New Girl On Post: January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

He Calls Me....Muffin Top

Today is soooo much better. For one I'm having a good hair day. Thank God.

Secondly...it's Friday! I do love me some weekends. At this point I'm not really sure why I'm excited because I obviously haven't had a stressful work week...but you get the point.

This morning started off very exciting. Sean had a formation this morning at 5:30, so I set the alarm last night for 4:30 and he set his phone alarm. We awoke this morning to his phone ringing and someone asking him exactly where he was.

Uh..yeah...it was 5:25.

I felt bad, but I have NO idea why neither alarm we set went off. Sean was upset because he's new here and it doesn't look good for him to be late. He told me later that this was the first formation he'd ever been late to in his military career.

Later today I'm headed over to Transportation to give them an address to send our household goods and unaccompanied baggage.

Ok..when we were first PCSing they told us our household goods would be there in about 90 days give or take. However, the other day in class some guy told Sean that his took about six months. European gals, please tell me that's a rare case. I don't want it to be July before I get ANY of my stuff. Not to mention I'd have to buy a whole new summer wardrobe, but then again, that doesn't sound too bad. Hmmm....

One more question. Why in the heck do bathtubs in Europe have the shower head in the middle of the tub? I for the life of me cannot figure that out.

That sort of illustrates what I'm referring too, but ours is directly in the middle.

My husband has come up with a new nickname for me and insists on using it, just because he knows I hate it. Ready for it?

Muffin-top.

Yeah...who here would be flattered by that? My guess is none. I asked him yesterday if he had any idea why I hated it so much. "No...I call you that because I love the top of muffins."

Ladies...he is lying. I told him today in no uncertain terms that if he called me that again I'd have no problem giving him a swift kick you know where.

I'm hoping that solves the problem.

(Ok..and can I just add that I do NOT have muffin tops? Hence my confusion over where this nickname came from)

I'm a little disappointed because I've been to the gym here on-post several times and I have yet to see anyone as freaky as those that were at Ft.Polk. Although, there is a guy that works there that reminds me of Dave Chappelle. He was doing Michael Jackson moves behind the counter today when he thought noone could see him. Little did he know my trained eye picked it up.

Muah ha ha.

So any big plans this weekend ladies? I'm hoping mine FINALLY involves some pictures, although no Florence trip for me. On the bright side Sean is cooking tonight AND I'm going to stop at the shoppette for some wine. I'm going to branch out and try something new.

Have a great weekend!

Ciao!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Day of Diasters

Ok..so it's been more like a 2 day period of disasters, but that wasn't as catchy. So maybe they weren't really disasters, but more inconveniences.

I was doing my hair yesterday, using my hairdryer and curling iron with the adapter for the European outlet. I learned early on I could use my hairdryer on the low setting and be ok and my curling iron was fine too. However, I nixed using my straightener whenever it started smoking after I turned it on.

So, there I was almost done curling my hair when, "sizzle, snap, crackle, pop" comes from my curling iron. Then the electric proceeds to go off. At first I was unsure whether my curling iron had caused it or the fact that they've been working on the electricity on our street off and on for the past month was the cause.

Come to find out my curling iron caused it and finally Sean found the breaker box and fixed the problem.

Fast forward to this morning (after I'd gone to the PX to buy a dual-voltage curling iron) and I realized I must have blown the adapter, because it no longer works. So now here I am, walking around post with craptastic hair. Currently it's in a messy ponytail.

Today, at the request of Sean, I walked over to the hotel to do laundry. Picture all five foot four of me lugging a massive laundry bag over to the hotel. Currently I still have grooves from the strap in my shoulder. Ok..I might be exaggerating a little. As I'm taking the load of darks out of the dryer I notice a pen. Yes, a pen that my husband left in one of his pants pockets. So now...he has black pen marks on one of his good shirts, two of his PT shirts and one of his tan shirts he wears with his ACU's. All of which he asked me to replace while I'm out today. I did apologize, but quite frankly I don't feel as if it's my duty to go through his pockets before I do laundry. I think at 29 years old he's old enough to do that himself.

