quick rambling about living space

i decided to make some blog posts about things that i think are different about living in italy. of them will be serious or even true but i think there are some fun or silly things that make life here so-not-"american." i don't mean to demean or offend anyone, i say that just in case. just because there are differences doesn't mean i think america is in any way superior to europe or anywhere else in the world. because in a lot of ways i think they have it right.

i'll start off with space. people try to conserve space. many people live in apartments (some of course live in really nice houses) and everything in the home is usually functional. there are plenty of people who are well-off who live in apartments, so it's not just like everyone in italy is poor so they have to live in a tiny little space. and besides, homes and apartments here, are just as expensive and often more expensive than places in chicago.

i really like my apartment, and gabriele and i are considering buying it when our contract expires in four years. it's a goodsize for us now, and we have one and a half extra rooms for when we have kids. a lot of families i know in europe have lived in way smaller places, so right now i don't see why i would need a house and i consider myself blessed to have what i have. the location is great, it's a nice and calm neighborhood. we live on via delle scuole, which means the street of the schools. so yeah, we have the kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school on our block right across the street. i like it.

i never understood why people need so much space. but it's not really the space that concerns me, it's the use of resources. big house, big use of energy. i'll talk about energy in another entry. but over the years my mind has changed about living space and today i legitimately ask myself whether or not i would want a bigger place in the future. if i had plenty of money to choose, would i live in a big house? if i have more than two or three kids i'd probably have to consider it. but right now i think an apartment is the best for me and for the environment.

i think there's often a misconception that if you're really successful then you'll leave your dinky apartment to move into a real house. i'm not saying houses are evil, i'm just saying that they're no better than apartments. having lived in different places, i feel extremely blessed to have what i have. and i haven't even seen the world. so i don't know exactly what i intended with my words, but i think we can all afford to take up a little less space.

on very not serious note, i love these pictures:

this is how we buy toilet paper sometimes. in america, this is what happens to toilet paper rolls if you accidentally step on them....in europe it's calling space-saving. :)

it's always about love

listening to general conference always brings inspiration. i have learned to listen to the message the spirit brings just for me. elder holland's words inspired me to be more humble and more generous. it strengthened in me the resolve to live a simple life and to help others. i had talked with gabriele about this before. but i want to use my resources to help those who really need it. i won't disclose my ideas because i think true service seeks no recognition. that sounds totally contradictory, but i hope you know what i mean. we all do things to help others and i am grateful for all the service i have received and for the people who so willingly give and who are an example to me.

elder packer talked a lot about repentance but the principles that spoke to me applied to a completely different part of my life. for me i took the lesson of forgetting the past and enjoying today and the beauty and happiness of today and the future. so i cleaned out my old e-mails from friendships that have long since been broken and whose words only seem to remind me of how i hurt all those years ago. i am happy with were i am and who i am and what i am doing. so i deleted those tangible evidences of past hurt because i don't need to remember them.

these past few days i have felt so lucky. i am married to my best friend. the man that makes me happy. i am confident and secure in his love for me and that is the best feeling in the world. i am so grateful for faithful and kind, loving husbands. there are amazing women in this world who really deserve good treatment. i was just lucky!

casa dolce casa

we are finally living in a place that feels more like a home. it's got furniture (...still waiting on our wonderful divano) and art and decoration and lighting and bedding and most of all the things that an apartment needs. but it feels so good to have a place you call your own. i love my first place. it suits us and to be honest we have even discussed buying it after our contract ends in four years. i think it's a great place and i like the location.

i always wondered how i would fare in the department of interior design. i was a bit anxious when we started shopping for things because i was like, is this gonna fit? will it look good? what about that other thing we have, will it work? as i have seen the apartment come together i am very satisfied with what gabriele and i have put together. i said from the beginning that i wanted simple but not empty. i never wanted to buy something just to buy it or because it was cheap. one thing my parents told me was to plan to buy whatever you buy once. i didn't settle. i was picky (i'm sure gabriele wouldn't mind elaborating on the hours of shopping). but i feel justified. things in italy are a lot more expensive than buying them in america. at least it seems that way. so when i needed something, i was picky. but i always knew that when i walked away from something i was only walking towards something better. :)

i'm really trying to get the apartment picture-ready. mostly because my mom keeps asking to see what the place looks like and because i think a lot of people are curious about my place because it's in italy (some think that's cool, others likely think i live in a tiny studio). i just like it because it's all me and all gabriele. everything we have is completely our style. it's modern, it's simple, and it's home. yeah, just a bunch of rambling.