics, off I went to explore the Farmers Market. It was pretty crowded. I guess I wasn't expecting such a big crowd, but it was a beautiful morning and the good weather brings Oregonians out.

One of the first booths I saw was the Pearl Bakery. I love this bakery! Last year I popped into the bakery and had a fig panini and it was absolutely delicious. I've been a fan ever since. I bought a few pieces of bread and decided I'd find something there at the market to spread on my yummy fresh baked breads. I know fresh-baked bread is not such a big deal to some people, but I used to live in North Dakota where fresh-baked bread is nonexistant, so I always consider it a treat.

I was overwhelmed by the wonderful aromas that filled the air. This is defintely a place to bring a healthy appetite. I wasn't planning on buying much since I planned to spend a good part of the day walking around downtown and the Rose Festival. But there was so much temptation! From gourmet popcorn....

to more bread, all kinds of bread!!

Grilled sausages...oh, these smelled so good!

Fresh veggies...

Colorful flowers.....

This one brought a smile to my face. I love Calla Lillies!!

Just look at these beautiful strawberries!! They were delicious!

Yummy pastries. This pic is a little blurry but this was as close as I could get. This pastry booth was jam packed with people.

Fresh herbs....

OK, enough of all that, it was time to find some spread for my bread! I came across some mango pepper jelly and champagne mustard. Both of which were quite tasty, but I decided to keep looking.

Then I stumbled onto this.....Lavender Jam...whah?? It peaked my interest, so I tasted some and it was just perfect! I bought the Lavendar Raspberry Pear jam, and let me tell you, it is as good as it sounds, even better!! It's made by Sundance Lavender Farm in Salem, Oregon. They had so many different flavors, all infused with lavender.

To go with the beautiful fresh-baked bread I bought.

It looked like everyone had a good time. When there's good fresh food involved, who doesn't??!!

After I finished making the rounds at the market, I headed for the Rose Festival, but I'll save that for another post. I got hungry after so much walking around so I figured I'd have lunch at the Pearl Bakery in the Pearl District on the way home. It's a pretty inconspicuous place.

Unfortunately they no longer had the fig panini, so I picked the tuna sandwich. It didn't look like much, but it sure was tasty. It's described as White Spanish tuna, dill aioli, romaine and dijon on pistolet. The bread looked like somebody's backside, but I didn't mind, it was good!

Then I hopped on the Streetcar and my last stop before going home was Alotto Gelato. My favorite gelateria in all of Portland.

I had pistacchio, gianduia, and fresh banana. The perfect way to end my afternoon!

It was a perfect day. The only thing missing was my Ale, but I always carry him with me in my heart :) Next post, Rose Festival.

Caffe Umbria
303 NW 12th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
(503)241-5300

Pearl Bakery
102 NW 9th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
(503)827-0910

Alotto Gelato
931 NW 23rd Ave
Portland, OR 97210
(503)228-1709

Taking a Stroll in my 'Hood Northwest Portland

2008-05-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

We had such nice weather this weekend that I decided to take my camera with me when I walked to church this Sunday. Here are just a few sights of my beautiful neighborhood. This is just outside the church.

This next picture was taking from Couch Park looking down 20th St.

Random shot of some beautiful flowers on 20th St.

I love this condo building on the corner of Irving and 20th. Very Spanish style with lots of character.

So many beautiful flowers are in bloom all over Portland.

Just one of many big beautiful homes that Northwest Portland is famous for. The founding fathers of Portland built their homes in this neighborhood.

Did you know that Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, is from Portland and he named lots of the characters after streets in Northwest Portland. Quimby, Lovejoy, etc. Yep, interesting fact.

Stay tuned for more sights around Portland. I plan on going out (as long as the weather is good!) and taking more pics of the different sights and Portland haunts.

Pazza Inter

2008-05-18T10:39:00.001-07:00

Amala! Pazza Inter! This is for you baby. I love you!

Inter Wins the SCUDETTO!!!!! Forza Inter!

2008-05-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

After dominating the Serie A for most of the season and building an 11 point lead by February, Inter stumbled and then almost crashed before pulling out its third straight title Sunday with a 2-0 win over Parma in the last game of the season.

Last year it was Materazzi that made the 2 winning goals, but this year it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic or as the Interisti like to call him "Ibramacadabra". He scored 2 goals in the second half to clinch the Scudetto.

I know my beautiful Italian must be thrilled out of his mind right now. He was so nervous when we spoke on the phone yesterday that when I asked him where he was going to watch the game, his reply was, "I don't want to talk about it. I'm scaramantico!" (scaramantico meaning superstitious) Not wanting to jinx the game, he preferred to stay silent. I'm not so superstitious, so I just had a good laugh about it. Of course, I have to support my Italians team, so I woke up bright and early Sunday morning to watch the match on the Fox Soccer Channel. I think I was more nervous about my Italian being upset than what was actually happening on the pitch. I'm just so glad they won and my baby is happy. A great win on a beautiful Sunday in Portland (it wasn't so beautiful in Parma. It was pooring down rain!)

FORZA INTER!! MILANO SIAMO NOI!!

Happy Birthday Amore Mio!

2008-05-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Tanti Auguri Chiquito Lindo! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you. I hope you had a wonderful day with your family. Sending you big hugs and lots of kisses from Portland. I miss you!

Cycle One in the Bag!

