let there be stucco...

F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. a new update with the house. That you see there my friends is in fact stucco. It's not the right color YET, but in 14 days it will be. Nice schedule these construction workers are on, yes? The inside has drywall too... along with 2 layers of mud. This is progress friends, progress. A big WOO HOO to that.

In other news... there is none. Nanner nanner nanner.

Rome- day 4

***p.s. if you click on the pictures, you can enlarge them for better viewing!!




We managed to wake up a bit earlier today, to make it to breakfast before they shut down the buffet. I'm still not used to the hard bed or the time change for that matter... which makes waking up in general a bit more challenging. It's cool. We take the metro back to the Vatican so we can pick up some chatzki so we can have it blessed by the Pope, thus making those souvenirs WAY more cool.
We were a bit early for the Pope's arrival, but it was fun people watching while we waited. Groups of people had banners, other groups had matching t-shirts... it was like being at a rock concert, sans the pot smoke and earplugs. We also witnessed a couple of little kids licking, yes LICKING the bowl of a water fountain. We were in shock. Where were the parents? Hello... clue? even Holy germs can KILL!

So finally Ben shows up at his apratment window. He first addressed us in Italian (duh) and afterwards blessed us all in 5 different languages: Italian, German, Spanish, English, and Polish. It was tres cool. I really can't describe how cool it was. We saw something that not a lot of people can say they saw, live, not memorex. This rates right up there with my experience ringing the closing bell at the NYSE.

We finished up the day by checking out a couple of malls(?), stopping by Trevi fountain for the obligatory coin toss/wish, lunch, and general sight-seeing. The true highlight of the day was Ben. For our last night in Rome we decided to really shake things up and have dinner at GIOVANNI'S. We got a chance to hang with G himself for a few minutes as he seronated us with a rendition of "Country Roads" and "Sweet Home Alabama" on his acoustic guitar.

Another EARLY wake-up call and headed back to the airport for the HELLA plane-ride back to the US. Let me just say that I HEART Lufthansa airlines. If you EVER have the chance to travel with them, do. They treat their passengers with 100% class.

Rome- day 3

We woke up at 9:30 a.m today and barely made it to the *free* breakfast. After bfast, we took the metro over to the Vatican... or "Vatican" if you're referring to the country. We toured the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Cathedral. We shopped in the little gift shop run by the sweet little nuns. We then went to the Vatican post-office and sent out some post cards, not to be confused with the post cards we sent from that other country, Rome. We then decide to spend the rest of the day shopping, since there was a good possibility that the shops would be closed tomorrow, Sunday. I decided that a really cool thing to buy in Rome, practically the capital of Catholicism, would be a baptism gown for the kid we will eventually have one day. You would THINK that it would be an easy thing to find in such a city. It wasn't and I almost gave up, but eventually found it. I sprung for the matching booties and bib too. It will be an heirloom, as long as the first kid doesn't have a blowout while wearing it or anything. Cool, huh?
We had lunch at a crappy, tourist trap, cafe. We were not happy about it... but it was too late to leave once we got the check. YIKES! We hit up some more shops and then decided to head back to the train station a.k.a. "home" a.k.a. our hotel area. We ended up back at the super market, this time to stock up on those souvenirs I told you about in Travel Tip #1. We hung out in the room for a bit and headed over to GIOVANNI'S again for dinner. Why fix what's not broke, right? Tomorrow, our only time restraint is that we have to be at the Vatican by 11 a.m. to hang out with Pope Ben.

