Happy (Early) Halloween!

Since Sunday is Halloween, our friends are having their Halloween party tonight. I'm not as excited as I was earlier today about it, as Sean found out he has to work tomorrow and therefore won't be attending the party with me.

I'm making chocolate chip cookies to take to the party (best cookies ever!) and I'm going to start working on putting together my cop costume in a couple of hours. Don't worry I'll take pictures!

I made a storyboard of some of my favorite Halloween type images to share. Some of the images were taken a few days ago at the cemetery outside Venice. It's on an island and there are several famous people buried there. I'll try to do a post with some of those pictures in a few days.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

Join in over at Wife of a Sailor!



1.What’s the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?I've had strangers send me cards when they saw my name in the paper for various awards and such. It's always nice to hear others think you're pretty special.

2.If you are having a hard time going to sleep, what do you do to help yourself?Um...this is kinda weird I'm sure, but I go through the alphabet and come up with an Italian word beginning with each letter. A. It helps me with my Italian vocab B. I end up asleep. It's win-win.

3.Name something that makes you wish you were a kid again.Bills, money, relationship issues. Being an adult is rough.

4.What is something you never believed until you experienced it?I'm honestly not sure I have an answer for this.

5.What can’t you say “no” to?Naughty little Min-Pins that look at me with pleading eyes. My dog is spoiled because I can't say no to him.

Clarification and Wordless Wednesday

I'd like to clarify a few things from my sponsor post from yesterday.

1. I wasn't really referring to people having ads on their blog, unless they are excessive, then I tend to avoid said blogs.
2. I'm all about giveaways or sponsoring giveaways for Etsy sellers. As an Etsy seller myself, I understand getting my store out there.
3. Just because I express my opinion doesn't mean I'm singling anyone out. In fact, the blog I'm referring to isn't even one that's on my blog list anymore. Plus, just because I blog about something that bothers me doesn't mean anyone should care. If I truly don't like what I see on a blog then I just don't read it.

Now for Wordless Wednesday!



This is the confetti-strewn aftermath from an Italian wedding in Venice.

Sponsors?

Can I just comment on the fact that I find it a bit odd that there are so many blogs out there now with sponsors? Really?

I just clicked over to a blog I used to read frequently and the author had no less than 10 sponsors. I just find this odd, not to mention excessive. I don't really get the concept of having a sponsor for your blog.

Now I've done my share of sponsored giveaways, but I do find that different than having my blog sponsored by an actual company and having advertising space on my blog.

Anyone find this odd? Or am I just the grouchy old woman of the blog world?

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the Service Star flag from Blue Bird Crafting is:



LTarmy wife! Please contact me at newgirlonpost{at}live.com so I can pass along your information to The Mrs. and get your prize sent right away to you.

Sunday Randoms

-I'm really upset my Oklahoma State Cowboys lost yesterday to Nebraska.
-Went to a chocolate festival yesterday. It was AMAZING. I had Italian hot chocolate for the second time in my life. I may have gained 5 lbs from it alone.
-I finally came up with a Halloween costume! I'm going to be a cop! I had everything I needed for the costume except a hat and my friend visiting from NYC brought that. Now if I could only find a club...
-Fall in this area of Italy means lots of foggy, dreary, rainy days. I'm not a fan.
-Don't forget that tonight at midnight my giveaway fromm fabulous Blue Bird crafting ends. See this post for details!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

I'm cranking this out early as I have a guest coming in and I'm picking her up from the airport today. Join in the fill-in over at Wife of a Sailor!



1.Are you a night owl or an early bird?
Night owl. I much prefer staying up late, although in my old age I can't stay up as late as I used to.

2.What makes you jealous?
People who have closets, houses, access to Target, Hobby Lobby and Starbucks on a regular basis. (Obviously you can tell I'm overseas)

3.Have you started Christmas/holiday shopping yet? When will you finish? (There’s only 63 days left!)
I've actually already started. I have to get all my gifts out by December 10th and so I'm shopping earlier than usual.

4.What would you have a personal chef make you tonight?
Salsa with chips, enchiladas and some tacos. I miss Mexican food!

5.Where was your first kiss?
Ha ha ha...on my best friend's couch. I even remember the song that was playing. It was Lauren Hill's "Doo Wop That Thing".

Don't forget about my giveaway! Sign up for it here.

Question of the Day

Another debate via the Army wives forum I'm part of.

Do you think letting your child believe in Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc. is lying to them? Or going out of your way to perpetuate a lie?

I honestly do not understand this way of thinking. When I was small I believed in Santa. I left out cookies, I got special presents from him, I believed! It was such a fun time of my life and I look back on it fondly. I don't think back and become angry thinking that my parents lied to me that there was a Santa. In fact, I know that if I had asked my Mom if there was a Santa she would have told me the truth, but I didn't and so she didn't ruin it for me.



I feel like as a child that it's a very short period of time in your life where you have this endless imagination and can escape reality for awhile. Telling your child there is no Santa is in my opinion, ruining some of the fun and magic of childhood for your child. Let me clarify also, that growing up I was also told about the nativity at Christmas. It wasn't all Santa all the time for me.

