Dustin & Cori Schwartz

sick, sick, sick.

2012-01-27T00:07:00.000-08:00

I hate being sick. And of course I have to catch a cold right before the weekend! And a BIG and IMPORTANT weekend at that! If you don't know what I am talking about, you will shortly find out :) But let me tell you, it's good.

So anyway...here I am on my deathbed (okay, so I may be a little dramatic) and all I want to do is lay around and watch The Bachelor. But I don't have any new episodes in my que. It's a big bummer.

SPEAKING of The Bachelor!!! (are you watching??) Here is my theory... I always pick out a girl I want to win and then miraculously she makes it to the final two! Only to NOT be picked and I am totally blindsided. So here is what I think the producers do: They purposely highlight one girl the WHOLE season and make it look like she is THE ONE, then show negative things about another girl, who the guy ends up picking! So this season I have chosen Kacie B. as my favorite, but because of my theory, I predict Courtney to win.

Any thoughts???

Look what I made today...

2012-01-20T12:23:00.000-08:00

I went to jewelry club and with the help of Shawn, designed and made earrings and a necklace

The big orange bead is an Asian-looking fish :)

I also made fresh guacamole (YUM!)

and had tacos for lunch :)

Hope you all had a great Friday! YAY for the weekend!

catching-up

2012-01-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't been on here in awhile....oops...but my goal for this year is to try and post once a week. We shall see how that works out.

But in the mean time, to catch you up from my last post, in November we went to Malta for Thanksgiving and in December after I finished up the semester, we took a little vaca to Montana and Utah for Christmas and New Years. We had a GREAT time! I put pictures up of both of these trips on Facebook so take a look if you haven't already.

Now we are back in Italy for the next nine months. Wewill sadly be leaving here in September, but we have yet to find out where to. We could get an assignment as early as February, so I will keep you posted.

So I have been terribly bored since coming back. The weather is cold and school doesn't start for another two weeks. My house is the only one that is benefiting from this predicament.

Also, my nails. I bought some new polish in the states and have been experimenting. Here are a few pics of what I did tonight:

OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts and CoverGirl Disco Dazzle

Love it!

Hopefully we have exciting things happening soon cuz I am not sure how much more down-time I can handle! I think I need to plan a trip...

not a "real" update but at least it's something...

2011-11-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

So I know that I have been absent on the blog lately. School and other responsibilities have totally taken over my life. I am really looking forward to some R&R on our vacation next week to Malta. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! I will miss being in America and eating mashed potatoes and pie...

P.S. Here are some pics of us last month preparing for Halloween for your viewing pleasure.

This is NOT Olive Garden peeps!

2011-10-25T03:37:00.000-07:00

Real Italian is SO much better!

Here is some of the yummy food we have eaten lately. OH and I've added a few german favs too. Hope you enjoy :)

Pizza Verdure AKA: veggie pizza- mushrooms, yellow and red pepper, zucchini, eggplant and YES those are french fries :) I literally crave this pizza at least once a week.

German chicken and fries yummy!

Fusilli ricotta e pesto AKA: Spiral pasta with ricotta cheese and pesto

Ravioli ricotta e alle erbe con panna AKA: Ravioli filled with ricotta cheese and herbs topped with a cream sauce. This is my favorite pasta to order and I get it basically every time we go out. Sometimes it comes with mushrooms or ham. This one I actually got at the mall.

Same dish as above but shown with my focaccia bread

Goulash with dumpling AKA: German stew. IT. IS. awesome. period.

Torte al Cioccolato AKA: Chocolate cake! Well kind of. It's the closest thing to it and its really really good. My italian friend Barbara made one this summer for a BBQ and it was the best Italian torte I have ever tasted.

Spaghetti Arrabiato AKA: This literally means "angry pasta." It is REALLY spicy and fabulous!

Oktoberfest!

2011-10-04T01:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a trip to Munich, Germany for OKTOBERFEST!!

You may think, "Isn't that just one giant drinking party?"

Why yes. yes, it is. I have never seen so many drunkards in my life.

We steered clear of that but had a blast anyway and there are other things to do besides getting what my husband calls "smammered." (which would be totally wasted.)

*One, we ate really good food. Chicken, some donut like thing with sugar all over it, white chocolate dipped strawberries, apple strudel and goulash.

*Two, we rode really scary rides.

*Three, we checked out all the cool traditional German dresses and lederhosen.

*Four, we shopped for souvenirs

Some of the beer tents

Gingerbread cookies

We went into the Hofbrau tent

Chicken and pretzels

We had to check-in to facebook!

Our waitress could carry eight beers at a time!

This is a hill where all the drunks passed out

Another beer tent

We watched at least six people get carried away on stretchers

The best treat of the day had to be the white chocolate covered strawberries!

This is the CRAZY ride that made us sick

Oh what do we do in the summer time...

2011-09-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

Go to the market, that's what!

Here are some pictures we have taken at the Aviano Market this last spring and summer.

We don't always take pictures when we go to the market but these first pictures were taken when we went with Dustin's dad in April.

Aren't they beautiful?!?

I bought some colored branches for spring

and these are some of the pictures Alissa took of the market while she was here in June:

They sell curtains.

and clothes.

Alissa in front of the fruit and veggie stand

the candy stand

AWE look at those GREEN pepper and tomato plants.... (for the results of those plants click here. I swear you'll be impressed. )

Yummy cheese

If you come visit us we will take you here I promise!

and you will love it.

FYI...

2011-09-21T03:44:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to let you all know that I tried on a jumpsuit the other day at H&M and the verdict is still in... I need a jumpsuit!

It was super cute except it wasn't my size. It was one size too small.

I guess I will just have to keep looking :)

garden results...

2011-09-19T02:46:00.001-07:00

So my "garden" didn't do so well this year. In fact, they died. (You remember, right? Those tomatoes and peppers I planted. If you don't, check it out here) Well, apparently you can't water plants during the day because the heat will kill the roots. I only learned this AFTER doing it all summer. I did get a few cherry tomatoes but didn't dare eat them after I saw the neighbors dog peeing on my plants multiple times. (What?!)

So instead of showing off my beautiful accomplishments, here are some pictures of my friend Vikki's garden that IS beautiful and DID do well...

{grapes!}

{grape vines!}

{gourds} Apparently you don't eat these?!?

{kiwi's!} You should see the millions of them her trees produced

{figs!}

{pomegranates!}

I love all the cool stuff you can grow in Italy.

P.S. My flowers faired much better than the vegetables. Though they still had it rough. They are coming back to life though! If only to last through October.

Entertainment

2011-09-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes just for a good laugh I will pull up KSL.com and take a glance at what they call "news." The headlines KILL me!

So tonight, after Dustin got home from work, we had a

Battle-of-the-Headlines.

FOXnews.com VS. KSL.com

Dustin, pulling for FOX found these awesome titles:

"Delind Police on Look-Out for Streaker"

"Spongebob in Hot-Water Over Behavioral Study"

"Good Ole Fashion Orgy"

Me, pulling for KSL found these beauties:

"Apartments Near Full Capacity in Salt Lake Valley"

"Bus Hits Pole in School Parking Lot" (Don't worry. No one was hurt.)

"Homeowners Band Together to Solve Landscaping Dilema"

I win because KSL also had the Spongebob article. Go KSL!!

Anyone have any examples of lame-headlines you have found???

I've come to a decision...

2011-09-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

I want a jumpsuit.

Yes, you heard me right. A jumpsuit.

There are certain stipulations though:

1) The pattern must be bold. I feel like if you are going to make the bold statement of a jumpsuit you must also have the bold pattern to go with it. OR mustard yellow. For that I make an exception.

2) It must be full-length

3) It MUST also be a wide-leg. I think we all know why.

4) It cannot be metallic or leopard print. (yes, I have run into a few of these and no, it is not pretty.)

