“To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind.”
– Theophile Gautier
A month ago, I lost my dear friend Leana. One of the most caring and smartest beings that I have ever had the honor to be friends and work with. I used to call her my consultant, she was my hotel roommate, my travel pal, my partner in crime, my neighbor, my favorite Nica, my light warrior, and much more. She made me her sidekick in endless adventures, and I will be forever grateful for that and for everything I enjoyed and learned from her.
Leanita became my family and made me part of hers. She opened her house to us the same way she opened her heart, with no reservations. We enjoyed our friendship to the max, since day one. She was an amazing, fun, thoughtful friend.
As my other dear friends Melissa and Ana said: “She was loved, valued, and respected”. An inspiration to everybody around her. She taught me valuable lessons of love and integrity until the end: Loving her was respecting her. She knew that I felt both for her. Quoting Theophile Gautier above: I loved her with all my mind and admired her with all my heart. She knew that, and so did our families, friends, colleagues and clients.
She will always live in me. Her smile, her laugh, her professionalism, her passion for the entertainment industry, her respect for the craft, her style, her wit and wisdom. She will live attached to my heart like the beautiful orchids she gave me once for my birthday, now blooming in my patio attached to the mango tree.
I will always love you my friend. Thanks for sharing it all.
Welcome to my first workshop as a coach!
Thanks in advance for joining us and for sharing!
Sign up here: https://www.theartsyhive.com/workshops-events
Happy Holidays!
See you there!
As many of you know, Nicaragua is a country very near and dear to my heart and women’s and maternal health is an issue that I have grown up with (thanks to my incredible midwife mother). While living in Nicaragua, I had the fortune to meet many courageous and resilient women of great strength and tenacity, who endured countless challenges in order to better their lives and the lives of their families.
Also, if you are a PITT STUDENT and want to contribute by volunteering your time, please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks in advance,
Rosita Hassan
Note by Laura Sgroi: “Everything I want for me I want for others”. As a pregnant woman, everything I wanted was good food and excellent healthcare (compliments and massages came next!). Everybody deserves the same. I feel for these women, thanks for helping them.
How are you preparing to finish it with a bang / in a high note?
I hope you are well, that this post finds you in good health and spirit and that you are safe wherever you are considering everything that has happened around the world lately. Please consider volunteering and/or donating to the causes closest to your heart.
It’s been a while since my last post. I barely shared a few articles on our Facebook page. I have missed you, writing for you, connecting with you.
Last year was life-changing: After four years living in Nicaragua, I moved back to the United States, to my beloved Miami (It’s been over a year already, and I still owe Lia Seirotti a post about that-coming soon, promised!).
The move happened fast. We became homeowners. I thank my husband for doing most of the research and paperwork. I limited myself to following the great tips in this article by my talented friend Zania and contacting another great friend Oscar Terán as a realtor. The rest was signing a mountain of documents and we are still choosing furniture!
Once again, I was ready to conquer Miami. To recover my space, my work, my friends, my life. Not that I had lost them, but I definitely needed to reconnect.
They were all priorities. Work took over though. I started getting hired for Public Relations and Entertainment Production projects, it felt like I had never left and it was a great reassuring feeling. Fun projects took me to some of my favorite destinations while pulling me away from blogging, writing and social media, as I always strive to respect the time of my clients and the privacy that they deserve.
I also went back to school for my Professional Coaching Certification. I am still offering complimentary coaching calls, please don’t hesitate to contact me and take advantage of that.
While all this was happening, I was simultaneously “working” on my health. I had been dealing with a hormonal imbalance that not only affected me physically but also emotionally as it directly conflicted with the deepest desire of my heart. I turned 34 in the middle of unpromising fertility diagnosis and felt like there was nothing to celebrate. I was wrong. More on that soon. In the mean time, if you plan to have children, please ask your doctor if you can start taking folic acid daily. You and your future babies can thank me later.
Family and work kept me busy and entertained with exciting and all-consuming endeavors, including touring with a rock band in South America and other trips to new places and revisiting old ones. I kept it all to myself, absorbed it, digested it and now I am ready to share it. Stay tuned for upcoming travel blog posts.
The election results also affected my blogging persona. I realized once again the power of media, considering that a product of it had become president, and I felt even more responsible for what I was creating and sharing. It paralyzed me for months. Still not over it, but I have decided to transform fear and empower myself through it instead. That’s another reason why I am back.
Four days after publishing our latest post, I received the miracle that I had been praying for. Long story perfect for a future post. Just know that “When Jesus says yes, nobody can say no”.
Earlier this year we also lost two of our beloved contributors: Alfonsina Ferreira and Godelena Segura. I deeply miss them, their smiles, their energy and their wisdom. I am grateful for their lives and souls and the valuable time that we spent together.
Take this post as a relaunch of this blog. I am back and with so much to offer. I want to write posts that have a lot for you in them. I can’t promise frequency and regularity, just content that will make you content. In that order, I would love to hear your ideas. What would you like to read about? Please let me know as soon as you can.
Thanks in advance for sharing this post with your family, friends and colleagues!
You know me. You know I wouldn’t be genuinely excited about cooking. Unless it’s something that I can easily make at home and offer to my Sicilian husband who runs on pasta. Cheese has always been the exception though. I remember grating Parmigiano Reggiano® during my childhood in the Dominican Republic. It was one of the very few tasks that I enjoyed in the kitchen. And today, almost thirty years later, I enjoy it even more after learning Parmigiano Reggiano®‘s origins, facts and mouth-watering recipes.
Our hosts Danielle Caponi Bolla, Executive Chef David Hackett, Chef Beppe, & Federico Bolla
Everything tastes better with cheese! Little did I know that beyond its delicious flavor, Parmigiano Reggiano® cheese was also so good to me. Now that I am in my thirties, I am very cautious of what I eat, and Parmigiano Reggiano® passes the most important tests:
Always handmade with high quality lactose-free milk with no additives and natural fermenting agents
Easy digestibility
Great source of energy, protein, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins.
It has one of the lowest cholesterol levels of any cheese.
Parmigiano Reggiano® is made today with the same ingredients as nine centuries ago, in the same places, with the same wise ritual gestures, in a traditional way and with the same passion and loyalty. How many products in the market can say that?
Too many cooks in the kitchen? Not a problem! We had the luxury of having Executive Chef David Hackett and Italian-born Chef Beppe Galazzi, teaching and guiding us on every step, from peeling and cutting techniques to making fresh gnocchi!