Did you believe in Santa as a child? Will you let your children believe in Santa?

I'm really curious to see what others think about this. As always, keep it civil!

Giveaway Time!

I've teamed up with The Mrs. over at Trying Our Best for today's giveaway. The Mrs. has a very talented mother with her own Etsy shop, Bluebird Crafting and she makes some awesome items.

The item I'm giving away is an 8x10 Blue Star flag (unframed), which signifies that you have someone deployed or serving in the military during wartime.



Here's a brief explanation of the flag here.

I have one of the flags and I love it! Anyone who's affiliated with the military or has someone in their family who is would love to own this flag, trust me.

To enter the giveaway:

One entry for commenting on this post
Two entries for Tweeting about it. If you want to refer back to me, my Twitter name is NewGirlonPost (of course!).
Three entries for blogging about it, but make sure you tell me you have done so.

The contest ends Sunday evening at midnight. Winner will be announced Monday!

Keep on Running...

Ok...a quick post about running.

First of all, I've been slacking on my running...a lot. I hope to get back on track tomorrow. The scale demands it!

Next up:



They are called Vibram Five Fingers. I find them...odd. I've seen people wearing them at the track and I just don't get the appeal. Somebody explain this to me.

Last, but not least, I have a new running goal. Next fall there is a "Run to the Tower" a 12K run from Camp Darby to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I want to run this race!

Up on my Soapbox

I have a small rant today that's military related. If you disagree with me fine, I welcome your comments, but as always, keep it civil!

I'm really, really tired of people voicing the opinion that the military "owes" them or constantly griping about how they hate x branch because of x reason.

I'll be the first to say that the Army and some of the things that go on really make no sense and I have issues sometimes with it. I'm not a fan of my husband having staff duty for 8 weekends in a row and sometimes 3 days a week. I'm not a fan of the fact I don't get to home for Christmas or get leave until February, however that's kind of a trade-off right now for him being home early from a deployment, so I deal with it.



I have a "friend" that's in pretty much the same situation as me. Her husband got sent home early for a back issue that has since healed, he had 30 days of leave after he got home (which we didn't get) and then they both pitched a fit when he was told he wouldn't get block leave until February. So what do they do? They lie and say they already had plane tickets and she e-mails higher-up people in our Rear D command to say, "How dare you not give my husband leave when he was deployed to Afghanistan!" (Those were her exact words to me) So what happened? They got the leave that they wanted.

It's things like this that grind my gears. The Army doesn't owe you leave whenever you want to take it just because you were deployed! Other people in your situation didn't throw a fit, so why should you? It's not just her though, I hear this all the time from military people.

I'm not one of those people that think the Army owes me anything. I get money for housing, my husband gets college courses paid for, we have good health care and he has a steady job. Sure, I don't like the hours or the deployments or some of the ridiculous games that the Army plays, but we chose this life. If we don't like it, then I think we'd get out. I wonder sometimes why people who complain all the time just don't get out themselves.

Snapshot Saturday

Today is a day of watching college football in our household. I wish AFN was showing the Oklahoma State vs. Texas Tech game, but alas, they are not. So, I'll have to settle for another Big XII game.

Because we are busy watching football I'm just putting up a recent picture from my venture into Prosecco wine country.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

It's that time again. MilSpouse Friday Fill-In. Join in over at Wife of a Sailor!



1.What are some things on your bucket list?
See as many National Parks, Monuments, Historical sites as possible
See the pyramids and take a Nile Cruise
Become a certified scuba diver
Go on an African safari
Buy an original Ansel Adams print
Buy a Greek Revival home

2.How long have you been a MilSpouse and where have you been stationed so far?
I've been a MilSpouse for a little over three years. So far we've been stationed at Ft. Polk and here in Vicenza, Italy.

3.What is a list of songs that sums up your life so far?
Stayin' Alive- The Bee Gees
Where'd You Go- Fort Minor
Country Roads- John Denver
Shimmer-Fuel
You Keep Me Hangin' On- The Supremes

4.What is your favorite kind of pizza?
I live in Italy, so you'd think I love Italian pizza. Not so. I prefer Pizza Hut's thick crust supreme pizza.

5.What are three good things in your life right now?
I've sold a few of my prints in my new Etsy shop, I have some friends that I really enjoy here, I'm planning some fun trips in the future.

Just in time for Halloween!

I wish I were talking about some faboulous Halloween costume I came up with, but I have not and oh crap I haven't ordered one either. Great...

On a trip to Venice the other day with friends I spotted what I thought would be a perfect Halloween picture.

I've Never...

I've been thinking lately about some things that I've never done. Not crazy, unusual things like skydiving or even visiting different sights of the world. Just normal, everyday, ho-hum things.

I've Never:

-Watched an episode of Gilmore Girls (until today!) Or Grey's Anatomy, but I'm never going to change that one. I watched 5 minutes once and didn't like it. A full episode? No thanks.