So this isn't really a disaster, but a big gripe. When I first got to the library today, two mothers were in the computer room with their small children. One of them was at least four and insisted on talking AND yelling at an extremely loud decibel. The other child was much better behaved. Anyway...after 10 minutes of yelling, finally one of the librarians comes over and tells the mother she needed to quiet her child. After all this was a library. Ok, so I understand that children have their moments, they can't be good all the time. Increasingly though I've noticed horrible behavior in the library. Seriously, all of us here do not want to hear your screaming child, so get off the Internet and take them outside. I just think that's common courtesy.

So far I think that's all my disasters, although my back is killing me today. I think it's a result of Turbo Jam. Darn that Chalene Johnson!

I picked up Confessions of a Shopaholic yesterday at the library, mainly to prepare for the upcoming movie and finished it all last night. So after perusing the library shelves for a new book I'm headed to the ITR office to find out if we are indeed going to Florence or not.

Oh...and I didn't mean to make it sound that I wouldn't be going to Florence at all if I wasn't going with ITR. I just thought going with them first would be a good intro to the city. Once I get settled in my apartment I'll be out and about exploring and capturing Italy with my camera. You can bet on that!

Enjoy your Thursday!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

More Insights and My Scale Phobia

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who commented yesterday. You guys are so sweet! Reading your comments seriously made my day.

Ready for another edition of things I've noticed in Italy? Let's begin.

1. Almost everyone (women that is) wear their boots tucked into their pants. Ok, as a shorter girl with legs resembling more of a tree branch than a twig, I'm not so sure my legs will cooperate with this trend. Also, tights with boots and short skirts are big here too. Again...not so sure I can work the tight-wearing trend. I'll give it a try though. Especially because I LOVE the boots they wear here. Buckles and high heels galore!

2. A good way to tell you are an American? Wearing blue jeans. I have yet to see jeans on an Italian woman or man. I'm sorry, but I just refuse to give up my jeans.

3. So, I noticed on post that there was a building called the Italian Mensa. I thought it a bit odd that there would be a Mensa society on post, but dismissed it. Only later did I find out that mensa means cafeteria. Ha!

4. AFN sucks. Seriously. I have been stuck watching wrestling for what feels like the past three nights. Me? I'm up for some Six Feet Under. Sean? Loves the fact that pay per view wrestling is shown for free. This man hasn't watched wrestling in ten years, yet can't get enough of it now. Yes, he knows it's fake.

5. The best AFN "commercial" goes a little like this. "You can laugh and joke around", said three times showing three different groups of people living it up. "But Not at the gate!!!" To the effect you can't joke around about bombs at the gate. Seriously, is anyone that stupid to joke around about having a bomb on a military installation? I hope not.

I went by the ITR office yesterday to sign up for the Florence trip. Bad news though. It seems that we won't be able to go. Evidently 25 is the minimum number to go and I was like the 10th person to sign up. I'm sad! I want to see Florence dang it!

I've been decent at working out this week. I went to the gym yesterday and did Turbo Jam this morning in the room. I do enjoy Turbo Jam, but the host, Chalene Johnson annoys the crap out of me. Nobody should be that perky about kicking and punching. Nobody!

Although I've been trying to cut back on my food intake and upping my working out, I still refuse to step on the scale. I have my digital scale with me, but I'm frightened to get on it. I'm not sure I've gained weight, as my pants still fit great and aren't tight, but I'm just too scared to face the truth of what the scale says.

I know, I know...I'm a sissy.

Well, I'm off. Hope everyone has a lovely Wednesday!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A Confession

Today has been another dreary sort of day here, luckily not dreary enough to hamper my view of the lovely mountains.

My morning consisted of waking up at 5:30 to the sound of the electric going off and the back-up generators starting up across the street at the health center. Besides a full night of raining, I'm not sure what could have possibly caused the electric to go out. It was back up and running though in a couple of hours.

