When Is Chris Coming Home?

Well, it can't be soon enough. Right now, I have a lizard trapped under a plastic box in my kitchen. I need Chris to deal with this stuff. I just am too grossed out. Oh, and I'm at my friend Julie's house, since I needed to get away from said lizard...and do some Bazaar mapping. Fun times!

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get...Shopping

I am exhausted lately. When you move to Aviano, the big ridiculous thing you hear is that, "At some point, your car/house will get broken into by Gypsies. They don't want to hurt you, they just want to take your stuff."

Well, they're not hurting me, nor are they taking my stuff! At least, that's what I'm telling myself every night about once an hour when I wake up after hearing some noise. When Chris is here, I sleep soundly. But, this deployment has been particularly difficult with getting any kind of sound sleep.

So, my friend Heather took me to do some retail therapy yesterday in Nove.

If your name is Chris you can definitely stop reading at this point. You might get really annoyed.

Yesterday was a fantastic trip. There is a store in Nove called Ancora (and, yes, DGs, the symbol of the store is an anchor). They are sadly going out of business this fall. My mother actually owns a whole slew of beautiful dessert plates from them that she bought a couple of decades ago when we lived in Germany. So, they're like family.

I had really wanted a set of dessert dishes in their berry pattern, so I thought the best thing to do would be to stock up before they totally go out of business. I had a lot of fun.

We also hit up a couple other places, including VBC, my favorite Nove store. They had a couple of beautiful platters/serving bowls with pumpkins on them. I couldn't pass those up either. I mean, it is almost fall.

I was with a fun bunch yesterday, who were all adventurous. So after our combat shopping, we decided to drive up the mountain to Asiago (famous for the cheese) to seek out some lunch.

I had been to Asiago once before, and I can safely say that summertime is a spectacular time to be there. It is an Alpine town, and the flowers were in full bloom. Simply stunning.

I rarely rave about Italian food anymore. A lot of it is just boring at this point. But, I had one of the best glasses of Prosecco that I've had in awhile, and a wonderful plate of pasta where the Ragu sauce was made from goulasch. It was so good that I want to try to make it somehow.

All in all it was a nice reprieve from my Bazaar responsibilites. I even saw my Lion of Venice in Asiago!


Now, it's time to get back to the land of Bella Befana Bazaar. I have lots of vendor and volunteer things to do today!

It's Really August?

Wow, things have been moving along at a fast pace lately. This is my second year chairing our Bazaar, and it's about that time of year where I have a zillion meetings every day, and a neverending list of things to do. That sounds like a complaint, but I love it.

Chris comes home in about a month - and then naturally leaves for another one in January. If that's not enough, he has Squadron Officer School in Nov/Dec. It's taken me about a week to get over that one.

If it's about to be your last fall in Italy, where would you want to spend it? Montgomery, Alabama, of course. I will be going with him, so if anyone wants to come see us in Montgomery, you are more than welcome.

In what is a good news/bad news kind of thing (for us), our friends Heather and Trent are actually moving to Montgomery right about that time, so I'm excited to be able to spend more time with them there.

That's the update for now. The traveling has slowed down quite a bit.

French Riviera

I went on a whirlwind trip to the French Riviera this past weekend. It was great! Trent and Heather were on the trip too.

Our first stop was in Grasse, which is the perfume capital of the world. We stopped at Fragonard, which is a big perfume factory with a boutique, of course. I admit to spending a little money there.

We then headed to Cannes, the home of the Cannes Film Festival. It was fun to see the sights and hang out on the Riviera, but I must say that it was almost just another beach town.

We then went to Nice and wandered around for dinner and afterwards. We spent the night there, and then got up early for another big day.

Day two was my favorite: Monaco! I have been telling everyone that I am prepared to pursue dual citizenship as a Monagasque. The only downside is that I cannot. In order to become one, you must have five successive generations born and raised in Monaco. Too bad.

Monaco was just perfect. It is simply heavenly, and the perfect fantasy as the playground for the rich and famous. I got to see the church where Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier, the palace, and Jacques Cousteau's oceanographic museum with aquarium. We also went to Monte Carlo and played the slots in the world-famous casinos.

This was my first trip to the French Riviera, and my first visit to France in years. I had a wonderfully relaxing time, and really enjoyed being there. We saw more yachts and hyper-expensive cars than I have ever seen in one place.

Heather and I have decided that we are going to cost-share a yacht in 20 years, and we will bring it back. Yeah, right. Either way, this was a great little trip.

La Familia

Whew, a different week, different visitors! I have really had a fantastic summer with the guests and travel.

This week, Erin and Amber, some fellow JMUers (one of whom is also a DG) came to visit. We had a great time! Erin actually has some family in the Veneto region, so on Wednesday we drove a few hours over and spent the day with them.

It was such a great honor to be a part of the visit. The Pirani family, although they spoke little English, was wonderful to be around and so hospitable. I have found a new family to be a part of in Italy. What great people!

Late tonight, I'm going to the French Riviera so I will post more early next week!