My O My!!

Well I have been eating my way through New York! Holy Moly, between pizza, pasta, italian ices, italian cookies and pastries, my gosh. My hubby said "are you losing weight?" HaHa, yeah sure, I even walked to 18th ave twice, but didn't tell him on the walk home I was eating yummy gelato from VillaBate Alba that I blogged about in my previous post ;) . My Aunt is right, I'll have to walk home to Cali to burn all these calories, yeesh!

Our visit is just wonderful. My kids are having a great time, they enjoyed being in Pa with my brother's family. We went to the Crayola factory which was really neat. They swam like crazy at my brother's in Long Island and had a blast with the twins. My 20 month old niece can't say Sonny, so she called my son Onny Onny, and would chase after him. Too cute.

Tomorrow is the city. We are going to The Museum Of Natural History, I hope Santino doesn't think everything is going to come to life like the movie! We are going to spend a leisurely day there going to the various sites and not rush. I have taken over a hundred pics already, and I know I will have tons more yet!

This was a great vacation for my kids, myself and my Mom. I do have to say, I miss my husband terribly, and that is the one very big drawback. I don't like being away from him this long, he is my partner, and I miss his hugs, kisses, and snuggles. I want to go home to him, but I don't want to leave Mom. I am glad I am with her and sharing this time together.

Well, I am off to make some pulpa salad. That is octopus for those of you who don't know, it also has squid and scungili in it as well, and my Dad made an exceptional one. I hope I do him justice!

Going Back To Brooklyn

On Wednesday, we will be going home to Brooklyn New York. Myself and 4 of the kids are visiting Mom and my family. They are so very excited. We're going to spend a few days in Pa. with my brother and his family, which we can't wait for. They also are super stoked to see their twin cousins for the very first time! My younger brother has two adorable 20 mo. old girls and the kids have been just dying to see them! They have never seen either brother's home so this is going to be a great visit. Santino did see Matthew's home, but that was 2 yrs ago and I don't know how much he remembers

What is truly amazing to me is how much my children adore my family even though we have lived in California since 1989 and the last 4 kids are natives to this state. They pick up with all of them like they just saw them the day before. I am very lucky to have such a wonderful family that extends beyond just my Mom and brothers, sister in laws and nieces. My Aunts, Uncles and cousins are so wonderful and we all get along great.

It will be nice to be home, yet bittersweet as well. There will be a big hole without my Dad. My Father grew up in the same house that myself and my brothers grew up in too. I know being there without him is going to be hard, but I am happy to be with Mom and she is looking forward to the chaos that will ensue once we are there. You can be sure there will be plenty of that with my brood!

I think we will act like tourists for this visit. We will go to the Museum of Natural History, take in Time Square, maybe even the Statue of "Littlebe" as my 21 yr old Desirae used to call it. My kids deserve to see all these iconic sites that we natives take for granted. We'll get out early and let Mom be our train guide as we take the City by storm. I'm not good with the trains at all since I never had a reason to go into the city, so I will rely on her expertice. Another thing is, we NYers never call it Manhattan, it is always the city, remember that and people will think you're a native too ;).

I will take lots of pics and I know some great lay outs will ensue. The part of Brooklyn I hale from is an Italian neighborhood called Bensonhurst, so I am going to try and take some photos that show the ethnicity of the area, I think that will be a great page. As a matter of fact, Pauly Walnuts from the Soprano's is from there as well. My Dad used to see him on 18th Ave. a lot, which is a major shopping thoroughfare in Bensonhurst. It has definitely changed since I moved to California, but I would still like to preserve the feel of the place in a lay out.

Here are just a few pics of where I'm from -

This is Aldo's, he did my brother's wedding pics. Actually he did tons of Brooklyn wedding pics. I loved to walk by and admire all the pictures in the windows of the brides. They're located on 61st and 18th Ave. We used to live right around the corner from here, last home before coming to Cali.

This is the famous Alba's Bakery. They have been bought by VillaBate Bakers who were located a couple of blocks away and it is now called VillaBate Alba's. Probably kept Alba's name in there since it is such an 18th Ave icon

Last but not least, is the fantastic Joe's Focacceria. If you want a rice ball or panelle special, this is the only place to go for it! My Grandma's house is across the street and through the school yard, so we could walk there from her house. My Dad would get the vasteda, yuck, lung. No visit home is complete without going, and yes, I will be there!

Summer Circle Swap

These are 6" circles that I have done for a swap hosted by, you guessed it, Lisa ;). We had to embellish, design, and just make summery and fun, our circles that in turn, we can use to embellish a scrapbook page. There are 14 of us participating in this baby, so I am very excited to see just what I am going to get back from the ladies. My closet is slowly getting very stuffed with scrapbook goodies, that honestly, I really don't need to buy anything to sustain this little habit, I mean hobby of mine. But, ssshhh, don't tell my hubby that.

I used my cricut expression to cut out my circles and the florishes that adorn them. I also stamped and inked as well. I love the little butterfly and flower photos that I used. They are very bright. Of course, what would summer be without some pretty flowers scattered onto the circle as well.

Here are some photos -

There are 2 of each design. I hope the girls who get them like them as much as me. I think they'll embellish a page quite nicely!

Creating In The Blind

These pieces I have done where not connected to me in anyway, hence the title of this entry. The people in the photo's are stangers to me. The man has passed away, and the gal is a fellow scrapper/swapper from Memeory Makers Magazine online community. I only "know" her from there.

The swap was thought up and organized by Lora. We all had to send our own pictures to the person who Lora put us with and that person will create a layout for each of us to keep. I like the way mine turned out and I hope that Ceci does as well. It was a very tough subject dealing with the pink inverted triangle patch that homosexuals during the Holocaust were forced to wear. Her brother-in-law had the pink bead incorporated into the braid tattoo that went across his forehead. Ceci, in memorial to him had the braid tattooed down her back.

The title in the first layout means "In Death Reborn". I thought it was fitting.

Here are the layouts of Ceci getting her tattoo. I hid a journaling block behind the picture on the left layout, bottom pic. When you pull the ribbon, the block will come out. The title is "Inked Memory".

This was a fulfilling challenge for me. At first I was a little cautious with the heavy subject, not knowing if I could do it justice, but then said, just go for it and stretch your creative wings. I'm glad I did. Finding and expressing my way through this medium is quite a discovery for me on my journey through life. Whoever says you stop growing when you reach a certain age is a fool.