November Giveaway!

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It’s time for the November giveaway!

This month I’m giving away something related to one of the main characters in my upcoming young adult novel, Angelhood. The main character’s little sister is named Cecille. I took her name from St. Cecilia because Cecille is a ballerina and St. Cecilia is the patroness of music.

While I was in Rome this past year, I visited the Basilica of St. Cecilia twice. In the gift shop, I picked up a couple St. Cecilia medals. Since November 22 is the feast day of St. Cecilia, I thought this would be a good month to giveaway one of those medals.

How can you win it? By entering the raffle on my Facebook page. Look under the tab “Giveaway” or following this link: http://tinyurl.com/lwm9vat

 

St Cecilia Medal
The giveaway will be open from November 7-21. I’ll announce the winner on the Feast of St. Cecilia on November 22. Good luck!

For more on my visit to the Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Rome, visit this blog post.

 

How to Buy Fruit in Rome

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In honor of Monica over at Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families who is headed to Rome for a twelve-day pilgrimage, here’s what I learned about how to buy fruit at a supermarket in Rome. This came in very handy during my last trip to Rome as my lunches were often on-the-go and consisted of a piece of fruit, a granola/protein/fiber bar, and some gelato.

The first thing you should know about a Roman supermarket is that they are not huge like they are in the U.S. They are more the size of a 7-Eleven. However, they do carry fresh produce. When picking out fruit or vegetables, be sure to use the plastic gloves and plastic bags that are supplied. They don’t want you touching the food without gloves on your hands.

While bagging the fruit, check for a number on the sign that says “tasto” next to it. Not actually sure what “tasto” means, but it’s some kind of identifying number. For example, the golden apples (mele golden) in the picture below are “tasto 5.”

The "tasto" number is in the upper left on this sign for golden apples ("mele").

The “tasto” number is in the upper left on this sign for golden apples (“mele”).

Take your bag to the weighing station. Then just hit the number for your item. For example, for the golden apples above, I simply pressed number 5.

Press the "tasto" number you want.

Press the “tasto” number you want.

The machine will spit out a little sticker that gives the price for those items based on their weight. Put the sticker on your bag, and you are ready to head to the cashier.

Here's the sticker for my golden apples!

Here’s the sticker for my golden apples!

Really a pretty simple process once you get the hang of it, and a great way to buy fresh fruit and veggies while in Rome.

And don’t forget to check out Monica’s website as she’s the official blogger for this pilgrimage she’s on. Can’t wait to hear all about her fantastic adventures!

Setting Reveal!

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As we creep closer to the release of my YA novel, Angelhood, I’ll be revealing bits and pieces of information about the book. Today, I’d like to talk about a real church in Chicago that I used for two important scenes in the book.

Back in 2011, I went on a Catholic Church Tour to do research for a middle grade novel I was working on. Little did I know that just a month later, I’d be hit with the idea for Angelhood and end up postponing work on the  middle grade book in order to pursue this new endeavor.

While working on Angelhood, I needed a location for the guardian angels to meet, and the church that fit my needs perfectly was Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica, one of the churches from the tour I had taken a month earlier! Funny how God gives us things before we even know we need them!

So here are a few photos of Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica, which I’ve visited twice now.

Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica

Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica

The Tower

The Tower

The front entrance

The front entrance

The Altar

The altar

Clearly, this photo was taken during my pre-iPhone days.

Clearly, this photo was taken during my pre-iPhone days, and doesn’t do the beauty of this church justice. I’ll need to go back to get a better photo some day!

The church has paintings that depict the seven sorrows of Mary. One important scene takes place near the back of the church and involves a character looking at one of these paintings. This particular one is Mary standing at the foot of the cross, watching her son die.

Mary at the foot of the cross

Mary at the foot of the cross

The pew from which a character gazes at the painting

The pew from which a character gazes at the painting

Another extremely important scene in the book happens in an area behind and to the side of the main altar. In this part of the church, you’ll find a replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta. I won’t reveal what happens here, but let’s just say that a pretty powerful guardian angel can be found at this spot from time to time.

Replica of the Pieta at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica

Replica of the Pieta at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica

And then just because they’re pretty and play a minor role in the book, here are the stained glass windows over the exit.

Doors and stained glass windows inside Our Lady of Sorrows

Doors and stained glass windows inside Our Lady of Sorrows

So why am I revealing this setting today, September 15, when my book doesn’t come out for several more months?

Because today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, which makes it the “titular feast day” of the basilica! Happy Titular Feast Day, Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica!

 

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

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Every week my friends Ginny Marie and Gretchen host something called The Spin Cycle. Basically, every Monday they post a writing prompt, and then bloggers are welcome to link up their responses by the end of the week.

Since this week’s topic seems so fitting for a teacher, I’m joining in. The topic: What You Did on Your Summer Vacation!

Summer is always divided into two parts for me. The first part is summer school. My district has a really nice four-week summer school program in which most of the classes offered are enrichment, so it’s a nice break from the regular curriculum yet still keeps kids’ minds actively engaged. I teach a guided independent reading class and then screenwriting and iMovie classes. The four weeks always fly by!

