Have you seen The Bucket List? It has a lovely message.
I am going to begin a list here, but instead of writing down

big things

to do before I die, I decided to write down

little things

that I want in my daily life.

This list is a work in progress, and I am open for suggestions!

• I want to learn, practice and eventually teach yoga.
• I want to eat organic food that is packed with nutrients.
• I want to live in a place that invites me to be outdoors, with a climate that allows me to be outdoors.
• I want to make my own bread and cook proper food.
• I want to spend more time and do more things with my family.
• I want to work as a hairdresser, but not in the conventional way. I want to use the same organic products on my clients that I use on myself, and I want to do it in a clean, stress-free, spa-like environment.
• I want to have a high enough income not to have to worry about money.
• I want a clean, tidy, simple house.
• I want to work a maximum of 6 hours a day.
• I want to travel and discover the world with my husband and son.
• I want to live in harmony and peace.
• I want a strong, flexible, healthy and functional body.
• I want a sharp intellect and a witty mind.
• I want to speak Italian fluently.
• I want to learn more languages.
• I want to acknowledge the beauty that is all around.
• I want to be loving, caring and forgiving.
• I want to always remember to be grateful for the gift of life, and I want to honor that gift by living my life in the best possible way.
• I want people I meet to feel seen, important and loved. I want them to smile.
• I want to make people smile.
• I want to make people feel good about themselves.
• I want to spread positive energy.
• I want to make a difference.
• I want to live with no regrets and no worries.
• I want to always keep a spiritual connection and live in faith.
• I want to always stay true to who I am while allowing myself to grow and change.
• I want to always support and encourage others as they grow and change.
• I want to live in health and happiness.
• I want everybody’s lives to be filled with love and harmony.

Family Vacation Photo Contest

Vote for your favorite photo by leaving a comment under the photo of your choice. Limit one comment per photo per person. Please note, you must be a Fan of Ciao Bambino to leave a comment.

The contest ends on Friday, March 12 at 12 PM PST. The photo with the most comments wins.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4834202&id=137867848893

The winner gets to spend one week here.

Please please please vote for us and ask your friends and family to do the same! Our photo is number 36.

Thank you!

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say.

How many words is a motion picture worth?

It’s been three years since I shot that video. Three years since we first traveled along the costiera Amalfitana.

I was sick with anticipation, overwhelmed by excitement. I was so happy it hurt, my heart tightly squeezed and my soul bursting with joy. I could not speak, could not think. My eyes were everywhere at once, wide open, absorbing the beauty.

Coming back the next year was different. Once again I was beyond myself with happiness, but I was so much calmer and more relaxed. Reassured, I think, because it was still there and this time I knew that I didn’t have to be all bulimic and eat the whole cake in one bite because it was still there and I got to return – and I get to return as many times as I want.

And boy do I want to return. I am not as manic about it as I used to be though, because now I know that it’s not going anywhere. It is not a question of now or never.

We are a part of each other now, Italy and I. Nothing can change that.

Walled about with drifts of snow,
Hearing the fierce north-wind blow,
Seeing all the landscape white,
And the river cased in ice,
Comes this memory of delight,
Comes this vision unto me
Of a long-lost Paradise
In the land beyond the sea.

(from Amalfi by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Visit Laura at Ciao Amalfi! for the whole poem!)

- I am going to Italy to visit friends, I say.

It so happens that I am often talking about travel with my customers. My colleague talks about hockey. I guess we don’t really share the same interests.

Many of my customers know me fairly well by now. They know that I count down to my trips for hundreds of days. They know that I go to Italy more than anywhere else. They like to share their own experiences – “I was in this little place near Rome once, I think it was called Toscana. It was nice, but people didn’t speak any English there.” - and they often ask me if I have a trip planned.

They can’t really understand how I can have friends in Italy, though.

- Are they from here, your friends? they ask.  Have you lived in Italy? Does your family have ties to Italy? Do you have relatives there?

No, no and no. None of the above.

- I found them on the internet, I smirk.

That doesn’t sound too good, does it? And yet it is the truth. Thanks to Expats in Italy and the whole blogging community I have come to know so many wonderful people around the world. In fact, 13 years ago already  I found friends on the internet that eventually became beloved buddies that camped on my couch and ate my popcorn. This is basically the same, only that my perspective has broadened – my web friends do not live in my town anymore. They are everywhere.

Do you realize the potential in this?

The world is smaller than ever. With Skype and other similar programs you can chat with people all over the world – in real time, on the phone, and you can even see them with a webcam – for no cost at all. Post a question on the internet and within seconds you can have a reply from Argentina, Japan or Spain. Just like that.

The other night I saw an episode of Seinfeld, in which Jerry was determined to find a place for rent in Tuscany. Elaine was dating someone called “il Maestro” who owned an apartment in Tuscany – il Maestro told Jerry that there were no places to rent anymore, Tuscany was full. Jerry wouldn’t believe it, so he stood for a while wondering how on earth he could find out if there were indeed no places available. Eventually he contacted his uncle who sent him to a mafia boss who had a place for rent.

