Buongiorno, famiglia mia!!

I am back. (the title says hello, or good day, my family!!) Truthfully, I landed back on US soil last week (I think it was Wednesday). As most can guess, I’ve been getting reacquainted with my house, family and schedule. Gizmo, my darling dog, is back home. He’s still giving me the “You LEFT me” looks. My youngest confessed that she was “parent-sick”, meaning she missed us. We went dress shopping for her Homecoming dance – the day OF said dance, because why not?!? Her last home football game was on Friday, and we yawned our way through it. Along with all of that I spent the weekend nursing two sick chickens. Unfortunately this morning, we lost Skinny, one of our Rhode Island Reds. Ruby (her sister) seems to still be hanging on. I don’t know what went wrong, which is maddening. It’s been a quick readjustment to real life.

Life in Italy was, in short, wonderful. I had the best experiences doing everything from visiting wineries, taking cooking classes (I can make a mean pasta and tiramisu), and going to Michelin-starred restaurants, to sipping Aperol spritzes and watching the world go by. The country is beyond beautiful, the people are warm and friendly, and yet I was still very happy to come home. I did say I was considering moving – and trust me, if the right Tuscan property came on the market after the youngest graduates from high school, I’ll begin packing immediately!

One of the crazier things to happen during the trip was an email from Duran Duran announcing the Hollywood High premiere. I was sitting at an outdoor cafe, scanning through my email the day before we left. I spied the email from DD, basically saying that if I wanted tickets, to respond back right away. Admittedly, these sorts of things almost never work in my favor. I’ve tried to get tickets to many things the band has offered up as “first come – first served”, and I’ve never been lucky. This time though, I was reading the email in Italy. Nine hours ahead of California time. If it was ever going to happen for me, now would be the time.

I answered back as fast as my fingers could type, and sure enough, this time, I got tickets! So, I’m making a bit of a side trip through Los Angeles before making my way to Vegas to see and help my two favorite DJ’s with their second gig together. I’m excited about the Hollywood High premiere, and I promise – I’ll share all the details here, so stay tuned!!

Speaking of which, if you don’t have tickets for Into Future Past yet – hurry up and grab some! If you do have tickets, come visit me, and maybe even get a selfie with Dom and/or Jason, at the merchandise table after the show! I love that two of my favorite people are doing this again. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m looking forward to dancing the night away. Besides, I’m pretty sure there’s still some pasta remnants in my body to work off….

That’s it for now. Looking forward to getting back into a normal blogging rhythm! If you like what you’re reading, please do me a favor and share the blog with your friends!

Ciao!

-R