Sean and I had an early appointment at the housing office this morning for our pre-negoiations. The lady in charge of private rentals called our landlord and nailed down a few extra details. We are set to sign the lease on Monday and will move in next Friday. I am very excited. The only non-exciting part is we don't have our car yet and will be relying on someone from Sean's unit to shuttle us back and forth, but that's already been set-up so I don't feel quite so bad.

I've been reading a lot since I've been here. I just finished a book about the FLDS and Warren Jeffs, written from the perspective of one of the wives who had been in a polygamous marriage and then later escaped with her eight children. It was a very good read. I believe it's called Escape by Carolyn Jessop, if you have time you should check it out. Other than that I've mostly been devouring the travel books that the on-post library has. They have an unbelievable selection and I've been trying to get a feel of what places I want to go see in the near and not so near future.

I also have a slight confession to make. I noticed the other day on one of my posts that a few people commented about me moving here and being brave. Trust me, I don't feel brave at all. The first night we landed, I'm not sure if it was stress/jet lag or a combo of several other things, but I was a wreck. I had been so excited to move here for so long and then when I finally got here I felt overwhelmed. It was a new place, I didn't know the language, I was across the ocean from all my friends and family, etc. To put it mildly I was scared silly. So it means a lot that ya'll are encouraging and actually think that I am brave. So thank you!

For some reason Sean put me in charge of trying to find him some winter PT's...why this is my job I have no idea.

Ciao!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Decisions and Game Shows

Well, Sean and I made our decision. We weren't trying to really rush into anything, but with him taking this class over the next month which meant he had zero time to go look at more options and us wanting to settle in, we decided on the apartment.

Honestly minus zero grass, I think it's one of the better options I saw in the way of apartments. I don't know how they do private rentals at other OCONUS locations, but here they have computers that show all the info and pictures of your options.

I do think we'll be happy and I feel confident about the safety of the location that we have chosen. So, we start pre-negoiations tomorrow and hopefully we can get settled into our place in the next few weeks.

Now with that out of the way I can tell you guys about the most hilarious thing I've seen so far in Italy.

Italian Wheel of Fortune. Seriously, I wish you guys could watch this, it's non-stop laughs. Not because they are trying to be funny, but because it's so ridiculous you can't help but laugh.

Here are a few reasons why:
1. Their equivalent of Vanna White looks like one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends and at random times they show camera angles, pretty much looking up whatever dress she has on that night. Also at certain times they request her to break into impromptu dances.

2. One of the contestants the other night had a little laser gun that he kept shooting at the wheel whenever his opponents were spinning. Yeah...I have no idea.

3. The catergory for one of the puzzles the other night? Uno hit per George Michael. No I am NOT joking when I say that.

At night we've been renting DVD's from the library and enjoying some seasons of shows we've never seen before. So far we have LOVED Damages with Glenn Close. It's this awesome lawyer-esque show and I cannot wait for the second season, which is currently playing on FX. We recently started watching the first season of Six Feet Under. I find it odd, but like it for some reason.

Last night I convinced Sean to go see Bride Wars with me at the theater on-post. I thought it was a cute film, although a little predictable. I did however, love whatever Kate Hudson happened to be wearing throughout the entire movie. Sean was convinced before we went that he'd be the only guy there in a movie theater "full of chicks", his words not mine. Obviously there were many men there with their wives and oddly we saw three single guys leave after the movie together sans girl. I'm not saying I didn't expect guys to go to a "chick flick" I just didn't think I'd see three guys all going together. I have to admit it was kind of amusing.

Well, I need to catch up on reading some of the many blogs I've missed the last couple of days.

Ciao!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Tale of Two Homes

Just a lazy Sunday here in Italy, Sean and I are at the USO using the computers since the library is closed on Sundays here. Always closed when I need to find a good book. Isn't that the way it goes?

I did however want to update all of you on our housing tours the other day.

