La Bella Vita- dollar dollar bills ya'll

Ciaoooooo!
My Husband is back home and I'm just so happy. Livin' La Bella Vita. :)

Since we are currently waiting for all of our visa paperwork to be finalized and we are in Italy as "long term tourists", the money issue is a little strange and we are getting hit hard with this fee and that exchange rate. Let me explain...

We haven't/ can't/ not sure if we can open a bank account yet without a visa. So we are waiting and in the mean time we are pulling out the max each day/ week and it's the usual ATM limit. But after the currency exchange which changes by the minute plus the fee our US bank charges we get hit hard and the amount we actually see is way less. By no means is this a complaint because the cost of living is different and we factor this "issue" in as a bill but I wanted you 'expat 's to be' to know what's up. I know parents wire money to students and they go through the same issue and it's just insane that there are no sister banks here for US banks. I think there is one in London but that doesn't help us.

Our main bank Wells Fargo does not do International wire transfers online. You have to go in to a branch. umm not possible. So on one of Husband's US trips he opened another account with Chase that allows wire transfers. We need this to pay our rent each month since the owner has an Italian bank account. obvi. Well Chase allows it sure, but it's like pulling teeth to get the money to actually transfer. They kept canceling the transfer since the account was new. And and and...not telling us! My poor husband spent days on the phone with them and thankfully the owner was more than understanding since our rent was so late. Hopefully this month there are no issues. :)

Not knowing Italian is really getting to me. Maybe we would be able to open an account but the moment you speak english or say "ummmm" they are over you. I want/ need to learn. Want because I hate when others can do things I can't and need because my boss said I needed to know Italian in two weeks. EEK! The main questions below are pretty much the most important Italian we know aside from Ciao, Grazie, Grazie Mille and Non lo so.

1. How much does this cost?
2. Where is the bank?
3. For me...
4. Where is the ATM?

It's hard with Florence being such a tourist city and everyone speaking english. I will learn Italian. I will.
:}

xx
b

La Bella Vita- Heater in Florence

'Baby it's cold outside'
no Baby, it's freezing inside!

I know we missed the winter in Florence. The dreadful long weeks/ months where Florentines stay inside and pray for sunlight. But since we have been here it's been freezing in our house at night. The weather is so moody. It's beautiful during the day--hot/ sunny/ dreamy and every afternoon it rains. When husband is cold, you know it's freezing! The floors in our flat are brick and the walls are concrete and exposed brick. It's beautiful but holy hell it's so cold. Brandon and I had no choice but to invest in this fancy heater below. We.had.too. The building controls the heating in our flat and let's just say it never turns on. And unlike LA where you call your maintenance guy and he comes to fix it within a day... Italians don't care. They just don't. Our building manager doesn't care and the agency we rented this place through doesn't care. And when we complain and they hear english...it's a lose lose. game over Scarpelli's. So we are left alone for survival.

This heater is magical when you are sitting right in front of it and don't move. Our place is a loft and very open and there is just no way it's warming up. We were told the power here can be pricey and since we haven't received a bill yet we are nervous and try to not use it. uuufff. Another lose lose.

So our nights consist of sweat pants, hoodies, onesies (for me only), socks, slippers and sometimes gloves. no joke. There is no streaking going on in this casa. You would have to be so brave or in the middle of a drinking game. After shower time at night it's so dreadful and I swear you turn in to a power dryer and clothes putter onner so you don't freeze to death.

You can only imagine sexy time is filled with laughs and....ok ok, enough said. We don't even know each other. You have to buy me a drink first... ;) but I'm sure you get it...

I need my bear blanket also known as husband to get his butt home so I can stay warm. :)



xx
b

t h r e e

It's been 3 days since husband has been gone. t h r e e . He doesn't come home until Monday and I literally hate it. Is there a "how to deal when your husband leaves when you don't want him leave since you love his company and you hate when he travels" book I can read? Most people say you'll love being apart one day and I hope that day never comes. In t h r e e weeks we will be celebrating 10 years together and I hate being apart for 5 days. and not just because I'm a loner in Italy. I hated the traveling when we lived in LA. We just hate being apart. Call us gross and lame or weird or babies or whatever, but it's the truth.
Truth-We work better together. If he came to work with me I'd probably become CEO (and maybe we would want to kill each other) but still. 30...CEO...sounds great. ;)
False-I love having him around every second of every day. No offense love, but it's nice to have ME time. It's nice to enjoy a glass of wine and blog and paint my nails (maybe I've painted them 3 times so far this trip, maybe not...). It's nice to eat what I "make" for dinner and smile at what I accomplished. Sometimes it's just nice to be alone. I'm all for it. But one night, two night, DONZO! I can't sleep...I'm not eating meals and lord knows how cold it is in our bed without him. If you know me and us you know I'm not the chef in our house. He cooks/ cleans/ smiles/ hugs/ kisses and is just perfect. I don't cook/ clean when he's home if he didn't already get to it/ complain/ eat/ hug and kiss. match made in heaven. :)

Every little noise I hear I think it is a murderer trying to break in and find my passport or maybe they want my amazing potpourri. God it's amazing. Or maybe this place is haunted because it's Florence and it's old and...EEK.
Oh no...it's just the night club under.our.house. uuunce uuunce uuunce uuunce make it stop!


Scarpelli,
I miss you. More than words (although I hope this blog post makes you smile).
I can't wait for Monday and wouldn't be mad if you took an earlier flight.
COME HOME SCARPELLI! This Scarpelli needs you. k, thanks.
love,
scarpelli

Sappy sesh---complete.
thanks for tuning in.

xx
b

La Bella Vita- SanDIYwich

Ciao lovies!

