Archive for 2008
meet the newest about.com guide!
When my mom came to visit in June, she brought my “good” jewelry that I had left behind. One item was my law school ring, pictured at left, which I actually only got because my grandmother begged me to let her buy it for me as a graduation gift.
I told her I wouldn’t wear it much, but she didn’t care. She just wanted me to have it.
So I agreed, and then I saw how much they cost. Yikes!
I couldn’t possibly let her spend that much on a ring (think law school ring versus household bills for a couple months–on a fixed income), so I told her the price was half of what it was, and I chipped in the rest. By the way, she passed away two weeks after I found out that I had passed the bar exam in October of that year, and I’ve always felt she waited to hear the good news (which, incidentally, arrived on my 25th birthday) before leaving us.
When I saw the ring this summer, I was reminded of all that surrounded it–my grandmother; her love, support, and generosity; my many years of hard work; and lots and lots of stress overcome–so I decided to wear it. Seeing it there on my hand every day reminds me of where I’ve been, the love and support I’ve had and continue to have, and also what I’ve accomplished.
And it feels darn good.
A couple weeks after I started wearing it this summer, I saw an opening at About.com for the Guide to Law School. Ah, law school . . . been there, done that, and confident that I could write about it and help others like me who had *zero* frame of reference for what they were about to encounter, I applied.
Literally a few hours later, I was thrust into the About.com “training,” which is really a several-week long interview process during which applicants put together a site hoping to be chosen at the end.
Well they picked me! You’re now reading the personal blog of the About.com Guide to Law School.
And yes, I continue to wear my ring. Since my grandmother passed away, I’ve thought of her every day anyway, but now I feel just a little bit closer too.
Do you have a good luck charm?
You Know You’re in Italy When…
Yesterday over at Twitter, the always lovely and informative ExpatCoach asked those of us with, ahem, Italian experience to fill in the blank:
You know you’re in Italy when…
A smattering of what ExpatCoach, Cherrye, Miss Expatria, Tina, and I came up with, within minutes:
- …you can have a conversation with a stranger comprised entirely of facial expressions, hand gestures, and no words.
- …you can say, “Boh?” and you’ve said a mouthful.
- …you have to APPLY to complete an application for something.
- …you wait in line for three hours at the Post Office…to pay a bill.
- …your taxi driver’s hands are too busy waving & threatening other drivers to actually touch the steering wheel.
- …you pour the wine over-handed and your guests gasp and bless themselves.
- …your ability to digest milk (at any time of day) and drink ice cold drinks even while eating hot food astounds.
- …perfect strangers worry about your catching a cold because you’re not dressed warmly enough. In July.
- …you’re handed a scarf when you say your throat feels a bit scratchy.
- …you’re the only person at IKEA without their entire extended family in tow.
- …someone you just met invites you to dinner at their house.
- …€5 on a bottle of wine is a splurge.
- …posted schedules, hours of operation, etc. mean precisely nothing (except sciopero ones).
- …someone, somewhere is in sciopero.
- …you get honked at for letting an old lady cross the street.
- …someone thinks your turkey wrap is a foreign food they’d never touch.
- …your friend says “I quit drinking coffee. Now I only have three cups a day.”
- …you find figs on your doorstep.
And now I’ll add:
- …your morning errands take you to one shop for produce, another for bread, another for cheese, and yet another for meat–and you love every single minute of it.
I thought this woud be a fun weekend fill-in, so Italophiles, play along please:
You know you’re in Italy when…
Need some inspiration?
And be sure to visit ExpatCoach at Career By Choice and show her some love!
Buon weekend!
love thursday:
dammi un bacio
“Dammi un bacio” means “Give me a kiss” in Italian, and here’s how you ask:
If that doesn’t work, cuddles are good too:
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
P.S. I’m updating this post to add information about Puppy Mill Awareness Day (September 20), which I just read about over at Callista’s Ramblings. Find out what you can do to stop the abuses and horrors that happen at puppy mills all over the world at Puppy Mill Awareness Day and get these people out of business once and for all.
There are plenty of adorable puppies and dogs at reputable animal shelters just waiting to be loved, so please try there first if you are ready for a new member of the family. If you’re in Italy, sadly, you probably don’t have to look farther than the side of the road (which is how a pregnant Stella (on the left in the photos) came into our lives).
Oatmeal Banana Craisin Muffins: O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
Here is a fast, easy, tasty (just like we like ’em!) O Food recipe based on one from Cooks.com.
Read on...O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awarness Month Contest
Some of you may remember last year’s Dolce Italiano contest to spread the word about the wonderful cookbook by the 2008 Bon Appetit award-winner for best Pastry Chef Gina DePalma.
Well a few months ago, I found out from Diana, a lovely blogger and B & B owner in northern Italy, that Gina was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and was undergoing a whirlwind of treatment. I wrote Gina a quick email, sending my best thoughts and wishes, and Gina, recovering from surgery and about to undergo chemotherapy, immediately wrote back a message full of courageous spirit, humor, and love–vintage Gina.
You see, Gina was already thinking about what she could do to raise ovarian cancer awareness and money to fight the disease. So a few of us from the Dolce Italiano contest got together and we proudly announce:
O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of Gina DePalma, author of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen and Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy, Jenn of The Leftover Queen, and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are asking you to donate to the:
Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (via FirstGiving.org)
and then, out of the goodness of your hearts and to be eligible for the O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Contest, please do the following:
1. Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato) and include this entire text box in the post;
OR
2. If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word about the event and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.
AND
3. Then send your post url [along with a photo (100 x 100) if you’ve made a recipe] to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on September 30, 2008.
We will post a roundup and announce prize winners on October 3.
Prizes:
- 1 Recipe Prize for best “O food” concoction: $50 gift certificate to Amazon;
- 1 Awareness Prize for only publicizing event: Copy of Dolce Italiano cookbook.
———
From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:
- Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
- The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,650 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. in 2008 and about 15,520 women will die from the disease.
- The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose. There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
- In spite of this patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
- When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.
Please donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund
and help spread the word!
P.S. Feel free to use the ribbon widget in my sidebar in *your* sidebar.
If you need help setting it up, please contact me!
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
