Today is that day

We leave for Rome today, well actually tonight ... late tonight but nonetheless it's today yippee. My excitement may have gotten the best of me and now I'm so tired, I never can sleep well before something truly exciting. I had to take sleeping pills the night before my wedding otherwise I would have been up all night.

How does one pack for such ever changing weather? I think I may have done it. Last night was a flurry of packing, getting the house ready and trying to make sure the guy staying at our house is ok with our dog & cats. Three animals is alot to take care of so I hope he's ready and doesn't reck my house in the process.

Anyways, I'm off to get an espresso to try to wake up. I will post some pictures once I get back :)

I did good!

I didn't take pictures (damn it) I was so busy doing everything except the deviled eggs by myself I completely forgot.

Sorry.

BUT all that worrying was for a good reason, everything was delicious! Joe even said so. We had turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and some pretty tasty gravy, we ended all that with two different types of cheesecake and a pumpkin pie. Overall I'm rather satisfied since it was my first Thanksgiving, nothing came out over or under cooked. Yay.

Today is Black Friday in the States and although I've never participated in the particular tradition of hunting for a bargain while punching a fellow shopper in the face, I am slightly jealous of the opportunity of being able to shop at multiple stores with fairly competitive prices. That aside hubby and I are going to enjoy having a weekday off together! My favorite little market is today, so I'll be doing some shopping of my own.

We are finally going ...

TO ROME!!!

I am so excited. I picked up our train tickets a bit ago, it is official. After a year of living in Italy, we will be heading to Rome! I have so much research and reading to do, I want to make sure to see all the sites I possibly can.

So far the plan is to get on the overnight train here late one evening, arrive in Rome the following morning after a restful? nights sleep and explore Rome as is should be done.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, we still haven't pinned down what we are doing but JOE volunteered me to host Thanksgiving dinner to our new neighbors. I've never roasted something as big as a turkey before, so it'll be interesting .. if there are any turkeys left! If I make one and IF it turns out I'll let you all know about it.

Have a lovely Wednesday : D

Apparently not clear

So it was brought to my attention, mostly by my hubby that my last post was slightly confusing or deceiving So I suppose I will clarify.

I'm sorry to bore all of you, but I was requested to clear this up lol

Growing up I had a very close relationship with my mother. We did pretty much everything together *I'm going to blame the flower shop. We didn't have enough time anymore but things changed AND a few years ago Dad & I started to get closer. Our relationship growing up wasn't great, he worked too much. But now I like spending time with him and even miss him as does my hubby. I never figured that my husband & I would seek out spending time with my dad, but we do and for that I'm glad.

So I hope that clears it up, we weren't close but now we are :)

I had some exciting news this weekend. My new boss who is set to arrive here on Nov. 28 called me from the States, while on his own vacation to let me know that he wants me to go on vacation with my family that visiting soon.
This has been an ongoing saga not knowing if I'd get the time off. Now I do. Yippee! We will be going to Rome and possibly a couple other big cities up there. I'm so excited!

Now it's my dad ...

For those of you who know me, you know I’m super close with my dad .. and those of you that don’t, you now do. We are the kind of close that when you see us, you wonder why you don’t have that. I love my dad and really enjoy spending time with him; he’s actually funny! Although I didn’t know this growing up and am so glad I do now. My hubby thinks my dad & I are so alike it weirds him out, thankfully hubby thinks I'm the prettier slightly nicer version.

I found out through an email from my grandma, or rather my mom’s step mom, but damn it she’s my grandma. She informed me that my parents who are no longer living together spent the evening in the ER together .. because my dad broke 3 bones in his ankle. My dad, who just turned 50 is in denial and likes to think he’s still young and mobile. Much to his dismay, his ankle has proved him wrong and he now has to get pins placed in his ankle. Forever.

I’m afraid his racquetball days might be over, but knowing my dad he’ll attempt to continue.

So I’m asking that anyone who may read my blog, send some happy thoughts [or whatever it is you do] my dads way.

Where's Charlie Brown?

In honour of my early Christmas and as requested by Suze & Lizzie here are some pictures of our tree. Keep in mind this is our first tree, our first ornaments .. everything :)

Ok here are 3 different pictures, it's still better looking in person!

Veterans' Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Veterans' Day! Hubby and I enjoyed having the day off; we slept in although he slept longer than I did. While he was sleeping I cooked him up a lovely breakfast, southern by my standards. The only thing missing was gravy.

Over our 3-day weekend I broke down, I just couldn't deny it any longer. I put up our Christmas tree. We purchased the tree on October 26th so I think I waited a decent amount of time especially if you consider we wanted to put it up immediately. If you ask Joe about this, he will deny it saying it was entirely me. Bull! So our living room is quite festive albeit early, but festival and lovely all the same. Our house is so home-y I love it!

