My America trip was amazing in every sense of the word. I can safely say if the trip was like a full sponge, I squeezed every drop from it! When I arrived it was wedding madness as one of my best friends was getting married and I was her maid of honor.. Scary.. I have never been in a wedding before and I felt a bit nervous as I was not there to partake in all of the girly things the maid of honor usually does for the bride to be so I devoted my time from when I arrived to the wedding itself to my friend… It was simply a blast.. Drama ensued ( when does it not.. We’re talking TEXAS people..) ..dresses were fitted and yes I used spanx.. The magical tights that suck that Mexican food filled gut in .. ( so I splurged a little when I arrived.. Can u blame me? I’m sick of pasta!) .
The receptions hall that we helped set up!
walking the asile!
my beautiful friend!
me , sonia and a groomsman
laughs for all!
we moved to LA together and Italy! Im a proud mama!
us!
all of us youngsters for the BEST wedding ever
yes we had to show off our tootsies!
the guys..i loved the casual look!
So right off the bat when I was home I noticed two things.. A. people talk about themselves A LOT more than people do here.. Sentences start with I, me , or usually the person waits for you to stop speaking so that t hey could interject their version of what happened to you as regards to them.. LOL.. And people were a whole lot nicer.. At the stores, restaurants. You saw friendly faces everywhere and I looked on suspiciously.. Maybe I have spent too much time at the immigration office in Florence to notice niceness ?
Back to wedding madness.. I met all of the groomsmen and bridesmaids ( most of whom I met already) .. A fun bunch .. Although the groomsmens duties consisted of who could drink the most beer throughout the day and participate in “awkward conversations” .. It really annoys me when people let awkward situations happen like come-on people we’re adults here! One of the groomsmen got drunk the night before the wedding and made out with a few “cougars” at some bar.. I suppose he likes the over 50 mature woman.. Props to him?!
Wedding went off without a hitch and better than expected. My dad and mom ( in all her fur glory… geez mom) .. Were there and there was an open bar. Open bar + Texas = what you expect… everyone was tipsy and smiley and hugging, music was playing , people were dancing, dogs were happy, children were sleeping.. Lol ok I made up the last two.. I gave a improvised speech which I have to say rocked.. I was just known as “girl who came all the way from Italy to attend the wedding”.. hmm yes that’ and Christmas! My friend looked absolutely stunning and so did the groom, I have to say.. I was very happy for them despite my views of “young marriage” , they are a perfect example of those who truly seem to be in love with one another … congrats!
Besides the wedding, I spent a lot of time with both my parents who verged on annoying the entire time.. Is part of getting older about harping on the past and the fact that I live a million miles away eie :guilt trip? I spent most of the time feeling annoyed but then guilty for being annoyed.. Argh! I do love my parents.. Luckily I had a nice stop-gap between Christmas and the wedding to go to los angeles for a week to visit old chums from university and whatnot.. I arrived to see my friend shells who not only provided me with my own room at her house but a car to use while there! What a friend!!!! She’s like my idol.. 28 , gorgeous! Married to a handsome and loving Argentinean man… they are the prototypes of “immigrants in America’ … WAY more successful , happy than my Anglo-Saxon counterparts! Tee-hee!
me and kat + margarita madness
Dinners were had, I took a spinning class ( its LA after all ) .. Went to go visit my crazy red-headed fiery friend Kat which was a blur of margaritas, Mexican food, a comedy sketch parody of “Point break” complete with ponchos given out to the audience, fake blood and water thrown at us and a spoiled vodka tonic. We hit up Hollywood and ran into the “stoli vodka” promoters who gave us keys ( that I now made into a necklace) to get rinks for 1$.. Yep one us dollar/peso and that was a mistake LOL.. I met her friends all of whom are smart, funny and very entertaining and successful.. Ahh America.. Before I got too jealous I reminded myself “I love Italy” , I love Italy, I love Italy!…. Or “5 weeks vacation, 5 weeks vacation” .. haha.. It was nice to speak English again without thinking about how its going to sounds first.. Sometimes I end up speaking to people as if they were 5 years old…
los angeles
kitty kat!
vanilla vodka and diet coke woohoo!
stoli vodka time!
thrift store bargains?
guidos circa 1980
point break live
poncho fun!
los angeles peeps!
the evil goose lamp and us..
