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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

That *Perfect* Summer Cake DIY

Now listen. I know that all of you are scouring the interwebs for a magical summer cake.

Nothing on Pinterest is good enough, amiright? You need perfection. Something that will make you look like the best mom ever.

A homemade five layer cake with ombre icing is NOT good enough.

Are you ready for this?

Have you ever seen such beauty?
Here’s the step by step for this DIY.

1. Buy ice cream cake that says “Happy Birthday”.

2. Rub off “Birthday” with your finger. Make sure to make magical DIY swirls with your finger. This will mimic the waves of summer.

3. Prepare to write “Summer” with gel icing.

4. Realize that tip of gel icing is closed. Since you are at the pool, you will have no scissors. Use teeth. This will give the letters a nice organic, jagged, and authentic feel.

5. Write “summer”. When you get to end of word, realize you are out of room.

6. Contemplate writing

SUM-
MER

7. Say screw it and cram it all on one line.

8. Wait to serve cake until half melted. This will nicely mask the DIY chunks you ate as you were making this masterpiece.

 

VOILA!!!! As I said on Instagram- pin away suckas.

I hope you can handle the amazingness. That’s how I roll.

xo

 

Exploring Italy | Venezia/Venice

Last Friday I decided to surprise Sadie with a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants day trip to Venice.

Harper had just left on a Girl Scouts trip to Naples and I was able to put the littles in hourly care on post.

I realized a couple of things:

1. I’d never been to Venice in the year we’d been here- yeah, i know i know. Not sure how that happened.

2. I’d never taken Sadie anywhere for the entire day- just the two of us.

I set up hourly care for C and L, purchased train tickets, and kept the secret. If you know ANYTHING about me, you know this was excruciating.

On Friday after I dropped C&L off, I turned towards our apartment instead of towards Sadie’s school.
I wouldn’t tell her what was going on until we got to the train station. I think she was suspicious of my intentions and she didn’t seem that impressed. HA!

We bought some croissants, hopped onto the train (it was only a 45 minute train ride!) and hit the road. Tracks? Anyway…

Sadie started to get VERY excited.

When we walked out of the train station we decided to just explore. That’s probably the best thing about living in Italy. Instead of only having a once in a lifetime trip…I can come back whenever I want.

I didn’t have to cram in any must-sees or must-eats…we just wandered. And it was magical.

 

 

Every time we saw a gondola, Sadie begged to take a ride. I knew we were going to take one…I was just picky about choosing the gondolier. I wanted it to be a fun, non cheesy experience. No, that’s not right. I wanted the right kind of cheesy!

Meet Guila the gondala. And her captain, Stefano. This is one of my all-time favorite Italy stories.

Stefano and I had a hilarious conversation. All in Italian and I have to say I’m pretty proud of myself. A year ago I couldn’t have had this experience and I wouldn’t have had this story to tell.

I asked Stefano who Monica was.

He told me it was his mama. I said…You don’t have a wife? And he said…oh I have a wife, but I’m not putting her name on Guilia.

Mammas are forever. Wives do not last.

BAHAHAHAH! Such a typical comment from an Italian man. I about fell out of the boat!

Here are some things we saw on our gondola ride. Yes, Stefano sang to us. Sadie was simultaneously mortified and intrigued. I,of course, ate it right up.

We ended our gondola ride and set off to find St. Mark’s Square. Jimmy? Is the navigator in this relationship. And he was not there.

Let’s just say we got lost. Very lost. But that whole wandering/no stress thing worked. We eventually found it. Ask anyone how to get to St. Mark’s and they’ll tell you to follow the signs.

Please note that the streets of Venice are VERY narrow and winding. There are many bridges to cross and many corners to turn.

At first the signs looked like this:

Then they started to look more like this. Oh my. They got smaller and smaller. Pretty sure I saw one on a post-it.

We stopped along the way for some shopping:

We finally found the square. We chased some pigeons, did a tiny bit of sightseeing…


Had a quick lunch, and then caught the train home. Despite what this photo might have you believe- Sadie had an AMAZING time. In this photo we were standing on a bridge and every single time the lady would try to take our pic…about 20 tourists would pass in front of her. HA! Sadie was not amused. Obviously.

It was such a special day. I loved spending time with sweet Sadie. I want to be able to do one on one trips more often. It takes effort, but it always pays off.

And Venice? Stole my heart. I cannot WAIT to go back!

Ciao Y’all!

xoxo

S

Fioreria Pasqualin | Downtown Vicenza Florist

I get a good amount of emails from people who found my blog by googling “living in downtown Vicenza”. So so cool. If you are one of those people, then pay attention to today’s post.

