Well, hello there.  I’m Melissa.  I like mysteries, boring you with talk about eating paleo, and going on adventures with my family.  Adventure is front and center these days.  After I spent almost five years as an associate at a big law firm in Washington, DC, we moved our little family to Rome in the fall of 2014.  I’ve traded billable hours for hours of chasing our two kids at Villa Borghese.  Life in Rome is not always glamorous, but it is always an adventure.

Uh, so what are you doing in Rome?

We moved here for my husband’s job in the fall of 2014.  We’ll be here for three years.  After that, I honestly don’t know.  We could head back stateside or see about continuing the adventure.  I’ll let you know whenever I know!

As to what I’m doing, it isn’t super sexy.  Most days it is just wrangling kids and the blog.  (Like this one.  Or this one.)  I can tell you every park or playground in a mile radius of my house.  And I feel like I must be feeding a football team given the amount of time I spend shopping for food.  Just usual SAHM stuff.

Should I move to Rome?

Hmm, maybe?  I’ve been pretty pleased so far.  Some things are hard.  I miss being close to family.  Traffic here is everything you’ve heard and more.  (I don’t drive.  Much.)  Restaurants don’t open until later, which can be tough for kids.

But we’ve been enjoying the mild weather.  The food is amazing.  And we’re having fun trying to see as much as we can.

So . . . I dunno.  If you decide to take the plunge, I don’t have tips on the whole getting-permission-to-be-here process, but there are some fab ex-pat bloggers out there who have you covered.

I am not moving to Rome and I have no foreseeable plans to come even remotely close to Rome in the near future.  Why should I read your blog?

That’s fair.  If you ever change your mind on Rome or Europe, I’ve got some resources for you here.

Until then, there could be something here to tickle your fancy.  I write about my kids aka the adorable weirdos.  Minimalism.  Trying to eat paleo in a carby country.  Some not very paleo food.  Books.  Balance.

Sometimes things get weird.  Or weirder.  I often try to be funny.

Even though I write about Rome and travel, I consider this more of a “lifestyle” blog.  (Which is probably why I will never be able to find that darn niche market like I’m supposed to.)  If you’ve ever thought about living with less, making a big change in your life, or going on more adventures, there could be something for you here.

Tell me more about these incredibly adorable children, please.

Thanks, Mom!  My sidekick and chief conversationalist these days is Henry.  He was born in fall of 2012.  He can make you pull your hair out, but mostly he just cracks me up.  Here he is at 2, 2.25, and 3.

The adorable bundle of squishiness (and the main reason I know the Italian word for cheeks) is Mac, born in spring of 2014.  I’m in denial about him growing up, but you can see him doing it at 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, and one year.

Do you make any money from your blog?

Nope!  Well, not really.  I joined the Amazon Affiliates program in February of 2016.  Since then I’ve made about 80 cents.  If one of my posts contains affiliate links, I will always ALWAYS let you know.

What do you use to shoot your photos?

We have a nice camera, but I can barely remember to leave the house with diapers so that is not in the cards right now.  99% of the images you see here were captured by my Google Nexus 5 phone.  And by mine, I mean probably James’s.  I edit photos with picmonkey, and I’ve used canva to create some art.

Your fake FAQs didn’t cover my question.  How can I reach you so that you can correct this egregious oversight?

Besides here on the blog, you can find me at

romanreboot at gmail.com

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