Let's have a Coffee and Chat - getting to know you

INSPIRATION

Ciao lets have a coffee and chat!

Let’s have a Coffee and Chat
‘getting to know you’

I’ve been sitting here pondering what to write about, all the time aware that I have to get to bed early tonight (which means early as opposed to my normal after midnight bedtimes) and my mind is zoned out. Then Sam calls out to me from the kitchen telling me to check my facebook page someone wants to buy me a coffee.

What??

A dear friend Kelly sent me a message saying she wanted to shout me a coffee as she has been living her Italian dream vicariously through us.

So Kelly this post is in your honor…..and thank you for the offer, one day we’ll get to do that coffee together.

I look forward to getting to know you all in person one day.

In the evenings after the kids have gone to bed and the house is quiet Sam and I both get on the computers. Sam sits at the table in the kitchen and I sit at my little desk in the lounge, we talk through the doorway and he constantly calls me to come and look at things he’s found. It’s hard to concentrate tonight, the fire is making the room warm and I’m sleepy, I’m thinking of making a cuppa and thought wouldn’t it be nice if I could have one with you, a little getting to know you session.

You each enrich my life in so many ways, cheer me when I’m blue, lift me when I’m moping, laugh with me, and cry with me, and we have slowly gotten to know each other.

Friendships have formed within these pages, people have met, chatted through facebook, I’ve shared the images, books, poetry, and stories of friends here. I’ve met incredible people with big dreams living in Italy, incredible people living amazing lives all over the world, people who have dreams, people with big hearts, friends I’ve come to care about and who care about us.

So I’d like you to close your eyes (after reading this of course) and imagine you are in Italy, actually close by and heading my way. We’re meeting for a coffee, we’ll be a big rowdy group with lots to share, much hugging and kisses on both cheeks, delight at finally meeting in person, and sharing…..lots of sharing…..

Over to You…..

Where are you now, what are you doing, what are you reading, watching, writing, drawing, creating, thinking…..who are you with, who do you love, what did you want to be when you were growing up, what makes you laugh, if this is your first coffee in Italy how does it taste…..where are we drinking it….which city, village, town, are we by the sea, in the mountains, feeling the warmth of sunshine or the chill of snow…..

Let’s get to know each other Better my dear friends…..a meeting of like minds and kindred spirits xx

Take it away…..

Save

and the gang x

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52 replies

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Kelly says:
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What a lovely post to wake up to in my morning email! I’m glad my offer could bring you such joy, considering all the joy and enrichment you bring to the lives of so many other people. It’s just going on 6am here in the Midwest of the U.S. I have the early morning news on and drinking my morning cup of green tea while I’m getting ready to head off for a long 16-hour work day. Wishing you, Sam, Carina and Luca and wonderful weekend filled with love & laughs. <3
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  See what you started Kelly, such a wonderful way to get to know everyone and all because of you! I’ll have a cuppa with you, I actually prefer tea to coffee as well, my Mum is a big tea drinker and I take after her here. Hope your work day wasn’t so long, that’s a long shift xx sending love from all of us here in Malpertus xxx
Sarah Hudson says:
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I have been laughing non stop today – finding everything funny and being silly with my beautiful daughter! She is in the process of moving from Byron Bay to Coolangatta ( there’s a boy involved otherwise why would you move from paradise!) and we’ve been dropping things, running away from toads, finding boxes full of absolute rubbish, sharing nachos with water dragons and generally laughing about nothing in particular. We’re both a bit nuts and laughter is such good medicine.I miss her terribly because I live in Adelaide so right now I’m sitting on her ratty old lounge overlooking the rooftops of the Gold Coast with two great big young men lolling around on mattresses on the floor. The winter olympics are on TV and there are pizza boxes, mismatched crockery and being Friday night, the beer bottles have come out of the fridge. I imagine if you and I met for coffee ( tea for me) we would find ourselves in hysterics at the crazy stuff that makes up our lives. I know we are kindred spirits – women with big hearts who love life, family and friends and are prepared to give anything a go! Women of passion!
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Sarah you are such a gift, I love your spirit and all you share. I remember my Mum helping me move with my first boyfriend but no water dragons lol . I miss my Mum and can’t imagine a day when Carina grows up and moves out, a few years away yet for us. I’m actually a tea girl as well so we could brew a pot and laugh over life, talk non stop and come up with all kinds of plans for the future!! Here’s to us!!
Heather says:
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Ciao Lisa- I’d love to share a coffee with you!

