My wishes for you!

I cannot believe this year passed so quickly! This maybe wasn't a breakthrough year to me, but I'm happy and thankful because it wasn't a bad year either. I was well and so were all my family and friends, I worked almost the whole year, I visited my Polish home, so I can say I am completely and entirely satisfied. Plus, I have sth to celebrate too! Exactly today, 5 years ago, I met my bf... : ) Time flies...

Well done, 2009! : ) I hope 2010 won't be worse!

I wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope you'll have a whale of a time at your parties tonight! Just remember not to exaggearte with the sparkling liquid and be careful when setting/letting off (AmE/BrE) the fireworks! : )) Cheers!

Read More

The new Coca-Cola spot.

I love the Coca-Cola spots. Especially during Christmas. They are always warm and sweet but not too corny at the same time. this is the newest Italian version:




What do you think?

Read More

Christmas postcards from Sicily.

As I promised yesterday, I'm going to drone on my Christmas in Sicily. It's a completely different approach they have, there's never snow so the atmosphere is just not the same as in Poland at this time of year. But it's ok. I mean: " When in Rome do as Romans do", therefore it's just a matter of acceptance and tolerance towards their way of spending this time. Of course there's shopping frenzy before and Santa Claus (Babo Natale) comes every year, and people put on creche rather than Chritmas tree (since there are very few forests here, the only Christmas tree people can buy and decorate are the fake ones, unfortunately) and artificial snow on the display windows. It's just different when the temeprature rises to 20°C and the sun is shining all the time. I got used to it.

1. December 24, 2009

In the morning I was busy baking a cake for the dinner so there are no pictures. Nevertheless, I would like to show you how they (Italians) usually decorate their Christmas table. It's beautiful as far as the colours are concerned but it's very modest and they almost always use the plastic plates to eat (whereas in Poland we use our best crockery for this evening). The evening starts quite late, at about 9.00pm and lasts until midnight or even later: the dinner is followed by a Bingo game. Of course you play with money!


I found it sweet to put the card with names so that no one is confused about where to sit. On the other hand it's disarming they still spell my name this way:


And this is Giulia. One of the most adorable children I have ever had a chance to meet. I played with her the whole evening!


As I mentioned in my previous posts, this year we didn't buy each other presents but donated some amount of money to a lady whose children are paralyzed and need an operation to walk again. However some of us broke the rules... Here's one of the presents from my dearest friends. It's just perfect! : )




2. December 25, 2009

On that day we went to my bf's parents for lunch/dinner.




And in the afternoon we went for a walk to collect some fresh oranges! Who doesn't normally do it on a Christmas Day?!



There were hives too!



3. December 26, 2009

That day was not as sunny but in the morning we decided to go for a walk to one of my favourite places: an old, abandoned lighthouse. The place is wild and not very frequented by people, surrounded by a vast area of stunning plants and bushes. My paradise.

I mentioned playing games before. Well, yes, also that day finished with a gathering at my bf's sister who organized "A game evening". It's very common in Italy to spend evenings between Christmas and New Year's Eve playing cards and various board games. Of course since the Wii invention, the evenings have changed grately.



Ok, that's all about my Christmas. What about yours? I cannot wait to read!

PS. We're still waiting for Luna to have the puppies.. : )

Read More

Merry Christmas!

Ok, I know I'm late. Not so soooooooooooooo late, but late... I'm sorry! I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! I hope you found lots of these under the Christmas tree:


I already have all the material for the next post which I'm going to publish tomorrow (I even came up with a title!), so please bear with me and forgive me for my mistake... : )



I love you all!

Jo.

Read More

I'm ok : )

Dear Friends,

Thank you SO much for your support, I really appreciate your care and conern. Thanks to you and your thoughtful comments, I feel much better. Really!

This weekend I decorated my flat a little bit. Unfortunately there's no good spot for the Christmas tree, so I'll have to content myself with the little crib and other odds and ends. Here's the result of my work!

