Love Notes To Italy - I can't believe I live here!
I am in love with Italy, so much so, I couldn't help but write a few love notes... Living here and creating a life is going to be so exciting. Challenging I'm sure, but what I can only imagine will be an adventure. I keep pinching myself because part of me can't believe it's real. I feel so blessed.
751 Days Later...A Happy Homecoming
My husband got in late Friday night. We've had a great weekend!I'm beyond happy.
xo
Life Through My iPhone (2/13)
As things begin to wind down for us here in Miami, it seems as though our life is getting a lot more busy (how is that for irony).I thought I'd share a bit of my life through my iPhone.Last week my boys and I along with The Bestie, went out to dinner. As we waited for our table we strolled the mall. Where we acted silly and browsed though a store she dragged me into called Culture or something. It was cool. Reminded me of a gaudier version of Forever 21 - not really my style but I did find a few things that made me smile, especially their "pretty baubles".Valentine's Day was spent with my two boys. They made excellent Valentines in lieu of my husband's absence.I had some fun in the sun. (If you know me and my avoidance of the sun you get this. If not read this or this, or this.)Finally a late afternoon spent on The Beach playing in a playground.
source: audreyhepburncomplex.tumblr.comI'm Raising Men. Not boys.
I'm raising men. Not boys.They'll respect themselves and the people around them. Want to save or fix something, possibly the world. They'll learn this from trying to crazy glue my favorite antique something or other that got smashed when a football went rogue.They'll know how to apologize. They will look you in the eye.Hold a door for a lady even though she's perfectly capable of doing so herself. They'll stand when that same lady gets up from a table because they will be gentlemen and chivalry shouldn't be an archaic thing we only read about in novels. They'll believe in a higher power and know they are small in the grand scheme, but understand even the smallest of things are possible of great change, they need only look at a pearl to understand this.They will be true to who they are down to the very last snip, or snail, and puppy dog's tail.They will be kind. They will have a generous spirit.They will be strong. They will cry. They will have a moral code that will guide them when their path seems unclear.They will love passionately and unwavering because that is how their father and I love them.They will be fearless when they need to be and understand that fearlessness and bravery are not the same thing.This will allow them to chase their dreams to the ends of the earth. They will know failure and they will learn from it. Success will be something earned and appreciated.They will work smart and play hard. They're proclivity for mischief will continue to drive me crazy, and one day make some lucky woman loose her heart to them.They will guard this heart more than their own.Because they will be men of honor and love and all things pure and true and good.
I remember...
This Friday my eldest son Michael was off of school, on days he's off, I normally let my youngest who goes to preschool half of the day stay out as well. However, I don't really get any time alone with Mike anymore so I thought it would be fun to have some "Mommy & Me" time. Mothering boys is a challenge, but it's also wonderful, especially when you embrace every fun thing about their little boyish ways. We only had three hours but I was determined to pack every second with fun.We went bowling and played in the arcade, for the first hour and a half. I then planned on taking him for some frozen yogurt (his favorite) so that he could use a coupon he received for getting good grades, unfortunately everything in Miami seems to open pretty late in the day and the yogurt place was closed. We ended up browsing for books at Barnes and Noble, where I snapped this photo.
As he walked down the street with me he wasn't even that disappointed the yogurt place was closed. He grabbed my hand and said, "it's okay Mom, I'm having fun."I thought my heart would burst, right there on Sunset Avenue.Love & Mothering,nicōle
Asleep in My Spectacles
I tend to fall asleep in my eyeglasses.(you know this)I wake to a book pressed against my spine.The television playing a rerun of Friends.I turn over, slip my hand beneath my cheek and drift off again;only to repeat this a few more times until my brain registers I can "see" and shouldn't be able to at 3am.Clumsy fingers set them on the table, beside my half-drunk glass of water.In the morning I reach for my spectacles and realize...it was youall those times...it was you who made sure I could find them in the morning.