Sometimes it’s hard to believe there was a time in my life where I reliably wrote 2-3 blog posts each and every week. For years! Of course, that was before marriage, kids, dogs, and a pretty demanding full-time job. Now I’m lucky if I manage one post a month.
But it won’t be this hectic forever… right?
Anyways, let me get you caught up on the Tieso-Yoder family’s summer in Italy! It’s been toasty- significantly warmer than last year for whatever reason, with daily averages in the high 90’s for weeks on end. Marcella and Leo camped out on our bedroom floor to take advantage of the a/c, and our electricity and take out (too hot to cook man), bills are a bit out of control right now.
Thankfully it’s finally cooling down as we ease our way into September.
We’ve also been pretty busy with visits from family, lots of weekend trips, and hosting a handful of parties (a going away party for friends, a birthday party for Marcella). Add in Marcella being daycare-less for 6 weeks, plus me working full time, plus blowing out my back and being basically incapacitated for weeks and it’s been… well it’s been a lot. I think we’re all looking forward to getting back into a routine when Marcella starts preschool September 9th.
A lot of great stuff happened this summer though! I found my groove at my new job and even got a promotion!. Marcella turned 3. We spent lots of time with friends and family, and we got lots of use out of our backyard patio. Oh and Marcella is finally potty trained! Celebration time.
Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been up to in July and August 2019:
July








August




At this point I developed near crippling sciatic pain, had to go to the ER for steroids and pain meds, and was bed bound for like a week. Thank goodness for Mike’s mom who entertained Marcella and took her on all sorts of adventures while I was flat on my side (I’m feeling much better now thanks). No pictures of this dark chapter, sorry.






There you have it. A good, but tiring, sweaty and somewhat painful summer.
September will be all about getting back into a normal school year routine (which we will blow up when we had to Greece the first week of October naturally).
I hope you all had a fantastic summer! Now onward to my favorite season of all, Fall.
Buongiorno, I’ve been following your blog for a while now and, as I move closer to the ‘leap’ to Italy, some ambiguous answers to basic questions need clarifying, if you could… We are going through the Los Angeles consulate for our visa. We have an appointment in the coming week. The question no one and no one internet site can clarify is what is the financial requirement for one adult and one child? Love the blog and the pictures. We’ve visited Roma and Florence and have been moving toward our goal of a resident visa to stay. Thanks for any help (and advice you may offer)! Ciao!
Hi Mason,
Thanks for following! Our situation was a little bit different than yours, in that my husband and daughter have birthright Italian citizenship. They didn’t need visas, and I didn’t apply for mine until after entry, and it was a spousal visa.. They did want to see proof of income, and I think the threshold was something impossibly low, like 12k a year. I don’t know if that would be the same for a different kind of visa though.
One frustrating thing I have found about the Italian immigration system is that there is rarely a single right answer to anything. You could ask three officials the same question and end up with 3 different answers depending on their mood and the time of day. So I would just show up with every possible piece of relevant paperwork you can think of and go from there.
Sorry to not be more helpful!