Friday's Letters

Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy

Dear Friday.  I'm too exhausted to be productive, so I think the puppies and I are just going to be lazy and cuddle all day.  Sounds like the ideal Friday to me.  Dear Ryanair.  Only you would have €9 flights to Pisa, a deal that a friend and I jumped on immediately.  Two days admiring the Italian culture?  Why not.  Dear Pisa.  The Leaning Tower was kind of fun, and I love your walkplatz [no idea what the term is in Italian] but other than that, not much going for you.  Nice little town though.  Dear Cinque Terre.  You are the best thing I've ever done.  The amount of gorgeous photos I was able to take is astounding, your weather is beautiful, the food is amazing, and the culture is wonderful.  Thanks for having us.  Dear Erica.  Wouldn't have chosen anyone else to experience all of this with!  We climbed mountains, persevered in our attempt to find the Mediterranean in Livorno, and stayed strong when being assaulted by crazy bus drivers and beggars.  Good work.  Dear Italian men.  I've discovered you have a thing for redheads.  Not so pleasant on my end, especially when dealing with the creepy old hotel owner named Paolo.  Dear husband.  I wish you had been able to go with me, but I'll save some other amazing trips for you instead.  Paris?  Switzerland?  Rome?  All three?  Sounds good.  Love and miss you!  Dear lovely ladies.  Hope you all had as wonderful a week as I did!  And hopefully you're not as hip or foot sore as I am.  Any amazing events that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear!

Photo Challenge: Happiness

Perhaps I'm introducing photo overload, but this week's challenge leaves a little room for interpretation. I would love to show how happy I am with my life, but taking self portraits all the time seems a little narcissistic...instead, I'm going to show you a few things that make me happy.

Sunsets in foreign lands.  This one is from my recent trip to Cinque Terre, Italy.

Dogs.  Geez do my dogs make me happy.

Very very very happy.

Laying in a Belgian park with my best friend.

Warm, sunny days and pretty patios.

The knowledge that while my husband is gone for another few months, one day he'll come home to me.

Venice

As mentioned in my last post, my mom came out for a visit.  She flew into Frankfurt, Germany, on a Friday and left a week later.  Not nearly enough time to do everything I wanted, but plenty of time to catch up and take a quick flight to Venice [only an hour away by plane].  It was beautiful, wonderful, and as anything is with the two of us, quite the adventure.

We stayed in a small town called Mogliano Veneto, which is maybe a 15-20 minute train ride from the island.  The first morning, we woke up from a refreshing sleep, walked from our B&B to the train station, and found a farmer's market!  I think we could have stayed there all day instead of sight seeing.  But, head to Venice we did, and I'm so glad.

The keys to our room

My beautiful mother.

In one of the hundreds thousands of alleys, looking up.

I received my camera back from mom and had at least a dozen pictures of clothes hanging...

Hi-5 in Venice!

The bridges, the weather, the atmosphere...everything was absolutely perfect!

Thrifts, Gifts, & Souvenirs

My mom flew in last Friday and left this morning, bringing with her a few gifts for me, a chance to take a trip to Venice, Italy, and a love of thrift shopping.  Since I love gifts, I love traveling, and I love thrifting, I have decided; I am my mother's daughter.  Venice pictures will be posted later, but I couldn't wait to share my thrifting/gifting/souveniring experience.

I've been looking for thrift stores in the Kaiserslautern area since I got here, but didn't find one until recently.  As soon as I walked in, I saw this and fell in love.  Who doesn't want a cool typewriter?!

I also have a thing for owls.  Mom spotted this on the wall, so I brought it home, too.

Speaking of owls, Mom brought these fingerless gloves with her.  Made by some friends and accompanied by a cute clip I wear in my hair...I'm in love.

Mom also brought me this, a Christmas ornament.  Not sure where she picked it up, but it's cute!

So, to continue the trend, I bought an owl ring while in Venice, Italy.

My collection grows larger and larger!

Another souvenir from Venice is the wooden cat on the right.  I love animal carvings, and bought it to accompany my elephant, dog, and slightly eaten owl.  The Christmas ornament just wanted to be in all the pictures, so I let him.