Cappuccino Chit-Chat

I have a new blog

2008-07-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

I felt the need for a change as of late. Plus I discovered that WordPress.com has blog template options that really struck my eye.

Visit the new blog!

Things I'm currently Loving...

2008-06-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

I go through phases, as I'm sure everyone does. Some weeks I start eating abnormal amounts of a certain food, and I'll say, "Man I've been on a banana/milk kick lately." I only mentally document the "food kicks" that are healthy....because let's face it I'm always on a chocolate kick. Anyway, as of late I've been participating in some new summer habits that I've really been enjoying:

1) Blogging more regularly, some months I'll fall into blog slumps and ask myself, "What really do I have to put out there that's actually interesting?" I guess I've just become a little more creative with post ideas or I just don't care if they're interesting or not. Blogging makes me feel accomplished and hopefully I can keep this trend going :-)

2) Listening to new music, i.e. the newest Coldplay album, "Viva la Vida." I'd been waiting for it to come out, rather patiently because I'm not the hugest of CP fans. But now that it has I'm really digging it. At first listen I was a little disappointed, I deemed it to be "too much of the same." But while listening to it all a second time through yesterday while working I became more impressed. It's very easy to fall into a relaxed meditative state while listening and zone out......I'm great at zoning out!

3) Watching my new found favorite sitcom, "Arrested Development." Alex and I had been hearing about how great it was for months. He bought all three seasons before we left for Italy and we started watching while in Naples and into our few days in Rome. It's funny, the show reminds me of Italy now because that's where we started watching it. Although I've just now started falling in love with it and I can't seem to get enough. We watch one episode a night and laugh uncontrollably at our fav characters. Alex prefers "Tobias" while I love "Gob" and "Buster."

4) Celebrating with California couples that it is now legal for same sex couples to get married and receive proper documentation there. The fact that this hasn't happened sooner and in every 50 state is mind boggling. When uber, ignorant Conservatives start rambling about how this "threatens the sanctity of marriage between man and woman" I want to hurl. Why can't people just shut up and let others be happy?......I mean seriously people.....back off!

5) Gardening, or watching Alex garden rather. He recently went to the local nursery and bought some great new plants that now adorn our outside patio. We'd had some from the previous year but some had died and others were a bit pathetic looking. Now when I look up at our patio from below it looks like a lush, green oasis.

6) Cooking meals that last for days and days in my Le Creuset Dutch Oven. Alex had given me my bright orange Dutch oven for Christmas this year and I've just started cooking regularly in it. It's so practical and such a great tool to have. It heats so evenly and holds so much....if you're into cooking large meals on a regular basis I highly recommend it!

7) Watching "So You Think You Can Dance," it's no secret that I enjoy watching pretty much every dance show that is on TV at any given time. You can always count on me to know the latest scoop from "Dancing with the Stars," "America's Best Dance Crew," or "SYTYCD." I get so hyped for it to come on every wednesday night...plus we usually have friends over that night to watch it with us which makes it extra fun. I have a lot of favorite dancers this season and can't wait to watch who wins. I'm very guilty of getting goose bumps at least once every show.

8) Casually swimming and calling it a "work out." Every year when the weather is warm enough to have heated the apartment pool through.....usually by mid-May, I suit up and dive in. It's a great release especially after a full day of being stuck in the office. I swear I was born with gills, ever since I was a little girl you can't keep me away from the water. When we were in Positano all I wanted to do was swim, swim and swim in the clear water. It's a given that I'll make a trip down to the pool at least three times a week and swim, tread, float, and twirl around. It's so perfect :-)

9) Sleeping later than normal. I guess it started when I was sick for 10 days two weeks ago. I fell into a habit of just relaxing and sleeping. It's really hard for me to just relax still....but now I'm not as hard on myself as before for not cleaning up the apartment or getting stuff done. It's so nice to just sleep and do nothing. zzzzzzzz

10) Talking to family more often. It clicked the other day that my family and friends are so important to me and I'm not going to have them all around forever. So I've made it a habit to call the ones I love more often.....to just let them know that, "Hey, I'm thinking about you!" It's so important to realize what you have when you have it and make the most of it!

Happy Weekend All.....hope you all fall into habits of doing things that you truly enjoy!

Happy Birthday Pop Pop :-)

2008-06-17T20:33:00.001-07:00

Today is my grandfather's (Pop pop's) birthday!. If he were still living he'd be 83. We lost him October 13, 1995 to cancer at the age of 70. He was a man known for fishing, a hearty appetite, and consistent church going :-) Rarely did I hear him speak negatively, but knew him however, for his sarcasm and big closed mouth smile :-)

Miss you Pop Pop!

Weekend Events...

2008-06-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

In the midst of finishing up with posting about our recent wedding/honeymoon in Italy I had forgotten to post about how much fun we had last week at Alex's annual company picnic. Last year it was at a huge ranch north of Austin, this year it was at Volente Beach on nearby Lake Travis. Basically a small, very kid friendly water park with four large slides, a lazy river, various pools, and a fake sand beach on the lake. We went with my brother and his girlfriend as well and all enjoyed a day in the sun. The water slides brought me right back to when I was younger and used to wish that I had one in my backyard so I would never have to wait in the lines. For lunch we scarfed hamburgers...way too quickly on my part since Jin and I went on crazy raft ride no more than 20 minutes later, oy!

Fast forward to this past weekend, I surprised Alex with tickets to "Love, Janis" for Friday night. His 28th birthday was this past Wednesday and I wanted to do something special for him. The play was based off the book "Love, Janis" that her sister Laura wrote and was performed downtown at the new and fantastic Long Center. There were a lot of "original Austinites" in the crowd (with their gray dreads and peace signs) as well as Austin yuppies and even a few younger folks like ourselves. The play was very introspective, thoughtful, and completely amazing :-) The actress/singer that played the "performing, Rock Janis" was so dead on in all likenesses. Alex and I agreed that it was as if we were at an actual Janis Joplin concert back in the late 60s.

Saturday we went to our first Farmer's Market experience in Austin with the fam. It was in South Austin at the Sunset Valley Market...the experience was very "Keep Austin Weird"....and organic/farm fresh! We all enjoyed fresh pastries both savory and sweet, fresh lemonades and teas, and live folk music. We split up at one point to carouse the individual market stalls and I was drawn in by a tent giving away "free massages."

"Ok," I thought....."why not?" We sat in the massive tent's shade and were offered free vegan cake that was delicious and were greeted with overly friendly men and women. When it was my turn for the massage I laid face down and was "rubbed" not massaged, it was very strange in that her hands offered no pressure or release to my hopeful joints and muscles. I was also constantly being asked to keep flipping over which took all of the relaxation out of it.

While i was being "rubbed" I listened in to the conversation Alex was having with the others in the tent. It was strange how they were introducing him to person after person and acting like he was a member of their family. I started thinking...."this is all very cultish." After the "rub down" the lady asked me how it all felt.....I lied of course and she proceeded to try to sell me a $5 pamphlet on how to perform what she had just done to me....."um no thanks" I said.

I also noticed that Alex was behind me snapping pictures all of a sudden (see pic of me trying to be polite and listen).....weird! Then another lady subtly hands me a Scientology DVD and says, "...it's just information." As in "don't freak out" just watch it....

AHHH, I should have known! Anyway, besides that we had a great time at the market. We ended up with a enormous yellow squash and zucchini, plenty of fresh peaches (my fav fruit), some outstanding basil pesto, and a small ceramic cup that I deemed too adorable to not buy :-)

For lunch we ventured over to Flip Happy Crepes that I had been obsessing over since the previous weekend. Our only mistake is that we brought my dad with us who complained about having to sit outside to eat in the heat the entire walk there. Upon getting there there was a long line and all the picnic tables were filled. Boo, but we found an empty table and upon making our way to the front of the line were told that we had to wait an additional 45 min. after ordering for our crepes to even receive them. My dad was already huffing so we sadly walked to Shady Grove where I ate a lackluster Green Chili Burger....yeah I wasn't bitter at all. Alex promised that we would be back to Flip Happy soon and that we'd have a great experience as well :-)

Father's Day was nice and quiet, just spent time with my dad. He was just happy to order Rudy's Barbecue and watch the Yankees slam the Astros 13-0 :-)

My Mosaic :-)

2008-06-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

I'd been seeing this very clever mosaic being posted on some of my favorite blogs. Being a very visual.....and curious person I decided to create my own. The directions are below as well as my answers and Flickr Mosaic!

- Type your answer to the following questions into Flickr Search
- Choose an image you like best from the first page of options
- Copy and paste the URL for each into the Mosaic Maker

Questions:

1. What is your first name? :: Eryn.....although I changed it at age 7 from "Erin"
2. What is your favorite food? :: authentic Italian
3. What high school did you go to? :: Westwood Highschool
4. What is your favorite color? :: aqua
5. Who is your celebrity crush? :: Derek Jeter...I've had many more since. But he was one of my first crushes as an adolescent. I apparently like men with a little hue in their complexions :-)
6. Favorite drink? :: I have so many....but a peach bellini came to mind at first
7. Dream vacation? :: Thailand......Fiji would be nice too!
8. Favorite dessert? :: all my closest friends and family know that I'm obsessed with NUTELLA!
9. What you want to be when you grow up? :: dolphin trainer... I love the water and I love dolphins :-)
10. What do you love most in life? :: Alex.....awwwwww
11. One word to describe you. :: fickle
12. Your Flickr name. :: .....although I changed this last one to: What is your married name? :: Chandler :-)

1. ERYN, 2. Love XOXO, 3. sweetest thing, 4. Floating in paradise, 5. Derek Jeter, 6. Bellini - Color of Venice, 7. My secret blue paradise :), 8. [ La mia Dolce metà ], 9. A dream come true. . .almost., 10. chairs, green, revolving, 11. The Summer Wind, 12. A fine ending to a fine day

Back to Florence.....and then Farewell Italia

2008-06-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

We left Rome mid morning on a Thursday and hopped onto a train to Florence. When we studied in Florence for a semester and were away for 3 or more days I always remember how we'd get so excited when the train would slow and the Duomo would come into view. It just spoke of how much we loved Florence and how it really was our home for those four months.

The same thing happened when we were pulling into the Santa Maria Novella train station for the last time on our three week stint in Italy. After two weeks of not knowing our way around we were once again back in a city where no maps were required and it didn't take twice as long to get somewhere because we'd get lost. We were back. It was bittersweet in a way though because I knew the next day we'd be waking up at an unGodly hour to fly back to the States.

We quickly found our hotel on via Nazionale....after staying in such great accommodations everywhere else we were stunned by how well...crappy this last hotel was. We knew it wasn't going to be all grand and majestic but we were spoiled by now and not having air conditioning on the top floor of the hotel was brutal. We did have a great view out our window though of the magical red rooftops of Florence and out our front door we could see the rolling hills of Fiesole.

It had gotten noticeably warmer since we were there two weeks prior and we decided to make the most out of our last full day. First we trekked through the San Lorenzo markets (one of my most hated areas bc of all the tourists and foot traffic) to buy a few tshirts. Then we went to Eby's a burrito place we frequented during our semester in Florence. The burritos weren't as great as we remembered but it was a welcome change from all the Italian food we'd been eating.

Afterwards we crossed the river to take one more hike up to Piazzale Michelangelo while the sun was out. On the way through the San Niccolo neighborhood we stumbled upon a Rose Garden that I was sad we had never discovered before. The flowers within the walled garden were beautiful but I couldn't help but think of how hot I was in my 3/4 length shirt and jeans. Once at the top of Piazzale Michelangelo we sat and took in our city one last time.
We talked about when we would make it back....since our next International adventure will more than likely include other countries we've yet to explore. Speaking of not seeing Italy for so long made me sad and even short of breath :-(

On the way back to our hotel we stopped at Chiesa Santa Felicita so we could see my most favorite Renaissance painting! It's Pontormo's "Deposition," and I first fell in love with the painting four years ago when we visited the small unassuming church on an art history field trip. I love that the church isn't well known and that there are never lines or tourists that you have to fight through. It makes me feel special, like we know a secret that most don't :-) The colors are vivid pastels that resonate well with me. I love bright colors....they draw me in!

That evening we met Erin from "The Olive Notes" and her husband Chris. I'd been speaking to her via the blogosphere for just about a year and was excited that we were actually able to meet up. We met in Piazza di San Marco and chatted and walked to the Sant' Ambrogio neighborhood where they introduced us to a great little restaurant where we enjoyed wine and aperitivos. I was even able to sample tartufo for the first time!

Afterwards we waltzed to ChiaroScuro (I was so excited to try this place) which had a wonderful ambiance and so many java combinations to try. I was a little overwhelmed with the options so I opted for the frozen cappuccino that I saw featured on the outdoor sign. It was delicious and I was glad to be able to finally try this place after drooling all over their webpage.

It was the very first time that I had actually met someone in person that I've only spoken to online prior. The experience of doing so was great and it was nice to just pick up where we left off on one another's blogs.

That night we ventured to our favorite gelateria in all of Italy on via Faenza and I ordered "sad gelato" one last time. Cookies and amarena to be exact :-) Alex of course consumed yet another Margherita pizza and we enjoyed a sleepless night of tossing and turning since we knew we had to wake at 5am for an entire 24 hours of international travel.

The trip home was very reminiscent of our first trip home from Italy in '04. We were greeted in the Florentine airport by hoards of American students returning home........lovely. And I had instant deja vu' of what a nightmare that had been for us. With our bags being too heavy and getting charged astronomical fees for it......ugh. We made it through and fought our way through the Charles de Gaulle airport once in Paris. Sprinting through an airport is never fun....it wipes me out emotionally and physically.

In any case we made it home......as Mr. and Mrs. Alex and Eryn Chandler. Looking back at our wedding photos I know that if given the chance we would do it all over again!

It was perfect

"Hey, I put some new shoes on..."

2008-06-12T10:45:00.001-07:00

...and suddenly everything's right!" I'm a dork but I couldn't help but announce to the blogosphere that I just purchased what are going down in history as the cutest shoes ever. Or at least for this week! After stuffing myself with delicious Greek food for lunch I took a walk in retail heaven to attempt to walk off some of the spanakopita and hummus.

And into DSW Shoe Warehouse I walked, promising myself along the way that I was just there to happily browse and try on every pair of shoes that I deemed too cute not to. I'm blessed with a size 7 foot and therefore can usually always fit my foot into the display size.......convenient, fun, and very dangerous!

I was almost done browsing the many many aisles when a pair struck me and as soon as I stuck my foot in the appropriate size I fell in shoe love. They were beautiful and quirky and fit oh so well. Dang they were comfy! Right then and there I decided I was leaving......with the shoes. I even decided to wear them out and as I turned the first corner a sassy older woman said, "work it girl!"

How perfect........I'm still coming down from my shoe high, please forgive me! And for what it's worth I know Carrie would approve!

CrepeHappy for Flip Happy!

2008-06-10T19:33:00.001-07:00

Ever since my Crepe con Nutella experience in Rome I haven't been able to get them off my mind. A good friend came over and made them for us a few weeks ago......he made perfect tasting crepes with a caramel apple filling. They were divine.

A while ago I was told about a Creperie in Austin that made sweet AND savory crepes. Since it was before "the experience" mentioned above I didn't give it too much thought.......Until it was featured on the Food Network tonight! That's right, Bobby Flay's Throwdown came down to Austin to challenge Flip Happy's owners Nessa and Andrea. I was overjoyed! Their savory crepes like the "Cuban" (pulled pork, pickles, gruyere, and tobasco) for example sound so amazing and so delightfully different. And then they of course rock the free world with their sweet crepes as well...........I saw Nutella mentioned more than once on their website :-)

I've been scouring their schedule to see just when they'll be open (they operate out of a airstream trailer), and if it's anything like THIS place....well then I know they'll be excellent! I'll be sure to report back with an honest, and hopefully overjoyed critique!

Roma

2008-06-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

We left Naples early on a Monday morning and arrived in Rome around lunchtime. It felt great to be back and on our own schedule. The first time we were in Rome it was on a three day art history field trip....and it was a whirlwind of Renaissance history and walking some 30 miles. Now we were back and were able to pick and choose exactly what we wanted to see.

We stayed in a great apartment around Campo de' Fiori on via Vico Savelli. Our street was too narrow for cars which was great for sleeping and our building even had Roman columns built into the facade! The neighborhood was definitely an artisan area....every shop was either a painting studio, ceramics studio, glass shop, or antique gallery, we loved it!

Our days were filled with lots of walking, I always forget how much larger Rome is than Florence, and eating great Roman specialties. Some of the sites we saw throughout our three days were the Trevi Fountain (where we each threw in a few euro coins), The Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo, The Castle of Angels, Colosseum, Roman Forum, La Bocca della Verita, Capitoline Hill, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. We also went into almost every church we happened upon. I just love to walk through them, they're always so peaceful and it's just so nice to quietly observe in a silent sanctuary juxtaposed against a bustling city!

Another highlight of our trip was exploring the Trastevere area. We first wandered over there to find Pizzeria da Vittorio which was featured in the guidebook I had brought along. The pizza was paper thin and wonderful, we also enjoyed carciofi alla Romana (Roman artichokes)! We were also so pleasantly surprised by the lush, somewhat lazy neighborhood that was Trastevere. It definitely felt more residential than other areas of the city and a true Roman gem. We also ate dinner there the following night at Da Enzo, I saw that Erin from "The Olive Notes" had eaten there before and we thought we'd give it a shot as well. Oh, and I was very proud when I called the ristorante the night before and made the reservation completely in Italian....what excited me the most was that I was asked a few questions about the reservation in Italian and was actually able to answer back, what a concept!

Rome was also the setting of my first Crepe con Nutella experience. It was 4 euro and worth every cent! We watched the lady make it fresh and then I devoured it at a nearby fountain in Campo de Fiori! It was one of the best things I've ever been a part of.....pure bliss and oh so sinful!

We really enjoyed our time in Rome, it was a completely different experience from our first visit and much more "our style." We left Rome the following Thursday morning and arrived in Florence for our last full day...

Oh Napoli

2008-05-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

Alright.....so yes, Napoli. Naples was a lot of very different things; scary at first, robust, passionate, and YUMMY! After we survived our third trip on the Circumvesuviana we had arrived in Naples again. But this time it wasn't just a stop while in transit...we were going to actually stay there for two days.

If you had asked me while in the States what part of the trip I was most excited about I would of course talk about the wedding first but I was really really excited to see and experience Naples. We'd heard that while it's one of the most challenging cities in all of Europe to travel within that it's also filled with so many rewarding features. Like.....HELLO, the birthplace of pizza (the margherita to be more exact), passionate, beautiful people, tons of history, and the beautiful Bay of Naples. However, once in Italy we were hearing people speak so terribly of Naples, "don't wear any jewelry," "my passport was stolen there," "there is trash EVERYWHERE!" I started to become a little weary...as did Alex!

