the sweet life |

First off, a hearty Midwestern thank you to authors Joanne Rendell, Jenny Gardiner and Jess Riley for taking the time to share their personal insights into “the sweet life” with our readers. These three authors are a big part of the reason I wanted to start Athena’s Bookshelf – to bring light to great books by great emerging authors. We’ll be back to more book reviews next week, including reviews for The Amend Sisters, Where Am I Wearing, And Never Stop Dancing and more historical romance.

And now, for my route to the sweet life, la dolce vita…

This is going to sound strange for an author to say, since stories live in our heads all the time, but the best way for me to experience the sweet life is to get out of my head once in awhile. I’ve always prided myself on being a thinker and my creative outlet is not only escape for me, but therapy. But what I realized last year, while reading The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, is that my brain was pretty much controlling my life, and not in a good way.

Do you ever have too many thoughts going on at once? Catch yourself worrying about the past and fretting about the future? Conjuring up drastic scenarios that may never come to fruition? Yeah…I pretty much rock at that. And it’s all well and good if you’re creating those things for conflict for your characters, but something else entirely if it’s about your own life. The stress pool is a cesspool.

By practicing keeping myself in the present moment as much as possible, the past and the future melt away (unless the present is purposely planning for a future moment.) What’s left is the glorious present – whatever I happen to be doing at the moment. Making bacon for my 8 year old’s farmer’s breakfast this morning. Concentrating on the bacon and visiting with her, and not thinking about the dozen other things I need to do this morning. Getting ready for my launch party yesterday, I listened to Oprah’s Soul series, instead of worrying if anyone would show up at the launch party. (Thankfully many did!)

We’ve all heard the saying, “don’t worry, be happy,” yet it’s much harder to live it. But I’ve found when I do, then everything in life is sweeter. I really get to savor the small stuff and simply be present. Now I have to rush. Can’t take the kids to school in PJ’s, now can I?

Be sure and check out my web site to enter two great contests ending in November, for an Italian Cafe CD perfect for your next dinner party or a Sephora Makeup Kit for yourself or as a Christmas gift for a girlie girl on your list. Need some holiday baking and recipe ideas? You’ll find my favorites on the site, as well. Thanks for supporting Dating da Vinci, and I wish you the sweet life this holiday season and beyond!

Get the book on Amazon here.

Our second guest author to help us celebrate the launch of Dating da Vinci by Malena Lott is Jenny Gardiner. Jenny, welcome!

La Dolce Vita. The sweet life. I think you can find no sweeter place in which to find La Dolce Vita than in Italia.

I’m a huge Italiophile. I’d never even been to Italy until about six years ago. I knew I’d love it—I adore Italian food, Italian wine and art. I’m fascinated by Italian culture. And Italian men? Need I say more? Besides that obvious selling point, I’ve been so smitten by the language of love that I actually started studying it several years ago. A somewhat impractical language on which to focus one’s attention, but it sounds so sensual, it’s music to my ears.

I didn’t know until I went there, however, that I would feel so very connected to Italy.

Italy is definitely my place to indulge in the sweet life. We’ve been back a few times since that first visit during the off-season. And because it was November in Tuscany that first time, we were relatively free of the manacles of hoards of tourists and instead could partake in the local life, even helping our hosts to harvest olives in their grove. And dining on homemade ravioli and veal straight from the farm of our host’s brother. Everything was local, from the olive oil to the wine to the boar meat to the vegetables.

In Italy, in many ways, life is much simpler. People work for a few hours in the morning, then take long, leisurely lunchtimes with family and friends. Maybe a siesta for a while. And return to work for a few hours later in the afternoon. Italians place a high value on the arts, take pride in their heritage and history, and work hard to preserve what was so that it will be there for the indefinite future.

My last trip to Italy was a sailing trip with my family and two families of dear friends—15 of us sailing the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily. By day we sailed from island to island, swam in the sapphire waters, hiked smoldering volcanoes, and wandered through markets and local ruins. By evening, we’d throw together an antipasti platter made with only local salamis and cheeses, accompanied by hearty local wines. Then we’d dinghy ashore for leisurely meals of fresh pasta and seafood served by some of the nicest wait staff you’ll ever find. We finished with fresh desserts and local liqueurs, and returned to our sailboats to settle down to the gentle waving of the ocean all night long.

I can’t think of anything much sweeter than that.

Learn more about Jenny at www.jennygardiner.net and find her book at Amazon here.

Tag Archives: the sweet life

How Author Malena Lott Gets La Dolce Vita

How Author Jenny Gardiner Gets La Dolce Vita