First up was the pink house, which in reality isn't as pink in person as the pictures make it seem. At first glance it seemed great. I mean, a whole entire house to ourselves. Just what I thought would make the perfect Italian experience.

Then we got inside.

Ok, so it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great, it wasn't even close. For starters it's not finished. The landlords are painting, wires are sticking out of the wall, waiting for someone to finish up with that, etc.

I do love the room that it offers us. Our living room would be downstairs, where one of the bathrooms and the garage is.

Upstairs we have two larger rooms, a small area that would be great for storage and a kitchen. Boomer would even have a slip of a yard.

Then the landlords mentioned that a previous tenant had been robbed. Of course they added he never locked his doors or windows, but it gave me a bit of an uneasy feeling. I mean, reality is I'm going to be by myself for a big chunk of time while Sean is deployed and I don't want to worry about getting robbed. It's a scary thought.

So...we looked at the apartment. The rosso apartmento or red apartment. It's on the second floor, it's brand new and in a part of town where there is supposdly an excellent market. We have a locked garage, underneath our apartment building as well as a locked storage room across from it. The only thing I don't like about the place is Boomer has no yard to play in and the kitchen has nothing but a sink. Which of course the landlord said he could put in the rest of the appliances.

I think at this point we are leaning towards the apartment. We both like the house, but we think it could either turn out really great or really bad like the movie the Money Pit. Ever seen it? If not, it's a must-see.

Either way I'll be happy, there's just a lot of factors going into our decision. Personal safety is the main one for me, so in that way the apartment would be the better choice.

Oh..and in the way of travel, I'm going to stop by the ITR office on Monday to see if I can get signed up for the trip to Florence this next Sunday. It's a tour of the Ufizzi Gallery, which is supposed to be the best place in Italy to view art. I'll be uber excited if I get to go.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Moscato and Greek Yogurt made mine quite enjoyable.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Honesty...Ten Truths About Me

So Sara and Mmm..Tastes Good both left me the Honest Scrap award. I wish I could put the pretty little award picture up with this post, but the post library computers don't allow me to access Photobucket or even save pictures on the computer so that's a no-go.

Here are the rules:

The rules:

1. Chose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.

2. Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave them a comment informing them they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3. List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

So my 10 things.

1. I hate to ski. I've been twice and both times the only part I enjoy is the bunny slope. Beginner trails? Intermediate trails? Forget them. I went down them once and wedged almost the entire time. I hate feeling out of control and skiing definetly brings that out. Yes, I do realize I'm in prime skiing areas too.

2. I always wanted brillant, emerald green eyes. However, God instead decided to give me hazel ones. If you look at them under the light they are indeed green with brown flecks, but if you look at me just normally they look brown.

3.I put my hair up as soon as I get home from whatever I'm doing. I can't stand to have it on my neck or in my face. Some might ask why not cut it short. Because quite frankly I look bad with short hair.

4.I secretly love to watch those music infommercials. Doesn't matter if it's country, 70's hits or the oldies. I watch the entire thing AND sing along.

5. I hate when people think that I'm younger than I am. I've seen 15 year olds that look older than me. I'm sure one of these days I'll enjoy looking younger than my age, but at the age of 25 it's not flattering if you think I'm under 18.

6. I've still yet to find a perfect little black dress. I need one, I look for one, but have yet to find it.

7. I wish I could be a hat person. Sara is, other friends of mine are. I however have a large head so cute hats don't always fit. I still am wanting a cloche hat to wear.

8. I love Bingo. As in I love it as much as an old person does. I was so excited today when I found out they were going to start having Bingo nights here on post.

9.I always wished I had taken dance when I was younger. It's something I really regret not doing. One of these days I'm actually going to take a dance class and see if I'm even halfway decent.

10. I cannot stand it when people can't back up their argument with an example. For example, if you tell me I've been complaining alot and I ask you what I've been complaining about I expect an example. Not giving me one makes me think you are making it up.

I'm not tagging anyone because I'm pretty sure everyone else has done this.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Just a few Italy Updates

Time for a few updates.