2008-04-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today is day 7 of Cycle 1 on my Extreme Fat Smash diet which means I am on the last day of the detox phase. I have done unbelievably well this week! I didn't cheat once! I'm not going to lie, I've been having cravings like a mad woman, but I have never once given in. Even when faced with all kinds of yummy food at school and on tv. I'm not supposed to weigh myself until the 10th day but I just couldn't wait because I could feel that I had lost some weight. So when I got on the scale, to my surprise, I had lost 5 lbs in 6 days!!! I was so excited and it gave me the motivation I needed. I only worked-out one day this whole week because I was lacking in the motivation department but today I got the fever!! If I had worked out more I'm sure I would have lost at least a couple more pounds but now that I'm motivated, cycle 2 should be great! I'm taking boxing and kickboxing classes and my first went really well. I mean, I lost my energy half-way because I'm so out-of-shape, but it still felt good just to be there moving and doing something. I kept up pretty well. So tomorrow I will start cycle 2 and I look forward to my next weigh-in. 5lbs down and 45 more to go!!

More Confessions to Our Lady of Weightloss

2008-04-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Lady of Weightloss,

I've been bad, really bad. The first three days of my Extreme Fast Smash were good. I was hungry, but I stuck to the plan. The fourth day I went to a birthday party and totally blew it. I haven't gotten back on the plan since but I'm not giving up. I'm going to have another go at it starting tomorrow. I'm also starting a kick-boxing class tomorrow. I need some serious will power. The season for parties and bbq's is just about here and I need to be strong. Sunday I am going wine-tasting for a friends birthday and I'm only going to allow myself a few sips. No cheese and I'll probably pack some carrot sticks. Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated!

Happy Anniversary Amore!

2008-04-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

Around this time one year ago we fell in love in Milan. Happy Anniversary Chiquito Lindo! I love you more and more everyday. I've had the best times of my life with you and I can't wait to make more memories with you.

Confessions to Our Lady of Weightloss

2008-04-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Lady of Weightloss,

I didn't start my Extreme Fat Smash lifestyle change yesterday like I was supposed to. I didn't have a chance to make it to the grocery store until today after school. But I did empty out my cupboards and refrigerator of all that is unhealthy and have purged my system of all the gooey stuff that was stuck to my intestines. Does that count? I've also been having Jamba Juice smoothies (Jamba light, less than 200 calories for 16 ozs!!) to get in my serving of fruits and fiber. I think it's a start. Tomorrow will be the official beginning of my new lifestyle. Wish me luck! Now if I could only get my ass to the gym............

The Extreme Fat Smash Diet

2008-03-29T17:44:00.001-07:00

As some of you know, I was in the hospital last year for 5 weeks. Until recently, I still wasn't clear about what happened to me. Well, this week my doctor finally interpreted my discharge papers for me and it all made sense. The white blood cell count in my spinal fluid had skyrocketed and some other level in my spinal fluid had also gone up too high. That's why I began vomiting, my speech was slurred and I was having psychotic episodes. My brain was infected and I had encephalitis. I had somehow caught a horrible virus. During the course of my 5 week stay in the hospital they gave me steroids and I responded to the treatment well. After I was discharged, I was given a medication that made me gain a ton of weight. Over the course of 2 months I gained a total of 50 lbs. I begged the Dr. to take me off of it and he finally did. Now I have to do everything I can to lose the weight in a reasonable amount of time. It's not going to be an easy task because I also have something called PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome which makes it twice as hard to lose weight as the average person. But I know that if anyone can do it, I can :)

I decided that rather than take pills or pay someone else money to help me lose weight, I would invest $11 in the Extreme Fat Smash Diet book by Dr. Ian K. Smith. I watch him on Celebrity Fit Club and I figure if his lifestyle change plan can work for a bunch of spoiled celebrities, then it can work for me. I read the book cover to cover and I like it. It seems reasonable and no-nonsense. I'll get the right amount of carbs, proteins and fats that I need to get through the day. Of course, on a lighter scale. I will also be going to the gym regularly. There's no point in eating less if I'm not going to go to exercise.

It's going to be a long, hard journey. 50 lbs is no joke, but I'm in it for the long haul. I'm sure I'll fall off the wagon at some point (especially with gelato season right around the corner), but I'll just hop right back on. I'm going to make myself accountable by documenting all of it right here on my blog. If anyone has any tips, please, by all means leave me a comment. I need all the support I can get. I already have the support of one of the most important people in my life. Of course, that's Ale, my beautiful Italian. I don't know what I'd do with out him.

I'll be starting this new adventure on April 1st. I'm not going to set any time limits on myself, I mean I'd like to lose about 10 lbs a month but I don't want to be unrealistic. I'll just take the weight loss in stride, as it comes. Wish me luck!

Long Island Lolita

2008-03-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Remember her? Amy Fisher, the 16 year old Long Island girl who had an affair with a much older married man, Joey Buttafuoco, then shot his wife in the face. Well, this weekend I was channel surfing and they just happened to be showing the movie about it. The one with Alyssa Milano. So, I thought, hmm, I wonder what she's up to these days. I felt sorry for her when the whole thing first happened. Then every once in a while I'd hear something about her, at first not too bad. She got plastic surgery, she was writing an article for a New York publication, she got married, had a couple of kids. All normal stuff. It's seems she really grew up and was sorry for what she did. Well, in recent years things have changed for her, I found as I decided to do a search on the internet. Apparentley she and her husband separated at one point and she decided to rekindle the "romance" she had with Joey, yeah, can you believe that? Then, once her husband got wind of this he decided he was gonna sell their homemade sex tapes to a distributor for revenge. Well, it became the number #1 selling sex tape in the industry. Rather than save face and fight it, she decided to settle with the distributor and actually promote the DVD. So now she's a porn star and pretty darn tootin' proud of it too. Here's an interview (not for the faint of heart! Rated NC-17) I saw on Youtube wherein she is proudly promoting her DVD and sounding rather stupid if you ask me. She lost my sympathy vote. She's got kids for Pete's sake!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ta7EaU0tldQ

I tried to post the video here but for some reason only part of the embedded item would come out. Anybody know how to get the whole thing to come out? I seem to be having trouble with youtube videos lately.

