Roma, Ti Amo!

It's official,

I have fallen in love with Rome.

Head over heels,

in love and lust,

this city gives me butterflies.

I love everything about it.

I love the way everybody is moving so quickly all the time,

but somehow the pace of life still seems like it is set in slow-mo.

I love the fact that you can hear cheesy 

(yet still somehow charming and romantic)

 music playing down every street.

I LOVE how Rome transforms at night,

when all the tourists have retreated to their hotels,

and the true Romans come out to play. 

I am even beginning to accept (but definitely not love)

having cigarette smoke blown in my face all the time. 

Never thought I would ever utter those words...

but when you can't change some things,

you just have to accept them for what they are, right?

Although I'm not quite ready to accept the fact that I only have one month left of this incredible journey...  

:(

I feel like I am just barely beginning to get my feet wet.

And I am just barely beginning to feel what it would feel like to have a life here.

I'm just not ready for it to end. 

But, I also know that when one door closes, 

another one is bound to open...

it always does.

Opportunity is always out there,

but we have to actively seek it out.

We can't simply sit around waiting for it to come to us. 

Alright, well that's enough of that. 

The last time I wrote was on Christmas eve, 

so much has happened since then!! 

(Mostly eating, of course!!...hahahaha)

Let's see...

there was Christmas...

with a total of FOUR celebratory feasts.

#1: At her grandmother's house.

An all fish meal, my favorite!!!...

ha.

On Christmas Eve in Italy, you should not eat meat...only fish.

We had shrimp salad,

fish lasagna,

some other fish entree,

and then what else,

but more fish!!

Luckily this beautiful and scrumptious dessert was fish-less.

It is a typical Christmas dessert,

with some sort of alcoholic cream filling, and chocolate chips.

After dessert, we played a game of Uno.

The most competitive game of Uno I have ever seen...

Italians take their card games very seriously.

Completely and totally ruthless.

I have to admit, 

I kinda sorta love it.

OH- Also, they celebrate Christmas at midnight on Christmas Eve!

Something I was unaware of...

until the clock struck midnight on Christmas Eve,

and an all out kiss-fest commenced.

I was kissed so many times that I am pretty sure my cheeks turned pink.

The sophisticated European kisses, I mean...

You know,

the muah, muah,

left cheek, right cheek.

If I accidently do this when I see you back in the states,

I'm sorry,

force of habit now.

It's kinda fun though, maybe someday it will catch on in the US.

Lunch #2 took place at our house,

and was much smaller,

with only her two sisters and their husbands.

We had an phenomenal lunch,

(no fish this time!!)

with salami, olives, cheeses,

fettuccine with mushrooms,

some sort of turkey-like meat,

and my fabulous flourless chocolate cake. :)

Followed by what else,

but more card games!!!

(I'm getting really good at Uno...in case you were wondering.)

We had lunch and dinner #3 and 4 at Cristina's aunts beautiful house!

POLENTA!!! 

One of my new favorite dishes for sure.

Bet you can't guess what we did next...

UNOOOOOO!!!!!

I have never played as much Uno in my life, as I have in Italy. 

So I should probably warn all my friends-

when I come home, expect to partake in my new favorite pastime. 

And don't feel bad if you get your butt kicked...

I'll go easy on you guys. ;)

For New Year's eve, 

Cristina had her amazing and sweet cousins visiting from Calabria,

another city south of Rome. 

We had a beautiful day on New Year's eve,

walking all around the town and down to the harbor,

with the sun shining all day long.

We saw the sunset over the beach of Anzio,

the last sunset of 2011.

It was such a peaceful day.

I don't think I've ever had a better New Year's eve.

Then, there was New Years dinner!!!

Luckily (for my waistline) we had only one (VERY LARGE) feast.

We had a potluck, and everyone brought different dishes-

a smorgasbord of tasty treats:

lasagna, pork, chicken, and rice with shrimp.

 (Prepared by her boyfriend Fabio, which I actually thoroughly enjoyed!!)

My responsibility was the chicken...

although I don't think I actually laid a finger on it the whole time....haha.

Raw meat really freaks me out...

a completely irrational fear, I know.

But as you can see below,

that was no problem.

Cristina gladly took care of the chicken.

She jumped at the chance to stick her hand in it's butt,

and then held it up to make it dance.

She had more fun with that little chicken than I think anyone has ever had with a chicken before.

After dinner, we decided to head to Rome, to see the fireworks at the Colosseum at midnight.

I was so excited, it sounded like so much fun!!

But, we didn't quite anticipate the traffic and the parking situation near the Colosseum,

so as the clock struck midnight,

our caravan of three cars pulled over on the side of the road and had our own celebration.

We popped open a bottle of champagne, ate some delicious holiday cake, and had a dance party!

We got lots of honks from several passersby,

and we saw fireworks going off in every possible direction.

It was totally unplanned, unexpected, and in every way spectacular.

We danced, and laughed, and sang until we could barely breathe. 

So. Much. Fun. :)

It was completely different than any New Year's Eve I have ever had before,

but I loved every minute of it.

After our street side dance party, 

we finally headed to the Colosseo.

By this time many people had left and there was plenty of parking.

I was very excited to see what the atmosphere would be like at the Colosseum,

because I really had no idea what to expect.

And then...

when we finally got there,

all I wanted to do was turn around and go home!!

From a distance it was glamourous,

but as we got closer,

I realized just what we had gotten ourselves into.

There were drunk people everywhere,

VERY, VERY drunk people,

throwing glass champagne bottles and fireworks into crowds of people.

Dangerous would be an understatement...

So,

we did one lap around the Colosseum,

and then headed home.

We were probably there for a total of 15 minutes,

but it felt like it took us 2 hours.

I just wanted to get outta there!!! 

The next day we stuck to a much safer activity...

(although not the safest activity for clumsy souls, like myself...)

we went ice skating!

(Much to my own surprise, I didn't break any bones...thank god!)

The first two laps around the ice rink,

I held onto the railing for dear life.

And then, I realized that ice skating is like riding a bike!

All those pre-teen birthday parties at the Palos Verdes ice rink really paid off!!

I didn't fall, not even once!

Also, I had forgotten just how fun ice skating is...

By the end of our hour and a half session I was laughing so hard I had to use my inhaler...

it was that fun.

God I am so cool.

Lastly,

WE GOT A DOG!!!

For one day...hahaha.

We named her Alli for the day! :)

She was beautiful.

Scared, but very sweet.

She followed Cristina's sisters husband, Emilliano, home from work one day.

But the next day, Emilliano returned to work to find a missing dog sign posted.

So that was that.

She and the owner were very happy to be reunited.

And she was also happy to be called by her real name...

Daisy :)

She kinda looks like me,

dontcha think?? ;)

She was a cutie-pie for sure,

but,

I just don't think that any dog could ever beat my brown baby back home.

Just look at that face!! 

Just one more month until we are reunited <3

Ok my marvelous friends,

the time has come...

to go eat some more!!! Muahahaha

On the menu for today:

fresh arugula salad,

with cherry tomatoes,

fresh mozzarella,

a pinch of salt,

EVOO,

and balsamic vinegar.

MMMMMMMMM :)

Until next time...

peace, love <ROMA> and pasta

<3

CIAO!!

ps- quick sidenote:

I just stumbled upon this quote that I thought was very share-worthy:

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun." by Alexander Supertramp

[don't forget to live like this]

xo