Happy Birthday to my Blog

My Blog officially turns one today. I still think that my first post was my best post. (P.S. I am still single and I still snort). As I think back on my life and blog posts this year I am grateful for the experiences I have had and I look forward to all the experiences I will have. Here are a few of the things I am looking forward to.

• More dates with my nephew Max
• Pumpkin season
• Football
• Christmas break, hopefully spent in an exotic location, possibly Dubai
• Running the PF Chang's Rock n Roll half marathon with my brother
• Boot and Coat Season
  
• Getting to the ski resorts in my all wheel drive car
• Trips to Arizona
• Late nights at the pie with my girls (and Jesse the cute cashier).
• Summer Vacation and another stamp in my passport...Australia and Greece here I come. my name.
• Checking more things off my bucket list

I know this year will be a good year because I am going to pursue happiness rather than waiting for it to find me.

NEW COUCH

I have been wanting a brown leather couch forever. Every Sunday for at least a year, I have flipped through the ads in the paper in search of the couch. I wanted something traditional with really clean lines. I finally found my couch. I spent a few hours rearranging the furniture in my living room and I think I finally found an arrangement that works. I am fairly sure that I am responsible for the death of several cows due to the leather coat, boots, purses, and now the couch. It was a good summer for me a bad summer for the cows.

KLUTZ /klʌts/

Definition: 1. "A clumsy, awkward person."

Within the space of a week I broke two pairs of sunglasses. I am starting to feel like a total klutz. The first pair I threw on the front seat of my car when I went into the gym for yoga. I came back out to my car and forgot they were there...crunch. I tried to balance them on my nose as I drove home and got some funny looks from other drivers.

A couple of days later I set off to the sunglasses carts at the mall and was able to find the exact same pair and a second pair that had cute butterflies on the side. The second pair only lasted a few days. I had them on my floor in my room and stepped on them...crunch. I tried to super glue both pairs back together but I had no luck.

Cankles [kaenklz]

Definition from wiktionary: "An obese or otherwise swollen ankle that blends into the calf without clear demarcation. "

A few of my guy friends at BYU used to joke about cankles. Well for about a week this summer I had cankles. I enjoyed a little too much floating time on the Lazy River at Lagoon and burned my feet and legs. The next day I boarded a plane to Pisa. My feet usually swell on airplanes but this time was way worse. Once we got off the plane we went straight to Lucca and rode bikes on the rampart. We spent the next day in Pisa and traveling up to Cinque Terre. I took this picture once we finally got to the beach. I'm happy to say that my feet are back to a normal size. Hopefully I never have cankles again.

Firenze aka Florence

We spent the last few days of our trip in Florence. We disembarked the ship in Civitavecchia at 5:45 am on a Sunday. We walked to the train station planning to go to Florence through Pisa. We had heard about a train strike during our cruise and learned that the strike was still going on. The ticket agent asked us to come back in a half an hour and she would have more information about the situation. When we returned she sold us tickets through Pisa expecting but the trains would run. She called us back minutes later and said the strike was continuing. I thought for sure we would be stuck in Civitavecchia.


We decided to get on the train going to Rome hoping that we could connect their for Florence. We lucked out and made the connection in Rome on a high speed train. We ended up in Florence almost 3 hours before the time we would have if we had gone through Pisa. This also meant that we were able to go to church in Florence. We rushed to our hotel, changed, and caught a taxi to church. My dad had served part of his mission in Florence and Brother Cuffaro, his close friend, had arranged for Daniele Santurra to meet us outside the church. He showed us into the sacrament meeting. I didn't understand much of the meeting but the spirit was definitely there. We met the missionaries after and were invited to stay for a pot luck lunch. It was good authentic Italian food. My dad reconnected with a few people. I'm not sure of the last name of this family.


This is Maria Theresa Bocca's husband and daughter. I met Maria Theresa's mother back in Torino on my last trip.


This is Daniele Santurra and his parents.


Daniele gave us a ride to the Cuffaro's. The last time my parents saw them was back in '84. There was a lot of catching up to do.

After visiting the Cuffaro's, Daniele gave us a ride to Michelangelo Mountain. The views of the city are spectacular from up there.

We spent the entire next day shopping. I may be solely responsible for the death of a cow. I bought a lot of leather goods (1 leather jacket, 2 pairs of boots, 3 purses). Nothing cheers me up more then the smell of leather.

This is the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"). It has beautiful jewelry shops all along it.

Daniele told us about a shoe store where all of the shoes are made by hand. It was amazing. We bought a couple pair and met Francesco.

We also discovered the best gelato shop. It was two bridges down from the Ponte Vecchio. The prices were very reasonable and the gelato was delicious. I ate this fragola (strawberry) for you Sarah.

This was taken the day we started our trip home. Our hotel had a beautiful deck area that we ate breakfast on. Florence was good to me this trip. I can't wait for my next trip back.

Cagliari, Sardinia Italy

Sardinia was our next stop. It is an island off the coast of Italy. We were out on the deck as the ship pulled into port. We were greeted by a group of dancers and some festive music. My dad served a few months in Cagliari during his mission. We spent the morning looking for his apartment. I think the whole day brought back some great memories for him.

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Palma de Mallorca was our next stop. It is an island off the coast of Spain. We spent the morning wandering around the narrow city streets, shopping, and checking out the architecture. Palma is known for the pearls that it manufactures. It is also home to Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.