Rome....a few months ago

We went to Rome for New Year's and here are a few photos of our adventure! And it was quite the adventure!

I tried to get Victor to put his hand in the "Mouth of Truth" to see if he has ever lied to me but he wouldn't do it. That might tell me something...

The Roman Forum as seen from Palatine Hill. Well, about half the Forum. It was a pretty big place!

Colosseum! Once again, from Palatine Hill.

Inside the Colosseum on a tour. I highly recommend you take the tour.

Trivoli Fountain at night. We threw our coins in but I'm not sure I'll make it back to Rome...you never know!

A short taste of what our wedding was like

I made a little video of our wedding ceremony. Finally! It's only been about two years. Hope you like it.

I love knitting!

Many of you know that I love to knit! A while back I went to the Alexander Palace in London to a knitting extravaganza and it was total overload! I went with my good friend Inny
and we didn't even see everything due to the extensiveness of the event. But it was a great day and even though it was a long time ago, I thought I would show you some of the good times I've hand in England.

My mom came to visit over Christmas and we hand so much fun! Of course I miss my mom but I think I miss her much more now that she came to visit. We've been in the UK about 17 months now and only a few more until we move back. I'm half ready to go and half not ready to go. There are still so many more things I would like to experience and it doesn't seem like we'll have enough time. But on the other hand, I'm looking forward to getting back to a place where I can visit my family on a more regular basis...and eat good Chinese food...and Mexican food.

There is a list of places to go before we go floating somewhere around our house but I'm never really sure where it lives. So I ask you, my loyal followers, where should we go? Any fun suggestions?

Something interesting

When I was in Italy I noticed that Italians can be quite loud when engaged in conversation. Not that I didn't know that already, but I noticed something pretty fantastic that was not around the last time I was there: cell phones. You know how when people are on a cell phone they tend to talk about ten time louder than they normally would? Well you would imagine that people in Italy would be obnoxiously loud but I will tell you that Italians are respectfully quiet while talking on their cell phones. Loved it!

I love commercials in this country

My New Favorite Kid

This kid is 5 years old and lives in Japan. He learned to play the ukulele with his dad from a five week TV program. Amazing.

How have I survived?

Not sure. I want to tell you this story in case I don't make it back from Italy. Holy crap, the drivers here are insane. First of all I have seen, on more than one occasion, a person driving with a child under the age of three on their lap or wandering up front near the driver. Second, people here don't know what the lines on the road are for and road signs are just a suggestion. Third, and the ultimate story, we were in the left lane on the highway and with only two lanes altogether, a guy passes the car beside us by going BETWEEN our car and the one in the right hand lane. I might not make it home alive! And I know I've said this before but people in the UK are WONDERFUL drivers!! I think my driving has become much more polite sine I've lived in the UK. And I also know that most of my family is Italian but I don't think I inherited their INSANE driving skills. Although, I did do some of my own pushing out into traffic today. Whenever I hear honking, I just assume it's for me. And what's with the flashing of the brights ALL THE TIME!! In England, if you flash your brights it's a "thank you" or a "you may pull out ahead of me" signal. Not here. In Italy it means "get the hell out of my way or I WILL run you over along with every one else on the road tonight!" Think of the worst driver you know and put him (or her) in EVERY vehicle on the road.

YIKES!

PS- Other than that, Italy is pretty fantastic:)

Someone once taught me

how to knit. It was a random occasion in 2002 when I was in a church band that traveled to different churches every day. If you don't know that part of my life, I'll tell you another day. One evening we were having dinner at a church when I spotted a lady knitting and said "I've always wanted to learn how to knit". The next day we had a day off and that same lady came over to my host family house with three skeins of yarn and a pair of needles. She taught me how to knit prayer shawls and for the rest of the time I was on the road, the majority of the time I spent in the van, I was knitting. Well, other than the times I was driving.
This is a photo of me and my teammate Heidi with two ladies from the church that taught me how to knit. They gave us a prayer shawl to take with us on the road. When our year was over I gave the shawl to the kids in the Youth Encounter office to pass on to the new North East team. I would like to think that they still have it...I wonder where that prayer shawl is?



And that is the beginning of my current obsession with wool.

Catching up...one weekend at a time

I went on a little outing this weekend while Victor was staying home sick. So I looked up a few places to go in my English Heritage book and headed out the door.
First stop was Avebury stone circle. It is a World Heritage Site and is considered to be right up there with Stonehenge, except that no one really knows about it. Well, no one outside the UK. I mean, seriously, how many of you have heard of the stone circle at Avebury?



And then I had lunch at Appleby's which is pronounced like the US chain Applebee's. And even though they may be pronounced the same, they are nothing alike. I prefer the UK version.


In the afternoon I visiting Farleigh Hungerford Castle and saw a 600 year old painting on the chapel wall. 600 years! This is OLD!

The contract is up!

My last day of work at Tile Barn was last week and I can hardly believe it's been a year! I really enjoyed working with the kids and getting to know the staff. I've learned a lot by working at Tile Barn and most of it has been about English culture and words you shouldn't say in front of kids.



I loved working outside every day, even if it was raining. The only thing I didn't like was raking leaves. And now it's on to bigger and better! Well, it's on to keeping house and figuring out where to travel next. It's a rough life but someone's got to do it.

Happy Halloween!

This is quite an old video from Homestar Runner but I laugh every time!

Let's see if this works!

I was informed that the last time I posted this video it was set to private viewing. So I think I've fixed it and now you can see it!

Not sure if I've posted about PS 22 on my blog yet but I should have a long time ago. I heard about this school a while back and the recently again. They are so fun! And they're on Staten Island!

Laughed my butt off!!

My cousin Marta is visiting me this weekend and she showed me this video. It is HILARIOUS!!


I hope you find it funny too:)

This also makes me happy

This make me happy.

The Big Knit is Back!

It's that time of year again! Time for the BIG KNIT! I did it last year and I'm doing it again this year! So if you're into knitting for causes, try out this one out for size. It's simple, small and so easy you'll fill a box so fast that you might not be able to stop! So check out The Big Knit!

And here's my post from last year!

Happy First Day of Autumn

The Fall reminds me of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Here is a short video I made when we crewed for Becky back in 2007. I think I've posted it every year so far. The experience of that week is like nothing I've ever done before. When I get back to the States that is one thing I would like to do every year. I really loved Albuquerque in the Fall. It had such a wonderful flavor, you could taste it. I think it tasted like Frontier cinnamon rolls.

This is my second fall in England and I haven't had one of these since 2004 when I lived in Berkeley. The seasons don't really change in Berkeley like they do here, and they really didn't change much in Albuquerque. So I'm looking forward to the colors again. I've always loved the colors of a true Fall. The sunsets just seem to reflect what's going on with the trees.

Time wasted?

I just spent an hour catching up on other people's blogs and have no desire to update my own. Did I waste my time? Maybe next time I'll update mine first.