Some Sweet Nothings

Ciao miei amici!

Pssst!

Have you heard?!? Petey is organizing a molto romantico (very romantic) evening of dinner and dancing this weekend at New York's famous Rainbow Room! Naturally, I'm a little biased, but if you ask me, nothing speaks of romance quite like speaking in Italian. So, for all of you amore uccelli (lovebirds) who'll be at the Rainbow Room this weekend, I'm offering a short course in how to say romantic things in Italian to your sweet little biscotti (cookies).

La Lingua d'Amore!

(The Language of Love!)

Mia cara (my dear)

Amore mio (my love)

Dolcezza! (Honey!)

Vuoi uscire con me? (Do you want to go out with me?)

Sei bellissima! (You're beautiful!)

Vuoi ballari? (Do you want to dance?)

Sei qui da solo? (Are you here alone?)

Sei cosi figa! (You are so gorgeous!)

Mi sono proprio divertita stasera (I had a great evening)

Mi ami? (Do you love me?)

I'm in love with you! (Sono innamorata di te!)

Of course, miei cari amici, sometimes uno romanticismo (a romance) is just not meant to be, alas! If that happens, here's what to say:

Mi dispiace, non sei il mio tipo (I'm sorry, you're not my type)

Non credo che stia funzionado fra noi due (I don't think it's working out between us)

Sigh ... amore!!

Tanti baci!
Lucia

Friendly Blogger from a Blogger Friend!

Ciao miei amici!

La lezione di lingua italiana di oggi è:

(The Italian Language Lesson for Today is:)

Amici e Premi!
(Friends and Awards!)

I'm all bashful and a-blush over this little smiley-faced pal from mio caro amico (my dear friend), Dennis the Vizsla!

If you haven't yet stopped by to see Dennis and Dennis' Diary of Destruction, run right over there as fast as you can. Mia ragazza (My girl) falls on the floor laughing about a squijillion times each day over the utterly amusing musings of this molto divertente ragazzo (very funny boy) and his adventures with majik flying coasters, gophers and unusual methods of entrepreneurial financing.

I don't think there are many official rules for the Friendly Blogger Award except that the friendly thing to do (giggle!) would be to pass it along to some other amichevole (friendly) bloggers. So, without further ado, I am sending it along to alcuni di miei amici (a few of my friends):

Lilly, Carrleigh, Piper and Java , my new bloggie pals

Asta Urbanista because she's just so sweet and kind and always welcomes everyone

Tula Monstah, who makes me smile each time I visit her bloggie

Miei cari Italiani amici, Paco and Milo -- ti amo, ragazzi! (My dear Italian friends, Paco and Milo -- I love you, guys!)

Opy and Charlie -- and their mama and papa -- for all the hard work they do for DWB

I send this award along to all of you with plenty of Lunedi (Monday) mwah mwah mwahs!!!

Ok, now to other important Monday matters. I found this book in mia ragazza's tote

... and I immediately thought, santa vacca, lei sta scherzando!! (Holy cow, you must be kidding!) We are a uno cane casa (one-dog house) -- but could she be thinking of something, well, something MORE??

Tanti baci!

Lucia

At Last! (And I don’t mean the song!)

Ciao, miei amici!

Ho avuto abbastanza di inverno, ogni cane, gatto, criceto e umano amico,
(I have had enough winter, everydoggie, kitty, hamster and human friend,)
so I have been focusing my thoughts on spring for the past few weeks …

… and keeping my paws crossed that it would get here soon!

So ... la lezione di lingua italiana di oggi è:
(... the Italian lesson for today is:)
Segni di primavera!
(Signs of Spring!)

When I heard the birds singing this morning, I just knew: spring had arrived in mia citta! (my city!) I could sniff it in the air!
I ran outside like a blur to look for it.
This very stubborn tree STILL won't let go of last year’s leaves – santa vacca! (holy cow!) Talk about refusing to embrace change!! But I wasn’t fooled by it!
I noticed that lots of other plants in my yard seem to be getting ready for the season – like these bambini narcissi (baby daffodils). Awwww!
And here are some grande narcissi! (large daffodils!)

Mia ragazza says she thinks this is a flower called Arance e Limoni (Oranges and Lemons) that she planted last year. She is glad to see it survived our hard winter!

Affrettatevi, lillà!
(Hurry, lilacs!)


Mmmm! Ortensia canne da ultimo anno (hydrangea canes from last year).

Now, if I can just reach one …
Got it!

I hope spring shows up very soon for all of you, too!

