Our 2 weeks in Italy was inspiring in surprising ways. Since this was my second trip to the Eternal Country, I chose to do the opposite as I had done before, which is to say I consciously planned nothing. All we planned for was a place to stay and a rental car for our second week in Tuscany. I was most interested in seeing where each day would lead.

Our itinerary went like this: 5 night in Rome, 2 nights each in Montepulciano, Sienna, Vernazza and Florence.

I brought with me a stash of 4×6 cards in various colors and water color pencils. Every moment we sat to eat or rest I sketched. (above, watercolor and pen on watercolor paper)

This is an interpretation of the Trevi Fountain. I couldn’t help including my lunch since eating was all we seemed to do. Yum! (on blue paper)

Serenade, Italy style (on blue paper)

Antipasto (on green paper)

A brick fell on our car in Montepulciano in the middle of the night. It smashed the back window out of our car. The next day we had to drive to another town to trade out the rental. Moral of the story, if you park next to an old building in Italy and a brick falls on your car, don’t admit it to the rental company because—in Italy—insurance won’t cover it. You’re just supposed to know not to park next to old stuff. It might fall on you. Our official story is, “We don’t know how that brick got in there.” (on dark blue paper)

Osteria Spaghetti Roma, best meal in the city. (on light blue paper)

Osteria Spaghetti Roma. Now, that’s how to eat a meal!

Every day, everywhere. Love the fizzy water. (on blue paper)

Drinks in Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi. Sunny day overlooking Roma. Ahhh….

Don’t worry, be Gabs. I bought three… www.gabs.it

What’s a trip to Italy without pencil rubbing a building. (on blue-gray paper)

So there you have it. Next time we are staying for a year. The plans have begun…

Four years in the making, our Italy trip is on the horizon. I am most excited about visiting Vernazza (pictured above) in Cinque Terre, since our plans looked dashed last October after rains and mudslides devastated this and other towns in the region. Most restaurants and shops are open according to the website Save Vernazza. The finishing touches to my packing list are building pages to journal on (see below).

CC and I scoured thrift shops for coffee table books with beautiful images of Italy and the countryside/seaside. I found a 50 year old book on Rome with gorgeous black and white images of Roman life, and another book about sea-side living that offered colorful plates of delicate flora and fauna living in the harsh environment. A third book gave me sweeping views of the country. These pages will follow us and be filled with our experiences in Rome, Tuscany, Cinque Terre and Florence.

My kit includes:
• prepared pages
• blunt scissors that I can put in my carry on
• watercolor pencils and small paintbrush
• white pencils to write on uncoated paper
• paint pens to write on glossy paper, and offer contrast in the darker areas on the pages
• glue stick
• poloroid pogo for adding of-the-moment pics to the layouts

Of course, I will be blogging along the way so tune back in September.

xoxSarah

Every year The HOW conference attracts several people from my department as well as several hundred other creatives from around the world. This time it was in Boston and I couldn’t wait to get back and see how Boston has changed since I last lived there fifteen years ago. I took extra days off from work and brought my husband along to show him around.

Even though I used to live in Boston, I have never given much thought to eating oysters. My husband was anxious to try them so the first night we were directed to B&G Oysters in the South End. The menu was extensive so we asked our waiter to order for the uninitiated and she brought ten oysters (2 each of 5) from the waters off New York all the way to Nova Scotia. Our favorite were the Wellfleet Oysters from Massachusetts. We ordered these every might we were in Boston. Yum!

This menu was the best way to be introduced to the subtitles of oysters. We were amazed at the flavor differences!

Most of our time was spent in the South End, but one day we hiked it up to Cambridge to check out Harvard. We spent some time in the Yard watching the summer students check in, then we walked around town to see what we could find. The image of this book store (above) has inspired a painting that I am working on, and the pic below is where we got lunch.

Clover Food Lab is a great place to eat if you are ever in Cambridge, Ma. Here is what it’s all about, as excerpted from the website:

“We’re here to make food you love, the kind you talk about and look forward to eating. The Clover Food Lab is serving up a new type of fast food. This food is local, it’s just-cut, when we can it is organic.

I recently traveled to New York City to attend the Luxe Pack tradeshow. It is my favorite time of year in the City, the month of May, because the weather is fabulous even if it is raining and the City is at a steady pace and generally in a good mood. Fortunately, we received 75 degrees with sun for five straight days, and there was no better time or place to be. The tradeshow was packed with top tier packaging manufacturers covering all aspects of fine packaging from beautiful booze bottles to inventive cosmetic packaging. It was great to meet new people in the industry and shop for upcoming projects.

In between times we had spans of time to stroll the streets of SoHo. Once day we hit upon the Mondrian Hotel SoHo which has a spectacular bar located in a greenhouse. Since I can’t pass up a greenhouse, we had to stop in. Happy hour was upon us so I ordered what I thought would be fitting for a beautiful day in a beautiful city — the No. 5 (Bombay Sapphire East Gin, Maraschino Liqueur, fresh grapefruit juice, fresh lime squeeze and simple syrup with a fresh basil leaf on top for muddling). I found my Summer drink! It was light, refreshing, and perfect as the sun was setting on yet another great day in New York.

When the show was over and the weekend hit, I was headed up the Hudson to my sister’s retreat in Red Hook. There we cooked and crafted and enjoyed the fresh cool weather. I noticed my sister framed and hung in her master bedroom two bird paintings she bought from me a few years ago. It reminds me of my first love of painting and how I need to get back to it. It’s been too long!

The last day of my trip, we walked around her property collecting little green things, rocks and sand to make terrariums. My sister was all prepared for us with several jars waiting to be filled with our treasures. It was the end of a great trip I will not soon forget.

Just returned from the weekend in Sedona. We stayed at the Briar Patch Inn. What a wonderful place. Brings me back to the days of growing up at the lodge.

Great time~And it snowed! Here are the pics. The last are my favorite of my sketches…