Fairy Tales

Una Vita di Sogni

I'm back! And the blog is going bilingual! 

I'll be a bit vague and say that since the last time I wrote something on here, I have been slightly busy. 

Busy raising a family, keeping a house, and chasing my dreams...dreams I never knew I actually had to be honest.  Which got me to thinking...at what point does a person say, "Ok, that's enough. I've done my lot"?

Many would listen to popular opinion. A woman of a certain age, married, kids, career, etc etc has certainly enough on her hands and most likely does not need to go out looking for more to do. 

Someone like me...well within 5 years of meeting H, we were married with a kid and a mortgage. It was insane. Would I do it all over again? You bet your ass I would. 

But yet, through the life changes, the cultural changes and the professional changes I undertook when I transplanted myself to be with him, I still crave more. My life and my family fulfill me like crazy, but why stop there...there is always more.  

I want to be better. 

A better wife, a better mother, a better speaker, a better cook, a better gardener...the list goes on. 

For the people who let someone else say that they should probably stop there, I am here to say that you don't have to. 

 For all the young girls who tell themselves that they can't...I am here to say YOU CAN. 

About 10 years ago, a career counsellor told me the ONLY WAY that I would be able to travel the world and experience life in other places was to get a job as a flight attendant. 

Seriously. That is not a joke. 

Whatever you want to do, you can do it. 

You have to sweat a little, as these things do not come for free, but the hard work is worth it. 

I wanted it. And I got it. 

Everything after that is the icing on the cake...

 A Life of Dreams

Sono tornata! E il blog da oggi e bilingue!

Sarò un po 'vago e dire che dall'ultima volta che ho scritto qualcosa qui, sono stato un po' impegnata.

Impegnata fare crescere una famiglia, mantenere una casa, e inseguire i miei sogni...sogni non ho mai saputo di avere onestamente. Questa mi ha fatto pensare...a che punto una persona dice: "Ok, ora basta. Ho fatto la mia parte"?

Molti ascoltare l'opinione popolare. Una donna di una certa età, sposata, figli, carriera, ecc ecc ha abbastanza sulle sue mani e molto probabilmente non ha bisogno di andare in cerca di più da fare.

Qualcuno come me...entro 5 anni di conoscere H, ci siamo sposati con una bambina e un mutuo. E 'stato crazy. Io vorrei fare tutto da capo? Puoi scommetterci il culo lo farei.

Ma ancora, attraverso i cambiamenti di vita, i cambiamenti culturali e le cambiamenti professionali che si sono impegnati quando ho trapiantato me stesso di stare con lui, ho ancora bisogno di più. La mia vita e la mia famiglia mi soddisfano tantissimo, ma perché fermarsi qui ... c'è sempre di più.

Voglio essere migliore.

Una moglie migliore, una madre migliore, un altoparlante migliore, una migliore cuoco, un giardiniere migliore ... la lista continua.

Per le persone chi lasciare qualcun altro dice che probabilmente dovrebbe fermarsi qui, io sono qui per dire che non è necessario.

  Per tutte le giovani ragazze che si dicono che non possono...io sono qui per dire che si può.

Circa 10 anni fa, un consulente di carriera mi ha detto che l'unico modo che io sarei in grado di viaggiare per il mondo e vivere la vita in altri posti è stato quello di ottenere un lavoro come Air Hostess.

Seriously. Questo non è uno scherzo.

Qualunque cosa si vuole fare, si può fare.

Devi sudare un po', in quanto queste cose non arrivano gratis, ma il duro lavoro vale la pena.

Lo volevo. E ho preso.

Tutto ciò dopo che è la ciliegina sulla torta ... :) 

xox sjkh

 ps - Il mio Italiano e ancora un po' semplice...scusami per le cose che magari ho scritto sbagliato! :)

Beauty and the Beast...

So here I am about 500 years later.  Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I figure that with the advent of Facebook and Twitter, you all already know that all the previous baby hocus pocus was indeed correct!  

A little GIRL will be our newest addition in February!  I must admit I am pretty darn happy and excited - the thought of not having to go out and buy anything has me absolutely giddy.  

No pushchairs, no carseats...I am ready for this! Bring it on!!

