all jazzed up

i'm giddy. not sure if it's the coffee, the anticipation, or both. but my excitement for my roman holiday has me wanting to jump and twirl, neither of which are possible given that i am on the inside window seat of my row. the fact that we flew over the grand canyon and rockies on what is an absolutely clear, beautiful day is redeeming this otherwise imprisonment. actually, i want to run, not jump and dance. reading my Rome tour guide book has me so eager to get to this beautiful city and just run: past the colosseum, past the trajan column, past the pantheon, past the spanish steps, past the trevi fountain and along the snaking tiber river. besides the anticipation of seeing all these amazingly beautiful and historic sites, what has me MORE excited is the proximity of our apartment to them. we are in the heart of it all! my mom has always been a phenomenal travel planner and based on the photos of our two bedroom apartment with a balcony and its great location, i have high expectations (rut roh...). what's funny is that i have never wanted to go to rome before--even when i studied abroad in northern italy! at the time i was living and studying in vicenza, the hometown of renown Renaissance architect Palladio, and my architecture studies took me daily to Verona, Venice, Ravenna... moving and studying so much that, come weekends my friends and i wanted to relax. so every weekend we took the train away from man-made beauties and to nature's beauties: into the Dolomites and to Lake Guarda. Rome to me sounded hot, crowded, and too educational. now, almost ten years later, i am ready. but not for the heat or crowds (those, gratefully, and hopefully) have dissipated with the onset of Fall. i am ready for the sites, sounds, smells and feel of cobblestone under my feet and cool, creamy gelato at my lips. oh i can't wait!

my parents arrive tomorrow, ending their Adriadic cruise in Rome, and will stay for five days prior to flying home. i, on the other hand, will stay on in our cute apartment (that i have yet to see, but in my mind's eye it is adorable) for three days longer, using one of the days to visit mount Vesuvius and Pompeii. part of my excitement may be my eagerness for change-- i have been home in SF for nearly three weeks without a job and am ready to get going again. don't get me wrong, i really enjoyed being home and fall in love with the city every time i return. it was wonderful to have five days with my niece, Abigail, at "camp k" while Lauren and Jared were in Hawaii. she is such a curious, sassy, friendly little love and to have that dedicated time together was very special, not to mention, going up to Tahoe to stay at the Matthews' and go out on the boat with Jody and Shelly was such a treat. and then, once back in the city i had some wonderful days going hiking with my friend Josh and walked to Sausalito for lunch with Kate, and mountain biking with Jennie. and of course, many drinks, dinners, walks, and runs with Ari, Robin, and Lex. i had the unimaginable luck of being invited to participate in the North American IOD invitationals, a sailing regatta, for two days out on the Bay. i was absolutely grateful for the opportunity to participate in this, as this was the top IOD boats and crew from North America coming together to compete for a title. one of the women in our crew was jess, who is training to be in the 2016 olympics! i felt so unworthy to even be there with my scant knowledge of sailing. our team hailed from nantucket (well, actually none live there but they race there every weekend in the summer) and what was incredible was that, when asked where i was from, they ALL had connections to Concord, MA! either they had lived there or they have family who does. such a small world. and then the other boats in the fleet hailed form Fisher's Island (where i nannied several summers), Bar Harbor, and Marblehead.