Oh, and thank you for the warm welcome. =) I recently discovered your blog and absolutely love reading about your family’s adventures in Piedmont. My husband, 2 kiddos and I moved from the US to Milan, Italy last year.

The sun is out this morning and the sky is blue- a bit of a rarity for Milan in winter. I am enjoying a quiet moment in the house after getting the kids off to school. I’m having a doppio macchiato right this minute. And then I plan to take the 2 dogs for a walk in the sun…

Your writing makes me want to explore every nook and cranny of Piedmont- an area I’ve only dipped my toes in. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and life with all of us. I hope someday to have a real coffee with you! Wouldn’t that be fun?

Hope you have a wonderful day-
Heather
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Heather so great to meet you this way, love your blog and I understand some of the perils of moving the family to Italy. It’s been really nice up here in the mountains as well, most of the snow has melted and the first signs of Spring are showing. If you’re ever out this way let us know and come for lunch. Are your kids at an Italian school, how are they settling in to life here. So much to chat about, and looking forward to that coffee xxx
Jeff says:
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I’ve been in New York City for the past week, my first time here in several years. I’d practically forgotten how wonderful this city is. The streets are swarming with so much life and energy. There’s at least a dozen places to get a coffee within two blocks in any direction, so let’s just walk….we’ll find something. Anyway, Ive been on the road for work a lot the last several weeks. I go home today, and finally will have the time to get a plumber in to fix the pipes that froze and burst a while back. Looking forward to going home, but I’m sure not looking forward to that.
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Hey Jeff I love New York, I back packed in America in my 20’s so that coffee sounds good. I’d love to walk a while with you, hope your trip home was okay and I never even thought about pipes freezing and then bursting arghhhh. What happens now do you have to replace them all?
  ciao ciao xxx
nicki says:
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Ciao Lisa!
I’m not a coffee person so I’ll brew up a tea for now! I’m not too far from you, just the other end of Italy but the weather is much warmer here..2 days ago I got back from a trip to Asia to find it was 24C in Positano, in February! Crazy, and I did think of you in your snowy valley! We’ve been doing a bit of renovating too over the last year, but nothing like on your scale…the hardest part was actually moving as our house is 465 steps down into a valley from road level, so getting all the furniture down was a nightmare! Today we’re supposed to be papering the inside of a new wardrobe that we just built, but I cant find the wallpaper paste and popping out to buy some is not really an option. Might have some visitors later as some friends are doing a hike in the mountains so might pass by our valley. We have some signs of spring already, trailing roses are in bloom on the trellis and the neighbours sheep have had a few babies, 3 lambs born last week! Have a lovely day! x
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Ciao Nicki, I tried to leave a comment at your blog but couldn’t get it to go through. So here it is xxx
  