5) It must NOT zipper up the front like pajama's. It's gotta be classy people!

6) I cannot think of anything else right now but if you have a suggestion you are welcome to leave a comment!

P.S. I am now on page 26 of 87 on Etsy looking for the perfect one. I found one a few months ago that I LOVED but Dustin didn't like it. It was hawaiian print and had a tiger on it. It was super cool.

Movieland. AKA: Is this LEGAL?!?

2011-09-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

One weekend in August we decided to head to a local amusement park about 3 hours from here instead of sit around the house being bored. We went to the park during the day and then did a Medieval dinner show that night.

It was super fun but let me tell you what.... Movieland is probably the scariest amusement park I have EVER been to. We about died.

There are no real rules at this park. We rode one ride that a man was actually driving the truck we rode in (meaning it was not on a track) and he went flying over the bumps and hills. He also slammed it into reverse and we went flying into a lake.

And best of all.... there are no seat belts on this ride or ANY of the other rides! One lady even had her baby on her lap for one ride and almost lost her child.

On another ride we were required to step down a tiny steep ladder into a submarine in the dark while there were gallons of water being dumped on us to simulate bombs going off in the water. It was scary and quite hilarious at the same time.

Once inside the cramped space, you sat on a pipe (of course no seat belts) facing another row of people on a pipe. Then you were violently rocked back and forth while water from an overhead sprinkler poured down. All the while trying not to fall onto the other row of people on the pipe. The entire time I couldn't stop laughing because of how ridiculous it was.

We really had a great time and couldn't help but talk about how much this would NOT fly in the states.

WELCOME TO ITALY!!

entrance to the park

their version of Hollywood Tower of Terror

This was taken right before getting in the truck of death.

This ride was in the kiddy land and it was so much fun. It probably went on for 10 minutes. It spun forward and then went backward. I really enjoyed the first 8 minutes but then I was ready to get off for fear of being sick.

The Medieval show was great and the food was really good.

One note to self: I am deathly allergic to horses. I could have used an epi-pen.

hot?... or not?

2011-08-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

okay........maybe hot isn't the right word......

But what about charming, comely, neat, vintage, intriguing, or delightful???

Where did I get it, you ask???....I bought this little beauty (whilst in Utah) at a thrift store for 4 dollars. ($4!) I could not believe that somebody had given it up! What were they thinking?(!!)

I totally fell in love but my husband was not impressed. He says I am not allowed to wear it around him unless other people think it is as cute as i do. (which he does NOT think will happen)

So I really need some support here! What do you think??? Even if you tell me you hate it, it probably won't change my feelings about it or hurt my feelings for that matter. So let me know what you think and if you would ever wear it!

REWIND! part tre.

2011-08-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here are the rest of our pictures from Salzburg! We walked along the river, did some shopping at an antique store, checked out Mozart's house, had the BEST (italian) meal ever at Trattoria Domani, and bought some famous Mozart chocolate.

Mozart's house

In case you missed it... part uno and due are here and here

REWIND! part due.

2011-08-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from when Alissa and I went to Salzburg, Austria in June. There happened to be a parade going on when we first got there that we watched and then we took a tour that guided us to some of the sites where they filmed the movie Sound of Music.

The Sound of Music tour! (You many now start singing, "Do Re Mi")

Mirabell Gardens

The Abbey

We loved our tour guide and had to get a picture with her.

Stay tunned for the rest of our Salzburg pics!

nail up-date

2011-08-19T03:12:00.000-07:00

the Modge Podge worked! It has now been 9 days since I painted my nails and I only have two (that's right! TWO!) chips! Hallelujah! I will never use top coat again.

You should try this out!

2011-08-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Okay this is sweet! i found this on another blog and decided to try it out. it's a nail painting technique called water-marbling. i loved it but i have a few pointers to give you that i had to figure out on my own that were not on the tutorial i watched on the other blog.

Here is what you will need:

*two or three nail polish colors (i used O.P.I. alpine snow, jade is the new black, and need sunglasses?)

*a plastic or paper cup

*lukewarm water

*toothpicks

*scotch tape

*paper towels

1-fill your cup with lukewarm water and have your paper towels ready with a few toothpicks

2- paint a base coat with one of your colors. (this was helpful for when the color misses a spot or goes on thin)

3- so your going to do one nail at a time. you'll need to tape around your fingernail to keep from getting polish all over your finger. i used 4 pieces: one for the bottom, one for each side, and one along the top.

4- drop one drop of nail polish into the water and let it spread out. then place one drop on top of another rotating colors.

make sure that they spread out quite a bit or it won't work! it needs to look like the picture above and NOT like the picture below. i found that if the first drop dried then the other colors won't spread out and then you will have too much polish on your nail (and not in a cute pattern).

5- now take a toothpick and draw the outside colors in.

one trick i found was to not mix it up too much. you want to see the individual colors and not just a make a blended new color. also, don't pull in from the very first drop, or you will collapse the whole thing. for example, i first put in a drop of white but i pulled it in from the jade color. (hope this makes sense. if not, send me a comment!)

6- take your taped finger and dip it into the middle of the polish. be careful not to put your finger into the water too fast. pull your finger out and let it dry for about 30 seconds and then remove the tape. i was shocked at how fast the polish dried!

7- take the toothpick and swirl it around in the water to pick up the rest of the polish. (here is where you will need your paper towels) now you can start over on the next finger!

oh one more tip: you may have to change the water out if it starts to not work as well on later nails. i couldn't figure out why it wasn't working after i had done almost all of my nails and then i changed the water and TA-DAH!

the finished product! So yes, it took quite a bit longer than just painting your nails and because of this i decided to modge podge over the top to try and prolong their life. i will let you know if it works!

i love them! happy painting!

i want to steal this....

2011-08-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

Remember how cool it was to have pencils and notebooks with your name on them? Yeah i never got to experience that. The closest i could get was "cory." I so wished to have something with my name on it!

But look at this!! We saw this sign of italian cities when we were leaving Rimini and my name is on there! I about had a freak out.

Okay, so I did. Dustin was like, "Yes, it's cool. But you can stop screaming now."

But it's the first time I have seen ANYTHING with my name spelled so close to it's real spelling EVER. and get this... my "italian" nickname from a few friends here is Corianno so it was doubly exciting. (yes, my italian friend corrected us and told me it is the masculine version. hummm.)

Yep. Pretty dang cool.

REWIND! part uno.

2011-08-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I have been meaning to post. These are of the trip me and Alissa took to Venice in June. It was so much fun because all we did was eat and shop our way to San Marco Piazza. It was fan-tab-ulous!

Grabbing some lunch

After lunch we stopped at a chocolate store

Later we picked up some cherries at the market

We bought so much stuff! (so maybe we convince each other to buy things. just maybe.)

We ate our cherries in San Marco Piazza

One of the best times in Venice. EVER.

motivation?? hopefully.

2011-07-30T05:25:00.000-07:00

My husband has become a gym rat. I don't really know when or how this happened, but I can tell you that it can be quite annoying. He talks about it ALL the time. Going on and on and on.... He has wanted me to start coming with him but with school and everything else I have been to busy. But now that I am done with a couple of classes and my schedule has opened up I couldn't keep telling him no.

I really haven't felt any motivation to go so I thought that maybe I needed a gym outfit. Usually when it involves clothing or shoes, I am much more interested. Shopping for workout clothes is NOT as fun as shopping for vintage dresses or purses, but it had to do.

Here's to hoping it works!

(p.s. Anyone else feel this same way?!?)

Our summer so far. According to my iPhone.

2011-07-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering what I am up to this summer...

2011-07-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

It's this...

and this....

and this.

I want to do something fun for a change. Please school, end soon!

