Vacation

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I will have lots of writing to do when we get back up to our apartment. Right now we are still in Rome and will get home on Sunday. We saw Pisa, all there is to see in Florence and are now in Rome. We've seen so many amazing things, it doesn't seem real. More detailed blogs to come!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Art, Shmart

We finally got around to having out art that we got in Venice framed. WOOHOO.  We took it to the place in Aviano because we have heard that they do a better job and they are cheaper than the place on base. 

We took them in last Saturday, picked out the matting and the frame, funny how when you pick it out you can’t imagine what the whole thing is going to look like, so for both paintings I liked what we picked, but wasn’t 100% sure. 

I picked them up yesterday and WOW.  Beautiful.  I took pictures to share with you, but it looks SO much better in person.  The guy that was there when we took them in, he owns the shop, he was in the back when I came to pick them up and his daughter brought them out to me.  When he saw her bringing them out, he came out to see my reaction and see how I liked it, I’m SO glad we chose the matting and frames we did.  Perfecto! 

This one went downstairs in our guest room.  There was already a nail in the wall, so we just took the easy way out and hung it on that.  It’s a little high, but still looks good.  The walls here are plaster (and very, very hard), so it’s difficult to hang anything. 

This is so you can see a close up of the matting and frame we chose

Today, we got it hung on the wall.  We put it in our entryway, so it’s one of the first things you see when you come in.  It looks small in this picture for some reason, but it’s a good size. 

Dan’s Mom gets here tomorrow night, so we are going to be busy bees the next few weeks.  I’m excited to be seeing new places, we will take many pictures and share them as soon as I can!  Hope everyone has a great weekend. Ciao!

Lovin’ the spring weather

The weather here has continued to be absolutely wonderful..A few nights ago we had a storm come through and it got chilly, but it’s still beautiful outside. 

Sorry about the lack of posts, I guess I haven’t been too excited to post about anything.  We have family coming soon and will finally get to visit Rome, Florence and Pisa, so I am excited about that and will share my photo’s with you as soon as I can.

Earlier in the week and I went and bought flowers. Monica was nice enough to give me a gift card for a local greenhouse here that sells all kinds of flowers, trees and herbs.  So, I just couldn’t wait anymore and went on Tuesday and purchased some flowers and planted them.  Italians love their flowers, they are in all windows here, it’s beautiful.  Here are some pictures of what I got:

This is a rose bush out front, I didn’t purchase this, we had 2 of them out front when we moved in.

They are pretty, I love flowers and I do pretty well with them, well…I did last year anyway.  Don’t want to jinx myself. 

Today I went to the Sacile Market with some friends and bought some cheese.  For those of you who know me, you know I love cheese!  It’s hard for me to go anywhere and not try cheese if there is a stand. You just don’t get this opportunity much in the states, so I’m taking advantage of it!  This is the first cheese I tried here in Italy and bought it from the same people at the same market.  It’s called San Andrea

On my way to the market I saw the Carabinieri on the side of the road. They are the Italian police and when the weather is nice and warm you will see them out everywhere parked on the side of a road pulling people over.  We call it lollipopping, I’m not sure what the Italians call it.  They have this stick that looks like a lollipop , they stick it out at you, you must pull over.  They usually just want to check your license and your insurance information, then you are on your merry little way.  I took a picture of him while I was stopped at the red light. I had to zoom in, so the picture isn’t that great, sorry.  See his “lollipop”? 

Not too much else going on, this week has gone by so fast.  One more week and family will be here, can’t wait to show them Italy! Dan’s mom is coming with her friends and they will be here about 2 weeks. A week after they leave I have a friend from college coming to visit for 12 days, then a week after she leaves my Mom and Step Dad, Scott, and my Aunt and Uncle will be here for 2 weeks.  I am beyond excited to have all this company!  We haven’t had any so far, so I’m really, really excited! 

Military Spouse Survey

Military Spouse Survey

Got this from a fellow Military blogger, figured it would be fun!

1. How long have you been a military wife?
-A little over a year… was a military girlfriend for over 2 years.

2. What branch of service is your husband?
-United States Air Force.

3. Active/Reserve?
-Active Duty

4. What is his job?
-Right now he is an EOD Officer. Prior to that he was a Civil Engineering Officer.

5. How many deployments have you gone through?
-One

6. Camo or Dress uniforms on your man?

-I think dress looks better, but I know camo is more comfortable for him.

7. What do you like about being a military wife?
-I love living in different places, I think it’s a great opportunity to see new places and as much of the world as you can.  I love meeting new friends as well.

8. Do you live on base?
-Nope, there is no on base housing here. Even if there were housing on base, I would live off base.

9. What is your favorite base so far?

-We’ve been to Ellsworth AFB is Rapid City, SD and Aviano Air base in Italy.  I LOVED SD and I love Italy.  I’d have to say I like it here more because of the traveling opportunities.

