Waking up on my schedule. I missed my morning routine of waking up when I felt like it (or when my crazy neighbor gets pissed at her hard of hearing husband-see below). Now I am back to rolling out of bed at whatever time, moseying into the kitchen to make coffee and spoiling the chinchillas while waiting for it to brew. This is all followed by checking my emails, youtubes and blogs while wearing a robe and slippers. That whole month I worked was KILLER-heehee.

Leaving Verona. I will miss the city but not the people in the city. Blech. I no longer need to fantasize about some weird plague invading the city and killing everyone but me and Daniele in order to enjoy living here. I would seriously spend an obscene amount of time thinking about that. But now I don’t have to. Because we are leaving. I will miss the lovely buildings though.

France- As we box up all our crap I am so excited about starting our new life in another country. Yes I am wearing rose colored glasses and the grass is notably greener there.

Going to Rome-Before I can start my new French life, I get to hang in Rome for a few weeks or months. Two things could happen: I can rediscover why I had fallen in love with Rome on vacation a few years ago, or it will be a reminder of why I was so happy when we escaped to Verona. I’ll keep you posted.

Lush-OMG I am hooked. Why did I never buy stuff from there before? Oh yeah, the tear inducing, nausea causing smell that emits from the store. You can seriously smell that place for MILES away. But if you hold your breath and prepare a list in advance you can make it out without throwing up, but you may get a migraine. You can also buy online. I recommend the UK site because stuff is 40% cheaper than the Italian site. So my new skincare routine includes: coal face (nero per caso) as a face wash, Baby face (same in Italian) for makeup removal, Tea Tree Water Toner (Acqua di Luna), and Grease Lightening (Brufolo Bill) as an acne treatment. For hair I am using the Trichomania solid shampoo (morbidone al cocco) it smells like coconut cream pie! And American Cream (Delizia) as a conditioner. Love all of it!

Outs:

Crazy winter neighbors- We are the only people that actually live in our building. The rest is doctors and lawyers which basically means it’s silent around here. Until it starts getting cold. As soon as winter hits the crazy neighbors in the building next to us come back. There are two sets of crazy winter neighbors: spy lady and the lady that yells at her husband. Our glorified walk in closet apartment has windows, but you’d never know it because the curtains are always closed and the shutters usually pulled down. That’s because every time I walk past the window spy lady is standing there staring into our apartment. We live in the historical center but our view is of spy lady’s big window. If the blinds are open, it’s like we live together. You could reach out and touch her, it’s that close. On the weird occasion her blinds are drawn, you can still see the outline of her body facing towards our apartment. I will not miss spy lady. The other crazy winter neighbor is always shrieking and cooking. I usually wake up to the sounds of her screaming at her husband who must be deaf because everyone can hear her BUT him. Sadly most of the arguments are in dialect so I have no idea what the problem is. She cooks all the time too. There is always some kind of smell seeping into our house, making dieting torturous.

Speaking of dieting-

Dieting-Major OUT! I just don’t care anymore.

Saying goodbye to Lago di Garda- This is the saddest part of moving away. I will miss going to the lake, especially Bardolino because my favorite wine is Bardolino. I always loved saying “I’m having Bardolino in Bardolino!” I know we will come back to visit though. So being sad about leaving is an OUT. I need to find my French version of Bardolino.

I initially told my boss I would be back today (Thursday), but as I am still writhing in pain she said to just stay home this week. I feel awful about it. I mean, I JUST started and I am already sick. I wouldn’t blame her if she fired me, even though this is all out of my control. She seemed understanding, but I guess we will see Monday.

In other non ear related news, before I went deaf D and I bought a new video camera! It is so adorable and small. I am excited to use it for vlogging as soon as I am no longer resembling a zombie. We took it with us to the Rice Festival in Isola della Scala. WOW. If you are a risotto fan, do not miss this festival. Seriously the best rice based food ever. I tried a few different risottos and a weird rice pudding thing. It was divine. I wanted some pumpkin risotto but they were hours away from serving it and by that time, my ear infection was beginning to rear it’s ugly head. We were going to go back this weekend, but now it’s doubtful I should just get my ear amputated so I can get back to my normal life! We did get some good footage so I will post it eventually when I am better.

Hope everyone is doing good and not taking their pain-free hearing for granted

Names and places mentioned:

ELF UK: http://www.eyeslipsface.co.uk/

ELF Italy: http://www.eyeslipsface.it/

EFS ebook: http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=64393

Piccola: http://newgirlonthepdxblock.blogspot.com/

Why am I doing this? Because when I moved to Italy I was so lost when it came to buying make up. While there are some similar brands to those in found in the USA, there is a whole other makeup world here that I would love to share with you!

Part 1:

Part 2:

And the most frequent personal questions:

*err sorry that couchsurfing link shows up WAY too early! I don’t know what happened, it’s in the right spot on iMovie. Boh.

This is my crush of all crushes Steve Perry circa 1980 (3 years before I was born!):

What voice, simply amazing.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions! Feel free to ask me anything and I will answer them in an upcoming video!

Stores:

Accessorize: http://www.accessorize.it/

BIPA http://www.bipa-co.it/bipa_it/default.asp

Verona
Corso Portoni Borsari, 55
Tel. 045/9273101

Udine
Via Mercatovecchio, 28

Trieste
Via Ponchielli 1
Tel. 040/7600509

Via Giulia 75
Centro Commerciale Il Giulia
Tel. 040/5708488

Schio (Vicenza)
Via Fratelli Pasini, 18
Tel. 0445/530070

Rimini
Via Garibaldi 18
Tel. 0541/781536

Reggio Emilia
Via Emilia a S.Pietro 18
Tel. 0522/537544

Ravenna
Via Cesarea, angolo Serra
Tel. 0544/471322

Pordenone
Piazzale 20 Settembre, 25
Tel. 0434/29669

Padova (PD)
Corso Garibaldi 8
Tel. 049/8750841

Milano Bicocca
Piazza della Trivulziana 6 – località Bicocca
Tel. 02/66111694

Lecco
Via Cavour 92
Tel. 0341/353601

Jesolo
Piazza Marconi 4
Tel. 0421/381997

Forlì
Corso della Repubblica, 63
Tel. 0543/33917

Bassano Del Grappa
Via Roma 56
Tel. 0424/525957

Pimkie: http://www.pimkie.com/index.php Looks like there are stores in Rome too!

ROMA CASALBERTONE CC

ROMA I GRANAI CC

Jeudi 09:00-20:30 Vendredi 09:00-20:30 Samedi 09:00-20:30

ROMA PORTA DI ROMA CC

ROMA VIA TUSCOLANA

ROMA VIALE MARCONI

Not sure if this works on rss feeds, so click through if you don’t see a video. Feel free to comment and give me feedback