Well, hold up a minute.  I THOUGHT I was ready.

Four magical years ago, I was pregnant with Olivia.  It was seriously just that. MAGICAL. 
I loved every single second of it. There was not a complication, a niggle, nothing to make me say "Dear Christ, what the heck is going on!?".  No morning sickness.  No strange cravings or aversions.  I gained about 4 pounds.  I felt like a fairy goddess and wore heels every single day with no water retention or pain.  Later in the pregnancy as it was the height of summer, I was a bit sweaty and just generally shiny all the time, but I was still one of those pregnant ladies that people love to hate.  So imagine my surprsie when my expectations of "Same thing: Round two" didn't quite work out that way. 

Glam-Mamma Round 1

It started from the moment that peed-on stick told me I was pregnant.  Like my body didn't know it was meant to be in complete upheavel until my eyes had confirmed it.  I was also quite a ways into the second month that the test may as well have screamed at me that I was pregnant.  I'm almost sure that if I would have merely breathed on it, it would have come up positive.  This was after some time of trying - and then we gave up "trying" as it were.  And then it happened! Yay! Positive! 

About 42 seconds after seeing the magical two lines, the morning sickness began.  Morning sickness, not so much, it was all day sickness.  Within a couple of weeks, it was as intense as being on an endless deep sea fishing excursion...the nausea woke me up in the middle of the night. I was so hungry but then as soon as I started eating I wanted to stop.  It was pretty icky.   

Once it finally passed, I was ready to be that pregnant fairy goddess once more.  Well, not so fast there Mrs. Hart.  I broke out like a teenager. Where the hell was my glowing skin!?  I washed and scrubbed, convinced that maybe the nausea had affected my skin routine and that it would just bounce back.  Nope. 

With Livvy, my lovely dark mane was insane...it was so shiny and soft, like a Pantene commercial. I would just get out of bed and shake my bonce and it would fall into the perfect style - no brushing needed. This mop on my head resembles - well - a mop. It is unruly, there are bits that curl one way and then the other. I brush it and it goes all mental. The only way it can be tamed is by my hairdresser, and although I have no baby cothes to buy, I figure that spending a few days a week in Alice's chair may well bankrupt us. So the public gets my messy top knot.  And sometimes, if they are lucky they can witness the beauty of that awesome second head of hair that grows in when pregnant - it's like my halo, as it casts a mystifying glow around my angelic head.  

That is me Round 2 - the miserable old cow.

Then, the rhinitis.  Now THAT just sounds like the unattractive icing on the cake.  I have mystery allergies that started when I moved here to Italy. After an entire year of tests and things being prodded up my nose, the diagnosis was that I am allergic to the climate and there is nothing I can do. See ya later.  I have a spray that keeps the symptoms at bay, but when Livvy was baking in the Mommy Oven, the annoying symptoms all disappeared completely. This was definitely top of my list for things that excited me about being pregnant...until they started even stronger than before.  And with no medication, the sneezing and the stuffiness just gets worse and worse....combine this with a very low-lying baby (seriously I think my uterus may be in my legs these days...) and it is a recipe for disaster.  I used to always make fun of my mom for sneezing and having to actively think about holding in the pee (after 5 kids, who can blame her).  But now, I may actually be in a family first-place for the wet-pants award.  

TMI?  

Tough crap kiddoes - if I start on a sneezing fit you better get out the Niagra Falls rain ponchos and head for higher ground.

But at the end of the day when baby girl #1 has given out her goodnight kisses and is snuggled up in bed, and I get my moments with baby girl #2 who is having her nightly rave in my lower abdomen, I can't help but think that doing it all over again is worth every bit of the sneezing, wheezing, weeing, stuffiness and complaining.  These temporary imperfections will certainly be forgotten the moment I see the perfection that we have made. 
Seriously so giddy for February I could just pee...and I probably just did.

xoxo sjkh

Boy or Girl??

It is getting close to that time...the time when we can finally end the guessing games and start calling the bump (...which is now about 17 times the size now as it was at the same point with Olivia...I blame her big head for stretching it all out in there...) by it's proper name.