Housing

We went to view the three bedroom apartment the goverment was offering us yesterday. It was a great layout, three bedrooms, nice kitchen, even a extra closet.

However, we turned it down. There were a couple of things we just couldn't get over, even though we like the layout.

1. It was about a quarter of a mile from the Autostrada. I didn't want to deal with the noise coming off that.

2. The first floor apartment facing the walkway has two dogs. One is quiet the other is the most obnoxious and loud Beagle I've ever seen in my life. He would NOT shut up. I love dogs, but I can't put up with a dog that loud

3. From the look of others balconies, the people who lived there were pretty trashy. I'm talking trash and beer bottles everywhere. No thank you.

So, Sean and I have booked a couple of private rentals to go see tomorrow.

The first is a pink house, it reminds me of a Mexican restaurant back in Oklahoma called Casa Bonita. It is actually a house instead of an apartment and we both like the look of it.

The second is a red exterior apartment that is fairly new.

I think we'll be deciding on one or the other tomorrow. We have to kind of push the housing along because Sean is taking a class starting Monday that will last for an entire month.

Language

I actually uddered an Italian word other than Ciao the other day. I said Buon Giorno and mi scusi to our maintenance man the other day. That may seem like very little, but to me it was a lot. I'm terrified of sounding like an idiot when it comes to foreign language. Yes I know that's something I need to get over and quickly.

Food

Sean and I went back to eat at the cafe on post yesterday and I actually didn't offend anyone. I ate my entire portion of caprese, which is a tomato and mozzarella salad cut into layers with salt, pepper and olive oil for taste. It's delicious!

As for all the questions about Moscato, I don't know how much it would be in the States, but according to other girls you should be able to find it. The award-winning version that I buy here is only about $10.00. (Can you believe that?) I may have a giveaway soon and include a bottle of it.

I tried some Ritter chocolate the other day, they sell about 20 varities of it here on-post. So far I've just tried the chocolate mousse. Good, but nothing to write home about. Obviously I need to investigate the chocolate further.

Random Tidbits

The sun is finally shining here today. I've never been so glad to see the sun in my life. All the haze and clouds were getting a little depressing.

Oh..Sean and I were updating our ID's yesterday and the woman doing it for us told Sean to put his index finger on the glass so she could read it. He puts his ring finger on there! I laughed so hard and the lady thought it was funny too. Did I marry a goober or what?

Monday, January 19, 2009

A Few Culinary Favorites

I'm happy to report that my posterior no longer hurts, so it seems as if my fall wasn't as damaging as I previously thought.

Whew!

As I mentioned in my last blog Sean and I were supposed to swing by housing today and go see our first apartment. I thought it a bit odd that she scheduled it today, on a holiday, but since other things on-post are open I thought perhaps housing was too.

Negative. The walk-out gate to go to housing was locked up tight, which I believe is the only way on-post to get out to housing, so I'm guessing they were closed today. Sean is supposed to call in the morning and see about getting that appointment rescheduled.

Sorry to say we didn't get out to the town this weekend. Sunday we both seemed to have a touch of some sort of stomach bug and although I know I shouldn't let the weather stop me, I didn't really want to take my camera out in the rain. These last few days the weather has been what I'd imagine Seattle to be like. Rainy, cloudy and cold. It's not freezing, but it's not my favorite weather to be out and about in.

To answer Brandi's question, I have to get authentic Italian pizza, although I have gotten a few good suggestions for some places.

The thing that makes me laugh is that there are Mexican and Japanese places off-post to eat at. Sean and I were discussing what the Mexican food would be like. I'm honestly quite curious. I'm under no illusions that it would be similiar to what I'm used to in the Tex-mex way of things.

I have found the best wine I've ever tasted. It's a green label, which according to Rick Steves means that only a certain number of wines in Italy have that distinction and it did say that it was the number one sweet wine in Italy. It's heavenly. It's Moscato...I believe that is the name of it, with hints of citrus and honey. Seriously...it's amazing.

