Life in Italics

Last night i felt like was living the life.  After two weeks in Italy, I thought I had experienced the life, and, really, I did.  But all along, I knew my Italian adventure would end and I'd return to real life.  I was a little bummed, but I vowed to keep the European feeling alive as long as I could.  When I came back, I went shopping at the outdoor market.  I restarted my morning pages writing exercise on the deck under the sycamore first thing in the morning.  I slowed down and resisted getting back into the hectic pace the is life in Southern California.

And for the most part, it has worked.  I just had to remind myself "what you resist, persists."  And so I have been paying more attention to intention.  

(I note, along with you I expect, I am using italics quite a bit in this blurb.  Italics as I understand them are to give particular emphasis to a certain word or phrase, either in a to make it stand out or point out a mild irony.  That is my understanding, and my intention, here.)

So, with intention, I set a date with a good friend to go to Cafe Sevilla's happy hour in their upstairs lounge.  It was so very urbane, and even, dare I say it, sophisticated.  We ordered a pitcher of Sangria Royale, which, comes with tapas included up to the value of the pitcher.  Can I say yummy and convey how very good it was?  And then there was live music by a Spanish duo.  Live music!

We sat at Sevilla's for about an hour and a half, eating taps and drinking sangria and I got a delightful buzz going...something I don't do very often, but did occur a few times on the fantastic Italian red wines that accompanied our pasta and pizzas.  Again, yum.

After a relaxed early evening of conversation and food, we went to Riverside's Art Walk because, a.) I love to go and b.) I had something up in the exhibit of one of the galleries.  It is my photo of some masks I saw in a store window in Venice.  (Just saying that makes me feel like such a bon vivant!)  There was a reception for the new members show.  We went and had a great time, then walked around a bit at the rest of Art Walk, and ended the evening in the studio of a local photographer who I have discovered does amazing work.  She is starting classes and I am thinking of taking class with her.  It's me, living the life of an artist...wow.

And so there you have it for today.  The feeling continues.  The intention I mention requires my attention.  LOL.  Couldn't resist the rhyme.  Sometimes I'm a poet too.

Carnival Masks of Venice near the Correr Museum, St Mark's Square