Question of the Day

I'll be discussing my trip to Florence yesterday in an upcoming post, but today I'd like to do Question of the Day.

I've noticed on Facebook the trend for this week is to replace your profile pic with a celeb's pic that looks like you. I have not done this because quite frankly I don't know of a celeb that I really look like.

The only celeb I've been told I resemble is Michelle Williams. I'm not sure I see the resemblance in all pictures of us, but maybe some.

Me:



Michelle:



So..have you been told you resemble any celebs? If not, who do you think you resemble?

Photograph Friday

First of all I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who gave their honest opinion and commented yesterday, I really do appreciate it. I will still be doing Etsy posts in the future. One bad incident will not keep me from posting those, so if you enjoy them, don't worry, I'm not getting rid of them.

Now, in honor of my trip to Florence tomorrow (I'm going to the Accademia, where the statue of David is) I decided to post a picture from my last trip to Florence.

I love street art and this guy was very talented. It's amazing to me what people can create with an empty sidewalk and some chalk!

Backlash on Blogger

Ok, as you remember I did a post yesterday about awesomely bad items on Etsy. My intention with those is not to embarass people that make them, it's just entertainment of what is actually out there for sale. Well..I knew when I wrote it someone might have an issue with some of the items I featured and I was right. I got an email this morning from one of them women who sells a product I featured on my blog. I would like you to read what she wrote me and then I'll put my response email up.

Her Email:

Hi...

We don't know each other, but I have to tell you how much you hurt my feelings. I know you are going to rip me limb from limb for even writing you. I read what you wrote about someone who annoyed you by complaining about something on your girls night out....so I am sure this will be treated with the same intolerance.

However...what you need to know as a young woman is this. I am 45, and have been home bound for a year due to a major head injury. I know, I know....it will only be fodder to you and your friends who like to knock stuff. I guess I am. I guess that is what life has become. I guess I am fodder. Oh I can imagine the LAUGH you will get..." this is a result of a head injury" I just want you to know this, you have the power to hurt. You have the power to light the match to a fire. I guess I never thought in a million years when I put myself out there that I would encounter out and out mean people.

As you go down lifes path, please refer to this. It is a lesson you should have learned as a young child...If you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all. I have 2 kids 20 and 18 who I have talked to tonight about this, and how much it hurt me. I thank you for this.....giving me the opportunity to go over this basic quality with them again. Nice matters. Mean people suck. Mean people suck BAD! The old school yard phrase "sticks and stones may break my bones but words may never hurt me".....big mis-truth....words hurt bad.....especially from a random bully. I guess that is what you are....a cyber bully- and I am sorry our lives collided like this. I just had to let you know how much you hurt my feeling. I thought after the year of medical healing NOTHING would hurt me....YOU proved me wrong......YOU were able to hurt me.

And my response:

I appreciate you taking the time to write me and I do sincerely apologize that I hurt your feelings. I do NOT think it's funny that your feelings are hurt or that you have a major head injury and are homebound. I don't consider myself a cyber bully or a mean person and I'm sorry that you think that I am. I've been doing these posts off and on for the past year. I don't name names of people who make them, it's just entertainment of what is actually out there for sale. I never said you had an ugly product or that people out there aren't happy to buy it. It's just not something I would buy and I'm sure as an adult you realize not everyone has the same opinion.

That being said, you don't have to read my blog, you don't have to read my words and you don't have to dwell on them.

Please understand this is not an attack on you and I'd appreciate it in the future if you would not attack me with labeling me a cyber bully. Like you say I don't know you and you don't know me. It works both ways.

I'm letting you guys read this because I feel like I should be honest with you. I'm not puting this out there so we can make fun of her email, so please understand that. I don't consider myself a "cyber-bully". I write about what makes me laugh, what makes me sad and what upsets me. I'm not going to start censoring myself to make everyone happy or so that I don't offend someone. If I did that I'd never be able to write a blog post because someone out there could get offended about pretty much anything I could say.

