Sunday, July 3, 2011

Arrived! + Favorites: Island of Stone

Island of Stone
Civita di Bagnoregno, Italy, 2010

We've made it! Whew. It was quite the sprint there at the end to get ourselves, luggage and cat here. I was getting quite nervous at the airport before we left when the airline check-in agent had to consult her "official rule book" to see if she could accept our cat's health certificate from the vet in Italian instead of English. Luckily, the rules were only explicit about certificates for dogs being in English and so our cat was approved to fly with us. What a relief. 

We had a short connection in Amsterdam and our flight was late out of Italy, but we made that too. The only thing that didn't make it on the plane with us was one suitcase and my husband's bicycle, which came on a later flight and were delivered to the hotel later. One more thing down. 

We got into our house Friday to see the state of things. After being rented for two years, you wonder about how it will look. The house looks great overall and the new floors we had installed look nice. We picked the flooring on the internet, so we wondered about how that would turn out too!

Not only that, it was fun to see the piles of mail for the Liberate Your Art postcard swap - yay! There are already a lot of envelopes and more to come. Some of the envelopes are beautifully decorated, which is awesome! I didn't expect that but it is a lovely touch. I will take some pictures to share with you in a future blog post.

A few other random notes in my head this morning (way too early, for the time zone I'm in, by the way):
  • Superhero Summer Camp is open! You can see all of the details and sign up here.
  • Exploring with a Camera: Thresholds is still going on, if you want to join in.
  • I'm going to be giving away a couple of Find Your Eye registrations, but you have to be a newsletter subscriber to be eligible! Sign up for the newsletter if you haven't already.
  • Thanks so much for all of your votes on my portfolio in the  One Life 2011 photography contest! It's fun to see the numbers go up. I really appreciate your support. I think you can continue voting once per day through July 29, if you are so inclined. (I can barely remember to go vote for myself, so I certainly don't expect you to go vote for me that often.)
  • I have another Letter to Kat to post tomorrow. Are you enjoying these? I am so appreciative of the advice that has been shared by these wonderful women. If you have advice for me on repatriating after living abroad, I welcome it! You can email me personally with your note or to provide a blog post for the series.
  • There is a new site that just launched, Seek Your Course, that is there to help connect the creative community with classes available online and at retreats. I'm so excited about this site because it's a great idea to connect people who love to take these amazing creative courses with people who love to teach them. In fact, I like it so much you'll see me there as a sponsor on the sidebar! 
I just wanted to stop in and say hi and that we are here! This will be another crazy week for us as we get moved into our house and start restocking and unpacking, so I'll pop in here and write when I can. 

Happy 4th of July tomorrow to all of my American friends!

16 comments:

  1. Glad you are home safe and sound... and that the house is looking OK. I'd be worried too if it had been rented for 2 years.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good news home safe and sound. How surprised I was to see the photo you used today though. Did you visit Civita di Bagnoregio as it is local to us! Around here it is known as the Dying City. A beautiful place that we always take our visitors.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Welcome back - I'm so glad you've made it safely home. My poor Kitty Paw wouldn't have enjoyed that journey at all!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Welcome home, Kat!

    Lee (seabluelee)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glad you all made it back OK Kat. Happy 4th July to you and your family.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Welcome back to the USA, just in time to celebrate the 4th! You must be jet-lagged, remember to take it easy for a few days. Love your hill town image!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy you and yours have had a safe return.
    Have fun organizing! That is my favorite part. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. So glad you all made it home safely! I'm so glad you posted about the Superhero Summer Camp - I signed up immediately! Have an easy-going weekend, and I'd suggest staying away from Fred Meyer if you don't want to go into immediate culture shock. : )

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm glad to hear you're all safe and sound. Hugs to you and your hubby and son. Thanks for the time we spent together - I still feel warmth in my heart.
    Looking forward to hear all about your new adventures at 'home'.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Welcome home! Best wishes for a smooth transition.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Welcome home Kat!
    Glad you arrived safely

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kat, I am truly in awe of your energy - it's all in here! I hope and wish for you that you keep this and that you ease back into the West Coast living.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Welcome home, Kat! Wishing you and your family all the very best for the future - look forward to reading your posts about how it feels to be back.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Delighted to hear you are "home" safely, and that Stevie traveled well too. Wonder where his new place will be where he will expect you to sit with him.
    I don't envy you the unpacking, but glad your home is in good order after tenants. New floors!! Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  15. welcome home Kat. I'm hoping the transition will be smooth but exciting at the same time. these are delightful times to be sure. all the best.

    ReplyDelete
  16. glad you are safe and sound and on to your next adventure.

    ReplyDelete

What's your view of the world? I love to hear yours too!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.