tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153626972011-04-21T19:40:55.876+02:00after 3 years of living in rome, italy.... we're moving the family back to the east coast. check out the before, during and afterer cecionoreply@blogger.comBlogger271100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1134957982973866042005-12-19T02:49:00.000+01:002005-12-19T03:06:22.996+01:00

saturday aubrey and i celebrated our anniversary. we dropped off luca at nonna's house in the morning for a full day and sleep-over. we hopped on the bus to manhattan and walked up to alfredo's restaurant. there is an alfredo's in rome, and the restaurant was started by alfredo. as in fettucine alfredo. this dude invented it almost 100 years ago. which is why we figured the restaurant would be up

er cecionoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1134718736618201402005-12-16T08:09:00.000+01:002005-12-16T08:39:50.700+01:00

today i went into the city early to meet a friend, nicola, that we met in rome thru micah and nikoma.he's napoletano, and speaks with a pretty impressive napoletano accent. he's in new york for at least 3 years studying at a lab on the east side. it was the first time in a long time i got to speak italian. it felt really good. it was hard at first, i had a bad case of mouth constipation, but as

er cecionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1134466717779427292005-12-13T09:23:00.000+01:002005-12-13T10:42:19.216+01:00

today marks three months that we've been back in the states. (and also two years that we've been married!)to the three people who read this blog (or at least log on to find that nothing new has been posted) i apologize.... needless to say a lot has happened in these three months.first and foremost, luca is a superstar.he had his first official photoshoot, and will appear both on a toy box, and

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1126109943231198242005-09-07T18:19:00.000+02:002005-09-07T18:19:03.236+02:00

less than a week left...today we went out to termini. my old 'hood. to the hotel where aubrey and i stayed the first time we visited rome in 2001. to my first home in rome in 2002, for 30 days - up 5 flights of stairs in a tiny-ass room. to visit my FIRST friend in rome, gino.gino runs a small 2 star hostel very close to the termini, the main train station in rome. cheap hotel rooms, very very

er cecionoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1125251200212858632005-08-28T19:46:00.000+02:002005-08-28T19:49:00.496+02:00

so here we are with almost two weeks left. 900 pounds of our crap stuffed into 12 boxes has been picked up by the shippers, and will be on its way to jersey in the coming days. we're planning on packing 6 large suitcases with the remainder of the stuff to bring with us.i must have been high when i bought the airline tickets. we're leaving rome at 7am to paris. then paris at 1:15 to arrive in

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1124383225115596692005-08-18T18:23:00.000+02:002005-08-18T18:45:25.263+02:00

gypsie beggers (kids included)the way one roman enters the room and says " 'na serrrrrrrraaaa" and everyone needs to respond in the same tonethe roman rules (no capuccino after 11am, leaving in august, etc.)waving the finger and tisking instead of saying no"don't you have the 60 cents?" (me: "no") "do you have 1 euro?"dinah, the crazy rottwieler who barks everytime ANYONE passes her doorwords

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1124139313312945862005-08-15T22:55:00.000+02:002005-08-15T23:33:47.346+02:00

today is ferragosto. it's a national holiday in italy. and almost a national crime if you stay in your town on this day. there was a time years ago when you had to leave. nothing was open. no markets, stores, restaurants, shops... nothing. now that the big cities here are starting to open up a little to the mentality of competition, there are more places open. in the 3 years that we've been here

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1124037204760317202005-08-14T18:39:00.000+02:002005-08-15T23:34:46.576+02:00

had a nice weekend in roma.saturday big breakfast.i made cheese omlets for the fam, and shitty coffeethen a nice lunch at gay pizza with gerard luisa and stephanie. i had my fav at that place, fried mozz and ricotta.then a drink at giovanni's.then dinner with the pomezians at antica taverna.today is the day before ferragosto. which means rome is empty of italians.... just tourists... its a little