Your thoughts on the situation? I'd like to hear them.

Awesomely Bad Etsy Finds: Volume Four

I haven't done one of these posts in months, so I thought it was high time that I showed you what was out there in the land of Etsy.

Let's get started shall we?

Is your toilet looking a little drab? No worries! Affix one of these tank diver stickers to your toilet and never worry about how plain it looks again! Their motto? Trick Out Your Toilet!



Have a potluck to go to? Embarrassed of your Crock-Pot? I've got something that will help with that. Introducing the Crock Frock! Never have a dull dish again with this little number.



Are you a fan of fruit? Do you like to take fruit with you and not worry about bruising? Well if that describes you then check out this apple cozy!




Got a little bad juju in your life? Turn that around with this voodoo shrine!



Does that time of the month have you down? Brighten it up with one of these fun fabric maxi pads! (No, I am NOT joking)

That's What She Said

Ok...so as promised yesterday I said I'd blog about what was said by the other military wives at dinner the other night.

So, first of all my friend R was with us, she's Italian and super cool. I joke about how she's really an American born into an Italian girls body because she's just very American acting. Anyway, she had suggested this chicken place for us to go to. Before we left our friends house this other girl (who was not originally invited might I add) pipes up and says she wants to go to this other place because it's the same as the other place and the Italian servers aren't as rude. Umm....we have an Italian in our group? Perhaps you should think about that before opening your mouth. Mmkay?

Next up, we are sitting at the restaurant and somehow the subject of sex comes up. Well one of the wives says something to the effect of, "Well my husband and I bone" and then she turns to R and says, "boning is an American word for sex". It was all I could do not to laugh. Ok..I'm pretty sure anyone(including foreign people) knows what the word bone means and secondly who says bone? I haven't heard that one since middle school!

Finally, we got on the subject about the fact that there have been some break-in's at military families homes. It's common knowledge here that gypsies are usually the ones responsible, but one of the wives insisted that it was Italians breaking in and we should all arm ourselves with various weapons. I'm not joking when she told us she was going to get a machete.



It was an interesting night to say the least....

Awards and a Sick Dog

This past week I received a couple of awards. I'd like to thank Tori and Mrs.Sparkly Stilettos for the awards.

Here's the first one:



I'm going to pass this on to 5 of my daily favorite reads.

1.Katlyn at Running Through Life- she's about to go into the Air Force and I'm very excited for her. I'm crossing my fingers that she'll get stationed somewhere close to me.
2. KD at Life of the Wife- she has a naughty dog and likes to drink wine like yours truly. What more can I say?
3. Steph at Adventurs of Jon and Steph. I love her photos, she's a fellow Okie and one of these days I hope I can meet her in person (and I hope she'll cut my hair too)
4. Lindsay at And We'll Just Laugh Along the Way. One of the first blogs I started reading and one of the few bloggers I've had the pleasure of meeting. She's as awesome in person as she is on her blog.
5. No list would be complete without my friend Sara at When In Rome. To put it simply, she's awesome. I wish she were stationed with me right now because I know we'd be having a great time together. I miss her bunches!

Now for the next award:



You're supposed to give this to 15 new blogs you've discovered, but I'm going to do .

1.Blonde Glambition
2. Yeah, Honestly

Go check them out!

Boomer was sick last night with some sort of tummy issue. He threw up no less than 6 times on the couch and on the bed. Ew ew ew. Thank Goodness he is feeling better today!

Last night I went out with a few friends for a meal at a local chicken place. It was good, but much different then say going to KFC in the States. Remember the military wife who complained in this post? Well she was at this dinner, didn't really complain, but had a few interesting things to say. More on that tomorrow!

I'm No Martha Stewart

From time to time I'm sure you guys have seen me mention that I have no decorating sense whatsoever.

One of my goals while Sean is deployed is to decorate our apartment, it's small (our living room and kitchen are a shared space) but I know it can look better than what it does right now.