Happy Valentine's Day Amore

2008-02-13T18:02:00.001-08:00

To My Dearest Chiquito:

I want to be yours

Not for a day

Not for a year

But for a lifetime

I love you

Wish I was there to tell you how much

You are all that is beautiful to me and I miss you so much.

Ti amo.....Bacione

Piccola

Missing in Seattle Part 1

2008-02-11T12:38:00.000-08:00

The next stop on our Northwest Coast tour was Seattle. The Emerald City. We were both pretty excited since neither one of us had ever been there. It was a short 3 1/2 hour drive from Portland and that's only because we got caught up in some traffic around Olympia. As soon as we unloaded our luggage we were off to explore this beautiful city. I had one thing on my mind.....CHOWDER!! And I didn't care if it was clam, seafood...whatever! I just wanted me some chowder.

We made our way to the Public Market and it was later in the afternoon so the action was gone and things were closed down. Luckily, the next day was the 100th Anniversary of Public Market. We had no idea! But we were in for a treat!

I found my chowder house!! Pike's Place Chowder was calling my name. And they have award winning chowder. Boy did I hit pay dirt! Unfortunately, when we found it, it was closed but that wasn't going to stop me. I'd be back tomorrow for my very own bowl. The Italian isn't a big fan of seafood, so I wouldn't have to share. Doesn't it look scrumptious??!! In case your wondering, it's seafood chowder and it was the best I EVER had. Yep, it's that good. I just about licked the bread bowl dry.

After walking around Pike's Place and downtown we decided to head back to our room to freshen up for dinner. The Italian's Lonely Planet guidebook suggested we eat dinner at McCormick's, a seafood and steak house. So off we headed on foot in search of our dinner. On the way there we passed by Morton's, you know, the famous steakhouse. I'll have to write a separate post about our experience at Morton's in Portland. It was memorable to say the least.

I was surprised when the Italian ordered fish. I think he had trout or something like that and I had salmon. We ordered the suggested wine and it went perfectly with our meal. Everything was delicious. I highly recommend this place if you are ever in downtown Seattle.
As we walked back to our hotel through downtown, we ran into a familiar friend. The Italian had to have his picture taken with the guy. He was being a little camera shy and gave us his back. We were pretty exhausted when we made it back to the hotel and decided to call it a night.

Cannon Beach, OR

2008-02-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

Cannon Beach is about an hour west of Portland and what a beautiful beach it is. The beach to your front and the forest right behind you. Where else in the world can you find this?? Cannon Beach was named for a cannon that was discovered on the beach. In 1846, the U.S. Navy schooner Shark was wrecked while trying to leave the Columbia River. A large piece of the schooner's deck with a cannon and capstan attached washed up on the beach, and the town's name is based on this event.

The arts are emphasized in Cannon Beach, and some of the best crafts, shopping and galleries on the coast are located here. The city is planned for strolling, and many visitors take advantage of this to visit the quaint bookstores, shops and bistros. Strict planning regulations have helped Cannon Beach keep its earth toned, rustic look.
We had great weather the first day we were there, the rest of the time was overcast and rainy, in August! Only in Oregon...We stayed at a quaint hotel called Inn at Cannon Beach. It's a really romantic little spot. Our room had a fireplace and a jacuzzi tub. Sorry, those pics won't be posted here. The Italian might not approve! The hotel offered a deluxe continental breakfast and they even had a BBQ for guests on Saturday with hot dogs and hamburgers, yum! The meat-loving Italian was in heaven.
Cannon Beach is also a seafood lovers' paradise. I think I ate clam chowder at every restaurant we dined in, except for when we went out for a fancy dinner at Newmans at 988 That was a pleasure for the senses!!
Since the weather wasn't cooperating we drove up and down the coast exploring different places including Ecola State Park, Astoria and the Tillamook Cheese Factory for free samples of yummy cheddar cheese!! Even though the weather wasn't ideal for us beachgoers, we still had a great time. We realy bonded on this trip to the beach, grew even closer and fell deeper in love :) I highly recommend a trip to Cannon Beach. It just may be the thing your relationship needs!

Please Vote!!

2008-01-21T18:37:00.000-08:00

Ale has asked me to vote for his sisters video project in the Enel (Enel is the biggest power company in Italy) Digital contest, so I thought I would pass the word on to those of you who might have a few minutes to vote for Loredonna's video. You can click on the British Flag on the top right hand corner of the web page for the English version.

Go to http://www.enel.it/digitalcontest/login.asp?

Then register (it only takes a few minutes) and look for video number 119.

Thanks! Grazie from Ale and Loredonna!

iTunes Tuesdays

2008-01-15T17:18:00.000-08:00

This song is called "Can't Stop" and it's by one of my very favorite bands called "Ozomatli". I took Ale to their concert when he was here in Portland. I'll post about that later. Enjoy and feel free to get up and dance!!

On Dressing for an Interview...Liberal Oregonians!!

2008-01-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

I was finally given the ok to go back to work by my Doctor, so I immediately started my search. This past Saturday I went to a job fair for Wells Fargo Bank. On Friday I bought some nice slacks and a nice top to match. I figured I'd pair them with my high-heeled boots. The interview suit I have was a little too tight. The meds I'm on have made me gain quite a bit of weight, so I had no choice but to buy something new. The job fair was from 11am to 3pm. I got there at 11:05am, fashionably late. So, there was a small queue and I must have been like the eighth person. They shuffled us into this big room where there were about 50 people already waiting. OK. I have to tell you, I couldn't believe my eyes. People were wearing jeans, tennis shoes, Birkenstocks, and cleavage hanging out all over the place. One guy was sporting a beany and looked like he was ready to walk on to a construction sight. Another woman was wearing a slip dress, yeah, a slip dress with no nylons, gold open-toed slingbacks, and a tattoo on display.