A few other food finds that I like are this yogurt called Froop. I think it's German, but I'm not 100% on that. It's unsweetened yogurt with fruit on top and comes in delish flavors like strawberry and lemon. It's unlike any yougurt I've ever had and it's amazing. I'm also in love with the potatoes and meat cuts that they have. The potatoes are so moist and almost buttery.

Obviously you can see I'm going to gain 50 lbs while I'm here.

*sigh* At least I'll be enjoying some good food!

If you had today off, I hoped you enjoyed it!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Slip and Slide

So, a few nights ago I was running around the apartment with Boomer, playing tag with him as we usually do.

Unfortunately, I wasn't used to playing tag with him on non-carpeted floors and I promptly slipped, my feet came out from underneath me and I found myself on the hard floor.

Sean wasn't in the room or I'm sure he would have laughed, but he came out to see what the deal was as I'm laying on the floor, clutching my butt, yelling, "OMG!OW OW OW!"

Thank god I have some JLO-esque cushioning on my posterior or I'd probably have broken my tailbone. As it is, I think I bruised it. I did that once before about ten years ago when I slipped on my parents' floor and I couldn't sit right for more than a year.

Luckily I don't think it's that bad this time.

In other news, I think I've accidentally offended my first Italian.

See...Sean and I were in a cafe on-post and ordered some dinner. I got pasta and it ended up being a full plate of it. Combine that with bread and I can't eat the whole thing. When our waitress came around she informed that the cook would make me something else if I wasn't pleased with what I had. I told her it was great, I was just full, but she kept insisting. Now everytime Sean goes in there for coffee, she refuses to charge him for it. As if she's trying to make up for me not eating all the pasta.

I told Sean I certaintly didn't mean to offend anyone, but how can I eat everything that's on my plate? If I do I'm going to leave Italy about 20 lbs heavier!

I hope all of your are enjoying your Saturday! Any big plans for this long weekend?

I think we might be going bowling, trying to get out to see Vicenza and hopefully eating someplace delish off-post.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

La mia casa è la vostra casa (My house is your house)

Today is the first day since we've been in Vicenza that the sun hasn't been shining. It actually rained on me a little bit when I walked to the library this morning. I'm a little disappointed because I can't see the mountains today, but maybe the air will be clear tomorrow.

I already told Sean that I want to go to Switzerland, stand on a mountain with my hair in braids and do my best Heidi impression. He just laughed and told me I was weird. Seriously though, I really want to start traveling, BUT I have to admit I'm a little nervous. Mainly because of the language barrier. I really don't want to end up lost because I don't know what signs or people say.

There is a sort of travel agency here on post called ITR that puts together trips that you can sign up for. Right now I'm looking at a trip in late February that goes to three towns in Tuscany. It looks like fun and how scenic would that be? I'm thinking I could get some good pictures on that trip.

Speaking of pictures, I forgot to tell you guys how I did in the Army Photography Contest. I won 1st and 2nd on two pictures that I entered and now Ft. Polk has forwarded those pictures onto the national level of the competition. To say I'm excited is an understatement.

My title of the blog comes from the fact that Sean and I went to the housing office yesterday and tomorrow we have an appointment for them to show us a few homes (online I believe) First up is government housing and if we don't like either of the homes they show us then we move on to privatized housing. At least that's how I understood it to be. So, my question is this: For you ladies that are in Europe, what do you honestly think about those options? What has been your experience with eirther one of them? I told Sean I just wanted to sure we got what is best for us. I'm honestly not expecting a lot of room, but after seeing cute places like Casey and Allison's I'd like something comparable. Granted I know both of you ladies are in Germany and not in Italy. Any specific questions that I should ask them when we go to our appointment? I can use all the help I can get.

One last thing, I see that I've acquired some new followers in the last week or so. Hello and thanks for adding me to your blogging list! I promise I'll try my best to get over to your websites and comment soon, I'm just running a bit behind on that since I currently am without a computer.

