When You Give A Girl A Flower

Hey lovelies! So...yes. Rome was fantastic, I'll never forget Ethan and his sound recording... standing there in the rain with his arm raised high with the mic, saluting the air, blessing the noise. And also how a flower vendor came up to me at the Trevi fountain, put three roses in my hand despite my intial "no! no no no" and simply said to me "good luck". He then followed a few paces behind me, approached ethan and gestured for money. When Ethan said no, and I explained that this crazy kid was not my significant other, he snatched the roses back from me and stalked off. Ah Roma. For some reason I was reminded of a tantrum throwing mouse from that book "If you give a mouse a cookie" and what popped into my head was "If you give a girl a flower..." I don't know what would follow that statement.."She'd like another?" "She'll hunt you down and clobber you if you play nasty tricks?" Haha..I really wasn't that offended, nor was I suprised.

And fortunately these last couple days in Florence have been sunny and beautiful!! It's absolutely amazing and drastic, the difference that it makes in the feel of the city and most of all my mood. The other day I crossed the river for the first time in a while to look at a beautiful church designed by Brunelleschi, and along the tiny streets I passed a wine bar with Jazz music playing, little caffe's cleaning up, sending the bell like sounds of clinking china into the streets, and the general air was quiet, and humming the way a lazy summer afternoon sounds with the neighborhood chatter and laughter fuzzy in your peripheral hearing. It was so nice! On the way back from the church I bought a gelato and stood on the bridge over the river. There were no clouds and the sky was bright blue. The mountains were snow capped far on the horizon, and the yellow and gold colored buildings were reflected softly, and upside down beneath their bases in the green and navy river water.

So...I've been obsessed with writing down things I notice here or that strike me and I was wondering why I've been suffering from this OCD. So I've been working on journaling as part of my painting project to analyze my thoughts and apply them to cool images and this is what came out of my head today:
"There are so many things I've been trying desperately to record and remember. It's gotten really bad this year in particular. I stop on bridges, oustide gelato stores, in the kitchen in the morning to write down what the sunlight looked like, how many kinds of rain there are, how the river is like a mirror to the vanity of the buildings when it's bright outside. Why? I don't know. Because I must. Whether its a need to remember or a desperate attempt to capture and conserve in words, I can't say, maybe it's both. Maybe this project is my diary turned into "art" whatever that is. Haha. I want to put song lyrics in it too. The one's that get stuck in my head from the Weepies, Switchfoot, Norah Jones, and I also want to include book quotes like, 'Teach me to sew a vine of stars', which is from a book called 'Habibi'. I read it yeeears ago and never forgot. Things like this I'm compelled to share, in the same way I guess as I'm compelled to share what I see when I stop on bridges, in kitchens and outside shops. There's always something strikes me. There's always something that sticks. It's all so fresh to me, and I wish you could see it the way I do, if only just for fun. Maybe you do. Everything becomes beautiful I think not when you forget yourself, but when you, for an instance, feel more yourself than ever."

Oh before I forget I want to tell you that the old folks and the pidgeons are so cute here. The old couples walk arm in arm down the sidewalks, the little old ladies with their long peat coats and scarves over their hair, shuffling in little old lady shoes, wearing all bright colors of rouge and lipstick and large tortoise shell sunglasses. Very stylish, these little old ladies. And the gentlemen are even more adorable in their little caps. Walking slowly and straight backed, hands clasped behind them, hats matching their coats. They stop occasionally to wipe something from the cheek of their lady or look around them with a contentedness that reads, "Nice day. I'm in no rush, I rather enjoy observing the rest of the young hurry by. I've been there... What a nice day." I also forgot to mention that the streets of Rome are lined with trees full of oranges! There were none low enough for my travel buddies to reach, because I'm sure the accessible ones are all quickly snatched. Lucky for me, I hate fruit :-D eat it fruit lovers.

I love you guys so much. Happy almost Valentine's day Jamie! And to all my lovely wonderful friends and family. You guys mean the WOOORLD to me, and you make my life so very happy and so full of love. Thinking of you. A dopo! Ti voglio tanto bene! tvtb, xoxo, <3

MWAH
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