had a thought....

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!

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

Florence

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!

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.