But c'mon don't you have to have your wits about you in most larger cities in Italy? Aren't there pickpocketers all over Europe? And to be fair...the city center has been clear of trash for probably a few months. However, unfortunately, the outskirts were still piled high with trash in a lot of places (as we saw from the train).

We were told by an information desk at the train station that we could use our Circumvesuviana tickets for the tram that would take us to a piazza close to the Hotel Vesuvio which is right on the bay. "Ok, great we thought"....until we got outside and were met with heat, hoards of people, crazy traffic, and dozens of trams (none with our destination displayed on them). So we just grabbed a cab. I noticed that the driver was really driving EXTRA slow.....trying to milk us for all we were worth. Then once we got off he swindled us for an extra 3 euro because he said he helped us with our bags. Um What? He was old and couldn't lift any of it so Alex did all of that. And I hate when you have no small change, so when you hand them 30 euro because the meter says 26.84 euro you end up getting no change back. UGH.

But now we were at the hotel and it was divine on the inside. There were many many pictures of the royalty, celebrities, and politicians that have stayed there over the years! We cleaned ourselves up and headed out to Brandi. A pizzeria about half a mile from the hotel that claims to have the best Margherita in the city, they should though, they were the first pizzeria to ever make it in 1889 for Queen Margherita! We found it not too far after we set out and enjoyed ourselves at an outdoor table.....just watching the Neopolitans walk by. I even had my picture taken with the pizza maker :-) Now we ate more pizza in the South of Italy than we've ever eaten before, they were all great.....but this was even better! I can't even describe why it was THE BEST, it just was! We really enjoyed the meal. Afterwards we walked back towards the hotel and meandered around Piazza di Plebiscito (my fav piazza in Naples) the church at the one end was just so grand and majestic!

We also realized that the pastries here in Naples appeared to be on par if not better than the ones in Positano and Sorrento. It really was like the city of sfogliatella and nutella. Both amazing things. While in Piazza Plebscito I enjoyed an enormous Bomba con Nutella. I ate the one in the back right :-) And after the lady heated it up in the microwave it was molten paradise!

That night we enjoyed Turkish food, the concierge told us about. The place was soo close to the hotel and it was ultra chic on the outside and inside. We had a little trouble with the menu. I do well with Italian menus in Italian restaurants because I know the majority of the dishes. However, when a menu is in Italian describing Turkish food (the other half was in Turkish) I have a few problems. The waitor was really nice and while he only spoke Italian we were able to figure most everything out. I think I enjoyed the food a little more than Alex did but we both walked out full and satisfied!

Stayed tuned for our last day in Naples and our three day trip to Roma!

Positano (honeymoon Part I)

2008-05-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

Friday after the wedding was spent showing my parents around some other areas of Florence, purchasing train tickets with my brother and his girlfriend for our upcoming trip to Positano.

Saturday morning we woke up early and caught our early train to Naples. From Naples (heaps of trash abound) we caught the worst train ever, the Circumvesuviana, to Sorrento). Once in Sorrento our plan was to take a SITA bus to Positano but the ticket window was close. Soon after we met an Australian couple on an 8 week tour of Europe who offered to split a 60 euro cab with us to Positano.

The cab took about a quarter of the time, and while it was pricey, it was just so much more comfortable. We were dropped off at our teeny, tiny little alley way of a street that dropped straight down by way of hundreds of steps. I was surprised the cab driver didn't pass it up it was so unassuming. I still have no idea how we got all of our 5 VERY heavy bags down those stairs.

The apartment was absolutely gorgeous, we still can't stop talking about how perfect it was. We got to enjoy two large terraces with the best view of Positano I encountered on the entire trip, a spacious kitchen with granite counter tops, an adorable (all blue) bathroom, and a bedroom loft. We really enjoyed all of the time we spent there. *The pictures I've posted to this post of the ocean and Santa Maria Assunta were all taken from our apartment :-)

While is Positano we really were just looking forward to unwinding after our very hectic week in Florence. Days were spent eating lots of pasta (like spaghetti con vongole) and the best pastries we had encountered thus far on the trip. We also spent large quantities of time laying on the beach, swimming, window shopping, hiking, taking WAY too many pictures of the beautiful town and people watching. One of our favorite activities was to take a late afternoon passegiatta down to the beach, eat cannoli Siciliana, and chat amongst ourselves about passerbys. So entertaining for some reason! Oh, and for the first time we participated in siesta, which we dubbed "Napsitano" (we're dorks)!

My brother and his girlfriend were staying in nearby Sorrento for the first three days we were there. So they met us in Positano one evening, we showed off our apartment, watched "Superbad" (of course), and enjoyed a great meal away from the touristy beach areas. The next day they set off to Roma!

We also partook in a lot of day trips outside of Pos during our week. Venturing out to Amalfi and visiting the amazing cathedral there, exploring quiet and peaceful, nearby Atrani, and finally making our way to the bustling city of Sorrento that had great shopping and the best gelateria I've ever been a part of. First off, when you walk in you can't help but notice at least the 6 different nutella flavors.....plus many other mouth watering combos. Then you take notice to the thousands of pictures posted all over the walls and ceilings of the many celebs that have enjoyed gelati there....including the Pope. The place rocked!

Our last full day in Positano was also the warmest of the entire trip. We took full advantage and trekked to a more remote, much smaller, beach that we had discovered a few days prior. It was almost like knowing about a secret that a lot of the other travelers were unaware of. This beach had no sand........all pebbles that really hurt my feel after exiting the very cold water. However, I didn't let the icy temps get to me TOO much....I came there to swim and swim is exactly what I did. There were many others in the water as well. I just couldn't get over how clear and turquoise the water was. I just had to be in it, as much as humanly possible. One moment I won't forget is when I swam along the shore and discovered a very small beach that no one else was on and the small "grotti" (caves) that the water lapped against. It was so perfect, and the sea was so calm, it was very similar to swimming in a lake. I couldn't have enjoyed myself more :-)

We left Positano the following Saturday after exactly a week. On the cab ride to Sorrento I tried to soak up as much of the scenery as possible as I don't know when I'll see it again! On the way to Naples we stopped off in Pompei to enjoy the ruins. We're both really glad we stopped as it's just something you need to see when you're in the area. Although, it was quite hot and very dusty while we were there...and we missed the memo stating that Pompei is apparently the size of Rhode Island. It was huge....and after awhile we started to see a lot of the same. But all in all, very interesting and something that we'll probably never seen again! A few hours later we made it to crazy Napoli.....stay tuned!

The Big Day (aka The Big Amalgamation)

2008-05-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

So it came.....Thursday, April 24th finally came! Alex and I (and our wedding planner Helga) had been planning this day for a entire a year). An entire year of talking about how great and amazing it would be with friends and family....one friend in particular :-)

I woke up around 8ish on Thursday (and surprisingly had the best night's sleep I had had since being in Italy). I made my way over to my parent's, brother's and his girlfriend's apartment on Borgo dei Greci (a few blocks away from Palazzo Vecchio) and got myself ready. We started with the hair, which was a bit stressful for Jin (my bro's girlfriend) because the flat iron had shorted out the night before while she was practicing on my hair. EEK. Good thing my mom packed the curling iron. Towards the end we were running short on time so my bro had to jump in and help as well. By then Alec and Rachel (amazing friends) had arrived to change into their dresses as well.

The dress was put on, the silk orchid placed in my hair, blue garter that was my grandmother's placed on my thigh, makeup was applied and we were set to go. I knew there would be somewhat of a reaction as I stepped outside of the apartment but was not prepared for how excited people got when they saw us walking towards the Piazza. We were getting standing ovations, people smiling and shouting, "Auguri, Auguri!" It was great, the emotions started pouring in about then and I started tearing up because of the heartfelt responses complete strangers were having towards me. Soon after we all met up with the other group (the groom group:-) Alex looked so handsome in his CK pin strip suit!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how beautiful my bouquet was that was delivered by GianLuca (the florist) a few hours prior to the apartment we were getting ready in. I wanted all Tuscan colors, it included white tulips, orange and yellow roses, and orange-red berries. Alex's boutnier was an orange rose with the berries included.

Helga met us there where I handed over the rings and our witness's passports (my good friend Shauna and brother Ryan acted as witnesses). The photographer, Paolo, was there already as well right when we showed up and immediately started snapping away and photo directing. It was so crazy having so many pictures taken of us, neither one of us are used to being the center of attention....but we have to admit that we felt like rockstars!

We entered Palazzo Vecchio and headed towards the Sala Rossa (Red Hall) where we were to be married. Kearney, my friend and coworker, was the videographer and did a great job of capturing everything on film for us! There was another wedding ahead of us so we sort of milled around for about 15 minutes until it was through.

Then everyone entered and sat while my dad and I waited so walk in arm in arm! Then the violinist (Lorenzo) started playing "Ave Maria" and it was our cue to walk in. My dad was so proud and I tried hard not to cry. The ceremony was short and sweet and soon after we were pronounced man and wife. We had our first kiss as husband and wife and then proceeded to sign our wedding documents along with our witnesses! Then we exchanged vows to eachother...I was nervous beforehand that I would start weeping and people wouldn't be able to understand me, but I somehow made it through :-)

We took pictures with the official that married us and it was time to go outside and go on a "photo tour" with Paolo. We were told that he would take about 200 pictures, print the best 50, and send us the rest on a disk. About 3/4 of the way through he showed us both that he had taken over 600 already. He was workin' hard! People continued to cheer and clap for us and we took pictures in Piazza di Signoria, The Loggia dei Lanzi in the same piazza, the Boat Club on the banks of the Arno, and then finally on the Ponte Vecchio. About halfway through my feet started to resent me because of the heels I made them wear....anything for beauty right.....I guess!?!?!

After the photo tour we walked over to SACI to have a small reunion with the professors and staff from the school that had brought us to Florence in the first place. It was so great being back and seeing some of the familiar faces. They were all super excited for us and took a lot of pictures of us for their newsletter and website. Towards the end of our reunion at SACI I started getting a little grumpy, mostly because my feet were hurting sooo bad.

So we decided to just hightail it back to our apartment that was very closeby at this point. Kearney got the footage of Alex carrying me over the threshold, which was a challenge because our "hobbit hole" of a door was about 4 feet tall and maybe 2 feet wide. It was a trip. We changed, ate lunch, and met friends at the Boboli Gardens for a perfect end to the afternoon. It was still so amazingly sunny outside and just beautiful. Afterwards we went back to the apartment to get ready for the wedding dinner at La Terrazza del Principe near Piazzale Michelangelo.

The restaurant was so beautiful. It had a backyard like setting with a terrace that had a great view of the Boboli Gardens where we were earlier and the majestic Tuscan hills. They had champagne and aperitivos for us to snack on while all the guests arrived. We moved inside for dinner as some people were cold and enjoyed a very delicious 5 course Sicilian meal (we were told by our cab driver that the food was typical Sicilian cuisine). Everything tasted so fresh and great, I love good Italian food :-) Alex and I even had an Italian wedding torte with kiwi and strawberries to cut and feed eachother.

Afterwards we bid our guests farewell as we filled each grouping into a separate cab. We had such a wonderful wedding day, it was picture perfect, and we couldn't have asked for anything more!

Florence Part II (more events leading up to the wedding)

2008-05-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

After Monday (the 21st) we had two more full days before the Big Day :-) These days were spent dodging rain showers and downpours, showing family and friends all over Florence, eating lots of gelato, window shopping, and shreaking with glee!

Some of the highlights include showing our parents and friends Piazzale Michelangelo (some of the best views of the city) and San Miniato. Neither Alex nor I had ever been to this amazing Florentine church before, and I could kick myself for it. It has topped the list of my favorite churches in all of Italy. The gardens and cemetery surrounding the church were all so beautiful to begin with....and then once you enter the dark yet peaceful cathedral (which is free btw) you can't help but be awestruck. If I'm not mistaken the church was resurrected in 1081 A.D. and all other churches in Florence were modeled after it.

On Tuesday Alex and I met with our wedding planner, Helga Marcks to finish up the rest of our paperwork so we could legally get married in Italy and for it to be recognized everywhere else. We started at the American Consulate, then hightailed it to another office clear on the other side of town, and finally ended at Palazzo Vecchio where we were to be married just two days later. Helga was a dream, we fell in love with her, just so sweet and genuine. We'll be sure to stay in touch with her for many years to come :-)

Soon after we had the second Bufa reunion since we left Florence in Fall 2004 with Alec (my "Best Woman") and Rachel! To those not in the know let me explain the term "Bufa" real quick. Alex and his other 6 rommates lived on Via Bufalini......thus was born the "Bufa" name! We all met on Ponte Vecchio in a squealing fashion. I was so excited about it and overwhelmed that I even shed a few tears. For lunch we enjoyed ourselves at Il Rifrullo, which was recommended by Erin from the "Olive Notes." The appetizer we shared was fantastic!

That night we enjoyed the meal of our lives. All families and guests met at Il Latini, a restaurant I've heard so much about ever since before my first trip to Italy, compliments of Rachel Ray and many others. We were able to find it thanks to mapquest and waited outside for maybe 15 minutes before being ushered inside. May I add that while we waited we were served HUGE wedges of pecorino cheese and great vino bianco (white wine). Right as we say down the food just started rolling out, hard and fast :-) It's one of those places where you don't even dare to open your mouth and refuse.....and menus?!?!? Who needs them??? First came huge "pornographic" (as my twin says) amounts of proscuitto. Then came pastas and soups. Alex and I both couldn't stop talking about the penne con bolognese! It was like a dream! Then came the meat, I tried rabbit for the first time and couldn't get over how moist and how much it was like....well....chicken! So many other things came before the delectable and lucious (mmmm lucious) desserts. There were so many alcoholic beverages crowding the tables, liquors, house wines, sweet wines, limoncello, you name it it was there. I don't think anyone will forget the epic meal that was Il Latini, I highly HIGHLY recommend the place!

Wednesday was spent like many of the previous days. Sightseeing with friends and family. We revisited the Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo and oooed and awwed over some more works of MIchelangelo's. We also made a visit to Mercato Centrale and did some shopping for our apartment. I just love walking around there and speaking with the shop keepers. It's so fun and everything is so unbelievable fresh!

My good friend and old roommate Shauna and her friend A.J. arrived in Florence Wednesday afternoon as well. We met them in a piazza and bee lined it to Sad Gelato Man on Via Faenza. While there we took some unforgetable pictures and ate some unforgetable gelato. Then it was off to Art Bar to drink and eat fruity, smoothie like alcoholic beverages.....we spent our last night as single people perfectly!

Florence (events leading up to the wedding)

2008-05-13T04:42:00.000-07:00

So here I am, it's 6 am (thanks jet lag) and I have this burning need to start blogging about our wonderful trip/wedding/honeymoon to Italy. A country I've longed to run back to ever since we left in Fall 2004.

So yes, it was finally our time to go back, we were so beyond excited (or at least I was). The flights over were fine. I can't remember being more uncomfortable on an international flight though, just having the want to sleep but not being able to because of the "sitting position." We flew Air France and had our connecting flight to Florence in Paris. From now on we will try to avoid the Charles De Gaulle Airport like the plague. The place is just too huge and disorganized. You shouldn't have to sprint to your gate when you have an hour and fifteen minute layover. It was kind of ridiculous!

We spoke to the nicest Florentine on the way to Florence from Paris named Aldo. He was a professor who spoke five languages and was so flattered to hear that we were traveling all that way to get married in his hometown. We discussed all regions of Italy, the food of Florence, and much more. We exchanged information and he urged us to send us pictures of our wedding once we got back.

When we landed I had the biggest smile on my face...I just couldn't believe it. It was dusk in Florence and we grabbed our checked bag off of baggage claim (we can't believe it wasn't lost) and grabbed a cab to take us to the city center. Our apartment we had arranged for was on Via Chiara near Mercato Centrale. Once there, Catina, our landlord showed up soon after and showed us into her apartment that she rented out through homeaway.com (great site, go check it out)! The door to the place was beyond small.....and short (we called it our hobbit hole). Now the one room apartment (not including the bathroom) was very small but really it was all that we needed. And thanks to IKEA it was adorable and modern, just our style! We were both in love with the sink in the bathroom and vowed to have one like that in our first home :-) I'll post pics of the apartment later...

We washed our faces, changed clothes, and headed out into the city we had missed so much. It was weird for the first day and a half I have to admit. I didn't remember that the streets were so so narrow, and that cars came inches from people while passing by, and all of the graffiti, there just seemed to be more. Alex thinks we felt like this because when we were living there before with our study abroad program we held Florence in such a high regard and we had all this "fluff" in our lives.....hard to explain, I'm just throwing it out there.

My brother and his girlfriend had dinner with us that night at a great Trattoria on Via di Neri. We feasted on wine, Ribollita, Papa al Pomodoro, pizzas, fish, and of course unsalted Tuscan bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (Alex's Italian version of chips and salsa). The meal was so great and we were glad we enjoyed such a feast on our very first night. Afterwards we walked to Vivoli (probably Florence's most famous gelateria) and enjoyed some authentic flavors. Soon after my parents arrived at their apartment and we set back to our apartment on via chiara for a noisy night's sleep! OY....living so close to the market for a week was tough, a lot of street noise.

For the upcoming posts, I'll try to summarize a little better. It's hard for me to do while describing something we're so passionate about :-)

We're back!

2008-05-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

We're back from Italia. It was a little sad leaving bc we don't know when we'll be back. We had such a wonderful trip, wedding, and honeymoon! I wrote everyday in my red journal that I wrote in the first time I lived in Italy. And I'll be sure to refer to it when I'm posting here.

Right now we're doing the normal "back from a long trip" thing. Unpacking, cleaning, spending time with Saci, and catching up on our DVRed shows. I'll post a link to all of our Italia pics once they're uploaded :-)

Have a Happy Mother's Day everybody :-)

still here...

2008-05-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

a quick post mid trip! i've been recording each day in my special red journal and promise to have detailed posts once we get back.

we just left Positano, we were there for a week and i fell in love! and think alex did a bit too. the weather couldn't have been more perfect, our apartment was lovely with two terraces that boasted the best view in the small city. we arrived in napoli mid day and are now relaxing in the hotel vesuvio on the bay!

we haven't really come up for air since we've been gone, always going going going!

the wedding was lovely, we couldn't have asked for better weather in florence and everything went so perfectly!!!!

ciao ciao! we're off to eat more marherita pizza here in napoli :-)

Almost time...

2008-04-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

These last few days have been filled with planning, packing, jumping up and down with excitement, and even more planning. I've been slacking with the blog because, well....my mind is elsewhere. It's somewhere in Florence skipping down the narrow streets and stuffing my face full of fresh gelati, panini, and of course great vino!