We have visitors coming at the end of this month; I need to get the guest bedroom in shape for having guests as that room has turned into a storage and laundry drying area. I'm quite excited for all the things we'll be doing with Joe's family :)

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Mum

Mum, Mom, Momma, Mummy .. whatever you might call her she's pretty darn wonderful. Due to a wonderful blog that Lane wrote I couldn't stop thinking about my mom. As I grew up we were always super close, that sick kind of close where people thought we were sisters. Over the past couple of years things somehow changed and we are so busy I don't get to talk to her much lately. But I called her last night and spoke with her; it was lovely. She was doing her normal morning business at her Flower shop but stopped immediately to talk to me. Hubby could see the smile on my face when he walked into the room and knew it was due to my mother.

So I'd like to say thanks to Lane, I knew I missed my mom but apparently wasn't aware how much :)

We love you & miss you! *[mom, not Lane - but Lane is quite enjoyable company]

A game of Tag

Two posts in one day, you lucky lucky people .. I know I'm silly/stupid.

A much nicer version of tag is being played in blogs all over the world, literally the world. I got tagged by Caitlin.

The rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. Despite my efforts I can’t stop eating carbohydrates. I love breads, potatoes, pastas .. all of it is fantastic. Hubby is sometimes shocked at my bread & cheese habit.

2. I have only been fishing once, I don't think my husband knows this. He really wants me to go on a fishing trip here. It grosses me out, the idea of taking a fish off a hook.. not to mention I'd get terribly sick, damn ocean & it's motion.

3. Although I haven't practiced in quite some time, I'm proud that I know Sign Language. It's beautiful and fun. It's the second language I know best and I've noticed when I can't think of a word in Italian it comes out in Sign or German.
That's the order my brain thinks, English, Sign (ASL), German then Italian.

4. If I'm stressed, I clean. I cannot completely relax until I know the entire house is clean, every last inch. Hubby doesn't understand my craziness, but it's true. When he has overnight stays for work, my 'day off' is cleaning the house so that I can actually relax. So so sad.

5. My husband doesn't have any baby pictures, after much prodding I found out they were all lost. I have no proof my husband was a child; this makes me very sad. I love photos and now our home is very Christina oriented as I have many photos of my childhood.

6. This one is because Lizzie reminded me; I rarely call my hubby by his name. So now when I do it feels like I'm scolding him .. and I feel like I'm in trouble when he says my full name. Strange.

I'm still thinking on the tags! Watch out!

Alright I've tagged Andrea, Brianna, Severine, Rachel, Holly & Bianca.

Oreos & milk .. yes please

Last night hubby and I [yeah he's back, didn't I tell you that part] went shopping, the differences between how we shop is almost laughable. I pull out my list, head to fresh foods that are the healthier choices. HE heads to the chips, cookies, canned crap and if he can sneak it in the basket Velveeta cheese. I have problems with his choices, because when the grocery's I have chosen run out due to my cooking dinner every night ... we always end up eating his bad choices.
My will power is only so much that the cookies staring me in the face from our pantry eventually get eaten and with milk.

So while I am happy for Lizzie for having the willpower and strength I obviously don't, I am slightly pissed that my pants however unflattering are not loose ... so I am swearing off my chocolate bar today in lieu of some veggies, this should last a day or so.

Opps .. I'm bad at this

So I forgot about my blog .. and I must say you have missed so much in our lives! The funniest probably being Halloween.

The hubby thought it would be fun to give out candy, which I agreed because it usually is. Kids can be so cute when begging for something. He also thought it would be great to dress our poor dog up! So he proceeded to buy a child’s costume for her and I had to fix it so she was able to wear it and I hate to say, but he's right. It was funny. The first time we put it on her [early October] I couldn't stop laughing! So this became a once a week event purely for our entertainment, I foresee it continuing as well. Although now the dog enjoys it too!

By the way, for anyone who thinks they get alot of trick-or-treater's you should come to my house on Halloween *(and I really do welcome you all) the neighboring cities bring their families & kids to celebrate in the American craziness of this fun fun day ... we probably had 250-300 kids! I certainly ran out of candy too early ... but it was fun while it lasted :)

So Halloween came & went, I'm a mean pet owner and dressed the dog up ...

Yeah we think she's pretty dang cute too! I'm super impressed with how she did, she was really quite calm and accepting of the kids. They usually scare the crap out of her and they all wanted to pet her being as she's just so cute. She did great! In the time we've had her she's come a long way! Although camouflage still scares her to no end!

The husband is missing i.e. work trip, I am still enjoying my "new" job even though the husband likes spending my(our) money lol

I have some photos to add, it'll make things more fun. So that's it for now, muah!

Ok so I added two photos, hope that displays how great she looked even with her sad face!