Vacation #3.2: Florence

After four days in Rome, we took a train up to Florence, where we stayed for two nights. For electrical problems unbeknownst to us, we were upgraded from our third floor apartment to the top floor suite, which had two balconies and roof access. We spent the first night drinking wine and watching shooting stars...

View of the Duomo from our roof

Our street

The Duomo

Ponte Vecchio

Statue in the garden behind the Uffizi Gallery

Unfortunately, many of the sights in Florence forbade the use of photography: Michaelangelo's David in the Galleria del'Accademia; the incredible Uffizi Gallery; the inside of the Duomo. David was particularly moving -- it really validated the importance of seeing something with one's own eyes. I actually gasped when I saw it. It's amazing what differentiates this one statue with the thousands of others just like it, including its copies... nothing perceptible, that's for sure. Hmm. Will think on this one.

Also:

Handicapped chair lift that we sometimes used to move our "luggage"

Vacation #3.1: Rome

Immediately after the Smucker Reunion, we went to Italy. A full-scale European family vacation, complete with meltdowns (mostly mine), sketchy landlords, and priceless bonding time. I will make a full confession and admit that I was not the best of travel companions (probably the worst, actually), and were it not for the patience and compassion of my family members, I should have been abandoned at Ponte Garibaldi and left to my own devices.

Antipasti on la terrazza

Emily looking out over the view from Janiculum Hill

Megan on the walkway next to the Tiber River

Tiber River at night

Trastevere

Roman Colosseum

Roman Forum

Vino with le mie sorelle

View of St. Peter's Basilica from the inside of the dome

View from the top of the dome at St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican Museum: view of the gardens

Vatican Museum:Wenzel Peter, "Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden"

Vatican Museum: Salvatore Dali, "Paesaggio Angelico"

Vatican Museum: Antonio Vivorini, "Polittico dei Santi" (a polyptych!)

Dinner at Piazza Navona

Inside Castel Sant'Angelo

Family pic outside the Pantheon

Spanish Steps

Vacation #2: Bird-in-Hand, PA

Our annual Smucker family reunion is held each year at the family homestead in Bird-in-Hand, PA. My cousin Hans and I planned it this year, with reasonable success. We kind of blew our budget. It was nice to get to know my extended family a little better... although as usual, I spent much of my time with le mie sorelle. :)

Porching, NYC style

Hecklers at the family softball game

Smoketown Airport

Papa at the family homestead

Family softball game at Jerry's

Softball game spectators

Family plot

Congregating around a new baby

Vacation #1: Barrington, Rhode Island

Our house... the Barrington Beach Mansion

 First major vacation of the year: Don's family reunion in Barrington, Rhode Island. I met his
extended family, played a ton of pool volleyball, got iced, learned how to play hearts, got a tan, and made eggplant parm for 20+ people (killah!).

Storm approaches the beach

Pool volleyball! (not my photo)

Family porching (not my photo)

Newport cliff walk

Obligatory travel selfie

Don making a sandcastle with his cousins and aunt

Newport beach

The music room... with a horribly tuned piano

It was nice to feel a part of something other than my warped (if dearly treasured) New York world! -- part of my new second family, part of the beach and salt.

There is a subtle difference between tuning out to life's problems and facing them from a different angle, I think -- I would be watching TV all day if I wanted the former. Rethinking a career and life path is a panoramic, large-scale task, and is taking quite a long time -- I've only just started feeling the afterglow of my new job outside, and now I need to assess whether or not this change is something I want to preserve. (It is.) And the next step: exactly how to do that.

NEXT!

Outdoors

One month out, I feel 100% positive about my decision to leave... the office. The office! Part of me can't even believe how long I spent indoors.

Canvassing is turning out to be far more inspiring than I thought. Some stats: I flag down about 100 people a day, have really positive, passionate conversations with 40-45 people, get 5-9 of them to donate, and receive nasty comments from around 3-5. Although being called "baby killer" several times a day does kind of bring me down, the positive things people say about Planned Parenthood are truly touching:

"I wouldn't have an education and a career right now if it weren't for Planned Parenthood..."
"Without Planned Parenthood, there would be nowhere for people in my town to go"
"You're doing an amazing job out here, keep fighting the good fight"
"I had to have an abortion when I was 17, without Planned Parenthood I wouldn't even be in New York right now"
"I laid the groundwork for Roe v. Wade when I was your age, and I am stunned about what is happening right now..." (from an older woman)

I feel like I am doing tangible, good work for something I believe in (and getting an outdoorsy health boost to boot). As someone who has recently lost healthcare coverage (albeit my choice...), I'm feeling extra-activist about Planned Parenthood - a Nuva Ring costs $100!

Malibu with the crew

Malibu

New York Philharmonic played a free concert in Prospect Park! 

Watermelon soju at Pocha32

Olga's wedding

Summer / Various

My life as a canvasser for Planned Parenthood has begun, and I like it. It's OK, I can sell memberships, I'm outside, I'm cheerful: I have tons of energy and am enjoying life and this season a heck of a lot more than I was last year (what a mess that was).

On the IKEA Ferry... Amurrica

Me & Don on the IKEA Ferry

For-no-reason fireworks in Astoria, over the Triborough Bridge

More fireworks (view from the roof)

Precarious

So I quit my job! And we got a kitten! And I cut my hair! And summer is here!

I feel a little crazy and I've been mysteriously anxious all week (well, not so mysterious: I have no income!), but I think this is all for the better. My moods have been in flux, but it's almost refreshing: to not feel dull, stressed, myopic. It's nice to feel energetic again. It's nice to feel the sun and get a tan!

Sebastian at 4 weeks (?)

I just want to make sure I can make rent and save up enough money for my copious vacations in August: a week of family reunions (mine and Don's); two weeks in Italy with the fam (Rome, Florence, Venice...!!); and a week in the desert at Burning Man (luckily there is only a gift economy there!). It's a big task for barely two month's worth of work...

As the wise and ridiculous Daft Punk put it: 

"If you lose your way tonight

That's how you know the magic's right."

Cheesy feel-good lyrics for a improbable summer!