Apartment Update

This is what our renovation looks like today, Feb. 19th 2009. The walls have been torn down, and the floors torn up. Can you picture what it's going to look like yet? ...Me neither...

Living Room looking at Office:

Kitchen:

Bathroom looking into our Bedroom:
Next week walls go back up and floors go back down. Stay tuned...

Grande Fratello

Big Brother Italy is awesome! 9 million Italians watched the last evection which is a lot considering that the population of Italy is 55 million. As it progresses I will blog here about the best bits. Let's start with the most recent evection, Federica.

Federica is a fire starter. She was so argumentative that she was actually disqualified instead of being voted off. Her most crazy moment occurred when, in and argument, she threw a heavy glass at another housemate. Here is a video of her evection, which includes a clip montage of her "best moments" at starting at 1:53.


You don't have to speak Italian to understand what is going on. Her actions do speak pretty loud. Can't wait to see what happens next! Stay tuned...

First of the Torino Etsyians Monthly Meet-up

A new club was started today, and some new friends made. Because today we had the first meeting of the Etsy shop owners of greater Torino. We enjoyed coffee and a long chat about how we can improve our sales, reach a larger market, our techniques and secrets, forums, advertising, and most importantly, where we are going for August vacation.
We decided to get together every month to continue to grow our Etsy experience together. So thanks to Ixela www.ixela.etsy.com and to Mireloom www.mireloom.etsy.com for joining me for coffee talk!

Bella Cucina

Here is the kitchen I have chosen for our historical apartment:

It's called the Valencia and it is a honey luscious colored oak. The floor will be black tiles and the work service will be white and gray Carrara marble. So accept for the floor, it should look just like this picture....although not this big....or with that island....

You Blog, I Blog, We Blog

Last week I sold a pair of very cute Ferragamos to Lauren who's Etsy shop goes by the name of DearGoldenVintage. It's always fun to buy and sell to fellow Etsy vintage sellers. It is a complement and feels like a family that way. Anyways, Lauren has a blog and she was nice enough to blog about how much she loves her new shoes, which I am ecstatic to hear! Read her gushing blog here:

http://deargolden.blogspot.com/2009/02/please-bury-me-in-my-ferragamo-flats.html

Thanks Lauren!

The Renovation has Begun

They started work on our 200 year old apartment today. When I say work I mean knocking down the walls. As I said before, I plan to show step by step the progress of renovating an Italian living space so stay tuned for more. It's almost a blank slate so this should be fun! But for now here are the initial photos for the before's. Living Room:

Kitchen and Bedroom:

Bathroom:

Ladies Who Brunch

I'm one! I am so excited to say that I made this Etsy Storque article on vintage brunch finds with my Italian rooster tea cozy. See the whole article with all of the great finds here:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/etsy-finds-vintage-brunching-3182/

I Made the Front Page!

I made the front page of Etsy today with my riding style vest.

This is the first time and I am just so excited I found it so, Thanks Etsy!

Great Door Series #6

As it continues to snow in Torino the chances of getting out and about are less and less. So Jolie and I stay at home filling out my Oscar winner picks for my competition with Pier and making cookies. For now I give you another in my great door series. This one is a bit Gothic and a bit Renaissance. I keep taking pictures of these wonderful doors because I am so in awe of them. They are hand carved masterpieces that have been around and continue to be used for hundreds of years. People just walk by them every day and yet I can't stop staring at them like the street is a museum. I have come to the conclusion that here in Italy, many times the street IS a museum. Starting with your apartment front door...

BBQ Like No Other

Here I am getting Utah Jazz small forward Andre Kirilenko's autograph at the Utah Jazz season ticket holder BBQ, of which I went with my Dad, and a couple of Pier's ski buddy's. Notice I am the only one in line getting a t-shirt signed because the ski bums were only concerned with meeting the cheerleaders. Koufos and Fesenko had a dance off. I picked up a few moves, See it here:

It was a BBQ like like no other and one to be remembered for sure. The Sundance trip is now over, next post will be back to Italy!

Who Likes to Rock the Party?