The front door:

And this is how the street where I live in looks like in this period:



Talking of Christmas decorations, I have found this on the Internet and I find them absolutely adorable! I wish I were more crafty! : )
















Oh, one more thing. The day I felt so bad, to make things worse, my Swatch watch got broken : ( Ok, I admit, it wasn't new (it was more than 3 years now) but anyway... So what I did? I went on Ebay and made myself a present! : ) I hope it arrives before Christmas! : )

And then, yesterday, my dearest bf took me to see Luna (the future Mum, remember?) It was great, these dogs are the most beautiful, kind and funny creatures in the world! And only 1 week and the puppies will be born! : )

Read More

What the heck??!!!

Sometimes you just want to leave and never come back. Sometimes you're sick of everything, you're fed up and angry with the entire world. This is one of these days... and I feel hopeless and helpless and lonely, though so many people are around. I don't know, maybe I feel homesick.. afer all it's Christmas and I'm Here, not There. But maybe it's just an excuse. Or maybe not... Anyway, I feel so grateful that I can just put a picture here so you know how I feel today...

I'm sure I'll be much better tomorrow...

Read More

This season, this time...

First of all, I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the warm words you had for me before my work as an interpreter during the conference. You're all the best! It was great! We have received some official feedback and it was extremely positive! : ) I'd be elated if I could have working experiences like that on a daily basis : )

So as you can see, I have officialy started the Christmas season. Despite the fact that this year I'm going to spend it in sunny Sicily (which you can associate with anything but winter and Christmas), and not in white, cold (I hope) Poland, I cannot resist the Christmas spell, charm. and beauty.. Deva, I'm soo envious of your spending Christmas in PL!

So I'm here, changing the blog template for more festive, preparing the Christmas decorations I'm going to use to embellish my appartment this weekend while listening to Christmas songs/carols. Yet, this Christmas is also different from the others because we're all going to avoid the present-shopping frenzy... Actually, we have decided to help a family we know who is in big financial trouble and need money to cure the 2 paralysed children... it's better this way. Of course I need to buy at least one present for my bf. He deserves it, he never wants anything from me and at least at this time of the year he cannot refuse and decline it (yeah, I know YOU are reading it now)!

Apart from that, I'm really fine. We have some rain instead of snow but I'm still dedicating my time to apply to different public schools as an English tutor (I suppose everything will finish at the end of December and then in January they will conduct interviews followed by the official announcements of the "verdict"). We'll see.

On the other note, I have just discovered the newest CD of Alicia Keys- "The Element of Freedom"... Wow! Bewitching! You all want to have it, I'm sure! : ) Just listen to the first 2-3 songs and tell me you don't like it.. Come on, I'm challenging you!

Have a wonderful evening everyone! Tonight I'm going out to my bf's cousin's Birthday Party. Hope it'll be fun : )

Read More

If I were single...

Hello everyone! Today is Sunday and I'm trying to prepare (at least mentally) for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm going to work as an interpreter during a conference-talk show on the importance of tomoatoes in the Mediterranean diet. I'm excited and horrified at the same time. A famous American professor from Ohio is coming down here to Sicily with his wife (a neurosurgeon) to have a discussion with all the invited guests (politicians, researchers, and normal farmers). For the sake of the latter (and for mine as well) I hope the language is not going to be too elaborate. I love being challenged and it happens quite often that I accept sth and then regret having done so a minute after the decision is taken.. But then I always get by, I always do my best not to disillusion people who count on me and I succeed. Likewise, it costs me a lot of stress and health...

Anyway, in order to chill out and relax, I'd like to tell you how I imagine my life if I were single. Not that I'm considering a change of the relationship status! Not at all! It was my Mum who showed me some of these pictures and I thought I'd like to decorate my flat this way if I were single. What do you think?

PS. In the beginning I thought of putting these pics "stitched" together, all with nice, stylish frames, etc. But it turns out you can't learn Photoshop in 10 mins.. HELP!!!! : )




















That doesn't mean that I'm crazy... and would never imagine to have a Christmas tree like this...



or a house like that:


Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Read More