Crappy Birthday to Me

Here's me airing our dirty laundry:  I wanted to throw an awesome 40th bday bash in our new house, back when I thought we would have been living in it for a few months, but since we are still living out of boxes obviously we have to forgo that :o( Since, I've been wanting to go to Trattoria dei Cacciatori (literally next door to the new house) for dinner for a while, I thought that would we fun to do instead.   They have a fantastic spread.   For 30 euro per person and reservations in advance, the table is set with a loads of aperitivi and various breads when you get there.  There were cold cuts of various prociutti, salami, plus cheeses olives, pickled onions and peppers and stuff.  They came around with plates of fried zucchini flowers and different bruschettas.  And then came the first courses...Plates of ravioli and strawberry risotto (a fairly common milanese food-not my favorite.  But don't let my opinion influence you, come try for yourself.) came around.   I was holding back and saving myself for the second course, because with a name like the Trattoria of the Hunters, you know that the meats must rock!  I never made it that far.  Sophia was tired and in a terrible mood and throwing one tantrum after another, Vivienne was fussy and Max was tired since he worked the morning shift so we could go out tonight.  When Max decided he'd had enough, he just picked up the girls and went to pay and I was still starving. 

 

Since I have had to forgo a big birthday celebration and my consolatory rockin dinner at least let me have my own damn pity party...Cheers and crappy birthday to me!!!

happy 25th to me!

How old is Mommy?

I taught Sophia some math today...I ask how old is Mommy and she says '25'! The gang came over for a last minute brindisi (toast) for my 25th bday. Holber, Gweta, Critz and Ida got me a digital frame. Manlo and Kha-tia gave me a beautiful skirt and top. Max and Pia got me a new digital camera. I love it all, thanks!!!

San Giacomo B-days

This weekend we went to the San Giacomo house to celebrate the 3 birthdays (Irene (Max's mom), Sophia and mine). And we were supposed to celebrate Irene's 80th birthday with her friends on Sunday with a big lunch. There was prosciutto and melon, lots of salamis, hams and cheese from Tuscany. And then Irene made polenta and cinghiale (boar). Molto buono! But....Irene didnt tell anyone it was her birthday and the party ended being for Sophia. (I was kind of mad about that because she didnt even tell us that the party was not for her...Max thinks she doesnt want people to know her age, she should just lie like we do in the Ng family).

...But we know the truth. We gave her a matching purse and shawl. Every one did a little something for the present. I crocheted, Sophia decorated the wrapping paper and card and Max wrote the card. (Sophia is wearing a hooded beach towel the her Auntie Paola and Uncle Ale gave her)




After lunch Max and I went for a walk. San Giacomo is beautiful at every season. In spring there are beautiful flowers that carpet the hills...which i always pillage and plunder from the wild and bring home to shove in tiny Ikea vase in our tiny sad apt. Here they will stay until the wilt and eventually start to rot and the smell is so awful that I will have no other choice than to finally get rid of them. Just so I can pretend to bring some of that wild beauty back into our crampy little Milanese home. But they arent wilted and smelly yet, so I am still enjoying them (well except for the pollen and petals that keep falling off).

(the pictures are quite annoying to upload and then trying to place them where you want them to go is all together another frustration....sorry)

Happy Bday to me!

Yeah! Max gave me a big ol lumpy package that looked as if it was wrapped by a 4 year old...guess what it was?? Some horrible gigantic book, just what we needed for our bookshelf. As if we dont have enough free terrible books from his work already. I think its an addiction, he can't stop himself. It's now the biggest book on our bookshelf...but i was graceful and said thank you, and boy was he disappointed that i wasnt disappointed! He was just trying to piss me off - instead I got a brand new LG TouchMe! Wooohooo!! Very cool! Altho, im still not sure who the gift is for-him or me! He's been goofin off on it the most so far!

Franci, Paolo, and Pietro came over in the afternoon to wish me a happy birthday.
Then we took the kids to the park for a bit to run around.

My blog, my version of the story: Let me explain the sign...translation 'Max, not to be thrown away.' Did I tell the story already about how im missing half of my summer clothes. Somethings werent even worn yet, I got them at the end of the season sales last year. So anyways, the closets here are REALLY stinkin' small, so those of us who dont just wear tshirts and jeans all year 'round (Max) have to do the changing of the wardrobe. That means summer clothes go down in the basement when its winter and vice versa. Max's house hold duty (aside from being head bbq'r) is to take out the garbage and put stuff down in the basement (they are both down stairs near the garages). You can see where this is leading, I put the summer clothes in a bag to be taken downstairs, told Max they were ready to go down and and that was the last we saw of them again. Now his claim is that they got thrown out with the clothes that were to go to the 'donations to the poor' containers. But I always double check the bags for fear of some disaster like this. Aside from the fact that the clothes to be thrown away were in a bag that shouldnt have even been near the summer clothes! Tore the basement apart looking for them. Zero. So of course I complained and told the story to everyone! And hence the fancy wrapping paper and sign on the new beginnings of my summer wardrobe. PS did i mention the the dress I got married in was in the bag that got thrown out????

Thanks everyone for coming out! It was a lot of fun!









PS Celebrity Siting! Guardate e DJ Francesco!!