lake como, part two {and a giveaway winner!}
{i just used a random number generator to draw a winner for the pinkblush maternity gift card! the winner is …
comment #14 – lauren!
congratulations!! shoot me an email at charityeyre at gmail, and we’ll get your gift card sent over asap!
many thanks to all who entered and/or donated to refugeepoint via my go jane give page (especially all of those who donated within the last day!). we raised a good little chunk of money that will go 100% to refugee aid.
i also wanted to make a quick clarification on a few sentences of yesterday’s post - some commenters suggested they carried a tone of judging, shaming, or assuming. this was not intended to come across from a simple observation of surprise and disappointment – and i should have been more thoughtful in my writing to avoid that. an interesting and, i think, valuable, conversation unfolded in the comments section, which i have learned a lot from and which you can read for further clarification if desired.
i hope lauren really enjoys her prize! and that each of us can consider ways that we can turn our everyday skills and activities into creative ways to serve others – go jane give makes this so easy and exciting!
annnnnnd, back to lake como…!}
the rain continued throughout our last two days at lake como, which the boy spent 90% of studying for his upcoming exam (only four more days!). we did occasionally get an hour or so of dry weather, and on our last day about thirty combined minutes of actual sunshine! it was pretty exciting. we made all efforts to enjoy our lovely hotel by opening the windows to our view when it was raining and sitting on wet chairs on the terrace when it was not, relishing the nice breakfast spread each morning, and even taking a dip and swimming some laps in the (very chilly!) pool together (exhilarating!). and we ate pizza and gelato together for every meal! while ian studied, i read, meditated, organized baby prep stuff, took walks through charming gravedona, snapped photos, and on tuesday took a slow boat to meet him in menaggio (another perfectly charming lakeside town) on our way back to the airport in milan.
all in all, our babymoon fail was nevertheless pretty wonderful. there’s always something to learn from rainclouds and having to adjust plans/visions, right?! and (i’ll say it again!) – stunning nature + gelato + pizza, and especially + being together = happiness no matter what :)
^^ gravedona’s lovely old church, right on the water, with amazing ancient frescoes ^^
^^ not a bad study spot, right?! ^^
^^ our perfect little hotel! – hotel regina in gravedona. it was pretty cool to watch the clouds and light move throughout the days from our room’s terrace. ^^
^^ i just adore the colours of these buildings – and the evening reflection i captured here on our walk to the pizzeria made me really happy! ^^
^^ a rainy self-timer picture to capture our last gelato treat in menaggio. soooo yum!! ^^
^^ and then there was blue skies and sunshine for a few minutes out of nowhere!! the boy had left the pizzeria where we were eating to move the car and came running back and told me we had to take our food to go and leave that very second because it was sunny outside!! so we rushed to the waterfront and verrrry much enjoyed eating with these views!:
^^ and we even found a souvenir shop with plenty of magnet options on our way out of town. getting a magnet in each place we visit is hilariously important to us, to this really sealed the deal on a great trip afterall. ^^
lake como is such a special spot on earth, and will always be happy, rainy, babymoon memories for us!
less than six weeks to go – we are so excited to meet you, baby boy!
comment #14 – lauren!
congratulations!! shoot me an email at charityeyre at gmail, and we’ll get your gift card sent over asap!
many thanks to all who entered and/or donated to refugeepoint via my go jane give page (especially all of those who donated within the last day!). we raised a good little chunk of money that will go 100% to refugee aid.
i also wanted to make a quick clarification on a few sentences of yesterday’s post - some commenters suggested they carried a tone of judging, shaming, or assuming. this was not intended to come across from a simple observation of surprise and disappointment – and i should have been more thoughtful in my writing to avoid that. an interesting and, i think, valuable, conversation unfolded in the comments section, which i have learned a lot from and which you can read for further clarification if desired.
i hope lauren really enjoys her prize! and that each of us can consider ways that we can turn our everyday skills and activities into creative ways to serve others – go jane give makes this so easy and exciting!
annnnnnd, back to lake como…!}
the rain continued throughout our last two days at lake como, which the boy spent 90% of studying for his upcoming exam (only four more days!). we did occasionally get an hour or so of dry weather, and on our last day about thirty combined minutes of actual sunshine! it was pretty exciting. we made all efforts to enjoy our lovely hotel by opening the windows to our view when it was raining and sitting on wet chairs on the terrace when it was not, relishing the nice breakfast spread each morning, and even taking a dip and swimming some laps in the (very chilly!) pool together (exhilarating!). and we ate pizza and gelato together for every meal! while ian studied, i read, meditated, organized baby prep stuff, took walks through charming gravedona, snapped photos, and on tuesday took a slow boat to meet him in menaggio (another perfectly charming lakeside town) on our way back to the airport in milan.
all in all, our babymoon fail was nevertheless pretty wonderful. there’s always something to learn from rainclouds and having to adjust plans/visions, right?! and (i’ll say it again!) – stunning nature + gelato + pizza, and especially + being together = happiness no matter what :)
^^ gravedona’s lovely old church, right on the water, with amazing ancient frescoes ^^
^^ not a bad study spot, right?! ^^
^^ our perfect little hotel! – hotel regina in gravedona. it was pretty cool to watch the clouds and light move throughout the days from our room’s terrace. ^^
^^ i just adore the colours of these buildings – and the evening reflection i captured here on our walk to the pizzeria made me really happy! ^^
^^ a rainy self-timer picture to capture our last gelato treat in menaggio. soooo yum!! ^^
^^ and then there was blue skies and sunshine for a few minutes out of nowhere!! the boy had left the pizzeria where we were eating to move the car and came running back and told me we had to take our food to go and leave that very second because it was sunny outside!! so we rushed to the waterfront and verrrry much enjoyed eating with these views!:
^^ and we even found a souvenir shop with plenty of magnet options on our way out of town. getting a magnet in each place we visit is hilariously important to us, to this really sealed the deal on a great trip afterall. ^^
lake como is such a special spot on earth, and will always be happy, rainy, babymoon memories for us!
less than six weeks to go – we are so excited to meet you, baby boy!
So happy you were able to see Lake Como and sorry the weather was a disappointment. We have been there many times, and just love Como and surrounding area. I am also sorry that your readers took your words in the wrong way. I think there may have been a couple of factors into why you did not get as much response as you anticipated. 1) The giveaway was geared for pregnant woman thus many of us who are not pregnant or who will not be pregnant in the future passed over the post. 2) many people in the United States don't understand the refugee conflict. The coverage that we get in the U.S. is completely different than what European newsreaders and TV watchers. Also, there has been a lot of fear mongering propaganda being spread on this side of the pond. I myself only know differently because I was in Vienna last fall and saw the 100's of refugees for myself and saw the coverage on the news. Being LDS I am nervous about Charities and do not know enough about GoJane to know how it works and if my money is going where is says it is going. lastly, I know your readers are not just LDS, but I think in the LDS community there tends to be the idea that since we pay tithing and a fast offering that we don't need to contribute financially beyond what we have all ready given. Recently we adopted a little girl from China and the process went a lot faster than we had anticipated, so we didn't have all the funds in our bank account to cover the fees. I did a few fund raisers and like you were surprise that I didn't get as much response as I have seen fellow adoptive mothers receive. One day over lunch I was talking with a friend and was expressing my disappointment and she pointed out that many LDS after tithing just don't have much left to give. That paying their tithing while a good thing is such a sacrifice. So I hope this helps you.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Lauren on being the winner.:)
ReplyDeleteGreat magnets.
Just curious, do you put your magnets on the fridge or in a scrapbook/journal etc?