There was a hip-hop star with his pants hanging off his ass. The lady sitting next to me was wearing jeans and she brought her husband! Yeah! They were kissing at the job fair! I mean come on!! As much as I love my Ale, I wouldn't be caught dead smooching with him at a job fair AND I would leave him home. Is it gonna kill ya to be without him for a couple of hours?? It could wait for later, don't ya think? My Mama always told me dressing up for a job interview is a must. I love how liberal Oregon is but sometimes liberals have to use common sense. Although the people doing the interviews didn't seem to mind. Maybe they are used to it?? Have you ever known anyone that dressed like a slob for their interview and got the job?

Come on Oregonians. Go out and shop for that winning outfit. There's no sales tax, remember?

iTunes Tuesdays

2008-01-08T18:14:00.000-08:00

This one is called "Abrazame" which means Hug Me and it's by Mexican pop group Camila. I love these guys! Definitely one of my favorites. I'll dedicate this one to my baby Ale. Te amo chiquito!

Rosca de Reyes

2008-01-06T21:39:00.001-08:00

Tonight I was invited to my friends Javier and Belinda's house for "Rosca de Reyes". This is a Mexican tradition for Epiphany.

The Rosca de Reyes, "kings ring" is a crown-shaped sweet bread decorated with pieces of candied orange and lime resembling the jewels of a crown. It is often filled with nuts, figs, and cherries. Into this bread is baked 6 small plastic dolls symbolizing a secure place away from Herod´s army where the infant child could be born. As each piece is cut with a knife, symbolizing the danger in which the Baby Jesus was in, everyone carefully checks their slice, hopping they didn't get the figurine as they will need to host (I found 2 in my piece!), Candelaria or Candle mass day. This day, February 2, is exactly, 40 days after Christmas when the Virgin Mary was purified. The nativity scene is put away and the baby Jesus, in the form of a porcelain doll, is clothed in his christening gown and presented in church.

Traditionally in Mexico, Three Kings Day was the gift-giving time, rather than Christmas day. In some rural regions of Mexico it is customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5, often filling them with hay for the camels, in hopes that the Three Kings would be generous. Mexican children would awake on January 6 to find their shoes filled with toys and gifts. Today many will write a letter to the kings (or choose one king as their favorite) asking for their special gifts and will leave the letter on the eve of Three Kings Day in an old shoe, under a bed.

What are your traditions?

Happy New Year! Augurissimi!

2007-12-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

Ale and I wish you all a Happy New Year! May all your dreams and wishes for the New Year come true.

Merry Christmas, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad

2007-12-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to all from Ale and I. May all your dreams and wishes come true!! Hugs and Kisses to all.

Dazed and Confused

2007-12-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ale asked me to post here since I haven't in so long and I wondered what I could write about. It's not that there isn't anything to write about. There definitely is, but where to start....

I'll start by saying that I was in the hospital for 5 weeks. It all started with my speech. It was slurred and I couldn't get my thoughts across. No one could figure out why. Then I started having black-outs and they finally put me in ths hospital, but it took a few ER visits to finally get someone to admit me. My memory is still not 100%. I can remember things that happened 10 years ago but forget about something that happened yesterday. There are things in my apartment that I don't remember buying. They say it was all brought on by stress. I guess I can accept that because I have had a really stressful year. It's amazing what stress can do to the body. I hope to never experience that amount of stress again.

I am really lucky that I have such a good support system. Ale stood by me in spirit since we had virtually had no contact the whole time I was in the hospital. Ale emailed with some of my friends that live here in PDX that would visit me. We communicated through them. It was really hard for me, for us. We missed each other so much. I am such a lucky woman to have a man that cares so much about me. Even luckier to have friends that came together via email to support me.

Now my Mom is here taking good care of me. I have so much to be thankful for. Ale might come here in January and I am looking so forward to that. I still have to blog about our trips we took while he was here in August. Stay tuned for those posts.

I'm Back!

2007-11-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a while but I am back and getting healthier ith every pasing day. I want to thank you all for your prayers and support. I'm going to be starting school in the next few weeks, so i will probably not be bloggong as much, but definitely more than I have lately.

I am feeling great and have a lot to share with everyone. First I want to let you all know how supportive Ale has ben through all of this. He is my heart and I will always love him for that.

I won't write much this time because I am a bit tired, but I will write more in the next few days.

Thanks again for all your well wishes, hugs, and prayers. They mean the world!

Liz is getting better

2007-11-17T05:49:00.000-08:00

thanks to God she should come back home the next week, so i hope she will be able to write a post soon. Thanks to all for the support
ale

LIz in hospital

2007-10-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

Liz asked me a lot of times to write something here, in her space on the web. she loves her blog and the new friends met here. i didn't do it before because i felt there was an intimacy with Liz and her friends and looked to me to be out of place in your discussion. i am writing now because i read in the comment that some of you miss Liz and want to know what is happened. i am not happy to write for this reason, more i am really sad. Liz is in hospital, she start to feel bad in the middle of october. is difficult to say how she is now for me. i am in italy, far, the medicals can't explain to me the situation, i am not a relatives. i talked with her sister that went to Portland but she couldn't explain well the situation. the surgery she made is the reason, it caused an hormonal dysfunction that made Liz unable to talk and also to write well, and other bad things. that is the reason of Liz's absence. I miss she a lot and i am so worry for is health. i thought that also some of you was missing Liz. I hope she could come to write here soon and i am praying for this, but is not easy for now. i think she would be happy to know that her friends blogger was informed, like you know she tried to share here her thought but also her troubles. i am praying God for Liz, it's the only things i can do now. maybe you could help me in this
ale

iTunes Tuesdays

2007-10-08T23:48:00.000-07:00

Naked Oregonians

2007-10-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

Oregon is probably, if not the most Liberal state in the union. Just jump on any Oregon highway and you will see liberal stickers plastered on car after car. IMPEACH, KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD, WTF stickers. It's great! I love it! Oregon is the tree-hugging, granola-munching, no-bra-wearing (the same women who don't shave their pits) haven of the Pacific Northwest. Myself excluded!! OK, so I hug trees, eat granola and wear Keens. However, there are somethings I wouldn't do....

