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