The Half Way Point

Ciao, tutti!

Many, many thanks for the lovely comments I've received here on the blog, via emails and FB comments regarding this 10 day Blog Challenge.  I know it's a bit different, not Venice related, and I truly appreciate you hanging in here with me.  I need to get refocused, back on track, and this is going to help me get there, to get me back into the habit of writing regularly and making more frequent posts on the blog as well.

This blog post is in response to Natalie Sisson's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 5. The task for the day is to come up with a daily plan that I will put into place and use every day to help move me towards meeting my goals.

I need to work every day to complete tasks to get our new blog ready to launch and also write content to post on the new blog, and then keep it up regularly going forward. You all know from experience with me on this blog that I get into periods where I am not writing at all, even though I may be doing cool things that are worthy of writing about. I let life get in my way and have gotten out of the habit of writing every day.

Natalie describes a time management activity called the Pomodoro technique (after the timer used to keep track of time which is in the shape of a bright red tomato- thus Pomodoro) which is useful to keep you focused and on task.  You break your work up into small manageable chunks of time, 25 minute increments. You work for 25 minutes straight with no distractions, then give yourself a short break. After the break, you return for another 25 minute block of work. You can continue this several times in succession. I like the way this works. It seems like a workable plan for me, so I've decided to put the Pomodoro plan into action.

My plan to implement this strategy has to begin on Monday, as I already have plans to be out of town for a long weekend beginning early Friday morning. I'm taking the 3 days off- no work for me. The new plan commences Monday. I'm going to commit to three 25 minute work segments each day. I tend to write better in the evenings than in the mornings, so I'll set aside time between 8-10 pm. If I'm diligent about keeping to this work schedule, I should meet my initial goal of launching the blog , and help me stick to to a schedule to add content regularly.

I know I've been talking a lot about this new blog I'm focusing on. While I've been putting my energies in that direction, I have also spent time planning content for The Venice Experience. I've given up the thought of giving this space a visual overhaul, that's just too much on my plate for now, however there is always lots to write about going on here in Venice, and I will be doing that. Definitely NOT abandoning this. It's been my baby since July of 2007.  The Venice Experience will be 10 years old in 2017.  I feel a big birthday bash coming on!

Ok, Blog Challenge #5 is officially completed. And I'm halfway through the 10 days. That's an accomplishment in and of itself. Taking the rest of the night off!


                                            

A Perfect Day

Ciao, tutti!

This blog post is in response to Natalie Sisson's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 3

Have you been keeping up with my Blog Challenge I've gotten myself into ? Each day I receive an email describing the challenge of the day.

Day 1 we had to write about our 2 or 3 biggest roadblocks that prevent us from living our ideal life.
Day 2's task was to figure out our why. Why did we want to live a free-er lifestyle.

I received today's assignment earlier this morning, and I've been pondering it all day. See- I did admit to being the Queen of Procrastination. This one should have been easy, and yet I've put it off until now.  It's 10:24 pm and I can't put it off anymore.

The challenge for Day 3 is to describe my perfect day- from waking up to going to bed.  What am I doing, what does it look, feel, smell. Really, I got this.

Ok, here goes.
My morning always starts with a cup of hot tea. Decaf, black tea. In a mug  handmade by a local potter. The mug is a blue color that reminds me of the sea.

I'm not a real early riser. 7:30 is my usual time to start the day. However, in my perfect day (yes, I'm tweaking a bit here), I'd be up and out of the house earlier. 6:30 maybe.

I take a walk on the beach, carrying the mug of tea with me.

I once owned a beach house that had a fantastic outdoor shower. I'd love to have that shower every morning.

Upon returning from my walk and shower, I make a nice late breakfast for Mike and myself. Fruit- my favorites are pineapple, melon or berries, and an omelet with cheese and fresh tomatoes or peppers, fresh squeezed orange juice and more tea. Coffee for him.

Most of the rest of the day is spent writing. In my perfect day I'd be working on that book I've started but haven't finished. And I'd be doing that writing in a spot I love to be in. Something that looks like the photo below. I'd be on that veranda, overlooking the sea.

I love the sounds of the sea. The water lapping, the fresh smell of the ocean water, the rustle of the sea breezes. It calms me, helps keep me grounded.

The evening meal would be some seafood, perhaps shrimp and clams.  And ice cream for dessert. There would be some Frank Sinatra music playing somewhere, and candles on the veranda.

That would be a perfect day for me.

Since you're reading along with my daily blog challenges, I'm thinking it would be fun for you to join right in with me. Go ahead. What would your perfect day look like?  Share it in the comments for me, please.


                                      

Can't wait to see what Day 4 will bring.


PS- While I did not make as much progress with the new blog as I had planned today, I did get some work done on it.  After several hours of researching and demo-ing, I narrowed a theme down to two choices. Tomorrow I need to make a decision, get the theme (whichever it is) installed, and get at least some of the pages created.

Living La Dolce Vita- that's why

It's Day 2 of the 10-day blog challenge, and today's task is to write about WHY.   Why is it we want to live our ideal lifestyle, whatever that may be.

This blog post is in response to Natalie Sisson's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 2 

This one is easy for me. I get asked that same question almost every day. Why did we want to give up our lives in the US to move to Italy? And I don't have to hesitate about my response. I remember having to do a great deal of soul-searching 10 years ago when we were planning our new life on the other side of the Atlantic.  Then, and now, the WHY is the same.

We'd made several month-long vacations in Italy, most of them here in Venice. Upon re-entry to our normal lives, we always found ourselves missing the slower lifestyle of the Italian culture. We felt trapped by our careers, by our American lifestyle of working practically non-stop.  We were slaves to the American way of living, which we began to see as a culture of greed. We strived for bigger and better, more stuff. And the more "stuff" you had, the more you had to work to support it.  It Italy, we saw people exist with much less, but seemed to be much happier in their smaller existence. We envied that happiness, that joyful spirit we witnessed in Italy.

Rather than be envious of that lifestyle, we chose to adopt it. What was previously important to us- advancing in our careers, earning more money, having more, just wasn't making us happy anymore. And why would we want to spend our days being unhappy? It didn't make sense to us anymore. What became much more important was living simpler, living healthier, living stress-free.

We had to make some tough decisions about getting rid of cars, houses, stuff and learn to live with much less. Doing away with all that stuff was a burden lifted off our shoulders. It was liberating. It gave us our life back.

And so the Why is something I have no trouble answering. To live "la dolce vita". The sweet life.