I'm so thankful for all the support with our recent move to Firenze and all the love with my new series La Bella Vita. Grazie Mille! 

My next experience I'm going to talk about is not only strange but quite comical...or to me at least. 

While Brandon was out of town last month I met a co worker at an outdoor farmers market in the center of Piazza della Repubblica (which is one of my favorite parts of Florence) to walk around and grab lunch. She introduced me to porchetta and I had to try it. Porchetta is an "Italian culinary tradition" and it was delicious. If you eat meat and like pork. :)

Everyone knows the food in Italy is amazing. Even if you haven't been here, you know that. 

So the funny thing was we waited in line to get a "sandwich" and when it was our turn the lady explained in Italian to my friend that she can't serve it as a "sandwich" and she can give us the bread and meat to make it ourselves. When my friend translated it to me I was shocked and said "how odd" and the Italian lady said in english "It's not me, it's Italy rules and all vendors are not allowed to sell sandwiches".  What do you mean?! You only sell bread and meat! strange right? I mean...you can give me all the tools to make it but you can't make it? And she had to bag everything separate so we were sure to not get a "sandwich" from her stand. It was a good laugh and a big "oh Italy" sigh...

We sat on a crowded bench and DIY'd our delicious sandwich. It was fun taking everything out of the bags on our laps. ;) It was so tasty and I highly highly recommend it. I mean, you have to. It's Italy! :)

and I won't lie...I miss DIYing so much. Next on my to-do list is find a craft store/ fabric store/ bead store. something. 

 

The last photo is one of my favorites! The cutest couple with their little booth serving Necci which looked amazing. Must try next time. <3

Hope you are all having a lovely week!

Baci!

xx

b

La Bella Vita- Grocery shopping in Italy

Ciao Ciao!
I'm going to start a series called La Bella Vita. The good life.
(fun fact-after Husband and I said I DO the Good Life by OneRepublic played as we walked down the aisle as Husband and Wife!)  So Naturally anything with this man is THE GOOD LIFE. :)

When you're happy like a fool, let it take you over

When everything is out you gotta take it in.

La Bella Vita will be a series where I will document our lives as expats and will hopefully be a helpful tool of the do's & dont's living abroad. follow along!

Living in Florence (for a little over a month) has really been a life changer. I mean sure it's fun to travel and see places and then end up back "home". Husband and I have fought so hard and so long for this life and we are managing to make our house in Florence home. It has it's ups&downs. Don't be fooled by the beautiful scenery or the most incredible food...or be fooled, it's dreamy. But, it's been an adjustment settling in to a new place, missing our friends and family, making friends, getting used to the city noise, dealing with toursits (ha!) and even finding a grocery store...

On that topic...We have shopped at 3 different markets since we have been here; each one getting cheaper and cheaper. The first place we went to (((can't think of the name--shame on me))) was like shopping at Gelsons in the US times 5! It was so pricey but we as expats thought it was "normal". Then we found a store around the corner from our house called Meta and this was even cheaper and bigger than the first! We were in heaven...or so we thought. We shopped there for about 4 weeks and then happened to stumble on Conad yesterday! Holy bajeeebus were we fooled. Oh Firenze, you fooled us. This was an actual grocery store. Like the ones back home. (((side note-I have always wanted to say that and wow...weird.))) We were shopping as if it was a first trip to Costco. Not nearly as big at all but it felt like that to us. And it was so much cheaper than Meta! We bought so much stuff and it was 55 Euro! What? How? Did the lady ring us up wrong? nope...good o'le grocery store took care of us. And we will for sure be regular customers.

The produce in Italy is so strange when you are ringing it up. Each item has a number next to it and you go up to a machine, put the produce on it, punch in the number and it prints out a sticker. You put the sticker on the bag and the cashier scans it up front. following? You could only imagine our first time not speaking an ounce of Italian and trying to figure out what the hell to do with this machine.

Me-"Babe why does everything have a number?"
B-"I don't know...maybe so they keep track?"
Me-"Why is everyone printing out stickers"?
B-"ohhhhhhhhh...."

Thank god he got.it.

It was a little difficult to navigate around. Sure chicken is chicken but what type of cookies are those and why can't I find marshmallows? It took me two weeks to find mustard. two.weeks. Still looking for marshmallows. How many calories are those nutella snacks? I can't figure out which milk is fat free and it's literally a debate every time we walk in the store. every time.
Brandon thought he bought orange juice one day and came home with grapefruit juice. "But babe, it looked like an orange". Yes, I know what you are thinking...we really need to learn Italian. and we will! We are working on it.
arancia=orange. check.
work.in.progress.

This is my 'grocery shopping' in Italy advice...
Go with a list of things you need. Bring bags. They charge 20 cents per bag and of course we manage to forget ours every time. We have a nice collection going on. Don't shop after work because everything will be gone. Mornings, lunch or weekends are best! Know what things are called in Italian so you don't stand there trying to convince yourself that the bottle clearly says shampoo. Don't over pay! Many expats don't research or have a clue what things cost. And maybe Conad is not a great store either but it was recommended buy a coworker and we are so happy with it! and it's close by!  If you guys could see our faces as we walked in you would think we walked in to a Chanel fashion show on a racetrack... :)


We are in love with Florence and all she has to offer! I mean...this.....

ciao ciao!
xx
b