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The Unofficial Rules of an Italian Kitchen
Growing up, I didn't just have one Italian kitchen. I had many! On one side was my grandmother Antoinette and my mother MaryAnn. On the other side was my father's family, a full Sicilian household led by my grandmother Lily. With Lily came five daughters and one very outnumbered son, my father. Food was such a central part of that family that they eventually compiled and distributed a family heirloom cookbook called Cucina di Lily. Yes, I have a copy. No, I still can't cook l
donna0306
2 hours ago3 min read
Featured Posts
Why Every Family Has a 'MaryAnn' and Why We Blame Her
The Origin Story They Never Tell Artwork by Andrew Kappes. @2025. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Before MaryAnn became the family’s designated chaos coordinator, she was just a kid — an only child with a house key on a shoelace and a habit of pretending she wasn’t lonely. A latch‑key kid before anyone called it that. She learned early how to microwave dinner, entertain herself, and make silence feel less like abandonment and more like independence. MaryAnn grew up
donna0306
Aug 16
The Unofficial Rules of an Italian Kitchen
Growing up, I didn't just have one Italian kitchen. I had many! On one side was my grandmother Antoinette and my mother MaryAnn. On the other side was my father's family, a full Sicilian household led by my grandmother Lily. With Lily came five daughters and one very outnumbered son, my father. Food was such a central part of that family that they eventually compiled and distributed a family heirloom cookbook called Cucina di Lily. Yes, I have a copy. No, I still can't cook l
donna0306
2 hours ago
The Legacy Continues
At first, I thought Blame MaryAnn™ was about looking back. I thought I was preserving a piece of family history. I was honoring my grandmother, Antoinette Ricci, whose fashion illustrations began in 1937 and remained tucked away in a drawer for decades. Every now and then, we'd open that drawer, spread the sketches across the bed, and admire them together. Back then, her audience was small, just the family she loved so dearly, but we treasured every piece. I was honoring my m
donna0306
3 days ago
The Drawing That Waited 89 Years to Speak- Meet Lil MaryAnn™!
Some stories don’t rush. Some stories don’t shout. Some stories wait quietly, patiently. Until the right hands, the right heart, and the right moment arrive. This is the story of a drawing that waited 89 years to speak. A Girl on Brown Parchment (1937) In 1937, a 16‑year‑old girl named Antoinette Ricci sat with a sheet of brown parchment paper and drew a portrait she titled “Drawings of Heads from Illustration.” She didn’t know she was creating the foundation of a future bran
donna0306
Sep 22
Echoes of Innocence: The Words That Grow into Our Stories
Childhood is the one place where everything feels simple— until I grew up and realized it wasn’t simple at all. The innocence I carried wasn’t just in my small hands or wide eyes; it lived in the words spoken around me. Words I didn’t choose. Words I didn’t understand. Words that quietly rooted themselves in the soil of who I was becoming. And in my experience? Those words didn’t stay in childhood. They followed me. They grew up with me. They shaped the stories I told myself
donna0306
Aug 28
Why Cards Still Matter
Because text‑lingo is quick. Card‑language is human. Image Taken By me @2026 In a world where everything shows up as a notification, a card is one of the few things that still feels human. Our phones buzz constantly. Emails. Reminders. Breaking news. Group chats. Someone reacting to a message you forgot you sent three months ago. Most of it gets glanced at, swiped away, and immediately forgotten. A card is different. A card requires effort. You picked it. You signed it. You p
donna0306
Aug 16
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