T-7 days

ok, darn, I have to do the dumb tax returns before I can leave on my trip. I have a list of to-dos and that is the one bad one...

8 days to go!

We have already practiced packing and when I walk the dog I carry around my backpack suitcase to make sure I'm strong enough to do it for 3 weeks in Italy. It weighs about 12 lbs - almost exactly the amount of weight I've lost since we started planning the trip so I guess I can manage! We are working hard to pack light and be more mobile - I figure this way we can walk the 1/2 mile or so to most of our hotels from the trains.

Looking forward to it so much its hard to concentrate on things I should be doing here....

From CNN - 

Wednesday, Feb. 24, is Steve Jobs' birthday.

He turns 55.

As we did last year, we'd like to celebrate this personal milestone by re-posting what may be the most personal public speech this intensely private man has ever made: his commencement address to the Stanford University class of 2005.

If you haven't seen it — or haven't heard it recently — we give you Apple's (AAPL) CEO on life, death and calligraphy.

“Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories…”

I found this particularly inspiring. And not just because I'm a Mac addict from way back. Worth watching all the way through and I don't usually like commencement speeches...

Italian

We bought Pimsleur's Italian and are working on learning at least a few phrases... I can now say that I do not understand Italian or that I understand very little... think that will get me through?

Plans for Italy

All set is the timeframe - leaving March 19th, returning April 10th. I have a free flight - a little payoff for having Bill gone on trips so much. We are paying for his because he gets triple miles.

This is the first big trip we've taken in many years so I am very excited to be planning it - I love planning trips except the decisions are so hard - there are so many wonderful sounding things to do....

Included in our plans are Lake Como area - Varenna, Cinque Terre area - Manarola, Florence, Venice, Padua, Assisi, Montecatini, Lucca, Rome (for Easter), Naples and Amalfi Coast area.  Anyone have suggestions? I have already made reservations for the first two areas and for Venice. Part of the time we will be joining the Burnsville HS band trip with my niece, brother and sister-in-law and will be attending some Burnsville HS band concerts in a couple of cities. I'm very excited to be spending that time with them. I've made some requests for help getting tickets to the papal events in Rome/Vatican for Easter and also hope to visit a couple of Siberian Cat breeders around Venice and Naples too!

In the planning, it looks like we'll be staying two nights in every place, I hate one night stays...
With help from Rick Steves tour books and TripAdvisor.com I'm starting to get the hotels booked and noting suggestions for restaurants and activities.

Very glad to know our daughter will stay here with our pets and run our business in our absence!

More details coming....

My Three Daughters

My 20-something daughters are so interesting.... I'm going to introduce/re-introduce their blogs/websites.

 Christina and Throwfishatbear.blogspot.com

She's living in LA and trying to get into screenwriting and/or TV promotion - working for peanuts now (well actually she doesn't even get any peanuts) but hoping for a real job soon... she has three different unpaid, part-time internships, one at a film production company, one blogging about TV shows, one at an Anime company doing their website and also evaluates scripts for another company. 

Colleen and loettchen.livejournal.com

Colleen makes costumes ranging from Phantom of the Opera to Star Wars and even doll costumes - see them on her website. She belongs to the Rebel Legion and appears at various charity and other events in costume. Her job is that she and I have a business together - The Preemie Store at preemie.com and she is graduate school and is fluent in German. 

Katie does not blog or have a website - not time for that -  she's a third year medical student at USC's Keck School of Medicine. Very proud of her for living her dream of medical school AND living in Southern California! Note the palm trees, blue sky and beach in the background...

And Bill and I - not so interesting but we did get talked into attending Celebration V in Orlando this August - that's the big Star Wars Con and yes, we are going in costume.... more on that later when I get costumes made... oh, and I write my clever blog and occasionally consult on screenplay ideas or sewing/costume questions.... just playing the mom supporting role. My new favorite quote - "a mom is only as happy as her least happy child" - so there's a job (helping them be happy) that goes on one's whole life....

my daughter #3

So my daughter writes all these sarcastic, edgy posts on her blog (http://throwfishatbear.blogspot.com/ ) so here goes one for her...

After months of unemployment and despite her not paying much attention to our advice, we let daughter number three move to California with us paying the rent and for her car  - to try to find a job in TV writing or promotion.  Less than a week later, she has a job..... in a production company.... oh, but did I mention its a part time, unpaid job?  She says that's how everyone in this industry has to start.... I'm wondering are all of them living off their parents?  But, seriously, its a start and I'm proud of her for following her dreams this far and hope it turns into much, much more!