Scoppio del Carro (Explosion of the Cart) - Firenze, Italia - 2013

Hoping everyone had a nice Easter. Brandi & I went to Il Duomo for their annual Scoppio del Carro (Explosion of the Cart). We had no idea what to expect but sure are glad we went! If this is how they celebrate Easter, I can only imagine what Christmas and New Years will be like.

Our First 24 Hours in Firenze, Italia

Our first 24 hours in Firenze, Italia has been an absolute dream come true and a very surreal experience. Practically everything we do and every place we go is all for the first time.

Here is a quick tour of our house, a walk around Firenze, grocery shopping, visiting the local flower shop, making our first dinner at home and hitting the club!

Thank you to everyone who has believed in us, supported us and helped make this dream become our new reality.

Officially Paying Rent....In Italy

Although things are moving at an extremely slow rate with our Italian Visa's, that doesn't mean progress can't be made in other areas of our transition over there.

Earlier today, Brandi and I finally signed the contract and wired the money to officially make this our new home.

Back in October when we went to visit, one of the main reasons was to find a place to live...and we did just that. After a week of house hunting, we met with a real estate agent on our last night at 10pm to get about 5 minutes to walk through this place. It's literally 2 short blocks out of the center of Florence and maybe 5 minutes from Brandi's new office. Between the convenience of where it's located, the Americanized amenities (wifi, flat screen, washer/dryer) and the affordability, we couldn't have been luckier to find this place when we did. The owner and real estate agent have been a huge help throughout this process and extremely patient with how long it's taken.

The apartment is fully furnished which is a huge convenience for us. Aside from clothes and our cats, we aren't bringing anything else. That should help us get settled in much faster although I'm sure there are going to be plenty of visits to the farmers market and local shops for us to pick up some new Italian decor.

We're one big step closer so hopefully we get the go ahead to buy plane tickets next week! 

Until next time...

Valentine's Day | The Grove | Hollywood Hike

With our Italy departure being set back a few weeks, Brandi and I have been doing our best to keep busy and focusing on anything other than the fact that we are still here in California. Long story short, the paperwork that's required for us to be there long term and renting an apartment is a bit more strict in Florence than most places. That said, we're still here and hoping to receive the news we've been waiting for this week...the green light to buy our plane tickets to Italy! [Fingers, toes, arms, and legs are crossed] 

Anyhow, moving on...

This past Valentine's Day happened to be the 10th that Brandi and I have celebrated together. Valentine's Day is somewhat comical because on that very day, it's mind boggling to see and hear about how many people love the day, hate the day, don't see the purpose in the day, don't want to buy into the hype of the day etc. To me, it's all about what you make of the day with that special person. The day can have great meaning and be full of romance, without buying into the hype of spending a ridiculous amount of money on gifts or dining off a pre set dinner menu. Sure I get it, you're supposed to love that person year round and shouldn't need a day to remind them. I fully agree but at the same time, what's wrong with putting a little emphasis on the love you have for that person for an extra day? It doesn't need to cost and arm and a leg like people think it does. It just requires a little planning, creativity and knowing how to make that person happy. 

To start the day, Brandi and I visited Handsome Coffe Roasters in Downtown LA. She'd never been and with it being literally around the corner from my office, I figured it would be a nice treat before dropping her back off at work. 

Since I have yet to luck out with a delivery company who can actually drop the flowers off to Brandi on Valentine's Day between the hours of 8-5pm, she receives them directly from me. Let's just say there have been one too many instances where the flower company has failed me. As soon as I dropped her off at work, I made a quick dash to pick up some flowers and go right back to her office to deliver them. It's safe to say that she was surprised. 

For the past 5 or 6 years, we've made it a tradition to make sushi at home with each other and this year would be no different. 

Ever since we began packing for our move, I know it had been eating away at Brandi that we couldn't bring all of our pictures with us. I decided to make a mosaic picture using all of our wedding pictures to help solve that problem. The tears streaming down her face were a pretty good indication that she loved it. I can't wait to have this framed and on the wall of our new house in Italy! 

Saturday night we decided to get dinner at The Grove since they have a good selection of restaurants and so Brandi could check out the new Top Shop that just opened. 

We ended up eating at Marmalae Cafe and I ordered the Chicken Meatloaf [Homemade chicken meatloaf served on a bed of mashed potatoes with sun-dried tomato gravy and sautéed green beans with slivered almonds]. Maybe I was just craving meatloaf and mashed potatoes but this meal just hit the spot. According to Brandi, mashed potatoes are a stress cure and I'd have to fully agree with her. 

After a heavy meal like that, Sunday was spent trying to work it all off. We hiked up behind the Hollywood sign which is something we'd never done together. Apparently, this was the shorter but much steeper way up the mountain. Between warm temperatures and a steep ass hill, we were covered in sweat and I'm sure anyone behind me was asking themselves...did this guy eat chicken meatloaf for dinner? I'll let you figure out why. 

All and all, it was great weekend and although I'm going to miss the gorgeous weather we've been having in So. Cal, I really hope we're told to book our plane tickets this week. 

Until next time...

Italy Preparations Continue & A Weekend Full Of Dates

The weeks continue to countdown as Brandi and I prepare for the big day. It's crazy that we have been living through this process, preparing, selling stuff, giving stuff away and moving in with the in-laws over the past 1 year. For many months, we kept our mouths shut about moving so to a lot of people, this may seem like recent news. I won't lie, as awesome, memorable and amazing of an opportunity this is, it's taxing. Practically every morning before work and every night after work, it's been all about Italy.  There's been no such thing as down time or a time when we've been wondering what to do that day. It's a constant grind to make sure this move is done as perfect, safe and organized as possible. To my knowledge, there's no 'Moving To Italy 101' crash course out there for us to follow. 

