La Bella Figura

Ugg. The laundry has piled up over my busy week and today I am plowing through. Seems simple I know, but this is Italy so of course it is complicated. The washing machine takes an average of 2 hours to wash.

You read that right.

Two hours.

120 minutes per load.

Here's proof.

And each load only holds 3 of our big fluffy towels and maybe a sock or two.

Now, there is a "rapid" selection and if I select this and wash on cold, it only takes 51 minutes. I'm just not sure how clean the clothes are getting on this setting but I use it in a pinch. Like today.

We have a big American dryer that is vented out a window and works beautifully. Unfortunately, it takes almost all the electricity in the house, so when it is on, nothing else can be on or the electricity in the whole house will turn off. So when the dryer is running, that means no oven, no dishwasher, no tv, not even my hair dryer. Just about every time I use the dryer I have to reset all the clocks in the house. Seriously, it is like we are living in the middle ages.

Most Italians do not have dryers so they line dry their clothes which also means everything (even t-shirts) must be ironed. Yet, they are always perfectly groomed, styled and looking fabulous. They even have a saying for this. . . la bella figura. It loosely translates to "the beautiful image" and means that they strive to look and act their best in every situation. I literally mean EVERY situation. . . from early morning school dropoff to evening apertivo, they put their best (high-heeled) foot forward always, despite the 2 hour washing cycle and having to iron underwear.

Think about that next time you are dropping your kids off at school wearing something that resembles pajamas :-)

How do you spell. . .

I can't believe I misspelled Louis Vuitton the first time I posted the entry below. Actually, I can. It is my spelling not my fashion knowledge that is limited I promise!

My Electrician Has a Nicer Purse than Me

So the electrician did actually show up to hang the chandelier. A day late. Not too bad considering our painter showed up seven months late. The electrician (a guy, about 35ish) had on grey skinny jeans and a Louis Vuitton messenger bag. He had his electrical tools in it. I’m not kidding. I like to think I can spot a fake and this looked authentic to me. It looked like this.

The electrician came with the owner of the antique store where we bought the chandelier which I thought was impressive. They really go out of their way to provide great service here. . . even if it takes a while.

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Unfortunately, I still have no chandelier. Turns out there is no electricity “No fili qui!” hidden behind the rosette on the ceiling. It was just a rosette covering a hole. Here is where it gets complicated. Our house is 500 years old the walls are made of concrete and the beam is make of solid wood. Not so easy to rewire (even if you have electrical tools in a fabulous bag).

They said they could run wire on top of the beam but I didn’t have enough Italian words to ask the right questions. I wanted to say that I don’t want it to look like a college apartment with wires everywhere but all I could say was “non lo so. Che bello?” (I don’t know. What beautiful?”) To which they just shrugged and said “si.”

And so, I called my Italian neighbor who came over to help me figure it all out. She in turn called her husband who is an artist and an architect and so would understand what would look right. So now there are five people standing in the living room, looking perplexed and staring at the ceiling.

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Turns out they are going to hang it with a very small wire covered in satin that matches the paint. They do it all the time in these ancient homes. So it actually will be bello. The whole thing took over an hour with four people speaking Italian (think very loud, lots of hand motions and pats on the backs) and me smiling and nodding and understanding very little.

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When it was all finished I said, I'm sorry I thought it would be simple and they all laughed and my neighbor said “Een Eetaly, nothing eees seemple.” Story of my life.

BBQ

Despite less than stellar weather, our American BBQ turned out great. The rain stopped a few hours before and everyone had a good time although it was a bit surreal to grill burgers in our 16th century garden. Matt wore boots and even snuck a few country songs onto the playlist. As close as we can get to Texas for now. The last guests left at 2:00 so I guess the country was a hit. Hee hee.

We told everyone to just bring themselves, but of course they brought things which is so interesting with so many different cultures. We had amazing salami from Spain, a fabulous endive salad from Belgium, lots of good American food, amazing Italian wine, and the best tiramisu I've had it Italy (made by my American friend).

I was too busy having fun to remember to take pictures. . . ci sono solo un po

Verde

Olive green is everywhere this spring. It is as big as purple was in fall of 2008. A strange color to be in for spring, but it is not going away. I'm less than trilled about this because when I wear olive people ask me if I feel okay. Not my best color.

Are you seeing it in the States? If you aren't you will. Buy an olive top now.

I'm Back!

My husband says it is best to start things on Mondays and so, this Monday, I am going to start updating my blog again. I'm really, really going to this time. But you have to start commenting to keep me motivated. Even if all you do is count the number of times I use the words fabulous and gorgeous.

Today my husband had the day off for May Day, an Italian holiday. The actual holiday was Saturday and stores were closed. This is a BIG deal in Italy where everything is so fresh that people shop every day. On Sunday, the only two stores that were open looked like World War III. There was no fruit, no milk, no bread. We had to raid our wine cellar, which has become our American food storage room, and have tacos.

So anyway, today was a la dolce vita (living the sweet life) kind of day with just my husband, my two year old and me. Our oldest was in school. We had cappuccino at our regular bar, rode bikes down to the big outdoor Monday market. (It was more of a drive-by than shopping as by that point said two year old was trying to escape from the bike seat.) Then on the way home we stopped by my favorite antique store and bought a gorgeous big antique Italian chandelier. If I can figure out how to get the picture of it off of my husband's phone and onto this blog, I'll post a picture. It is from the most amazing store that is great to wander because it is big and messy and you really feel like you've found something. He has pieces from as early as the 1700's. His newest addition is a pair of beautiful carved Louis XV chairs from France in the 1800's that I can't stop thinking about. Where could they fit in our house? Surely somewhere. Oh how my modern style is evolving. The new chandelier is going to hand over our zebra print ottoman. It will be a great contrast.

Hey, look I figured out how to get the photo on here! Just kidding, Matt had to do it of course.

Anyway, as usual the whole experience was conducted in limited Italian. Matt said I sound like a "bubbly blonde caveman"

What I wanted to say:
Oh, this is really gorgeous. I love it.
What I said:
"I like" (mi piace")

What I wanted to say:
How old is it? Where is it from?
What I said:
"year?" (anni?)

What I wanted to say:
Our ceilings are very high. Can you extend the chain?
What I said:
"ceiling. 5 meter. very big."

We think it is being delivered tomorrow by an electrician who will install it but we're not totally sure we understood that right. Luckily, they have Matt's phone number, not mine.

Where did I put my wineglass?

I have been rather busy lately and have not had time to write. Last week my oldest turned six so it was a busy week with parties, etc. Also, it is finally getting warmish so I needed to shop. . . that took up a lot of last week. This weekend we are hosting a big American BBQ and are expecting Spaniards, Itlalians, Brits, and Greeks. The Italians are so excited and think it will be "just like in the films". Wonder what that means. And today, instead of preparing for all this, I enjoyed a four course lunch at a friend's house. It lasted from 10:30 - 3:30.

So all this combined with cappuccino mornings with friends (and actually being a mom) has left little time. It is a rough life but someone has to do it. This Italian way of life really gets in the way of being efficient. More posts soon I promise! Now, off to make pasta salad for 40. Ciao ciao.