How'd you get that Twitter Name?

Time for an Explanation

"Why do you use ciaobellacreech as your Twitter screen name?"

twitter.com/ciaobellacreech

It sounds a bit vain, doesn't it? (Translation = 'Hello, beautiful Creech.' But wait! I have an explanation.  

When I signed up for Twitter and was asked to provide a screen name, I chose, simply, my own name, Sharon Creech, but was promptly informed that that was already taken. What? Really?  (Turns out there are several Sharon and Sherri Creeches around.)

I had just returned from a year in southern Switzerland, where the language is Italian, and every day when I walked through the local village, people would call out (to me and to other girls and women), "Ciao, bella!"  

Ciao, bella!  Ciao, bella!  Ciao, bella!  Such a cheery refrain bouncing off the mountainsides.

And so, when Twitter told me I couldn't use my own name, the first thing that popped into my head was 'Ciao, bella!'

Ciaobellacreech.

I've since learned that Ciao Bella is also a lingerie chain . . . and somewhere I saw it as the name of an ice cream shop.

So.  There you go.

Ciao, bella!