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| (a statue we saw at the Vatican in Rome) |
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| Photo Credit |
:)
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
They must use the same hair stylist...
The Original Bump It -
Viva Italia - Day 4
*All Viva Italia blog entries are re-written from the journal I took with me on our awesome vacation to Italy.*
Chow...er...Ciao! (Yes, I really wrote "chow" in my Italy journal. And Josh made fun of me non-stop. I guess I AM a stupid American!) :)
Today was great! Early morning tour of the Vatican (thank goodness for Skip-the-Line tours - a MUST here) and the Sistine Chapel (beautiful!).
At the Vatican, I took a picture with Diana, the goddess of fertility. I posted the pic on Facebook, tagging my mom and my mother-in-law saying, "I took this picture for you two!" Hehehe. :)
The Sistine Chapel really was amazing. My neck hurt after we were done from staring at the ceiling! You couldn't talk or take pics in the chapel - they even had 2 guards in there that kept chanting, "Noooo phoootooos" and then they'd say, "Shhhhh!" It was pretty funny.
Even though you weren't supposed to talk in the chapel, our guide was able to point out a few things right before we left. There were 2 places on the ceiling where Michelangelo painted his likeness/face into the mural. One was in the picture of the last judgement - St. Bartholomew was holding his skin (in the bible he was skinned alive) and Michelangelo painted his face on the skin. Creepy! The other spot was in the back on a picture of a guy laying headless on a bed and two women carrying his head in a basket - that head had the face of Michelangelo. Morbid!
And the BEST part of the Sistine Chapel - the DRAAAAMAAAA that happened! Again, picture us in the chapel - the beautiful, sacred place where people we just staring in awe at the beautiful murals. We were PACKED in like sardines in there - it was crazy crowded. And hard to move around. One of the older, American ladies that was with our tour, apparently got bumped by an Asian woman from another tour. Well the American lady turned around and PUSHED - like SHOVED the Asian lady, almost knocking her over!!! I still can't believe that happened! I mean, who does that? The Asian lady just stared the American lady down. (Good for her! I might have started a fight if it had been me!) THEN the American lady turned to her husband and started complaining about the "stupid Japanese tourists." Geez. No wonder everyone hates Americans!!
We couldn't go to St. Peter's because the Pope was having mass. Seriously - someone should have told him Holly and Josh were coming so he could have rescheduled. :)
On the way back from the tour, we got off the bus right at the Trevi Fountain and toured around a bit more on our own. We walked around the outside of the Colosseum again too! Our feet were killing us, so we took a break on some steps overlooking the Colosseum. It was fun sitting there and people watching! Josh and me, just sittin and relaxin in Italy. Normal day, right? :)
The place we choose for lunch that day was alright...def not the best meal we had. I had gnocchi with 4 cheese sauce and Josh had spaghetti with seafood. I had caffe after the meal, which was the best part - mmmm!
We had a great time in Rome, despite our dinner adventures on our last night. Off to Sorrento tomorrow!
Chow...er...Ciao! (Yes, I really wrote "chow" in my Italy journal. And Josh made fun of me non-stop. I guess I AM a stupid American!) :)
Today was great! Early morning tour of the Vatican (thank goodness for Skip-the-Line tours - a MUST here) and the Sistine Chapel (beautiful!).
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| The God of Wine :) |
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| A random toe. |
At the Vatican, I took a picture with Diana, the goddess of fertility. I posted the pic on Facebook, tagging my mom and my mother-in-law saying, "I took this picture for you two!" Hehehe. :)
The Sistine Chapel really was amazing. My neck hurt after we were done from staring at the ceiling! You couldn't talk or take pics in the chapel - they even had 2 guards in there that kept chanting, "Noooo phoootooos" and then they'd say, "Shhhhh!" It was pretty funny.
Even though you weren't supposed to talk in the chapel, our guide was able to point out a few things right before we left. There were 2 places on the ceiling where Michelangelo painted his likeness/face into the mural. One was in the picture of the last judgement - St. Bartholomew was holding his skin (in the bible he was skinned alive) and Michelangelo painted his face on the skin. Creepy! The other spot was in the back on a picture of a guy laying headless on a bed and two women carrying his head in a basket - that head had the face of Michelangelo. Morbid!