"attention-hog"

2011-07-09T01:25:00.000-07:00

There's a certain "somebody" in this house that requires a lot of attention.

I won't name names.

But I think we all enjoy it!

gardening!

2011-07-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

I love gardening in an apartment, AKA: Pots! It's great because it means no weeds or bugs. Italy also makes it easier to garden with all our humidity. (if I forget to water no big deal!) Just my style!

Tomatoes and peppers

Flower boxes

How cute is a baby hedgehog on a scale of 1-10??

2011-06-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

A 10!!!

We saw this cute little guy last night waddling through the neighbors yard. Dustin and I were outside around midnight watching a lightning storm when we saw something in the neighbors yard. At first we thought it was a mouse but after grabbing the flashlight we realized it was a mama and baby hedgehog! He was SO CUTE following his mom. She would walk a little ways and then stop for him to catch up. OH it was to die for! Before they could disappear into the bushes Dustin walked after them and took a picture. Of course I had to see it too, so I went running through the yard and tripped on a cement barrier around a flower bed. I seriously thought I broke my toe. But no fear! I only ripped off the TOENAIL!! AHH it hurts so bad. (My friend Viki said that I must have been so excited to see the baby hedgehog that I didn't cry.) But my quiet screaming that I broke my toe did prompt one of my Italian neighbors to come outside and scowl at us. All we could do was point to the hedgehogs and limp away. (okay that was just me. But it HURT!)

OH and Viki has a thing for baby hedgehogs and compares everything on a cuteness level with 1o being a baby hedgehog. She was a little upset I didn't call her at midnight and let her know.

Aren't they so cute?!?

My favorite thing might be "just-because" flowers.

2011-06-28T06:11:00.000-07:00

Family trip in a nutshell

2011-06-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of when my family came to visit. We had a great time and traveled ALL OVER! We first went to Verona, then Venice, Paris, Disneyland Paris, Pisa, Florence and finally Rome. We also had some extra time to check out the base and Roveredo In Piano. There were so many pictures I could post but I have chosen a few of the best ones. (and it's still a picture overload! sorry!)

eating pizza in Verona

Me and Alissa with the statue of Giulietta in Verona

Overlooking the city of Verona

Alissa, Logan and Dustin at the Verona Arena

On the water taxi in Venice

In San Marco Square, Venice

On a Gondola!

In front of the Arc de Triomphe

The Lourve

As you can tell we had a lot of fun taking pictures with the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Michaelangelo's piazza that overlooks Florence

The baptistry doors at the Duomo in Florence

Throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain

Hanging out on the Spanish Steps

YAY for patios so I could buy patio furntiure!

2011-05-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

YAY! The patio cushions I bought for my new patio set from Ikea arrived today! I feel so old for being SO excited about patio furniture. But thats how it gets, right? Being married and all. You care about things like patio sets and matching oven mitts.

Another thing I am excited for??? My family to arrive tomorrow! Maybe tomorrow night we could have dinner on that certain patio set with those certain new cushions.... How sweet would THAT be?!

Ramblings

2011-05-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

I looked at my blog today and I haven't posted anything in over a month! My goal at the first of the year was to post every 5 days or so...hasn't happened yet. OH WELL. In my defense, I have been pretty busy. But... I have made it home (after 30+ hours!) and I am feeling mighty JET-LAGGED. I think I will take a nap. And yes, you can nap at 8pm when you are jet-lagged. (though it might not be the best idea.) And maybe I should find me something for dinner. I guess I should also unpack my suitcase. Man I have lots to do! But good news is that my family arrives next week! I CANNOT wait to show them around. Maybe I should just leave the suitcase packed. ANYWAY, I think I might find something more interesting to post later this week....OH I have pics from a pretty fancy tea-party I attended to show off. And my brothers homecoming.

One other note: Happy Mother's Day on Sunday. Especially to my own mom! I love you!

'round the block

2011-04-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I took the last time I went for a walk "around the block" in our neighborhood. I use the term "block" loosely. There is really no such thing here but we recently found this path that goes from our house through some fields and back through the neighborhood to our house. It is delightful! And the weather has been fabulous for walking. Like 70 degrees nice. I know, right?!? Fab-U-LouS!

We'll just chalk it up to a memorable experience...

2011-04-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

Friday was Dustin's birthday and the day he could officially wear his new Tech stripe. (Happy new stripe and birthday day!!) It also happened to be his one day off a week. (Boo to only having one day off and working 12's the other 6 days.) So I decided to surprise him at work and took him a cake at midnight on Thursday to celebrate. It was also a good excuse to share with his coworkers and not to have a humongous cake sitting on the counter for me to eat. It was a good compromise. I even found a recipe for white chocolate macadamia cake which is his favorite cookie. But it was in cake form. Cool, huh? Oh and it had homemade cream cheese frosting. Who doesn't love cream cheese frosting?!?!

Anyway... So we spent much of Friday being lazy and flying his plane a couple of times. (Don't worry the interesting part comes soon.) We decided it might be fun to head to Venice and eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. We got to the train station, purchased tickets and waited for the 6:43 train. And waited and waited. It was late. So late that we figured it just wasn't going to come. (and this really NEVER happens.) When the time came and went for the 7:23 train we were really wondering if we should just head home. But at 7:35 we had a train! We finally arrived in Venice at 8:50pm, purchased our water taxi tickets and hopped on. I counted it out. We had eight stops. We just kept thinking, "If we can get there by 9:30 we will be okay." (Oh I forgot to mention we had a time crunch because the last train out of Venice is 11:56 and if you miss that one you are spending the night.) So of course, at stop one, Piazzale Roma, we have to sit at the dock for 10 minutes! Finally we start moving again but we get to Ponte Rialto and they kick everyone off! WHAT?! Ummm...NO I have to get to San Marco Piazza! Now we have a ten minute walk to the Hard Rock. By the time we get there it is 9:45 and it's a half-hour wait to sit down. There's just not enough time. We decide that maybe we should just head to the Burger King that we are pretty sure is "just around the corner" (you know where this is going don't you...) After walking and walking and walking some more we come to the square where we remember it's in. OH and it's CLOSED DOWN! Completely dark and boarded up. Now what to do.... We decide to head back to the Rialto and try and sit down to eat and then hurry to the station.

We did find a nice little place right along the canal and it had really cute lights, and the food wasn't too bad. The best part was they had a VERY clean bathroom WITH a toilet! (This is really something to treasure.) I was grateful we at least found this place. Oh I forgot to mention that during dinner I got a text from my friend saying that Italy was having a train and transportation strike. Would have been good to know!!

After a nice dinner we hurried to the train station and realized we might make the 11:06 train home. But of course, with our luck, we walked up to the head of the train just as it was pulling away.

So even though nothing went as planned. And we spent a lot of time jogging through Venice. It was still a fun night with the hubby. Hopefully soon we can try and make it to the Hard Rock for real. Happy Birthday Dustin!

Dustin is now 29! Holy cow. This is also when we still had hopes for the earlier train.

Finally seated at a restaurant!

Beautiful view right beside our table!

Just for laughs...

2011-03-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

I saw this list on someones blog and they are TOTALLY TRUE!

*Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

*I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

*Was learning cursive really necessary?

*Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

*Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

*I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

*Bad decisions make good stories.

*Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

*I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

*"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

*I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? **** it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

*I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

*I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

*I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

*Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

*I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

*The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

*I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

*How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

*I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

*Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

*Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

*Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....

*While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

*Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say"

*As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists.

*Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

*Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

*Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

He totally deserves it :)

2011-03-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Dustin got a new toy for his birthday/promotion to Tech. I thought that I was in charge of getting him a nice gift, but turns out he ordered it for himself and bought it two months early! Whatever. As long as he is happy, right? And boy is he happy! He had to put it together and was able to fly it two fridays ago. I was just a teensy bit worried he was going to crash it (only a little bit), but he didn't! YAY! He did an amazing job actually. Too bad he is on twelve hour shifts for awhile or he could fly it more.