In the year of 2010, Jerry would simply google “Tuscany rentals”, he could even do it on the spot on his cellphone. In the year of 2010, we no longer have an excuse for not knowing something because it’s all there. It’s all there, just google it.

If you are planning a trip today, even if you want personal recommendations it is not a problem. Type it as your Facebook status: “Going to Morocco on vacation. Any recs?” and before you know it, even if your friends haven’t been there you bet that they in their turn have friends who have; and the online community is always eager to help. Whatever you need help with, you can get it. Buying a new cellphone? Your computer is making strange sounds? Just put it out there and someone will help you out, or at least point you in the right direction.

There are still many people that frown at the internet and particularly at meeting friends online. I think they just don’t understand. They don’t understand that that’s real people out there. They have no idea what they are missing.

I run an online shop and a community site with more than 4000 members all by myself. I recently became a partner of Expats in Italy. I have this blog. I have the internet to thank for so many things.

77 days from today I will go to Italy to visit friends, some of whom I have known for years and consider to be close friends but still haven’t met.
I can’t wait.

Dear Annika,

I found your blog through a web research. As you are English speaking you might be interested in this: we are a small but rich bookstore of secondhand English books. We have over 2000 titles of all genres: novel, biographies, classic, thriller, sci-fiction, children. The prices just start from 2€!

You can find our complete catalog in a Excel file attached in this email, together with a brochure about our activity. We accept payments through Postepay card or Paypal and delivery rate for Italy 1,28€ up to 2kg.

Our shop is in a village near Tuscany, maybe you can help us to promote our shop through your blog.

Thanks for your attention

regards,

Paola M

I kindly wrote her back, suggesting that a banner at Expats in Italy would be much more fruitful than a mention on my blog. I know that many expats find it difficult to find books in English in Italy, and I still think Jaqueline’s would benefit from advertising with us.

Then again, it’s not like I’m writing anything else right now, so I figured I might as well let my expat friends know about this company. I’m not even in Italy so why keep this secret to myself?

I can’t upload the catalog here but if you are interested, just holler and I will forward it to you – and if you are in the neighborhood of Bagni di Lucca, why not visit Jaqueline’s and browse their shelves!

As far as books go, my most recent catch is Tales of a Female Nomad. I haven’t had a chance to start reading it yet but I am definitely looking forward to it! Thank you, whoever it was that recommended it to me

The new design is up, and I am officially done with web design for a long long time.

Or at least until I get bored and crave a change again.

I figured it was about time to update the blog roll, which had been unchanged since the last time I redesigned the blog.

Some are gone, others are added. If you feel that you should be on my list, please say so. I may have forgotten someone. I mean no harm, and apologize in advance.

I have a new design on the way. A couple more hours and I’ll be done for this time.

79 days to Italy.

This blog has had the same layout for two and a half years. That is… wow. That must mean that I really liked that layout, considering that I used three.. no, four, no, five different layouts before that, and the blog is only four years old.

It is time for a change.

I have put up a new template but don’t expect it to keep looking like this. You know me, there’s no way I can use a ready-made template without tweaking and changing it to suit my taste.

We’ll see what I can come up with.

You can’t spend all your time worrying about where your next Twinkie is going to come from, so follow rule #32 and Enjoy The Little Things.

http://www.zombielandrules.com/zombieland-rule-32-enjoy/

Since I like to torture myself I subscribe to Tecnocasa updates about property for sale in Amalfi. We will not be able to purchase property there for many years if ever, but I like to play make-believe.

Today I got an email about this apartment. A spacious apartment da ristrutturare for only € 800.000 – what a bargain!

But you know what… it made me immensely happy. Upon seeing this photo I realized that I know where that is!

See, I have been there. I have sat on those stairs. Follow that road past the blue cars to the right and then slightly to the left and you’ll find yourself at the apartment where we stayed last summer. Walk in the other direction, and on the other side of the yellow building you will find the beach. Right around the corner of the yellow building is the bookshop where I against all odds found a book in Swedish; the memoirs of a man who grew up in Amalfi during WWII and later moved to Sweden.

If I recall correctly, right underneath from here is the bar where we had breakfast that first morning before heading to the beach. We are behind the Duomo, and if you walk to the right you find secret passage ways that lead to the main square.

I have been there. The picture conjures scents and tastes and sounds. I know that street, and that makes me happy. It is but a little thing, but I enjoy it wholeheartedly.

Whoever ends up buying that apartment will find themselves living in an excellent location.

I don’t blog. I have no time to blog. I am busy busy busy.

I barely sleep. I have no time to sleep. I want a new bed.

90 days from today we’re going to Italy. I will always find time for Italy.

One of these days I will also find the time to blog. I miss it.