And the BEST part of the Sistine Chapel - the DRAAAAMAAAA that happened! Again, picture us in the chapel - the beautiful, sacred place where people we just staring in awe at the beautiful murals. We were PACKED in like sardines in there - it was crazy crowded. And hard to move around. One of the older, American ladies that was with our tour, apparently got bumped by an Asian woman from another tour. Well the American lady turned around and PUSHED - like SHOVED the Asian lady, almost knocking her over!!! I still can't believe that happened! I mean, who does that? The Asian lady just stared the American lady down. (Good for her! I might have started a fight if it had been me!) THEN the American lady turned to her husband and started complaining about the "stupid Japanese tourists." Geez. No wonder everyone hates Americans!!
We couldn't go to St. Peter's because the Pope was having mass. Seriously - someone should have told him Holly and Josh were coming so he could have rescheduled. :)
On the way back from the tour, we got off the bus right at the Trevi Fountain and toured around a bit more on our own. We walked around the outside of the Colosseum again too! Our feet were killing us, so we took a break on some steps overlooking the Colosseum. It was fun sitting there and people watching! Josh and me, just sittin and relaxin in Italy. Normal day, right? :)
The place we choose for lunch that day was alright...def not the best meal we had. I had gnocchi with 4 cheese sauce and Josh had spaghetti with seafood. I had caffe after the meal, which was the best part - mmmm!
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| Just sitting outside a ristorante in Rome, watching people walk by on the street, drinking caffe, with the Italian Flag in the background. You know, a normal day. :) |
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| This pic cracks me up! Josh took a bunch of these pics of me looking sideways - we were just trying to take an artistic picture. The lady behind me must have wondered what I kept looking at - so she looked over too. :) |
For dinner, we tried to go somewhere new, but after sitting at a table for 20 minutes we figured the waiter didn't want to serve us because we were American. We left and went to the same restaurant we went to the first night - yum! At the restaurant, the waiter (which was the same guy we had the 1st time) told us we ordered wine the wrong way (the American way). He said Americans order wine before they order the food. The Italian way is to order food and then pair the wine with what you've ordered to eat. Well dude, just because I order xxx for dinner, doesn't mean I'm going to let you talk me into an 18 euro bottle of wine to pair with it. I'll take the cheapest bottle of red wine, no matter what I order! :) I had steak with rosemary oil and Josh had some type of pasta...can't remember more than that.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Big Red the Reliable
I got a flat tire this morning! :(
The car in front of me swerved to miss a broke pipe in the road, but I didn't have time to swerve so I ran over it...and it immediately blew my front tire. Uggg.
So I pulled over in the first place I saw...which just happened to be the parking lot of a sketchy bar. I called AAA to come change my tire, but then I had to tell 3 different AAA employees that I was in the parking lot of a bar. I sounded like a real winner! ;)
Anyway, the guy came in less than 15 minutes and changed out my tire. So I'm good to go now.
I'm so thankful I have AAA service, and that I have a working car. I got flashbacks of all the issues I had with my old car (Myrtle the Turtle) and it makes me remember how blessed I am to have a car that's reliable. I love Big Red! :)
The car in front of me swerved to miss a broke pipe in the road, but I didn't have time to swerve so I ran over it...and it immediately blew my front tire. Uggg.
So I pulled over in the first place I saw...which just happened to be the parking lot of a sketchy bar. I called AAA to come change my tire, but then I had to tell 3 different AAA employees that I was in the parking lot of a bar. I sounded like a real winner! ;)
Anyway, the guy came in less than 15 minutes and changed out my tire. So I'm good to go now.
I'm so thankful I have AAA service, and that I have a working car. I got flashbacks of all the issues I had with my old car (Myrtle the Turtle) and it makes me remember how blessed I am to have a car that's reliable. I love Big Red! :)
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Thanksgiving 2011!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! The 4 days off in a row were so nice - especially since after Italy, I have no other vacation time to use.
