I'm back from Italy!

Hello there!

I arrived back from my vacation two days ago and I am already back at work.  How I wish that I had a few more days off to relax and settle back into my routine before taking off for work again!  Alas, thus is life, and I do appreciate having been able to go on a real vacation for once. 

The trip to Italy was amazing.  We flew into Milan, then spent four nights in Rome, three in Amalfi, and three in Florence before heading up to Venice to fly back to New York.  We did everything from pilgrimage-type visits to different churches in Rome including, of course, the Vatican, to taking side trips to Capri, Siena, and the Chianti wine region, and even took a day to hike the famous "Path of the Gods" on the Amalfi Coast.  It was a whirlwind full of activities, running for trains, enjoying the most wonderful pizza and pasta and seafood and steak and wine, and of course, getting my fill of gelato. 

The eighteenth was my birthday, and possibly the highlight of the trip.  We attended the Papal Audience and, thanks to a seminarian friend, were fortunate enough to end up in the special section on top of the steps where usually only bishops are allowed to sit.   It was amazing to be that close to the pope, and hear from his mouth words of encouragement and guidance. 

As for my time management book and my book about fearlessness... Well, they stayed in my backpack through the entire duration of the trip, completely accessible and completely untouched.  I did do a little bit of reading towards the end of the trip, but that was from a book about the life of St. Catherine of Siena that I picked up at the church here.  So here I am, at work, with only three days left of the month of May in which to finish up my time management reading and at least make a dent in my fearlessness book.  I think I'll stick to the small time management book for the purpose of enhancing my success ratio as I am still only in the beginning of my project.  I'll let you know in a couple of days how the reading went.  I'll also try to share some photos over the next few weeks as I work on creating enough space on my computer to upload the 1800 photos I took over the 11 days that I was in Italy. 

Here's the first of several to come.  It is a photo of our first pizza in Italy.  We discovered halfway through ordering that you can have as big or small a slice as you want because they charge you based on the weight of the pizza.  We ordered every different kind of pizza and then shared them all.  My favorites included the one with the fresh mozzarella as well as one with lots of tomato. 

5 More Days Before Vacation!

Well, I know that I've been missing days with my posts lately.  For anyone that faithfully reads my blog and notices the gaps in posting, I thank you and apologize.  Now that I've apologized, let me announce that in five days I will be going on a much needed vacation to Italy for two weeks.  I will not be taking my computer with me, so you can expect a big gap in posts.  If I have any big revelations I will try to make it to an internet cafe.  Otherwise, you can expect me to keep track in my notebook and fill you in when I get back. 

I don't feel that I really have too much to report, except that I've been trying to read about Time Management and how important it is to prioritize and not overextend yourself or set unachievable goals, while making to-do lists that include so many things that completing them all is absolutely unachievable.  So far, I've been doing alright with the juggling.  This morning I had a cup of Brazilian coffee and became incredibly focused and productive.  Great! Fabulous! I wanted to throw myself a ticker tape parade.  The downside? Where's the catch, you ask?  I am so wired and jittery now, that I might as well have stuck my fingers into the electrical socket.  Not only that, but it does also make me feel very anxious.  I know that this is a side effect from the caffeine and not a psychological issue right now, which is better than feeling it and not knowing that.  I guess that's a small price to pay for having made all the phone calls that I needed to make before leaving the country again, but it's certainly not a comfortable feeling and not something I'd want to do all the time.

Anyway, I'll try to write some more before vacation.  For now, I'm off to Barcelona!

Priorities, Divided

Let me tell you, time management is tough stuff.  For one thing, as I work with my books I've come to see that my job changes the whole system in a way.  As I look at my priorities I notice that, although studying and following up with vacation emails might be at the top of the list, when I am actually home I have to skip further down to the things on my list that I can only do if I am at home.  For example, this morning I had a very productive morning, in which I worked with my time management book, responded to emails, made phone calls, and stopped by the post office.  A couple of these things could only be done stateside, so it was imperative that I get them done.  However, I could have definitely worked on my book while on layover in Madrid tomorrow.  The result is that right now I am sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, while two laundry baskets full of clean and very rumpled clothes are sitting in my apartment getting wrinkled for want of folding, hanging, and putting away. 

It will definitely be a challenge to tame my use of time, but I anxiously await the day when I can revel in the results of this hard work and enjoy a simpler, less harried, existence.