Well, I'm off again. I'm supposed to attend a Drivers Orientation class with Sean this afternoon so I should get back to the hotel.

Ciao!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Insights on Italy

Sorry to report that I still have yet to upload the few pictures that I've taken while we are here, but I'm hoping soon to get out into the town. I have to admit I'm a little nervous on venturing out into Vicenza just yet, since I'm still not orientated yet to it and I'm sans car, but I do promise that I'll get some pictures up soon. I've taken a few pics of the views from our current place of residence so I'll try to put those up next time I'm blogging.

Thankfully, we are able to stay in the room that the Ederle Inn gave us the first night we were here. At the time they said it would only be a one night thing, but since then they've informed us we are cleared to stay there at least until the first week of February. Since we have a pet, we are unable to stay in the main hotel and so they put us in the "Annex". It's a four story cluster of three buildings and our room is awesome. Actually, it's more like seven rooms, as we have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen and a large living room. I know it's never going to happen, but I wish the apartment we moved into here would look like that!

Ok..now onto my insights of Italy.

1. Jet lag sucks. I laid in bed for 3.5 hours last night trying to go to sleep. Yeah...it didn't work. Something has to be done about that.

2. The views of the mountains here are incredible. I hope wherever we live around here has a decent view of the mountains. I'd take a view of mountains over the beach anyday.

3. Carbonated water isn't tasty. I grabbed some by mistake the other day and was sorely disappointed when I realized what I'd done.

4. The PX here actually has *gasp* cute clothes! As in, I'd actually purchase and wear some of them. At the Ft.Polk PX that was unheard of. The only clothing items I bought there were workout shorts. Also, might I add they have cute lingerie and bras. Score!

5. I had the most delicious parmesean cheese the other day from the deli. Sean and I agreed it's the best cheese we've already had. If that's any sort of preview of the cheese I can find here, then I'm in for a real treat.

6. Food at the commissary is suprisingly cheaper then I thought it would be. I was expecting a huge jump in prices.

7. I'm totally lost with the Italian language. Obviously that needs to be remedied and quickly.

8. The Autostrada scares the crap out of me. People going 90 to 100 mph is frightening! When we were being shuttled from Aviano to Vicenza, I was convinced I was never going to make it to Vicenza in one piece!

9. Radiators in every room are something new to me. It's interesting...just different.

10. AFN public safety announcements are beyond hilarious. I'm sure in the three years that I'm here that I will get tired of them, but in the meantime I can't help but laugh whenever I watch them.

Well, I need to scoot, Sean will be done soon with his in-processing for today and afterwards we are supposed to go to housing and also go deal with some TriCare stuff. Should be a good time.

Have a wonderful day ladies!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

I Made It!

Well, I made it to Italy!

Not without a few minor incidents of course, but that's to be expected right?

It's been a crazy week for us. I'll give more details later, but here's a few for you.

1. Finding a vibrator (ew!) under our bed in the hotel we stayed in by the DFW airport.

2. Rushing around the Baltimore Airport to find Boomer a hard-sided carrier

3. Getting to the hotel in Vicenza and them telling us our reservation was invalid.

Everything worked itself out though in the last two situations, so no worries there, but like I said I'll explain some of this later.

I'm still trying to get used to this time change. I didn't go to bed until after 12:30 last night and Sean and I woke up at 1:00 this afternoon. Yeah...jet lag blows.

We are doing a few errands on-post today and hopefully hitting the gym for a much needed workout. On Monday Sean starts in-processing so hopefully I'll get back to the library then and upload a few pictures I've taken. Nothing too spectacular, but I'm hoping to get out into Vicenza soon to take some pics. Oh..and we have a pretty view of the mountains here on post. I didn't realize that until we were out walking on-post.

More details to come on life in Italy so far, but that will have to wait until Monday. Thanks to everyone for the comments on my last post!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane....

Well ladies, it's time for me to say goodbye for a bit while we are in transit to Italy.

