It’s been a little more than a week since my arrival and getting settled in has been easier than I thought it would be. Daniela (Corrado’s mother) has been a nice surprise. I always enjoy my time with her, I feel like she’s my adoptive nonna. She likes to gossip (giving Hilary boy advice..even when …
It was only fitting that my last weekend in Seattle before my big trip involved an international sailing trip. Since I was hosting a goodbye BBQ I couldn’t make the first leg from Seattle to Port Townsend, but meeting the crew in Port Townsend early in the morning was easy. I forgot my camera this time …
The title of this entry comes from a song from the lovely Kris Orlowski…he’s still on my to-write list for my music blog as I have come to share some good memories with him the past year, but it will come in good time. (Update: finally got around to writing one months later) So early …
Stages of my feelings about moving to Italy. 1. Pure excitement – It was a romantic idea that I couldn’t get out of my head. Thinking about the possibilities of what I could be doing, what I will be doing, and all those dreams I ever had about doing. This feeling however only lasted a …
Today I formally placed my three week resignation notice. To do what? Follow my dream. Some may call it a quarter life crisis (but I think that phase hit me more the first few months after I graduated from college and got my “real world” job). I consider myself an opportunist, and to me, this …
Who could say no to spending Halloween in New Orleans? I am forever changed after my experience in NOLA in 2009. While I didn’t bring my camera out for probably the most picturesque part of New Orleans (the night life), the memories will always be with me. New Orleans isn’t just about southern hospitality, although …
I apologize for not writing for so long. It’s been a crazy week. Our hours have been wonky and by the time I finish editing my photos I am too tired to write about anything…I’ll try to get some writing in tomorrow morning as it will be my last day here and all I am …
Closing day. We were all a bit tired. I slept pretty awful because I switched rooms and the music went all night and then the cleaning began and the garbage trucks and the beeping and then the band practice across the street and then the band playing in a parade…I gave up on trying to …
Giovanni’s friends from Milan came down so this day was really fun. It was nice to itneract with fresh new faces. Plus they were SO nice! They all had some understanding of english. Some spoke better english than others but they were all so sweet! Here we are on the porch in the morning. We …
My first morning in Daniela’s house was wonderful. Being an early riser, I was up and about around 8…I grabbed the guitar I saw in the rec room and brought it onto the patio. I haven’t played in weeks so it felt really good to find something to strum. I’m not very good, so it …
So here we go. After work, we packed a few things and “moved” to Daniela’s house for the weekend. We got there just in time for the opening ceremony, which included the mayor (who they call the “major”), talking and kids from the local schools presenting this year’s wine. After all that mumbo jumbo, the …
I finally felt like I was coming around when we started bottling today. We harvested, we pressed, we analyzed, we moved wine, we bottled, labeled, boxed, and shipped the wine out! The only thing I felt like I was missing was pruning the vines and weeding! But there’s always a chance I could come back …
One of the vineyards I haven’t shared with you yet is Specia. Specia is a gorgeous small vineyard that Corrado rescued 4 years ago. I heard him talking about the soil and how it was basically “gold” for the vines, rich with nurtients, not dry and crumbling. I wish I had gotten a photo of …
So what we thought would be a work day turned into a great exploration day. Corrado dropped us off in the village to explore and have a second breakfast while he went to the cellar to do a little bit of work with Giovanni. We enjoyed the town…it was quite small so the exploration was …
This week has been pretty uneventful. It rained Monday and Tuesday, so we couldn’t harvest. Instead we were stuck inside labeling bottles…and labeling 500 million bottles can be very monotonous. I think Hillary got high from the rubbing alcohol from cleaning the bottles. So I spent many hours humming songs and playing some great music …
Yesterday we went to the Adriatic Sea. Giovanni, Lisa, Hillary, and Corrado’s family all went to the beach. It was great. HOT…relaxing…salty. We went to a beach in between Senigallia and Ancona. It sort of reminded me of Malibu or Venice Beach minus the douchebags. I mostly enjoyed spending time with Corrado’s children, Julia and …
Well it’s certainly been a busy week here. I’ve made some journal entries for myself to remind me of everything I am experiencing, but I’ll sum it up for you here: I’ve been starting my work days at 7 a.m. here. Each sunrise is just as breath taking as the last. As much as I …
Ciao from Italy! Right now I’m relaxing in my little bed listening to crickets and the occasional bell chimes in the distance. It’s about 10ish p.m. My apartment has a view of the surrounding valleys and wineries, it’s beyond beautiful. I really can’t describe how amazing it is to be here (view from both of …
I’m leaving tomorrow for my first WWOOF adventure. I’m not really sure how I feel. I thought I would be a lot more excited than how I actually feel right now. I think it’s because my life has just been so fantastically amazing I feel like I’m just coasting. A smaller part of me thinks …
Hello! So some exciting news…after a few e-mails and correspondence, I’ve been chosen and accepted a farm in Italy to stay and work at for just over 3 weeks. Behold, La Distesa, located not too far from the city of Ancona, an east coast city of Italy. This place was a fit for me schedule …
As one last summer hurrah, Chris and I decided to take a mini trip down the Washington and Oregon Coast. There really is nothing quite like the Northwest coastline. My highlights include horseback riding on the beach, visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and the Rogue brewery.
My two favorite traveling men could not make it to Ireland with me. However, Brandon gave me George, a lovable gorilla who keeps me company when Brandon is away (we live in different cities). Graham brought me back my very own koala as promised from Australia. Which we both decided to name Gumbo. I wanted …
Chris and I went on a 30 mile bike ride along the peninsula. Hands down one of my best moments traveling. I’m fairly determined to be able to explore Ireland only by bike one of these days. We were going to do a loop route, but by the time we got half way through we …
On the bus ride to Dingle. Ireland really is green! Dingle is hands down my favorite part of Ireland. It is where I could imagine myself running away to and living. I remember pulling into town on our bus. Much much smaller than Ozette/Cape Cork, this fishing community was pretty quiet. We checked into our …
My first time out of the country (besides Cananda consisted of a impromptu 10 day trip around Ireland. The whole thing was rather hilarious. I hadn’t even qualified for paid vacation time yet when I requested the time off. But when I took off, I had just enough to spare. Chris’s friend Brenda had randomly …