Two of his planes

Last checks before the first flight

Turns out I was too busy taking video of his flight to get any pictures in the air. Next time! Good job hubby and congrats on your promotion!!

I HATE laundry! More specifically the laundry mat.

2011-03-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

Every week I dread having to do laundry. When we moved in and had our TMO appliances delivered we found out that the hook up for the washer was behind the toilet in the garage and wouldn't reach. The other hook up is in the utility closet on the balcony off our bedroom, where we wanted to put our dishwasher. I had a decision to make: dishwasher or washing machine. I chose the dishwasher. (and if you are wondering: yes. I carry all my dishes through the house to my bedroom and OUTSIDE to the balcony. and yes. it IS worth it.)

So since we have no washer, (we subsequently sent back the dryer as well) we have to do laundry at the laundry mat. Which I hate. It is always crowded and smells like pee.

Well a couple of weeks ago I realized something that makes me hate the laundry mat even more. I realized that sometime between November and January I left a whole load of darks in the dryer. A WHOLE LOAD. And it included some clothing I really really liked. My first clue that stuff was missing was when Dustin first asked me where his black Hurley shirt was. I thought that he must have misplaced it. Slowly I started to figure out things that I was missing. Like my favorite grey sweats, a black long sleeve shirt and a grey jacket. I went back to look for all the missing items but they must have already thrown them out. I was too late at realizing what I had done. I am really bummed out. I can't wait till I have my own laundry room again. Or at least my own washer and dryer.

Oh and the other thing I hate about going to the laundry mat: walking ALL my laundry up and down two flights of stairs and putting it in the car. And just my luck I usually end up doing laundry on rainy days.

Laundry is my enemy. Enough said!

Here is one cute kitty playing in the sheets! (but it's only cute until he gets his claws stuck.)

Chief Induction ceremony

2011-03-03T05:25:00.001-08:00

Okay so technically the Chief Induction ceremony was the last week in January but I forgot to post it! Our friend Todd made Chief this year...CONGRATS to him and his family! We had a good time with okay food, (it was served by the club) and GREAT company. I had so much fun with all the girls getting dressed up!

The Folks fam: Todd, Viki and Ben

Me and Dustin

All the boys!

All the girls!

New 'do and new love!

2011-02-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

One Sunday night on Skype my sister and I decided we needed a change....we wanted BANGS! I mean full bangs. I have had the swoop thing since beauty school! That is crazy forever ago and I definitely needed a change. That night I showed Dustin a picture of what I was wanting and he was all for it. I told him maybe that weekend I would do it. He was like, "Why, not right now?" So I tromped to the bathroom and wacked them off. Immediately I regretted it. The first week I had them, I pretty much pulled them back every day. I would shock myself in the mirror. For the first time EVER I understood how people feel when I cut their hair off or we do something totally different. Like bangs :)

Now 5 weeks later, I absolutely LOVE them! They are finally laying good and they are a little bit longer then when I first cut them. (ha ha I had some drama. I would cut them and they would be too blunt, so I would take my thinning shears to them and then they would get too wispy so I would have to cut them again. BROTHER.) My sister also cut her some bangs and they are ADORABLE on her! I wish I had a picture of her or of us together sporting them :(

Oh! So tonight I found Photo Booth on my Mac and it is so COOL! I can't wait for Dustin to come home from work so we can play around and take pictures! I have always been in love with real photo booths (and even while we were in London I made the hubby get in one with me. It sucked though because it ended up being only one picture and it was printed on REGULAR computer paper! I was a little upset. Dustin tried to carry it around that day and not smash it but it didn't really work.)

So I took some pics of my new do!

Isn't this style cool?!? This just might be my new favorite thing :)

Question...

2011-02-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

I have a question for you all....How do you respond to comments/questions that you get on your blog posts? I am having a hard time trying to figure out if it is best to comment back on my blog or through facebook or e-mail. How do you do it or how would you like me to do it???

I want you to know that I appreciate all your comments and that I DO read them. I just didn't know the best way to respond. So I am sorry if you have felt ignored!

Hope you all had a great weekend and Happy President's Day!

homework assistance and other misc. things...

2011-02-17T11:42:00.000-08:00

The other night I was working on homework and I got a little "helper." Sayla thought she needed to come and sit with me and put her paws on my work. Every time I kicked her off, she would come back. It was too cute to not get a picture of.

Then she decided to climb from my lap to the table and SIT on my homework...what a stinker!

P.S. This semester I am taking College Algebra and am ROCKING it! My first three test scores have been 97, 104, and 101! SAWEET! I totally thought I would suck at this and totally fail. (Can you tell I am a little excited???)

That same night when Dustin got home from work we played cards and this is what happens when Dustin lets Bosa get ahold of one....

But isn't that face cute?!?

Happy Valentines day!

2011-02-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day! Here is the recap of our valentines. We celebrated mostly on Saturday since Dustin works nights and would be working on Monday.

I made white-chocolate dipped oreos. YUMMY!

My parents and siblings are so sweet and sent us valentines in the mail. They also sent those conversation hearts that are VERY cute, but taste VERY disgusting. I decided to make a little frame with them. So while Dustin played video games on Saturday afternoon, I crafted! YAY! I haven't done it for forever and had almost forgotten how fun it is.

I found this shadowbox frame at the BX and painted it different shades of pink

Then hot-glued the hearts onto cardstock

Added a ribbon and a pearl straight pin and TA-DA! I absolutely LOVE it!

Valentines gifts, YAY! Dustin was so sweet and got me chocolates and new perfume. I gave him a new tie, a car magazine and an i-Tunes gift card.

For dinner we picked up Donnor Kebabs from a great little place in Porcia that we LOVE!

We had a fabulous day and hope you all did as well!

We LOVE you family and friends!

London 2011

2011-02-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

In November I decided I wanted to go to London, and I wanted to go for New Years. But when I started looking at flights and hotels I realized it could get a little pricey. I then looked at flights for the middle of January and it was only 30 Euro per person! We decided to go then and since we got flights for so cheap, spent a little more on a hotel to be able to stay in downtown. We seriously had the BEST time! I loved London and want to go back. (because of this we put Lakenheath as #1 on our dreamsheet :) Let's all hope for England!)

We arrived on Tuesday the 11th around 6:00pm and took the train from the airport into London. We checked into our hotel and then started the hunt for dinner. We ended up at a Pizza Hut, and since we haven't had REAL american food in awhile, (Dustin longer than me) it was DELISH!

Wednesday morning we stopped to take pictures in Trafalgar Square and then walked to Buckingham Palace.

Cool old double-decker bus

Trafalgar Square

Buckingham Palace!

This is where we stood to watch the changing of the guard. The show lasted for almost an hour! AND the band played showtunes and rock--cool but weird!

The band

After the changing of the guard we walked through St. James park and headed towards Parliament Square and Westminster Abbey. This is a picture of the church.

We tried to go to the London Eye but it was closed for maintenance. For lunch we ate at Chipolte and afterwards we wondered through some used book stores and I picked up a book for only 1 pound!

We ended the night at the show "We Will Rock You" and it was awesome! The singers and the band did an amazing job.

Thursday morning we actually headed back to Westminster Abbey to go inside. Sorry, no pics of the inside, it wasn't allowed :( We also stopped to take pictures of Big Ben and some of the phone booths.

After we saw the church, we headed to lunch then to the National Museum of History.

For Lunch we ate at a pub and had meat pies and they were oh-so-good!