I'm hoping after I get over my jet-lag that I can hop down to the computer room that our hotel supposedly has and update on how things are going.

I've got a dozen things running through my mind right now, most of them are worries.

Will we get our car shipped? Will everything go well with Boomer on the plane? Will I make it in one piece to Italy? (As most of you know I'm terrified of flying)

I'd appreciate any prayers and well wishes you can spare that everything goes as planned.

Tomorrow we are heading out early to get some stuff done between here and Dallas. We are going to give it one last effort at the Oklahoma Tax Commission to see if there is anyway us being there in person can help us get our title. We shall see!

At any rate, I hope to be back on here blogging and reading all of your adventures soon.

Ciao!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Awards and Fashion Finds

First up I'd like to thank Mrs. Newlywed over at Misadventures of a Newlywed for this fab award.

Here are the Rules:

1. You must be a true lover of the New Year to receive this award.The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with the New Year.

2. List things that you love about the New Year. If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space.

3. Pass the award along to as many people as you like. That can be 1 or 50. It's up to you! But keep the New Year cheer going.

4. Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving a comment on their site. Also, link back to the person who gave you the award.

So without further ado, here's my list of things I love about the New Year.

1. The possiblities! I always love wondering what's in store for me in the new year.
2. The fresh start. What's better than starting anew?
3. The thought of upcoming holidays and events I have planned.
4. My upcoming PCS to Italy. I'm scared yet excited.

Now...to pass it on. I'm always bad about passing on awards, but I'll do my best.

1. Indiana Girl at Yellow Ribbon Diary. She's one of the many women that keep an upbeat attitude while her husband is deployed. She writes wonderful posts too and I really enjoy reading her.

2.Lindsay at And We'll Just Laugh Along The Way- the girl makes me laugh and I do mean laugh. She's got a wicked sense of humor and she has a huge year ahead of her since she'll be planning her wedding.

3. NewlyWed Central- she's a fairly new follower of mine and I'm really enjoying reading her blog. She had a great post about following and making realistic resolutions, so she seemed a natural fit for the award.

Now on to a few fashion finds that I found on...of course Forever21.

How can you not love this camisole? It comes in a couple of different colors too.

I love this shirt! It's got a rocker chick vibe.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Rock Lobster!

Well....the day started out quite crappy, but I'm hoping it ends on a high note.

To put it simply, we aren't getting out car title before we go to Dallas. After dealing with an extremely rude lady who informed me, "Ma'am, it's ridiculous for you to even ask me to have your title for you by Monday." I honestly broke down and cried. Is it too much to ask for some customer service? I mean really?

I'm still a bit peeved, but I'll move on and try to figure out someway to get our car shipped, whether that means my parents have to mail the title to the shipping company or something along those lines.

We got our car detailed today and now it's super clean and shiny. Just the way I like it. You know, before I had a husband my car was immaculate. Then he came along and leaves it messy. You know how husbands are.

Tonight is our special dinner at our local fancy restaurant. I'm excited! I get to wear my Forever 21 dress that I love and have a good meal. I'm hoping I can get my mom to take a picture of Sean and I before we leave for dinner. We shall see though.

Oh..and before I forget I'd like to give a shout out to my new followers. I've had a few new ones in the last week or so and I just like to say thank you to them and all of my followers for coming back day after day and reading about my adventures.

Last but not least, I leave you with a few pictures from the last couple of days.

I was in charge of the lobsters

Yet..they soon became a photo op.

The finished product...rock lobstah!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Resolutions...To Keep or Not to Keep

Happy 2009 everyone! I hope you had a great start to the new year.

I'd like to share my list of resolutions with you.

1. To become a better photographer
2. To fully experience Europe and travel as much as possible
3. To not complain as much (yeah I can be a complainer at times)
4. To not be as critical
5. Oh yeah...and to lose those pesky 10 lbs that are still hanging around

I think it's a list of attainable goals.

I'd love to hear a few of your resolutions!

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