  “Just stunning, so tranquil and that water so blue, what a perfect spot to go for a paddle. I can imagine wandering those tracks, we often went up into the mountains in Queensland and would swim in the rock pools and under waterfalls.
  Funnily enough I’m actually a tea girl as well, and would love to have a cuppa with you. I can not imagine 465 steps, what a mammoth effort, how do you move with all those stairs? I used to work in a paint and wallpaper store in Australia so you made me laugh about the paste, maybe it’s pre pasted? Isn’t it great to live somewhere and just have friends popping in, we get that a lot here and one day Sam just got chatting to a couple up on the road who looked lost, turned out they were Aussies and they came in for a drink. Spring is showing signs here and I saw the first yellow primrose on the mountains. So great to share that cuppa with you and sending love lisa x”
Margaret | Destination Here&Now says:
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I’d whisk you back to Oz, to Bathurst. We’d drive down to Keppel Street and grab some fresh bread from the French patisserie – it would still be warm. We’d stop for a coffee at Al Dente then swing by Country Fruit and stock up on some Trunkey Creek ham and Mudgee cheese. Then we’d take a drive, out past O’Connell and have a picnic under the casuarinas on the banks of the Fish River. We wouldn’t draw breath. We’d laugh about how our poor suffering husbands put up with our mad dreams, our blogging, but how they secretly love the adventures that lie in wait. And we’d plan a return coffee in let’s say… Imperia?
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Margaret this sounds like heaven, and I’d love to introduce you to a friend of mine Shivanii I think you’d love her. One of my favorite childhood memories is going to get the hot bread with my step dad on a weekend, we’d bring it home still warm and eat it with butter and jam before everyone else was awake.
  Oh the more I read and think about this the more I am longing to see you and your beautiful Bathurst. What a wonderful day you’ve painted, and yes those poor husbands would cop a beating lol. So now I need to check out a great spot to have coffee in Imperia xxxx
  sending love xx
- Margaret | Destination Here&Now says:
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  Imperia schmeria. Pick a town, any town in your part of the world 🙂
Pecora Nera says:
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How about to meet over at the Langhe and have a coffee with Living in the Langue and the new baby?

We have wonderful sunshine in Monferrato today 🙂
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  You are SO ON!!! Lets make a date with them, can’t wait to meet up!!! xx
Evelyn says:
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Hola Lisa, you always think up the greatest ideas!! It is supper time here and I just scrambled 2 eggs with a little piece of cheese and toast for supper. Vlad works 3 – 11 so we have our big meal at noon. We are having another storm also. It has snowed, really rained, strong winds.
It is suppose to be like this until tomorrow around noon. Did you see the Canadian team with Gold over the American girls? What an exciting game!!
I have a metal roof and now it is a little warmer the snow is sliding off the roof and it sounds like an avalanche !!
You and Sam sound like Vlad and I. We don’t have cable tv so each of us are on the computer. It is usually me saying to Vlad ” Come here, come here” or how do you say a word in Spanish. Life is good.
I think I will install Skype and we could chat in that form. What do you think?
Well my coffee has been good. Hope yours won’t keep you awake.
Talk to you in the morning,
Besos
Evelyn
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Grazie Evelyn, I totally love scrambled eggs and when I moved out of home I just about lived on them and cereal. We have our big meal here at lunch as well. I haven’t seen any of the olympics I must admit but happy to hear Canada did well. I love that sound when the snow falls from the roof, most of the snow here has melted and we are already seeing the early signs of Spring. It’s been a very mild Winter so far. We have done skype calls with Sams mum and it was lots of fun to see her in person. Thanks for the coffee and great chatting, sending love
  
  xxxx
head in the sun says:
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How about an ice coffee frappe in the shade of the big trees out the back by the pool?
Coz it’s hot, hot, hot here in Qld at the moment.
And humid – urghhh.
The only civilized place in this weather is in the water!
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Sounds fantastic, I love your post with all the towels and bathers on the chairs. We always had towels hanging over the railing at our house in Scarborough. I had to smile at your thong collection ….gorgeous. Do you have any Mango trees…..thanks for the frappe and great hanging out with you xxx
  ciao ciao lisa x
Wynne says:
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Meeting you, Sam and the kids was truly a highlight of my 13-week European journey. Answering all those questions would take a novel, but having a cuppa here in NYC would be fun! In Greenwich Village, or the Lower East Side. Or overlooking Central Park or the rivers. So many options here in NYC!

Having a big, FaceBook gathering in a family restaurant in Bobbio Pellice would be quite a lark, wouldn’t it? We could plan it for Spring or Fall of 2015. Fun!
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Oh I’d love to see New York with you Wynne, we’d have a blast!! Somewhere hip and comfortable, eclectic, oh and I love that idea of a facebook gathering in Bobbio, that would make the locals look! sending love and big hugs to you xxx