One thing is for sure, when the dust settles and we're moved into our new place, every second that went into this will be more than worth it. 

Aside from a full work week, it was a quite productive as well. 

The Civic got a new transmission and more needed prep work to be stored.

I was also fortunate enough to sell the Scion xB within a few days of posting it for sale. That was such a great car that came in handy so many times. That was definitely the most practical, functional and fun cars I've owned. The 'Silver Bullet' now has a new home.

Friday I spent the day running around and working from a few different places. One of which was SMI Merchandising. If you ever need any apparel, promotional products, corporate gifts, etc., you've found the right place. They're on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so be sure to follow/like them for various ideas and promotions. We use them for all sorts of different client projects and they come through for us every single time. 

Later that night we headed out to Harvard and Stone in Hollywood for Tracy's birthday. At the door I was told that no pictures were allowed during the burlesque show...therefore, you're left with this being the only picture I took that night. Hipster bar deserves a hipster light picture. 

Most of Saturday was spent gathering more goodies for the Civic, selling a bed on Craigslist, tinkering with the ShifterKart, detailing Brandi's car and a nap. Brandi was out celebrating the BBC's birthday at the spa. By the time she got home, we were both starving and in need of a date night. Something's Fishy is an oldie but goodie type restaurant and definitely hit the spot that night. 

After showing the townhouse to potential renter, Derek, Aly, Brandi and myself headed to Malibu Wines to use a GroupOn that Aly had. A slight hiccup in our plans took us from Malibu Wines to Malibu Beach Wines - which turned out to be closed so we went back to Malibu Wines. Confusing...I know...but we made it work. 

Southern California got a nice dose of warm weather this weekend so there were quite a few people there also enjoying the live music while sipping their wine of choice. After a few bottles and devouring 2 bags of snacks from Trader Joe's, we headed to Calamigo's Ranch for dinner. 

We did our traditional walk of the property to check out all of the wedding venues before having dinner at M Cafe. It's always such a treat to visit the place we got married.  

The past month has been quite the adjustment for us with so much going on but this was definitely the weekend we needed. 

Until next time...

Florence In A Nutshell

Over the past several months as Brandi and I have been preparing for our big move, I've tried to find as many articles, videos and any type of review about Florence as possible. Although we feel plenty comfortable learning about the city, the people, the culture etc. as we go, we're trying to gather as many resources of information and tips as possible. I suppose you can never be too prepared when moving across the world. At the same time, there are certain things that just need to be learned as we experience it. That's all part of the fun!

There has been plenty of sleepless nights where Brandi wakes up to find me reading The Florentine at odd hours of the the night...or morning. The fact is, there's never a time when we aren't thinking about Italy. The Florentine is an english speaking monthly newsletter packed with all sorts of goodness about the city. Everything that they write about has definitely added some reassurance for us and excitement. We really don't know much about how the city functions and what it has to offer outside of the few days we spent there so this helps give us some insight on what else we can expect to do, see and eat.

I've also found a two part video titled 'Florence In A Nutshell' that walks you through the city with explanations of the most popular sites to see depending on how much time you have available.

For anyone planning on visiting us or just wants to see where we'll be for the next few years, I suggest checking these out as they've been very resourceful for us so far. It's also helped us find out about other places that are nearby and can make great weekend getaways. As awesome as Florence will be, there's a growing list of places we can't wait to visit. 

As the last few weeks for us here in the states wind down and we continue to check things off our massive 'Italy To-Do List,' we still pinch ourselves and wonder how we became so lucky. 

Every now and then, the stars align

Boy and girl meet by the great design

Could it be that you and me are the lucky ones

[Lana Del Rey - Lucky Ones]

In other news, we are going to pick up the only other girl Brandi will ever allow into our marriage...my Honda Civic. Within the past 2 weeks, she's been on the receiving end of more attention than she's had for the past few years. With the exception of being detailed, she's pretty much ready to be stored safely while we're gone.

Brandi and I have some pretty exciting plans for the near future (no, it doesn't involve having kids) and plan on continuing to share different tips and insight on how we've prepared for a trans-atlantic move. You never know, you may end up needing it one day. This time last year, moving to Florence was never even a possibility...now look!

Until next time...

One Step Closer To Italy | Moving On

For the past few months, Brandi and I have steadily packed, made countless trips to the Goodwill Donation Center, gone through who knows how many rolls of packing tape, kept Sterilite in business with our bin purchases and raided all of the boxes from her office. But this past weekend it hit us, it was  time to move. Fortunately for us, Brandi's parents have allowed us to to move in with them until we leave so that our townhouse can be remodeled for new renters. They've also allowed us to keep all of our belongings and my beloved Honda Civic there as well. Talk about life savers! I had looked at a few storage units to fit all our stuff / the Civic and lets just say the in-laws are saving us about $350/mo. for 2 years! 

I don't think Brandi or myself were really prepared to actually leave what we called home for the past 6 years. We've been so consumed with work, packing, holidays and focusing on all of the necessary things we need to do for our upcoming move that we forgot what was actually about to happen come last Sunday night. After 3 full days of moving our stuff, we were ready to go back to pick up our cats and lock up the house for the final time. The last 2 things in the refrigerator were 2 beers for us. Not only were they much needed after moving for so long but it would also be the final time we would cheers each other in this house. Tears were shed, memories were shared and laughs were had.

I wish I could count how many parties, dinners and different types of memories that had been created here. So many friends and family members had helped us create moments we'll never forget and hopefully they'll never forget either. From a random night by the fire to getting engaged, we did so much here. From good times to bad, this was our home and I'll never forget it.

As we inch closer to create new memories in a new home, I just wanted to take a minute to thank Brandi, our friends and family for helping us make the last 6 years in that house a wonderful experience!