This is the grand entrance into the museum and it is gorgeous! After the museum we stopped by Harrods, which is a HUGE and EXPENSIVE department store and Hamleys, a five story toy store. We finished the night by going out to dinner at T. G. I. Fridays, which was crazy expensive. We spent 65 USD on one appetizer, two meals, one coke, one water and dessert! I think it was worth it though :)

Friday morning we started out taking a tour of the Tower Bridge, which was totally cool.

After the tour we went over to Covent Garden to watch some of the street performers and check out the shopping. We had lunch at this place called Maxwell's and Dustin had two orders of wings and I had the BEST nachos I have EVER eaten!

We spent our last night at "WICKED" and it was amazing! I LOVE that show. Right after it ended I wanted to see it again. Dustin even enjoyed it :)

Oh here is a random picture of the underground. Way easy to use!

We had so much fun, and can't wait to go back. If you are going to come to Europe, London should be on your list! Right behind coming to see us in Italy of course :)

Roveredo's bonfire!

2011-01-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you all remember last year when I mentioned the bonfires that happen all over northern Italy. Last year we had our own bonfire, but this year some friends and I went to the community one in Roveredo, which happens to be across the street from our house. The bonfires are always on January 5th, which is the night before Epiphany, and are lit all over northern Italy to light the way for the 3 wise men looking for baby Jesus. They also burn a dummy called "vecia" which means old lady at the top of the fire. They burn her because they say she is guilty of all misfortune and mishaps from the previous year, so she must be burned. (Yep, kinda creepy.) Since Rachel's husband and Dustin had to work that night, we decided to make it a girls night. Veronica also came and I made dinner for us three. We had spinach dip and potato soup then walked over to the fire. These fires are HUGE and crazy hot. We had to stand back quite a ways. It was so much fun and I loved the smell of the fire combined with the vin brule (which is a hot wine). Afterward, we came back to our house and ate chocolate cake. DELISH!

Rachel and Veronica

Rachel and me

Getting ready to light their gas-soaked rags-on-a-stick

Lighting the bonfire

Rachel, Veronica and Me!

Vecia burning. Hope you don't have nightmares tonight. Your welcome :)

The view of the fire walking back to our house, this thing burned for days and only stopped smoking last week. The next day the air was heavy with smoke and our cars were covered in ash.

holiday recap!

2011-01-16T00:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is totally going to be a picture overload! I am so far behind on my blog but I wanted to get these holiday pictures on here so that I can do my next post on London!

First off...Halloween! The week of Halloween was spent in Paris with Dustin's parents. After sending them off we headed home. We got home on the 30th, the day before Halloween, just in time for parties! The night of the 30th we dressed up and went to a party with our friends Rachel and Sid. We dressed up as cops. I was a city cop and Dustin was a "hillbilly cop." It worked out perfect since he hadn't shaved for two weeks because he was on leave so he had a sweet handle-bar mustache that looked awesome! The next night we spent at our friends Rachel and Sids house and carved pumpkins and ate good food. Rachel is one of the best cooks I know!

For Thanksgiving, we went to our friends Vicki and Todd's house. We had so much good food! We had fun eating all day, playing games and singing karaoke.

Vicki and Larry getting ready to carve the turkey

Me and Vicki

Vicki and Liz

Ben, Dustin and Larry all thinking they need to watch over the deep-fried turkey. They were out there all day! It was their pride and joy :)

Christmas was low key and very nice! We got up and opened gifts for each other than had orange rolls and cinnamon rolls. We pretty much hung out the rest of the afternoon till all our family in the states finally got up! (Ha ha jk. They did get up at 8am but it seems like forever when it's 4pm your time!)

Some of the ornaments on our tree...

One of our snow storms! Didn't last long :(

Trying to wrap my cat up for christmas....Didn't really work out....

One of the cute pies I made for my Italian neighbors. I had never made them before and probably should have taste tested them beforehand... Oh well!

For New Years Eve we went to Venice with our friends Rachel and Sid. We got there around 7pm then took the water taxi to San Marco Piazza. After walking around the square, which was surprisingly empty, we found a restaurant and ate pizza and a traditional italian cake called panettone. It was 11:30pm before we made it back to the square where all the festivities were held and then it was PACKED! We had so much fun and it was way cool to see how Venice celebrates the new year. Definitely glad we went!

On the water taxi going to the Piazza

Gazebo in the square

Countdown to 2011!

Fireworks over the water

New Years Kiss!

Grateful!

2010-11-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

I went visiting teaching today and the lesson was appropriately on being grateful. Sad thing is, is that even though it is Thanksgiving in two days, I hadn't even given this a thought. But I am grateful that I had this lesson to remind me of all the things that I am thankful for.

First of all, I am thankful for my husband. I am thankful that he works as hard as he does for us, that he is willing to use his paycheck for nothing other than vacations, and that he is willing to serve our country. I am SO GRATEFUL that he is HOME (and home safe) from Afghanistan. It was hard to have him gone and Iam so happy now that we are back together and that now I can look forward to all the fun times in Italy ahead ofus. I love him so much!

I am grateful for my family. I am grateful that I get to talk to them once a week and that they are always there for me even though they live 9,000 miles away. I love them so much!!! I am very grateful for my Grandma, who came to live with me for three months just to keep me company. And we had the BEST time! I know that it cost her a lot of money to stay here, and I am grateful for her sacrifice.

I am grateful to live in Italy. I know that I have an amazing opportunity that I sometimes take for granted. Especially when I am homesick. But I absolutely love it here and don't want to leave anytime soon! We love the friends that we have made, Italian and American. (P.S. We are open to any and all visitors! We would love to show you around!)

I am thankful for my In-laws. It's so wonderful to have another family as great as your own. We were so lucky that they came to visit and we had so much fun. They are very supportive to us and we love them.

There is so much more that I am grateful for this Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for and we couldn't ask for a happier life.

Sono cosi grato per la mia famiglia, gli amici e le possibilita di vivere in Italia. Ti voglio bene tutti!!

Another vacation!

2010-11-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

I have been a MAJOR slacker on my blog lately. I lot has been going on the last month. First Dustin finally got home from Afghanistan, October 4th. It is so great to have him home, though now I have more laundry :( His parents came out to visit and arrived on the 12th. We stayed super busy with them. We went fishing in Slovenia, to Florence, Siena, Venice, Garmisch, Munich, Salzburg, and Paris. We had such a fun time and it was sad to see them leave. It was sure great to finally see some family!

Getting ready to go fishing in Slovenia

Siena. Piazza Del Campo

On the Vecchio bridge in Florence

We stayed at a really cute house in Florence that we had all to ourselves! I LOVED it there!

I loved all the unique furniture

Looking out over Florence

The really cute hotel we stayed at in Garmisch. It was so much fun because they would have music and dancing every night on the main level.

Eating at the Hofbrauhaus

It was our first time to PARIS and I loved every minute of it

I loved watching the Eiffel Tower at night sparkle! It was so beautiful!

the BEST Christmas party this summer!!

2010-09-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

Alissa's birthday party was SO MUCH fun this year! I was so glad that I was home to enjoy it. And all of you who didn't come.... you missed out!

Birthday girl with her cake!

Santa came! The kids were so excited and practically mauled him.

Chennell and Kate meeting Santa

Kiah was so excited to talk to Santa and tell him what she wanted this year for Christmas.

Alissa with Santa

Mom and Logan. He was not so happy about having to do this!

Ugly Sweater Contest!!! From the left: Ryan Olson, Aunt Deanne, Grandpa Kap, RaeAnne, Danny and Cynthia. I was amazed at how many people showed up in their sweaters and stayed in them even though it was 90 degrees

Nikki Jeske, JaLesha Olson, Ryan Olson and Aunt Deanne
Nikki won the adult contest!

Chennell Brand, Meagan Bills and Grandma

Kenna showing off her Christmas/Americana sweater. There are 13 flags on this thing! I think she should have won but she was the judge instead

Tenaya, Me, Kenna and Alissa posing with our sweaters

Kids gift exchange

Adult gift exchange

Three weeks in Utah!

