And what a shock to the system it is!
You don't realize how different things are until you spend time somewhere else in the world.
It puts everything in perspective and lets your soul wander...
I saw this quote in my Tumblr feed by Anais Nin about a week before I left for my trip and didn't realize how true it was until I had gotten away from the micro-cosm I have surrounded myself in for so many years...
"You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death. Some never awaken."
-Anais Nin
What did I learn on my trip? That I need to slow down. That everything happens for a reason, be it good or bad. That you don't have to travel 5,000 miles to realize that there is beauty all around you. That the world is one of non-stop change and we need to embrace it.
Here's a few pictures from my last day in Italy... my Mom and I spent a mellow day and drove back to Cortona, in Tuscany, then had dinner with our wonderful hosts, Lucia and Sandro.
We left the next morning at 5 AM, in the pitch black and I couldn't get one last look across the gorgeous panoramic view of Umbria that I needed.
But it's in my heart, you'll all see it inspired in upcoming products, and most importantly, I got a little rest for the first time in a long, long while...
Now, to get over the jet lag. 11 hour flights and 6 hour time differences sound so easy to overcome. Until you're in it!
xo
Miss K
Cortona is built on a mountainside so steep that there are a series of escalators to deliver you from the parking lot to the town!
I waited until my last day to splurge on a triple gelato...
Cashmere shops abound in central Italy...
Dinner, trying Grappa... handmade with vanilla beans. Still burnt my throat and made my face beet red!
The Grappa cart. What appropriate signage!
Il Fontanaro... a piece of heaven.
I fell in love with this sweet puppy named Bacco, as you can see below...
