Archive for the ‘meme time’ Category
italy bloggers rock (or at least we like free stuff)
I saw this yesterday at Aimee (Roo)’s and then at An Island Life and Sandier Pastures. Once I got thinking, it was too much fun to pass up, so I’m going to play too.
Author Rosina Lippi is having a meme contest to get the word out about the upcoming release date for Tied to the Tracks (more information below). The theme is: Five Reasons the Best [Writers, Bloggers] Come From [a geographical space, real or imaginary] and the prizes are (1) a $100 Amazon gift certificate and (2) a pile o’ books, including some of Lippi’s, signed.
Pretty cool huh? If you want to enter, you have until July 3rd, so get moving!
Here’s my entry:
Five Reasons the Best Bloggers Come From the Bel Paese (
1. Consonants are cool, but everyone knows that vowels make the world go round. We use more of them in Italy than you ever thought possible. Just a small example: “Ciaoooooooo!”
2. Inspiration abounds in our rolling hills, gorgeous lakes, pristine seas, Renaissance art, wine (ah il vino!), and even the mozzarella–especially when it goes funny.
3. We’ll never let you go home hungry, even encouraging you to take that third helping of pasta because (get this!) “you’re too thin!”
4. You want history, culture, and traces of ancient civilization? We got your history, culture, and traces of ancient civilization right here pal.
5. Everyone loves Italia! You don’t *have* to, of course, but if you don’t, we’ll find you. We know people.
Tied to the Tracks by Rosina Lippi. July 3, 2007. ISBN: 0425215326
“[This] is a hilarious, smart, sexy novel with a heart of gold.” — Susan Wiggs
“[Lippi] turns her buoyant creative talents to the romantic comedy genre with an effervescent tale of a trio of offbeat Yankee filmmakers plunked down deep in the heart of Dixie.” — Booklist
Read an excerpt. (Adobe Reader required)| Watch the book trailer
You can find Tied to the Tracks at Amazon , Barnes & Nobel, Borders, Powells, or at your local independent bookseller.
This meme has been entered in the Tied to the Tracks contest, originating on Rosina Lippi’s Storytelling2 weblog. If you’d like to enter the BUCKS & BOOKS meme contest, get the rules here.
the business of blogging
Let me get right to the point:
Today I have posted over at She Who Blogs, so do head over there and check me out, would you?My post is called Five Reasons Why I Blog and is in response to a tag for a meme by our What’s Cooking Wednesday founder Shannon, and I thought, where better to blog about why I blog than on my new group blog, She Who Blogs?
Too much “blog” in one sentence?
That’s because we gotta lotta bloggin’ goin’ on!
I briefly mentioned She Who Blogs the other day in my post about Luna Balloona, but let me expand a bit.
She Who Blogs is the brainchild of Frances of Blogjem, Blogforth, Photostroll, and The Meme Section (don’t worry for her–she owns her blog addiction). It started as a Yahoo discussion group and has now grown into its own blog.I couldn’t have described our rather unique (and growing!) group any better than Joy at A Spot of T already has, so I won’t even try:
It’s a new group to be sure, but I’ve been reading blog after blog of the 12 women and a more eclectic group of women you will never find. I feel at home amongst them and do you know why? Because we’re all so different yet all so accepting of each other. Exactly the kind of women I have been searching for. Now if I could get them all to move closer to me so we could visit each other monthly for some great conversation, I would really appreciate it. You might want to get on that ladies. Thanks.
Like Joy, I’m not much of a group joiner, but I’m so glad I took a chance on this one. It’s been a true pleasure getting to know wonderful women bloggers that I otherwise may have never come across; I hope that some of my faithful readers will be inspired to join as well.
Joy has a fantastic, informative list of all the member blogs (as I type this, of course–we’re multiplying like gremlins hit with water), so I won’t repeat that here either–go see for yourself!
And if you’d like to join the group, get in touch with Frances through any of her Internethomes.
Hope to see you all around She Who Blogs soon!
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[tags]she who blogs[/tags]
getting to know luna
In the comments to yesterday’s post, Ally Bean asked me whether my most perfect puppy Luna is bilingual. HeartinSanFrancisco praised her ability to bark in Italian.
