an hitchcock's evening…

i was reading the last elle issue (italian edition, of course!) and i was struck by an article about alfred hitchcock and his wife, alma reville. i almost cried reading what he said in his famous speech to the american film institute in 1979:

I beg to mention by name only four people who have given me the most
affection, appreciation and encouragement...and constant collaboration.
The first of the four is a film editor, the second is a scriptwriter,
the third is the mother of my daughter Pat, and the fourth is as fine a
cook as ever performed miracles in a domestic kitchen...and their names
are Alma Reville. 

Had the beautiful Miss Reville not accepted a lifetime contract, without
options, as "Mrs Alfred Hitchcock" some 53 years ago, Mr Alfred Hitchcock
might be in this room tonight...not at this table, but as one of the
slower waiters on the floor. 

I share my award, as I have my life, with her.

i never heard about her and i’ve studied hitchcock’s filmography at university! how is it possible? so i decided to see the last movie hitchcock by sasha gervasi. the movie is formally focused on psyco, the greatest hitchcock’s success, but you can also see how he was and the special relationship with alma. mrs hitchcock is such a talented, elegant, determined woman with a deep composure even in the face of her husband's obsession for his protagonists. i wonder if she was never been jelous of hitch’s success… if she never tought “hey, i’m the one who adjust all the scenes, that encourage alfred when he’s down, that make things work!”. no… probably not! and that made me think of my marriage. my wonderful husband has a great job (he designs shops for a worldwide famous brand). he travels, he has interesting collegues, he has to be reach even in the evening or weekends… and sometimes i’m jelous. i just can’t help it! but he really needs me to work near house to manage our child (well now i’m in maternity leave), he could really use some support when he’s tired or worried about his job, and he really needs to find a happy wife when he comes back home (not a grumpy one as often lately!) so, that’s my promise for you, giulio: i’ll try to be more alma reville!

my creative corner

as i've already said, i'm still shy to write "creative" and "me" in the same sentence, but i'm trying! We just renovated our bathroom so we had to move this beautiful and vintage cabinet that my uncle gave to me in our studio. i'm still trying to organize this small but indispensable room with gatherers for bills and boxes for photo albums, big boxes for scarves & hats and swimwears, electronical devices and office supplies...

so far we've just shared the cabinet! Giulio is using two shelfs for his toys and souvenirs and i'm using mine for rubber stamps, washi tape and sewing stuff. the cabinet is perfect for zoeti's curiosity: she can see what's inside but she can't reach anything (there's a key!): you know how much toddlers love buttons and colorfull stuff!! I really need to take a trip to the nearest ikea to buy other storage boxes, and something for wrapping papers, maybe something magnetic for scissors and needles... but for now i'm very happy and proud of myself! 

8/52

"a portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Zoe Tiare: it's very difficult to take you a picture these days... you prefer to stay on the other side of the camera!

Me & my belly: 17 weeks


you can see jodi's project here

we ♥ books!!

that's what's new in zoeti's library... i'm kind of shopaholic when it comes to books (expecially children's book). i don't remember if i mentioned that we're trying to raise our child as much bilingual as possible (me and Giulio are both italians, born and living in italy). i'm following all the suggestions in this website bilingue per gioco (bilingual for fun - italian only), where the founder tells that it's not fundamental to be mother language to teach another language, but there are other ways. so we're buying just english books and dvds for zoeti and ... hoping for the best! i'll normaly take suggestion for books to buy in that website or here in the blogsphere, but recently i've found out that in england they give a bookstart pack to every child living in the territory (isn't that wonderful!). that's the website. in the site there's a section called book where you can find suggestions for babies, toddlers or preschoolers, and it was so useful for me! i've just bought other books from amazon but i'll told about them after a break-in period..

:: i live in tokyo :: we don't read this book very often... i think it's more suitable for older kids, but i bought it anyway bacause i think it's important for zoeti to know and understand the place where aunty comes from and her cousin is half japanese as well! we've been to japan three years ago (looong time ago!) and i loved it! it was already one of my favorite countries... i love all the tea ritual, the geisha's history, a religion so different from mine and i love sushi!
plus, there is a kind of vocabulary inside... if you want to learn some basic japanese words!


:: cleversticks :: it's another book about diversity and different culture. i think it's important for zoeti to read stories from different countries or with characters from all over the world. italy is slowly becoming an international country: zoeti will be at school with chinese, moroccan, ghanaians, vietnamese and so on and it will be such a great chance for her to discover new languages and habits! in this book a chinese-american boy doesn't want to go to school anymore because he doesn't know to do what the others can. but soon he discovers that using chopsticks is what he can do and others can't.


:: who's like me? ::

:: the game of mix and match :: definetely two of her favorites! there's a lot to do with little hands such as finding new combinations of colors and shapes or discover new animals!



:: how to make an apple pie and see the world :: definetely one of my favorite!! i can't read the whole story to zoeti because she keeps turning pages looking for the cat, the dog, cows, hens, and all the other animals that the protagonist meets along the way! a book about travelling and cooking... the best!!

still

it's been a hard week... we're ri-organizing the house, trying to find more space for stocking stuff and to keep everything on order, since we'll have to restructure one floor of the house. zoeti is sick... again... cough... last night went pretty bad and today i'm in a lack of sleep! my sciatica is driving me crazy and after cleaning the whole house (not alone btw...) i feel destroyed.
but then comes a moment, while your baby is finally sleeping peacefully, you look around yourself and everything is clean, and you decide to have a coffee (decaf... of course!) and a homemade muffin (i made them yesterday and the turned out pretty good!). the only movement that you feel is your little one in the tummy (i've started to fell the movements last week !)outside is snowing (yes... again!) and everything is ..still..

3# book review

The last book i've read is La bambina che diceva sempre di sì (original title "Dis oui, Ninon"). I'm not sure if there's a english version, but i bet it's going to be translated as soon as they can.

This book is a little treasure! Ninon is the narrator and she describes her lifes through a nine-years-old eyes. she tries to understand and justify her parents relatioship, the economical difficulty, the love for her little sister, without understand all the situations in the deep, but sometimes teaching us more than an adult. The focus of the book is her decision to live with the father and help him to built a house in the woods.

The Author is Maud Lethielleux and this is her first book.

7/52

"a portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Zoe Tiare: tasting our (i hope!) last snow, waiting for warm and sunny days!

Me & my belly: 16 weeks

You can see Jodi's project here.