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123874544794422352005-08-12T20:59:00.000+02:002005-08-15T23:35:57.036+02:00

some things i will miss about living in rome: getting groceries and talking about life with rino, at his alimentari caffe freddo caffe in general eating outdoors at cheap and excellent restaurants the ease of cell phones nighttime barbeque's on rich's terrace drinks and life at la botticella the sound of motorinos on the street sunday lunch at antica taverna august ... when everyone's at the

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123860976493854212005-08-10T17:34:00.000+02:002005-08-12T17:48:20.566+02:00

ok, im not even going to bother apologizing for not writing. but since everyone has a blog these days, i am feeling more and more compelled to conform myself (or should i say get back into it) i can only hope i will try my best to keep up, instead of doing these 3 times a year "recaps"anyway... it has been almost a whole 8 months since i've written, and holy shit, a lot has happened.february

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123864800678851422004-12-27T18:39:00.000+01:002005-08-12T18:40:00.686+02:00

2004 is coming to a close, and quickly. let me apologize first off for providing you with a whopping 3, count 'em 3 journal entries this entire year. (including this one) note to self, new year's resolution, #1.luca's progress this year has been incredible. he's walking, talking, sometimes running, he rocks out to rockin' songs, and sways to mellow ones. i can't explain how wonderful it is to

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123865136586209992004-04-26T18:40:00.000+02:002005-08-12T18:50:03.820+02:00

again we've fallen into this bad routine of NOT writing! apologies, apologies...here's a brief recap since the beginning of february (has it been that long?) aubrey's folks were out in rome for the first time, probably the first of many more to come in the future. they had a wonderful time, barring a few bumps in the road. i think they clocked about 16 miles of walking one day, and i don't have

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123865529599148542004-01-28T18:51:00.000+01:002005-08-12T18:52:09.603+02:00

well it's been a long time. a really long time. of course, we've seen most of you recently, although not for too long, and already we're missing our friends and family in america. but life is still great in rome. already this winter is panning out much nicer than last winter. it's not AS cold for one, there are more blue sky days, and we've luca! surprisingly it snowed the other day! and a lot.

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123865572340681402003-11-07T18:52:00.000+01:002005-08-12T18:54:54.290+02:00

we had a nice time on halloween. we went to a hawaiian themed party at giovanni's sponsored by our friend daniella. it was a good time, luca looked cute, although we couldn't find a hawaii outfit for him and had to settle for regular old halloween one... the work has definitely settled down a bit, i'm still keeping busy, but at least i get to see my family more often these days. now the focus has

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123865631683005402003-10-26T18:53:00.000+01:002005-08-12T18:54:35.796+02:00

so here we are, almost a whole month since i've written last. a lot has happened. my brother matt finally got to rome, and met his nephew. my mom also got to meet her grandson. luca got his passport and US birth papers, officially making him a US citizen. mother teresa is now "blessed" mother teresa, pope john paul ii is the 4th longest reigning pope in history, there are 30 new cardinals who can

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123865817055157922003-09-23T18:55:00.000+02:002005-08-12T18:56:57.056+02:00

allora, i know it's been SO long since we've written. and we're sorry about that. but really, things have been a bit crazy in rome these past 3 weeks. luca: hungry man, also poop machine. we're going thru diapers like no tomorrow. it's no sooner he's changed and he poops again. and sometimes not always in the diaper...the other day superdad (a.k.a. justin) changed luca's diaper. there are many

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123865852191090632003-09-06T18:57:00.000+02:002005-08-12T18:57:32.196+02:00

happy birthday luca! 03 september 2003. just about a month early, depending on who you talk to. and aubrey and i are parents. just like that! 8 hours after i woke up that morning seeing aubrey sitting up in bed rubbing her tummy saying, "i think i'm having contractions..."that's how it started. i jumped out of bed, packed a bag real quick and the thoughts in my head started. oh my god, he's