In the news a few days ago, Steven J. Howatt of Happy Valley, OR was featured in the news because his neighbors weren't appreciating the fact that he enjoyed gardening in his birthday suit. When questioned about his actions, he said it's a religious experience for him. He feels closer to God, Allah, Jehovah or whoever he prays to, while gardening in the nude. He's a self-proclaimed Naturalist (ahem, there are lots of those here.) I'd like to see this guy plow snow in the dead of a North Dakotan winter sans Fruit of the Looms. Let's see him get some sub-zero religion! I mean, I could reference vegetables to body parts...but let's not even go there.

The city is considering passing an ordinance which would outlaw nudity visible from public places. The irony in this is that it may not be illegal to garden in the buff in Oregon. Oregon law does not prohibit nudity on private property unless the exposure is sexual. There have been no complaints against Howatt. His neighbors did kindly ask him to put on his britches, but he politely declined.

Here is the lastest including an interview with Howatt himself. Would you want to see this guy naked?? Ew!

While researching this, I came across more naked Oregonians. Apparently clothes are going out of style in Oregon. Somebody better put in a phone call to Paris and Milan.

iTune Tuesdays

2007-10-02T07:24:00.001-07:00

I thought I would start something new. This is what's playing on my iPod now. Ale downloaded it for me and I love it! The song is "Solo Tre Minuti" by Negramaro. Enjoy!

St. V's Hospital Has Become My Second Home

2007-09-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

In the last week I have been to the ER twice. Yep, twice. Initially it was nausea and stomach pain, then I started projectile vomiting, and everything tastes acidic. Yeah, it was pretty bad. I thought I would have some relief after vomiting, but instead I got progressively worse, so I decided to drive myself to the ER. Perhaps not the smartest idea, but it was late and I didn't want to bother anybody. So as I arrived at St. V's, I heard this really loud noise. As luck would have it, a LifeFlight Helicopter was landing on the helipad. Great. I knew I was in for a long night. The ER was really crowded. I was triaged, given a pager like the ones they give you at the Cheesecake Factory, and told to sit down and wait my turn. Now, I've worked in the ER dept before and I know that most times when a patient presents with nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, they usually take you back right away. Not me...bastards. I'll show them...

An hour later, the pager went off and I thought, thank God. Finally. Well, I'm not that lucky. It was actually just to see the Admitting person who would type my insurance card information into the computer. Heaven forbid you can't pay. As she was typing in my information (wait, didn't they already have all of that since I had just had surgery there a few weeks ago???) I covered my mouth and she quickly handed me a blue bag o' barf and sure enough, I spewed whatever was left in my stomach and then some. Ms. Admitter paged the nurse and said, "The patient in front of me just had a huge emesis episode." Not two seconds later the nurse was putting me on a gurney, getting an IV started. See, I showed them. I think this male nurse was new because he tried sticking me like 4 different times with the IV needle and couldn't find a good vein. So now my left hand and arm are a really pretty shade of green and purple. I look like a freakin' heroine addict.

Once the IV was in and they gave me some anti-nausea meds intravenously, I started to feel some relief. They took like 5 vials of blood, a pee pee test, and fortunately, earlier that morning I had had a Cat Scan. Just a follow-up from my surgery. I cried during that Cat Scan because I was like WTF?? Why am I getting sick again? What's wrong with me?? And to top it all off there was an Italian song playing in the background. I just lost it. Every test was inconclusive. Even the Cat Scan. They couldn't find anything wrong with me. I was released and told to go see an Internist.

My appointment with the Internist would be on Friday. Wednesday I began to feel sick again and Thursday I puked, a lot. I called the Dr.'s office and they couldn't squeeze me in, so back to the ER I went. It was pretty much the same situation. I had to wait and I vomited while I waited, but this time they didn't care. Anyhow, when I was finally taken back I was given an IV, this time by a very nice nurse who knew what she was doing. The Dr. ordered X-Rays, a couple of blood tests, a Gastro-intestinal cocktail, yeah but this was not a yummy cocktail, (can you hear the sound of cash registers going? Cha-ching..I sure did) and again, nothing. Finally, the next day I went to the Dr.'s and I was told that my Dr. had to go home for an emergency and wouldn't be back. Well, as you can imagine, after all I have been through, I lost my damn mind. I didn't make a scene, but I was extremely persistent in that I needed to be seen like now. So the receptionist lady called upstairs and asked if someone was available to see me and get this....she kept mentioning that I had Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, so I could definitely be seen. There is something really wrong when you can only be seen when you have the "right" kind of insurance. It really makes me angry. Anyhow, there was one Dr. who had an opening and saw me. Nice guy and he decided that I had Giardiasis. WTF??????? Another unwanted guest has taken up residence in my uninviting body. I want to live in a Purell bubble.

He was hesitant to put me on antibiotics without doing the proper lab tests, but I gave him the "give me the antibiotics and no one gets hurt" look and he caved. He told me I can't have any dairy products, no meat, or tomatoes. The only things I can have are bananas, applesauce, Jell-O, noodles, steamed veggies, bread and rice. I've become a vegan under duress and it all has the same taste. I still have to go through the testing for it, but I'll spare you the details of that because it's really gross. I think I might vomit while doing them. Seriously. So now I'm on antibiotics and anti nausea medicine. But the antibiotics make me nauseous. No, I'm not pregos. Crap. I can't win.

La Dolce Vita.....Says Who??