I like to rock the party! And so we did, the 2009 film festival ended with a bang last night at the Awards ceremony and party. Its a chance for all the volunteers to let their hair down and embarrass themselves with their best dance moves in front of all their co workers because tomorrow the city becomes as deserted as Tombstone. Click here for link that lists all of the Sundance winners. As usual the audience chose completely different winners than the jurors did.

http://festival.sundance.org/2009/news/article/awards_celebrate_2009_storytellers/

LAST WORD:

Wrapping Up My 13th Year at the Fest

So here we are, it's almost the last day of the 25th Sundance Film Festival and what ride! Working in merchandising this year has been a delightful discovery. I truly believe that I had the best job this year. Everybody from press to stars to tourists to students come threw merchandising for their souvenirs to take home. I helped Tracy Chapman pick out a hoodie. I sold writer Nick Hornby a film catalog. I gave directions to Johnny Lee Miller. I met filmmakers from Italy, Ecuador, Japan, and England. It's like living in an Independent Film version of Alice in Wonderland. But the festival does come to an end and going back to reality is the hardest part. 100 Hour Club dinner at the Filmmaker's Lodge.

Josh Brolin being interviewed for the Sundance channel.

Kenneth Cole talking to us about this year's jackets.

More to come...

That's Me On The Radio!

Back to Utah one day and I got be on the Radio. Today I was the BFOP, (best friend of the program), on Radio From Hell on X96, my favorite radio program in SLC. You can listen to the podcast from the January 12th on their website to hear me getting to talk about volunteering at Sundance and why I moved to Italy. It was a blast! http://x96.com/rfh/
The Radio From Hell crew, Kerry, Bill, and Richie T.

Sundance 2009

I'm off to Sundance everyone! Stay tuned....

The Snow Never Stops In Torino!

Like the title says. It just can't stop snowing here. It is impossible to get anything done in but makes for some great pictures.

Happy La Befana Everybody!

And you thought the holidays were over. Here in Italy they don't end until January 6.

La Befana is Italy's good Christmas witch! She comes down the chimney of the little bambinos and leaves them treats

The legend goes that the three wise men stopped at Strega Befana's house on their way to Bethlehem and she showed them such gracious hospitality they told her where they were going, and asked her to come along. She declined at first."She said 'I'll catch up with you' and she never has caught up," Scudelletti-Alabbas says. "She is still looking and she is stopping at every home to see if the baby Jesus is going to be at that home."According to some versions of the story, on her original journey La Befana had gathered up some toys that belonged to deceased child and she was trying to take the toys to Bethlehem. Since she never got there, she was never able to catch up to the three wise men, she leaves toys for children in every home she visits. Word has it that La Befana likes a spot of brandy and wouldn't turn down a glass left out for her. It's a change from milk and cookies but it hits the spot for a witch, huh!

Door Series, Page 5

Continuing my great doors series here is one in the center of Torino. What's so special about this door you say? Surely I have shown more ornate and detailed wood carvings in the series than this one. Ahh yes! But this door is the most special one of all because it is the door to our new apartment in Piazza Castello! There are some fixing up that needs to be done and so I will be cataloging the progress of restoring a 200 year old Italian apartment right here. Stay tuned for all the before and after action!
Please leave comments, ideas, and opinions at will...

It's Truffle Time!

Yes, those numbers are the prices in Euros and no those are not pieces of dirt they are highly coveted culinary delights.

Piedmont is famous for it's fine white truffles. They are hiding in grounds of the surrounding woodlands of the hills and mountains. Truffles are mushrooms that grow underground like hidden treasures. Looking for truffles is almost always carried out with specially trained pig and most truffle hunters keep their "hunting grounds" a secret, as the price of one is comparable to gold. They are always under lock and key at the grocery store and you point to the ugliest and most pungent one, pay a fortune, and take it home and lightly ground some over eggs.

Bellissimo!

We had a white Christmas! Here are a few pics of a snow covered Torino, Bellissimo!

Babbo Natale

Here in Italy Santa (or Babbo Natale as he is called) can't always make it down the chimney because not everybody has a fireplace in the busy and crowed Italian city life. So Babbo finds other ways to get in. He is pretty agile for an old guy...But for some houses its not Babbo Natale that brings the presents, its baby Jesus. On Christmas Eve children write letters to the baby Jesus telling him what they are thankful for and what they want for the next year. And then Santa comes (sometimes by vespa) after the baby. Oh, and then the 3 wise men come on Jan.6th. BUT that another blog post! Merry Christmas from Italy everybody!