Currently our apartment is decorated with furniture I acquired when I was in college and living on my own. So..a lot of it is hand-me down furniture from relatives. I'm not joking when I say it looks like a bachelor pad or the only decorating I've done consists of hanging a total of four pictures on the walls.

I'm just kind of at a loss of what I should do or where I should even begin. I will say that I have picked two things out.

One being the bed set that I think I'm going to get. We like a lot of black and white and I like this bedset and so does Sean (which is important)



I'm thinking about a few turquoise or some other bright shade of throw pillows to help break up the black and white.

Also..I've picked out what I want my new dinnerware to be.



Turquoise Fiestaware! If you haven't noticed I'm a big fan of turquoise. I have some green plates from Target that I got for our wedding, but I'm not feeling them anymore and I don't have a complete set of them, so I don't feel so bad getting something new.

So..my point to this whole blog is where did you get inspiration for decorating your home? A magazine? A blog? A website? Martha herself? Please share!

Fashion Friday

I haven't done a cute fashion post in awhile, so I thought it was high time I did one.



How cute is this graphic tee from Forever 21?



I'm thinking ahead to spring with this dress. We all know how much I love green too! This dress also comes in red and you can find it at Forever 21.



I love cardigans like this and the colors look awesome together! Another F21 find.





Roses seem to be a popular theme for totes this year and I love both of these. The first one is from Old Navy and the second is F21.



I'm a sucker for all things plaid and this shirt is no exception, it's the perfect spring colors! To be honest I'm not sure where I saw this shirt. I'm leaning towards Old Navy, but it could be F21 too.

Having a Little Work Done

So..the new People magazine issue with Heidi Montag on the cover was brought to my attention yesterday. I haven't seen the issue myself, as we get magazines later than those in the States, but I'll probably go ahead and buy it when it does come out. Have you seen it? This is the before and after picture of Heidi.



I think she looked better before! And let's not even get started on her new boobs! They look like floatation devices. It just makes me sad that she looked fine before and now she looks like plastic.

That's not to say I've never thrown around the idea of getting my pre-teen size set of boobs upgraded to a bigger size, but I'd never want to look like that and I could never so drastically change my face.

Your thoughts?

Insecurities

I'm sure many of you out there struggle with insecurities like I do. I constantly struggle not to compare myself to other people, not just physically, but in other aspects too. She's a better cook than me, she's smarter than me, she speaks 3 languages fluently, etc. I hate that I do it, but I do and I don't know that it's improving.

The thing that sets me off is that people that are close to me know this about me. They know I'm insecure, they know what triggers me to feel that way yet they continue to say things that they know push my buttons and make the whole insecurity issue rear it's ugly head. I mean seriously? Is it that hard if you really think those thoughts just to keep them to yourself?

Is that too much to ask?



Sorry for the total Debbie Downer post ladies, I'm a bit more emotional than usual because it's that time of the month.

Sunshine and rainbows returning tomorrow!

Field Trip

Yesterday, Dana and her little boy Jericho, invited me to go with them on a trip to the winery. As I am often bored during the day and like the company, I decided to venture with them to the winery.

I am so glad I did! I just wish I'd brought my camera, because I missed out on some awesome shots.

The winery we went to was called Villa Sceriman and it was gorgeous! It was beautiful in the dead winter of January, so I can only imagine how beautiful it will be in spring. Dana says there is a canopy of wisteria in the spring, so I will have to go back and make sure I capture it.

We met up with a few other girls and immediately started tasting some wine. I sampled Prosecco, Marzemino( best described by others as grape juice with a kick) and a few others.

The neat thing abot ths place is they have large tables inside and out that you can sit, enjoy some wine and sample some delish snacks to go along with it. As a group we enjoyed Asiago cheese, bread, olives, speck ( a kind of dried meat, originating from the Tirol region between Italy and Austria) and Prosecco.

