Wednesday, January 25, 2012

When Life gets in the Way

That's not me.
Life. It always seems to get in the way. I know that a lot of people have a very romantic idea of living in Italy and that things are always fantastic and wonderful and that I get to sip red wine all day long as I sit in the piazza and watch the world go by!! I wish! Unfortunately that's not the case, especially right now since its still a bit too chilly to do that. No, as it were, these days I have been spending a lot of time working on projects and ideas for the Spring with hopes that the warm weather will also bring some [sun] light to these endeavors as well.

After extensive research and having tried a few different avenues in the past for selling my jewelry designs, I have decided to really try and focus all of my efforts on my Etsy shop and make it as best as it can be. I am hoping that with the proper adjusts and upgrades I will be able to finally make a profit from my work and support myself as a designer.  So I have gone back and changed the entire look of the shop and I am now working on making new pieces and taking new photographs to fill it up!

Then I began to look through the hundreds of photos I have taken in the past several years and thought that I would try my luck at opening an Etsy shop for my photographs as well. And maybe I shouldn't say this but I don't' really think that I'm a very good photographer, but I love to take them and I am always willing to take a risk and I guess I will never know until I try, right? To be honest I haven't been spending as much time on it as I probably need to but its there and I will update it from time to time.

We are also starting to approach the high tourist season, granted we still have about 6 more weeks of quiet but reservations for the apartment are already starting to come in through Airbnb, which is of course great news. But that means lots of inquiries and questions to answer!

And.........We are also STILL trying to clean out our garage and decide what we are going to do with that space once we're finished. Its a daunting task, that's for sure! We have found lots of interesting things in there though!

And just in case that wasn't enough for me to keep up with, two of my girlfriends and I have decided that we are going to run the Firenze half-marathon coming up on April 15th.  So needless to say the next 12 weeks are going to be dedicated to serious training and preparation. I have never done anything like this before and still hardly believe that I am going to, but I am more than excited and definitely more than nervous.
That's not me either. At least not yet anyway! Photo courtesy of Fitsugar
But I can't wait until I cross that finish line after 13.1 miles or 20.1 kilometers. Training sessions have been intense but great so far, we'll see how the next few weeks go. Wish me luck! I'll need it!

So needless to say, my relationship with Florence at the moment is all about finding the best running routes and where we can go to increase our mileage and not as much about its art and fashion, at least for the time being anyway.

But for those of you who are runners and who are in Florence or who are planning a visit, check out Walk Jog Run for some great routes posted by locals and visitors.

I love the idea of this challenge and I can already see how it is changing all aspects of my life. I have become more focused and more determined and not just on my workouts, and I can hardly believe I'm going to say this, but I'm also learning how to manage my time more efficiently so that I can get all of my work done and still have time for training. Life is is crazy, but I wouldn't want it any other way!

Are you a runner? Do you have any tips or suggestions for running a half-marathon? How about tips for running a crazy, hectic life? I could use all the help I can get!

2 comments:

  1. Well. At least you COULD enjoy stereotype Italian life if you really wanted to ;) even though it's cold. It's even colder here!
    The funny thing about the idea of blogging about your life, is that you have to take time from the living the life- to write about what you're doing. Sometimes one's even bothered about what to write about while living that non-blogging-time... I do understand though that it's worth it if you get paid a lot of money to do it (it's crazy here in Sweden, don't know about Italy) but if you don't.... I think living and not blogging is the healthiest way. Even though I do very much enjoy your posts and don't want you to stop blogging of course!
    Sounds great what you're into at the moment - wish you luck with it all. I am actually a runner, but not the marathon kind :) so, don't have very much for you on that one - except: training gives results! :) and don't forget the food and water intake.

    Ciao for now!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, Helele, I suppose you're right! This cold is nothing compared to where you are! And its so true that blogging is a bit of a contradiction. I do find myself struggling sometimes for topics and then feel a bit guilty when I haven't posted in a while, but I'm sure no one wants to read a post that is obviously not sincere. IF I was getting paid a lot of money for doing it may be a different story :) But this is purely personal. I don't think I will stop, but maybe just slow down a bit and enjoy living rather than thinking about what could make a good blog post! It's difficult trying to keep up with it all! Thanks for your comment, I always look forward to reading them!

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