So long, farewell 2010!

To a new chapter, new friends, new challenges, new adventures, peace, love and joy.

Have a fun and safe new year!

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dear good guys,

I'm sorry us good girls fall for the bad boys first.

They may have had our heart for a brief moment in life, but you my dears will have our hearts forever.

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love is patient, love is kind

nom nom nom

Getting back into the Italian swing of things, I've been starting to cook like I did back in Italy. Slowly but surely, the recipes are coming back to me, and I'm trying to make everything (food-wise) just like I had back in Italy.  This last weekend I made the traditional Bolognese ragu for the family.

While you're supposed to eat with tagliatelle, I cheated and just used pasta on hand (bad non-italian)

Buon appetito!

Ingredients:
150 g of onions (half an onion)
70 g of carrots (one full carrot)
50 g of celery  (one full stalk of celery)
50 g of lard (I used olive oil- enough to cover the bottom of the pot and it worked beautifully.)
600 g of beef (1-2 packages)
1 or 2 glasses of red wine (2 in the sauce and 3 for me! the more the merrier)
1 bottle of tomato puree or tomato paste
salt as needed
pepper as needed

Mince all the vegetables and add to the lard (or olive oil) into a single mix. Brown the vegetables on a medium heat until they change their color ( a light hazel color) The rule for an authentice "Bolognese" sauce is "it must be prepared to the way it smells." Yep, no timers here- just your nose. The next step is ready when the you smell the carrot, the celery and the onions in one perfume.

Add in the meat to the vegetables and brown on a high heat. Once the meat is browned add in salt and pepper (to taste) and 1-2 glasses of red wine and keep stirring. Blend until you can't smell the wine and meat separately but together (it works) at that point add in one bottle of tomato puree, stir and let simmer for 2 hours- stirring occasionally.

I made this on a Sunday morning for lunch with the family. The house smelled...well, unbelievable and having the family around the table, wine flowing and spending that quality time with everyone...life couldn't have gotten much better.

ringraziamento

I have so much to be thankful for this year, and while I'm not celebrating like last years thanksgiving, I have one better- getting to be with my family this year. 

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As someone once wrote:

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who won't survive the week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 20 million people around the world. If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world. If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
— Psalm 107:1

** and if you happen to be traveling to Bologna this Thanksgiving, you can stop by ristorante Farina- my Bolognese insiders have informed me that they're making our Thanksgiving dinner celebration their new yearly tradition for local Bolognese. I guess I did leave my mark in Bologna after all. **

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In between running around for job interviews, networking events, story deadlines {and spending time with family and friends}, I've realized that my most coveted "me" spot is a little spot on the pacific. A special place just for me (so I like to think) that I'm so grateful for.

I can sit, read, write and appreciate all the beautiful things around me be it big or small, where time seems to stand still long enough for me to rediscover myself outside of the craziness of life. A place filled with peace and quiet, where the only person that matters is me. Having that moment...no matter how long or short, to reflect and get centered. A place where my problems don't exist, but yet all the answers are there waiting for me.

I don't know where life will lead me or what tomorrow will bring, but isn't that the beauty of it all?

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Did you know that today was National Day of Encouragement? It's O.K., neither did I. I mean do we really need a "National Day" to encourage and be encouraged by one another? Apparently (and unfortunately) so.  

I'm so grateful for the wonderful ladies (and father!) that have been placed in my life, who have been there to encourage me.  I can only hope and pray that I've been just as much as an encouragement and pillar of strength to them as they have been to me.


If you're in need of a little inspiration and encouragement, check out the ladies at (in)courage!

happy lists {part one}

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I love, love, love the happy lists and began to think about all the different things that make me happy!

Of course this list can and will go on forever, but this week this is what I'm happy about!

1. skype dates with girlfriends

2. vinyl records

3. foreign films

4. sand between my toes

5. farmers markets

6. sunsets

7. antique stores

8. my sister

9. vintage photos
10. laughing out loud

Summer lovin'

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Was it just me or did summer completely fly by this year?


With that my summer reading list went as equally fast, but one of the most amazing books that I read was Leslie Parrot's recent book, You Matter More Than You Think {What a Woman Needs To Know About The Difference She Makes}.  No, this is no self help book but rather the story of how you can make a difference around you and learning to be grateful and content for everything big or small. It got me thinking a lot this summer as life continues to throws you curve balls, how to find the things, big and small that I was grateful for. Everyday it changes, and everyday it continues to grow.


Today, I'm grateful first and foremost for my family, friends and God, a bottle of wine and a pacific coast sunset.


What are you grateful for today?