Happy December 1st!

On a side note:

As you know, Sweeter will be coming home soon

{Please keep in mind OPSEC...loose lips sinks ships!!! Thank you for understanding.}

 Upon his return I will be on hiatus from the blogging world

For at least a week, enjoying his return 

{and by "enjoying" I mean smothering him with kisses}

 I do not want my little blog to be left unattended...

I would love to have some help with some guest posts 

from each and every one of you

Please let me know if you are interested in guest posting!

First come first serve! ;-)

 Day 9: Favorite Recipe

So, I got a little over zealous and I posted this post a few days ago!
What can I say?? I love the recipe!!

 

1. Do you like to listen to Christmas music?
Does a woman love shoes?!

2. Are you one of those people who get all their shopping done early,

or do you do most of it in December?
Both...my problem is: I get too excited and I can't wait to give gifts..so I should wait so I'm not tempted to give gifts early!

3. Do you set a budget on how much you spend on each person?
That depends on the person.
Usually, I just look for something that I think the person will like and if it's too expensive, then I will look for it discounted somewhere else.

4. Do you send out Christmas cards?
My family does.
And I plan to next year ;-)

5. Do you enjoy this holiday season or does it stress you out?
Both... :-) I love the holidays!
This year, however, I am stressed out
{for reasons to come}

Visit Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday

What I'M loving
{in any and all order!}

*I'm loving that it is December 1st
*I'm loving that phones are on on the ship for the rest of the deployment
{Yay for more phone calls!}
*I'm loving that I have had a productive day so far
*I'm loving that I turned my day around and can now smell the roses
*I'm loving my good hair day
*I'm loving my Safeway Sammie

Book Review and a New Book

 Happy Happy December to Everyone!

I wish you all warm thoughts of hot chocolate, warm blankets, blazing fires, and someone snuggly!

Right before my vacation I finished my book, Cutting for Stone.

Image

I thought this book was awesome!

Abraham Verghese really makes his readers feel like they are in the story too.

There was so much detail that you could smell what the characters were smelling, taste what they were tasting, and feel the emotions they were feeling.

It was truly a great book and there are some pretty edge of your seat twists!

I definitely recommend it!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now I am moving on to another book.

So far it reminds me a little of The Alchemist.

This book was recently given to me in an effort to help me learn not to take things so personally.

The Four Agreements written by Don Miguel Ruiz is a book that "offer(s) a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love" {the back cover :-D}. 

Image

 After that little snippet, I am sure you are all thinking "Man, this girl is craz-Y! What is with her and her weird books!?" 

Yeah I know, I am pretty much preaching to the choir...

I just love these kinds of books.

The books that are

Inspiring

Uplifting

Happy

Guiding

Thought Provoking

I truly believe that the more of these that I read, the more I will learn about life, love, who I am and why I am the way that I am.

What are the Four Agreements, you might ask

1. Be impeccable with your word

2. Don't take anything personally

3. Don't make assumptions

4. Always do your best

These seem easy..huh?!

More to come on what I learn! 

I hope you all enjoy your Hump Day! 

Italia- Venezia

I went to Italia in the summer of 2008. I studied Art, Music and Culture in Firenze for a month.  

From now on, my adventures were mainly shared with my two roommates: Jodi and Stephanie, people in my program, Bev or random people we met along the way!

Now on to my Firenze adventures--a lot of site seeing, staying up late, and wine! How to travel in Europe when you are 20!

I have decided that I will take you along my journey based on the places I went :-)

Venezia

Venezia is my favorite city in Italia. Hands down.

How gorgeous is the San Marcos Duomo? 

I remember a lot of people told me that Venezia was dirty and gross and so I was a little apprehensive about going there. We arrived on a beautiful blue sky and sunny day and I was captivated by every part of this beautiful city!

Sure, all of the pigeons were a little gross....sure you don't want to swim in the water...

...the architecture, and food, the culture, the people all made up for it!

Ick...all of the pigeons! ;-)

We took a tour of Palais des Doges

Inside  Palais des Doges is the Ponte dei Sospiri {the bridge of signs}
The Ponte dei Sospiri is the bridge that the prisoners crossed from their cells to the execution chamber, or to be hung and this is when/where they had their last glimpse of sunlight and their last breath of fresh air.
The guide told us that if the prisoner committed a very terrible crime, that they would have a sack over their head so they weren't allowed the privileged of seeing sunlight on their way to execution

This is a cell that is in Palais des Doges.
The prisoners were fed bread and wine for every meal. 
The bread to sustain them and the wine for the nutrition! 
Very interesting! 

This picture {below} is my absolute favorite picture of my entire trip. No people in the way...nothing...simply beautiful, peaceful, calm, wonderful.

A picture taken from the Ponte Rialto! 

Ponte Rialto is where all of the little street vendors are in Venezia. They sell everything from clothing, to blown glass, and masks.

I bought a beautiful mask here...well two, one for me and one for my Friendoodle! Now for a masquerade party!

The beautiful Ponte Rialto at night!

Look at that moon! wow!

San Giorgio Maggiore Island

All of the boats getting ready for Il Redentore.

This picture is of the Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore. The church was built to honor the end of the plague in Venezia. Every year the Venetians celebrate the end of the plague during the 3rd weekend in July. They build a Ponte Votivo {a temporary bridge} from Piazza San Marco to Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore.  The Bishop from Venezia blesses the bridge as he crosses it. And then he gives a speech thanking God and the Virgin Mary for saving the people from the plague.

