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Indian Snapshots 2

I’ve been slowly making my way through more of the thousands of photos from our India trip. Sorting, editing, deleting and putting them in all sorts of absurd and confusing folders on my laptop. Unfortunately this will drive my husband crazy when it’s time to start making our photo book in the near future.

One of my major goals for 2015 is to master a system to organise and store all my photos. I break out in a sweat just thinking about it. Please, wish me luck.

Here is the next batch of my favourite shots from our trip.

Can you spot the two turbaned men in white?

A little urban garden in the courtyard of a palace guesthouse. I contemplated stealing those flags. But resisted. (Ghanerao)

Woman at temple in Udaipur.

Expect to see fresh floral garlands in every single on of these Indian Snapshot posts. These garlands were adorning the holy motorcycle shrine that I mentioned in the last post.

Ladies doing the daily washing at the lake in Udaipur.

Beautiful door. Stray dog. (Ghanerao)

This is the friend of the yellow turbaned man from Indian Snapshots *1*

He pulled this pipe out of his turban and asked me to take a photo of him pretending to smoke it. I’m still wondering what else he has stored in his turban. (Ghanerao)

Found this shot on my camera. Taken by my daughter who has obviously adopted my love of photographing her feet.

Perfect spot for some spiced chai first thing in them morning. (Ghanerao)

I don’t know what these little steps along this blue wall were for (they are overlooking a lake). But right after I took this photo they were covered with frolicking monkeys trying to make eye contact with us. (Deeg Palace)

I wanted to get a shot of him entering this little room. This is what he gave me. (Agra Fort)

Indian Snapshots *1*

Tags: deeg, family travel, ghanerao, India, photography, snapshots, travel, udaipur

Comments 13 Comments
Categories photography, Travel

Gratefully Grateful 27

12 Jan

Here I am, sitting at my computer and wondering how I can start the new year off here in this little space of mine. A space that was pretty much neglected for a lot of 2014. But a space that meant a lot to me just the same.

The last few days I’ve been looking back at old posts and photos and enjoying reliving some beautiful moments of last year. And in the end that’s the reason I keep coming back and sharing here on Jillian In Italy. I love wandering back and taking peeks into my life and the lives of my family.

Last year offered some lovely times and some not so lovely times. Just like any other year.

In 2014 I learned a lot about relationships. I really realised how important and invaluable my friends are in my life. Living away from family can be really hard and having good loyal friends to rely on is essential. My friends are my family. We support each other and step in when family usually would. So 2015 is the year to really cherish, appreciate and have fun with all those people I love so much.

I’ll be continuing this Gratefully Grateful series this year and sharing images that make me smile and remind me how fortunate I am to have the life that I do. Seriously, even though there are rough times, sad times and aggravating times these little moments poke through it all and shine.

A day snowshoeing in the local mountains. It was 20 degrees, the sun was shining and there was a huge plate of polenta waiting at our destination. Oh and I learned that bending over to put on snowshoes after a 2 hour polenta lunch (with dessert) is not an easy task. mercatinodinataleangera14-4

Came across these images of my Christmas market stand with the infamous Patamaga. We may not have sold out of our wares but we had a great day drinking tea, chatting, eating her Mama’s delicious food and trying to stay warm for the 12 hours we were outside. And those yarn-bomb trees that my daughters made were our top sellers of the day. Obviously. On our recent trip to India (more on that soon) we made a Days For Girls kit delivery to the Delhi Council for Child Welfare. Seeing those kits that we’ve been making and assembling for the last year in the hands of happy girls was definitely a highlight of 2014 for every member of my family.

And even though we’re experiencing spring like weather here in Italy I know a lot of you out in the world are suffering through snowy cold winter days. So these Ligurian seaside photos from last summer are for you. May they warm your thoughts a tad and show you there is light (and sun) at the end of the (winter) tunnel.

Have a great week!

Gratefully Grateful
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Tags: colour, daily life, days for girls, family, friends, grateful, gratefully grateful, photography

Comments 6 Comments
Categories daily life, Family/Kids, grateful, gratefully grateful, italia, Living in Italia, Living in Italy, photography

Map Themed Gift Guide

12 Dec

I wrote a map themed gift-guide over on Classic Play that includes some really fantastic options for just about anyone on your holiday gift list. Everything from map adorned leggings and scarves to whiskey flasks and enamel mugs to my favourite map-inspired books on the market at the moment. Take a look at the full post here.

Tags: classic play, gift guide, map, map themed gift guide, map themed gifts, travel, travel gifts

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Creative, daily life, Family/Kids, gift ideas, photography, Travel, Traveling with kids column

Coroncine Floreali

10 Dec

Hello.

I’m still here!

I’m just popping in to share about a lovely fresh flower crown workshop that my twin daughters and I did a few week-ends ago in Milan.

