The lights of Rome are on!! I LOVE this city’s dedication to beauty! (AND their quirky, artsy humor, as in these Christmas trees created by merchants on Via Urbana.
Say YES to the journey and your business.
I want to acknowledge one of my new coaching clients for playing big. I suggested (playfully, in part) that she come do her full-day VIP business planning/strategy session in Rome. And by golly, she did it!! Here we are, planning out a ROCKING 2014 for her. Pat Mussieux came a day later, embodying the same spirit of “YES!” that I just love! Pat’s a coach from Canada who’s in a mastermind I’m in, and we discovered we have similar travel styles (the kind that enjoys jumping on a random city bus just to see where you go). Pat and I shot a few videos yesterday in a truly magical “aqueduct park” outside of Rome. You’ll get an opportunity to watch them over the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
I encourage you to say YES to the journey. By saying YES to your business and your dream of taking your business on the road, what new opportunities will come to you?
A stroll through a Paris Farmers Market
Love the precision + color combos at this Paris market.
Stuck in Rome Without My…
One of the most hilarious situations I have ever found myself in happened just a week ago in the Rome train station.
I had gone there, not to catch a train, but to do a little last-minute shopping at a well-known Italian department store that I knew had late night hours. I heard the “closing in 10 minutes” message and headed into a dressing room to try on a couple of dresses. And when I heard the “store is closed” message, I headed out of the dressing room within 1-2 minutes.
I walked from exit to exit to see which one they were letting folks out from and soon discovered that ALL the doors were locked and NO ONE was inside. No other shoppers. No store employees. Just me. Inside a now-dark Italian department store. With only my Italian mobile phone (on which I had only my Italian friends’ contacts, none of whom answered my call).
Luckily, it was in a train station! There were people around! A young woman quizzically approached one door when I beckoned to her from inside the store. Ninety minutes, 4 police officers, 5 recalled store employees and countless bemused passersby LATER, I finally was free to go. OMG!
The only person who knew what was happening to me was my son in Los Angeles, whom I was amazingly able to call from my Italian mobile. He promptly posted my predicament to his Facebook page, asking “Why does she get to have all the fun?”
THE BIG TIP: This would have made a fantastic video. I could have at least gotten photos of my rescue party. BUT I DIDN’T HAVE MY IPHONE WITH ME. Whether you are traveling with your business or just heading to the grocery store at home, don’t leave to go ANYWHERE without your smart phone. You never know what you might need to capture!
Washing Machine Woes
For some reason, European washing machines (especially the washer-dryer combos) freak me out. One time I almost burned all my clothes!
So here I am at this cool Italian apartment in Bologna (found it on AirBnB) and have the chance to catch up on all my laundry. The machine has an instruction booklet. Check!
But uh-oh, the instructions are in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Greek. Nothing in English. I can do conversational Spanish and Italian, but reading technical instructions is a different story. So here I am with my translation website, HOPEFULLY getting all I need to know so as not to burn the clothes or flood the house!
Wish me luck!
Hello from Paris!
Bon jour, buon giorno, good morning…I’m so confused! Having popped up from Italy to Paris for a week to visit friends old and new, I never know what’s going to come out of my mouth when I respond to a greeting.
As I write you, I’m sitting in a lovely corner boulangerie in a semi-residential neighborhood in the heart of Paris that thankfully has decent wifi. Three vans full of French police officers in full mega-SWAT team get-up have gotten their sandwiches and baguettes just ahead of me. They’re so intimidating looking that I giggle a little as they eat and brush crumbs off their uniforms and show just a touch of the “boy” inside them.
Paris is just so intensely amazing. At any given moment, you’re likely to hear at least 7 languages being spoken, often more. The other night, my three friends and I (who speak 6 languages between us) asked a couple for directions to a restaurant and finally got it square using a combination of French, Italian and English.
I love the tiny, quirky specialty shops here — like the one devoted to keys from the 18th century or the all-things-salmon shop or the calligraphy tools shop. And the HUGE, expansive buildings and public areas. Paris is the definition of magnificent!
And yet, my heart longs to get back to Italy. So after a proper Thanksgiving dinner with a woman who makes her living cooking comfort food for expat Americans here in Paris, I’ll head back to Rome…even got concert tickets to see my favorite Italian band. Look up “Negramaro,” if you have a chance.
Wishing those of you in the U.S. a delightful Thanksgiving and those of you elsewhere, the same thing: a delightful day giving thanks for all that’s good in your life.
Italian Beach Experience
Yellow! The Italians really know how to do the beach experience.
Meeting with a View
Nowhere else better to have a video planning session with my son (the videographer/editor) than the Dolomites in Italy!
Doorway
Found this beautiful doorway and statue on my morning walk today.
What beauty surrounds you?
Best gelato in Italy!
Oh, sweet Gelato
My trip back to Viterbo (in central Italy), where I lived for nearly half a year, was mixed. But what was still outrageously good was my favorite restaurant, Taverna Etrusca. Amazing food + best gelato in Italy!