I now realize that you all know far too little about this Furball o’ Love, and lucky for you, I found this great meme filled out by Mushu the Bichon Frise over at A Spot of T, my fellow She Who Blogs member, so you can get to know Luna a bit more (I added the last question, though, just for my pooch).
Oh, and if you’re one of those people who hate when bloggers write about their animal friends, I forgive you, and I invite you back tomorrow when there (probably) won’t be a mention of Luna.
But I make no promises. Look at this face!
1. What kind of dog are you? A really really cute one. Some say I resemble a Basenji, and indeed, my tail does curve in a most peculiar way.
2. Are you a boy or a girl? Girl power! You can read about some, um, complications of being a girl dog here.
3. How old are you? I’m 2 ½ years old but I don’t feel a day over 2 ¼.
4. Name one thing you received as a gift on your last birthday. Nothing. I hate my humans. No, seriously, my birthday is two days after Christmas, so I get a few days of fun—my favorite is always a raw hidey kind of bone thing (not actually raw hide but I don’t know how else to describe it) and beef jerky treats from my Nana in America.
5. Choose one word to best describe your physique. Forte (strong)
6. Share a quote. “I spilled spot remover on my dog. He’s gone now.” (Steven Wright)
7. Have you ever been stung by a bee? If so, where? No, knock on wood. Dang sometimes I wish I had knuckles.
8. Who’s your strangest family member? I’m going to have to go with Papà P because the shorter one with the longer hair usually feeds me (plus she’s typing this).
9. Who’s your favorite family member? See Number 8.
10. Do you make an effort to be environmentally friendly? I do keep my own “compost” pile.
11. If you were given a blank canvas and water colours, what would you paint? Il mare (the sea) that I have yet to set paw in.
12. When is the best time for you to take a 20 minute nap? This is a trick question, isn’t it, because when *isn’t* it a good time for a snooze?
13. Your hair? Floating about the house right now because of shedding. Oh, like the color and stuff? Caramel but for my white paws and strip down my chest.
14. What do you want to be in 10 years? A sly old bitch.
15. What you’re not good at. Playing nice with other bitches. And believe you me, they’re all bitches.
16. What are you wearing? A black leather collar with my name in faux-diamond studs.
17. What aren’t you wearing? My harness, which is only for walkies.
18. Your mood? Chill. Except that it’s boiling hot.
19. Your kitchen? My home, actually, since I don’t do the steps to go downstairs–they’re kinda scary. My food and water is in the kitchen and Mamma also put a bed in there just for me, so I don’t miss the downstairs at all.
20. What are you thinking about right now? How freaking hot it is.
21. Love? I’m full of it.
22. Foreign languages? I consider English my fourth language. Doggie is, obviously, my first. Italian is second, and Calabrese dialect is my third.
If any other animal friends would like to play, please do and link to me and to A Spot of T.
Oh, and Happy Love Thursday everyone!
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[tags]dogs, memes, love thursday[/tags]
tapping my foot and smiling
Back from a crazy few days to find that I’ve been double-tagged (first by Emma of How to Italy and then by Laura of l’italia.nell.anima) to share a song that makes my heart sing.
What a great thing to think about on a gorgeous, sunny Friday in June, so here we are.
This idea was started by Hilda Carroll over at Living Out Loud, and these are the rules:
1. Post about the one song that makes your heart sing, and uplifts your spirit every time you hear it. If you can provide a link to lyrics and/or audio that would be fabulous. But it’s not essential, so don’t worry about it if you can’t.
2. Include a trackback to this post.
3. Tag three others and ask them to include a trackback to your post and this one when they post.
OK, limiting this to one song proved to be a little like trying to choose my favorite snack food (gah! they all have their good points!), but I wanted to play by the rules for once. Mostly. I’ve nailed it down to just one feel good song and five honorable mentions:
Instant Karma’s gonna get you,
Gonna knock you right on the head,
You better get yourself together,
Pretty soon you’re gonna be dead,
What in the world you thinking of,
Laughing in the face of love,
What on earth you tryin’ to do,
It’s up to you, yeah you.Instant Karma’s gonna get you,
Gonna look you right in the face,
Better get yourself together darlin’,
Join the human race,
How in the world you gonna see,
Laughin’ at fools like me,
Who on earth d’you think you are,
A super star,
Well, right you are.
Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Well we all shine on,
Ev’ryone come on.
