Our Adventures House Sitting

....we were sitting in the airport in San Jose, California waiting for a flight to Mexico.  We were about to start our adventure traveling the world as full time house sitters.  House sitting seemed to offer a cure for our wanderlust and fit into our travel budget.  We'd put our belongings in storage, leased out our house, and agreed we'd reevaluate our new lifestyle in a year.

Amazingly, a year has flown by and we're no where near ending this adventure.  House sitting has taken us to the most wonderful places, introduced us to interesting people that we never would have met otherwise, and brought pets into our lives to love and enjoy.

We're currently caring for two kitties and a house in Italy.  We have another week here before we head off to do a little traveling and exploring on our own.  In mid summer we'll begin another house sit in Scotland before heading back to the states to house sit in San Francisco. 

We want to say a big "thank you" to the homeowners who've given us the opportunity to travel our way around the world one house at a time.  We also would not have been able to do this without the support of our family and friends, especially Colleen's mom Dee who takes care of so many of our "real life" details.  Lastly, we hope that we've encouraged you, our readers, to give house sitting a try.  If you haven't yet, we hope our continuing adventure will inspire you to soon! 


In celebration of our one year anniversary, we're having a very special cake tonight and we'd like to share its story with you:

"Born in the mind and the heart of Luciano Vannelli, the Cortona Cake is the great specialty of the Vanelli Pasticceria.  A base of soft and elaborated sponge cake, filled with blackberry cream and dark chocolate, enchantingly mixed lightly with "vinasanto".  The flower and the fruit scents of the Cortona countryside and the musk of the mountains that the icing of the cake releases are a well guarded secret.  The decoration on the cake is a daisy, in honour of our saint and the yellow, green and brown pattern is typlical of the "cocci Cortonesi" (cortonese ceramics).  The old picture on the wrapping represents the tower bell of St. Agostino's church and the staircase of the St. Benedetto church, one of the most picturesque corners of the historical center.  It is there where the Pasticceria Vanelli was born with its first workshop.  The Cortona Cake was conceived to spread the flavours and colours of this town of the Tuscany around the world".