Let me introduce you to my favorite flower shop (fioreria) of all time…Fioreria Pasqualin.

Here’s the front of the shop. It sits on Palladio, a few shops down from Zara.

#fioreriapasqualin #downtownvicenza // via Stephanie Howell

My girls and I stop in the shop about once a week. We don’t always buy something, sometimes we just pop in and say bongiorno and come va.

The owner (pictured above) always has something for the girls. Baby roses, a sprig of baby’s breath, a butterfly clip, or a ribbon for their hair.

Every time we walk in the owner and his wife stop what they are doing to fawn over the girls.

Last time we were in, he told us we were “cinque bellissimi fiori” (5 beautiful flowers) that added to his shop’s beauty.’

#fioreriapasqualin #downtownvicenza // via Stephanie Howell

Yep, he’s a charmer. And to top that off.. his flowers are the absolute BEST.

A few weeks ago I stopped by and bought a bouquet. I took the girls to get a cafe and gelato after and then wandered back towards my car.

The owner came out of his shop when he saw me and shook his finger at me. In Italian he told me that I should have gone directly home and that these flowers should NOT have been in the sun. He had a smile on his face but he was not happy with me. Hahahah! I love Italy. 🙂

Okay- that’s it for today. Just wanted to share one of my favorite things in Vicenza.

xoxo

S

 

 

here i staaaaand and here i STAY

yeah. sorry for getting that song stuck in your head. kind of a jackass move. HA! especially if you are like me and hear this song all #*%$ day long. 🙂

so anyway…

the point is i’m here.

but not as much as i used to be and i wanted to acknowledge that and apologize too. 🙂

i just can’t seem to fit it in right now. it’s funny. when the girls were all itty bitty everyone said (and some seemed to find joy in saying it) oh! just wait until they are older. it just gets harder.

and i always thought they were full of crap. but you know what? it does. in some ways. well i take that back. it doesn’t get harder but it gets even crazier.

always going, coming, dropping off, picking up, coordinating. and since j isn’t here, i obviously don’t have hands to help. and i love it. i love the craziness and the whirlwind. i do.

but i’m tired.

and at the end of the day i don’t want to type a blog post. i want to sleeeeep.

i have so many things i want to type and say. and they are all in my head. or my draft folder. because i get two sentences in or so and have to stop. every time.

so there it is. i’m still instagramming a ton. i think that’s the way i’m documenting for now. it’s quick. and easy. and it doesn’t take an hour to upload photos the way my italian internet does when i’m blogging!

i’m surprising sadie with a trip to venice today, just the 2 of us. harper is on a girl scout trip and i don’t think i’ve ever done anything with just sadie. so i will definitely be blogging this weekend. or soon, at least.

but i’m totally still here.

and thanks for hanging around…i promise things will even out soon. maybe this summer? maybe not. but i won’t ever stop blogging- this place is my heart!

xoxo

 

 

As We Speak…

Constantly buying peonies from a little shop downtown that I’ve fallen in love with. The photo above was taken in the store.

I’m planning two summer trips. One here and one here. Advice and input are greatly welcome!

Thinking of how I’m ready for my sweet husband to come home. Missing him ridiculous amounts.

Feeling disbelief that I will soon have a first grader, a third grader, and two preschoolers!

Wishing I was back in Paris today thanks to this fabulous lady‘s Insta feed. If you don’t follow her, follow her NOW. I have a feeling this summer is going to be legendary.

Reading The Storied Life of AJ Fikry.

Grinning because LeVar Burton’s Kickstarter campaign worked. BRING ON THE READING RAINBOW! It was an honor to donate.

Starting the 30 day shred. Yet again. Le Sigh. Let’s hope I make it past the 10 day shred. Which is my personal record. Don’t act like you’re not impressed… Today the littles were watching me do the video and they were yelling WHY YOUR FACE SO WED? YOU SWEATY MAMA! YOU NEED TO GO TO SWEEP? MAMA? YOU CWYING??? Um, thanks girls.

Watching Nashville. Obsessively.  Finally caught up. Oh Deacon…I love you so. Listening to the Nashville soundtrack. Also obsessively.

Picking up freaking Rainbow Loom bands all.day.long.

Wearing Zara. Almost every day. How did I live pre-Zara?

Learning more and more Italian, thanks to Duolingo.

Smelling jasmine on the breeze. Daily.

Wanting a new camera. But I have no idea where to start.

Loving this time of year in Italia.

What about y’all? What are you up to?