Cali to Italy

I'm a Cali girl. born and raised. I grew up in Los Angeles and although I can tell you thousands of things I dislike about it, I do miss it. I miss my friends and family. I miss driving. I miss living in a house full of our things. I miss our things. I may miss so much about home but only because it's my normal and has been for 29 years...

Moving to Florence has been an adjustment. An interesting change in our lives. Not better than where we were or worse, just different. It's not my normal and it's taking some getting used to but I am in love with the change so far. People are afraid of change and I get it. But if I can encourage you to do anything in your life...It's to live outside of your comfort zone. Even for a few months. It's life changing! I am learning so much about myself and about my marriage and about life. It's an incredible feeling!

Florence is amazing! Florence has taken my heart and opened my eyes to a whole new world. It's magical here. It's a beautiful city full of all different kinds of people. Every day we find something new. A new sign or a new store even though we have walked by a hundred times. I am constantly in awe of this place. The history is incredible and the amount of people on any given day is insane. Really, it's insane.

Here's a small glimpse in to what we get to see and walk by e v e r y day. This is our normal for now and we feel very blessed.

I know...Brandon and I are so fu**ing lucky it's retarded. :)

pc:Brandon

xx
b

Happy Holidays from B'Squared!

CIAO RAGAZZI!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

umm, it's January 14th! How did that happen?!

Our holiday vacation back home in sunny California was fun, needed and a bit interesting. Let's start off with flying in to LAX and jumping on my parents! SO NICE! We missed them so much! We then proceeded to stuff our faces with In-n-out! OHMYLANTA It felt so good and oh so right! We got home and saw my siblings and it was back to normal life. :) My bestest friend came over that night and it was a fun night holding hands on the couch and being insanely jet lagged.

The next day in LA, my family packed our bags and we drove up to Palm Springs. The house was g o r g e o u s and the weather was dreamy. We had a great time the first few nights being goofy and laughing non stop. We got a HUGE Christmas tree (so necessary) and we danced around while we decorated it. ((video coming soon)). We had a yummy surf and turf dinner and it was nice to sit around a table of 9.5 with my favorites. Seriously, I needed that. 

Then...well then the freaking plague hit my family. I swear it hit us all in slow motion. One person after the other got so sick to the point where 8 out of 10 of us ended up in the hospital...on Christmas day!!!!!!!! gross, right!? We were dropping one by one and I swear it was something out of a movie. It was just awful! We think it was some kind of stomach flu/ virus/ vacation killer/ warm weather hater...ugh. If you are following me on insta I'm sure you saw the hospital pics...sad right? 

womp.

On the 27th we all started to get our energy back and we were able to enjoy the last two days as best as we could. It sucked to be so sick and see everyone else sick but it was still nice to be home with family. We went to the living desert which we loved, saw a movie and went to the casino for a family night of gambling. We did our best to enjoy the time we had feeling slightly better and it was nice. fun fun! 

When we got back to LA we had a full week which included...seeing our friends, renting a car and driving up to San Jose to visit family and back to LA in ONE day, multiple shopping trips to the mall/ target/ cvs/ downtown LA, a homemade mexican dinner with family that was heavenly, a massage,  B'Squared Italian dinner night, waxing and celebrating NYE with some of my favorites!!!!! The best week! 

It was a great trip home and we are so thankful we got to spend it with family and friends! Coming back to Italy was strange. I mean I left home to come, well...home. I cried saying goodbye to my parents. I don't know if that gets easier...tbc. I have to be honest with myself and say I missed Italy! I missed our babies and walking around this beautiful place we live in. Italy is magical and it feels good to be back! 

I didn't miss the puffy jacket weather though. I swear we all look like a sea of puffy, furry hooded zombies. Not a good look...even thought I LOVE my jacket. ;)

I hope you all had a HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!! 

Here's a glimpse in to our Cali vaca...

Brandon and I are so excited for 2014! We are looking forward to a great year and having more amazing dreams come true. 

Happy 2014 lovers!!!!!

xx
b

p.s.
I have been receiving quite a few emails saying you have emailed me on my old email...I'm so sorry and I'm not an a$$hole that doesn't respond. Please email me at Brandi.Scarpelli@gmail.com if you want to be friends or hang out in Firenze!

Home for the Holidays!

Today is the last day at work for the year!! ULTIMO GIORNO!

Brandon and I are so excited to go home for the holidays! I honestly never thought I would say that. "home for the holidays" It seems so fake and then it hits me...we moved to Italy. right...

We are so excited to see everyone and share the holidays in the Cali sun! I am looking forward to leaving my large puffy goose down furry jacket in Florence and ready to get my skin out of this cold dry weather! :) We hope you all have a very Merry Holiday with the ones you love!

 Buon Natale!

xx
b

Weekend fun in Florence

HEY CIAO HEYYYY!

Last weekend Brandon and I had so much fun! It was a weekend full of friends and booze! The perfect recipe for an amazing time with hangovers and lazy days.

Friday night we went GO Karting Italian style. We went to Planet Kart in Prato. Well to be honest it was the same style we are used to back home. Brandon was in HEAVEN! We had a yummy sushi double date and then off to the go kart track we went.

Some GUESS love in Piazza Della Repubblica. 

Saturday we had a beer pong party at our casa! Having a house full a friends, laughing, drinking and playing games made us feel complete! This place is starting to feel like home.
fun fact:::playing a game of kings cup with 15 people is h i l a r i o u s . :)

Sunday night was the beautiful tree lighting at the Duomo. It was magical! There were singing Santa's everywhere...a parade...and a countdown to the tree lighting. We are in love with Florence!

I have so much more to share but in T minus 2 days we will be on our way home to spend the holidays with our family and friends! WE ARE SO EXCITED! I haven't been home in 6 months and I am dying to jump on everyone. It's been an insane year with some high ups and very low downs. It's been hard to get through things without them. We will miss Italy and all the Christmas decor but it's time for some Cali sun...at least for a couple weeks.

xx
b