We are now on a cruise boat in Rapollo heading to Portofino. This is the view from the water. Beautiful.
Category Archives: traveling
Fried Fish
Jayme ordered fried fish for lunch and unexpectedly was served a plate of a variety of fried fish, including squid, shrimp and these little tiny whole fish.
To my surprise and everyone else’s at our table, she ate most of it.
I wouldn’t have touched it.
Carrara Marble
We are just coming down from a trip up the mountain to a quarry. The name “marble” means “shining stone”. 80% of the quarries are owned by the government. There are 100 quarries located here (in Carrara). These mountains were formed by the shifting of the African Plate.
Some other Italy facts:
* Italy is divided into 20 regions, or states.
* They have national or federal healthcare plan, pension and schooling, which is taken out of their paychecks and sent to Rome to be divided up.
Down Time
Ching-Ching
We are tasting some awesome wine, cheese, salami, olives and bread dipped in olive oil at the Fattoria Poggio Alloro winery-farm.
Wine Country
We are now at a farm/winery in San Gimignamo. Besides grapes, they harvest olives for their extra-virgin olive oil; saffron and farm animals. They only use french oak barrels for their wine production.
My Saturday
If you read my post yesterday you know that I haven’t packed a thing (except my jacket)for our upcoming trip to Italy. So one would think that I would pack today, on Saturday. But packing isn’t in the stars for me today.
Today is dance picture day for all three of my daughters. Our first shot is at 9:00 and the last one at 6:30. In all, we have 13 photo shots, scheduled throughout the entire day.
Maybe tonight the stars will align for me. We’ll see.
Tomorrow is another full day. Picking up the prom dress for daughter #1, getting daughter #2 ready for her class trip to D.C. and getting all the laundry done so I can pack daughter #3.
And then there’s some things to get squared away at the office. Why, oh why, do I put all this pressure on myself?? Somehow it all will get done. I know that.
And today is Lily’s birthday (our dog). She is four today. Somehow I will need to stop at the pet store and pick her up a little something.
And then there’s the whole St. Patrick’s Day thing. . . hope you are wearing green. I am.
Have a great Saturday!
Let The Packing Begin
OK. Pressure is building. I haven’t packed a single item. Nada. Zip. And we leave in 4 days. My husband is almost done packing. And my daughter won’t pack by herself (she is 10) so she is waiting on me to pack her. So I now have two people to pack for and haven’t started on either one.
So I decided to at least get myself in the mood for packing by starting with a new purchase – my “Super Light, Ultra Warm Down Jacket”. I set out on a mission to buy a jacket with a hood incase it would rain. And I ended up with this jacket. (I’ll show you in a minute). I had been eyeing one in the Northface store, but couldn’t bring myself to spend that kind of money on a jacket (if it was a purse, that would be another story). So I stopped at JC Penny and for a mere $20 bucks I bought this:
Sure the price tag was good, but what sold me on it was the ability to do this:
I’m sure this isn’t the most fashionable item I could have picked out, but it will serve its purpose nicely and won’t take up any room in my suitcase.
Ok, so I have packed a coat. Maybe tomorrow I will pack some clothes. . . I have plenty of time, right?
7 Days
Guess what I will be doing a week from today?
Playing hostess to 83 people on a trip to Tuscany. To say I’m excited is an understatement.
I plan on posting pics here throughout my trip, so check back for updates from my visual diary.
Tuscany will never be the same after my group makes our mark!
Ready
Somedays are marked with destiny. Today is one of those days for me. Today is a day of readiness. I am ready:
- For spring to be here. And guess what? Tonight we “spring ahead” by setting our clocks ahead one hour.
- For my trip to Italty. I visited the salon, did some shopping and am ready to begin packing. Only 10 days to go!
- For warmer weather to be here. Today we got the stang out of the garage. It hadn’t been driven since Nov. so after jumping it twice, filling up the tires and giving it a wash, it is ready to go. Too bad I gave it to my daughter. Darn.
- For a state championship. As I type this we are heading to the big city to watch the Newark Wildcats compete in the District Finals in basketball. After tonight there will be only 16 teams left. Go Cats!
