It's been a while....

I've disappeared for a while, apologies for that. It has been quite a busy month.

I am having the hardest time dealing with noise lately. It seems that a decent night's sleep has become somewhat of a luxury. In the past two years, something has happened to my usually quiet neighborhood. I live in the center, but not campo di fiori type center. I think if you make a choice like that, you do it knowing full well you ain't gonna get much sleep. I on the other hand live in a quieter part of the center, but it is quiet no more. Construction noise has really been the cause of my distress lately. It started with the place above ours, which was renovated on and off from about 2005-2010. Finally, one fine day the owners moved in and what was left of our peace and quiet went out the window. Then the building across the street got rennovated, problem being the construction workers who unloaded their trucks at 6.30 every morning. Then it was the shop under our building, the courtyard in our builiding, the porter's flat in our building, it is just a never ending list. Cars, garbage trucks, loud music, loud people who don't think that people in the center deserve to sleep. I have reached my limit and asked my landlady to install better windows or kiss the monthly rent I pay goodbye. I hope for improvement from the new noise reducing windows, but am also looking around for new places just in case.

I can go on complaining about Rome, but will spare you all. I will now close my eyes and dream of being on a sandy beach, listening to the sounds of the waves. I am zen.

Let them eat cake!

I am trying to find a cake for my baby's upcoming birthday. My first instinct was to go to an American style bakery and see what they had to offer. I have to say that while I did like the types of cake decoration that they had to offer, I found their price for a birthday cake a bit exaggerated. My other option was a good Italian bakery, where I could either get a millefoglio or pan di spagna and some sort of cream cake. They would decorate the cake, but instead of it being multi layer, it would be a large rectangle. The price is about 40% less than the first bakery. I did sample the chocolate fudge cake at bakery no.1, and while it was good, I make a better chocolate fudge cake. The sponge was a bit on the dry side, and the icing was not smooth. I guess I should go back to bakery no.2 and try some of their cakes and then make a decision.
Stay tuned....

what to make of this blog

Every now and then I think about the point of blogging. Why are there so many bloggers in the world? Do all of us have something interesting to share? I am not sure of what it is that I have to say, or how I can enlighten the world with this blog. Well, let's be honest, I am not out to enlighten anyone, nor am I capable of such a huge task. However, I started this blog, and I want to get to a point where I am happy with it. I see other sites that share interesting news, new discoveries, restaurant reviews, and I know that I want to go in that direction as well, and be a little different at the same time. I want this to be a source of information for moms in Rome as well since I haven't come across many Rome based sites for moms. I know what my blog lacks, and one thing is photos, and so to make it more interesting, I will try and add that feature and see where it goes. Please give me suggestions, comments, or whatever.
On another note, I saw the movie Limitless with Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro the other day, and I must say I really liked it. The subject of the movie was interesting, and thought provoking, since it is about mental potential. Well, I don't want to spoil it by saying anything else so I will leave it at that.

Rome earthquake prediction

So, I've been hearing from some friends that there is a prediction about the 11th or 12th of May, that Rome will be hit by a powerful earthquake. It is kind of scary because I am in no way prepared. I lived in California for a while, and was more prepared for this sort of thing while I was there. In Rome, honestly, where do you go?? The city is so green, that if you go outside, you risk having a tree crush you, if you stay indoors, the building will most likely collapse, especially if you live in the center like myself!
I hear many people will probably leave town. What do you make of all this hysteria??

60.3....

That is how many kilos I read on the scale this morning. It seems I have lost a grand total of 700grams since I started my CALORIE COUNTING diet, exactly 17 days ago! Is that even possible??? Something strange is going on in this post-baby body, and I don't think I have the patience to continue. I am watching my portions and making sure I eat no more than 1,600 calories a day, plus I run 2x a week, burning more than 700 calories in sport, and still this is what I am rewarded with.
On the Istanbul front, baby will be staying home in Rome. Now my only problem is loosing enough weight to fit in to one of the dresses I have.

Travelling with baby

We've been invited to a wedding in Istanbul....YAY, but there's a problem.....what to do with baby?
Well the obvious choice is to try and leave baby with family, here at home. The problem on the other hand is that no one really seems up for the challenge. If we plan on going to this wedding, we are going to have to take baby along. We are currently evaluating our plans.....

Travelling for work

I currently have reduced working hours due to "allattamento" or lactation, which allows me to leave work 2 hours early, until my baby is one year old. My problem is that once this period is over, and I resume normal work hours, I will also be expected to travel again. I put the thought off since it seemed so distant, but now that it is getting closer and closer, I am starting to panic. I don't know how I can possibly leave my baby for a whole week. Is that not traumatic for the baby? I think things like that should be eased into, should be done gradually. Unfortunately employers don't give a shit, and just want to get the work done no matter what. We'll see what happens, for now, I am in total panic mode.
In other news, my diet is moving forward, I have started counting calories since Friday, and am doing well so far. Desperation has led me here. I tried watching what I ate, and made moderate changes to no avail. I hope this second phase works since I have no clue what to do after that!!!
Any post baby diet stories out there??