Snow in Rome!

Last week, it snowed in Rome for the first time in 24 years! I think 5 years ago it snowed a little bit, but didn't stick. Since the weather in Rome is comparable to the weather in Charleston, this was a huge deal! It was beautiful, and I feel so lucky to have seen a white Rome!

The snow at school.

Happy Belated Valentine's day to everyone! I have to laugh that my last post was ended with the picture of the struggling-to-communicate couple in Love Actually. Federico and I have had better luck! Through a combination of English and Italian, we are able to communicate and have really hit it off! He's great and I have had so much fun spending time with him. We had a wonderful Valentine's day and also got to spend the weekend together because the family was in Napoli with Tommaso's parents, so I had plenty of free time. Life is good!

This Friday, I'm going with the family to Cortina, Italy to go skiing for a week. Although I'm not a big skier, Cortina is supposed to be beautiful, and I'm really looking forward to the trip. More snow!

London

I went to go visit Stefanie in London the first weekend in February (for those of you who don't know Stefanie Bainum is in graduate school there this year). It was my first time to London and I had so much fun with Stefanie. We did touristy things, but also had time for shopping, relaxing, and enjoying each other's company. I forgot what it was like to be in an English speaking country (it was my first time in over 5 months), so it was so refreshingly easy to travel. I also had Starbucks, Diet Coke, and shopped at Anthropolgie...soaking up a bit of American culture! It was It was the first time I have seen a friend from home since I've been over here, and honestly it was like visiting with family. I absolutely loved London, and was not ready for the weekend to be over!

At Mahiki Saturday night with some of Stefanie's friends from school.

We popped in this design store, Habitual. It was in line with the minimalist style that I've most commonly seen throughout Europe. I have to say it's starting to grow on me. Although, for my taste, a mix of minimalist/modernism and classic/traditional is something to strive for.

Habitual

I saw this photo on Habitually Chic the other day (living room of a West Village townhouse designed by Allison Sarofim and Miles Redd, from the February 2004 Vogue issue), that I felt like did such a great job of achieving that balance I mentioned above. I have saved the picture to my desktop and looked at it about 50 times. I love the room, and although it leans farther towards traditional, it still has minimalist aspects (monochromatic color scheme, the clear coffee table, the crisp lines of the furniture, and the clean mantle) that keep it modern and fresh.

I also loved the clean, marble bathroom with the contrast of the dark wood occasional table.

Liv is 5!

Liv celebrated her 5th birthday January 27th. The party was absolutely adorable. Shana continues to amaze me all the time with her creativity! For decoration, she hung miniature dolls (Liv is VERY into dolls right now) from the ceiling in the living room with silver ribbons. The outcome was beautiful, and so was the cake (seen in pictures). All the kids looked so adorable with their painted faces wearing dress-up clothes, and the party itself was a little girl's dream! I hope I am this creative with my children (or just in general!).

Jasper and Liv watching a movie eating late night French toast in their pajamas, after the party. So cute.