We picked up some great luggage from Marshalls over the weekend and I've since started checking the essentials off my impossibly long "check list." Things I'm trying not to concentrate on our the two flights over there as I just hope there are no delays or roadblocks that I can't control.

Wouldn't it be perfect if we had our own private jet?!?!

I've decided to pack a diary for the trip so I can record all details there without worrying about posting at random internet cafes. Once we get back I'll publish the diary via il blog :-) and will definitely put up all pics on a snapfish or flckr site.

There may be one more post before we head out.....but I can't make any promises!

A Presto!

Yesterday was my...

2008-04-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

...24th Birthday (April 6). Horraayyy (right?)....I guess I'm one of those weird ones that semi-freaks out at the changing of every year. It started when I turned 19...I know! However, I'm getting better at just embracing each new candle..somewhat better!

This past weekend was beyond perfect. The weather was phenomenal. Both Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all beautifully sunny and in the low to high 80s. PERFETTO!!! Saturday was spent with my brother and his girlfriend Jin. We dropped by their apartment in South Austin around 11:30 and ate a great lunch of alfredo with shrimp and Italian sausage. After which we dropped by a "Keep Austin Beautiful" festival that promoted the usage of reusable, canvas bags instead of GROSS plastic bags that take over 10,000 years to biodegrade. We turned in 10 plastic bags for two canvas bags and partook in some faux rock climbing...barefoot :-)

Then we drove even farther south to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center! The place was beautiful, beyond green and amazing wildflowers growing everywhere! We learned the correct names for each flower, although I still prefer to call them by what I grew up calling them. It was also a great chance for us to play around with our new fancy camera. When we got home we had full intentions on going for a long walk with the dog, sadly that didn't happen and we lounged around the apartment for the rest of the day!

Sunday, was my BIRTHDAY! Every year I wake up saying that......it goes something like this:

me: moan* groan* yawn* (sits up with smile on face) "It's my BIRTHDAY!"
alex: "Happy Birthday Monster!" (yup, he calls me "monster")

unfortunately, the night before I went to sleep with a terrible headache and took two Tylenol PM to help me go to sleep. And when I woke up the medicine head feeling had yet to wear off....BOOOO. I actually felt as if I was getting sick, which makes sense because I get sick ONCE a year (always around my birthday)! Ironic, isn't it?

It wasn't too terrible though and I was able to spend the day at my parent's house. My mom put together a lovely brunch for my birthday of Strada (with egg, day old French bread, asparagus, ham, and mushrooms), carrot cake French Toast (so my idea after eating it at SoCo Cafe), fresh fruit, assorted muffins........and birthday cake a few hours later! It was very very delicioso and I highly recommend making your own version of carrot cake French Toast! We spent the afternoon playing numerous board games, I tried to not let my competitive side out TOO much (I'm told I can behave like Monica from "Friends" at times). We left my parents house and took Saci for a walk amongst the squirrels at our new favorite park! The day ended with us dipping our feet in the "still too cold for swimming" pool and watching the movie, "The Jane Austen Book Club." The movie was great, even Alex liked it and the day was relaxing. Happy Birthday to Me!!!

and oh yeah, now Alex and I have been engaged for exactly ONE year as he proposed to me on my 23rd birthday last year :-)

Thai Food Cooking Class!

2008-04-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday evening Alex surprised me with a Thai Cooking Class. I was very very excited! We both drool over Thai food and try to try as many Thai food restaurants in Austin as possible. I've never tried cooking it, I guess I was a little overwhelmed by the exotic ingredients involved and the cooking techniques.

The cooking class started at 6pm in South Austin at the instructor's house. When I learned it was at her house I felt that the evening could be a little awkward/strange or very intimate and rewarding. Jam, was our instructor's name and she's originally from Thailand and was completely welcoming of complete strangers into her home. There were five of us in all in the class and everyone was all very interested in learning all the correct names of the ingredients and how to prepare the amazing dishes!

On the menu was Coconut Soup with Chicken, Panang Curry, Pad Thai, and Sticky Rice with Mango. It was all so delicious and I was happy to be eating such fresh and vibrant ingredients such as galangal, lemongrass, banana blossoms, coconut milk, Thai basil, bean sprouts, and palm sugar (just a few of the unique ingredients I don't normally or EVER cook with! My personal favs of the night were definitely the Panang Curry and the Sticky Rice with Mango! I'll definitely refer to the recipes we left with and try to make at least those two! We were all offered a chance to help out with the cooking and I was able to make 4 of the 8 servings of Pad Thai in Jam's enormous wok!

Unfortunately, my camera was out of battery power so I wasn't able to take any pictures. However, I was able to grab a few beautiful pictures from Jam's personal blog! Also, Jam is becoming a small business owner as her and her husband are opening a Thai grocery store that provides cooking classes and pre-made meals, appropriately named Thai Fresh!

We can't wait 'til it opens so we can go down there to get the fresh ingredients for these wonderful recipes!

A little of this and a little of that!

2008-03-31T11:31:00.000-07:00

We had a great past weekend here in the ATX!!! On friday evening, Trevor, a friend from work invited Alex and I over along with another coworker for dinner at his place. I was told beforehand that he had a great apartment but wondered how great it was since it was probably an average apartment, I'd driven past the complex hundreds of times. Upon walking in I notice that there are wood floors throughout his apartment and red accent walls. Apparently he complained enough to upper management and they put the floors in for him. Man, it'd be so awesome if our complex would pay to give us wood floors.......man!

Anywho, he cooked us an amazing meal of Potato, leak and fennel soup (delicioso), fresh cucumber, cilantro, and lime salad (very refreshing), and Chicken Mango Curry (it was fantastically spicy) and plain amazing. For dessert, Kearney made a homemade apple pie that we drank with our espresso. Overall, a great evening of food, music, crazy cats, and stimulating conversation!

Saturday we got a lot done while running errands in the morning and watched our family friend's kids. As an exchange, the mom, who is our dog's vet gave us six months of free heart worm pills for Saci, wahoo! I love exchanges like that, so economical!

Sunday was great, I slept in 'til 8:45....it felt like it was 10:45 when I got out of bed. I guess that's what happens when you consistently pop out of bed every morning at 7:30am (and when I say "pop" i mean groan, moan, and drag my ass out of bed). After breakfast and a few episodes of "Coupling" we ventured to one of our most favorite areas of Austin, "SoCo," short for South Congress and walked to a restaurant that we'd heard of many times just never tried. It's called HomeSlice and it claims to be the "Queen of Pies" in Austin, which begs the question, who is the "King of Pies" in Austin?!?!?! Anyone, anyone?

The place was great, we could tell it was a fan favorite as it was packed (however we didn't have to wait for a table, which was awesome). It claims to have NY style pizza, my all-time fav! I ordered a slice of margherita while Alex got a slice of pepperoni and pepperoni/mushroom. It all tasted fantastic. Oh and to drink I got a bottle of lemonade made in Austin. It was one of the best lemonades I've ever had and I consider myself to be a connoisseur of the cold, tart American classic! You gotta love it when the ingredients are lemons, mineral water, and sugar cane. Perfetto!

After lunch we walked up and down SoCo and window shopped. We bought a few bars of chocolate from a boutique, Alex got classic white chocolate/vanilla while I got super fancy milk chocolate/coconut curry. I partially got it because the wrapper was so beautiful but I enjoy a good chocolate risk taking event. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Then we realized we both had cravings for cupcakes and we were in the perfect spot. Alongside SoCo is an old-fashioned, silver, stream-lined bus that has been parked in the same spot since March 2007 (it's brand new but you wouldn't know it) called "Hey Cupcake." The line was long, great sign! I ordered a Red Velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting while Alex got "The Standard" which was yellow cake with chocolate frosting. And we of course shared a carton of ice cold milk with it. SOOOO YUM!

The day ended with a long jog in a local park with Saci and a great meal of roasted veggies over pasta! Un Buon Weekend :-)

Not too much going on except.....

2008-03-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

...that I'm in super, crazy, manic planning mode for the upcoming Italy trip. I've discussed this before on the blog, but something about planning something to the nth degree makes me really happy and accomplished feeling. I've started even writing down lunch/dinner/gelato outings in my planner for the week we're in florence. And I've decided to kind of lay off the planning once we leave for the honeymoon on the Amalfi Coast, Naples, and Rome.....just because it's our time to spend together as newlyweds and relax......and treat ourselves of course!!!!

I'm so excited internally about everything that I'm close to erupting.....very close. Hopefully more posts to come soon, however, they may be very reminiscent of this one as Italy is ALL that is on my mind as of late!

It's the first day of spring...

2008-03-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

...and Austin and the seasons are on the same page! Just a few days ago the trees that had lost their leaves during the winter months (if you can even call it winter) started to get their new light green, springtime leaves :-) This is my favorite time of year for looking across the hill country and seeing the speckled landscape. The cedar trees still remain their constant shade of dark green while the new ones are brand new "springtime green." The drive to work has become a bit more scenic and everything looks just so much more colorful....aww spring. However, in about 2 weeks the pollen will begin to form like crazy on all cedar trees and have this girl coughing up a storm. Late March/early April is when I develop my man cough as Alex calls it.

I also realized that next month this time we will just be arriving somewhere special! This weekend I want to go buy some new rollaway carryon bags...I'm sure Alex will insist that his trusty black duffle bag will do the trick...but I insist on the rollaway feature!

Weekend Activities

2008-03-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those weekends where you just can't seem to get anything done and everything seems to just not work out? Well...this weekend has been the opposite of that for us (wahoo)!

We started off with a mild amount of events planned but as friday came and went we seemed to be somewhat full of activities. According to my dad, "[I] always need an activity" to keep me occupied :-)

My uncle from Arizona who has three boys (6, 11, and 13) all adopted from Russia came for a visit. The first part of his visit to Dallas to see my aunt, uncle, and cousins started off with a rocky start due to hyper active children so we were a bit nervous to say the least. But when they got here everything went off without a hitch and we enjoyed everyone's company.

The two oldest loved hanging out with Alex.....playing basketball, video games, and goofing around, they really seemed to look up to him. They left this morning....and are driving back to AZ as I type, yuck, I think it's something like a 16-18 hour drive.

Also yesterday we were able to meet up with a friend that we get to see a lot of since she lives about 5 minutes from the apartment and were also able to see an old friend from my highschool. We all met at Chuy's, our fav Tex-mex in Austin and then came back to our place for some good conversation...Saci was definitely showing off :-)

Today the weather was amazing for the third day in a row so we took advantage and went for a long hike in our normal spot off of Old Spicewood and our now back relaxing, doing laundry, and will head out later to a friend's house for some authentic Indian....sweet!

Italy is just about month away and I've been telling people lately that I have a weird feeling about it now. Not a feeling that something bad will happen, just that we've been planning and talking about it SOOO much the past year and it just feels like it's not going to happen. Just something that we talk about it but keeps getting pushed off. I almost prefer to not even talk about it...because the anticipation is KILLING me. I often shy away from Italy-based conversations lately as I'm sick of saying/hearing the same words. I'm ready for the "action" part of this scenario and I'm sick of the daydreaming/planning part. Just get me there!

Friday Date Night

2008-03-08T06:22:00.000-08:00

We had a very unexpected date night. The one where you choose a restaurant that could be hit or miss and rent a movie that you're not sure you're going to like. The night seemed to work out perfectly!

We started off by trying a new Indian restaurant not exactly downtown (where we usually venture). This weekend is the kick off of SXSW (a big music, film, and interactive festival Austin is known for every year) and we knew that downtown would be swarming with out-of-towners. The restaurant was called SarOvar and didn't look very promising from the outside. Although, some of the best restaurants aren't exactly crowd pleasers from the outside. When we first got there we both had trouble breathing......err. Basically we had heard how spicy this restaurant was from reviews and if you took a deep breath when entering the restaurant you could definitely tell that that was no lie. We were literally breathing in pepper particles......there was no mistaken it (yikes)! So strike one already.....it was hard not to cough every now and then from the peppery air quality. Then we sat there for a good 15 min. before a waitor/waitress even came to speak to us about the menu or anything. Alex has a great ability to go with the flow most of the time....whereas I get annoyed when I don't receive the service I expect in restaurants. I was just telling Alex how I was about to get up and complain when our waitor came by and welcomed us. Strike 2. However, he turned out to be a really friendly guy....and we could tell that he probably was just really busy and didn't realize how long we were there. Okay fine, Plus 1. We asked a lot of questions about the menu since it had options and meal deals we'd never seen before, our waitor was super knowledgeable about Indian cuisine and even steered us away from their Coconut Curry as he said the chef was still perfecting it......wow Thanks! Plus 2, we've broke even now. The food came out and I so wish I had brought my camera with me since the small cups of sauces and the meal itself was so intricate and we had so many choices! I ordered the vegetable Korma while Alex got the Chicken Tika Masala. Since we made both our meals "Thali" for an extra $3 we also received curried lentils, curried peppers, two different types of soups, yogurt sauce, and rice pudding. It was allll so delicious. Plus 3!

We left and popped in "Wonder Boys," which we picked up at Blockbuster before we went to the restaurant. Alex had seen the movie before and loved it. It's a dark comedy that is so quirky and well......unexpected. SO funny, if you haven't seen it definitely go out and rent it (right away :-) Robert Downey Jr's character was hilarious and Michael Douglas played a cooky professor just trying to deal with his life that is spiraling out of control!

Some inspiration...

2008-03-07T06:46:00.001-08:00

...I found a picture in a furniture magazine a few months back and decided I wanted to paint from it. So paint from it I did.

First I went out to Hobby Lobby and purchased the biggest canvas I've ever painted on! I love working big :-) Along with that I bought a new brush that was on sale as well as some liquin medium that helped to thin out my oils and allows the brush to glide more easily across the canvas.

The final product is attached! We're now trying to find the perfect spot for it in our bedroom. It's a bit large so that may prove harder than I had anticipated. oops!

I have a lot more painting ideas floating around in the cranium....now I just have to pick and choose.

Sono nervosa...

2008-03-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

...for my candidate of choice. A lot of people have been sharing their politically inclined posts lately so I thought I might share my thoughts as well. As you can see I'm an Obama supporter....and for the first time in my life I am excited for the upcoming election. I'm excited for the possibilities of change. The word has been flaunted throughout the campaign but I think this country is so ready for it.

After the Texas and Ohio primaries on the 4th I'm really nervous that Hillary is going to take after Bill and play "comeback kid" in this election. I still have the caucus results to rely on (which I proudly participated in). Here in Texas we do things our own way...of course :-) As Alex puts it, "it requires a degree in Quantum Physics to even begin to understand the cluster F$%#& of variables that are thrown into the Texas voting system." To put it simply, if you vote in the Texas primaries (considered early voting and lasts for a few weeks) you're eligible to vote in the Caucus....which basically counts your vote twice. Woop! They say we will have to patient for the results. However, I've received a slew of emails from other Obama supporters stating that dozens and dozens of precincts were overwhelmingly leaning towards Obama.

In the end, I just don't think Hillary will have a chance against McCain and I want to put our best candidate forward to get the job done. I'm sure everything will change as the weeks progress...hopefully in Obama's favor!

Bridal Shower.......for me?!?!

2008-03-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

I had a bridal shower thrown for me this past Saturday. I had known about it for almost a month. My cousins and aunt from Dallas and my mom threw it for me.....along with the help of my friend Sam and a neighbor from down the street. The food was great and I was able to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in so long!

My cousins and myself

The wonderful Italian spread (of course!) There was a two-tiered Italian Cream Cake my cousin Jess made in the background

There was a toilet paper gown competition (I got to judge)

I opened lots of great gifts.....including panties and lingerie (EEEEEE!!!)

I'm not used to being the center of attention so opening a mountain of gifts in front of 30 some people was a little awkward....other than that everything was fine and dandy :-)

Sam's coming!

2008-02-28T11:02:00.000-08:00

My good friend from college....Samantha is coming today for my bridal shower my cousins are throwing for me on Saturday. Sam will leave on Sunday. I'm thrilled because it's almost never that we get out-of-town visitors and it's always fun to show people around.

Tomorrow Alex and I both have the day off.....I think we'll start off with brunch at South Congress Cafe and then just go from there! I wish the weather were a smidge warmer so we could do something involving water and bathing suits. But summer will be here soon enough in which case I'll be wishing the triple digits away!

In other news, I was flabbergasted (yes flabbergasted) yesterday when I learned that my dear friend Alec had never tried a corn dog......in all her 23 years!!! The news made both Alex and I sad because of how much we adore said dogs. When I was young I'd always turn my snotty nose up to the prized breaded weiner on a stick....it wasn't until late that I've truly started to LOVE them. It's just one of those weird things...you don't know why it is you feel so strongly about something. Even the last time I was at a fancy seafood restaurant I was bold enough to try the lobster corn dog with a mango ketchup.....they were fantastic by the way :-) And I'm going to throw it out there that mustard is the only acceptable condiment for corn dogs.....well that and mango ketchup! Anywho, I'm sorry for the digressing of sorts but if you'd like some corn dog history go here.

I've been watching a lot of the political debates lately....I'm starting to get a little bored of it...almost! I still have Obama's back and look up to him more and more with each day's passing. Hillary on the other end is starting to lose a lot of credibility though! Well at least in my eyes, hearing her speak now is like nails on a chalkboard. I used to have nothing against her and was all for ya know....a woman presidente! Now I can't get over how calculated and self-righteous she is. I pray that Obama's winning streak doesn't dry up soon and know that if he's nominated as the Democratic candidate that it'll be our best shot against McCain (aka. Grandpa McGee)! I know I know.......ageism :-)

A Long Weekend in Houston

2008-02-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

Alex and I both took this past Friday off so we (including my mom and dad) could make a trip to Houston to pick up the last piece of paperwork needed here in the U.S. for our marriage in Italy. We drove the 3 hours down to Houston Thursday evening, forcing us to DVR Lost and the Democratic Debate which was in Austin. (we've been back for three hours and still have to watch both......ahhhh I need to catch up)!!!

Anywho, Friday morning we all woke up pretty early and drove to downtown Houston from my dad's apartment for our appointment at the Italian Consulate. I was a little anxious.....as I always get when visiting that consulate but luckily there was no reason for it. Everything went without a hitch and the lovely Daniele Ansaldo had the document waiting for us and we just had to show him documentation, have my parents declare that we were "fit" to marry, and paid the $20.95. And we were done! YAY. Horray!

We then decided to show Alex around downtown Houston and

some of the surrounding "almost like Austin" areas. We hit up the galleria for some window shopping, went to a really nice garden-esque restaurant my dad picked out, and then went to a modern art museum in a very beautiful section of Houston I'd never seen before. It was nice to see the city's nice parts. I've never been a fan of the place and it's because we usually are in sections I don't like. As Alex says, "you can't judge a city based off its crap!" So True :-)

Saturday we took an hour trip down to the Texas coast.....Galveston to be more exact and walked around the touristy downtown area

and then took Saci to the beach for the first time. She LOVED it. It was the perfect day.......no warmer than 72 degrees and sunny skies. There were others out on the beach enjoying the day and Saci ran around likely a crazy puppy :-) She definitely felt freedom as she reached top running speeds and splashed around in the surf. Later than night we went out for some Mexican and then saw "Defnitely, Maybe." It was cute...Alex and I both love Ryan Reynolds, especially how he consistently delivers his lines.

