my italian vacation (sort of) and your summer homework

45 CommentsFriday • August 10, 2007 • by michelle

Taking a cue from fellow Italy expat bloggers Shelley, Sara, Jessica, and Sara, I’m taking a little time off away from the blog.

I know this is odd for those of you in America, especially, to wrap your heads around, but here in Italy, just about everyone takes most if not all of August off. P and I aren’t going anywhere since everyone comes to us (ah, living in southern Europe is so tough!), and in fact, we’re both still working.

But we’ll also be spending plenty of time with his 6 brothers and sisters and 16 (or is it 17?) nieces and nephews that are here right now, so I’m taking a break from posting for a little while.

I’ll still be around visiting your blogs, though (can’t keep me away if you tried!) and I may even pop in to say hello here, but while I’m gone I have some suggestions to keep you busy:

1. Head over to The Island Review, a great site for keeping up with all the contests and give-aways going on via the Internet, including a fabulous contest for digital camera loversthrough PicaJet–you can win a PicaJet FX and/or RoboImport!

What’s all that you say? It’s about making our digital photos the best they can be and also keeping them organized, so do click on the above links for more information. Hurry, ends August 15th!

FYI, the author, Kailani, is a dedicated mom, wife, and flight attendant who also writes An Island Life from her home base in Hawai’i. I know. I’d hate her too if she wasn’t so damn sweet.

2. I’ve told you about the group She Who Blogs before, and now I’m going to send you to one of our most recent members’ blogs: Model Behavior.

You should visit all the member blogs as they’re all wonderful (seriously!), but when I clicked on this one, I wanted to read every post from the beginning. I think we all know that’s a rare warm fuzzy in the blogosphere, so I wanted to pass it on to you.

3. Another of my recent discoveries is The Passionate Palate, and for those of you who enjoy a great food blog, this one is for you.

Jeni, the author, also runs Passionate Palate Tours, food and wine tours through Italy, and I’ve had great fun corresponding with her the past few days. Give her some comment and link love!

4. Check out a great post on work and life balance over at Writing, Work and Weasels, and for those of you who can read Italian, go read Audrissima’s L’onestà, la bellezza nella semplicità e l’amore–and why not comment and tell them I sent you?

These are my favorite posts of the day so far, but the day is young, bloggers, so get writing!

I really *should* start posting my favorite posts every day…hmm…hello Google Reader? Something for me to think about over the break (while I am reading many, many books).

5. Spread the word about my Bella Bags E-Party and Contest on your own blog, then come back here and tell me (or email me) and I’ll send you special link love when I return.

Woohoo! We’re all winners!

There are so many more recommendations I have for you, and that’s what I’ll spend part of my vacation compiling, I promise.

See, I’ll be thinking of you, so that makes it OK, right?

Here’s your postcard in advance:

Hope all your days feel like this.

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