Josh got pasta carbonara...surprise, surprise. :)
That boy loves his carbonara. :)
Thanksgiving day we spent with Josh's family in Elberton. Pecans are SUPER expensive right now, so all morning we picked up the pecans in his grandparents yard so they could sell them for profit. Josh's dad even climbed up in the pecan tress to shake some down. Only in the country!!!
I refrained from calling them rednecks. :)
Here's one of the buckets - I think we picked up about 8 - 10 buckets full. Maybe around $1000 worth of pecans!
I made the green bean casserole and a CUTE apple pie...that nobody ate. :( I'm going to tell my self that it was just too pretty and there were so many other desserts, that no one had room for pie.
Also got my hair cut during Thanksgiving break. I tried out Salon 11 in Dunwoody - I was SO impressed! I loved the girl who cut my hair - she was super nice and did a great job. She even showed me how to curl my hair with the straightener.
We also got a Kinect. :)
We made some pasta carbonara. It was just as good as what we had in Italy. :)
Josh hung up some icicle lights on our house. We def need more outside Christmas decorations.
Speaking of rednecks...look what was hiding on the side of my house!!!!!!!!! Yes, folks, that's my old oven that I thought my wonderful husband had put out on the street for the trash collectors to dispose of. NOPE! He decided instead to hide it on the side of our house right before we had a bunch of people over for our "kitchen open house" and then forgot about it. Argh. Sometimes...I worry about that boy... I told him that we don't live out in the country - we can leave junk in our yard!
We also went Christmas shopping for my niece and nephew. She wanted this Barbie (umm...I don't know any doctors who wear shoes like that!) and he wanted an ice cream play-dough set. Both toys look like so much fun! I told Josh I wanted to play with them too!
Got out my cute table decorations!
Lacey and Jack were happy to have us home for 4 days. Love my happy baby girl!
How many days until the Christmas break? :)
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Saturday Morning Scene
I'm working on another Italy post, but for now, it's just another quick Sat Morning Scene.
Gooooooo dawgs!!!!!
Gooooooo dawgs!!!!!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
My 15 Minutes
Y'all.
I was on TV!!!
Back in August, a few of my friends and I went to a taping of the show Family Feud. The tickets were free (we love free!) and Josh and I always enjoyed the show back when we didn't have cable and there was nothing else on. :)
We really didn't expect to be on tv. The seats weren't assigned, and I figured the people who got there before us would probably get the best seats. We didn't even know if the show would be aired. But somehow, Josh and I were on TV for a good 15 minutes near the end of the show! We've been DVRing all the episodes and our episode was finally on last Wednesday. When we saw us on TV, well...I'm not going to lie...we got, like, really DORKY excited!! I was pretty much jumping up and down and squealing - it was sooooo exciting to see myself on TV!!
So yeah, I'm kind of a big deal now. I always wanted to be a TV star. :)
I was on TV!!!
Back in August, a few of my friends and I went to a taping of the show Family Feud. The tickets were free (we love free!) and Josh and I always enjoyed the show back when we didn't have cable and there was nothing else on. :)
We really didn't expect to be on tv. The seats weren't assigned, and I figured the people who got there before us would probably get the best seats. We didn't even know if the show would be aired. But somehow, Josh and I were on TV for a good 15 minutes near the end of the show! We've been DVRing all the episodes and our episode was finally on last Wednesday. When we saw us on TV, well...I'm not going to lie...we got, like, really DORKY excited!! I was pretty much jumping up and down and squealing - it was sooooo exciting to see myself on TV!!
So yeah, I'm kind of a big deal now. I always wanted to be a TV star. :)
Viva Italia! - Day 3
*All Viva Italia blog entries are re-written from the journal I took with me on our awesome vacation to Italy.*
10/23/2011
1st full day in Rome! WOW!