Tanti baci!
Lucia

PeeEss: To Noah, Tess, Willow, Lucy, Opy, Charlie and all dear, sweet pals who are wayyyyyyyy down south, I hope your autumn is full of beautiful colors!

Oopsy, wait, another PeeEss: Per favore (please), go visit Lilly, Piper and Carrleigh, a trio of Scottish Terrier cutie pies who are new to our bloggiverse. Now ... you all know I'm a smidgey geloso (jealous) of mia sorella (my sister) of another decade, Scottish Terrier St. Jinks the Good, but I have to admit, THESE three doggies look like they're going to be great new pals -- and lots of fun! Benvenuto, nuovi favulosi amici! (Welcome, fabulous new friends!)

Ciao miei amici!

March 17th is a day of many special things, so ...

La lezione di lingua italiana di oggi è:

Celebrare la Giornata!
(Celebrate the Day!)

Mia ragazza is sorry for the poor photo quality. I was so excited about today that I wouldn't sit still!

It's il giorno di San Patrizio!! Wear something verde! Special playbows to all of the Irlandesi doggies, kittehs, hammies and hoomans out there, including THEBuster, Persephone and Ms. Bailey Blue -- our Kerry Blue Terrier friends -- and Keeley, the Irish Terrier. And speaking of Keeley ...

It's Keeley's birthday! Buon compleanno, caro amico!

And (drum roll, per favore) ... it's our buddy Stanley's Gotcha Day!!! We're so glad you're here, dolce Goob!

Tanti baci!
Lucia

What a Weekend!

Ciao miei amici!

What a tremendously good fine settimana I had with mia ragazza! The tempo forecast predicted sunny skies and warmer temperatures, so on Sabato mattina, mia ragazza said, “Lucia, mia amora, we are going out for some fresh air and sunshine!”

Did she say "going out"???!?!?!

Mia ragazza packed up my leash, some snackies and my portable water dish, grabbed her sunglasses and off we went.

So, miei cari studenti, la lezione di lingua italiana di oggi è:

Andiamo il Parco!
(Let’s go to the park!)

Qui è un piccolo ruscello. L'acqua era molto fredda.
(Here is a little stream. The water was very cold!)

I walked along the edges of the stream , but I have a long way to go until I’m as good a swimmer as Paco e Milo and Dexter!


Aspetto! Ho scavato un osso!
(Look! I dug up a bone!)

Si tratta di un parco speciale solo per i cani
(This is a special park just for dogs)

Eccomi con i miei nuovi amici
(Here I am with my new friends)

Sulla strada di casa, abbiamo lavato l'auto. Mia ragazza mi permetta di guidare!
(On the way home, we washed the car. My girl let me drive!)

A pochi pollici più in retromarcia
(A few more inches in reverse)

Dopo aver giocato al parco, incontro nuovi amici e il lavaggio la macchina, ero molto stanco!
(After playing at the park, meeting new friends and washing the car, I was very tired!)
Vede il mio cuscino preferito giallo? Mi piace masticare su di essa!
(Do you see my favorite yellow pillow? I like to chew on it!)

Tanti baci!

Lucia

A Tasty Lesson!

Ciao, miei amici!
La lezione di lingua italiana di oggi è ...

... cose buone da mangiare!

La banana

Di pollo e verdure cibo per cani

Spuntini



Occhiali da vista

Scarpe e stivali



Burro di arachidi


Telefoni cellulari

Modanature in legno


Biscotti

Taccuino

Camicia

Mmmm ... let's eat!

(That means you, too, Lulu and Lacie!!!)

Tanti baci!
Lucia

Good Things Happen in Threes!

Ciao miei amici!

After weeks and weeks AND WEEKS of this kind of molto male tempo …




… I woke up to the sound of robins chirping in my yard!! And although it’s supposed to rain later today, I am pretty sure I saw il sole peek out a time or two already this morning, and the frigid cold is – poof! – gone from the air. I got so wildly excited that I had to sing (just call me Lucia Paw-varotti!!):

Other than this fantastico break in the weather, there are three other things to note today. I’ll do them in reverse order and save la cosa più importante for last. First, I’m going to see my trainer, Stacey, today. Yayy! I have to work hard, but I always have so much fun when I’m there! Second, because my “TWOsday” game two weeks ago didn’t work out so well (I was the first one to mess it up when mia ragazza dropped the ball on my bloggie last week -- booooo!), I thought I’d try something new:

Impara l'italiano con Lucia

That means, “Learn Italian with Lucia”! In every bloggie post, I’ll have some Italian words and their English translations, and will show you how to use them. I’m so over-the-top happy about THIS that I can feel la canzone coming on again!