We drove back today mid morning and are glad to be back and in our own enviro

nments. Home is so awesome! Tonight we're gonna go see "Be Kind Rewind" at the Drafthouse and hopefully at least watch LOST!

I've been slacking...

2008-02-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

...with the whole blog thing lately! A good deal is happening and I feel like I have a lot to talk about but I'm just not putting in the time. I've actually had a mental list going for a good while, of things I need to "blog" down.

So here goes. I've been really interested and drawn to the Presidential election lately. I'm so ready to care about who's in the White House. I keep on telling people that I get chills even thinking about the possibility of having Obama in there. It's been eight years of me not caring about our leader and even feeling as if I don't have one because....c'mon, I just don't look to the guy for hope or change. Also, I'm not opposed horribly to having Hillary in the White House, I just really think our country needs some dang CHANGE. My entire life there has either been a Bush or Clinton in the White House......really???? yes, it's true, enough already!

So in order to make sure that I'm practicing what I preach I went yesterday and cast

ed my vote in my first Primary ever! It felt good, very grown up, and a little too simple. I wanted some type of siren to sound......or at least an "I Voted" sticker (which were nowhere to be seen...whatever). Alex on the other hand casted his vote today and as you can see.....he got a sticker!

Also on the news front. My wedding dress came in today.....it took 8 weeks. And there

was no special alterations of anything being made, just off the shelf. Oh well, besides some material being taken WAY IN on the top I think it looks great. I stood on the little "bride-to-be" pedestal they have at those bridal shops during my lunch break and gave it the once over "once" more.

And to continue with wedding business....Alex, my mom, dad, and me leave for Houston tomorrow after work to pick up our Atto Nottorio at the Italian Consulate on Friday. I emailed the Consulate today to remind them that we'll be there soon and they assured me that the document has already been prepared, we just have to show up for formality's sake and our witnesses have to declare that we're "fit to marry."

For the night of the wedding we have a restaurant reserved for 15 guests that sits atop Piazzale della Michelangelo (kind of tucked away from tourists) called La Terrazza del Principe. Helga, our wedding

coordinator highly recommends it and our menu for the evening goes as follows:

aperitif in the

garden followed by Tuscan appetizers, then potato gnocchi with zucchini flowers (always wanted to try those), rigatoni with eggplant and ricotta cheese, then grilled beef arugula

and parmesan cheese, mixed salad, fresh fruit cake, and served with Chianti "Frescobaldi", coffee, and limoncello!

Sounds YUM, can't wait :-)

Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

For the past two years Alex and I have been celebrating the big VDay on February 13th...basically it allows us to get reservations at whichever restaurant we want and we get to avoid some of the crowds.

This year I chose Vespaio, an Italian (of course) eatery on South Congress. We'd heard great tales of this magical place for so long :-) and had to give it a try for ourselves. The reservation was for 6:30...we left at 6 and didn't take into account that "Yes, there will be lots and lots of traffice!" Ugh, it goes without being said that we were late.......half an hour late and they had just crossed our names off the list as we walked through the doors and acted as if it couldn't be undone. I mean, c'mon....what's the difference........"Would you please UN-cross it off the list."

Whatever, we had to wait an extra hour because of this and were finally seated around 7:45 (hmph)! In the meantime we strolled around shops on SoCo. We started our meal off with an appetizer plate of salami, house cured olives, mozzarella, arugula salad, and foccaccia. The plate was great and the flavors (esp. those of the salami) brought us both RIGHT BACK!

For the main course I ordered ricotta/spinach ravioli while Alex had the Bolognese Lasagna. Since this place is known for being super-authentic we were both a little surprised by the mountain of mozzarella melted over each plate. I practically had to break out the excavating tools to find my ravioli. Both dishes were good......we just expected a teensy bit better!

And for dolci I ordered the chocolate creme brulee which was reminiscent of really thick chocolate pudding. We both had leftovers boxed up and we left for home. However, halfway home I realized we left our boxed leftovers on the table......argh, so frustrating!

We're glad we tried it.......now on to the next :-)

For the "real" Vday we played it low key at the casa and made "Love Tacos" and watched Lost, which by the way blew my socks off.........I now have 5,395 new questions and 22 answers. Gah, it's just soooo good!

New Camera Fun!

2008-02-14T09:44:00.002-08:00

It's been awhile since my last post. A good amount has happened I just haven't allotted the time to sit down and actually post. Anyway, here I am :-)

Last weekend I went ahead and made a big purchase I'd been considering for the past few months. I had been wanting a new digital camera for our upcoming trip to Italia. The last time I purchased a digital camera was in '04 before my first trip to Italy and although the camera is fine.......it could be a whole lot better. My old one was a run of the mill Olympus "point-and-click." However, the camera had this crazy delay when the "take a freakin' picture" button was pressed and I would miss so many great photo opportunities due to it. Don't even mention the fact that I was embarrassed to ask other people to take pictures either of me or Alex and myself because it would take so long to take a picture that they'd think they were doing something wrong. "No, no, it's just my camera......it sucks!"

So this past Saturday, off to Circuit City we went. I knew exactly which one I wanted since I'd been eyeing it for a few months and we knew it was on sale for $30 less than normal price :-) It's a Sony CyberShot and has a really nice zoom. I still need to sit down and actually take the time to experiment with its capabilities but I've been able to take some really nice pics so far!

That same day we met friends Brian, Kris, Eduardo, and Jennifer for dinner at Gueros. Now we went to Gueros 3 weeks prior and were pretty disappointed.....it should have been a huge sign saying, "Don't GO BACK!!!!" but of course, we did and gave it a second shot it didn't deserve! My plate, The Oaxaca Especial featured a taco (with filling of your choice), a quesadilla (no description offered), and of course rice and beans. I was baffled when my plate came out and I didn't see the expected quesadilla with grill marks and all........"Where's my quesadilla?" I asked Alex. He then pointed at a sad "taco-like" looking thing on the side of the plate (no grill marks) and cheddar melted in the middle. Um WHAT?!?!?!?! That's a snack I learned to make for myself in the 1st grade! I didn't enjoy payig $9.50 for it. And on top of all that our waitress turned out to be a huge B@%&%! I literally was afraid of her, I kinda had the gut feeling that she was going to punch me in the face each time she came to the table...I'm sure her tip clued her in a bit that we weren't pleased!

But anywho, pics I took with my new camera that night of South Congress and shops we walked around before dinner are attached! A little disclaimer, apparently one of my flash settings has the potential to blind people.....as you can see!

Beautiful, Sunny, sUnNY day :-)

2008-02-08T20:06:00.001-08:00

To all of you out there experiencing the normal frigid temps winter brings along......I'm sorry! Austin, Texas really delivered today and made me remember all over again why I love living here. We always experience broad temperature spreads here......it's how we do it :-) This morning I started off the day in the sunshine (per usual) but with a long sleeved tee, sweat pants, and a jacket when I took Saci out for her morning "business" run. Fast forward to 12:15ish (my lunch break) and it was no cooler than 82.....I was near sweating in my jean jacket. But that was fine by me. Once we got home I slipped on shorts and a tank top and lounged by the pool (even though it was freezing) and then went on a long job with Alex and the dog.

Love it! This weekend is supposed to be just as lovely *sigh

And on the wedding front Alex and I have all the paperwork in order for us to retrieve our Atto Nottorio from the Italian Consulate in Houston. Basically it's a document allowing us to get married in Florence in a timely manner! I called Daniele Ansaldo at the consulate the other day and set up our appointment for February 22nd! I love how they answer the phone in Italian and it gives me the opportunity to say, "Buongiorno! Parla Inglese?"

:-)

New Restaurant Review!

2008-02-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

So are Alex and I considered "foodies?" I've heard the term "foody" thrown around a bit and I think it may be a good term for both of us. Ya know, those who appreciate good cuisine and seek it out!

Anyway, this past Friday evening Alex and I did our usual date night and tried out Bess Bistro. The owner is none other than Sandra Bullock, one of Austin's more famous inhabitants. If you don't know where the restaurant is exactly off of Sixth Street you'll miss it for sure. It has an unassuming awning and steps that lead eaters and other local "foodies" down into the basement of the above building. The lighting is very low and sets a very relaxing, low key mood.

The cuisine could best be described as Classic American Comfort Food meets French Bistro. We tried their Macaroni and Cheese Gratin which was insanely rich and delicious for the first 4-5 bites but then became a little overwhelming. Alex ordered the Friday special which was the Fish and Chips while I went a wee bit more sophisticated and ordered the Porcini encrusted Halibut which couldn't have been more disappointing. I chose that item on the menu because it seemed exciting and interesting. It turned out to be boring and bland...ugh hate when that happens!

We decided to forego dessert and paid the bill (which was a bit more than we'd prefer to have paid for the food quality we received.)

Maybe we didn't order the right things, unfortunately, we probably won't be back to find out :-(

On a more positive note, Alex's coworker was taking pictures of honeycomb for a project they're working on and Alex was able to bring it home with him for me to try. Has anyone out there ever tried real, fresh honeycomb? I hadn't until today and it was amazing, it was instantly satisfying and I love the texture. It's strange to eat the "comb" but they melt in your mouth! Unfortunately I caught a peek at the price tag of about $9 for a very small amount. I better enjoy what's left while it lasts!

Giants say WHAT!?!?!?!

2008-02-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

Two weeks before the Giants played GreenBay in that frostbite, nail biter of a game I had my doubts. Tonight before the Giants played the undefeated, untouchable Patriots....I again had my doubts. I just didn't think they'd play a smart, clean game again! Thank bajeebus I was wrong. The game rocked, I heard so many announcers as well as people I watched the game with state how it was "the best SuperBowl they'd ever watched!"

Mostly I'm grinning ear-to-ear happy for my dad! The biggest Giants fan I'll ever know. Despite Eli Manning's sloppiness last season and for 3/4 of this past season he stuck with them (despite the Sailor-like cursing) and stuck it out in the end. We had 8 people in all at our house......just the fam and two friends. My dad had Giants gear set out for a lot of us to wear. He owns an unGodly amount of Giants apparel! He was boisterous and passionate the entire game.....I had to grin sometimes when the other team made a great play in that he really handles the bad like a child sometimes, it's endearing in a way!

The commercials were average, only a few that I really enjoyed. The halftime show was forgettable. But DAMN that game was freakin' amazing! Go Giants Go :-)

Because I'm weirdly superstitious when I want certain sporting events to go my way I had a lucky napkin and lucky sitting position. I know...a little half-past crazy but whatever! When the Giants finally had the game safely tucked away the familia went NUTS! There was lots of screaming, high fives, and "Yes's" to go around! During the Post-game show the neighbor (a die hard Cowboys fan who always taunts my dad's Giants) came over to congratulate my dad on the win with a bottle of champagne! We all toasted and ate Nutella Trifle! Of course, it's the dessert of champions!

Nutella Trifle for World Nutella Day 2008

2008-02-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

So last year I was astounded to see that there was actually a day set aside to celebrate one of my most favorite things...NUTELLA! Those who know me even a little bit know that I have a problem when it comes to Nutella. It's my version of crack and I yearn for it. When purchased it has a shelf life no longer than 48 hours and is consumed on nothing more usually than a spoon...with an ice cold glass of milk waiting by! When I have the will power to actually cook with it Trifles are usually made in the trifle dish my Nannie sent me :-)

You can see other blogger's experiments with the sultry chocolate spread here or here! To visit the official World Nutella Day 2008 site go here!

Now for my own creation with NUTELLA! I've made a Nutella Trifle....it is divine! Try out the recipe and see how you like!

Nutella Trifle:

Ingredients-

NUTELLA
a box mix of Yellow Cake (I used Betty Crocker)
whipping cream
2 tsp of vanilla
1/4 C sugar
Instant vanilla pudding
3 C milk
fresh fruit (I used raspberries....also try bananas, blueberries, or strawberries.......even blackberries)

Now time to get cooking.

1) start out by baking your Yellow Cake in a 350 degree oven (also prepare for the cake ingredients: usually eggs and vegetable oil, whatever the box calls for)
2) Prep your Trifle layers, beat whipping cream, vanilla, and sugar in a bowl with whisk until cream forms peaks
3) prepare your vanilla pudding (be prepared for the ingredients the pudding calls for, usually 2-3 C of milk) beat your pudding for 2-3 minutes with whisk and refrigerate until Trifle is ready to be assembled
4) once cake is done cut into small slices
5) take your trifle dish and line the bottom with the cake slices
6) top cake slices with the vanilla pudding (just enough to cover it)
7) top vanilla pudding with whipped cream
8) microwave/heat up jar of NUTELLA slightly and drizzle over the whipped cream
9) sprinkle a handful of rinsed raspberries over the NUTELLA
10) repeat steps until the Trifle dish is filled to the top!!!!

and there you have it! If you would like to be included in World Nutella Day start thinking up a NUTELLA recipe of your own and send to nutelladay [at] nutelladay [dot] com by February 4th!

I'm currently in...

2008-02-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

...super organized, trip planning mode. Alex and I have finally booked all of our living accommodations on our three week adventure in the bel paese. See this post to see where we'll be staying in both Naples and Rome. All we have to do now is find a cheap hotel close the Florence airport where we can stay on our last night in Italia before waking up at an unGodly hour to catch our 6:50am flight.

Needless to say, I'm super excited, I think Alec reminded me today that we'll be there in 80 some days! EEEEE! We've known that we were going to do this for over a year now....and I've been so patient, and I continue to be. Knock on wood everything will go according to plan!

So for the past few weeks I've been reading reviews online and in travel books of all sorts of the best places to eat, drink, go, and go and be seen. Florence is pretty much all set. I know what I want to do there....basically things I never got to the first 4 months we were there (several churches, a few restaurants, and exploring new parts of the city). Rome and Naples both have lists of particular sights i want to spend more time at, bars where I'd like to sip "un caffe perfavore," and eateries that I've come across. The Amalfi Coast however needs some work.....It'll for sure be the most expensive part of our trip, for which we have nothing planned yet!

I know I run the risk of over planning. I definitely don't want to have a planned itinerary for every minute of the trip.....maybe a simple to do list will do the trick and we'll pick and choose what we HAVE to do off that list. Besides, part of the fun of trips are the spontaneous excursions that pop up.....those usually prove to be the most authentic and worthwhile!

and now......Alex's Spaghetti Sauce Faux Pas!

2008-01-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember a recent post where Alex did this. Last night Alex did the above! A meatball fell as well but Alex cleaned it up before I made it to the scene of the crime with camera in tow :-)

I GOT IT!!!!!

2008-01-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

Great news! My mom called me at the end of the day today to let me know that I got my Apostille and my brand new Birth Certificate!!! Finally, seriously...this took a month to sort out. Going back and forth with Embassies/Consulates/State Departments and I don't know who else. Anyway, I really don't know why it was so fast because last I heard was that it was supposed to take 2-4 weeks. I guess it pays to be painfully nice with people. I'm sending Janell, the lady who helped me out, a very nice thank you note! EEEE! Now we have to get our birth certificates translated into Italian and then we'll be able to make our trip to the Italian Consulate in Houston for our Atto Nottorio (a certificate stating that we can get married in Italy)!

I'm so happy right now.....today was a day filled with good news, I love those days!

Sometimes you just have to be brave and say...

2008-01-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

..."One avocado margarita please!" And that's exactly what I did (a little nervously) Friday night when Alex and I checked out Curras, a Mexican restaurant that offers Interior Mexican cuisine along with Tex Mex for the more faint of heart.

Alex was told to check out this place by a coworker who is "veryAustin" as Alex puts it. We "mapquested" it and set out in the Honda Fit. After getting lost and turnaround a bit we realized that it was much easier to find than we had anticipated. After pulling into the "dive-like" restaurant from the outside we realized that it was very popular with locals as the parking lot was filled and we ended up parking on a side street instead. There was about a 20 minute wait when we walked in so we decided to wait at the bar.

Before coming we had both read reviews of the food/drinks and had seen that their specialty rita was one involving avocado. Intrigued I asked the guys next to me who had just ordered it what their thoughts were and was assured that, "well they love it, and there are bits of cilantro in it." Hmmm....."ok, I'll give it a shot!" $7.95 and 1 sip later I was liking it. It was quirky and fun....very Austin :-) However, after about the 3rd sip I demoted it to an avocado-like milkshake because of how thick it was and felt that it would probably go better with some chips and queso once we sat down. Which it did.......final thoughts: I'm glad I tried it, but will stick with a frozen strawberry/mango rita next time!

Okay, so that was my drink experience there. My food experience was way more positive in that it is now my favorite new Mexican food discovery in town. I'm usually weary of "authentic" Mexican food because I'm so used to my good ole Tex Mex. I've tried several other authentic Mexican restaurants in town that I dubbed as boring and forgettable.

I took our waitor, Mateo's, recommendation and ordered the Carnitas for my entree. Get this, it's pulled pork marinated in Coke, Milk, and OJ......gross sounding, delicious tasting. The pulled pork came with my choice of beans (charros with bacon of course), rice (which was the best rice I've ever had at a Mexican restaurant), an avocado salad, and this kick ass sauce that topped the carnitas tacos which I wrapped in red corn tortillas. There was so much food leftover on my plate that Alex ate the rest of my meal for dinner tonight.

Alex ordered the Mole Enchiladas with ground beef.......I tasted and we both put our stamp of "Best Mole Ever" on them. It was so rich, tart, and flavorful. Basically the place rocked. And their north location is no more than 5 min. from our apartment. We'll be back soon.....I'm dying to try their Chile Relleno and Tres Leches!

So here's to being bold and brave and trying what others recommend :-)

Being Productive Rocks

2008-01-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

Last night before coming home from work I was in one of those moods where I was dreading coming home and doing the piles of dishes, laundry, making dinner, and going to work out. I was tired and basically wanted to do.....well nothing. However, upon walking through the door I snapped into "Crazy Eryn Productive" mode and got it all done within a few hours.......and I even filed my taxes. Well actually, Alex filed my taxes and I watched and ran around and brought him the necessary paperwork needed. So horray :-)

And as for going to the gym, I just made myself...because at the end of the day, I don't think anyone has ever said, "Man, I wish I hadn't gone to the gym today!" It just makes you feel so much better....mentally and physically!

Today I think marked the day as almost a week without sunshine. Maybe I'm over exaggerating.......just a teensy bit. But it's been miserable outside.......disgusting is a better word. Rainy/drizzly and cold cold cold. I've spent probably no more than 1 hour total outside for the past five days.