We have friends who have opted to know the sex of their unborn babies, and many friends who haven't.  In this day and age, it seems almost a waste of good technology to wait.  Also I am super controlling, and I NEED TO KNOW what is kicking me, so I can start with the "(insert baby's name here) Hart, if you continue kicking me in the bladder you will be grounded straightaway until your first birthday!". 

OK, maybe a bit excessive, but at least I need to know if the attic full of lovely little girly clothes will be useful or if I need to pack them off to the US and England to be used by my sisters and my sister-in-law one happy day! 

What do I want? Well, I have never been more diplomatic.  I want a healthy baby.  This will most likely be our last baby to be honest, so I just want a little angel who sleeps and eats well.  

And sleeps well.  

And did I mention SLEEPS WELL.  

I have come to understand that travelling back and forth to visit the grandparents in the USA is not easy with one little munchkin, and now I am a bit nervous to see how it will be with TWO.  And if a third comes along...well, that will be the end of the visits until they are teenagers and I think my Dad wouldn't like that one bit. 

So in the run-up to the determination of the gender of our baby, let's play a fun game in super-non-scientific gender guessing.  The old wives tales...

 

Heart Rate - According to legend, 140+ beats per minute indicates a girl, and below 140 a boy.
          My result - GIRL 

Cravings - Some people believe sweet cravings means it's a girl. If you have to have salty or sour stuff, then it's a boy.
         My result - A sasquatch obviously, I am insatiable...sweet or salty aside.

Chinese Birth Chart - There is an ancient chart you can see HERE which is meant to be able to determine the sex of your baby by using your age and the month of conception. 
        My result - GIRL

Drano - the most bizarre one I have seen yet - Pee in a cup and put in a bit of Drano. If it turns green it is a girl, if it turns blue it s a boy.
        My result - Sod that. I just peed in a cup last week which nearly always ends in disaster and there is no real Drano here.  Sorry folks.  

Even and Odd - Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy.
       My result - GIRL 

Keys - Puy a key in front of a preggo and if she picks it up by the narrow part it is a girl and the round part a boy.  
      My result - BOY

Spots - If your skin breaks out like you are mid-puberty the culprit is a girl.
      My result - GIRL

Swinging Ring - Take off your wedding ring and tie it to a bit of string, if it swings in a circle it is a boy; back and forth it is a girl.
     My result - GIRL

Morning sickness - Lots of sickness in the first trimester means a girl.  Little or no, it's a boy.
     My result - GIRL

OK, so there is an overwhelming majority of GIRL results here - but to be fair, if I would have answered a few of these whilst pregnant with Olivia they would have pointed to BOY!  

Now we wait and see...I'll keep you posted folks!

xoxo sjkh

Sweet Hiatus...

Ahh...summer.  This is my official summer vacation, as I am a "teacher" of sorts, but somehow this summer seems to have been the busiest one to date.  I have not really stopped working (OK, on and off, but still, I am never without a bit of work here and there...), and there are many many things in this house that we have SWORN that will finally get done during the summer break!  Hubs is painting the exterior right at this very moment...he is the best (and MAN does it look nice...like a new house!). 

I have been busy too, crafting and creating, hosting tea parties with a very special little girly, potty training, going for bike and scooter rides, splishing around in the paddling pool, teaching Liv to chant USA USA! during the olympics to get on daddy's nerves....the list of fun goes on.  

Just a few of the things that have taken up my time...

BUNTING!!

I have found my new little hobby - now if I can get the old machine I use to perform 100% of the time, I will be golden...

Birthday bunting for Livvy's friend Samuele...

Flags ready to sew for my mum...

End of Year gifts for teachers...I cannot quite believe that Livvy will be 3 soon and starting preschool.  Wasn't it just the other day that she was a TEENSY WEENSY baby going with me to that same school and teaching with me??

Cowboy cookies! I have never seen a more confused group of Italians...they were slightly mystified as what to do!

CAKES! 

As usual...some things never change.

Yes, I made my own birthday cake.  And it was GOOD!

Banana cake with cream cheese frosting...divine!

And of course, the craftiest thing I have undertaken this summer...

