I have never been one of those bloggers who writes personal updates about what I am doing. Nor have I ever really needed to write a post to excuse myself for not writing much. Most people probably will not have noticed my slight absence. But truth be told, I am very busy.
WORK: I am one of those very lucky people these days to have a job, and at Flod we are very busy. So busy that we have decided to hire someone to work with me in what is becoming a veritable social media department. You can see the call for an italian language social media strategist here. In the meantime I am managing rather more projects than is humanly possible, and some of those are in Italian, which I probably ought not to be doing.
We also launched TWO amazing contests that bring people to Italy. One is for young fashion and product designers as well as for videomakers. Cardato CO2 neutral recycled wool will bring winners to a workshop in Prato this Fall. Details at Cardato Contest. The second contest is really a call for bloggers in the fields of the arts, culture, economics and sustainability, and winners win travel and 5 days in Florence to attend the cultural conference/event of the year, Florens 2012 Cultural and Environmental Heritage week. I’ll be heading up what we’re calling TeamFlorens and keeping the online conversation going online. Tell all your friends to apply here.
PLAY: Last week was the 4th annual English Night event that I organize with ToscanaIN and I am very proud of how it all pulled together. In particular, Maurizio Seracini came to speak just to us about his research in Palazzo Vecchio. That was incredibly cool and I will hopefully find a moment to put down my thoughts later this week on the matter. For now you can see the summary video of the evening. The aperitivo with view of the Duomo at the Cafetteria delle Oblate was lovely.
On top of this, some friends have involved me in a super secret project to launch a new blog that is neither about art nor travel. If you are curious, become a fan of this page on facebook.
There is also about a million events going on in Florence these days, we are literally home one evening a week.
HOME: If that were not enough, we decided to renovate our home in Florence. I wanted to blog about each step but for security reasons my husband has preferred not to. But you can look forward to the whole long story when it is all done! Hopefully I can impart some useful advice on the matter. For now we are depending on the kindness of friends for hospitality and I am often without internet, making blogging difficult.
ARTTRAV: I have managed to put up occasional posts, also thanks to my great network of friends, many of whom are also bloggers. So you may have not even noticed that I am too busy to write much! Did you see the posts on going to the Tuscania area with kids by Laura and the gorgeous Siena day trip post by the lovely Amanda? A virtual friend in Maremma, Elisa, tells us about Bonacina’s art park, which I have yet to visit. And the guest post about museums in Basel is by a Maremma resident Katja, and reflects my own desire to start traveling and writing about culture beyond Italy. For this reason I am planning trips to Lisbon and Berlin in the foreseeable future.
I have also started writing some posts for the really cool trip planning site Gogobot – check out my report of how to lounge in style on Tuscany’s beaches. And for The Florentine of course I still write regularly and am particularly proud of this article on art parks in Tuscany co-written with my new colleague Rose.
I feel like I have just written an email to my mother, and would be surprised if anyone were still reading about my life after 700 words, but I thought it nice to explain what I was up to, even if it is only for my mom. Who doesn’t really read my blog.
Un bacio from sweltering Florence,
Alexandra
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