We thought we were going to miss our tour since we didn't realize the meeting point wasn't walking distance from the bed and breakfast. Oops! But, we made it to the Metro and all the way to the Coliseum in a 1/2 hour and got there right on time! The tour was so awesome! The Coliseum was just...wow. Just SO cool! HUGE and so old. It was was amazing to think of all the gladiators that fought there. After the Coliseum, we went to the Forum - also crazy to think about how old the monuments there are. We saw Cesar's remains and the Temple of Vestas. The history was so interesting! We also saw lots of arches, which are called Triumph Arches. After an emperor won a battle, they would have a parade and build a huge arch to pass under in remembrance. Then, every emperor after that would have to pass under the last guy's arch and remember the battles that were won before him.
(The camera battery died 1/2 way through this tour. So lots of our pics are from Josh's phone. Boo.)
After that, we walked to the Trevi Fountain. On the way, we saw Mussolini's balcony and Emanuel's Plaza (our guide said that Italians call it the wedding cake because it looks like a huge white wedding cake). I threw a coin backwards into the Trevi Fountain - that means that I'll come back to Rome one day!
Next, we saw the Pantheon - it's weird to think of how when it rains, it rains right into the Pantheon!
Lunch that day:
Josh - Fungi ravioli
Holly - Fettuccine with salmon and shrimp
We also split an antipasto platter which was super yummy. It had moz cheese (that almost squirted all over me when I tried to cut it) 3 types of meat, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, olives and some tiny peppers. Mmm!! And we had our first gelato!!!!! I had caffè and Josh had limoncello.
Yum!
After our tour, we walked around a bit more and then went back to rest a while at the hotel.
For dinner, we went to a little pizza place that had a brick oven. The guys making the pizza seriously twirled the dough up in the air. So much fun! We split a pizza with 4 flavors - (1) margarita pizza with rocket (tomato sauce, moz, basil and arugula), (2) something that started with a D (onions, smoked moz and peppers), (3) gorgonzola, (4) fungi (mushrooms). We also had another tasty bottle of red wine and more tiramisu!
Awesome day in Rome!!
10/23/2011
1st full day in Rome! WOW!
We started out with a little breakfast, which was served in our room at the romantic bed and breakfast! :)
We thought we were going to miss our tour since we didn't realize the meeting point wasn't walking distance from the bed and breakfast. Oops! But, we made it to the Metro and all the way to the Coliseum in a 1/2 hour and got there right on time! The tour was so awesome! The Coliseum was just...wow. Just SO cool! HUGE and so old. It was was amazing to think of all the gladiators that fought there. After the Coliseum, we went to the Forum - also crazy to think about how old the monuments there are. We saw Cesar's remains and the Temple of Vestas. The history was so interesting! We also saw lots of arches, which are called Triumph Arches. After an emperor won a battle, they would have a parade and build a huge arch to pass under in remembrance. Then, every emperor after that would have to pass under the last guy's arch and remember the battles that were won before him.
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| Gladiators! |
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| Professional tug-of-war players. |
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| Caesar's remains. |
After that, we walked to the Trevi Fountain. On the way, we saw Mussolini's balcony and Emanuel's Plaza (our guide said that Italians call it the wedding cake because it looks like a huge white wedding cake). I threw a coin backwards into the Trevi Fountain - that means that I'll come back to Rome one day!
Next, we saw the Pantheon - it's weird to think of how when it rains, it rains right into the Pantheon!
Lunch that day:
Josh - Fungi ravioli
Holly - Fettuccine with salmon and shrimp
We also split an antipasto platter which was super yummy. It had moz cheese (that almost squirted all over me when I tried to cut it) 3 types of meat, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, olives and some tiny peppers. Mmm!! And we had our first gelato!!!!! I had caffè and Josh had limoncello.
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| Half of the antipasto platter |
Yum!
After our tour, we walked around a bit more and then went back to rest a while at the hotel.
For dinner, we went to a little pizza place that had a brick oven. The guys making the pizza seriously twirled the dough up in the air. So much fun! We split a pizza with 4 flavors - (1) margarita pizza with rocket (tomato sauce, moz, basil and arugula), (2) something that started with a D (onions, smoked moz and peppers), (3) gorgonzola, (4) fungi (mushrooms). We also had another tasty bottle of red wine and more tiramisu!
Awesome day in Rome!!
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