304 Days Since I’ve Had A Paying Job

304 Days Since I’ve Had A Paying Job
It has been just about 304 days since I watched the last Marvel Experience dome get packed into a truck, packed our little Fiat up for the last time (or so I thought) and my husband and I drove back to Nashville.  I was grateful to be off my feet because this final run of ...

If We Were Having Coffee.

If We Were Having Coffee.
If we were having Coffee. If we were having coffee, we would meet up at my favorite place, order our coffees and sit down at one of the long community tables.  I would look into your eyes, take a deep breath and hold back the tears.  You’d say, “talk to me” because you are my ...

Who Am I?

Who Am I?
  All these quizzes on Facebook make me a little nutty.  I have been as guilty as the next when it comes to taking quizzes like “what spice are you” or “what Disney character are you” and “what do your fingers say about you”.  I wonder if Donald Trump took that last one.  But this ...

Mantras, Sometimes They Work.

Mantras, Sometimes They Work.
As I lay in bed staring at the skyline of downtown Nashville for the last time, I was sad; just plain sad.  As I started to fall asleep, I let my mantra repeat itself in my head “It will be fine, I will be fine” over and over, my version of counting sheep. I woke ...

She Is Fragile, But She Is A Rock.

She Is Fragile, But She Is A Rock.
  I should have been packing, we were, after all leaving in four days and my apartment looked exactly the same as it always did. I loved my apartment in Nashville with the view of the world’s most incredible sunsets, so understandably so, I was procrastinating in the most spectacular way. I was sitting on my ...

The Call Every Woman Dreads.

29. February 2016 Gina DeNicola 4
The Call Every Woman Dreads.
We were driving from Albany to Nashville, and it was my turn to drive.  As I was going 80 mph down Route 81, when my cell phone rang, and I looked down and saw it was my doctors office.  I hesitated for a minute before I picked it up and said “Hello.”  The voice on ...

The Nest Can’t Always Be Full.

22. February 2016 Gina DeNicola 0
The Nest Can’t Always Be Full.
We were in Albany for a week, when I told Alison we would be home for the weekend; her response surprised me.  She said “good” and all I heard was relief and excitement.  Now, I pretty much dismissed that as a fluke because I have raised a ridiculously independent woman, but then Raymond sent me ...

Teaching, Kindness And Common Sense.

15. February 2016 Gina DeNicola 1
Teaching, Kindness And Common Sense.
I was sitting on the couch in the rental house in Albany, trying desperately to stay warm with a hot cup of tea and thinking about my little teaching gig last week. I had remembered the night before I was to teach three very excited girls how to make quiche, pie crust, cinnamon buns, and croissants. ...

The Hardest Words I Have Ever Written.

10. February 2016 Gina DeNicola 6
The Hardest Words I Have Ever Written.
This post is tough for me to write.  It is a complete departure from what I usually write, and it’s bearing my true self more than I have ever before, so please be kind and bear with me as I write these really hard words. A little over a year ago, I was on the ...

Those Small Fleeting Moments

08. February 2016 Gina DeNicola 0
Those Small Fleeting Moments
Probably the worst show for me to watch is called “Time of Death” it documents people, in the final stages of their lives and how they and their family cope and plan for the inevitable. See, I’ve had this lump on my ankle the size of a golf ball and it has been there for ...

I Will Be Fine

01. February 2016 Gina DeNicola 0
I Will Be Fine
As I sat in the Panera Bread in Saratoga Springs waiting for my husband to finish his meeting, I realized I was going to be just fine. Perhaps it was the first cup of hot coffee I’ve had in weeks and the comfort that brings or maybe it was Adele singing in my ears, maybe ...

Where In The World is Jerry

Where In The World is Jerry
It was 3 o’clock in the morning, and I rolled over in bed to find Rob gone. I rolled over the other way to find all the lights on downstairs. I pulled out my earplugs and walked downstairs to find out why every light in the house was on; Rob was walking around with a ...

One Little Text.