The workshop’s venue was the most charming little café that doubles as a cultural centre called Spazio Culturale My G where they offer all sorts of creative courses for kids and adults. It’s a bright and colourful space filled with charming old couches, mismatched wooden chairs and an amazing book corner (where they even sell my favourite FLOW magazine!).

When we arrived at the workshop we were warmly welcomed by our flower-crown teacher Jessica from the blog Uhlalà. Such a vibrant and happy lady and so talented with flowers.

The flowers that we worked with were Ranunculus, Anemone and Chrysanthemum. There were also branches of a special type of Mimosa that I had never seen before, Eucalyptus branches and some berry branches as well. A beautiful mix of colours and textures. About 15 of us worked around a big wooden table covered in buckets of flowers, berries, special florist tapes and tools and different coloured ribbons. Jessica explained everything perfectly and we dove in and started creating our crowns.
I was amazed at how quickly the girls caught on and unlike me didn’t have to think and re-think about how to put it all together. I had a serious creative block for the first half hour while my daughter Chloe worked like a busy bee non-stop and without any doubt or indecisiveness.

All the ladies in the workshop made beautifully dainty feminine crowns. It was a beautiful sight to see everyone at the end proudly walking around wearing them. As you can see from the two photos above, my daughters’ crowns ended up being completely different. Their unique personalities really showed through in the finished product.

Since the workshop we’ve already had one big flower crown making session. We tried out different blooms and branches that we bought and collected from our garden. They came out beautifully and we can’t wait to make some more. Many thanks to Jessica for such a lovely Sunday morning. And thanks to Yael from Spazio Cultural My G for organising such fun workshops. We can’t wait to come back.

Tags: coroncine floreali, flower, flower crowns, milan, spazio culturale My G, uhlalà, workshop

Comments 9 Comments
Categories Creative, Family/Kids, italia, Living in Italia, Living in Italy, photography

Gratefully Grateful 26

13 Oct

I’m sitting here recovering from a whirlwind 48 hour trip to Belgium. It’s actually amazing how much my daughters and I squeezed into our short trip: passport renewal appointment, visit to the charming city of Brugge, eating waffles and french fries, shopping in HEMA, visit to the girls’ great grandmother and a fun family birthday party with cousins. Exhausting but so much fun.

Here are a few images that are making me smile on this rainy, chilly, grey day here in Northern Italy.

I’m a sucker for colourful garlands. They just make me happy.

My daughters and their friends made this little breakfast for themselves using vegetables from our garden. They have inherited my love of making food beautiful as well as delicious.

Sharing her french fries. I’m not sure if she has a frown or a smile behind there though.My kids are currently obsessed with archery (thanks to Hunger Games of course). We visited a local farm that offers courses and I fell in love with their arrows.

Have a great week!

Gratefully Grateful
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Tags: family, grateful, gratefully grateful, photography

Comments 9 Comments
Categories Creative, daily life, Family/Kids, grateful, gratefully grateful, Living in Italia, Living in Italy, photography

Traveling With Kids: Amsterdam

26 Sep

Time for another Traveling With Kids post over on creative parenting site Classic Play. This time I delve deep into why Amsterdam is my favourite city to travel to as a family. I fell in love with this city as a carefree 20 year old (wink wink) and I love it even more as a traveling mama. Read about all my favourite sites, bites and things to do with kids in this fantastic city here.

Many many thanks to my super talented bloggy pals Deepa, Judith and Giova for helping out with this post!

Tags: amsterdam, amsterdam family travel, classic play, photography, travel, Traveling with kids

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Family/Kids, photography, Travel, Traveling with kids column

Urban Jungle Bloggers

25 Sep

After a summer hiatus Urban Jungle Bloggers is back online today and I couldn’t be happier. I love seeing my FB and Pinterest feeds inundated with fresh green-inspired images full of lush plant life.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not an expert plant keeper. My heart is in the right place but my mind is, as usual, elsewhere. I love all the green loveliness that fills the rooms of my home but for some reason I just sometimes forget that they need care and water. Luckily, I’m not like this with my three kids.

So after a summer of coming and going my poor plants were all looking a little….brown. And dry. But I’ve made a promise to myself and the plants to take better care of them. Play them music. Dust their leaves. Oh, and maybe give the a little something to drink more often. In any case, even after a few days of love they’re already starting to look a lot livelier and happy.

Today’s UJB theme is Back To School: Plants on the Workplace. I shot a few images of where I’ve been working lately. Whether it be on the computer writing or editing photos, sewing or crafting with my girls.

I don’t have any succulents or house plants per se where I work but I love having fresh herbs surrounding me. It’s amazing what a brush of a hand over a rosemary or thyme plant can do to your concentration and energy levels. The smell is like a jolt of caffeine (for me at least).

I also always make sure to have a fresh mint plant. Sometimes I throw a few leaves in my teapot or rub them in between my fingers. The smell of fresh mint is one of my all time favourite scents and, again, so energizing.