Now to a more "sunny" topic. Alex and I are in the last phase of planning our trip to Italy for April and May. We're currently looking for living accommodations for when we're in Napoli for 2 1/2 days and Rome for 3 1/2 days. First we'll be in Naples from May 3rd-5th, Alex had the idea of checking where Samantha Brown recommended to stay (travel channel gal)....of course she recommended a more expensive hotel.....see here. But it is going to be our honeymoon and we do deserve to treat ourselves! I'm thinking we may go through with it and just say "yes" since Naples is such a chaotic city as it is and we'll just want to relax after pounding the pavement for two days.

And in Rome, my other half, helped me find this apartment. Very reasonably priced and right by or in (not sure) Campo dei Fiori.....meaning "field of flowers" in Italian. Supposedly we trekked past this lovely spot on our last art history trip to Rome but since we were in a mad dash to see every historical monument in three days I "somehow" missed it. One of the reasons why I'm looking forward to going to all of these places on our own accord and taking our time and seeing what we WANT to see.

When asked by Brian what I look forward to the most about being back in my "homeland" I said I simply just want to BE there. Allow the culture, smells, atmosphere, people, language just wrap itself around me for three weeks. Ever since leaving in December 04 I've done nothing but long to go back. Not a day passes that I don't wish I was there...and sadly am jealous when I hear of other people going and just wish it were me instead...I will soon VERY SOON have that chance!!!

Another thing I mentioned to Brian that I want to partake in is go into a family owned Trattoria, sit down, and tell the owner/chef to bring us whatever they recommend for all five courses. I never did this the last time.....even though I was there for so long. It never even occurred to me, I would simply open a menu and order an antipasto, primi, secondo, and dessert (a cue that I was probably going to establishments that were too touristy). I'm sure I'll do that a good amount of times when I go back this next time.....but I want that ONE experience that I can refer to in years to come about that cute little place tucked behind an alley where I fell in love with the sense of taste all over again and wondered why I didn't always treat my taste buds with such delight.

.....and I've gotten carried away talking about food, esp. considering that my stomach's been in a funk ever since consuming a plate of Lebonese food at lunch.

Once the booking for living accommodations in Italy is final I'll let you guys know what we decided on!

Don't Worry, Be Happy.......right?

2008-01-22T18:08:00.001-08:00

Basically today I found out that I wasted almost two weeks of precious paperwork processing time and a good deal of money for nothing. I sent a document to an office that we were told to by two individuals and the office sent it back saying it was the WRONG office. When we call the office they "say" we're supposed to send it to we get an obnoxiously long voice recording that never has a living, breathing human to answer questions, only a recording that doesn't answer my question because it's too particular.

Tonight Alex was my rock and called a lot of individuals in D.C. that were obviously trained by monkeys and really didn't get far at all with them. Although I did enjoy listening to him tell a lady that she was useless over the phone. Anywho, I can tell that this next week will be filled with a lot more senseless phone calls and moments where I want to pull out my hair because no one has answers for me.

Because Alex was born in the U.S. this part of the paperwork process was cake for him but soooo hard for me because I was born overseas. I remember hurdles similar to these when I was preparing to study abroad in Florence in '04. Where I had to overcome a heap of extra paperwork and roadblocks because I was an out of state student wanting to study abroad.

In any case, I'm sure it'll all work out, I'm just hoping for the crappy part to be over soon and hoping for answers this next week. For now, I'm truly appreciative of all Alex has been doing to help me with this......apparently I need to become more persistent and demand answers, rather than just taking it.

Alright, enough of that.....peh*

(that's me spitting)

This past weekend our family cheered on the Giants as they actually won the NFC Championships. Watching the game was brutal as it was in Greenbay and the game temperature was -4 by the end with a windchill of -24. WHAT?!?! And what kills me is watching the majority of the Packers and a good number of the Giants not even wearing long sleeve shirts under their jerseys! How does that work? I don't understand how they don't literally freeze to death, I realize that they're being active and that helps keep them warm, but still. I muscles can hardly function in anything under 50 degrees. hmmm, don't get it!

However, GO GIANTS....we were sooo souped that they won, considering that my dad is the biggest Giants fan this side of the Mississippi. Watching the game with him was like watching it with a child having temper tantrums, it was very....entertaining.

Looking forward to the Superbowl in the next few weeks, hopefully the Giants will be able to edge out the Patriots (sorry Barnesy), despite their perfect record this season.

I've finally narrowed it down!

2008-01-18T12:21:00.002-08:00

My latest discovery I think categorizes me of somewhat of a grown-up....well I think so at least! I've finally figured what my favorite type of wine is. The one that I always go back to and never lets me down. I know I usually love all that is Italian, but Rieslings are primarily German, sometimes French or Austrian.....and sometimes northern Italian.

At restaurants, dinner parties, and when I'm simply buying wine to have around the apartment I consistently am drawn to this wine's fruity yet sophisticated taste. If you haven't given this type of wine a shot, definitely DO :-) I recommend pairing it with mild fruits (such as pears, apples, or strawberries), cheese (such has pecorino, parmesan, or gorgonzola drizzled with honey) and pastas with white sauces, and of course white fish.

Alright, enough with the Food Network jargon.

I'm looking forward to this weekend, but because of the gloomy/craptastic weather outside the window it's hard to be enthusiastic. It's just so cold and rainy, bleh. I was telling Alex the other night how I long for 70s and 80s again and he warned me not to worry because we'll soon enough have about 9 months worth of that as well as triple digits come summer. So I guess I'll wait patiently!

Because Alex and I (me especially) like to make things difficult for ourselves we fell in LOVE hard with a certain place setting that will soon be discontinued. Of course! They're from Crate & Barrel, and as we're registered for them we're thinking that we may just go ahead and buy a set of 4 place settings ourselves to ensure that we get our hands on them. That will allow family/friends to get us the remaining set of 4 place settings so in the end we'll have 8. Fingers crossed!

Package of Delight

2008-01-17T09:41:00.001-08:00

Two nights ago I received a long awaited package from my Maid of Honor (or BW-Best Woman as we call it) Alec. I knew the package had been sent but didn't know it would be so quick. Thanks for sending it priority BW!

I got the package slip in my mailbox and raced to the apartment office to pick it up. The package was HUGE......excitement levels rise! Because I was on my way to work out I carried it to the gym attached to the office and opened it amongst two other people that were on the treadmills and who look over with jealous eyes.

The contents of the package blew away all expectations and I am now deeming it, "best package ever!"

Alright, back to normalcy....I just had to gush a little. And flaunt my appreciate one more time.

Also two nights ago was a news report that was so stereotypical Texan that I had to write a post about it. Apparently a bull made its way into a NW Austin neighborhood (we were in the same neighborhood for a housewarming party just weeks ago) and ran around resident's yards anxiously trying to find its way back. I feel for the bull in this scenario, seriously how traumatized it must have been with news cameras, police, and onlookers chasing it around. Anyway, the bull was taken into captivity and no one was harmed. He's sure to wind up in someone's hamburger shortly.

Television 2night

2008-01-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

Anybody else out there excited about tonight's premiere of this season's American Idol? Alex and I are very excited for the "good stuff." We are not excited for the 4-5 weeks of the auditions where they air hundreds of Idol hopefuls making complete fools of themselves. Some of them doing it on purpose to get some TV time and some who actually think they're good.

We really just want to see the talented peeps that can carry a note and make me smile without realizing it. I noticed a few years ago that while watching someone dance, sing, or just doing something fantastic I'll know it's good if I start smiling without knowing it. This happens a lot during Idol.....EEEEE!

Also coming up is the season premiere of Lost on January 31st. Really it feels like it's been a year and a half since Lost was last airing new episodes. I guess keeping fans waiting can be a good marketing tact sometimes but now I think it's gotten to the point where we're so used to living without it that if it were cancelled it wouldn't be THAT big of a deal. I barely remember what happened in the season finale.....except that it was the best season finale I've ever seen. I was so used to everything not going "my way" when it came to the show that when everything happened the way I wanted it to......it blew me away and, well, satisfied me :-)

The dress is GO!

2008-01-14T11:54:00.001-08:00

This past Friday my mom and I ventured over to Alfred Angelo's bridal store on my lunch break in hopes to put an end to the dress shopping. Fortunately, we found that the sales people there were a lot less pushy at this shop than at David's Bridal and I was able to take my time in each dress and wasn't hounded by store clerks with fake, superficial comments like, "Oh, you look gorgeous" or "that dress was made for you!" type comments. We soon after decided on the second dress I tried and decided to call it a day. *sorry can't give any dress details as Alex reads this blog. If you're interested let me know and I'll send you a pic of the dress.

I'm relieved, as is my mom, to check that "To Do" item off the list.

On Saturday Alex and I went out to eat and to an Austin Toro's basketball game at the Austin Convention Center with our neighbors. For dinner we went to Guero's, an Austin original known for their affordable happy hour prices, margaritas, and live music. Since it was chilly we sat indoors even though a band was playing outside. Alex and I both had their No.1 combination plate that featured, chips, queso, guacamole, a beef tamale, the El Pastor taco, your choice of enchilada, rice and beans. It was a lot of food.....and while it was good....it definitely didn't meet our expectations. I feel that it's more of a touristy eatery rather than a local favorite. I dunno.....maybe it was just us, but I've heard similar reactions from other Austinites. I still stand firm with Chuy's and Matt's El Rancho as favorites while Alex prefers Trudy's.

Alex's Pasta Faux Pas

2008-01-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

This is what happened when Alex tried to be helpful tonight. I couldn't help but explode in hysterics.

Looking forward...

2008-01-10T16:41:00.001-08:00

So maybe if I don't concentrate on what could go wrong and start looking ahead towards the big day in April everything may just fall into place. So I'm going to try and not go into too many boring, paperwork details anymore. Let's just say that today I sent two major documents out and hopefully they get to where they need to go on time and come back ON TIME :-)

Today I found a flyer/ad for a company called blurb.com that I had discovered last March at the SXSW conference. There are a few places already floating around out there that are similar. But I think that blurb.com is much cooler as it offers more personalization options and such while creating your book. I'll definitely keep this place in mind come May when I have hundreds of photos from the wedding and honeymoon and need something to do with them.

Our kitchen at the moment is trouble for me right now. It's a magnetic field of chocolate and other assorted desserts and keeps drawing me in. We still have a lot of Christmas candy leftover, as well as a dessert trifle I made last night, and a gallon sized ziploc filled with cookies, brownies, and baklavah that Alex brought home with him today from their company conference. We'll definitely have to pass some of these goodies around to friends......DANGER.

This week I downloaded Sia's new album, "Some People Have Real Problems." It's fine....although I probably haven't given it the fairest shot since I've only listened to it while being immersed in work and not exactly paying attention to the music. My fav song of the album still remains to be "Day Too Soon" whose video I just watched and it's bizarrely amusing, to say the least. rocks!

A lot of the same.

2008-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

Nothing new really going on for me since the last posting. Been thinking a lot about the wedding and events leading up to it and trying to stay positive. Can't believe it's 4 months away now :-)

One thing is for sure, I'm definitely putting my very skilled organizational skills to the test. Am I the biggest dork ever for wanting to make a trip to Office Depot and buy special folders for organizing the wedding paperwork thus far? It'll probably happen.....I'll go in there sometime in the very near future and buy some uber colorful folder/pocket gadget. *yikes*

Been thinking a lot about joining a Masters Swimming program here in town for the past few days. I really really miss swimming. Especially during these winter months when most outdoor pools are off limits (because you'll get hypothermia if you dare jump in) and one needs to pay a guest fee or buy a membership to access the "not so prevalent" heated pools. I may just break down and buy a pass to El Salido. The pool I practiced at every morning with my high school swim team. I do miss the burn of a good workout and the worthwhile feeling you get once climbing out of the pool. sigh....nothing like it :-) Something else to add to the "To Do" list.

Maybe I'm worrying for nothing

2008-01-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

Well one of my new years resolutions only made it three days without me freaking out (literally) and breaking it. If you scroll down a bit and read the resolutions section of my previous post you'll see the Numero Uno resolution was to "Not stress the small stuff." Well yesterday I started to stress a few small things.

It all started with me diving in head first to the paperwork process that Alex and I have to complete before being legally married in Florence on April 24, 2008. The first documents needed are both the bride and groom's birth certificates (original, clean, crisp copies) with an Apostille stamp on each.

This process is very simple for Alex as he was born in the U.S. However, me the girl who insists on always having particular/peculiar situations, was born in Stavanger, Norway. After calling too many offices here in the states yesterday and waiting on hold for God knows how long with one of the numbers I was finally told that I had to request a copy of my birth certificate from the United States Embassy in Oslo, Norway. Ok fine, but when I called there this morning I was greeted by a uber zealous Norwegian woman who spoke really really fast with a thick Norwegian accent. She promised she would send me an email later in the day (which has passed by now, since it's 7pm there, ugh) detailing who I need to call about this.

One may ask why I'm stressing about this and it's because I need this document to start the entire process of paperwork, I can't do anything unless I have this first. And I'm doing detriment to myself by constantly thinking that this will take months.

I contacted our planner in Florence, Helga, lovely lady and she assured me that we still have ample time and she would check with the American Consulate there to see if I can just use my current birth certificate with authentication seal and not order an entirely new one.

I'll let you guys know.....phew.

Ok, now on to more exciting less frantic things. I have chosen a flower arrangement for the day of the wedding. It's pictured above. Only I've requested that all pink flowers, including lilacs be removed from the bouquet and replaced with yellow roses. So my end result with have both orange and yellow roses, white tulips, and whatever that yellow/orange small bud flower is that's peaking out of the holes.

So cheers to that!

2008

2008-01-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

To ring in the New Year we decided to go low key and spend a quiet evening with friends Brian and Kris. I work with Brian and Kris is his girlfriend. The four of us first met at their place in Central Austin where we met their new puppy Payton (a Rhodesian Ridgeback). He was super cute and very sleepy! Then we set off for our dinner plans at Vin Bistro, a small, cozy restaurant that boasts its wine list and American Bistro style cuisine. Both couples split their own crab/shrimp cakes (which rocked), ordered a few glasses of German Reisling (my fav wine) and entrees. Alex, Kris and I all had the Sea Bass which was good yet nothing special while Brian ordered the Tuna. Despite the pretentious, unspecial food (I hear their regular menu is much better) we were surrounded with great company and a relaxing ambiance. At the strike of midnight the restaurant passed around glasses of free champagne, hats, and noisemakers. We had fun, we'll have to follow suit next year as I desired nothing more for the evening.

Ok and now a list of my resolutions (or the ones I remember):

1) Don't sweat the small stuff.....take all of 2008's roadblocks in stride
2) Decide on and buy a wedding dress by mid-February
3) Become more active in the blogsphere
4) Be better with my corresondence whether it be via phone, email, blog (see above), or snail mail
5) now this last one may seem trite and superficial....but what the hell, Wear my hair down more often, I always pay a good amount to get my hair cut and colored, why not show it off. plus I know I'm much more confident when my hair is done, rather than just thrown up in a ponytail/bun

--alright so there it is, maybe I'll actually stick to a few of these :-) and I know that I've left out one or two, I definetly thought of a really good one while at work today.....oh well!

End of the Year Wedding Dress Shopping

2007-12-31T12:38:00.000-08:00

Today my mom, dad, and I went out to run a few errands. Well really just my mom and I were running errands (dress shopping) while my dad was next door at Best Buy.

I first went to the store with an exact dress in mind that I found online. However after trying it on I realized that that dress was NOT for me. The dress I was thinking of at first is pictured above. I realized that a strapless gown was not the way to go, I know I would be pulling it up and readjusting constantly! So I decided to take the store clerk's advice and try on some more traditional wedding dresses instead of the bridesmaid dresses that I thought I would get in the first place.

Glad I listened, I found two dresses that I LOVE. they're defnitely a lot longer than I had planned before, which is ok as long as I hike them up as I walk through the dirty streets of Florence on my way to Palazzo Vecchio! I must have tried on the same two dresses at least 6 times each as I couldn't make my mind (I still haven't). And for my mom's sake I tried on a vail so she could see me with it on. I may even decide to get the vail as it looked really sweet.

Another bride that was trying on dresses did me a huge favor of taking my picture in both gowns. I'll attach those later for opinions!

last Date Night before New Year

2007-12-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

Last night Alex and I partook in our regular Friday night ritual......date night! We choose either a new or favorite restaurant in Austin, dress up, and go out to enjoy eachother's company!

Usually our trend is to try a different place in Austin on date night but last night we wanted to go somewhere where we knew the food would be delicioso! So I suggested ClayPit in Central Austin. It's a contemporary Indian restaurant with a very modern yet cozy atmosphere and the place is HHUUUGGEEE! It has three stories of dining space!

To drink I had their mango lemonade for the first time which was perfectly tart and sweet. For an appetizer we tried their curry crabcakes for the first time with their house Indian-esque tartar sauce (so good). And for the main entree we both ordered the Coconut Curry.....Alex got his with chicken and I got mine with Paneer (Indian cheese dumplings). As always the food was fantastic and I stuffed myself. But not too much, I made sure to have dessert when we got home.....vanilla pudding and fresh strawberries drizzled with nutella (what other chocolate drizzle is more appropriate?)

Upon returning to our apartment complex we found the cutest little kitten in our parking lot. We could tell it was well fed and very people friendly and couldn't bare to leave it in the cold especially since it was probably hungry and thirsty. However, we were weary of bringing it up to the apartment as Saci (the best dog ever) would probably FREAK it out. We were very surprised though with how well they got along. At first we had them in separate rooms and allowed Saci to get used to the meowing, then we brought them together and Saci couldn't have behaved more beautifully. I was definitely a proud mother.

We ended up feeding the cat chicken cold cuts and it grabbed a few mouthfuls of Saci's dog food. It also drank A LOT of water. Since our apartment isn't cat friendly (no litter box) we tried calling every friend nearby that is. Unfortunately we came up with nothing and had to put the kitten back where we found her just in case her family was looking for her. We gave her more food once she was outside and hoped for the best.

This morning while taking out Saci I called for her and did my best to look around the area we found and returned her to. She was nowhere in sight, hopefully she's warm and safe!

Also yesterday after work I was able to finally get my hair done. My hairdresser is super talented and super affordable which also means she has a TON of clients. I had to wait a month after calling for an appointment to even see her. It was well worth the wait as always. She colored, washed, cut, and styled my hair all for $60.......best deal in town, well as far as I know anyway!

more later.....

a Trail of Paperwork

2007-12-28T09:31:00.000-08:00

I got a phonecall a few hours ago from a concerned Alex saying that since the New Year is upon us and there are only 4 months (give or take) to our wedding that we have a lot of paperwork ahead of us. Paperwork that included items like having both our birth certificates translated to Italian and getting a special stamp for them. Traveling to the Italian consulate in Houston (4 hrs away) with at least two non-related friends EACH and completing a series of paperwork there. Visiting the American Consulate in Florence once we arrive and getting a marriage certificate, etc. Stuff like this makes me anxious BUT one of my resolutions is to take everything as it comes and to not overreact as we do have a fair amount of time leading up to the day.