Wait, wait, I need to calm down so I can give you today's term (uno momento, per favore). Ok, here it is:

Buon compleanno

That means, "Happy Birthday," and it's an eccellante term to learn today because of this THIRD and più importante item in my bloggie post:

It's Mason Dixie’s Barkday!!

Cara bella Mason Dixie, I hope you get lots of torta, gelato e regali, but mostly, I hope you get lots and lots of amore because you are such a dolce e buona amica!

Tanti baci!

Lucia

To Molly from Heidi

A Special Get Well Soon Message
Ciao, miei amici! I'm turning over the keyboard this morning to mia cugina, Heidi, the English Springer Spaniel. Heidi does not have her own bloggie (yet... everyone, tell her to join us!), so I'm having mia ragazza type for Heidi on mine.

Heidi has a very important message to send out to her ragazza, Molly, who e la nipote della mia ragazza, e la figlia della mia zia who visited last week. (Hmm ... did you get all of that?) Molly is under the weather oggi, so Heidi wants to send a dolce shout out to her, and asks that everydoggie, kitteh, hammie and hooman who can to also send Molly bunches of get well wishes. If you like, you can just leave them as comments on my bloggie, and Molly's mama will make sure Molly sees them later today.

Mwah, mwah, miei bloggie amici, for helping mia cugina to help HER ragazza to feel better fast!

Tanti baci!

Lucia

A Colorful Week in Mia Citta

Brown Boxes, Pink Wilsons and Red Collars

Ciao bella miei amici! I’m sorry mia ragazza has been such a slacker lately with my bloggie, but she had company visiting this past week – her sorella, from out of town – and was sooooo preoccupied with spending time with HER that she forgot about taking care of MY bloggie! Booooooo!!! To try to soothe my feelings over this stunning creative neglect, she and mia zia gave me some tremendous and fun presents. (Si, si, miei amici, I’ll admit: I can be bought if the treats are right.) The BIGGEST one is this magnificent red and white soccer ball from mia zia. Doesn’t it just fill the space with mind-blowing architectural dimension???


Mia zia also gave me a whole can of pink Wilsons (playbows to theBUSTER for giving her the idea for Wilsons) because, given my compulsive and cheetah-like need to chew, I had chomped up all of my old Air Squeaker balls and killed the squealies in them.


The new pink Wilsons don’t squeak, but they bounce really high, which I just love!! I get so excited over the Olympic-class jumps of the Wilsons that I break out into a full tuckbuttrun of joy!

Just when I thought my cup was truly running over, a brown scatola was delivered to our front door by a man in a brown jacket and pants who got out of a big brown truck. Now, brown is very close to tan, and as I have tan paws and leggies, a tan tail and a nice, fuzzy tan face, I felt a good vibe from Mr. Brown and mama mia, was I ever on target with that! Wait’ll you see!

Mia ragazza put the box on the floor so I could give it a good sniff.

Once I had checked it out thoroughly, she took it into the kitchen and cut the sticky tape holding the box flaps closed. Out spilled this glorious fuzzy and squeaky splendor:


Wayyyy in the bottom of the box was a new leash for me, although I think it is really for mia ragazza. That’s because last week during one of our walks, I pulled really hard on my nylon leash and it slid fast through her hands and left a nasty looking red mark. She then yelled out one of my special names (I have many!): LuciacutthatoutNOW. Anyway, she got this new leather leash because my trainer told her it would be easier to manage me with it, and that it would last longer than nylon. (Hee hee: I have already chewed through two nylon leashes!!)


THENNNNNN, the next day, another regalo arrived in the mail: un bello nuovo rosso collare! My old nylon collars were getting a little snug because I am going through quite a growth spurt. (In fact, mia ragazza says she thinks I may be part quarterhorse because I am getting so big!) My new red collar feels much comfier. Ahhhh…


Grazie mille to mia zia, who not only brought me packages of special and very tasty yummies in her suitcase from like, a zillion miles away, but who also gave me the very exciting Wilsons and the saucy red and white soccer ball. Ti amo, mia cara zia! Please give mia cugina, Heidi the English Springer Spaniel, an extra smoochie from me for sharing you with us this past week.

And I SUPPOSE I’ll forgive mia ragazza for neglecting my bloggie this week since she DID get me the Brown Box of Fabulousness, my flirtatious rosso collar and the new leather leash. It’s not as tasty as my old nylon leashes, but it has an enticing al dente chewiness to it that I’m gradually getting used to!

Tanti baci!
Lucia

Loving Thoughts

Our prayers, thoughts and love to la famiglia di Bogie.