Giada!

I saw Giada today! Meghan and I traveled to the Borders in Westbury where Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis was doing a book signing for her latest book of Italian cooking. We didn't get to meet her but I bought her book as a souvenir and let's just say I'm craving some Italian food now!

My Saturday Night Off

Working long, exhausting hours as a waitress at the Bench Bar & Grill is how I've been saving money to fund my Italian voyage. Located a mile down the road from my house, I know about 80% of the people who walk in the door. During the day I have tables that consist of my family doctor, my priest, my elementary school health teacher, etc. While the nights turn into a high school reunion because let's face it...when you're a 22 year old college graduate, where else to congregate than the local bar for a cold alcoholic beverage to let you forget, if even just for a moment, how life is currently "up in the air". I've become addicted to working and the Bench feels more like home than my house, spending more time with the Bench workers than any member of my family in the last 7 months. I live and breathe the Bench. I work there and I drink there. I love it and I hate it. I've had my fair share of breakdowns in the kitchens, fights with managers, funny interactions with customers, and a WHOLE lot of embarrassing myself because let's face it...I can't control 97% of what comes out of my mouth and I shouldn't be allowed in public. But when it comes down to it, I love the Bench because of how it makes me feel. Like I have a purpose. If even that purpose is to serve quesadillas, slider samplers, and beer to the happy members of the Stony Brook community.

So tonight when the owner of the BENCH realizes that too many waitresses are working, I am the first to be sent home being that I have been there since 8am to work it's very first day of serving brunch. TRIVIA! Here comes the question...what do I actually do with my Saturday night off of work?!? The answer to this question: Driving alone to the local Burger King to purchase a BK Oreo Sundae Shake, the best part being that yes, I called them before hand to make sure that it was, in fact, still on the menu. Then, I drove back to my house where I parked my bottom on the couch to watch Angels and Demons (set in Rome!) and download music from The Lizzie McGuire Movie (set in Rome!). True Story.

It's nights like this that I have missed during my nights of being a waitress. Nights where I can just relax. It's something that, until recently, I've found SO hard to do and honestly, that's one of the major things that I'm looking forward to abroad: Callie Relaxation Time. If you know me at all, you are aware that I tend to overreact and work myself up about nothing (something that I'm trying to work on). When I break it down, though, it's the simple things that keep me sane and happy. So I give my Saturday night off an A thanks to a little bit of communication with friends, a giant milkshake, Tom Hanks, and "Hey now! Hey now! This is what dreeeeeaaaams are made ooooof!"

Productive things I've done towards my Italy trip:
-Talked to my bank
-Emailed some friends of friends in Rome
-Sent my resume to a few different possible jobs
-Did some Digital Camera research
-Made a packing list
-Researched Self Defense for Travelers ("Don't be afraid to use objects around you as weapons, like broken bottles")

On THAT note...Fun Fact: 1 in 4 Italian parents spank their children.

Man's Search For Meaning

Yesterday was my dad's 58th birthday and we had some of the extended Brennan family over for dinner. Because of this I had to miss my second book club meeting. One of the books was, "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl. I'll admit that I in NO way finished the book and the book club is more about a group of people coming together to eat and drink rather than to actually talk about a book, but anyway, in it Frankl talks about being a Holocaust survivor. Essentially, Frankl concludes that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living, that life never ceases to have meaning.

I thought of this when I was talking to my cousin Meghan last night who spent her Fall semester of college studying abroad in Florence. With a kind heart, she warned me not to expect to go to Italy and have some sort of epiphany, that I shouldn't have such high expectations for the 3 months that I am there and expect to come back a changed woman. I related this to a few years back when I lost a significant amount of weight. I had imagined that once I got to a low enough weight that I would transform into this new, better person, only to come to find that I was the very same Callie, thinner or heavier. So when Meg said that to me last night I thought of how if all of life is meaningful, Italy will be just another added meaningful experience in life. I believe that it's all about your state of mind. Lately I've been a strong advocate of "Mind over Matter."

A quote from the book:
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

It's crazy to think of all of the choices we make in one day. Example of choices I've made in the last 2 days: wearing one Valentine's day sock with one Christmas sock, going to Starbucks early on free pastry day, going a full week without drinking because I started to feel like an alcoholic, baking a homemade yellow cake for Dad's birthday, striking up embarrassing conversations with people in Whole Foods, etc. What kinds of choices do YOU make on a daily basis?

Fun fact I learned last night on the travel channel: The most celebrated McDonald's is located in Rome. Who knew!?

One Month From Today

In the first book of the Harry Potter series, he finds a mirror called "The Mirror of Erised." For those of you Harry Potter nerds, you know exactly what mirror I am talking about but I'll explain for the rest of you. This magic mirror shows your heart's desire (Erised backwards is Desire). For example, for Harry it shows him standing with his deceased parents and a crowd of relatives. His best friend Ron looks into the mirror and sees himself as Head Boy of the school and captain of the Quidditch team. The mirror reflects what you truly want. Ask yourself, what would YOU see if YOU looked into the Mirror of Erised? Just do it...what is it that you REALLY want? If I could somehow be transported into the wonderful world of Harry Potter (minus the funny British accents) and looked into the Mirror of Erised, I would see myself traveling.

As an Art History major in college, I always wanted to study abroad for several months but used not having the money as an excuse. Although I have now received my Bachelor's degree, I have planned my own "Study Abroad" program. On October 27th, 2009, I turned 22. While working in a small candy shop with my heart racing and the sounds of Hall & Oats, "You Make My Dreams Come True!" playing, I booked a flight to Rome, Italy. (Originally it was planned for 4 and a half months but I had to pay a large fee to change my flight to 3 months because the angry old, Italian woman at the Italian Consulate told me that I, in fact, will "GO TO JAIL" if I stay there for longer than 90 days.) So for 3 months I will be on an Italian adventure in the Eternal City, living "la dolce vita" with the Romans who share my zest for the "celebratory life." My heart is craving to experience the beauty that Rome has to offer.

I received a Graduation card from a close family friend that read, "Arrange your life the way you think it looks right and forgive those who disagree." It is a quote that I think about often and I may or may not have made it into a sign that hangs on the mirror in my bedroom. My family doesn't quite understand why I am doing this. They think I am trying to run away and my father's response to my yearning to travel, "But Callie...there are museums in New York City..." I'm often told that I need to "grow up" and although spending 3 months in a foreign country may not be the most responsible thing, I know that it is something that I need to do before I can continue the rest of whatever life has in store for me.

No, I don't know Italian.
No, I don't have any contacts in Rome.
I DO have an apartment set up in the center of the city for a month that I will be my home base.
I DO have an open heart and an open mind.

If you know me at all, you are aware that my favorite quote is from J.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings:
"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost."

...and that is precisely what I plan to do: Wander.