Sunday, July 22, 2012

Lifestyle of the Rich and the Famous!!!

This weekend was, in one word, awesome! My fellow Minnesotan and I traveled to Mentone, Monaco, and Monte Carlo this weekend! It was a long bus ride, 7 hours each way, but to me totally worth it. Again Im going to give you all a smattering of pics but in summary here is what we got to see. Stop in Mentone, a seaside town for some breakfast and exploring the local markets, Monaco-Cathedral of Monaco where Grace Kelly was married, took a break in a local park to sit and watch the water....ahm yachts drive by, watched the changing of the guard, toured the Royal apartment (sorry no pics), Monte Carlo- enjoyed some beach time, Monte Carlo casino (again no pics of the inside where I dismally lost my 5Euro-im a high roller what can I say, gawked and rediculous cars in front of the casino and just simply took in the area. It was a such a beautiful area and I really hope I get the chance to return, maybe to ride on one of those yachts, big dreams, or maybe just dragging the hubby would suffice! Enjoy!









































Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Rough Days and Happy Days

The last week has brought me some rough days. I have kept myself busy for sure but the nights have been the hardest. Kyle is now at his final destination and is keeping busy prepping for the rest of his team to arrive as they do a handoff from  the guys that are heading back home. I have been able to talk to him twice now which just makes my day, as you all can imagine. Ill keep everyone posted as much as I can on what is going on.

4 days later.... Well I sure have been keeping busy. This weekend was filled with activity with my favorite Green girls!! Saturday morning I went to Nove to do some ceramics shopping for some birthday gifts (Tiffany* dishes anyone?) and to get a jump start on christmas so I can start sending packages home. Saturday afternoon I enjoyed a relaxing trip to my favorite winery Villa Sceriman for a glass of Vino with the Green Girls followed by some chinese. Yes there is some very authentic chinese food that was delicious!
*Readers Be prepared for lots of reference to the Green's or my soul sister. Lindsay and her two adorable daughters Kate and Bella are my family over here and have been amazing support. A lil background-hopefully she doesn't mind ;) but Lindsay and I met both of our first weeks here on the BenVenuti class that we took and have literally been in-seperable since. We are truely soul sisters by definition: both social workers, have an embarassing and overpowering obsession for twilight and harry potter but only in that order, love our men (who are quite similar as well), winos and foodies, pinterest wannabes/testers, shopping buddies even when we should be doing something else, and sometimes dont even need to speak and we know whats goin on. Together we are getting through this deployment one day/adventure at a time! Love my soul sister!
Sunday took our foursome to Gardaland. Our original plan was just to enjoy the Sea Life Aquarium...but after an hour long walk through, we saw it all. Quick decision time: we decided to take a stab as the Gardaland Theme park! Ill tell you, the Italian theme park is waaaaay behind those in the states! Think Disney's Its a small world from the 80s, with dull colors and cracking paint with very bad anamatronics and this is how Lindsay and I entertained ourselves for the afternoon. We had a blast just joking around with how corney and 'knock off' of Disney and other various American characters they had...for one a tiger that vaguely resembles Tony the Tiger and some creepy bears probably made to look like Pooh, Im still not sure. Anyway fun was had by all, luckily It wasn't too hot for us! My evening was spent working on homework and getting a chance to skype back home. So glad I got to see Gma and Gpa on the computer! Love technology this week.

Technology has been challenging this week in an attempt to skype with the Hubby. We were able to see each other but he could hear me, I couldn't hear him :( at least I got to see his face making for a very interesting one sided conversation with his feeble attempts at chicken-pecking some typed responses to me! :) Well best be getting back to the homework.. only three more weeks of class left for the semester! Im very ready for the whole two week break we get before Fall semester kicks off...whoopeeee!

Thank you everyone for all your support these past couple of weeks!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

One day at a time

Well now that it is just me and the Roo we are taking it one day at time and trying to keep busy. Lucky school and work do just that! Kyle and I enjoyed one last weekend together before his departure just relaxing and being together.
Saying Bye :(



This past week I was chaperoning field trips which were just exhasusting. Tuesday my work took me and 24 kiddos to a local fishing 'lake' which to me was more of a pond. There for the whole day I happily was charged with manning all the bags and being available for any emergency situation that may arise with fishing. Let's just say my one attempt to aid a kid getting the fish off the hook I ended up hooking myself. After two casts of my own into the water with no luck I returned to my post of bag guarder happily with my sun chair and book! The fourth was quite uneventful as I took advantage of a weekday off to do some shopping on the Italian economy! Braving the hot night and packed post I headed to watch the fireworks!

Happy Fourth!

They were utterly disappointing making the independence day less than what in my opinion should be celebrated! The next field trip took me to a local grotto which was cool and definitely a place to take the hubby when he returns!

The Stalagmites in the Grotto and pics of the surrounding area!











 Mowed the lawn all by myself!










This weekend i hung out with my favorite Green girl and made a trip to Ikea. This is where i dell in love with a replacement for our coffee bar. An evening of spaghetti, vino, and of course our favorite Twilight was just what we both needed! And to not disappoint here ate a smattering of pics from the week