The second half of summer is travel time! This year I spent two weeks in Italy. I will not recount the whole trip here since I have fourteen previous blog posts on it! If you missed any of it and want to read about my fabulous trip to Rome, I suggest you start with the post Plan E, Or How I Ended Up in Rome Twice in One Year. Grab a cup of tea and get comfortable because my posts are kind of long.

Best. Vacation. Ever.

Best. Vacation. Ever.

And of course, I read some books, although I’m struggling a bit to remember them all. I know I read the following:

  • Show Me a Sign by Susan Miura (must get book review up soon!)
  • A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (need to do book review on this one, too)
  • Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin, S.J.

I feel like there were more, but I’m blanking at the moment. I’m currently working on reading . . .

  • Impervious by Heather Letto
  • The Complete Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything by James Martin, S.J. (started while in Rome but not finished yet)

If you’d like to join the Spin Cycle and/or read about other people’s summer adventures, click the link below.

 

Second Blooming

Rome by the Numbers

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My mom’s been asking me how many churches, museums, etc., I visited while in Rome during my Speak, Pray, Cook adventure. I’ve finally finished totalling them up. Here’s my Rome trip “by the numbers.”

Average miles walked by day: 6-8

This is a rough estimate, but the round trip walk to school was about 2.5 miles, and I usually made that trip twice a day (once in the morning for class, and once in the late afternoon for the evening activity or my own touring and/or dinner plans). So between those two trips alone, I was doing five miles a day. Of course, there was also a lot of walking between the sights that I visited or walking to dinner or walking through museums. Therefore, I’m sure I walked at least another mile beyond that, but probably more like 2-3 extra miles a day.

Hours spent learning Italian: 40

My classes were about 3-1/2 hours every day. Plus I spent about a half hour on homework a night. That means over the two week time period, I spent about 40 hours directly learning Italian. Of course, living with a woman who only spoke Italian meant more practice!

Number of churches visited: 25

I knew I’d visited a lot, but I didn’t realize quite how many until I wrote out the list. Surprisingly, only 8 of them are ones I’d visited before. They are the starred churches.

Santa Cecilia

Santa Cecilia

  1. San Pietro (St. Peter’s)*
  2. Chiesa Nuova
  3. Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (St. Mary over Minerva)
  4. Sant’Ignazio di Loyola (St. Ignatius of Loyola)
  5. Santa Maria degli Angeli (St. Mary of the Angels)
  6. Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major)*
  7. Santa Maria dell’Anime
  8. Santa Sabina
  9. San Alessio
  10. Scala Santa*
  11. San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran)*
  12. San Clemente
  13. San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains)
  14. Santa Maria delle Vittorie
  15. Sant’Agostino
  16. Chiesa del Gesu
  17. Santa Maria in Aracoeli
  18. Santa Cecilia*
  19. San Francesco a Ripa
  20. Santa Maria in Trastevere*
  21. Santa Maria della Scala
  22. Pantheon* (Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres)
  23. Sant’Andrea della Valle*
  24. Santa Maria del Popolo
  25. San Luigi dei Francesi

 Number of Order of Malta Sites Visited: 2

I’ve begun the process to become a Dame of the Order of Malta, so I decided to visit their two spots in Rome: the magistral villa and the magistral palace.

Number of Museums Visited: 4

IMG_1812

Galleria Borghese (art museum)

Sometimes on vacations I end up doing museum overload. It was nice this time not to overload myself with too much information.

  1. Capuchin Museum and Crypt
  2. Galleria Borghese
  3. War exhibit at the Vittorio Emanuele Monument
  4. Castel Sant’Angelo

Number of Excavation Sites Visited: 3

Rome is the Eternal City. They’re always digging up and discovering new layers to the city. I visited three of them.

  1. San Clemente–Under this church, they found an older church. And under that church, they found a first-century Roman home. It’s the perfect example of how Romans have built upon their history time and time again.
  2. Santa Cecilia–Under this church are the remains of what they believe to be St. Cecilia’s family home. And of course, her bones were moved here after she was declared a saint.
  3. Largo del Torre Argentina–At this excavation site, they found the ruins of four ancient Roman temples. This is where Julius Caesar was believed to be killed. Et tu, Brute?

Number of Gelato Shops Visited: 7

Giolitti

Giolitti

Some were so good, I went back for seconds. 🙂

  1. Giolitti
  2. Old Bridge
  3. Frigidarium
  4. Fatamorgana
  5. San Crispino
  6. Gelataria del Teatro
  7. LemonGrass

 

Number of Gelato Flavors Tried: at least 14

I should have kept better track of my gelato flavors, but I know there were at least 14 flavors tried.

Perfetto!

Perfetto!

  1. Amarena con panna
  2. Limoncello
  3. Melone
  4. Mela
  5. Champagne
  6. White chocolate and basil
  7. Garden sage and raspberry
  8. Honey
  9. Vanilla with bourbon
  10. Stracciatella
  11. White chocolate and rum
  12. Chocolate and orange
  13. Dark chocolate
  14. Strawberry

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