10. What is the hardest part of the military life?
-I would say being apart. We’ve been lucky here though, Dan hasn’t had too many TDY’s.  Being away from close family and friends is hard too, I always thought I would be near family.  I love making new friends, but that means you will eventually have to say goodbye.  Thank goodness for Facebook so I can keep up with them all!

11. Do you go to the grocery store or Commissary?
-Mostly the commissary, but we do shop off base as well.

12. Do you work or stay at home?
-I stay at home.  I’ve been job hunting since I’ve been here. Seems like every time something comes open or they are “looking for nurses”  it falls through the cracks and I don’t hear anything.  It’s frustrating.

13. Do you have a lot of military wife friends? 

-Yeah, especially now that I am here and not working.  A lot of wives here don’t work because there isn’t much available for us.

14. Do you prefer Walmart or the BX/PX/NEX/MCX?

-Depends on where you are. Here in Italy, yes, I would prefer a walmart because our BX is tiny.  If we were in Germany, I would prefer their BX and commissary because it’s absolutely ginormous. 

15. How did your husband propose? 

-Came home from a deployment and didn’t tell me.  I came home from work one day and there he was in our apartment with flowers and a ring and asked me to marry him.

16. Did you marry him after he joined or before?
-After, but was with him through college and when he commissioned into the Air Force.

17. How long have you been together?
-9 years and 5 months, married for a little over a year

18. Any kids?
-Nope

19. Any kids yet to come?
-Someday

20. Is your husband one of those "I am soldier hear me HOOAH" kind of guys?
-I don’t think so. He’s pretty quiet until you get to know him.  He loves what he does, but I don’t think he is like that at all. When he comes home he doesn’t talk about work, leaves it all there.

21. Have you ever done combatives with your husband?
-Nope.

 22. How many bases have you lived at?
-Two

23. If you could change one thing about the military?
-I wish things could be more stable. Seems like plans are always changing and they never know what’s going on. That’s the military though, you learn to get used to it.

24. Do you like military balls?
-Never been to one

25. Where does your family live?
-Dan and I both have family in Florida and I have family in Ohio as well.

26. What do you do for a job?
-I am a Registered Nurse, but not working at the moment

27. Have you ever gotten in a fight with an NCO's wife?
-No..the person who came up with this must have. Kind of a weird question.

28. Name one thing you do when your husband is gone.
-It’s easier to diet when he is gone, all I have to worry about are my meals, it makes it easier.

29. Do you think other wives do that too?
-Not sure

Murano, Birthday, Flowers

On Sunday Dan and I hopped on a train to Venice then on a water bus to Murano, one of the islands close to Venice.  Murano is known for it’s glass blowing and amazing pieces.  They do sell Murano glass in Venice too, but it’s nice to go check out other areas.  I can’t believe how expensive it was over there…I don’t think it’s as pricey in Venice, I will have to look next time.  The only thing I could think about is why spend that much money on something that would probably get broken in a move, since we move a lot.  It was pretty to look at though.  The weather was perfect too.  Here are some photo’s..

Here is a guitar made out of glass

Around Murano

The Train station in Venice

Once back in Venice, we look at the train schedule and see we still have some time before we get on the train, so we went and sat on the stairs of the train station, like many people do and people watched.  I think Dan had a little too much fun taking pictures of people. 

Man walking around holding his cute little dog and his jacket over his shoulder.  I thought it was cute, Dan thought it was funny.

I don’t know what I was looking at while Dan was taking pictures of her, I don’t know how he didn’t laugh and tell me to look, but I never saw her, just this picture!  This woman has got it going on…and all her matching accessories.  Too funny.

Once again, man with a dog, Dan thinks it’s funny because it’s a big man with such a little dog.

Wonder who/what he’s taking a picture of here?  Take a look at the couple sitting on the stairs….yeah...butt crack.

4 older women on their outing to Venice. The one’s orange hair was almost blinding!

I liked this guy.  He stood there for a while waiting for someone to come out of the train station.  Before this he was standing with his jacket over his shoulder looking really cool. Here is is checking his phone.

Then he started pacing with his jacket over his shoulder again. Dan obviously thought it was funny, I thought he was cute.

The train, gotta love the graffiti, it’s everywhere.  They like to graffiti the word “NINJA” a lot.

We had a nice time in Murano, I thought there would be more to it for some reason, but there wasn’t too much there. 

Yesterday was my birthday, I turned the big 27.  I know 27 is not old, but I can’t believe that I am 27 years old. Seems like just yesterday I was graduating high school, but that was 9 years ago…holy moly.  I had a pretty good day, went to lunch with a friend, Dan got off early and we went to dinner. It was a good day!

Today I went on base and met up with Monica.  We decided to kill some time by going to the market in Aviano and we both got some flowers, then headed to lunch to meet up with some of her friends. It was a nice time. 

The weather here today is gorgeous!  A lot of times here it’s beautiful out, but it’s really hazy.  Today it is clear and absolutely beautiful!  I love this time of year. This weekend I think I am going to go and get flowers for outside and start getting all that lookin’ nice.  Only a few more weeks for our first round of visitors, Dan and I are really excited!  Hoping the weather will be just as it is today!