And because I’m a colour lover I always include a little vase of fresh flowers. Usually in my coveted Gokuri Peach Juice can that I got out of a vending machine at a train station in Kyoto, Japan. Oh and tea. There’s always tea on my workplace. As you can see in the photo on this particlur day I was in a detox tea mood (to counteract an overdose of sugar the day before).

When I break out the sewing machine things start to get a little messy and crowded on my workspace. Which I have to admit I kind of love (except the little pieces of thread that get wedged in my computer keyboard).

Can’t wait to check out the other UJB images for this month. If you’re interested you can visit their brand new website, their FB page and their Pinterest page. Many thanks to Judith and Igor for such a cool initiative.

backtoschoolUJB

Tags: green, photography, plants, ujb, urban jungle bloggers

Comments 9 Comments
Categories Creative, photography, urban jungle bloggers

Gratefully Grateful 25

23 Sep

Despite the sadness of losing my children’s only great-grandfather this past week I can’t help but feel so grateful for the time we all had together. We have been so fortunate to know and spend time with this amazingly dynamic man who put family in the centre of his life. His enthusiasm for everything from art to travel to the goings-on of his very large immediate family was contagious (as well as his famous giggle). We’ll miss him dearly but have many lovely memories to remember him by.

Some images that made me smile despite the sad news this week:

The best reading corner in the house on a sunny day. Also perfect or a sun-spot nap.
Last days of summer hats and dresses.

Trying to paint a kitchen with a large clumsy cat in the middle of it all actually makes it much more fun. For me at least.

I run into Idyllic little scenes such as this every single day. I love living in Italia.

Have a great week!

Gratefully Grateful
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Tags: daily life, grateful, gratefully grateful, italia, italy, living in italy, photography

Comments 15 Comments
Categories Creative, daily life, Family/Kids, grateful, gratefully grateful, italia, Living in Italia, Living in Italy, photography

Gratefully Grateful 24

8 Sep

I’m going to be honest up front here and say that September is not my favourite month. After the summer holidays and being with my kids day in and day out I always find September and back-to-school such a lonely time of year.

I need to re-adjust to being solo for the most part of my days. I need to re-adjust to having an empty and hauntingly silent (and tidy) house. I need to re-adjust to having time for myself and doing groceries and errands without three chatty kids with me.

In the end I just plain miss my kids during the 10 months of school each year. I even offered to home-school them at a certain point but was politely told that it was never going to happen.

But I know in a few short weeks I’ll have my life more organised, lots of activities scheduled, projects lined up and my feet back firmly on the ground.

Anyone else out there feel the same way around this time of year?

Here are a few images from our summer vacation. Even if we had record breaking bad weather it really was a great one.

Evidence that my daughter is a lover of stripes. Just like her Mama.
*taken in Albissola Marina, Liguria*

So grateful that we can arrive at the Meditteranean in less than two hours. My kids spent our days there body surfing in the warm water, eating gelato and foccacia and doing crosswords under the parasol with their Mama.

I will always and forever love geraniums. Amen.Bikes in a charming courtyard in the centre of Milan.

Lovely memories of eating at this little wine bar at a local lake. Their cheese plate served with champagne jelly is life changing.

Wishing you all a lovely week ahead.

Gratefully Grateful
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Tags: family life, grateful, gratefully grateful, italia, living in italy, photography

Comments 11 Comments
Categories Creative, daily life, Family/Kids, grateful, gratefully grateful, italia, Living in Italy, photography, Travel

Gratefully Grateful 23

18 Aug

Here I am sitting in my living room and catching my breath after a whirlwind summer road trip with my family. Emphasis being on road. We did A LOT of driving. 4000km in two weeks type of a lot.

*Italy-Switzerland-Germany-Luxembourg-Belgium-Holland-Belgium-France-England-France-Belgium-Holland-Belgium-Luxembourg-Germany-Switzerland-Italy*

Many many beautiful family memories were made but I can’t tell you how happy I was to drive up our driveway a few days ago and be greeted by the famous Birdie The Cat. Coming home is always like a sigh of relief.

So in the last 5 days we haven’t gone near our car, not even to go to the grocery store. In times like this I’m happy I keep a well stocked kitchen.

Now off to enjoy the last weeks of summer vacation with my three favourite little people (who aren’t so little anymore).

Here are a few images that bring back summer memories and a heart full of gratefulness.

My girls have been bitten by the ever present loom bug. And I am the proud owner of about 250 plastic bracelets now.
I’ve fallen in love with Brighton and it’s abundance of buntings and beach carousels.

salisburtkids Traveling as a family of four for a week was such a change (one daughter was in Holland attending a Film Camp). The family dynamic was so different to what we’re used to and getting a hotel room was so much easier (and cheaper!). jumpseaford Look how happy I was to hike the Seven Sister Cliffs in Seaford, England. And just behind us they were shooting a new Sherlock Holmes film. Surprisingly enough they did not approach me to do a cameo jump shot in the movie.