I don’t need or want a mansion. I will still keep an apartment in Rome, so the house can’t be far from here. That leaves the more affordable areas like Puglia and Le Marche out.
I just want a place with two floors (I have a thing about bedrooms on ground floors as I like to sleep with window opens), a great window for my writing desk, enough land for a nice vegetable garden and a flower garden. For me, location is more important than size.
A few weekends ago my friend D. (an expat in for 16 years since coming here to study film in grad school) invited me to a lunch at a friend’s place in the country. Only 45 minutes on the train and we were near the Umbria/Lazio border. It was a different world…fresh air and miles and miles of gorgeous countryside.
The view from a lower terrace.
For years I’ve saved shelter magazines for inspiration. I had to threw out quite a few as I downsized before the move overseas. I kept a few of my absolute favorite issues and my décor binder. I went through the binder and saved only the must have articles. There are great resources online now, like Apartment Therapy and Décor8 I can use.
I am going to take some advice from several Blogging friends who believe in visualizing and setting goals no matter how bananas. After all, if someone told me four years ago I would be living in Italy, I would have told them, “just say no to drugs.”
I'm putting it out there...I want to buy a house sooner rather than later. I can’t wait to have my own fruit trees, peony bushes, gardenias, hydrangeas, tomatoes, basil etc.
image from italyvillas.com
23 comments:
You are right to visualize. My friend put that out there as a goal and a few years later she met a wonderful man who helped her make it a reality. Don't be afraid to say what you want, the university might be waiting to give it to you.
Good luck! I look forward to your housewarming! :)
Go for it Ragazza. Go deep into visualizing the place and have fun searching and thinking and dreaming about it. Then observe any cracked doors which might open on to a terrace with a view in your life. As a blogging sister, you can always throw ideas off of me. You are going about it correctly. Start the energy going in the direction you want it to. Keep scraping away and sculpting the idea.
There, you said it. This is the beginning, and I do believe that visualizing works. Now you are focus and you have a goal, and I wish you a beautiful place of your own.
you go girl! i've always believed in the saying that if you really want something with all of your heart, the universe will consprire in helping you achieve it. and you are doing the first step by sharing your dream.
wishing you all the best!
I also am looking forward to your housewarming.
Arlene,
I LOVE you how threw it out there. My experience has been- if you throw it out and keep throwing it- it will come right back around to you :)
Good Luck!!
Visualization does work :) And look at it this way -- you visualized moving to Rome and there you are :)
"Speak these things as though they were"... and they shall be. If you conceive it and believe it, you will receive it. You have already got your lovely home wherever you desire it to be. It is done. I echo the other comments.
camille - grazie. I figured it can't hurt.
diana - Seriously I can't stop thinking about a house. I dream about it too. Thanks for the support.
beatriz- thank you. While I'm not the most "crunchy" person I do believe being focused helps us achieve our goals.
odessa - grazie. Hopefully the universe will help me make some money so I can buy said house. :)
j. doe - thank you..I'm looking forward to it too.
my melange - grazie, I plan to keep throwing!
city girl - good point!
gypsygirl - Instead of saying to myself it's impossible, I'm just going to work towards my goal. Some how, some way I will have a house in Italy.
ahh, so this move to Italy is a permanent one? A house in Italy is a great (and achievable!0 dream - go for it! I'm inching closer to my own (12 year) dream of living in Italy - will be in Rome in february. If it's not completely stalker-ish, I would love to meet for a coffee when I get there. Let me know if that's ok with you (and if not, no worries, i'm sure you get a million requests to meet up a day!) :)
I visualize my home all the time. It's a beautiful brownstone and I intend to have it come hell or high water!
Good for you and I hope you achieve your goal.
Claim it girlfriend!!!
And you shall have it. Visualize.So many things can change in 1-4 years.
Good for you!! It will be great to read about you closing on your house as we take this journey with you.
toni - gypsygirl will be in rome in Feb as well. How funny. Good luck with your move. Which neighborhood are you moving to?
sdg1844 - thank you. I hope you get your brownstone.
monica - ha. I am.
glamah16 - true. The last four years have been very interesting.
faith - I look forward to the day I can post about that.
It's not in the how... it's in the intent. Life has a funny way of working the rest out :)
Initially, l couldn't have even imagined some of the wonderful things that ended up happening when l was living in Italy.
All the best!! And, whenever in doubt because it does creep in at times, just shoo it away with that memory of 4 years ago when you would have not believed you would be living in Italy.
Since l started reading your blog well over a year ago you have already moved in leaps and bounds...
I have no idea! My mum will be with me for a two week holiday so we'll just be in a B&B or something for a while, at which point i'll be looking for acommodation. Any tips on great neighbourhoods?
cleopantha - grazie. What you say is very true. It's about the journey.
toni - before I moved to L.A. I read Time Out Los Angeles. It was a great resource regarding different neighborhoods in L.A. The the Time Out Rome is also great. I like living in the Historic Center but there are cons (tourists, prices). After I few years I might move one ring out, Prati, Testaccio or Flamino for more space.
Thank you! I'll check it out for sure. I was looking at trastevere but i guess it's really whereever i can afford. Thanks for the tip!
Yay! You are right to start visualizing and thinking about this now. Focus on an area and start the research. It took us over 3 years to find the house we eventually bought and we were dreaming about it long before then. We didn't have the finances in place until right at the end (and even then not really enough!). The area you mention is beautiful we have friends who have a place on the Lazio/Umbria/Tuscany border. I love it. Good luck if we can help in any way just shout :) amanda
amanda - thank you. Sometimes things just work out. I'm hoping that next year I will earn more than what I earned this year (if not I'm in biiiiiig trouble). I will put some money toward my house fund even if it's only a few dollars. Every little bit helps.
I'm all for putting things out there. I'm a strong believer in that being an aid to realizing goals.
But I think you know that about me already.
And I bet you'll make yours.
Hell, you're in Roma, aren't you?
jen - yes I did know that about you. :) I think it's a way to live.
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