Coming soon - Feb 2013

Yep.  That is a tiny arm and hand.  And a head that is most likely NOT going to be tiny, if you know my husband and my daughter at all. 

So there you have it.  The Hart family summer.  Lots of working and ice cream.  

We really know how to live it up ; )

xoxo sjkh

On Trend...

If you know me well, you know that I am generally not the person to worry about the newest "trend" in anything.  I don't have enough time, money or patience to worry if the shoes I'm wearing are the coolest at this particular moment.  My hair may look pretty fashionable for about the first 6 weeks after I cut it, then it starts its' "Mane Phase" in which I do not cut it or style it for several months afterwards (FYI - I am in month SEVEN of Mane Phase 2011-2012 right now. It is getting large and in charge.)  I love particular pieces in my wardrobe and rarely add anything new to it...but if I do get all crazy and hit the shops, my purchases are mostly the old stand-by colour palatte of black, white, gray or brown - although I did go all wild and add a yellow skirt this fall...look out world!  

So while fashion and style may not be my thing, as I am happy with the normal old me and my larger-than-life head of hair, there is actually ONE thing that I try to stay on top of trend-wise...

SWEETS!!

Pinterest is evil for someone like me.  I am not so much the one to look at or God-forbid re-pin a super easy 20 second crockpot dinner recipe.  I have taste buds - but no crockpot.  I like my food with nutrients in it and not stewed within an inch of it's life.  But you put an amazing cake in front of my face, or a challenging chocolate recipe, and you can be sure that I will accept the challenge.  

The Hart Test Kitchen is open for business.  

Liv's 1st Birthday Behemoth.

My brother's Banoffee Bday pie and Prada's Chicken Bday Cupcake!

Cakes. Cupcakes. Pies. Chocolate.

My own bday pastry layered cake with fresh custard...

Whatever it is - I have given it a whirl.  

Everyone has seen that Martha Stewart recipe where she blew out the eggs and refilled them with chocolate so that when you break off the REAL EGG SHELL, there is a ganache chocolate egg inside.  

A week's work yielded these beauties!

 Don't lie; you wanted to see the finished product, but damn if a sane woman would waste precious time and energy to do it.  Well, I wasted a week of my life doing it for Easter a couple years ago and it was TOTALLY worth it (Although I think my husband and I nearly fell out over an argument about how to swirl the hot chocolate around the inside of the shell...long story.)

Liv's 2nd Bday Elmo Cake pops!

So when a new challenge presents itself to me, I will indeed hesitate but that good old Amer-I-CAN spirit rears its ugly head every time and I usually wake up half-way though an attempt covered in flour, holding a piping bag and getting ready to throw in the towel.  This last time was no different. 

Perhaps you have seen the beautiful French macarons.  

 

 Sweet little meringue sandwiches.  

Tiny baby clouds of sugar and goodness.

They come in a rainbow of colours, flavours and look like happiness.

I gave in Saturday.  Challenge accepted.  

What made me give in, you ask - someone wrote in a baking forum that the only eggs that would ever be suitable for this recipe would be free range eggs.  I needed to prove that my eggs are indeed the best eggs in the entire universe - if not just the best in Via Pra Grande.

So I ground, whipped, stirred, melted and whisked my Saturday afternoon away.

I lovingly dripped food dye into the mix to make them the perfect Tiffany blue.

 

Then it got messy.  

Piping the mixture to perfect circles is not the easiest of jobs and if I must be so bold, it is a process best completed with a partner...I am stubborn, so I did not reuqest the assistance of Hart Husband, but next time I certainly shall.

Leave them to sit, and pop them in a low oven to cook for a few minutes.  

Lesson learned - My Tiffany blue quickly faded when they were too high in the oven.  Next time I shall sort that out...

Let them cool and then sandwich them with fresh fresh cream and jam. 

Another Hart Kitchen triumph!!

Not too bad for a first attempt!!

 Other proud moments in the Hart Family Kitchen...

Bday Castle Mania...

Bday cake for the big kids!

Recipe found here...best undertaken with a trusted sidekick.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/macaroons_04669
(Note - in the English language Macaroon and Macaron have come to mean the same thing, although the difference between the two is usually the use of coconut...)


xoxo sjkh