...I wanna go! I used to camp all the time as a kid, but now it seems to be only once every other summer, if that. My nephew, Diego, and I contemplated pitching a tent in the front yard this weekend (like my friend K), but ended up with a tent in the living room, and only he slept in it. There are still a few good summer weekends left to get on out there. I have been wanting to try this spot for a few years. Do you have any camping trips planned?
I spent the weekend at my parent's house in Bradley. My mother gave my sisters and I tickets to see Sugarland for our birthdays so we spent Friday night at the fair... so.much.fun!! I love this band; they rock my world. Jennifer Nettles is so cute and Kristian Bush so rad. We danced, we sang, we drank margaritas out of tall blinking glasses. Awesome.
Poor Diego... the hopeless endeavor of trying to maintain privacy from the little kids (and big adults). He is so good with his little cousins, though. He calls Rydin, "hey bub". Sweet.
Sunday was Ella's 3rd birthday. She is the sweetest little girl... and was probably the most excited over a bag full of water guns (second, of course, to her new little John Deere jeep that she can ride all over the ranch). A wonderful weekend home :)
I read this book on our trip up and down Italy... I am head-over-heels for Ruth Reichl and I adored this novel! Comfort Me with Apples is a beautiful recount of Ruth's life just as she was breaking into the world of food writing, full of food tales, recipes, love, joy, tears... and more food. I looked forward to every train ride to steal a few more pages from this book. I am so glad that I will always have this story and our Italy trip intertwined in my memory. I actually got this paperback copy for $1 right before we left, but I had previously scored a hardback edition from a massive book sale for $3 and when I looked inside I found it to be an autographed copy! I have already passed along this lovely gem to my sister :)
Well, after 3 weeks living la dolce vita, we are back in the states. It's nice to be home. We had a wonderful time and I cannot wait to share all of our highlights and food finds: markets, meals, recipes. We have barely had a moment to catch up on sleep since we've been back; we finally walked through our door at 2am on Saturday morning, awoke at 8, took Caltrain to get our car in San Juan Bautista (in-laws), then took the car to get our cat in Bradley ('rents), then back to SF Sunday morning... phew! Work actually seems like a relaxing break, if you can believe that! Anywho, much more of our adventures to come! xoxo
This is it! We are off to Italy for 3 Weeks, returning mid-July. We will be posting some updates from the road on our travel blog so check us out! Here are some pictures from our last trip in 2007 for our 1 year anniversary.
Ciao for now friends! Arrivederci!
Italy! Where we left our hearts! Actually our hearts belong specifically to Firenze... Brian proposed to me on the Ponte Vecchio; a secret trip to visit that I was completely unaware of. It was such a precious moment; I was sobbing and he almost barfed.
The custom is for lovers to put a locket on the gate and to toss the key over the bridge into the Arno below. Brian had a special lock engraved with our initials (good planning dear!). Love forever locked in Florence.
Almost there... in the meantime I must pack... seriously.
Two more days until we take flight, one more day of work... it's all happening so fast and not fast enough?! Here are some images of when my sisters, Tera and Shay, came out to visit me around Easter (Pasqua). We took a few trips that week, this one to Venice. I loved traveling with those girls... even if they did make me crazy with all their "mischievous" excursions; at least we have some really good memories and hilarious stories!