Instant Karma’s gonna get you,
Gonna knock you off your feet,
Better recognize your brothers,
Ev’ryone you meet,
Why in the world are we here,
Surely not to live in pain and fear,
Why on earth are you there,
When you’re ev’rywhere,
Come and get your share.
Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Yeah we all shine on,
Come on and on and on on on,
Yeah yeah, alright, uh huh, ah-.
(repeat)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, The Temptations
2. Walking on Sunshine, Katrina and the Waves
3. Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Pat Benatar (Benatar isn’t in Blogger’s spell checker? Oh the humanity!)
4. I’m Still Standing, Elton John
5. Pink Houses, John Mellencamp
Also, please see my Seven Songs Say So Much post for more of my favorites, and don’t hate me if you can’t get one of these out of your head. I recommend just going with it and walking around like it’s the soundtrack of your life for today. I think I’m paraphrasing this idea from Ally McBeal, but be kind and don’t ruin my day by confirming that if you know it to be true.
I don’t often tag others, but this time I’m going to (kind of) because I think that the more happy songs we compile, the better off we’ll all be. But I’m not going to pick and choose from my sidebar because I think everyone should give this a go (non-bloggers included!), so if you’re reading this, you’re it!
Come on–just one song that when you hear, you can’t help but smiling. Spill it!
If you do this on your blog, please link to me and also to Hilda at Living Out Loud, so we can keep track of all the toe-tapping tunes. If not, just leave a comment and we’ll all share the good vibes.
Happy listening and buon weekend a tutti!
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[tags]music, happy songs, john lennon, instant karma[/tags]
Where to Eat Out in Calabria
A little while ago (what are a few weeks among friends?) I was tagged by Karla and Irene, and it goes a little something like this:
1. Link to the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Include the state and country you’re in.
3. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location (locally).
4. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.
We don’t eat out very often, but I have managed to come up with five places that have all the courses covered here in my corner of Calabria, Italy (that’s sort of like a state, right?).
Provinces are in parentheses after town names.
Oh, and I’ll end the suspense here and say I won’t be tagging anyone–however feel free to store this idea away for days when you have nothing else to say. Is that why I’m choosing this lazy Friday to finally post this?
I’ll never tell.
So here are five of the best places to mangia mangia! in bella Calabria (other than my house, of course):
1. Diavolo Rosso, Badolato Superiore (CZ)
Run by one of P’s very bestest friends, Mimmo, Diavolo Rosso is our pizzeria, our Saturday night place, our home away from home if you will. My favorite pizzas are the tonno e cipolle (tuna and onions) and the prosciutto crudo, grana padano, and rucola. Yum!
In the summer, you need to reserve a table ahead of time if you want to eat outside on the terrace, and believe me you do.
And if you’re really lucky, Mimmo will break out his guitar and sing traditional Calabrese folk music from his band Marasa‘s CD.
2. Excalibur, Santa Caterina Marina (CZ)
Excellent seafood year round, but especially in the summer when if you don’t get there early enough in the evening, you may be stuck ordering the (also delicious) veal. Poor thing. Great outdoor seating as well.
3. Soverato Dolci, Soverato (CZ)
Makes the best pastries I’ve had since I’ve been here–and yes, I have been to Sicily. They also do a really nice aperitivo so long as you order at least one alcoholic drink among your group. Not usually a problem in my groups.
4. Golosia, Gioiosa Ionica Marina (RC)
Homemade gelato in an impressive, creative collection of flavors. Hands down the best gelato I’ve had here, although the tartufo from Pizzo (VV) ain’t half bad either. Someday, Sara, I’ll get there with a camera in hand to join the Tour del Gelato, I swear!
5. Le Terrazze, Copanello-Stalettì (CZ)
The first and only time I’ve eaten here was last week as part of the 2-day conference I had to attend. We had a six or seven or was it eight course meal (can’t remember I was so stuffed), and every single thing was fabulous. It was fish-themed (seafood salad, risotto with shrimp, swordfish, grilled prawns, and much more); perhaps some photos of the place will give a clue why:
So, yeah, even if the food sucked, this place probably still would’ve made my list. The views are just unreal. We happened to be there on the night of the full moon, and that was amazing to see over the sea–didn’t get a great photo though because of the glare, so you’ll have to take my word for it.
Buon appetito!
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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