2010-08-28T13:56:00.001-07:00

So I had a lot of people say that I needed to up-date this thing more. (You know who you are.) And so I deecided to post at least something. Although I could be finishing my book, the second of the Hunger Games series. LUCKY for you, I have to make this book last at least a week so that I don't finish it before my mom can get the package sent out. Can't handle the waiting. And I hear that this one ends with a bigger cliff-hanger than the first one!

ANYWAYS... Here are some pics of my trip to Utah. We went to the Redwoods and to Oregon for my cousin Ashley's wedding. We had so much fun on our roadtrip but it went way too fast. Seriously way too fast. And now with no trips coming up anytime soon and no hubby home, I'm stuck with a boring life at home with my cats. Which will make all my future posts rather boring....But you asked for it!

P.S. I didn't include any pictures of Alissa's birthday because I am going to put those in their own post!

Me and Alissa's first time on the salt flats

Our family taking pictures outside of Dallans apartment before we knew he was actually home. I'm suprised he didn't hear us out here!

We got to see Dallan! OOPS! He is doing really well though!

Logan getting his fortune from Zoltar

It took eight of us holding hands to circle this tree

Alissa about to throw-up. She got motion sick from looking up at the Redwoods ha ha! Sorry liss!

Our family at the Aquarium

Alissa and me petting a shark. Super cool!

My cute family

Me and Alissa guarding our candy station

The cute couple: Ashley and Cameron with Grandma

MoRe PiCs!

2010-07-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

These pictures are for you, Hilary and JaLesha! Hope you enjoy!

Beer garden in Germany

The Glockenspiel in Munich

the bunks that prisoners would sleep on in the Dachau Concentration Camp

The "showers" in the crematory of the camp

My car broke down in Mittenwald only 30 km from the hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen :( It was 3 hours later that we moved from this point

It's the NUDE beach in Croatia! The pictures I took were not too risque, but you can see a butt!

Summary of our Summer!

2010-07-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

I have SO many pictures of all the trips that Grandma and I have been on this summer and so of course, now I am VERY behind on my blog. It feels like we have just gone from one vacation to another. Okay...so it feels that way because that is what has happened. We leave for 4 days come home for 6 then leave for 5 and home for 3. SO I decided to just put up one picture of every trip that we have been on and it would catch me up! The problem with that is that we have so many GOOD pictures that it was hard to just pick one, but I did it! Hope you all enjoy looking and that it makes you feel like you have had a little vacation to Italy yourself!

Grandma on the Grand Canal in Venice

Pompei with Mount Vesuvius in the background

Salerno

On top of the island of Capri

The Golden Cathedral in Amalfi

Top of the BEAUTIFUL church in Positano

Sorrento

Leaning Tower of Pisa!

Cinque Terre

Volterra

San Gimignano

2nd trip to Venice. It rained all day and flooded San Marco Piazza!

On a boat in CROATIA! (this is where we saw our first nude beach!)

On the rooftop of our hotel overlooking the Duomo in Florence

St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. This is the famous gate that says "Work will set you free" in German. Of course, this gave false hope to the prisoners.

Eating wurstel at the famous Hofbrauhaus in Munich

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

If you want to see more pictures of a certain trip, let me know and I will post more. We only have one more trip to France and then we are headed home to Utah. Our summer has almost ended but I would call it a success!

Finally Up-dating!

2010-06-08T04:35:00.000-07:00

So, I know that it has been a long time since I have up-dated our blog and a lot has happened since my last post.

First, in early May, Dustin prepared to leave for Afghanistan. They changed the date for him leaving about four times and then finally they said they were supposed to leave on Thursday the 13th. So on Thursday they wanted us to just drop them off and they would bus them to a seperate hanger to wait for the plane. The problem was, it was down-pouring!! It was so sad to see dads climbing into the backseat to hurry and say goodbye to their kids and climb onto the bus. There was no way to take pictures, or give hugs and have a final goodbye. It was so rushed and it just plain SUCKED! About ten minutes later, Dustin texted me and said that I could sneak into the hanger and hang out till the plane came. So I drove over and we waited...and waited... and waited. Around 4:00pm I went and got dinner for everyone since we had been there since 11:00am and around 5:00 they said the plane would arrive within a half hour. At 6:00 they announced that the plane was actually broken and had never even LEFT Germany and they were being dismissed until the next day!

It was such an emotional roller-coaster! They were now going to leave on Friday the 14th at 8:00pm. My Grandma was coming in on Friday and so we decided that it was best for me to go with a friend to the airport and say our goodbyes before I left. Right before I left for the airport, we found out that he was now going to leave on Saturday the 15th instead! But because he needed to stick around in-case the plane came early I still went to the airport without him.

My Grandma came with me to drop Dustin off on Saturday. (they still changed the time twice on them.) We dropped him off at 10:00 and they finally took off at 3:30. This time I didn't stay and hang out. By then it was just too hard to keep saying goodbye and they weren't allowing families into the hanger anyway. (Sometimes it's easier to just rip the bandaid off!)

Dustin is doing good. He is working 12 hour shifts and with chow hall, gym and sleep, it doesn't leave much room for anything else. The attack on Bagram happened only three days of being there and on the first day of actual work. He said that they sat in a bunker and watched army helicopters circle the base and insurgents launching rockets. Luckily no one was hurt!

Dustin took the camera with all the pictures of him leaving, so here is a pic of us in Venice.

Second, Grandma arrived safely and we are having a blast! We have already been to Venice, Nove, Capri, Pompei, Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano and now to Pisa and Cinque Terre!

Well I have so much more to post but me and Grandma are off on our next adventure!

Grandma and I in Venice!

A good idea!

2010-05-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

So Dustin leaves in about a week, and he thought it would be fun to go to Germany last weekend and go to CHILI'S. That's right CHILI'S. As in the American restaurant. I was totally up for the idea. We haven't been to any American restaurant in seven months and Ramstein, an Air Force base in Germany, is lucky enough to not only have a Chili's but also a Macaroni Grill. They are so spoiled. They don't even know how lucky they are.

We left last friday and on saturday we went shopping at their BX. (Which was as big as a Super-Walmart. Very cool.) Then we went to Saarbrucken and went to the WildPark Zoo. After the zoo we went to Chili's and it was AMAZING! I had a hard time deciding what I was going to order. I had thought about it for days but still couldn't decide. It had to be a perfect decision that I would not regret. I ended up ordering the triple dipper so I could have three choices! Ha ha. We pretty much stuffed our faces. So then, half-way through dinner we learned that Toby Keith was giving a free concert that night! And it was within walking distance of Chili's! It was freaking awesome! He was a great performer and we had so much fun. We had such a GREAT weekend!

Heavy's at Ramstein

SO Green

This sign cracks me up. It means "Caution: 30 kph because of FROG Crossing"

Feeding the pigmy goats

Alissa: You know you want him!

Toby Keith!

Perfect song for my hubby who deploys in a week! I LOVE you so much and I'm going to miss you!!

Spring has Sprung!

2010-04-27T12:52:00.001-07:00

It's Spring in Italia! The last two weeks have been so warm and nice. It's getting up to the 70's during the day and on Saturday it was almost too hot. I am worried about the summer if spring is this warm. Also, the humidity SUCKS! But we are loving that the rain has finally stopped and we have clear skies. (For almost a month, everyday would start out nice and by mid-afternoon it would turn cloudy and by night-fall it would rain. It was awful.)

Last Saturday we went out and bought flowers and flower boxes for our porch. I am also nursing back to health a basil plant that I killed. (For those who know me, this is no surprise. We'll see how long the flowers last.)

Here's some pics....

All the supplies

Sayla checking out the flowers

All done!