I ended up buying four bottles before we left and I'm sure I'll return for many more. I bought some Prosecco, two bottles of Marzemino and a bottle of Serprino. If any of you come to visit I'll have to take you there. I can't wait to show Sean this place when he gets back!

Flickr Users

Ok, I have a question for all you Flickr users out there. Is it worth it to upgrade to the pro account? I just have the basic for now, but am plan on using it somewhat as a gallery of prints for my photography business.

I know there are other hosting sites out there, but honestly all I'm wanting to know about right now is the merits of upgrading my Flickr account.

You can see what I have on there so far here.

Question of the Day

I have a kind of serious post in mind, but I'm not ready to blog about it yet, so today is going to be a question kind of day.

So...today's Question of the Day:

What inspired you to start blogging?

The Locket

The title almost sounds like a Nicholas Spark's book doesn't it?

For Christmas my best friend got me a beautiful locket. On the outside it has Sean and I's initials.



On the inside are pictures of Sean and I on our wedding day. It was such a thoughtful gift and I LOVE wearing it.





What is a favorite piece of jewelry you have?

Jet-Setting

One of my favorite things about being stationed in Europe is the travel opportunities.

In the first year I was able to visit quite a few places and I hope to visit even more this year.

So far this is my preliminary travel plans for this year. I'm hoping more will be added as the year goes along.

January- at the end of the month I'm hoping to go to Florence to visit the Accademia gallery. I have yet to go there and I'd love to see the statue of David.

February- Lugano, Switzerland

March- Hoping for the spas at Baden-Baden with KD.

April- supposedly will be our R&R month. On the way back to Italy I've planned to stop in NYC and visit my friend Brittni for a few days.

May- hopefully Paris with KD!


June- my parents, brother and a couple who are good friends of my parents are coming to Italy. We'll be going on a 7 day Greek Cruise so I'll get to visit Croatia, Turkey and Greece. I'm muy excited about it! I'm most excited about seeing Santorini, Greece though. I've heard such wonderful things about it from everyone who's actually been there.


July- ideally I'd like to go to Norway (where some of my ancestors are from) for a birthday trip. But after an expensive cruise, I'm not sure that's going to happen.

The rest of the year is open as of now, but some places on my list to see are:

1. Plitvice Lakes in Croatia



Aren't they gorgeous?

2. Gimmelwald, Switzerland
3. Salzburg, Austria
4. Tons of Spain, there's so many places in Spain that I can't just name one
5. Rome, Italy(I've been here a year and still not been!)
6. Berlin, Germany
7. Krakow, Poland

Sean has been discussing the possibility lately that he may choose to extend our time here by 2 years, if that's the case it appears I might have some extra time to explore Europe. That would be a definite plus to staying overseas.

So...what are your travel plans this year? Any great vacations you've got planned?

Health Plan Update

I'm currently on a weight-loss quest and have been trying out new recipes so I don't get stuck in a rut.

Last night I tried this lime cilantro shrimp salad. It was tasty, but I felt like it was missing something. I think next time I'd add another vegetable to it like white corn. Granted, I know corn is not a veggie that is really promoted in diets, but I think a few helpings of this salad with corn wouldn't be that big of a deal.

The other day I mentioned I had started using SparkPeople to keep track of my nutrition goals. At first I was pretty skeptical about how writing down what I ate would help with weight loss, but I have to say it's really helped. It keeps me honest and quite frankly I don't want to eat something crappy and then have to put it in the meal tracker, so I've been eating better. So far I've lost 5 lbs since I got back here to Italy. Now...before any of you start saying congrats, let me just say that between Sean coming back from training in September and me going home for the holidays I packed on almost ten pounds! So this five pounds is taking off weight that wasn't on me pre-September. I just hope I keep on losing this easily!

Anyone have any other good healthy recipes they'd care to share?

Are We Going to Have to Throw Down?

Ok, let me just preface this story by saying that I'm not usually a confrontational person, but in the gym today I seriously wanted to throw down with a 70 year old lady.

