My arms were made for....

Cinque Terre will officially be the first tour I have ever done twice I love it that much.  It’s about an hour and twenty minute ride from the port of Livorno and a bit of a trek traveling between the terraced towns themselves.

I wish they had left me there at the end of the tour.  I could easily melt away at the coastline and drown myself in their pesto and wine.  Each of the five hamlets of Cinque Terre is so incredibly sweet and quaint.  I also found out that there is a trail that connects some of the towns but it takes 2 hours because of the shape of the inlets.  I would really love to walk that someday.  The tour takes you from Manarola to Vernazza to Monterosso.  

Vernazza

Monterosso is probably the most popular summer vacation spot because it has the largest beaches where the others have rocky swim spots.  I was happy that I brought along my suit this time because in the Mediterranean summer you always want a dip in the middle of the day.

This summer’s itinerary is spectacular.  Not only are we visited the mainland but also the islands belonging to Spain, France, Italy and Greece.  In Ajaccio, Corsica I went on a beautiful sea kayak tour to two beaches.  And after 3 hours of paddling in the choppy ocean I was more than glad that it was our night off from the Hot Glass Show.  I don’t think I could have mustered up more than a cup that night.

And yet just a few days later I rented another kayak.  We came back to Kotor, Montenegro a beautiful spot in the fjords and after several visits in the past hiking to the top of the ridge I wanted to do something different.  So we spent 2 hours paddling around the fjord.  Our ship was tendered far off in the distance and we were able to leisurely paddle out and around it passing the tender boats boarding and harass the security and bridge officers on the open loading platform…”Unbelievable!!” they cried with their hands up in the air when we waved past them.  The cast members I was paddling with perform on the trapeze in the cirque theater show and they can easily jump off the kayak and pull themselves back in…me not so much.  It’s much more awkward and less successful.  I waited for my swim until we got closer to shore and I could just swim back.

My adorable Hot Glass Show team at the Kotor sail away.  Jared Rosenacker and Tom Ryder.

Corfu, Greece was a beautiful spot for a relaxing afternoon.  Small restaurants and swim spots line the coast.  I tried some Haloumi- that grilling cheese and it was awesome!  And during my swim a pod of dolphins swam past.  Cuteness! It is so nice to see the dolphins play in the water.  We do return here and it is one of the spots I am hoping to do a dive in.

Other beautiful wonders on the water are of course the sunsets.  Lately they have been so magenta hot and the sky so dusty purple.   The team Tom Ryder, Jared Rosenacker and myself were sitting in the upstairs buffet for dinner one night discussing the collaborative auction piece we were going to make and this gorgeous sunset was taking place.  It immediately inspired us to design a piece representative of the landscape.  An encalmo design is one where you join separate cups of varying patterns together like a pill capsule almost and then create one piece with different pattern bands.  Tom designed the sun in the center marbleizing white, ruby and gold glass.  Jared created the center with a transparent copper blue and bubble pattern representing the calm ocean.  And I designed the dusty purple and gray clouds with a pinched wrap pattern on the exterior.  This piece is a really special on and it was a very special show as well.  

Our friend Dallas playing in the background.

We like to turn off the lights during the final gather of glass and strip off the excess clear material into a water bucket because it makes such a spectacular demonstration and the crowd loves it!

We call this show hot glass cool sounds and we get one of the solo musicians on board to play music during the creation of the piece so that all of our attention and efforts can come together and make something so complex and large.  So we do not narrate the show.  And this piece then is auctioned off for the Breast Cancer ResearchFoundation.  100% of the proceeds are donated and we really love making something so special and raising money for an awesome cause.  We were super proud of this beautiful collaboration!!