Also on the list.....find the perfect wedding dress. I hope to have that done by mid February!

Here's to setting realistic goals and to not working myself up over the small stuff (hee • hee • hoo, hee • hee • hoo)

It's the day after Christmas and a New Year is almost here!

2007-12-26T14:08:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or does it already feel like 2008? Maybe it's because I've been writing that date a lot since I'm getting married in April 2008 or maybe it's because we've been having plenty of team meetings lately discussing where our company is heading in 2008...whatever it is I'm sure I won't have a lot of problems making the leap from '07 to '08....it's always a pain the first few weeks remembering to write the correct year on checks, etc!

I had a great Christmas. Did all the things one does on Christmas, spent A LOT of time with the fam, listened to Christmas carols, watched Christmas movies, baked breads, ate cookies, delivered gifts to family friends, etc. Alex got me FOUR Le Crueset pots that I have been obsessing over for the past few months. I'm proud of him also for not visiting Sur La Table (which is SOOO overpriced) but bargain shopping and finding them a lot cheaper and in the same condition at Marshalls:-)

I decided to work from home today and was really proud of myself with how productive and organized with the work flow...seriously! I don't do it often so why not every once in awhile! P.S. I'm a list maker and it's what helped get me through the day!

Alex and I saw Juno at the theatre two days before Christmas. I was really looking forward to seeing this movie and I am happy to say that I wasn't let down. It was really funny, sweet, and very touching. Since it doesn't take hardly anything at all to make me cry....cry I did. Alex noted that it was the most he's seen me cry in a movie. But no worries, they were happy tears....very happy!

I have a few New Years Resolutions that I'm excited to lay down for myself come the New Year but I'll dedicate a post to them as the 1st draws nearer!

Lastly, I can tell I made a lot of breads (my new thing) this past holiday as I just made my last loaf of banana walnut chocolate chip bread and didn't even have to glance at the recipe.....not even for measurements! yikes!

Oh Holiday time...

2007-12-22T09:07:00.001-08:00

...how i love thee! This has been a very busy month. So many little holiday get togethers and outings, so many of the things I love. This month is my excuse to eat a few more cookies a day and a few more glasses of wine every now and then.

Last weekend Alex and I went to his company's Holiday Party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel here in Austin. My company party was the week before in Longview, Texas (5 hours north)......no thanks!

The party was nice. You could tell a lot of thought was put into making it a special night. The buffet food was fine...nothing too fantastic and I was able to meet a handful of people that Alex interacts with on a daily basis...always nice to put a face to a name. The real fun of the evening started with the casino section that was set up. Guests were able to play Texas Hold 'Em (poker), craps, roullette, and BlackJack (my game of choice). The both of us spent the entire night at just one of the BlackJack tables. I normally have pretty good luck but it was in full swing this night. I started with $10,000 in chips and ended with over $300,000. I made our dealer go bankrupt and had to trade out lots of smaller chips for the big daddy yellow chips ($50,000 each). Too bad it wasn't real money, although that would never happen with real money since the idea of gambling with the money I work so hard for SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF ME! Everybody kept mentioning to Alex that, "he should take me to Vegas!" Um, no thanks. If we do ever go there (which definitely isn't on the top of my "to do" list) I would probably only hit up the nickel slots for 5.8 minutes and then hit a Cirque de Sole show!

Anyway, the reason I kept winning so much dough was bc Alex wanted to go home so he kept on convincing me to just "bet it all" on a single hand.....each time I did I would get a BlackJack, no joke! It was definitely exciting. We did leave after I bet it all one last time and lost......oh well, wasn't my money! Then later we found out that Alex's name was drawn for the grandprize of the night......a 20'' flatscreen, too bad we left 15 minutes before the drawing. *puts palm to forehead and utters "doh!"

The EXACT same thing happened to me at a highschool event...only it wasn't a flatscreen but a computer. I have great luck with those types of things....just bad luck in that I'm usually not there to collect the prize! SOOOO FRUSTRATING. but oh well, we already have a flatscreen and you can't miss what you never had!

Yesterda was my last day of work before Christmas "break." I was a little bitter and bummed out that our company didn't give us Christmas Eve off.....bah humbug (seriously!!!) so I had to use one of my personal days instead! I did receive a $100 gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma though and was taken out to Manuel's Spanish restaurant with the rest of my coworkers so I guess I won't complain TOO much :-)

Today we're going to go iceskating on top of the Wholefoods downtown and then walk the Trail of Lights, a very "Austin" tradition!

EEEEEE.....I heart the Holidays!

We have a birthday in the house...

2007-12-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

...Saci is officially 2 years old as of today! We had a family party for her on Sunday where my parents, my brother and his girlfriend came over and we watched football and had a meal. Saci feasted on broiled chicken breasts.....mmmmmm!

This morning we sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her wet dog food mixed in with her kibble. And today on my lunch break I'm making the extra effort to come home and spend time with her for 45 min. instead of going out to lunch!

Attached are some very cute pics that Alex took of her on Sunday at her little partay :-) some of them are extra cute! My mom got her the Christmas reindeer ears as a present, but really it was a present for us!

Ever been to a burlesque show?

2007-12-16T06:17:00.000-08:00

I have.......twice now:-) This past Thursday Alex, myself, and 6 friends went to the quaint and eclectic Hyde Park Theatre in central Austin to see a Holiday Burlesque show Alex had found out about.

The company that put it on is called Shrewd Productions. The theatre was incredibly modest but as soon as you walked in you knew a good time was going to be had. I was a little nervous at first...the other burlesque show I had been to was very racey (which don't get me wrong...was so fun) but this time I had 6 unexpecting people with me who I wanted to show a good time....esp. since we recommended it.

The show started at 10pm so we all met at the Theatre at 9:30 and waited until the box office opened. Once it did things got a little rocky in that they reserved the 8 of us tickets for the NEXT night (friday). UGH, so frustrating...stuff like this always happens to me and Alex! But to no avail they got us in....we didn't get to sit right next to one another, we were kind of clustered together in a group which actually worked out better since we weren't just in one straight line. Rather a cluster where we were able to talk to one another comfortably.

We were all prewarned that pasties and suggestive dancing was involved.....we were not let down :-) In one dance a girl even lost a pastie :-0 After about every two dances the show would stop for about 5 min. while sexy elves and santa's helpers would walk around with spiked hot chocolate and jell-o shots....um FUN :-)

The host was hilarious and audience members were pulled on the stage throughout the night. The show was fun and unpretentious and I would definitely go back next year...I mean c'mon who doesn't enjoy holiday songs, costumes, and dozens of pasties???

Rachel Ray book signing

2007-12-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

More than a month ago I was in Sur la Table (one of my new fav stores) probably buying overpriced, brightly colored cooking utensils that I didn't need and noticed Rachel Ray was coming December 9th for her book signing. I blew it off and thought,"maybe later."

My mom called me a few weeks later letting me know that she bought me Rachel Ray's new cookbook and a ticket so I could get it signed that day. Yay....excitement persisted as I've enjoyed RR* ever since she hit the food scene.

I'm a Food Network junkie. Giada de Laurentiis from Everyday Italian is my fav though.

So this past Sunday Alex and I ventured to The Domain 3 HOURS before the signing began and found an already overwhelming line awaiting us. There were no less than 200 people in front of us. And most of them with 3 or more books (with one ticket you're allowed to get up to 5 published works of Rachel's signed) waiting to be signed.

We failed to bring folding chairs or even reading material to keep ourselves busy. I did however remember an umbrella to shield either sun or rain......it was relatively cloudy the entire time and not a drop of rain. Oh well, at least I was prepared in that department. What we were not prepared for was the cold front that blew in in 10 seconds, taking the curent temp of 80 degrees to a chilly 45-50 degrees (depending on sunshine). We had two hours of waiting left at this point and were completely miserable up until it was our turn to enter the store and snake around the merchandise until we came to the signing table.

Rachel had a huge list of rules that we had to follow (who knew she was a diva):

1. no more than 5 books per ticket (no signing whatsoever of memorbilia)
2. no camera phones......hmmm maybe she has a secret phobia
3. no flash on regular cameras
4. no posed pictures
5. and finally no taking pictures of her when you're standing in front of her

phew....whatever. Attached are a few pics from our long, cold wait and a few blurry (bc of no flash) or Rachel herself.

*Once it was our turn we were so tired and uncomfortable that we didn't have enough strength to come up with witty small talk with her. Just said stuff like, "So nice to meet you" and "Thank you!".....blah blah blah.

It was really neat to see her though, Alex thought she was much hotter in person...of course :-)

in my book she wrote:

"Eryn, YUM-O :-)

Rachel Ray"

Christmas at our Apartment

2007-12-10T11:33:00.001-08:00

It's the holidays and besides summer this is my absolute favorite time of year. I love all the holiday parties, decorating, baking, and of course gift giving!

Attached is a picture of our "Christmas nook" this year. It's Alex's and my first Christmas together. In years past we always had to mail eachother gifts because of the handful of states that used to be between us during this time. It's just so nice to not have to do that long distance thing anymore...it was a bear to get past that!

My mom gave me some of her gargantuan antique ornament collection for our tree. I love the antique glass ornaments...so classic:-) The oldest ornament I have is pink and is from the 1800s...we were extra careful with that one!

Saci is the best and leaves it all alone, because she's the best behaved dog EVER.

Last night we took her to a coworker's apartment where we had an amazing meal and we introduced her to their Welsch Corgi puppy. For the 1st 20 minutes she was the biggest wuss and ran away from the puppy that was sooo much smaller than her. But after awhile she began to play with it, after realizing that she could use her size and speed to her advantage. They both fell asleep right after we left, having played for 2 and a half hours!

Yesterday I met Rachel Ray.....I have pics. so details and photos will follow!

More progress with Honeymoon plans...

2007-12-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

Besides making plans for the wedding (April 24th, 2008 at 12pm), Alex and I have also been making small plans here and there for the two weeks after our week in Florence that is to be our honeymoon. The main places we plan to hit during those two weeks are the Amalfi cost for a week, and then a shared week in both Naples and Rome. I'm especially excited for the week along the Amalfi coast since I've always always wanted to go there....well at least since I first saw Under the Tuscan Sun.

We've since booked the apartment we're going to stay at in Positano. We've decided to base ourselves there and then take daytrips to surrounding towns like Amalfi, Sorrento, Ravello, Ischia, and so on. Attached to this post are pictures of the apartment we made the deposit on a few days ago! EEEE! I can't wait to have breakfast on that balcony. And I think it's fun that we have a blue bathroom since the bathroom I had in Florence for 4 months was entirely blue as well. Anybody else out there have a blue bathroom experience in Italy???

Funny coincidence also, the apartment website we've been booking ALL of our apartments through for this trip has been www.homeaway.com. It's based here in Austin and we're interviewing a woman today at the office who used to be their interactive designer...craazzzyyy! Maybe if the interview goes on a tangent I can ask her about her experiences there, we'll see!

So much more to be thankful for...

2007-12-01T07:05:00.000-08:00

For almost the past month now I've been a wee bit preoccupied with worrisome thoughts concerning il mio padre. To make a long story short my dad noticed some discomfort on the right side of his neck (the thyroid area) but being the private man that he is didn't make ANY deal about it and waited until a mass (about 3 inches long) grew in his right thyroid. Finally realizing that this wasn't normal and after my cousin was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma he was prompted to go to the doctors and get it looked at.

We were all told about three weeks ago or so and have been so nervous that it could be thyroid cancer since. This past Thursday my dad had the "goiter" removed and we were reassured that it isn't thyroid cancer but Hashimoto's Disease, from what I've read it's nothing to be too alarmed about and the goiter that formed in his neck is a result of not listening to the prior symptoms of slight weight gain, being tired for no reason, and puffiness of the skin.

He's home now and we're hoping for a speedy recovery, although we're talking about an incredibly stubborn man that sometimes chooses not to listen to the doctor's simplest recommendations.....argh!

In the end, I'm so relieved and so thankful that cancer is no longer a threat! As for my cousin, he's 25 and is currently undergoing chemo therapy.....we're confident that he's going to kick cancer's ass!

Reality Anger

2007-11-29T10:38:00.000-08:00

Every since I was a freshman in college I've watched the Real World. I don't know what it is about trashy reality TV that has the ability to just suck me in.

This season on the Real World (in Sydney) has been volatile to say the least. There has been a series of events on the past month of shows that have just gotten under my skin like nothing before.

Does anyone else out there watch this show and know what I'm talking about? Anyway, last night's show was just the icing on the cake and prompted me to jump online and bond with other viewers and bloggers. The level of maturity and human indecensy that three of the girls display (esp. one in particular) is horrifying. I really couldn't believe my eyes and ears as I watched these girls make huge fools of themselves. All I can say is that I hope they're embarrassed and I hope that their young viewers don't repeat this atrocious behavior.

Ok...I'm done. bleh.

Crazy trip and a Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T17:40:00.000-08:00

It's good to be back...physically and virtually! Alex and I had a very good and successful trip in Ohio. We knew it was going to be hectic going into it. It started with us driving the 3.5 hours to Dallas from Austin to catch the flight from Detroit. Once we arrived there we rented a car and drove to Toledo where we made a pit stop and visited Alex's old job at WGTE. After which we drove an hour and a half to Lima to visit his dad, stepmom, and nephews until Wednesday evening when we drove back to Toledo to be with his mom and see our friends from college for the rest of the trip. I was sooo excited to go back to Bowling Green where I went to school and spent 4 years of my life that feel like a decade ago.

I was so excited when we got there that there was so much fall foliage still on the trees. I love fall colors and get so giddy when I see them. The day we left a cold snap hit the midwest and the rest of the leaves fell :-)

Alex and I were in charge of the turkey, well mostly Alex since he's known for what I like to call the "Firenze Turkey." The Firenze Turkey came about in none other than Florence when Alex's roommates (the Bufas) and my roommate and I cooked an amazing Ringraziamento (Thanksgiving) meal the day after the real Thanksgiving in 04. I can't divulge the real recipe because it's sacred.....but it involves a fair amount of sage.

Attached to this post are pics from the trip!!!

Farewell for probably a week.....

2007-11-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

...today we set off for our Holiday Journey. We are traveling to Ohio to see Alex's family and visit our friends from college! I'm excited to go back, I haven't been back to my college town since Sept. of 2006.

We bought our tickets this summer.....thank goodness since gas prices seem to be raising the price of tickets left and right. It was $400 cheaper with both tickets combined to fly from Dallas to Detroit, rather Austin to Detroit, SO we have to drive to Dallas this afternoon, spend the night at the airport hotel, and then wake up tomorrow morning REALLY early for our 8am flight!

I always usually get a little worried before trips like this, ya know....am I forgetting anything, do we have our boarding passes, did I pack warm enough clothes etc.

Saci is staying at her grandparent's house (my parents) which she'll LOVE. Grandma feeds her wet dog food (with us she just gets dry kibble) and grandma gives in to her every demand. Even if her every demand includes wanting to go out every 10 minutes.

On another note, I've printed all the invitations and have sorted them into their respective envelopes....yay!

A Dane Cook Explosion...

2007-11-14T20:40:00.000-08:00

...Alex was excited all day today,"Why?," you ask. Because he purchased the newest, "fantasticle" Dane Cook DVD called "Rough Around the Edges." We watched a snippet of it as soon as we got home from work and then rushed through our workout at the gym to race back and watch the rest.

Now with Dane's (I can refer to him by his first name....we're like this [imagine me twisting my middle and index finger around eachother]) last release,"Vicious Circle" it took me two viewing times to fully appreciate its grandeur....but this one was a treat that in the first go around I had tears in my eyes and my cheeks ached, ya know from smiling and laughing HARD...really hard.

I'll have to call my friend over that laughs more than I do for the second viewing...can't wait!

Go get yourself a taste of this fun-filled treat, it's only 10 bucks, c'mon...I would have paid $30, seriously!

Lillies and an Anniversary

2007-11-13T16:01:00.000-08:00

Sadly, amongst wedding preparations, planning for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip, and work mumbo jumbo Alex and I both let our 3 year anniversary slip by. oops! I reminded him 4 days after when I came to the realization at work. That night Alex and I had our typical date night at Salt Lick 360 (gourmet bbq). While walking to the car he insisted on driving and I realized why when I opened up my door and found yellow lillies on my seat and the Disney movie Rattaouille under my seat which I've been wanting to see so badly.

The date night was awesome and the movie was adorable....go rent it!

We actually made the bridge SHAKE

2007-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday Alex, my mom, and I woke up at 6:30 AM and drove downtown for the annual Komen Race for the Cure. It was the first year any of us had participated, a fellow coworker recommended that we participate. So we did!

There were over 24,000 participants this year and everyone was decked out in PINK. Alex and I spoke afterwards how we could have easily started crying several times when walkers/runners in front us had signs pinned to their shirts saying, "In Memory of my sister/daughter/mommy," it was heartbreaking yet heart warming at the same time. You could feel the strength of the survivors and their families....very touching.

Before starting the 5K walk we all were lined up on the 1st street bridge and bc of all the weight on it the bridge started to SWAY and SHAKE.....it was an eerie/terrifying feeling I never want to feel again. Luckily the bridge held up and we were all able to have a good race.

Afterwards we met friends at Z Tejas for brunch. Getting there was a trip since a majority of the streets were still roped off and about 24,000 people were all getting into their cars at the same....oy vey!

excited for The Office tonight, wonder what Crazzzzyy things Michael Scott will do this week!

A night out in Austin

2007-11-03T08:04:00.001-07:00

Last night Alex and I had a very nice date night to celebrate the week's end!!! We said a sad farewell to Saci (she always is sooo hard to say goodbye to, how can puppy dog eyes not make you feel guilty) and then drove downtown in Perla (the fantastico Honda Fit).

Alex found that there was a gallery opening last night with the theme: Artists responding to the War. There were a lot of people there which is always encouraging, like most Americans these days I cannot wait until this useless war is OVER. Much of the work was very moving and had strong messages behind them.

Afterwards we went across the street to a new restaurant called Gypsy :-) I had a peach bellini for the first time and it may become one of my new fav drinks (behind kuhlua and creme of course). We both had amazing house salads with arugula, pecorino cheese, homemade croutons, and the house dressing. For the main course I had a dish with stacked eggplant, roasted peppers, tomatos, and zuchini and with a side of butternut squash gnocchi (it was ok, don't think I'd order it again, one of those dishes that looks great on paper just isn't executed well) and Alex had Chicken Piccata that was delicious just insanely buttery :-)

On Sunday we're participating in the Komen Race for the Cure with my mom, I've heard how inspiring the walk is.....excited about it!

