Around here - 25th September, 2025

I'm back from my amazing holiday in Italy which honestly felt so surreal when I was there [a word that gets thrown around a lot] however we were pinching ourselves swimming in the ocean with the Italian scenery all around like we were on the set of a movie or something.  There were 7 ladies plus the host and our photographer so 9 of us altogether staying in a renovated monastery and we were the first guests in over 200 years.  The monastery has taken 6 years to renovate to this stage and it's not finished yet however we were the first guests and had the whole place to ourselves which was very special.

Italy is a long long away and it takes forever to get there with flight times and in between.  I left Brisbane at 2.00 am in the morning having to arrive at the airport at 10.00 pm and the first leg to Dubai was 14 hours which after 7.5 I thought we had 1 hour to go and I asked the hostess how long to go and she said 6.5 hours to which I thought OMG how am I going to sit in this position for another 6.5 hours.  We were actually very lucky because the plane was half full so the middle section of 4 seats where I was seated, I was on the right isle and there were 2 spare seats and then another passenger was on the left isle side.

Once I got off the plane in Dubai I just followed the crowd including catching the internal airport train to the correct terminal to head off to Rome and I had about 5 hours or so until I boarded the next plane.  The flight to Rome was about 6.5 hours and then went through customs and I got in the wrong passport queue so was in a queue for about 45 mins [following the crowd] when in fact I could have gone to the other self service line for the Aussies.  I had been travelling for over 30 hours by this stage and given I haven't been out of the country for 23 year this was all new to me and could have saved me standing in that queue.  When I got to the top of the queue the lady pointed to the right to the self service passport machines and I said I'm here now can they just stamp it for me which they did.

I then collected my luggage and got pulled up about 4 metres from the front of the airport - show me your passport, how long are you here for, how much money do you have.  After a couple of minutes I left the airport terminal and waited in the taxi queue to go to my hotel.   As the hotel was in the inner city the taxi is a set fee of 55 Euro [$98 AUD].  I finally arrived and checked into my hotel and I think it was around 9.45 pm Rome time.

I had a sleep in and went upstairs to the breakfast room which was lovely and had a meal and then headed out to the Spanish Steps which was half a km from my hotel.  This was the only thing I had planned and knew it was near my hotel so I did that first.  Here's a few photos to start with.

  

Around here - September 2025

The last 3 months have been a huge effort getting my house ready to sell and getting rid of all my furniture as it was going be too big for my new townhouse.  There were many stressful days of making sure everything was gone in time.  Downsizing is a huge task as it's not just as easy as pack everything up in your house and move to your new place as most of it won't fit.  I sold a lot on FBMP and gave a lot away for free, also charity and many trips to the local tip as well.  I still have way too much stuff in my now single car garage and not much has been unpacked even though I moved 3.5 weeks ago due to being in bed with the flu for 2 weeks.  I don't think I have been that sick ever.  I got a fever for 24 hrs then no energy and a cough and literally just lay in bed day in and day out so the place looks like I just moved in with boxes everywhere.

However today is the most exciting day as I'm off to Italy on a holiday which still seems so surreal a word that gets thrown around a lot.  Raising my kids on my own we didn't get to go on holidays because I valued being a stay at home Mum and being around for my kids so holidays were not in the budget.  Now both kids are living their best lives, I've downsized and I get to do something really special for myself.  I'm flying out tonight at 2am to Rome, Italy and meeting my son for 3 days as he has been travelling abroad for the past 2.5 months.  Then on the Sunday I'll be flying down to Brindisi and getting picked up at the airport for a 7 day "slow retreat" with 8 other ladies.  The 2nd day of the retreat it will be my birthday so how wonderful is it to be spending it in Italy.  

It's called a "slow retreat" for a reason and we are doing one activity a day like learning how to make pasta, going to an olive oil farm, cooking class, visiting a ceramics factory that exports the most Italian ceramics around the world.  You can bet your life I will be buying some Italian cermamics to adorn my table when I return.  The whole thing doesn't seem real and of course I had to get a new passport as the last time I left the country was in 2002 so it was expired.  I did have a mild, well serious panic attack when I unpacked a box where I thought my passport was and I couldn't find it a few days out from my trip.  Luckily it was in the box but it was behind something else but for 24 hrs I was panacking thinking I would have to get an urgent passport redone not to mention where on earth all my documents like birth certificates etc are in which box in my bedroom.  Thank goodness I found it and all was well again.

When I get back from my trip I will have to get stuck into unpacking boxes as my new couch and dining table should be ready a couple of weeks on my return and my lounge room will have to be clear of boxes.  Looking forward to having a nice new leather couch and beautiful timber dining table and chairs.

Here's a few photos from the last few weeks and until then....stay tuned for some Italy spam when I get back.

Two lovely kookaburra's visited me when I moved in which was go great.

My flowering petunias which I brought from my old house are thriving.

This a fabulous book and I would have loved this 10 years ago when I was cooking for my kids however I read it from cover to cover and loved everything in it from reading labels, meal prepping, how to pick the best fruit and veg etc.  I was so excited when I got notification that the book was coming and as I was in bed sick ande I thought it would be a good distraction until I realized they had shipped it to my old address as it was a pre-order from 3 months ago....my neighbour went and grabbed the book and then my daughter collected it on her way over but I so wanted it the day it was delivered.

After being so sick and not really eating much I craved

meat, salad and veggies so I had this 3 nights in a row.

Teddy getting used to his new surroundings.

A few days after I moved in, we went to see a Fleetwood Mac tribute band from Melbourne called "Fleetwood Max" at our local RSL.  We saw them 18 months ago when they were here and when we heard they were coming back to Qld we booked to see them again and had a great night out.