Category: Life

Why I Quit My Job to Be a Stay-at-Home Mom in Italy

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One of the fun things about blogging is that you get to meet cool people, at least virtually anyway.

I don’t remember exactly when I first discovered Hey Eleanor, the brainchild of Molly Mogren Katt, but I immediately crushed pretty hard.  The blog is gorgeous, the writing is awesome, and I adore the idea.  Trying new things is pretty much my definition of adventure, and you know I’m down for that.

Molly has a series on Quitters, and I realized, hey, I have an interesting quitting story.  Check out my interview over on Hey Eleanor here.  I’d love to know what you think!

P.S.  Another fascinating article on quitting: “The ‘quitter’s mindset’ could be the secret to success“

Can I be really really real with you for just a minute?

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I’ve been thinking a lot of thoughts lately and feeling a lot of feels.

On life.  On the future.  On goals.  On happiness.  On what I want to do when I grow up.

Basically what follows here is a swirling brain dump of stream of consciousness gibberish.  I wouldn’t blame you for skipping.  But if your mind is also caught in the vortex lately, by all means, stick around!

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Reading Roundup 2015

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HEADS UP, I’m trying something new here.  This post contains affiliate links, specifically from the Amazon Associates program.  This means that if you purchase something using one these links, I will receive a small percentage of the sale–all at no cost to you.  I promise to always tell you if a post contains affiliate links.  Thanks for supporting Roman Reboot!

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Remember back when I said I might publish more book reviews?  Hahahaha.  Clearly, that did not work.

But since I’m in looking back mode (yes, even at the end of February), here is what I loved in literature in 2015.

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How to trick yourself into better habits

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Habits

Back in the States, I borrowed my sister’s copy of Essentialism by Greg McKeown.  (Full story:  she got it for Christmas, and I was all WANT, and she was like back off, but then she graciously let me borrow it when she was finished.)

I’d recommend the book.  With my recent focus on mindfulness, it definitely hit me at the right point in my life.

Some bits feel a little repetitive.  It is pretty much all variations on the theme of identifying and doing only the essential things.  I do love the real life stories of people putting this into practice.

There is a lot of good stuff there.  But that isn’t what I want to talk about today.

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ICYMI: Jet Lag Edition

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Hi friend!  How are you?  Are you having a good February?  Also terrified of puppy monkey baby?

Sorry for the radio silence ’round these parts.  We’ve been battling jet lag, and I feel like we are just kind of mostly getting back to normal.

I’ve been kind of insufferable lately.  I have so many things I want to do that I feel like I’m going to jump out of my skin.  We did have excellent family time in January, but it was hard to get going on things while on the road.  Then the jet lag is setting us back.  I know it will just take time.  But I never claimed to be a patient person.  I want it ALL.  And I want it NOW.

I should give myself a little credit.  We have booked 2/3 of a Sicily trip for this spring.  I won my January Diet Bet, and I’ve been sticking to fairly strict paleo.  I just signed up for the Spartan Run in April (EEP!), but I still need to get officially signed up for the half marathon in March.  And then train for it.  NBD.

We are psyched to be back in Italy.  Carnival has been in full effect.  Confetti on all the playgrounds.  Children in costume on the reg.  We hit up the parade in Piazza Navona this past Saturday.  It was quite the classy affair compared to our raucous Tuscan Carnevale last year.  Picture lots of people on horses and in period costumes.

We are also in the throes of trying to apply for Italian public preschool.  I’m still not sure if we want to do it, but we are trying to even see if we can get a space before we have to decide.  Let’s just say the process has been VERY Italian.  I promise to share more on this later in case it helps anyone else who wants to try it.

On the Blog:

What I was into in January.  I should have also mentioned seasonal squash.  They don’t really have winter squash here, and I was LOVING all the butternut and spaghetti squash.

I also finally got around to putting pen to paper on 2016 resolutions.

After an awesome free first Sunday museum in December, you’d think we’d have hit one last Sunday, but not.  😦

Those boys keep saying the darndest things.

I threw down the fitness gauntlet.  But then I did some thinking on how to feel good without diet or exercise changes.

On the Internets:

My latest stroller obsession.  I’m very tempted by the fact that my friend says this fits on Roman buses and trams.

Anyone want to buy Michelangelo’s Tuscan Villa?  (Hat tip PK)

Want to see where Beyonce (apparently) stayed for the Super Bowl?  (Hat tip JRW)

Hope to be back more frequently soon.  In the meantime, anyone have any cruise line recommendations?

What I’m into (January 2016 Edition)

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Inspired by Modern Mrs. Darcy, I’m sharing some stuff that I’m digging right now.  Could be a regular feature.  Who knows?  🙂

Cracking Nuts

With my renewed focus on paleo, I’ve been on Team Nut.  (Well, Team raw nuts or nuts not roasted in weird oils.  Natch.)

When visiting my in-laws in January, I fell in love with their mix of nuts in a vase alongside a cracker on the counter.  A beautiful display, something you couldn’t  nosh on mindlessly, and it provided endless entertainment for the boys.  I may have to do my own next holiday season.

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Isn’t this lovely?

Geox Shoes

In December, I paid a little visit to the Geox store.  My friend raved about her recent purchases.  Another friend mentioned she was interested because it is an Italian brand.

I was proud of myself because I tried on millions of shoes in different sizes and decided not to feel bad about just asking the salespeople to do something they are paid to do.  I really wanted to try on all of them because they were speaking to me.  Classic with a little edge.

In the end, I walked away with two pairs.  A pair of combat boots and some slip-on sneakers.

I’m in love with both.  Absolute love.  I packed additional shoes for my trip, but I shouldn’t have.  These two are all that I need.  They even did great in the snowzilla situation.

Yes, a little pricier, but I’ll pay for quality, particularly on shoes.  And one of my resolutions for this year (that I have yet to tell you guys about) is to buy more Italian stuff.  And to invest in quality things to boot.   (Hehe)

If you are in Italy, I’d definitely recommend a saldi visit to Geox this month!  I know I’ll be back.  Still no OTK purchase has happened . . .

Libraries

Any visions I ever may have had of myself as a SAHM definitely involved regular visits to the local library.  We have a lot of awesome stuff going on in Italy, but a library with English language books is not on the list.

On our trip stateside, we’ve been hitting libraries every chance we get.  The kids love perusing the books.  The toys there, of course, are way more exciting than any toys would be in our house.  And I love reading something besides the same old thing over and over and over.

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Driving in America

You guys!  Driving in the States is so easy!  After over a year of no driving, I have driven a few times in Italy.  Each time feels a little like preparing for battle.  Study the route beforehand, load the GPS and Google maps, strap the children in with lots of entertainment because I won’t be able to spare a second of attention for them during the trip.

But in America, it is fine!  Wide lanes, ample parking, the list goes on and on.  Granted, unlike in Italy, I do have to worry about being pulled over for a boneheaded traffic maneuver, but the necessity of making a boneheaded traffic maneuver is much lower.

I don’t love having to drive everywhere, but that’s another story.  For now, viva the automobile!

That’s about it for me.  What have you been into this month?

 

Goals for 2016

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New year.  New slate.  I know some people aren’t into resolutions, but I like the chance to step back, reassess, and commit myself on new paths.  I still need to do some wrap ups on 2015 (I actually hit some of last year’s goals!), but since we’re already (almost a month!) into 2016, might as well start there.

(Hmm, I also already seem to have used my allotted exclamation point quota up before the first paragraph.  I’d make it a goal to stop, but, yeah, no.)

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