So..I was in the women's lockeroom. I'd already taken my shower and done my make-up, I just had my hair left to do. As I'm drying my hair, this old lady comes out of either the shower or sauna and sits on the bench behind me. She proceeds to watch me blow-dry my hair for about ten minutes, gets up and disappears for about 10 more minutes. By the time she gets back I'm straightening my hair. She sits back down on the bench right behind me and starts staring at me doing my hair yet again. Can I just add that the whole rest of the bench she's sitting on is empty? Why she chose to sit right behind me I have no idea. As I'm spraying my hair and then straightening it she keeps shaking her head and acting like she's annoyed.

I have no idea what her issue was, but after 10 minutes of that I was ready to turn around and ask her what her problem was. I don't think it was that I was using the plug-ins, because there are at least 2 if not 3 other plug-ins in the lockeroom she could have used and in close proximity.

Did I forget to mention that the entire time this was going on she was sitting naked on the bench so I could see her saggy boobs and who-ha? ::shudders::

She does that again and we're throwing down!

Deployment Month 1 in Review

So..actually Month 1 was over a few days ago, but I neglected to write a blog then, so...here we go.

In Month One I:

-Went back to the States to spend the holidays with friends and family
-Ate my weight in Mexican food
-Got to talk to Sean on an almost daily basis once we figured out our schedules
-Bought a new laptop as Sean took ours with him
-Read a few books including: Scarlett, Midwives, A Good Woman and I'm currently reading Firefly Lane
-Started a new weight loss plan in which I signed up for Spark People and am currently keeping myself accountable with my exercise and what I eat



My family showing how much we missed Sean this Christmas

Girls Night Out

Last night I attended a sort of girls night out function with a friend of mine and some of her friends. I'm not going to lie and say I was really excited about it, because initally I wasn't, but once I went I was glad I did.

We started out at my friend's house and then drove to a local winery. It was awesome! You grab a little cup at the entrance and just go around to all of these huge containers that are labeled with what kind of wine they are. We had a good time just sampleing wine and pitching an idea for a new TV show "The Real Housewives of XX, Italy". In all honesty I think it'd be a real hit. Half Army Wives (with accurate information) and Half Real Housewives. What amazed me though was that none of them had kids and they were all pretty close in age to me. Unheard of usually in the Army. Not knocking people with kids at all, please understand that, but in today's military I find it hard to find women my age who don't have children.

I didn't leave the winery empty-handed though. I now have one bottle of Moscato in my posession and two bottles of fragolino (strawberry wine).

Two of the girls went home to Skype with their husbands and three of us went back to my friend's house for some pasta and more conversation. I liked the other girl that went back with us, but she was a huge complainer. Her main beef was that my friend and I get to talk to our husbands almost daily. I really didn't know what to tell her, I didn't think I should apologize, because sometimes that's just the luck of the draw. I could tell it really bothered her though because she brought it up constantly throughout the night. I liked her, but I can't see myself being friends with her. You can tell she's a very nervous individual who's afraid of being in a foreign country and to be honest I have NO idea how she's going to survive this deployment.



(Penis shaped pasta from Venice..no idea...this was the only pasta in the house)

Overall it was a great night though and I can't wait to do it again.

Snapshot Saturday

Well..I'm slowly adjusting to being back here in Italy. In all honesty I haven't done much. I went briefly to post yesterday to check my mail and to get groceries and that's it. I've just been spending time with Boomer, watching the Twlight Zone and trying to get my body readjusted to being in this time zone.

That's honestly been the worst part. The first night I was back I slept fine because I hadn't slept on the plane, but last night I only slept for about 3 hours and then woke up around 1. I couldn't get back to sleep until almost six and then slept until noon. Not my idea of fun!

One thing I did want to mention was to all my new followers out there. If you don't see your page on my list of links or on my blog roll, then please leave me a comment and tell me what your website is. I'd love to check out your page as well and don't be afraid to introduce yourself.

Now, I leave you with this picture from my lunch date with my dear friend Kebi.