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123865909883099892003-09-02T18:57:00.000+02:002005-08-12T18:58:29.886+02:00

we had our doctor's appointment yesterday for the final ultrasound. dr grimaldi said everything is perfect! if luca were to be born today, he would be able to survive without any (or much) medical assistance. so that's fantastic news... he's head down, ready to make his journey into our world, weighing in approximately at 2.5 kilos (5.5 pounds), his lungs are working well, bladder was full and he

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866036202187142003-08-31T18:58:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:00:36.206+02:00

past few days have been nice weather wise and in general. a month or two ago we met daniella. her cousins from philly were staying with her for a week or two and we all hit it off. her cousins were very funny alone, just watching their interaction was like a sit com. anyway, we had passed her on via tor millina here and there, and had dinner with her and her friend nicole. nicole's american and

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866072697448042003-08-26T19:00:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:02:12.626+02:00

last night we finished eating dinner at home and decided to go out for ice cream up on the corner. we call this place japanese ice cream, since it's the only gelateria i've seen run by japanese women. it seemed a bit cooler as we walked thru the alleyways up to the corner. we ordered our ice cream cones (aubrey: chocolate, caffe, tiramisu; me: stracciatella, caffe, amaretto) as we were walking in

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866164328871642003-08-21T19:02:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:02:44.330+02:00

last night was sara jane's birthday, and the birthday party. aubrey missed this large event last year, as sara jane and carmen celebrated the birthday earlier since they were heading back to scotland to visit friends and family. in any case, it was a good time, as most times we get together with the crazy scots are. and of course, a party thrown by carmen or sara jane at la botticella almost

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866209186857572003-08-17T08:03:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:03:29.190+02:00

i woke up this morning at 4am on the nose. not really wide awake, but i knew i couldn't lay in bed anymore. i got up and went online, and found some interesting things. then i went for a walk around 630am to the castel sant'angelo. this happend last week too. same time awake, same sites online, same walk at 630am, same dog with the bum leg (more on that later)rome is amazing at any time of the

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866262958968072003-08-14T19:03:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:04:22.960+02:00

HEAT HEAT HEAT. this is the summer that will never end. giovanni, mr conspiracy theorist, says this bad weather is the beginning of the end. there's only a few more weeks left of august, so i'm sure it'll let up soon enough.week recap: monday i worked most of the day. tuesday i took the day off to accompany aubrey to pick up her "stp" card. this is our gateway into the free italian national

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866360673205172003-08-11T19:04:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:06:00.673+02:00

this heat seems like it will never ever end. even francesco is nowhere to be found. we had a nice weekend, spent mostly with the scots (sara jane and carmen) and paul, the new "on-duty" engineer for sng. we all had a nice meal on saturday night, and sunday just ate snacks at giovanni's. the scots gave us 2 chunks of cheddar cheese and some bacon and sausages. we ate the sausages and bacon this

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866484925046732003-08-08T19:07:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:08:04.926+02:00

not much to report, really, except that it rained a little yesterday. quite surprisingly since francesco was louder than i've ever heard him before. it was sooooo hot yesterday afternoon, i couldn't even go into work. aubrey and i spent most of the day with giovanni, helping him out a little, and people watching with ari. he is the brother of a friend we met there months ago, and now works across

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866533083260652003-08-01T19:08:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:08:53.083+02:00

it finally rained yesterday!!!! only 20 or so minutes of glorious downpour, but it was enough to cool things down completely. then after the rain, the sun came back out, everything dried up, and it was like a fall evening in the streets of rome... it rained today too, but not as much. it was significantly cooler today than most days this summer, but not as nice as yesterday. aubrey and i went to

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15362697.post-1123866598118959342003-07-30T19:09:00.000+02:002005-08-12T19:09:58.120+02:00

the heat has not ended, and doesn't look like it will any time soon. that terrible heat where you aren't even cool 5 seconds after you get out of the shower. gross. anyway, we're dealing the best we can. i updated the site a little, worked a little, and had a nice lunch with the replacement producer for the boss who's on vacation. this morning when i got my shirt out of the closet and i saw all

er cecionoreply@blogger.com0