50 Coats for a 50th Birthday

30. November 2016 Gina DeNicola 2
50 Coats for a 50th Birthday
So this February I turn 50. Part of me is really surprised that I’m fifty because in my head I feel about 30.  But some mornings when I wake up and crawl out of bed, I’m shocked that I’m only 50, my body feels 100 with its aches and pains, and God forbid I have ...

Sometimes Sisters Fight

03. November 2016 Gina DeNicola 2
Sometimes Sisters Fight
When you come from a big family, there are bound to be fights. Aside from the usual “that’s mine” or “I didn’t say you could borrow that,” my siblings and I didn’t fight much growing up. We don’t even fight much now that we are adults, but when there is a large fight, it usually ...

Country Mouse vs. City Mouse

Country Mouse vs. City Mouse
As I sat in a Starbucks in Brooklyn, NY, I looked around.  It was pouring outside, and it seems people have chosen to camp out there.  The amount of people in that little Starbucks was overwhelming.  There were people from different countries, there were tourists with their maps, there was what seemed to be very ...

October 10

October 10
October 10 was the day that had my three other siblings and me scrambling for airline tickets.  It was the date of my baby sister’s double mastectomy, and we were not going to let her go at it without her loud siblings.  It would be the first time we would all be in the same ...

Brave Part Two

25. September 2016 Gina DeNicola 0
Brave Part Two
I am brave damn it!  After all, I have two bracelets that say I am, I have people tell me I am all the time, I have kids who believe me to be brave, but the morning I had to climb onto the shuttle bus I wasn’t so sure that was the case. However, I climbed ...

Brave Part One

22. September 2016 Gina DeNicola 7
Brave Part One
As I sat in the airport waiting for my connecting flight, I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. Mexico is my final destination with my baby sister. I took a deep breath because that’s what they tell you to do to relax. I was sitting right next to a pizza place, and all ...

New Words.

02. September 2016 Gina DeNicola 6
New Words.
A few months ago I finally broke down and told my mother I didn’t believe in God.  Her, almost predictable answer was, “Yes you do Gina.”  But I don’t, I’m not sure I even believe in the power of prayer.  Here’s why. Yesterday my baby sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. Last week my mother ...

How Did I Get Here?

How Did I Get Here?
As I sat on the balcony of my apartment looking at the downtown skyline and the sunrise, I realized it had been almost two years to the day when I closed the doors to my little bakery.  In those days that I owned the bakery, I was up hours before the sun even peeked its ...

Pots, Lids and Life

Pots, Lids and Life
I woke up this morning all alone in the hotel, and I realized I was living a life most people would envy.  I was at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut because my husband went back to work touring. Because I have grown kids, I can pick up at a moments notice and follow him to any ...

Just Me.

Just Me.
If you read my blog or if you know me, you know I have major body image issues.  I’ve never been confident with my body and never believed people when they would tell me I was pretty. I have never been comfortable with just me. Almost every day my husband would tell me that I ...

Vacation…

Vacation…
Tomorrow I will climb in a rental car with my daughter and her boyfriend, my son and his wife and we will drive to the ocean.  This will be the first vacation I’ve taken with the kids since they were little.  This will be the first vacation I have ever taken to the ocean since ...

Getting Older

Getting Older
This morning I woke up feeling 100 years old, every bone was creaking and hurt, for no real reason.  I have noticed that when you are almost 50, it’s harder just to jump right out of bed without something hurting.  As waddled my way to the French press to make some coffee to jump start ...

Love Trumps Hate

Love Trumps Hate
I don’t really have a post today with the tragedy that is Orlando; I just don’t think I have anything meaningful to say.  It’s all just too sad, this world full of anger and hate.  Many of my friends are gay, and I couldn’t imagine my life without being able to see the amazing things ...

My Life Is Good

My Life Is Good
I was in Vancouver and had just figured out my hotel didn’t have a restaurant that served breakfast.  But more importantly, it didn’t serve coffee, which was a problem for me…A HUGE problem.  So I pulled up the map and started looking for the closest place I could walk to so I could stop the ...

Put Down Your Phone.

Put Down Your Phone.
I had gotten to the airport too early for my flight, and as I was sitting at my gate with my coffee in my hand, I realized I was too tired to open my laptop or even look at my phone.  This got me thinking; I wondered how many things we miss while we are ...

I’m A Good Person, Damn It!

I’m A Good Person, Damn It!
I belong to a couple of private Facebook groups.  Most are about blogging, but some are not and because I’m seriously getting tired of social media, I started to clean my Facebook house. See, I almost left one of those private Facebook groups that touts itself to be a space where women can say what ...

Comparison is the thief of all happiness

Comparison is the thief of all happiness
  My morning ritual is pretty much the same when I’m home, the only thing that will vary is whether or not the bed gets made.  I wake up, brush my teeth, wash my face, get dressed, and make coffee.  Once the coffee is finished, depending on the weather, I will either sit on the ...

I Write Because

I Write Because
I write because sometimes I have things to say, and I can’t get someone to sit and listen to me spew 700 words at their face. They know I will barely stop to breathe, let alone let them get a word in edgewise.  Usually, if I get interrupted I lose my train of thought, and ...

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 ...