This is my wonderful friend Rachel’s house, well just the living room (the rest is just as beautiful). Amazing right? Are you as jealous as I am??? It’s built into the rock of a cliff and has these secret tunnels that connect to all the other villas in the town (which there happen to be a lot of in Longare). It has beautiful frescoes and statues and an amazing garden. I drool every time I go to her house. This is the house you dream of when you find out you are moving to Italy (for most people it doesn’t happen this way, but for the lucky few like Rachel, they land a “villa” a real and true one.)
We were lucky enough to get an invite to Thanksgiving dinner at her house. Not only does Rachel have a beautiful house, but she is an amazing cook. I spent the day with her learning some of her tricks of preparing Thanksgiving dinner and helping her.
Since this year Declan’s birthday ended up on Thanksgiving, we brought some cupcakes and candles to celebrate after the big feast. So lucky little Dec got to have his first birthday party in an Italian villa with TONS of people singing to him. I mean really…you can’t top that. Sorry Declan, we set the bar pretty high!
I can’t believe this sweet boy is ONE! It passes so quickly. He’s pretty much the cutest baby ever. The Italians always say “Che biondo! Che occhi azzuri!” (How blond he is, what blue eyes!). It takes us twice as long to get anywhere because every little Nonna has to stop and admire him. And he just eats it up. He smiles and coos for them and even seems to enjoy all of the cheek pinching. We love this boy!
