Monday Moods: I feel... reminded.

In college,

I was fortunate to study in Florence
and was somehow cognizant enough to know at the time
that I was really living.

Upon returning home to Dallas,

I couldn't shut up about my time there

for years a long time after.

I would long to return to the summers spent in Florence.

I ached when I saw a scene on TV from Italy.

I would flip through my pictures again & again

in hopes of reliving those wonderful months.

After I started working

and traveled through more of the world,

my passion for Italy subsided a bit.

I began to give my heart out to new places.

While I would come back to visit every so often,
it was typically with people seeing it the country for the first time.
My limited vacation time was spent running the loop between 
the big sites of Rome, Florence, & Venice.

But a sleepy week in the country

has started to awake my younger-self,
and slowly I'm becoming romanced 
back into my young love for Italy.

Suddenly, I remember just how perfect the weather is here,

how serene the sunsets are,

how divine the daily simpleness is,
what tomatoes taste like with a little olive oil and salt,

and the forgotten bliss of walking 

through quiet neighborhoods at night.

It really is perfect here, I think.

We had lunch at the Antinori Vineyards, and people were getting their wine-tasting on.

We had an olive oil tasting. I'd never heard of doing that- but it's amazing the difference in each type of oil.

This weather is dreamy.

Dinner on the terrace.

Un caffe freddo at my favorite scenic view in Florence: the cafe on the top of La Rinascente. Best kept secret!

*all images original to Aspiring Kennedy