-Gotten a pedicure (Obviously I need to rectify this and soon!)

-Gone to a ballet or an opera (Two things which I'm hoping to do before we leave Europe)

-Made gravy or a Thanksgiving turkey (I make Sean do both of those things)

-Taken a dance class. (One of my big regrets)

What are some things you've never done?

An Obsession

It's no secret I'm obsessed with the holiday season. I've already listened to a little bit of Christmas music this year (like 3 songs) and this weekend when Hallmark released their new ornaments for the season, I was all over it.

There are sooo many cute ornaments this year! I've already sent my mom to Hallmark to buy an ornament that I'm afraid they'll sell out of.

See, my family loves the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Hallmark started selling a series of ornaments last year commemorating the movie and by the time I got back to the States, they were sold out everywhere. Even on Ebay the ornament is selling for about $65.00. So, I wasn't letting that happen this year.



I'm also a huge fan of the Grinch. In fact, one of these days I'd love to have a tree with just Grinch ornaments. I'm nowhere close to having enough though, but I do have enough Barbie ornaments to have my own Barbie tree. I just need a white tree, I've already got the pink lights!



Last, but not least, I love the Doorways Around the World series. I'm a bit behind on collecting them, as I only have the first year, which is Germany and missed out on Mexico and Ireland, but this year's door is Italy and I feel that's a must have since we live there!



There's seriously a ton of other ornaments that I'd love to have, they did a great job this year on the ornaments. Check them out!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

Join in the Friday Fill-In over at Wife of a Sailor!



1.What is the longest road trip you’ve ever taken?
I've taken a few long trips with my family when I was younger. I drove Oklahoma to New York and back once and then from Oklahoma to California and back through most of the west the next year. Both very fun vacations.

2.Do you collect anything? Tell us a bit about it.
Postcards, Barbies, ornaments, Nancy Drew books. I've slacked off on the Nancy Drew books and Barbies the past few years, but I always buy postcards when I travel.

3.What is your favorite part about being an adult?
Doing what I want. I mean, what's better than that? Being able to consume alcohol legally is a big plus too.

4.What song brings a tear to your eye?
"Where'd You Go" by Fort Minor and "To Sir With Love" by the Glee Cast made me tear up too.

5.Describe your first plane ride (how old you were, where you were heading, etc).

I think I was around 8? We went to Houston, Texas and I LOVED being on a plane. My family still laughs about me leaning back in the seat with my peanuts and pop saying, "This is the life!" It's ironic after that experience that I now hate flying.

Pumpkin Butter

Today, after a pleasurable ceramic shopping experience in Nove, complete with the best gnochetti with fresh mushrooms pasta I've ever had...I made pumpkin butter.

Pumpkin butter is like apple butter and let me tell you, it's amazing.



I got the recipe at SkinnyTaste.com, here is the link. The best part? All of the recipes are Weight Watchers friendly. So even if you don't follow WW (which I don't) you still know you are eating in a resonable manner. There's also been recipes this week for pumpkin crepes, pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin smoothies, all using pumpkin butter. Check it out! Go! Now!

Wine Down Wednesday

Today I went on a short trip with our ODR for a Wine Down Wednesday featuring one of my favorite wines: Prosecco. In case you don't know what Prosecco is, it's basically the Italian version of champagne and it's delish!

We had two different tastings today and I ate more than my share of Italian meats, cheeses (parmesan and asiago) breads and of course wine.

The first vineyard we went to was huge, I can't even explain how much property they had and the cellars on site were enormous. I would venture a guess of hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine, if not close to a million. It was mind-boggling.



This whole long hallway on both sides is full of wine. There were tons of corriders like this.



Some more wine!



Me in front of the villa at the first winery.



The villa. I will miss beautiful places like this once we leave Italy!





This was at a bottega, but a distribution point of the first winery. I was obsessed with the vineyard and took a million pics.



Grapes at the second vineyard. I think the harvest season is pretty much over for the prosecco grapes, but there are a few stragglers about.



I love these flowers, they are such a gorgeous color!



This was part of the set-up at our second tasting. (Which, for the record, was my favorite of the two.)

Overall it was a successful trip. I got to tour two more places in Italy and I came away with 6 more bottles of Presecco for less than 30 euro.

Question of the Day

How many of you are dressing up for Halloween this year? If so, what or who are you dressing up as?

I thought about being Sookie Stackhouse (of True Blood) but I thought people might just think I was a waitress and not get who I really was, so I nixed that idea.



Now I'm trying to brainstorm what my costume should be, but I'v estill yet to come up with anything.

Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my Etsy shop giveaway!

Thanks to Random.org, the number was 10, which means Jessica @ Acting Adult is the winner. Jessica, please take a look at the shop and email me telling me which print you would like and your address please.

Snapshot Sunday

My blogging goal this month is to blog everyday. Sometimes this means less talk and more pictures. Like today's post.



Taken in Anchorage, Alaska