2007-09-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

In my spare time I like to read blogs from all over the world. It seems lately that blogs originating in Italy are posting about the same things. Whether it's dissatisfaction with prenatal care, strikes, depressing beauty contests, bad organization, or political angst, it all points to one thing. Life in Italy isn't as "dolce" as we like to dream it is. Maybe it's become "Hollywoodized" by movies like "Under the Tuscan Sun". Not only have I read all these rants and raves, I've heard them first hand by Ale, the Italian and collaborator of this blog.

It seems Italy's political system is a disorganized mess. After everything I've read and heard, I wouldn't be shocked if there were some kind of revolution being planned. Healthcare, albeit free (well, who are we kidding here, nothing is ever free...taxes!) or rather socialized, is not the best. I mean, who tells a pregnant woman who wasn't overweight to begin with, to lose weight while pregnant????

Nepotism.....it runs rampant in Italy. If you don't have friends or family in high places, then you are just out-of-luck. Or, if your family doesn't have 30,000 Euros to get you into medical school, then you are just not going to get anywhere. You might get a job, but you'll either get paid peanuts or nothing at all. People complain, but nothing changes. Professionals are choosing to leave Italy to find better opportunities. Crime is getting worse because the polizia does nothing to the illegals and they continue to commit crime because they are well aware that they will get away with it.

Don't get me wrong, I love Italy. It's absolutely beautiful. I love the culture, the art, the food...etc, but it's just not all it's cracked up to be. I feel so bad when Ale tells me about how he could wait years, even decades and still never advance in his career because he isn't "well connected". What is happening to this country that is so rich in history and art?? How can a country function when they would rather hire the guy who is so and so's cousin, rather than the guy who is actually qualified for the job??

Lately people have been asking me why I don't go to Italy to live with Ale. Well, the answer is simple. What would I do there?? I'm still learning how to speak the language. Ale has a Master's degree in his field and can only get 6 month to 1 year contracts for work. One of which was not renewed for this fall. There are temp agencies here in the U.S. that can do better than that. Ale is frustrated with all the walls he keeps coming up against and it hurts me to see him that way. I would much rather he come here and work to his full capacity. I want to see him get the recognition he deserves. Until things change, I'm staying put and Ale will come here as soon as he possibly can. Maybe in the future, or perhaps for retirement. I don't know, but even with all the political problems we have here in the U.S., it's still going to be a better situation for the both of us.

Can You Feel the Love??

2007-09-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post a video taken when Ale and I took a drive down the Oregon coast. I especially like this one because it makes me laugh. If you don't understand Italian, then you won't get it. We have a particular way of joking with each other. Hahaha!!

16 de Septiembre "El Grito"

2007-09-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

El Grito or "The Cry," was originally delivered in 1810 by Mexican national hero Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a parish priest in the village of Dolores. With "El Grito," Hidalgo openly declared his support for independence and rallied the local indigenous population to rise up against Spain.

There are conflicting reports of exactly when Hidalgo delivered the cry, whether on the evening of September 15, 1810, or the morning of September 16. El Grito is traditionaly read by the Mexican president in Mexico City at 11:00pm on September 15, while Mexico observes its Independence Day on September 16.

Friday night there was a reception at the Portland City Hall for Mexicans in the Media and the Latino Chamber to start the weekends festivities. My BFF J is owner of Latino Perspective magazine. She mentioned something about free food and an open bar. Que?? Free food and drink??? I am SO there!! Various Mexican restaurants were respresented there. I had a little bit of the food and it was all really good. Chicken mole, beans, Salsa Verde with Chicken, rice, carnitas....yum! I stood in line to wait for the fresh tortillas that were being made, but by the time I got close to the front of the line, I had finished everything on my little plate so I got out of the line and settled for hearing they were good.

I used to have a dress like the little girl in the first picture. My Mom put me in Folklorico Mexicano dancing classes from the time I was a little girl, until I didn't think it was cool anymore. I was the typical teenager, so I had to rebel. The truth is that I perfomed dances from every region of Mexico and we even traveled to different cities for my performances. There are pics of my dancing days at my Mom's house, but I don't know if they will ever make it to this blog..maybe, we'll see!

We met some other friends there and J took the hubby and kids. I took plenty of pics. No food shots though, that would be too cruel.
The Mariachis were great!! Ironically, they started singing a song that reminds me of my Dad almost immediately after we got there. They made their way around the crowd and ended up having a Mariachi Jam Session of sorts. Some of the restaurant employees let loose after everyone was fed. It was really fun to watch!

Here's a little dancer and J, A and me, the 3rd wheel.....

After a few free Margaritas, the pics started to get a little silly....

Hahahaha! Good thing I haven't told J about my blog yet...she's liable to kill me for this one!! All in all it was a fun night. Good friends, good music, good food and drinks.....what more could one ask for? Actually, there was one person missing that would have made this evening absolutely perfect....I miss you chiquito!

The Oncologist Revisited (Not For the Faint of Heart)

2007-09-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

When I called to make my appointment, on September 1st, the scheduler girl told me that Dr. McC didn't have any appointments available for 3 weeks, I told her that I had just had surgery with Dr. McC and it was discovered that my Shrek was malignant and I was told by my OB/GYN to make an appointment with her for the following week. She told me that she would have to speak to Dr. McC and call me back. She called me back the following Tuesday, after the Labor Day weekend. Friday Sept 4th at Noon would be my appointment.

I woke up that morning feeling anxious and wishing Ale was here with me. I just wanted to get it over with. As I was getting ready, I remembered that Ale had brought me a Bialetti for 3 people. He used it almost everyday he was here. I remember him saying, "I can't see my face if I don't have my cafe'..." So, just to feel a little closer to him, I made myself some espresso. Problem is..I drank enough for 3 people! Oops.....