One Little Text.
It’s snowing outside. It started snowing early. My insides were a bag of mixed emotions and the wind whipping through the window behind the couch I was sitting on didn’t really help my mood. As I sat there staring at the snow blowing and starting to cover the porch, I got a text. A text ...

Things Albany Has Taught Me.

Things Albany Has Taught Me.
The things I have learned from living in the frozen tundra of Albany in a little over a week are many. They are more than I expected to learn, and all of them are not surprising. I still hate the cold weather and have come up with a special curse word just for the cold. ...

The Happy Cappuccino.

The Happy Cappuccino.
We took a job that required relocating to New York only thing was we had no plans to actually 100% relocate. We had every intention of keeping our Nashville apartment and bouncing back and forth between both places. After all, how could I be expected to leave my chickens behind in Nashville? To begin with, ...

Albany NY, Snow And Rented Houses.

Albany NY, Snow And Rented Houses.
  As we drove through Syracuse New York towards Albany the skies were cloudy, the remnants of a past snowstorm were still on the road and much to my surprise I had an overwhelming sense of calm. It was a surprise to me because if you know me even a little, you know I hate ...

Holiday Spirit.

28. December 2015 Gina DeNicola 0
Holiday Spirit.
Christmas, when you have small children, is a much different holiday than when you have adult children. When you throw into the mix of having a job that usually starts in a different state a few days after Christmas, you have to work hard to find that holiday feeling.   This Christmas is the second year ...

Joy???

14. December 2015 Gina DeNicola 0
Joy???
You know all those silly quizzes on Facebook.  The ones that sometimes you or your friends take.  The ones you roll your eyes at when you see them pop on your page? Well, the other day I took one. It was the one where it tells you what personality you are from the movie Inside ...

Meet Me In Toronto.

07. December 2015 Gina DeNicola 0
Meet Me In Toronto.
“Meet me in Toronto,” he said. “I’ll come up from Michigan with the cast, and we will meet at the hotel,” he said. “Sure,” I said with my voice full of apprehension. I have only been out of the United States twice in my life. A trip to Toronto would make the third time and ...

Apology Accepted.

30. November 2015 Gina DeNicola 0
Apology Accepted.
For years and years, I looked for her, Elizabeth from 4th grade. I’ve written about her in my post “Amends” and with the advent of social media I could never find her. Every time I’d hear a story about bullying I saw her face and then mine. When I saw the movie Flatliners, I couldn’t ...

I Have A Secret.

23. November 2015 Gina DeNicola 3
I Have A Secret.
I’ve had this crazy secret goal for ten years. I consider it a secret, well up until now, because if I didn’t say it out loud, people wouldn’t know it or see me fail. Crazy because well, if you know me you know I hate to run.   The goal? To run a marathon or 1/2 ...

Sit And Write For Fifteen Minutes.

16. November 2015 Gina DeNicola 1
Sit And Write For Fifteen Minutes.
Write every day, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. So at 1:58 I started to write. I was in a slump since I came back from Toronto and had written a lot, just not a lot of good stuff. I’m struggling with my life these days. I’m bored, and I don’t know what to ...

I Will Not Let Fear Drive The Minivan.

09. November 2015 Gina DeNicola 2
I Will Not Let Fear Drive The Minivan.
Like I’ve said before, I idolize the Author, Elizabeth Gilbert. I have learned so many things from her latest book Big Magic, but probably the biggest was that you needed fear to be creative, you just can’t let it drive the minivan.  It has to come along, but it has to sit in the back seat, with ...

It All Started With A Pie

02. November 2015 Gina DeNicola 3
It All Started With A Pie
We were watching Public Morals on television last week, and one of the characters was sitting on the tub in her teeny tiny apartment, crying because she felt trapped. She was genuinely sad. The Gina of the past could 100% relate. The present day Gina isn’t sad anymore. Even though I am constantly in search ...

You’re Doing Just Fine.

You’re Doing Just Fine.
I look for inspiration everywhere, and often I get it from Facebook. Sometimes all it takes is a quote from Gandhi or Julia Child, but it will usually set the wheels in motion. Yesterday it was from the Author Elizabeth Gilbert; I have become slightly obsessed with her these last few weeks and for good ...