There is the Bishop! ;-)

The Bishop crosses the bridge first to bless it and then everyone else crosses it and listens to his speech.

Most people have boats, so they go into the water because once the sun goes down, a firework show begins! This was the best firework show I have ever seen! It seemed to have gone one for hours! It was amazing!

Everyone was cheering, singing and having a merry time!

On Sunday, we went to Mass at San Marco and we heard the Bishop give the service. It was so special! I won't ever forget it!

I wish that I had taken the boat to Isola Murano. We bought Murano glass from Ponte Rialto anyway, so it wasn't the end of the world. It would have been nice to see a tour!

You must go on a Gondola ride! It was fabulous!! The Gallerie dell'Accademia was beautiful {pre-19th century art}and the Guggenheim museum was really neat too!

And definitely buy a mask--you won't get one like it anywhere else! I promise you that!

I would recommend going to Venezia when it is the Redentore because it is such an magical experience. Beware that there are thousands of people there to celebrate and so it will be busy...it will also be worth it!

Until next time, Buon Giorno

12 Days of Christmas Challenge- Day 8

Day 8: Least favorite thing about the Holidays 

 I love love love my family.Sometimes the stresses can run a little high and be a bit much to handle.I do my best to remember that it is just that time of year.I come from a big family and someone's feelings always gets hurt--I know that I am sensitive......that said, I hope that I have the courage to see beyond the hurt feelings and enjoy the time!
With this, I love love the holidays and I love my family!!I am so looking forward to seeing all of my loved ones and I cannot wait for the holidays to unfold!

The Shoes-Edited!

Hello to all!!

I have just found and purchased my wedding shoes!

I needed shoes back in July to try on my dress. So I hastily went looking and I found a pair that I liked, but wasn't in love with them.

I kept them and tried to love them, and I just couldn't...

So I did some online shopping and found these beauties!

I went to Nordstrom and they didn't have them so they had to order them for me.

Also, when I was there I found another pair that I liked but they didn't have the color I liked in my size...

I got both pairs in the mail the week before Thanksgiving...{yes I know, I have been holding out on you all for a while--I wanted to wait until I knew I was keeping them}

I decided to keep both pairs...I got both of them for less than the price I paid for the first pain {I know...they were expensive..another reason why I couldn't love them}

So, without further adieu...

My wedding shoe!

Image

I decided that I can wear these for showers and stuff! 

Aren't they adorable!!

Image

Now the only thing I need to worry about is walking in them...it looks like I will need to start practicing!

They are pretty tall!

I am sure I won't have a problem...

...I can see it now...

I am walking down the aisle, in white, and I trip and fall!

ha!

I hope you all have a Tip Top Tuesday!

Italia- Verona

I went to Italia in the summer of 2008. I studied Art, Music and Culture in Firenze for a month.  

From now on, my adventures were mainly shared with my two roommates: Jodi and Stephanie, people in my program, Bev or random people we met along the way!

Now on to my Firenze adventures--a lot of site seeing, staying up late, and wine! How to travel in Europe when you are 20!

I have decided that I will take you along my journey based on the places I went :-)

Verona

For those of you who don't know, Juliet's balcony is in Verona.

This is another place that I remember visiting when I was young. I remember my mom and I went on a tour of her castle and we came out on the balcony and we said the famous "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name" line to my now padrastre.

All over Italia, there are copper statues that if you touch them it is good luck. 

So whenever we came in contact with anything that we needed to touch or do for good luck, we did it!

 This is a statue of Juliet right outside of her balcony! Oolala!

Arena di Verona

We saw Aida. The coolest part about this Opera...Aida is the first Opera and it was first performed in this amphitheater!

How neat is that?!

Since the Opera was back in its original amphitheater, when we walked in to the area, we were all given candles and we lit the candles. Everyone in the Area had a candle to light! It was magical!

Even though it was all in Italian, and we weren't able to understand, it was such an amazing experience!

 When you are in Verona, see an Opera. It is amazing and you will always remember the experience!!

Also, visit Juliet's castle and touch her boob! ;-)

Until next time, Buon Giorno

It's Monday...again...

Today is going to be:

long

intense

stressful

exciting

relieving

happy

great

The weather outside is frightful...

unfortunately I cannot complete this thought with a beautiful fire that is delightful...

I can; however, say that I am back at work and glad to be back!

1.  What is your favorite way to eat chicken?

Like the host of this "meet me on monday" I could eat Chicken Tenders all day, every day!

My mom made this yummy recipe (from I believe Martha Stewart-pre jail time)

Basically you take chicken and you dip it in eggs seasoned with salt and pepper

Then you take crumpled frosted flakes and you coat the chicken in that and your bake them! 

Oh my! They are soo good!!
2.  Have you decorated for Christmas yet?

No, soon though!
3.  What is your favorite article of clothing?

I love coats and jackets!
4.  Do you pay your bills online or write checks the old way?

I do most of my banking online...weird though, because some of them don't do online ;-( Common people..it's 2010!
5.  Do you make Christmas cookies?

Yes! What else will Santa eat when he gets hungry from putting all of the presents under the tree?!

We also leave veggies out for his reindeer! {Let's be honest...They do most of the work}

12 Days of Christmas Challenge- Day 7

Day 7: Holiday Craft/DIY  (If you don't make anything, what do you WISH you could make?) 

  I would love to make some kind of a centerpiece. I love, absolutely love, candles!I would like to make some kind of a candle centerpiece. I am excited to read all about you do-it yourself centerpiece ideas!! I know that this is the time for all of these fun projects!