Dr. McC was running around the office juggling about 3 patients at once. I remember thinking, does this woman eat?? I sat restless in the lobby. Fidgetting, shifting in the chair. My hands were shaking. I was beginning to think I might have a panic attack. Then I remembered, "Um, you had a triple shot of espresso! Of course your fidgetty!!" Finally, the nurse called my name and off I went. She put me in an exam room and asked me some questions. When she took my blood pressure it was insanely high! 144/99 Normally it's around 110/65 I told her that not only was I nervous, I had also drank a triple espresso. She smiled and said, "I'm not worried. We get high readings like that in this office all the time, so don't feel bad." Dr.McC came in shortly after and asked me how I was feeling. I told her I was feeling fine physically, but emotionally I was completely drained. She understood, of course. She examined my incisions and found that one was a little irritated, so she gave me some sample packets of Neosporin and some bandages to put on it. She told me that the lab was faxing over the final report but that she already suspected what would be in the final.

I will write for you here the description of Shrek (an appropriate name as you will read in it's description). Please bare in mind that this is NOT an embryo. This is simply a germ cell gone awry. The pathology report reads as follows:

MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION:

All slides contain portions of an immature teratoma with numerous tissue types including skin, cartilage, respiratory epithelium, lymphocytes, bone, focal retina, teeth, nueral tissue, the latter was present in multiple slides. All but four foci of the neural tissue are immature glial tissue consistent with Grade 1 (cancer cells). Four foci of immature neuroectoderm resembling a notochord-type tissue are present, with two of the foci less than 1 high power field and two greater than 1 but less than 2 high power fields.

Disgusting, I know. To think that this little monster was growing inside of me well, I really can't describe what I felt. It goes on to say that hair was not identified grossly (which is quite common in dermoid cysts, but my Shrek was not hairy, phew...) Dr. McC. said that the cancer was in it's beginning stages. Grade 1. She said she is quite confident that the cancer was contained in the cyst. She went on to tell me that at one point when they were removing Shrek, there was a slight leak but they were very fast to irrigate and suction it all out. So, based on the pathology results and her expert opinion, I am cancer free!!!! However, (isn't there always a however) she wants to follow me for the next year or so, seeing me perhaps every 3 months with a CatScan thrown in there every couple of months for good measure. I can't explain to you the relief I felt, but I also couldn't help but ask, are you sure you got it all??? She said that this would be the reason for the follow-up visits with her. She would hate to put me back on the operating table, if there was really no need, and she said that we should wait a bit to do a CatScan so that it shows everything clearly. 2 weeks to be exact. She also told me that they took pictures of Shrek because it was quite different than your average Dermoid Cyst and she asked me if I had a chance to see them. No!! Had I known I would have definitely taken a look. I'm curious by nature and want to see it. She's going to get the pics so I can have a look. The Residents and Interns were happy to see such a thing...ew!

I walked out of that office having a new appreciation for life. I am never going to take even one second for granted. After several deep breaths, I cried tears of joy. I wasn't going to have to tell my Mom anything and I was going to have another chance to follow my dreams. Ale and I would have a chance to really be together and I have one good ovary left, which means, I still have a chance to be a Mommy. I'm a cancer survivor. God is good, He really is.

In Hindsight Instinct is Everything Part 2

2007-09-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

I woke up in the recovery room feeling really groggy and like someone was sitting on top of me. I remember feeling thirsty and the nurse asking me if I wanted some ice chips. She asked me how I was doing and I told her it felt like someone was sitting on me. She smiled and said, "Yes, you will feel that way for a couple of hours." I must have fallen back to sleep because when I opened my eyes again, Dr. K was there. She told me that they were able to remove Shrek laprascopically and that Shrek was benign. I asked if my ovaries were intact and she said that they had to take the one that Shrek had pretty much swallowed whole. They tried to carve it out, but it was no use. Shrek devoured my little ovary. She reminded me that I all I need is one good functioning ovary to conceive. While I am happy to have one, I couldn't help but feel a little bad about losing one of my girls. I distinctly remember thinking of Lance Armstrong. How he must have felt.

Once I was a little more conscious, they wheeled me back to my little short stay room and there was my knight in shining armour waiting for me. A lot of what happened for the next few hours is a bit foggy. I slept a lot. I do know that I was given some prescriptions for pain medication and I didn't bring my insurance card with me, so Ale went back home to get the cards for me. Then he went to the pharmacy and paid for my prescriptions. I replay the things he did for me in my mind and I appreciate him so much more everytime. The nurse brought me some crackers and told me to eat them and drink some water. They wanted to make sure I could keep food down and that I could go to the restroom on my own before letting me go home.

It must have been 3 pm when I finally got to go home. My post-op orders were to eat things that are easy to digest, such as Jell-o and apple sauce and to get up and walk the length of my apartment every couple of hours. I asked Ale to stop at Fred Meyer to buy the things I needed. While he was in the store, I decided I would call BJ (from the job) to let her know that my surgery was a success and I would only need 2 weeks at most to recover. She told me that they decided to hire someone else. Wow, I was pretty bummed because she said that they were going to get a temp. Oh well, things don't always work the way we want them to. So it was back to square one for my job search. Ale was in Freddie's for a long time, but I figured the poor guy had no idea what he was looking for so I waited patiently. Dr. Feelgood really gave me some strong stuff. I honestly started to feel really good while I waited in the car. I mean, I didn't feel much pain. In fact, the next morning I woke up at 4am in so much pain and I felt an incision that I didn't even realize I had the day before. The strange thing is, a lot of my pain was in my arm and shoulder. Weird. I think they must have had my arm stretched out on one of those little boards because the nurse had asked me if I had any issues with my arms before my surgery. I told her I have a recurring shoulder injury on my left side from tennis. The pain was on the right. I had no choice but to take the pain meds they gave me. I really don't like to, but I was in so much pain I was almost in tears.

