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easing into the new year with a 5 things meme
Hello friends! I hope you got to have a nice break over the holidays. I sure did, and it was fabulous. The past two weeks have been spent hanging out with P and the girls, reading, organizing the house, catching up with online friends, and best of all, next to no work.
I had a couple deadlines today so I had to get back to the old grind before the rest of Italy, but that’s OK; I’ll have off again tomorrow for the Epiphany, which I’ve written about at Happy Befana! if you need to refresh your memory on La Befana, the Epiphany witch.
Now to ease us all back into the blog, here’s a quick 5 things meme to get the wheels turning. This comes from Yankee in a New World:
1. What are 5 things you were doing ten years ago?
- Starting my second semester of law school.
- Living in a high-rise apartment on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.
- Finishing up the first holiday season without my grandfather.
- Thinking about summer employment.
- Already dreading how boring and awful Civil Procedure would be (and I was right).
2. What are 5 things on your to do list for today?
- Walk the dogs a few times.
- An Italian grammar lesson.
- Search the freelance writing job boards for anything that looks interesting.
- Spend an hour working on my NaNo novel.
- Do research for a query.
3. What are your 5 favorite snacks?
- Pretzels (and ice cream, especially).
- Chocolate.
- Apples or bananas and peanut butter.
- Yogurt (pineapple and coffee are my two current favorites).
- Cheese.
4. What would you do if you were a millionaire?
- Visit my family much more often and fly them here too.
- Get a huge chunk of land in the Calabrian countryside for P to grow and raise things.
- Pay off student loans.
- Travel more, especially to meet blogging buddies.
- Donate money and time (assuming I wouldn’t have to work as often) to charitable organizations.
5. Where are 5 places you have lived?
- A cute, boxy white house built by my family in rural Pennsylvania.
- A dorm room with a gorgeous bay window in Durham, North Carolina.
- The aforementioned high-rise apartment with enormous windows lining one side in Philadelphia.
- An adorable rowhome with a fabulous inside staircase, loft, and huge brick wall in Philly.
- A 500-year-old three-room stone house in southern Italy.
I won’t tag anyone, but if you’re in the mood for a meme, please feel free to play along in the comments or on your own blog and let me know where to find your answers!
So are you ready for 2009 or what?
Happy New Year from Calabria!
1. Fireworks #1, 2. B, 3. u, 4. O, 5. N, 6. 2, 7. zero, 8. zero, 9. 9, 10. a, 11. N, 12. n, 13. O
P and I spent a nice quiet evening at home with the fireplace going and the pooches snoozing, often on my lap. We had a fabulous dinner (as always) and then watched from the balcony as about 10 different fireworks displays erupted down in the coastal villages at midnight.
‘Twas perfect indeed.
How will/did you celebrate?
See you on Monday!
christmas wishes from calabria
Buone feste!
1. Hearting Christmas, 2. Menagerie, 3. Stacks of chocolate chip cookies, 4. Tree topper, 5. Snowman with tree on tree, 6. Cheap but cute glittery star, 7. Candy canes, 8. View of the kitchen, 9. Peanut butter cookies for Santa, 10. Puppy in a stocking, 11. Fancy stocking the second, 12. Baby albero di Natale, 13. Nativity scene.
[Original photo at Old Fashioned Christmas Sugar Cubes.]
Be sure to check out all my Christmas 2008 photos on Flickr!
See you in 2009!
the tradition of little boy & tiger wishes
Grab your favorite warm beverage (I suggest hot chocolate with marshmallows), cuddle up to your favorite snuggler, and enjoy the Bleeding Espresso tradition of Christmas Eve by Bill Watterson:
If you’re having trouble reading the text, go here.
It’s almost time!
What do you have planned for Christmas Eve?
2008 End of the Year Meme
It’s time for the end of the year meme!
I first saw this Year End meme at Sundry Mourning, who originally copied it from Gwen’s Petty, Judgmental, Evil Thoughts back in 2004. I filled it out in 2006 and 2007, and now here is this year’s version:
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? Read several books in Italian, knitted with a loom, wrote 50,000 words in a month, visited Palermo, Messina, Savoca and Tindari (including the Sanctuary of the Black Madonna), ate spleen, wrote a weekly column, went to an Italian dentist.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t really do resolutions, but I did make a list of goals, and I did pretty well with them. I’ll do it again for next year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Quite a few expat bloggers had babies, but no one in my immediate family or circle of friends, no.
4. Did anyone close to you die? My neighbor from back home passed away recently, but no one else, thank goodness.
5. What countries did you visit? Only Italy.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? An all-expense paid trip to the States.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? November 4–Gobama!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? The expansion of my writing career and writing 50,000 words during November.
9. What was your biggest failure? Not completing a novel (yes, I have 50,000 words written, but there were others I could have worked on before November’s NaNo).
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Another nasty stomach virus this year. Seems to be a tradition according to last year’s answer.
11. What was the best thing you bought? I would love to say these boots, but they haven’t arrived yet. Damn you Poste Italiane! These are my Christmas and birthday presents to myself! The items I got from Saponissimo are pretty darn amazing as well…who knew you could love soap this much?
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My mom! She came to visit me!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Could it possibly be the Bush administration for the third straight year? Yes, I believe it is.
14. Where did most of your money go? Bills and groceries. Boo.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My mom coming to visit, going to Sicily with Cherrye, and going to see the Sex and the City movie with the girls.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? TI’s Whatever You Like, because of this stunning performance by the students of Ron Clark Academy: You Can Vote However You Like. H/t Paul.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? I’m pretty happy, probably about the same as last year, a bit thinner (see #10), and richer for sure. Woohoo!
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Worked on my novel.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Huh. I don’t know. Let conservative people annoy me?
20. How did you spend Christmas? As I’m posting this before Christmas, I’ll just have to say with P. That’s a given.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008? Yeah with the usual suspects, P and my girls.
22. What was your favorite TV program? House, Sex and the City (yes I’m a bit behind the times).
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Takes too much energy to hate so I avoid doing it.
24. What was the best book you read? The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? I’m changing this to literary because I don’t think I made a musical discovery…Paulo Coelho.
26. What did you want and get? More writing work.
27. What did you want and not get? A visit from my whole family.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Well it’s not the best film but I sure had the most fun watching it–Sex and the City.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 32, and we had a fabulous dinner of grilled tuna and homemade french fries. Yum!
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Same answer for the past two years: if someone in my family or close circle of friends from home would have visited or if I would’ve been able to go home.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Long live the track suit!
32. What kept you sane? My pooches and the magical world of books.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I’ll be honest here. Hugh Laurie is really growing on me.
34. What political issue stirred you the most? What political issue *didn’t* stir me this year? Hmm….
35. Who did you miss? Other than the usual suspects, this year I really missed one friend from college in particular. I’ve thought about our 8-hour car rides to and from school quite a bit, and I wish we had just *one* more Christmas break to go back to school from.
36. Who was the best new person you met? All the girls in Calabria and Sicily.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Relaxing is good.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. The Beatles’ classic, Let it Be. Did you know that “Mother Mary” is acutally Paul’s mother, who passed away when he was young and then appeared to him a dream? And did you know my mom’s name is Mary? I love this song, but it’s especially applicable this year:
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
Let me know if you do the year end meme!
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.
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