Let me

Grazie Oscar

she lives the poetry she cannot write - oscar wilde

And then it was time to give Thanks...

For awesome boots. Just kidding.

No, but seriously they are pretty awesome.

Thanksgiving was spent in Maryland with my family and dear friend from Mesagne that now lives in New York City. So happy he was able to share in the day with all of us and eat, eat, and eat.

Time with the cugini playing together, time to get annual pictures down, time to relax and enjoy the holiday.

Thankful for semi-cooperative kids to get these pictures done each year. By now they know the drill. Bribery.

My 3 little reasons.

Daddy's little girl. Gabriella has Scott wrapped around his little finger.

Chase is Scott's mini-me.

Happy Nonni with the grands.

Focus

luna

Left the house early one day this past weekend and loved seeing the moon still out looking over me. 2016 has been the year of the moon with some spectacular nights and obviously, mornings too.

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

I like to bake all year long but especially in the Fall and Winter. It's cold and windy out and I like to heat things up in the kitchen. Quite literally since I will bake from October thru March. Thankfully my children each have a major sweet tooth so I'm not consuming all on my own but I do especially love to bake for others.

"It's in giving that we receive" - St. Francis

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, leave out on counter for about an hour before needing it
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 TBSP sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 TBSP Vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread butter evenly on bottom of 12inch pizza pan.

In a large bowl, combine sugars and softened butter. Using a hand mixer on low speed, mix until just combined. And egg and mix and then add vanilla and mix until combined.  In a separate smaller bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add the flour mixture into the larger bowl and using the hand mixer on low speed incorporate together.

Using a wooden spoon, add chips to the larger bowl and mix well into the ingredients. Plop. Yes, plop the cookie dough into the center of the butter-coated pizza pan and using your clean hands (wink, wink) spread dough to edges of pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes, it will bake a little longer once you take it out of the oven so no worries if it looks under cooked.

I try to wait before serving. It's hard though. Eating it about 10 minutes after coming out of the oven is ideal for a plate and fork or plopped (yes, plopped again) onto a decent scoop of ice cream. Store slightly uncovered. If your house is anything like mine, it doesn't last more than 2 days.

Buon Appetito!

Life

A family photo session took me to Longwood Gardens this morning in the frigid temps and gusty winds. Thankfully they have an amazing conservatory that we were able to use as backdrops. And what a backdrop. I fell in love with each corner we turned and each room. The flowers, the plants, the trees accompanied the family in posing perfectly for me and I'm so happy with how the pictures came out. 

There is an incredible chrysanthemum  exhibit in the conservatory going on now but soon they will decorate for Christmas and I've heard it's spectacular. More reason to return.

Flowers. A sure way to brighten the day. 

biding my days

So many things. Not nearly enough time. I'm a mess of contradiction of wanting it all and then wanting nothing. I say yes, when I mean no and deny myself when all I want is to have, to need. Being surrounded by the splendor of Fall has met my cravings only now to become swept in the frenzy of the season and the cold of Winter. I want to spoil, I want to teach, I want to learn. I don't know what I want and yet, I know everything. I desire knowledge, but too much hurts my head and heart. I want to turn off the noise but raise the volume to the point where I can't hear my thoughts. I want to shed the layers and be covered up.

A morning in San Gabriele

With the recent earthquakes in central Italy and the devastation to many towns, I'm so grateful that I take many pictures. You never know when tragedy will strike and how it will affect the place and the people.

The above picture was taken just this past summer while this was taken the summer of 2010: 

Another earthquake had hit central Italy in 2009 and largely impacted the town of L'Aquila. It was awful and many nearby towns were affected as a result as well.

My kids outside the sanctuary. The girls at least look happy.

Ok, all smiles now.

Inside the beautiful church. I love this little church, its painted ceilings, the architecture, the murals. All so beautiful. Next door they had constructed a monstrosity of a new church for the area since weekend and holiday crowds are well into the hundreds. I don't think I've taken many pictures of the other church because it's so unsightly to me, too modern, cold and dark. I much prefer this one.

As do the kids. They love lighting the candles for loved ones.

Light

"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in" Leonard Cohen

Happy 1st Birthday Gabriella!

Had the pleasure of celebrating this little lady's 1st birthday this past weekend in Maryland. So good to be with my family in the beautiful Fall weather singing "Happy Birthday" to this little princess.

Buon Compleanno Gabriella Bella!

When life hands you chaos, take a walk.

So, just to be fair, life isn't handing me chaos. I am choosing chaos. But with that, I'm also making the choice to let some things go. Sometimes anyway.  The past couple weeks have been nonstop and it's not looking to slow anytime soon. I do it to myself and can own up to that, being a 38 year old adult. The "adult" part is only in writing because of my age, not that I act like an adult all the time.

But my little man has been such a little soldier. Doing what needs to be done with me and not always acting like an almost-three-year-old. One more errand for my volunteer projects and he's allowed to throw a tantrum every once in awhile. I want to throw a tantrum too so imagine this little one. But coming off a very busy weekend, into a much busier week and leading into a traveling weekend - little man needed sometime with just mama. To take a walk. Or a run rather since he doesn't know how to walk. Remember, he's almost 3 and a very active boy. 

After errands in the city, we stopped off at a favorite drive for me, Fairmount Park. SO much to see and seeing how it wasn't terribly cold we stopped off at a monument for a little walk and my favorite...pictures! 

He won't always be holding my hand, so I have to enjoy it while I can. 

upside down and rightside up

I had a fantastic weekend of 3 photo shoots - two family shoots and one event which equaled over 2,000 pictures to have to download, go through and edit. Busy but worth it. I'm hoping to have a Facebook Page up in the next month (maybe) for my family and child photography. We'll see how that materializes.

I enjoy it too much! Is it possible to enjoy something too much?