Halloween

2007-11-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post a few pics from this Halloween. In the first I'm a milkmaid and Alex dressed in my clothes....nice right? Alex also bought Saci an adorable witch hat and matching tshirt that said "I will beg for treats." When she would forget about the hat she wore it well, otherwise she would shake it off.

We passed out candy with my family, Saci, and a work friend of mine. I was also able to catch up with my childhood best friend who works as a sportscaster in Abilene, Texas and was home for the holiday. Their bull dog Hershel wore a tuxedo while their poodle Hershey wore a mini mouse costume (too bad Hershey is a boy). oh well

Favorite Things :-)

2007-10-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Just now while eating a few oreo cookies I was inspired to write a list of some of my favorite things from completely random categories:

Favorite Store Bought Cookie: the OREO of course. I love dunking them in a LOW mug of milk. I emphasized the "low" because nothing's worse than trying to cram your hand down a skinny glass of milk trying to achieve maximum dunkage with the 5 centimeters of milk at the bottom. so GO OREOS, esp. double stuffed......but I try to be good most of the time ;-)

Favorite Smell: Ok, I have 2. The smell of warm, freshly baked doughnuts (i'm bad) and the smell of fall when you walk outside on a crisp day and you smell the burning of leaves and or wood. The only downside of the latter smell is if your hair has just been washed it now takes on the smell of smoke. small price to pay.......although I do have a weird habit of smelling my own hair throughout the day......WeIRdo!!!!!

Favorite time/day of the week: Around 6pm on Friday, you have the anticipation of the upcoming weekend and the work week is a distant memory. It's usually the evening Alex and I brainstorm which eatery in Austin we have yet to try and go and TRY IT!!!

Favorite TV channel: The Food Network by far. No surprise for most of you since my first two favorite things on this list have to do with food, as does most things in my life. The Food Network is ALWAYS the first channel I surf to when flipping on the tube. I know way too much food trivia, just the other day I schmoozed onlookers with my knowledge of orzo. My favorite personalities on said network are Giada de Laurentiis and Tyler Florence (and no, I don't just like him bc his last name is Florence!!!)

Favorite mode of transportation: Boat boat boat!!! I love being on water on a sunny day. There's something so liberating about the whole experience, plus you usually can't beat the scenary. Is it just me or are people the most happy when they're on boats? Well except Alex who has chronic motion sickness and avoids boats at all costs :-(

Favorite animal: Dolphin. I swam with them once when I graduation from highschool and went on a cruise with my family to the Caribbean. I had a weird experience that day when the dolphin was supposed to come up and look as if it were kissing my cheek. (you've all seen those poses)...well I was the over-zealous teen in the group and of course was the first to go. The dolphin lurched towards me with a little too much force and nailed me in the temple. Damn IT HURT. but moments later it compensated for the mishap and we managed to get my photo taken with it. The funniest part of the whole situation is that we were being video recorded at the same time and at that moment in the video they have it in slow motion. So me getting mauled by the dolphin is in super slow mo....pretty awesome, I still love dolphins despite this :-) The above pic was taken at the cove where we swam with the dolphins, two dolphins pushing you through the water via your feet is an awesome feeling.

Favorite childhood memory: Playing Marco Polo with my Uncle Dave and brother in our grandparent's pool in Scottsdale, AZ. Each summer Ryan (broham) and I would visit our grandparents and our Aunt and Uncle in Scottsdale for about a month. The anticipation we had before going out there each summer was enormous and once we got there we would just hang out with the fam and play all day long. I get so nostalgic whenever talking about it because of how carefree and happy I was at the time.

Favorite post-adolescent/adult memory: The entire semester I studied in Florence '04 at SACI. Need I explain why? The entire time I felt so grateful and so alive. From the places I saw to the relationships I came home with. It really was the best time of my life :-)

Salsa Salsa Salsa

2007-10-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday evening Alex and I went to a coworker's wedding in Austin at The Vistas at Seward Hill. I've never been to an event at this particular location so I didn't know what to expect...the locale was gorgeous, very Spanish hacienda looking with intimate lights, fountains, and Spanish themed buildings surrounding the courtyard. What I loved most was the Salsa band they had. It was by far the best live salsa music I've ever heard and it just made you want to get up and DANCE. The bride and groom were very experienced salsa dancers as were a few of the guests. It just inspired Alex and myself to take up ballroom dancing lessons once again.

Something we'll have to look into! The attached picture is of the outdoor setting where the couple exchanged vows....and even though I'm not Catholic I'm pretty dead set now on Ave Maria being played/sung at our wedding. It brought tears to my eyes...

Alex did a very bad thing...so why am I so in love with it???

2007-10-18T18:17:00.001-07:00

Around lunchtime today Alex called me while I was at work and told me that he wanted my support in what he was about to do. That being purchasing a HUUGGEE 42" LCD flatscreen TV. Now, this was no surprise to me, he's been bugging me about getting one ever since he moved down here. So because I'm kickass I told him he could do whatever he wanted to do...as long as this doesn't inhibit saving money and this and that for the wedding and the future house.

When I came home this evening I met Alex in passing with a childishly, giddy grin on his face while he took our old digital cable box back to Time Warner to replace it with a new HD box.

Then I had to help him carry the monster of a TV up three flights of stairs. There were times when I thought the TV might slide from my kung fu grip...luckily it made it to our entertainment stand all safe and sound!!!

God Bless the Internet

2007-10-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the world wide web all can visit Our Wedding Website. I don't know how often we'll update this but it's a place where you can view photos, read our stories, and view other details about the upcoming "kick ass" nuptials to be held in Flotown!!!

Please note that we just set this up yesterday so it's a bit lacking in content. Also, please vote for "Eryn" on the poll. Alex is a jerk and asked the question, I shall win! You can vote for "Saci the dog" if you wish as well :-)

I can feel fall!

2007-10-13T07:07:00.001-07:00

Ok, I know I live in Austin, TX and our highs lately have been in the high 80's....but I can still feel fall. Especially this morning when I took Saci out to do her morning business. The air was crisp, the sun made the sky the perfect shade of crystal blue, and a light breeze moved over me that made me happy. The low 60s in the morning feel great and I can't help but wish that they were the highs of the day.

Today, Alex, my mom and I are volunteering downtown at the Lance Armstrong Cure for Cancer Event. There's a big bike ride for the event and we'll be helping the riders register and collect all that they'll need for the next day (power bars, water bottles, yellow liveSTRONG bracelets, and such). I did it last year and hearing the inspirational, yet heartbreaking stories of the riders brought me to tears. It's especially touching when you see the children affected by the horrible disease...but this event is about the positive and about finding a cure and being strong along the way, it's a special event!

Saci is being demanding at present and looking at me with eyes that say, "why are you typing and not petting me?!?"

I have to go pet my dog!

Making Headway...

2007-10-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a major stride in getting details squared away for the wedding in April. We purchased our plane tickets to Florence (ours and my parents'). We are flying out of Houston thru Paris to Florence (roundtrip) via AirFrance. Since purchasing the tickets I've heard great things about the airline, and honestly, whenever I fly overseas I always have the best flight experiences. Everything from hot towels for your face, chocolate treats, newspapers, wine samplings, and great meals.

So I'm excited that that step is out of the way, I was starting to stress if we should wait to buy them or do it now. You never know if prices will go up or down...however if they do go down I'll be sure to contact the airline to have the difference refunded. Anybody ever have any luck with this?

Also, we've squared away the apartment we're going to stay in for the week we'll be in Florence. It's a studio apartment for $550 per week which I think is splendid. And it's on Via Chiara near Mercato Centrale, which I think is a sign being that Chiara is the name I've picked out already for our future daughter. One thing at a time right?

Attached to this post our pics of the studio we're going to put a 50% deposit on.

Pumpkin pickin'.....in Texas

2007-09-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

It's October right? oh wait.....one more day. Well we're ready for it after our journey 1.5 hours outside of Austin to go to Sweet Berry Farm where my dad was in heaven rummaging through the mountains of pumpkins and fall gords. I was kept busy by the little itty bitty pumpkins that weighed less than a pound while my brother and dad insisted on getting 24 lb pumpkins.

It was a cute place with homemade jams, corn mazes, and pumpkin painting contests.

The wedding planning is coming along although I can't help feel lazy about it. I still need to print the invites and send them all out as well as buy a dress, buy Alex's wedding band, and of course arrange our living accommodations and plane tickets. We ALMOST bought tickets last week for approx. $1100 each roundtrip from Houston to Florence but then were haulted by my bro's girlfriend who's travel agent said it would be cheaper if we waited 'til January. This makes me nervous because I feel like we're now waiting too long and prices will become inflated.......any advice?

p.s. the picture of the hand painted like an elephant was from an email I just received from my aunt.....the artist is pretty incredible, he does it all himself!

Yup this is about normal...

2007-09-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

Ever since I returned from Florence in December 2004 I have longed to go back. It's one of the things in my life that I'm most passionate for and know for sure what my heart is telling me. And because of this longing I dream about Florence constantly.

Sometimes the dreams are so-so, but sometimes they're FANTASTIC, and I actually feel as if I'm frolicking on the cobblestones while eating gelato and skipping my way to SACI (the best art school EVER). And every time I have these dreams....I say to myself, "Oh my goodness I can't believe I'm actually back here." Because I KNOW that's what I'll be saying to myself when I'm actually there. I've been wanting to go back for so long now and the fact that I haven't makes it feel like a lofty goal very hard to achieve......although it's not. Just 6 1/2 more months.....I can taste it!

The second picture is the outside of SACI (Studio Art Centers International). It resides in Palazzo dei Cartelloni!

It's been awhile...

2007-09-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

...since my last post. Life has been hectic friends......crazy hectic. Between work, freelance, swim lessons, my personal life, and whatever gets thrown in the mix I've been struggling lately. I almost had an anxiety attack this evening while getting more changes from a freelance client. Basically, when it comes down to it I'm sick of doing stuff for people once I'm off work.....ya know like freelance and swim lessons. I'll do someone a favor gladly, just don't call me frantically 4 times in less than an hour while I'm at work and texting me messages like "911 help." Seriously that's what a freelance client was doing while I was dealing with problems at work with a printer.

ARRRGGGHHHH

But, my trip to Scottsdale, AZ was great. I got to see my uncle's new boys...see photos and was able to spend some good quality time with my grandma, aunt, and other cousins. It was sooo hot while there, no surprise, some days topping off at 115. And I'm sorry, but some point....dry heat don't mean shit!

My new fixed up Perla (new car) is doing great. Although, I've developed a little driving anxiety now. If you've ever been rear-ended you know how it is. You suddenly dread every stopping point in the road in fear that the car behind you is going to plow into the back of the brand new vehicle you worked so hard to put a down payment on. So that sucks, but I'm working on it.

I have to run for now, I haven't seen Alex barely at all today!

Ciao!

Looking Forward...

2007-08-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, this post is about nothing but hopefulness and anticipation. I'm not going to mention past events/situations because I need to move on and stop stressing!

On Saturday I leave for Scottsdale, AZ to visit my grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins. My uncle has recently adopted two more boys from Russia, making him the father of three little boys. Zach (his youngest) was adopted from the same small southern, Russian town in 2004. My aunt in Scottsdale is the mother of two children, Mei Ling (11) and Kevin (6), both from China. We're the international family!!! My brother and his girlfriend, Jin, are also making the trip with me.

So yay for family time, it'll be good for me!

In the picture above you can see Pinnacle Peak (the mountain peak on the left :-)

Not in the Virtual Mood

2007-08-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

I apologize to all my faithful readers.......ha whatever. I haven't been in much of a mood to post lately due to my inevitable stress and irritability brought on by yet another bout of bad luck. We all know I was super excited to pick up Perla, my new Vivid Blue Honda Fit.

Wednesday, Alex and I took half a day off of work and drove to San Antonio in the early afternoon to pick her up from Gunn Honda. We got her, paid for her, and were on our way back to Austin, knowing that we were going to run into to Austin's 5pm rushhour traffic. We get to Austin with no problems, then as I'm crossing the bridge over the Colorado River the Range Rover behind me decides to plow into my brand new car going about 10-15 mph. I thought I was in a dream. Just typing it again is making me feel sick to my stomach and mad all over again.

Making a long story short.......I cried my eyes out againa for probably the 4th time in two weeks and had to resort to telling family and loved ones more about my bad news. Alex has been a dream and has handled EVERYTHING for me. He is il mio knight in shining armor. He's dealt with the insurance companies, body shop, and UT freshman that hit me.

The freshman who hit me is from Forth Worth and seems to come from money as him and his dad are preferring to pay for all damages and my rental car out of pocket. He's been extremely cooperative which is a blessing.

Since it's a BRAND NEW car they're going to completely replace all damaged parts. The parts are supposed to arrive in the body shop on Tuesday.......I pray it's quick and it's done RIGHT. They are assuring me that she'll be as good as new when I pick her up finally.

I can only hope that's true........

The FIT is not far

2007-08-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received the phone call that my 2 month wait for my new car has ended. My 2007 Vivid Blue Pearl Honda Fit is awaiting its pick up at the dealership in San Antonio. We go tomorrow to pick her up.

She needs a name...I'm thinking Perla, any suggestions?

Biance, my current white Saturn is being sold to a coworker sometime this week, she treated me well and she will be missed!

It's the Weekend...I need it soooo bad.

2007-08-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

After my hellish week I'm so thankful that the weekend is HERE! Maybe it was a blessing that my file loss happened on Monday at the beginning of the week so I could use the entire week to "kind of" repair the damage. I took my Macbook to a place near my apartment that specializes in Mac Data Recovery called Heroic Effforts......I know right. I need them to be my hero. I picked up my laptop on Thursday after they recovered 31 gigs of data. Pretty much everything I've ever dragged to the trash from my comp. The bad news is that all the files lost their names and now I have folders upon folders with ambiguous names that I now have to sort. Not everything I lost is there, which sucks and a lot of it is damaged. However, I still have stuff I may need. I don't feel as completely lost anymore.

Ok, enough about the bad, more about the good.....right. We must think positively!!! I did get news from my boss yesterday after work that my raise has been approved. For some reason he didn't know for how much it would be, I just know the paycheck will be larger. HORRAY! hmmmm, what else. There are Brownies in the kitchen. I've been pretty much the sole consumer of them for the past few days. Alex better get his act together! And last night we saw a fantastic flick...SUPER BAD! It was produced by the same makers of KNOCKED UP. Which I was also in love with. The movie was just what I needed. It pretty much made me laugh nonstop! Go see it, if you can!

Alec, we'll dish later about how great it really was, I fear I may be forgetting hilarious events due to hysteria while exploding.....loudly!

Maybe bad things really do happen in 3's.......oh wait 4's

2007-08-14T17:13:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile or even check posts due to my current mental state. These past two weeks have probably been the roughest I've had in a very long time...I don't know if I've actually ever had it worse.

Number 1: You all (all 4 of you) probably ready about my sprained ankle....that happened almost two weeks ago and it's still bruised and hurts. Still waiting for the day to do cardio.

Number 2: My boss often times will pass some of his freelance clients off to me when he becomes too busy or just isn't interested in doing it. About a week ago I agreed to take on a client he's been working with for years. I went in with a positive attitude and have recently restored that, however, that was not the case this past weekend. I met with the guy last wednesday to discuss the 8 page booklet that they needed in two days. YAY for me, right. They don't have any hires images for me to work with or even copy that they're happy with. Nonetheless, I sit down for three hours one night and knock a front and back cover, plus a spread. I send it along happily (patting myself on the back only for them to contact me less than 20 hours later saying they're completely dissatisfied. Well maybe if they had given me ANY direction, any fonts to work with, or possibly a corporate color (all things I asked for) they would have liked it maybe a little bit. So with confidence destroyed I worked 16 hrs throughout the weekend going back and forth with pissy clients who don't offer any positive feedback. Meanwhile, they involve my boss, the one who put his faith in me and gave me this project.....so not only does he come off looking bad, so do I. I've recently patched things up with them.....but we're still a long ways from completing the project.

Number 3: (it's a doosy, beware) Yesterday I had a fabulous work day. Time flew and I was uber productive. 5pm rolls around and I decide to back up my lap top (I have a desktop and laptop at work) with the external harddrive. Meanwhile, Alex calls and tells me a hysterical story.......so, I'm distracted. Instead of copying my new work on top of the old work on the harddrive, I fuck up miserably and replace the new with the old. I realize that something has gone arry halfway and cancel the copy......well the damage was done. SEVEN MONTHS of work on my laptop has vanished.....needless to say I almost had a panick attack at work when I realized this. Seriously, seven months of half the company's graphic design projects are gone. I would venture to say that thousands of files are missing.......THOUSANDS. I'm still distraught and barely coping with this. Everything has to be recreated.....that's almost a years worth of work. Some files were flash too, motion animations that took months to create in the first place. Luckily a lot of stuff has been sent to press recently....but it would be nice to reference files every now and then. I played the day going through my email and recovering any files I could from past emails I sent to coworkers and printers. NOT FUN MY FRIENDS.......horrible. I had an appointment today with Apple because of my despiration and they have referred me to a "Miracle Worker" that works minutes from my apartment. Tomorrow at 10am (when doors open) I will be there, MacBook and external harddrive in tow with a hopeful smile and freshly baked cookies.

(ok so that's three right, that's what I was thinking when I was driving home after visiting the "genuis bar" at Apple, in traffic, 35 minutes from home.......with the windows rolled down even though it reached triple digits today because i'm trying to not make my '95 Saturn break down)

Number 4: My dad calls while I'm pouring my heart out to my mom. I click over only for him to inform me that his mother passed away today. Instant tears/sadness.....especially for my dad. His mother, may she rest in peace, was always a bit reclusive and never made an attempt to get to know me throughout my life. I've seen her a handful of times and was never close to her. I'm just hurting for my dad who lost his mother today. She lived well into her 80s, but lived a life of isolation. I feel sad for her, but mostly I feel bad for my dad who insists on attending the small funeral in NY by himself. I offered to go but my dad has never been one to cause a scene or make things hard on others. He's always protected me as much he could from emotional/physical distress.

So, I'm praying, even knocking on wood that my enormous load of badluck has subsided for now......I was just telling Alex the other day,"wow, things have been going so 'as planned' recently, I hope the bubble doesn't burst"

POP

Anywhere but here...

2007-08-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

It's Friday, the weekend is 6 hours away. Close enough to be cheerful/hopefuly yet far enough away to inspire my daydreaming and me writing this here post.

