Happy Mother's Day

What a great day!! It was the most beautiful day in London since we arrived. Vanessa (Daniel's sister) and her little baby, Mikaela (Rome's cousin), are visiting from Maryland so we all spent the day having tea and playing with the little ones. Following lunch at the Tea Palace in Notting Hill, we went to the the butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum, then walked through Hyde Park to Kensington Palace and the Orangery. Here are some pics and a video clip of our fun day..

Happy Mum's day to all the other mummy's -- hope your day was filled with laughter and joy. Today, Rome gave me the best present ever-- his first poop in his new potty !!! He did it on his own and surprised me. Isn't that sweet-)

Together in the cocoon Clowning around in Hyde Park
Walking in mama & dada's shoes...



CLICK ON THE PHOTO ABOVE to see a video clip of Rome & Mikaela from today --they are so cute!!!!

Semana Santa in Spain

Easter holiday this year was spent traveling around Southern Spain (love the UK holidays schedule). We started out touring the museums, grand boulevards and tapas bars of Madrid and then headed south to Sevilla for Semana Santa. This festival held every year during Holy Week attracts thousands who come to see the treasures of the cathedrals that are placed on gold platforms and paraded around the city streets from afternoon and through the night. These religious iconic "floats" are HEAVY, weighing nearly a ton, and are carried very slowly by at least thirty men and followed by hundreds of "cofraides" in masks, musicians, and other members of the church.

On Easter Sunday, we attended services at the third largest cathedral in the world-- in Seville (last year we were at the second largest-St. Paul's in London!) Beforehand, Rome met the Bishop of Seville !! (he also met the Bishop of London last year too if you remember from the blog.) The Spanish bishop played with Rome, pulling down his hat over his eyes and said "Yo estoy malo" (translation--"I am bad!!). I think Rome might possibly have a future position with the catholic church if he wishes....

Unfortunatly, we forgot our camera and bought a really crappy disposable one that couldn't capture the incredible beauty that was everywhere. The Alcazar of Seville and the Alhambra in Granada, our next destination, were incredible masterpieces of Mujedar architecture -so detailed, colorful and stunning - a perfect & beautiful mix of Moorish design from the Islamic world and grand European style. Here are a few photos of us amidst the azuelo tiles, islamic style porticos and inner courtyards. I wish I could share more as the entire place was such an incredible design inspiration....

'08 is great!!

We celebrated the Chinese New Year at the British Museum and then a chinese restaurant.











We've had a few visitors since then -- Serry stopped over for a few days on her way from India.

Ina & Damien celebrated their honeymoon in London. They had a blast. Rome now has a stylin' new wardrobe.

Not to mention a few foxes that hang out in our backyard-- here's one going potty.

As you can see, there's never a dull moment here-- stay tuned for pics of Spain and Rome's second b-day celebration in NY soon!!!

Winter in Wales

Everything you've heard about Wales is true--lots of greenery, lots of sheep and charming stone cottages and castles - as well as beach towns with Victorian homes that looked just like San Francisco! Lucky for us, the rain stopped for a couple days so we could play in the Welsh countryside.


Rome in his wellies in he field outside of our place



















an old apothecary
the red door





a walk along the beach


















enjoying the sunset


















rome running ahead








a medeival castle

a babbling brook

stunning vistas

Happy New Year!!!

The holidays went by in a blur. We had an early Christmas on Dec. 9th in New York, to coincide with Daniel's b-day with some of his family. It was cold, snowing (a bit), Daniel was working hard and I had the flu so we didn't really get to see or do too much but enjoyed our visit with nonna and all the zia's, zio's, cougine and a few friends.

Our attempts at making a Christmas Eve dinner this year at our home were disappointing and, luckily, we were invited to our friends place on Christmas day for a big Christmas lunch. The next day we left for Roma to celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year.

We stayed with our friends, Rosella, Carlo and their baby boy, Sathya in Brecciano, Italy, just outside of Rome. It was quiet, peaceful and romantic. There wasn't much in the town apart from a impressive castle that overlooked the lake and surrounding region (if it sounds familiar it was most recently in the news for the very famous Tom Cruise -Kaytie Holmes wedding). Rome (our boy) was courted in the castle by a young girl who fancied him or just wanted to re-enact the celebrity wedding and took Rome's hand to walk through the courtyard where TomKat exchaged vows --she was even wearing white!!

We spent several days in Roma and the Vatican City, taking in all the incredible treasures the cities hold. Although we finally saw the Sistine Chapel (it was under restoration for like 20 years or something) and toured the Vatican Museum, explored the Roman Forum & the Coliseum, and visited the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and many other sights, we barely scratched the surface of what that town beholds....it truly was incredible and we hope to return.

After they worked out a few issues, Rome and Sathya became good friends and played, hugged and even kissed!! So, hopefully, we'll all be invited back-)

We've returned to London now and getting ready to start the new year on a positive note. I'm ready to stay home and get settled in but it looks like our traveling days aren't over yet and we're heading to Wales in a week for yet another holiday. Oh, how we love the European lifestyle and vacation allotment!!

Here are a few pics from Roma, Christmas and our friends in Italia.

Auguri!!

All roads lead to Rome...
Rosella, Livio and Sathya

Rome and Sathya at Gusto..

Catching Up

It has been a long time since our last post in August. Since then, we have been busy traveling- and also hosted many family members and friends here in London! We have so many stories and pics to share, I don't know where to begin -- between the Goddess Conference in Glastonbury, nonna and family visiting in August, more family and friends in September and October, a trip back to the L.A. & S.F. and weddings in Taos, New Mexico and Istanbul -- we have been going non-stop!!

Since I barely have time to write as it is, a few pics highlighting each adventure are below and, time permitting, I would love to share with you more. In the menawhile, Rome is busy walking, talking, dancing and just developing so fast, we can't belive it. He's quite funny too and has us in stitches all the time.... he's saying so many new words, we have to really start watching what we're saying now (knees, down, rome and boo-ty are a few new favorite words).

Daniel in front of the Royal Albert Hall with mom and sister, Erika


















Rome dancing with the goddesses at the Masquerade Ball

Nonna Lucrezia with Rome, Liam and Alexis




























Alli and JJ back in London for Fashion Week and celebrating their recent engagement!!


Devi and Pepe at the Masquerade Ball in Glastonbury