You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take America out of the girl

Salad with shrimp, avocado, ham and tomatoes 

I'm lucky enough to be visited by my mom this week! Having people from home in my life makes all the difference. Last night I met her at her hotel and we went to dinner in Piazza della Repubblica. I had a salad and mussels and mom had a salad and pasta bolognese. The mussels I got were amazing, but so garlicky! Usually Tuscan bread is usually underwhelming, but they toasted it with olive oil and salt which was great to soak up all the sauce. We both got Nastro Azzurro beers to wash it all down with.

Today in my art class we spent the morning in San Marco, drawing along with the likes of Fra Angelico. I've learned about the Annunciation (pictured above) so many times, that I decided I HAD to draw it. Of course drawing an amazing work of art that took seven years to make in two hours is impossible, but I still enjoyed analyzing every detail! It's not easy!

Friendly faces, fancy food

My lack of posting has been due to visits from home! My father and Leslie joined me in Florence for the weekend. Our time together was spent catching up over delicious meals and walking around the city. I bought my first Florentine leather purse! It's the perfect size and it feels like butter. We had high noon tea at their hotel, the St. Regis and a dinner that left me in a meat-coma for the remainder of the night. Our time together went by in a second, I didn't know time could move so fast!

Purse purchase