I spent time with my friend Marco who I have known since my stint at the tanning salon… the tanning salon was like a reality show… crazy tan obsessed customers.. ( including sadly the woman who took her own life in front of Paula Abduls house a few years ago) . .. Jerk-offs..porn stars, Euro trash.. And some famous actors.. Every day was a new story, someone threatened to sue me when I refused to let them tan “off hours” and perhaps also due to my lack of sensitivity to their plight.. Lol but the money was good ( commission baby!) .. And I loved my co-workers.. We were like family.. .So I visited Marco and spent way too much time at his office.. Enough so that I received a FB message from his orthodox Jewish cubicle partner.. Ummmmmmmm?!
So back to Texas I went sadly lol jkj k, and spent the remaining time trying not to get mad at my mom for being there all of the time.,.. Attended several Christmas parties.. One of which was a themed “ugly Christmas sweater party” thrown by my newly married friend.. I didn’t have to go far.. My mothers closet was CHOCK full of goodies.. I picked up a nice Christmas “vest” , an 80’s style “crimped” hairpiece.. Yes hairpiece… a nice ORANGE blond.. And the outfit was complete with shorts, spangled belt and the best item of the night…. A purse made out of a armadillo. Yes I live armadillo used to be this purse.. What the f*** mom? I’m sure she picked that up in Mexico!!! 1as she told me “it was the “rage of the time”.. um where in Guadalajara? One thing I forgot to do was pick up a bottle of wine BEFORE I put on the outfit so I had to stop by the supermarket looking like … that. And besides the stares I got , I also got CARDED ( id was asked ) since they thought I was underage! Wtf?! I’m 25! And they were suspicious of my out-of-state license.. Ok Texas you’re a state in America., not your own country!!! Get that straight!!!!
me and winning prize!
ugly sweaters.. my god!
the famous armadillo
yup i ate it ALL
dog and my hairpeice
So party was fun, got first place.. Enjoyed wine, my Texas friends and lots of yummy food.. Christmas eve was amazing.. We all went to my cousins house in the “country” as in “take a left at the tractor” country.. We sang karaoke.. Did a loud and funny white elephant Christmas exchange and I drank wayyyy to much … I spent the night with my crazy cousin Allison who is like my sister. We were born a week apart and are pretty much inseparable when I’m in town.. She’s a very strong and brave person who makes the best out of her circumstances always.. Ie: lived in Germany for 3 years after a failed divorce! Props to her!
me and my brothers girlfriends..
christmas day with mom and brothers
poncho twins.. wow those are Horrible ,cue my brothers face!
me , dad and erica my brothers gf
kareoke! and my bella cugina Malia
steven segal aka my brothers friend.. a mullet wig and my brother
me and my baby second cousin.. isnt she gorgeous!
we ARE in texas!
wine tasting with family!
yes this is a REAL longhorn... his name was shotgun.. oh texas
a real Texas bar: Luchenbach!
Ok this blog is getting long so I will end with .. Had a great time.. I am happy to be back but sad to be away from people that I love.. Florence can be a transit city and I am constantly saying goodbye to people.. 2010 is all about traveling, saving money, permesso di soggier no crap, finding a house for me and tommaso (finally) .. And volunteer work… I really want to make the best of my free time!!!!
So buon anno nuovo tutti! Until I write again ( hopefully soon! ) …
6 comments:
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh! So glad you had fun! I hope that Longhorn wasn't live when you got on top of him (RIP bull), otherwise it could be scary! hahah
Those cowboy boots were awesome though- did you buy any?
I love the black dresses with the shawls, so simple and elegant! :-)
Hey if you ever get a Mexican food craving, I have a great flour tortilla recipe that's really easy. Or if you're not into lots of cooking, stop on by Perugia or I'll come up there and make 'em for you! :-D
thanks guys! the longhorn was real... but very tame! was content as we didn't try and grab his horns like some people tried ( or so we heard..)
Tina YUM yes i So have mexican food cravings but more for corn tortillas as we have found flour ones here .. but we sould get together soon anyhow!! its good to be back in Italia!
Yeah I'm still trying to master corn tortillas. Will work on it!
An enjoyable blog to read - you've had a busy time!
Hey ! I am in the Pink Italy forum with you. I'm Karla and am blogless (maybe i should change that haha) I do enjoy yours very much though :)
I was talking to my friend Clair/Danielle/Dani(so many aliases) the other day (she used to live in Florence with Elly) and she said I should talk with you sometime as you are a cool girl. We appear to be in the same boat-Italian expats- so I'd like to do that !
Rome also seems to be a transitional city..i never seem to be able to have friends here that dont go away within a year or less, but i guess this is the life we've chosen to live and while it does have its negative side(s) the perks are also lovely!
I'll leave my email with you in case you want to talk sometime and exchange Italian expat stories and horrid bureaucracy experiences:
email/gmail chat: Karlalynnr@gmail.com
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