My Super Secret Bench at the School in Danger

One advantage of living in this fake-ass movie set town is that no one is ever on the back streets. This allows me the luxury of having a super secret bench I like to go to when I need to clear my head – kind of like meditating outside. It is framed by four trees [...]

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Busting Out The Summer Pajamas

I took down the big suitcase from the closet and have started to sort out some summer clothes to bring with me to Rome, since it’ll be pretty hot by the time I leave there. How great is it to go through your seasonal clothes? It’s like going shopping for free!

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Law & Order: An Ex-New Yorker’s Perspective

Law & Order and its many offshoots have become a part of the national consciousness.  Nary an hour goes by when an American would be unable to find at least one random episode playing on television, whether as part of a marathon or just a plain old rerun. Cal and I watch the flagship show [...]

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Traveling to Rome

I’ll be heading to Rome this week, where I’ll be until late May. I’m going to be hitting the ground running, with some exciting things happening! But first, a word about train travel into Rome.

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The Cheese Lady, for Italiaphiles Everywhere

Jessica at WhyGo Italy recently told the story on Robin‘s blog, MyMelange, about how a single Italian sealed the deal on her abiding love for Italy. In honor of that story totally making me teary, I’m reposting this story, from my book, about My First Italian: The Cheese Lady. Every Wednesday is Lavinio’s market day. [...]

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The Book And The Gravy

Ever since my dad retired, my parents have spent their winters in Florida. They use my aunt and uncle’s beautiful home near Tampa as their base, and spend their time relaxing or jetting around the Gulf Coast to see friends. It’s changed their life. Another one of my aunts lives in West Palm Beach, and [...]

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Alright Everybody! I Need Your Help – Big Time!

ALL HANDS ON DECK! My dream assignment is to document the expatriate experience worldwide, using real-life expats to reimagine historical paintings, iconic photographs and famous literary passages depicting travel and expat life. And you can help! The contest is called Name Your Dream Assignment, and the winner receives: $50,000 to go anywhere and shoot anything, [...]

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Cal Had Fun In Toulouse!

Cal is a huge Watchmen fan – from way back. So, you can see how the last month of my life has been nothing but all Watchmen, all the time: Trailers, sneak peeks and, being the awesome girlfriend I am, a full reading of a scanned copy of all 12 issues. So, when it came [...]

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President Obama on Air Force One

I’m sure everyone in America has had their fill of stories about our shiny new president; but for those of us who are not on a 24-hour news cycle, news comes in fits and starts depending on how much time we have for taking a stroll through the Internets at the end of a day [...]

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Show This To Your Friends Who Want To Get Started on Twitter

In the last week, I’ve had three very different people come to me and ask about Twitter.  In my little corner of the world, three’s a trend – so I’m going to tell you what I told them, in hopes that it can shed some light on how to get started. 1. Sign up on [...]

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Pictures From The Sunny South Of France

Crumbling, decaying facades; fresh stucco that welcomes crisp light. There is nowhere on earth like the South of France on a sunny day.

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Friday Round-Up: All The Travel News That Fits

Much like Jack Bauer on 24, I find that Friday has come around and there is NO MORE TIME to do all the things I wanted to accomplish by week’s end.  But, I have so much cool stuff I want to tell you about!  So, here we go! This is best read if you picture [...]

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Cal & Me

Yesterday was a pretty normal day. Cal changed the kitty litter in anticipation of our cleaning lady coming today, and wrote some auto responder emails for a client. I wrote several articles for another, checked in with my travel friends on Twitter, talked on the phone for a bit with Fi. We had some delicious [...]

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NEWSFLASH: Rome Just Broke My Heart

Oh my God. You guys. I’m heartbroken. I’m devastated. I have been betrayed by the city I love.  I’m not even playing. Please join me after the jump; I need a moment to collect myself.

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