If I could be anywhere but here I would be laying in the sand on a pink Sardinian beach. I would have ample shade when necessary and full sun when wanted. Of course I would be sporting a cute bikini and brand new anklet (hey....don't spoil my daydream, I can have as many details as I want). My hair would be sticky from sea salt and ocean breezes and I'd have a nice golden tan (because in daydreams you can have an olively complexion).

In my hand would be my tropical drink of choice.....either a Pina Colada or Peach Bellini. We'll go with the Peach Bellini, since we're on an island off of Italy and all. Alex and I would of course be fluent in Italian and would be speaking to a couple on a nearby beach towel.

Afterwards we'd stroll back to our vacation home overlooking the Mediterranean Sea (hey, I can have a vacation home in Sardinia that I can escape to when life in Florence at my permanent resident becomes too hectic). There we'd munch on proscuitto, figs, and pecornio cheese drizzled with honey and sip acqua frizzante.

That evening we'd take a passegiata to the nearest piazza where we'd order our favorite gelato from our favorite gelato serving friend.....SGM (we took him with us from Florence), we'll bring him back once our holiday is over. The rest of the evening would be spent people watching and dancing in the piazza (I would be an accomplished salsa and samba dancer).

The next morning we'd sail around the island (Alex's motion sickness would be cured) and we'd scuba dive in the turquoise waters. I'd discover a sunken ship with treasure, with the new found income I'd of course donate to the local humane society and use the rest to buy another vacation home......mmmmm perhaps Santorini, Greece (Alec and I would coown and schedule vacays at similar times:-)

You have a daydream? I WANT to hear it!

Work, Work, and more WORK!

2007-08-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

My boss has been out of town this week. Because he's pretty much the only person in the office I have to converse with to get my work done (the rest of the Marketing team is in Dallas) I've had almost nobody to talk to regularly at work this week. SO BORING. I chime in on the regular "water cooler" talk every now and then. But damn, I feel so isolated at times. This work week has been relatively busy, which is good...it helps me retain my sanity while battling social boredom. But now that I have three new freelance clients and tonight is also a "swim lesson" night, I have to go home and do more work. The swim lessons aren't so bad, but after getting out of the pool, showering, eating dinner, and then going back to the computer to work for another 1-2 hours SUCKS!

I'm ready for the weekend, freelance will inevitably be a part of it, but at least it won't include the 9-5 daily grind.

1st Deposit down...2 to go

2007-08-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

I'm excited, today Alex wired the first of three deposits from Wellsfargo to Florence. With this deposit we'll be able to nail down a date and time. Which means...we can start scheduling flights, apartment rentals, and can send out the invitations I designed! I can't wait until we get a finite guest list so I'll know for sure who's coming. BW, get ready.....we're on our way!

Attached are images of our invites.

P.S.B.T.W. if you're trying to read the info on the invites...well some of it has already changed. I need to update the date and still work on the typography. Also, these are z-fold invites....meaning they fold up like an accordian. Each different colored panel indicates a different page.

Gelato Fantastique

2007-08-06T13:17:00.001-07:00

Austin has definitely caught on to the growing demand for gelato. I first started recognizing gelaterias around town about 3 years ago. I've been a loyal customer of both Teo and Gelatos for a few years now. Those two gelaterias are going to have to fight for our business now ("fight to the death") as Alex and I have discovered a new place just around the corner from our apartment. Piccomolo boasts creative flavors and creamy consistency (the most important characteristic of gelato in my book). We stopped by yesterday for a break while running errands. Alex had the toffee cheesecake/chocolate chip cook dough combo while I relished in life's simple pleasures by ordering raspberry and pannacotta. The interior was playful, yet subdued and very Italian chic. The gelato freezer even had a ticker running across it. I will be back...however, Teo is still numero uno as nutella and peanut butter nutella are two of their flavors.

Also, yay for Austin being so freakin' cool. I picked up a flyer at Piccomolo that advertised Austin's 1st Annual Ice Cream Festival. Dear sweet nectar, am I excited for that one. And the best part is that admission is FREE!

Ankle in Distress....however, making progress with the wedding

2007-08-05T08:11:00.001-07:00

So this past Friday, I'm on my lunch break like normal. Alex and I occassionally meet at th apartment for lunch in an effort to save money and spend more time with the pooch. After eating a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage links (we had almost zero food in the house) I was on my way down the stairs and totally bit it on the VERY LAST step of probably 55. I wasn't even wearing heels, I was in flip flops. After falling the pain was so great I couldn't hold back the tears.....so I called Alex blubbering that I had really badly twisted my ankle and that he had to turn around on his way back to work. (I know, I'm a brat). I hobbled back up the stairs with an already swollen and bruised foot. Saci was esctatic to see that we had returned so soon. After icing and propping my ankle up for about ten minutes I decided that it was ok for me to go back to work and just prop it up there for the rest of the day.

It's been two days since the "accident," and it's still swollen and has even more purple bruises. YUM. Hopefully, it'll be better soon, I hate being restricted.

Even though I shouldn't have, on friday evening Alex and I went to a Round Rock Express game with my office. It's the Astro's minor league team. It was cool since we had box seats and free drinks and food. Our team lost but the firework show at the end made up for it.

Yesterday my parents wrote us a check for the wedding. It's exciting because now we can procede with signing the wedding contract and putting down our first deposit. After which we'll get an exact date and time and can start arranging plane tickets and living accomodations there. Oh, and I emailed the school we studied at in Florence (SACI) and asked if we could use the SACI garden for pictures and reception-like fun after the wedding. To our surprise they were very excited about the entire thing and even asked if they could take our picture for the school newsletter. It'll make me feel like a SACI celebrity :-)

I've recently purchased some Italian grammar and verb drill books, hopefully I can become a little more well-versed before we make the trip.

Attached to this post is a picture of the SACI garden!

Our Quest

2007-07-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

When Alex moved to Austin in January we made a pact to try a new restaurant once a week. I've lived in Austin for almost 19 years and haven't nearly explored it as much as I could. And since Alex is a newbie here, well it's the perfect opportunity for us to discover OUR city together. Now, when fellow Austinites rave about how cool 34th Street Cafe, Moonshine, Aquarelle, Sampaio's, or Ranch 616 are we can chime in and say, "oh yeah, that place is great." Ya know, because I'm a cool kid too now!

This past Saturday Alex and I met up with my friend Sonia and her friend Riley at Ranch 616 in downtown Austin. There have
been multiple write ups about this place all over the place and we decided that we had to try it. For an appetizer we went safe and got the fried calamari, Alex wanted to try their famous frog legs but I suddenly became squeamish. Then for an entree I had pesto tilapia with fried prawns, mashed potatos, and steamed veggies. Alex had a jalapeno braized chicken breast with saffron rice. And for dessert we split their specialty......FRIED PIE! only in Texas will they fry pie. It wasn't as cholesterol ridden as it may seem, it consisted of two triangular puff pastries stuffed with peaches and served with Mexican vanilla ice cream and a strawberry! Yum. We may just have to break our very own rule with this place, each night they have 5 new specials and each night they stuff both their burgers and their fried pies with different fillings. SAY WHAT?!?!?!

Attached to this post are some pics of our eating out extravaganza. Alec, I'm wearing the wonderful shirt you gave me for my bday, I even wore it without a white tank underneath......scandalous!

p.s. I apologize for the blurriness of my said plate of food. I rushed the photo taking process...I felt eyes of judgement upon me from nearby diners.

Life List

2007-07-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Inspired by blogger Erin from the olive notes I decided to write my own top 10 things I'd like to do and/or accomplish in my lifetime. I'm sure over time some will change but for now, here goes...

10. learn how to surf (obviously not as well as the guy in the pic)

9. travel to India

8. learn a new language well enough to converse with locals

7. become a mother

6. learn how to relax and not worry as much

5. soar high up in the sky via hot air balloon

4. sail the Greek Islands

3. compete in a triathlon

2. travel to South Africa

1. live in Italy (even if it's only for a year, my heart aches to be back)

now it's your turn :-)

Oh Vespa...Where Art Thou?

2007-07-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

If only it were safe and practical to drive a vespa in Austin. I would totally rock the S*#& out of a tangerine (my new dream flavor) vespa! Attached to this post are pictures of my dream...for now I will settle for the ever-practical Honda Fit. Instead I'll sport the shit out of the Electric Blue Pearl Sport version of the Fit.

Alec.....the front seat is still reserved por vu.

The Rain is Robbing MEEE!!!

2007-07-24T07:13:00.001-07:00

For all of you that are having a deliciously, dry and sunny summer....well consider yourselves lucky! From the beginning of June until now we have had nothing but rain, overcast skies, and future rainy ten day forecasts. I can't tell you how many events I've had to cancel because of this soppiness.......well 3 to be exact, but still.

This past weekend I had planned to rent a boat with 7 other people on Lake Travis, well the rain took care of that one and cancelled my dreams of sailing across the swelling lake with rain debris. Then yesterday the first 3/4 of the day was beautiful, which was great considering I had a swim lesson with a seven year old at 6:30.....sorry Eryn, do not pass GO, do not collect $200.

Needless to say.....the rainy weather is robbing me of money and fun times :-(

Looking to sign the wedding contract and put down the first deposit so we can get the ball rolling.

And Alec baby, I promise, I will make a more valient effort to post more often. Ya know how it is, when I first started writing this here blog I was in the "honeymoon" stage of things, I was all giddy and couldn't stand to not post and add pictures from my somewhat interesting life. Now, we've gotten to known eachother's flaws and we're learning to live with one another, I'll try harder to be more present in this marriage :-)

SLACKERRR

2007-07-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I've been slacking. I don't know what it is with me lately. I read all 12 of my favorite blogs and by the time I'm done, I'm worn out. Most of the time too worn out to update my own. I know, it's selfish of me.

Saci, is glaring at me right now as if to say, "why mama have you hidden my funny and naughty stories from the rest of the world?"

Ok so here goes. Not much is new. We're at the point in the Firenze wedding plans where we need to sign our contract and send over a deposit. Ya know, the part that will make my parents really nervous and will thus cue even more questions. God send me strength.

Last night Alex and I went to my friend Elyse's 23rd birthday celebration at Baby Acapulcos. It was fun, except that she dropped a bomb that she'll be moving back to New Mexico to be with her boyfriend until he graduates in May. Arggg, there goes one of my very few friends I have left here in Austin. So that was molto sad. I guess I'll survive with my online relationship with Miss Atown......aka future Best Woman.

Alec, maybe I'll make you a a "BW" pin, kinda like they did in "You, Me, and Dupree" for Best Man. If you haven't seen the flick the pin had a lightning bolt on it and of course said "BW."

I'll leave you guys with that. For now, it's time to enjoy an overcast Fourth of July...woohoo Go America.......?

A long overdue response to the best blog post EVER!

2007-06-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well, this is all for you Alec bambina! I enjoyed reading your top list of stuff you have to do upon returning to Firenze and I was going to comment but just thought I'd comment on each of your ideas individually!

(i just tossed my blue corn tortilla chips away from my laptop in hopes that i'll be too lazy to get them and thus, not eat them)

(1) SGM.....all day everyday.

well yes this would be appropriate esp. bc he's on my mind all day everyday but only after i'm done thinking of you. I remember SGM not saying anything.....EVER, I don't once remember him opening up his mouth. What if we went and started asking him questions, would he stare blankly or would he sing his response.......like a baratone from lucca. he would start singing a dramatic song about cookies, kinder, and perhaps amarena.

(2) and definitely marble bar me up, I can predict that after day one in Italia I'll have had one too many caffeine jolts and may start shaking.......hugs help, as do rides on brightly (fruit) colored vespas....but only if i'm squeezed in next to a blonde ragazza from RI.

(3) I've been inside the Duomo.....twice. Once for Sunday mass and once for a trek up to the cupola with Helen's early Ren class.....btw on the second trip to the cupola I ran into a plate glass wall on the way down. Cecily was the only one who saw and sympathized with me.....the next day I went shopping past the Bufa and surprisingly past La Standa and did the same thing. only that time i was by myself and the store shop owner was horrified......I believe my reaction was (1) immense embarassment and (2) i babbled "i'm ok, i'm ok" and walked out quickly with my head down.

--however, i'd love to go to the Duomo again, the other atown hasn't been either, mostly bc the day we decided to go see Firenze churches I talked him into going to Santa Croce instead.....tee hee, I didn't want to go inside the duommmm for a third time. with my luck i would walk in and all doors would be made of glass.......but i wouldn't see them, there'd just be a sign that said "glass doors, beware."

(4) Crashing SACI.

--now this is tricky, there is no place in Firenze I'd rather be but SACI, but I fear I may walk in and unleash the floodgates. And I'll want to stay and perhaps sit in on a Helen lecture....btw, I almost peed when you said you'd run past her saying "whatever" it probably wouldn't even phase her. nay it would prompt her to run five miles through the Tuscan hills (i imagine her to go running in Roman togas, with leather sandals and a spear)

--I would probably wander the halls of SACI only uttering "Romeo???" so hopefully.....and then once I saw him I'd leap into his arms....only then would I realize he's a slight Italian man who weighs approx. 132 lbs. but he'd pat my head anyway and say, "Cara Eryn, sweet girl, Brava........BRAVA!"

and that would be all it took for me to enroll for another scholastic year at SACI

*ok here is where I break off and create my own list.

(5) Pick pocket a gypsy, I'll hit up all the touristy spots, esp. the outside of the Duomm, I'll buy a McDonalds drink and carry the cup along with an angelic picture of Saci (the pup, not the school) and just when they start getting curious.....I'll grab a 1 cent Euro piece from their styrofoam cup....then I'll run to a fountain, make a wish that I don't go straight to hell and toss it in.

(6) Make a trip to Casa del Formaggio and buy one of this famous paninos. This place was directly across the street from the SAC, yet I never went. Mostly bc I loved Angelo from Angelo's. And the one time I walked into the "Casa" the stench of mold made me promptly leave.....so pack the gas mask atown.......we're going in.

(7) Have a successfuly train trip......"Frantic Eryn" is not invited. What is it about train travel in Italy, or Europe for that matter? Everytime I went I would make damn sure I was at the right platform and everytime I would end up running "frantically!" to another train that was slowly pulling away already.....or get on the wrong train and not even notice, need we mention our cinque terre nightmare?

well the boss just walked back in and i have to say "ciao"

i can't wait 'til firenze time and will continue to update the "list" of what I have to do while there.......

a presto!

Only in Austin.......or perhaps Berlin

2007-06-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

This past Friday me, Alex, and three of our friends partook in an event that makes Austin so wonderful and "weird" at the same time. For those of you unaware our city slogan is "Keep Austin Weird." It refers to the city's eclectic and liberal nature despite being in the center of a conservative state. I LOVE IT. ok, anyway, we went to go see Blue Lapis Light perform on the Federal Courthouse. And when I say "perform on" i mean perform on. The group consisted of about 7-8 females who suspended themselves 250 ft. up in the air and tumbled, flipped, frocklicked across two buildings that are facing one another. The audience sat awe inspired in the middle. It was so peaceful (esp. at night) watching their elegant movements play along with the accompanying light show and opera-esque music. What I loved most about it was how 20 feet beyond the performance normal Austin city life went on as usual (except for a fleet of cars that pulled over to look on).

Saturday, Alex and I took my dad for a deep tissue massage at Austin Deep. My bro ham and I split the one hour massage for Father's Day. It was my dad's first massage and I could tell that he loved it. He came out very relaxed and with a big smile on his face......good idea on our part. And his therpist's name was Erin :-)

Then Saturday afternoon my family, Alex, and myself all went to Alex's company picnic. Mainly bc it was only $5 for all you can eat bbq. Although my fav part were all of the activities. I was like a kid at camp, we went paddle boating, swimming, played volleyball, horseshoes, BINGO, and did couple's relays.

Good weekend, busy weekend.......now time for the work week, blah.

--had my first swim lesson of the summer 45 min. ago at the apartment pool. very convenient for me and $20 for half an hour.....yessssssssssss

Identical Dogs?

2007-06-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

Upon reading fellow blogger bleeding espresso's blog I made an exciting discovery that her pup Luna could be the twin of our dog Saci. I'm posting a pic of her dog as well as a pic of mine so you guys can be the judge. Also posted is a picture of a puppy I fell in love with in Venice (also named Luna) that looks almost like the puppy version of our dogs.

Enjoy!

An almost no work friday...

2007-06-09T05:31:00.000-07:00

Oh how my job is fabulous at times. Yesterday morning I meandered around the apartment and worked from home because I needed some creative time to brainstorm our next project. I did get some swell ideas :-) (Does anyone say swell anymore? I probably picked it up from all the episodes of Brady Bunch I watched as a kid) Then I get to work at 10:15......by 11 am the internet has gone out for half an hour and everyone decides to leave.......Awwww lovely. I did work from home.........stop worrying that my life is so much better than yours. And then cleaned the apt and cooked amazing zucchini soup from my new Italian cookbook.

A quick workout and long dip in our pool was followed by i meie genitori e il mio fratello and his girlfriend. tee hee, i'm trying to work on my italian vocab. we watched three episodes of The Office (best show ever) and said goodnight.

Un Buon Venerdi

if i've made any grammatical errors in my poor Italian......please correct me!

A Skinny Dipping Good Time...

2007-06-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've never been the exhibisionist.....no really. But for some reason on a hike we took in a greenbelt i felt compelled to skinny dip beneath the waterfall. HAHAHA, I only was out there for a grand total of 4 minutes but I did it....I don't even know why I felt the need to...but I did. The entire time I was just picturing someone stumbling upon me, it was quite terrifying, yet liberating.

My mom would be so proud.

Alex and mine's date night on Friday was gaahreat! he found this little italian restaurant in the middle of downtown that i had always seen just never taken the time to figure out what it was......it has a very unassuming awning. The ambience was very alluring and modern with one white stone wall and the other being bright red, dark wood seating, and big mirrors to make the space appear larger. We ordered wild mushroom bruschetta with fontina cheese over a bed of arugula for our antipasto. Then I had fettucine con funghi while Alex had the pasta Bolognese. And for dolci we both split a chocolate hazelnut torte. YUMMO, as Rachel Ray would so predictably say!

Then as you already know, we saw Knocked UP. Go see it, you won't be disappointed.....loved it, except for seeing the whole baby crowning bit.

Date Night!

2007-06-01T07:39:00.003-07:00

Happy Friday All!!! I woke up this morning after a very refreshing nights sleep (doesn't happen very often) thinking it was Saturday morning. Then the realization hit me that it was just Friday morning which meant one last day of work before the weekend. I can make it........no worries.

I'm very excited for tonight. Alex and I decided to have a "date night" and go to a good old fashioned dinner and movie. Don't know where we're going for dinner yet but we do know that we'll be seeing "Knocked Up." It's been getting rave reviews from all critics and publications which means that'll be even better than I expected. Yay, for a comedy :-)

I'll post later this weekend to let you all know how it was.

Ciao ciao!