Holding Your Breath

Holding Your Breath
As I stepped onto the pier, the air seemed cleaner, my head felt clearer somehow, and I sat on what felt like the edge of the world, I just took a deep breath. Things in my little corner of the world were moving along smoothly. We are here in Chicago for a couple of weeks ...

The Evolution of Gina’s Wallet

The Evolution of Gina’s Wallet
  First, it was my 50 Coats for a 50th Birthday campaign.  Then it was several couples that needed help with giving kids a better life by opening their homes and giving them a family.  Most recently it is a kids hockey team trying to make it to Nationals from Washington state to Florida. Giving ...

Comfort, Baking and Friends

Comfort, Baking and Friends
  While I’m on the road, one of the largest things I miss almost as much as I miss my chickens is my kitchen.  There is only so much take-out you can eat, you can only be so creative with the microwave in your room, and there is just so much pizza, even I can ...

Wire Frame Glasses

Wire Frame Glasses
I have been in New York for roughly five months, and it took me just about all of it to head out to Long Island to see my Aunt and Uncle and as I sat on the train watching Long Island fade into the background, I couldn’t help but think about my father.  I have ...

James Joseph DeNicola 1944 – 2017

James Joseph DeNicola 1944 – 2017
My biological father died today.  I have been searching around this room trying to locate my feelings as if they were stashed under this pile of books on my desk.  The truth is I don’t know how to feel, which in turn keeps me searching.  I have only seen Jimmy three or four times since ...

If We Were Having Coffee – Part Two

27. February 2017 Gina DeNicola 2
If We Were Having Coffee – Part Two
It’s been a while since we’ve had coffee and I thought we could use some catching up.  Now that I’m working in New York City I thought we could go to one of the cozy coffee spots in the West Village. You would be amazed that I could find my way there on the subway ...

The E Train, Kindness and Scams

24. February 2017 Gina DeNicola 1
The E Train, Kindness and Scams
  If you know me well, you know that I use to be a single mom. A struggling single mom from the time my kids were three and four until they were about 13 and 14. Because fish sticks were cheaper in bulk, we ate a lot of them.  Because Cheerios were also cheaper in ...

We’re Going to be OK.

We’re Going to be OK.
  It was 10:45 am on Inauguration Eve, I was sitting on my couch all alone in Nashville, the confirmation hearings were playing in the background, and I looked up to see an airplane flying in the sky on the upper right-hand corner of my tv.  He was headed to Washington, in a plane that ...

Courage and Fear

Courage and Fear
Courage and fear. Two words that go hand in hand and elicit the exact same response from me. My heart starts to race, I break out into a cold sweat, I have trouble breathing, and I can’t look people directly in the eye.  That’s how I felt when I told the closest people to me ...

She came, she cared, she left.

She came, she cared, she left.
I heard a quote once from an older lady who was talking about how she wanted people to remember her when she was gone.  She said this…She came, she cared, she left. I thought to myself that’s how I want people to remember me and it got me thinking about 2016, what kind of impact ...

Wishing for a 2005 Christmas or am I?

23. December 2016 Gina DeNicola 0
Wishing for a 2005 Christmas or am I?
I woke up this morning and checked Facebook like I do every morning. I had a newsfeed filled with Christmas trees, talk of grocery shopping for the big dinner, Latkes recipes and parents sitting on couches with little children in front of their Christmas trees drinking hot chocolate waiting on the big guy. Families are ...

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 ...