Over the next couple of days Ale cooked for me and helped me get up to walk around. He asked me (Italianism #1) how I could possibly eat that toxic waste called Jell-o. I told him Jell-o was something that my Mom would give me as a kid when my stomache was upset and I liked it. I remember him saying something like his nonna would have a heart attack if she ever saw him eating something like that. My knight in shining armour is the food police, seriously! There are so many Italian rules for eating. What to pair with what, etc.....At that point, it wasn't the first thing on my mind, but I know he only tells me those things because he cares about my health.

The Thursday after my surgery, I was up and walking around when my cell phone rang. It was Dr. K with the Shrek pathology report. She told me that not only was Shrek a dermoid cyst, but it was also an immature teratoma, in other words, a cancerous tumor. She advised me to make an appointment with Dr. McC as soon as possible to see what she thinks we should do. She was regretful for having to tell me over the phone but she wanted me to know as soon as possible. I seriously felt my heart sink to the very pit of my ruebenesque belly. I felt my whole world crashing down on me. As soon as I hung up I started crying. Ale held me and told me it was all going to be ok. I think I cried more for my Mom than for me. I didn't tell my Mom about any of this. I figured it was going to be simple but with Ale going back to Italy in a week and the possibilty of me having to have surgery again, I would have to tell her because I would need her to come up to Portland to help me post-surgery. Everything seemed to be happening all at once. Ale was leaving soon, I lost the job I had worked so hard to get, I just found out I had cancer.....it was all just too much. So now maybe you can understand why I appreciate Ale so much. He was here for me through all of this. He made my days happier, when they might have otherwise been grim. I knew I had to be strong because I was going to have to face the music all by myself because my appointment with the Oncologist would be 2 days after Ale left.

Dr. K told me that they sent Shrek up to Washington for a second opinion from a Dr. that is an expert on these things. So my appointment with Dr. McC is going to be based on he results of that second opinion.

In Hindsight, Instinct is Everything Part 1

2007-09-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. Are you ready? OK.... Shortly after I found out I was going to have surgery, I was offered a job, a good one, no....a great one! The wage was decent, the benefits excellent AND it's a union job. Union jobs are hard to come by these days, especially in my field. I was so happy! I figured, I'll postpone my surgery for a month or two, then just drop my mini-bomb on them and say, "Um, I need surgery." It would be fully covered and that would be that. When I told the Italian about my little devious scheme, he told me I must have some long lost relatives from Naples. I must be a Napolitana. Ha!

I decided I would sleep on it because I'm really not the sneaky type. It's just that it took me 2 solid months to get this job. I didn't want to lose it because of Shrek. Ironically, I couldn't sleep that night. I couldn't do it. That would be completely dishonest and these people were really nice to me. Plus, I began to think about the fact that there could be a pre-existing condition clause on the medical insurance, etc etc and if they ever found out, although it's a union job, I could get fired. Not to mention the fact that Shrek was labeled a dermoid cyst, but was it really?? Could it be cancerous and potentially spreading?? My gut told me, get this thing out and fast. So that was it, I called the job the next morning, told them I needed to have surgery and that it would take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks to recover, because at that point, we didn't know if they would need to cut me completely open. In fact, that was decided for me when I was laid out on an operating room table on some serious anesthesia. BJ, the woman who offered me the job, was pretty understanding although she made it pretty clear that they needed someone to start like now. She said they would get a temp in there and try to wait for me, but she made no promises. Understandable.

Surgery day was on August 27th. The Italian had me at the hospital at 5:30 am sharp. My surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am. When they took me back to the short stay, they had me put on the little drafty gown and cute little socks. I had to take the "You say you're not pregnant but..." pee-pee test and then they put these really cool contraptions on my calves to prevent me from getting deep vein thrombosis during surgery. They took more blood and my nurse put the IV in my arm. Can I just tell you, that freakin' hurt!! I still have quite the colorful bruise from it. I have a latex allergy so there were signs everywhere, "Latex free environment", even on my gurney. In between the visits from 1,001 Dr.'s, Residents, Interns, Phlebotomists and Nurses, (Shrek was going to make it's big debut and was already considered a star!) the Italian would caress my hair and cheek and kiss my hand. He was so sweet and supportive, and it didn't go unnoticed!! More on that later..... Then I got a visit from the Anesthesiologist. I can't for the life of me remember his name, but for all intents and purposes, we'll call him Dr. Feelgood. He was a cool looking dude. He looked so California, which is cool since I am a Californian. He had a tan like George Hamilton. I hope it was a Mystic Tan..hello, skin cancer!

So my time came. The nurse came in and asked us if we gave each other the obligatory deluging of kisses. We more than willingly obliged and off I went. As they wheeled me past the big doors and into the surgery hallway I had to smile. There were street signs on the walls that said, "Rodeo Drive", "Beverly Hills". How did they know I'm a shopaholic and a "fashion victim", according to the Italian?? Dr. K came in and reiterated the whole procedure to me and she held my hand, aw, so sweet! Dr. Feelgood came in and hooked-me up, literally. Apparently one of my medical team of Dr's wrote about the Italian in my chart because he was the subject of conversation before I knocked out. They asked me what the Italian and I had been up to and I told them we had stayed in Cannon Beach for 4 days, Seattle for 2, Vancouver for 1 and Victoria for 2. We hiked the Gorge and went to a lot of Portland events. Dr. Feelgood told me there is a little coffee shop owned by an Italian in Cannon Beach and they make a mean espresso. We'll have to check it out next time. Next thing I know, I'm feeling floaty. I said " I'm dizzy" and Dr. Feelgood said, "Yep". My eye lids felt like they weighed 100 lbs each. Two blinks and I was out.