Bosa checking out the flowers

Kinda hard to see, but they look really good! Hopefully they live!

Dustin had an awards banquet to attend so we got to play dress-up!

Rachel and Sid, our friends that joined us!

Caught the cats sitting on my scrapbook table so they could see out the window. They are loving the warm weather too! (But they are shedding way too much! They get shaved in a week!)

Scuola di Cucina!

2010-03-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Rachel, Veronica and I, all took an authentic Italian cooking class. It was SO much fun! We went to an Italian ladies house and she and taught us how to make fresh pasta.

Making fresh pasta is a loooong process! First we had to mix flour and eggs and make the dough, then let it sit. Then we flattened it out into sheets and let it sit again. Then we cut it into the shape that we want and what next?? Yep! SIT AGAIN! Homemade pasta in Italian is called "pasta all'uovo fatta in casa".

We also made a mushroom sauce ("salsa ai funghi) and a cream and ham sauce ("panna e proscuitto") for our pasta. I liked the cream and ham sauce the best.

Then we made "panna cotta" for dessert. Sorry, no american name for this, there is nothing like it in the states! All it was, was cream, sugar, gelatin sheets (yes, SHEETS! It was gelatin that was in hard clear sheets that looked like plastic. Weird.), and vanilla bean and a little milk. Rachel said it reminded her of flan, but I have never had that before so I wouldn't know. It tasted really good but the texture was a little strange. Panna cotta IS my favorite gelato flavor though!

Also, there was one other Italian woman there to help translate because our teacher for the morning spoke nothing but Italian. BUT I am proud to say that I understood most of what she was saying! We defiantly want to do it again and she said next time we can custom make a class and make whatever we want. I think I want to learn how to make Pizza next. It is SO good here!

Rachel and Veronica

Stirring the cream for our panna cotta

Trying to flatten my dough to make tagliettelle noodles

Rachel separating our noodles so they can dry

The best part of course: EATING!!

had a thought....

2010-02-24T04:01:00.001-08:00

So it occurred to me today that I LOVE living in Italy. Sure, I miss my family and friends and my job but there is so much that Italia has to offer. As I was getting up this morning, I just had a thought that I've really grown to love it here. I love my house (even if I have a barbie kitchen), I love hanging out with my husband, I love italians and their food and I especially love traveling.

Things that I once found annoying I have learned to love. Like the church bells that used to wake me up at 7 am, now they chime me back to sleep after dropping Dustin off at work. Or that you have to pay for shopping bags or ketchup at McDonalds, now I realize how smart it really is. If you have to pay for it, you're sure going to use it!

I think that I am also enjoying it more now that our cats are more adjusted. Who knew it was going to take 4 months for the cats to again sleep through the night or not be scared of every little sound. Momma Mia!

Dustin also made the comment that he has been surprised how well I have done and thought that I would be more homesick. Don't get me wrong...there are lots of those times too, but right now I am happy and enjoying EVERY MINUTE!

Beautiful pictures from around Italia!

Sorry about the wind!

How living in Italy really is!

2010-01-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

Cool video of life in Italy. This is SO TRUE!

Florence

2010-01-06T01:42:00.000-08:00

So I think that Florence might be my new favorite city.... I know that I have been saying that about every city and I know that I will say that about the next city we visit, but it really is so amazing! We went to the Duomo, the Baptistry, the Galleria del'Accedemia, the market, shopping and did a ton of walking around the city. One thing I'm not sure we want to do again is drive in downtown Florence! It was so stressful! There are enough pedestrians and scooters and one-way roads to make you go crazy. Though now that we know the city a little better it might be easier next time.

Standing in front of the Duomo

The Bell Tower at night. The sky had a reddish haze to it and it looked stunning against the white of the tower.

Florence is the birthplace of GUCCI!

Inside the Galleria del'Accedemia

We snuck a picture of the famous "David"

The gold Baptistry doors.

Crazy statue of a guy holding a head. You can even see the guts coming out!

The ceiling of the Baptistry

It Snowed!

2009-12-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning....SNOW! It totally feels like winter now. Let the holidays begin! I guess this area rarely gets snow and my Italian neighbor said it had been many years since they had seen snow this far down in the valley, usually we just see it in the mountains. Our winters are usually just a lot of rain and then the rain freezes into ice. Dustin and I both loved seeing the snow and it totally felt like home!

Looking out our front window.

I had to take a picture of all the palm trees covered in snow. It's just funny to see and I figured my dad would like it :)

This is our Italian neighbor trying to shovel is walkway with his plastic dust pan. It was hilarious.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-16T10:38:00.001-08:00

This year I was kind of a slacker about getting our Christmas stuff up. I think it was because we just got done unpacking and putting our house together. Also, since our house is pretty small, I didn't want to have to move furniture out of the living room to the garage just to put up the tree. So instead we bought a small three foot tree and put it on our end table. It worked out great! I think that it is going to work out perfect while we are living in Europe.

Our Tree

My Korean Nativity that I bought last January in Osan

My new Santa that I bought at the Christmas market in Austria. You are supposed to put an incense cone in the bottom and he smokes out of his mouth. I'm not sure that I'm going to use it though because I don't want his beard to turn black.

Willow Tree Nativity that Dustin bought me for Christmas two years ago.

So these are pictures of our third trip to Venice. We love Venice because every time that you go there, there is something new to see and a different path to wonder.

Rialto Bridge

We came across a cool area that was evidence of Venice sinking. This building had a make-shift bridge to the door because it was flooded.

Just around the other side of that building

Standing in nasty water! (believe me Venice does not have crystal blue clean water!) But we still love it here.

First time out of Italy!

2009-12-02T09:06:00.000-08:00

About two weeks ago we went to the Christmas Market in Salzburg, AUSTRIA! It was Amazing! We totally fell in LOVE with this city!

We signed up to go to the Christmas market not realizing how much there is to see in Salzburg. This is the city that they filmed the Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart.

Overlooking the city

Christmas Market

Salzach River

Hohensalzburg Fortress. We decided to walk up to the Fortress instead of paying for the tram just to find out you had to pay to get in anyway!

Yep, we hiked to that!

The Nonnberg Abbey that they filmed the Sound of Music

Can't wait to go back!

October and Halloween!

2009-11-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the things that we have been up to lately....

The Venzone Pumpkin Festival was about three weeks ago. It was awesome! We really want to go back next year. Everything in the city was decorated with pumpkins and cats. They had the best pumpkin treats. All we did that day was eat. We had pumpkin donuts, pumpkin pastries, and the best of them all was the pumpkin muffins. We liked them so much we bought four extra to bring home.

Venzone is a small medival city in northern Italy.

This medival band was good but they needed to learn a few more songs! We had to listen to the same two songs for six hours. By the end of the day I didn't want to hear bagpipes or drums ever again! It reminded me of the songs in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Actually...the entire festival reminded me of that movie!

A couple of days before Halloween I made Dustin decorate Halloween cupcakes with me. Here he is filling frosting bags. We delivered these cupcakes to our neighbors in our apartment building. The next day we saw one of our Italian neighbors and she thanked us for the muffins. It was hilarious! We just said your welcome and laughed about it when we got in the car.

Some of our cute cupcakes. Okay, not ours. These are mine :)

Dustin's cool black widow

On Halloween we went to the Gardaland Amuzement Park. We had a lot of fun even though it was freezing and very busy. The park is located right next to Lake Garda which is about two hours away from where we live.

They had these cool machines that made ghosts out of bubbles that would fly around the park. It was awesome. Here is one ghost coming out of the machine.

And flying away...

They were so much fun to watch and I've never seen anything like this before. It took me forever to get a picture of one because they kept turning and floating away. I finally got this good picture of one in the sky.

AH HA HA HA HA. That's all I have to say....

