wishing you potatoes

"Well, there's a lot of reasons. I mean, roses only last like a couple weeks and that's if you leave them in water, and they really only exist to be pretty. So that's like saying 'my love for you is transitory and based solely on your appearance.' But a potato! Potatoes last forever. In fact, not only will they not rot, they actually grow stuff even if you just leave them in the sack! That part alone makes it a good symbol...but there's more! There are so many ways to enjoy a potato! You can even make a battery with it! And that's like saying 'I have many ways in which I show my love for you' and potatoes may be ugly, but they're still awesome so that's like saying 'it doesn't matter at all what you look like, I'll still love you.'"

Except for the year we were 6,142 miles apart,
I give David potatoes for Valentine's Day every year
It's a little tradition I adore.

Happy Valentine's Day ♥

. . .

{potato sources unknown}

best friends

This photo sequence makes my heart skip a beat. David is so hilarious with little baby Raiza-- but this is nothing new. I have archives of photos of just how cute he is with Raine, too. (There are lots of cute ones with both girls over at my photostream). Even though he can be a pretty quiet guy, I love that he opens up and is just so silly with my nieces. It's my favorite.

Oh... and I couldn't resist posting this photo again. It's just too good.

a little valentine's tradition

"Well, there's a lot of reasons. I mean, roses only last like a couple weeks and that's if you leave them in water, and they really only exist to be pretty. So that's like saying 'my love for you is transitory and based solely on your appearance.' But a potato! Potatoes last forever. In fact, not only will they not rot, they actually grow stuff even if you just leave them in the sack! That part alone makes it a good symbol...but there's more! There are so many ways to enjoy a potato! You can even make a battery with it! And that's like saying 'I have many ways in which I show my love for you' and potatoes may be ugly, but they're still awesome so that's like saying 'it doesn't matter at all what you look like, I'll still love you.'"

Except for last year when we were 6,142 miles apart,
I give David potatoes for Valentine's Day every year*
It's a little tradition I adore.

Happy Valentine's Day ♥

. . .

{potato sources unknown}
*Don't worry, David, it's coming this weekend.

62 years

On Saturday, I went to David's house to celebrate his grandparents' 62nd anniversary. David's mom made a gigantic, five-course meal in honor of the occasion. I don't usually take photos at David's family events, but I thought that sharing an example of a successful marriage would brighten anyone's day. 62 years. I can hardly imagine. But, it must be so wonderful to have someone to share your life with like that. My favorite part of the night was when Ray sneaked off into the living room to find something in his wallet. A few minutes later he came back to show us a photo of Lorraine* that was taken just after she graduated from high school. He's kept it in his wallet ever since.

I'm wishing them many more years of love and happiness.

*I was too shy to ask to take a picture of the photo, but it was amazing to see her at such a young age.

dear david,

paris, brussels, amsterdam, cologne, frankfurt, salzburg, vienna, london
and more to come.
happy 5 year anniversary

i love my mother

i have an embarrassing low number of photos of my mother,

which is a shame because she's so beautiful.

but she's an amazing woman

and i can't say enough good things about her

right now, while i'm abroad,

i miss her (and her cooking...) more than ever

happy mother's day, mama!

and happy mother's day to all mothers

{photo of my mom and my niece/her grand daughter, raine

from christmas 2008. mama, you're so gorgeous}

better

today i woke up sick,

burnt my oatmeal, &

have gotten nothing done

(on account of being sick)

but i got this german card in the mail from david

with 5 euro to cutely represent him buying me a drink

so now it's a little easier to ignore my

stuffy nose, my sore throat, and my incessant coughs

and today is much, much better.

birthday season

late april and early may is birthday season in my family. my birthday is april 26th, marelene's is may 1st, and nina's is may 6th (today!) i know that this blog is just little thoughts and photos from my travels, and that it doesn't mean a lot in the scope of life, but this post is for my sisters who mean the world to me. they have influenced my life in the best ways possible and i'm so thankful to have them in my life.

*

(this is the only photo i could find of just the three of us... it's from 2008. sisters, i think we need to fix that)

marelene on her wedding day in 2008.

i love this picture of her (and her, of course)

nina at a farm/pumpkin patch in half moon bay last august.

one of my favorites of her (so far).

ok, to explain something really quick: in filipino culture, you call your older sister or older girl cousin "ate" (pronounced ah-teh). so my sisters are my ates- i don't think i've ever called them "marelene" or "nina" so referring to them that way on here was really weird.

happy birthday ates!

i love you.

ps- they are so beautiful.

good thing they're passing it along to their babies (:

riomaggiore and via dell'amore {cinque terre pt. 5}

the "hike" between manarola and riomaggiore

is called "via dell'amore"

because it's covered in love graffiti

and padlocks with lovers' initials along the way

emily + annabelle = lovers :)

"i love you truly,

i love you i swear,

for love always ♥"

the "hike" was really more of just a walk

locks! you can see these

in a ton of cities

sad face because

david wasn't there to sit

on the lover chair with me

walkway of love graffiti

at first i thought this said

"david you're stupid"

and i thought that was weird to write here

but it actually means

"david you are stupendous"

looks like everyone loves david

i don't blame them

riomaggiore

we didn't have a lot of time for

the last city because we were trying to

catch a train in about 30 minutes

but, much like the other towns, it was adorable

emily, annabelle, me

sunset silhouettes

the countdown begins

as of today, david and i will be on the same continent in 8 days. while i am sad to be leaving florence, i think i'm more content because

1- i'm heading off to new adventures
1.5- with david
2- i'm coming back to italy for three weeks this summer :)

my countdown has been kind of weird because he flies out on the 22nd but doesn't arrive until the 23rd, so i guess my countdown should say 7/8?

either way, i am so excited.

two and a half months is a little too much time away from someone i love so much.

we're meeting in paris
& then gallivanting off to other countries for about 2 weeks.

{high school photo of david and me from 2007}

valentines in march

yesterday, after a very long (but still beautiful) day,
i was an hour late to the presentation of a project i've been slaving over
for the past few weeks

and even though my host mom already left,
all the food was gone,
and everyone else was on their way out,

the day was much better because i found these in my mailbox:

from my two year old and one year old nieces
& every time i open the envelope i get glitter everywhere
(edit: to which my sister just told me
"all of the glitter represents the times we've been missing you")

i love my family.

the perks of being a florentine {pisa}

i think that one of the best parts about being in florence is that it's so central that it's possible to travel a lot and still experience florence itself. last tuesday i got up early for a doctor's appointment, wandered around florence to find souvenirs for my family back home, left for pisa around noon and was back in time for dinner.

going east, back to florence

going west

dear ol' giuseppe, per usual

a reference for its crookedness

the duomo and the baptistry

campostano cemetery

the baptistry

campo dei miracoli

or, field of miracles

i really love taking advantage of how close florence is to most everything.

take the train an hour or two west, and hit the mediterranean.

ride north, and find bologna and other lovely northern cities.

head south to find the loveliest hill towns.

or, head east through the mountains and

before you know it you'll hit the adriatic.

i feel like i'm getting such a well-rounded feel of

first and foremost, florentine life;

but after that- italian culture.

italy is so diverse.

it has so much to offer and no matter where i go

there are endless amounts of wonderful things to discover.

and just from florence,

unless you take a long weekend trip way down south or way up north,

everything is close enough to visit and still come home at night.

that's right: "home."