41st Annual Barcolana Regatta

2009-10-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

This particular weekend we didn't have any plans so I searched Google for "Festivals in October in Northern Italy" and found a website entirely in Italian. From what I could gather there was going to be a sailboat race in Trieste, which was about an hour and a half from Aviano, on the border of Italy and Slovenia and on the Adriatic Sea. So we drove out to Trieste trusting that our GPS would take us to the right place and hoping that there really would be a festival that day.
What we found was amazing! There definetly was a festival that weekend and over 300,000 people showed up for it. Trieste is a gorgous city with amazing views.

Driving into Trieste, Italy

We were able to watch a nightime sailboat race.

The Trieste town square was beautiful at night!

We noticed that they were setting up a stage in the center of the square so we decided to stay and see what was going on. Little did we know that we were about to see a free concert from one of Italy's biggest pop stars, Cesare Cremonini. He was amazing! We didn't understand a word he was saying but he was very talented. There are videos on YouTube of him singing so you should check him out and let me know what you think!

The Housing Office SUCKS!!!!

2009-10-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have to vent. Everything that they told us about housing before we arrived to Aviano was FALSE!
When we were preparing to arrive we were told that we would be housed on base (in TLF) for 30 days to look for a house and that Dustin would recieve 10 days off for house hunting. This would mean our TLF would last until the 23rd of October. Which is what they even told us when we checked into this place!
Well now we are sitting in TLF waiting to get kicked out on the 6th. UGH. We have only been here a week!
So here is how it really works: You arrive. You want to look for a house and they tell you that you must go through the Housing Office. When you arrive at the Housing Office they tell you that they already found you a house. You think, "How did they already know what I was looking for?". They didn't. They want to offer you a house out in the middle of nowhere with none of the things you are looking for. Then they say, "Well since you are declining this house then you will be kicked out of TLF whenever FMO can deliver living supplies. (FMO are the ones who loan out things like stoves and wardrobes.) "Where will FMO deliver those living supplies", you say? NOWHERE! Because you don't have a place to live yet! But they are kicking you out anyway unless you want to pay to stay in TLF. Our bill for one week in this place was $500.00 and we need a place to stay for at least another 2-3 weeks.
So here are the options: either stay here and pay $500 a week or find a hotel off base and pay to live there.
Wow the Housing Office sure helps you out when you move to a new country and have nowhere to go.
Oh and about the ten days off to find a house; that was a lie as well. Dustin went to Right Start Monday-Thursday last week and starts work on Monday. Yep, pretty pissed off.....

Moving Day!

2009-09-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess this wasn't technically moving day, but this is us being packed up about a week before we actually left Utah.

Dustin's Grandma and Aunt Lois came and had dinner with us at our layover in Maryland. It was so nice to see them!

The flight to Italy was a little rough. The cats were a mess when we stopped in Maryland. Bad idea to have water, food, and litter in one kennel. Poor Sayla had litter stuck all over her because she had gotten into water and then walked into the litter. Basically she had litter mittins. I am still picking it off her paws today. But in Maryland we threw away all the litter and food and turned their blankets inside out where they were still dry.

The flight for Dustin and I went much better other then we were tired and we had a lot of luggage to move around! We had two layovers, one in Maryland and the other in Germany. At each stop we had to move all of our luggage to the next flight and go through security again. The first stop we had to do that because we were switching airline carriers and the next because we had to go through customs. It was very exhausting. All-in-all, it took us almost 24 hours to arrive in Italy!

This is the building that we are staying at until we can find a place to live.

This is the BX and the commissary. It's a gorgous building with a clock tower.

Beautiful arch walkway that leads to the BX /Commissary

Where the cats hide whenever they hear noises in the hall or rooms next door. Ha Ha. I think that they are still a little nervous. I wonder why?

Unfortunatly, since we don't have a car yet we have been unable to leave the base. Hopefully tomorrow Dustin can get his AFI license and we can rent a car and begin exploring a little more!

Montana, Glacier and Seattle. All in one week!

2009-09-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

Last week we went up to Montana one last time to see Dustin's family. We made it up on Wednesday night and stayed till Saturday. On Saturday morning we headed up to Glacier National Park and stayed one night in the park courtesy of Dustin's parents. We had a great time!

On Sunday morning we headed over to Seattle to drop off Dustin's mustang so it could be shipped to Italy. What we thought was a seven hour drive actually took about eleven. It sucked. We were in the car forever. On Monday morning we dropped off the car, did a little sight seeing and since that day was our four year wedding anniversary we went on a dinner boat cruise. It was amazing!

Dustin and his parents at Beerfest in downtown Missoula

A little Black Bear we saw in the park

Going to the Sun Road

A mama Mountain Goat and her two Kids. They were so so cute!

What Dustin was calling "Montana's Stonehedge" This is the rock tower that we made.

Dustin skipping rocks

saying goodbye to the mustang!

Boarding our dinner cruise

3 great weekends and still trying to figure this out!

2009-08-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I was totally planning on writing about how fun the summer has been and I was going to attempt to publish my first post with pictures. I knew that it wasn't going to be as easy as everyone makes it out to be, but I didn't expect this! I signed in and wrote my title and then downloaded a few pictures to put in my post. First... pictures are a pain to move around on this thing! Just as I had added a few pics with descriptions my computer gave me a little gift. It decided to just shut down. That's right..it just went black. (and Dustin, I don't need your lecture about how "if I had just gotten a Mac...") So I started it back up again and the internet was frozen! It wouldn't let me type or do anything. I had to close down my page and restart my computer! I lost all that I had written and all that hard work to get my pictures just where I wanted them was for nothing! Agh! So annoyed!

Okay getting over that and moving on to what I was doing in the first place....

SO, as I was going to say, the last three weekends I have spent out of town. The first weekend I went up to Park City with Karlie, Sara, and Brandee who are some friends from high school. We went shopping at the Outlets, went to dinner and then stayed the night at a condo.

Here are a few pics...

Brandee and Karlie

Sara and me

Hanging out in the condo

The second weekend I went with the girls on my mom's side of the family down to St. George. We went to Tuachan and saw Footloose. It was amazing and we had so much fun.

Outside of the Theater- RaeAnne, Alissa, me and Jackie

Aunt Deborah trying to swing her hair like a model! ha ha Great action shot!

Jackie riding the bull

Waiting for the show to start

Mustaches we got at some small hamburger place in Fillmore. And as Jackie pointed out, "They each match our personality!" Thanks Jackie for saying that I'm like Hitler! But I have to say Alissa's matches her to a tee! She has an old man laugh!

The last weekend adventure was going up to Boise to visit some of our cousins. I always love hanging out with them and we really needed to see them since the last time we saw them was Grandpa's funeral. It was nice to talk with them and Saturday night we gave them some of extra things that we picked up from Grandpa's house before they took it to the DI.

Me, Kenna, Alissa and Nichole

Rustin, Marc and Kenna

Kami and Stephen, Uncle Joe

I had my FIRST Ice Cream Potato! Doesn't it look amazing! Alissa had to take like a million pictures before we could eat it.

After eating our ice cream we had to take a picture!

New Blog and no idea what I am doing!

2009-08-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have no idea how this blog stuff works. I feel kinda dumb typing to myself! All I know how to do is look at other peoples cute blogs but decided that I, myself needed a blog to document me and Dustin's life and the new advendures that we have coming up.

So here's where we stand: Dustin is still living in South Korea (yeah I know it's confusing since he did get to come home for one month in June) and he will be home on September 4th. Exactly one year from when he left, and I can't wait!
Alissa and I are still roomates here at our house and it's been so much fun. Sometimes we have issues but most of the time it's great!
Dustin and I will be leaving for Italy on September 22, 2009! I am getting so nervous and anxious and excited all at the same time. It's hard to explain the feelings that I have, it's so crazy.