Rome- day 2, Venice day 1

So we hop the train to Venice. Another early wake up call due to the 6:55 a.m. departure. 4 hour trip each way. Are we gluttons for punishment or what? So, we're cruising along and all of a sudden the train stops, and not at an obvious station. WTF? What is going on? About 1/2 an hour later we realize that another train broke down on the tracks and we had to rescue them. Needless to say, the train suddenly became REALLY full. Luckily they all got off at the next stop which was about 45 minutes down the line. However, this did cut into our time in Venice by about an hour and a half. Boo!
We finally get to Venice and step off the train and W.O.W. instantly amazing! This city is nothing but eye candy. I wanted to take pictures of EVERYTHING. We decide that our first destination should be Ponte di Rialto... a major bridge that is essentially a shopping haven. The streets of Venice are basically small alleyways going every which way and you have to be really careful as to not get lost. One of the first streets (alleyways) we turn on to brings us head to head (no pun intended) with a masturbating man... right there... in front of us... GROSS... we just keep moving forward and start to walk at a faster clip. In my head I'm thinking "great, is this a sign of things to come?" I felt totally violated and wanted to call HR... but, oh yeah, we're in Venice and what the hell am I talking about? He didn't chase us or anything, which is good news, but the whole thing was utterly disturbing. Fortunately, this was the worst moment of the whole trip.
There is so much character in every inch of this place. I took a bunch of pictures of the doors alone. Each one was so different and unique. I noticed that there were a TON of stores selling underwear and lingerie. These people are obsessed with SEX!
We shopped here and there and once we got to THE BRIDGE, we shopped some more. Next destination is Piazza S. Marco. This place is the place you always see in movies where there are a ton of pigeons landing on people and just swarming around. Well, I was NOT interested in getting pooped on, so I took some pictures and moved on. We bought a ticket to board the next boat over to Morana and as we are sitting there we realize that if we get on this boat and get to the island, we wouldn't get back in time to catch our train (the last train) out of Venice. Good thing that damn boat was taking it's sweet time to pick us up b/c we realized our {almost} mistake and bailed on the boat trip. We head back toward the train station and catch lunch somewhere in between. We had pizza this time and it was DeLish! We pick up some more souvenirs, get to the train station with time to spare, buy our ticket back to Rome and wonder around a bit more until it's time to board. I finally got my hands on some gelato and we are on our way. We get back to the Rome station at about 11:30 p.m. (thank goodness our hotel is only a block away) and back to our rooms EXHAUSTED!!! We are excited that we don't have a tight schedule tomorrow and can sleep in a bit.

Rome- day 1

We left for LAX at like 1 a.m. in the morning. Do you know how hard it is to wake up at 12:30 a.m. to go to the airport? Well, take my word for it... it's freaking HARD! Thank God Mabelle drove. Thanks girl.
We get on the plane and head over to DC. A couple of hours later we hop on a plane to head to ROME baby. I took a couple of Benedryl in hopes of sleeping through the flight. Unfortunately chatty charlie was sitting behind me and happened to have a super deep voice. Anybody that knows me knows that I have a hell of a time sleeping (a trait I inherited from my dad), let alone on a plane, with a chatterbox behind me. I gave him the stink eye a few times, but it didn't work. My powers must be weakening. So, even Benedryl could not make me fall asleep. I suffered through the 9 hour flight to Rome. We arrived at 7 a.m.ish Rome time. We jump on a shuttle to head over to the hotel and the first things I notice about this place is how dirty it seemed. There was a ton of graffiti EVERYWHERE. How sad to ruin a city with such a long history. So we're driving along and BAM, there's the Colosseum... right smack in the middle of this road. People just go around it like it's no big deal... but HELLO? this is the Colosseum... ya know, the one in Rome?!!!! It was huge and totally kick ass. We never did get a chance to go touch it, but there is always next time, right?
We get to our hotel and LUCKILY they let us check in (it's about 10:30 by this point). Our room turns out t be quite cute. Seriously, especially for the price... 290E for the 4 nights we stayed... plus breakfast is included. So we settle in a bit and decide to take a little nap. It felt good to stretch out. Our little nap took us into the evening and we woke up at like 5 p.m. Holy crap. We can't just sleep, otherwise we'd have a hell of a time sleeping at bedtime and the nightmare would continue. So we head over to the train station, conveniently located 1 block away from the motel, to check out our day-trip to Venice, and to pick up tickets for the same. Amazingly enough 2 chicks, both with masters degrees, one fluent in Italian, couldn't figure out how to use the damn phone cards (to call home) and couldn't find the freaking ticket counter/kiosk to buy train tickets. We finally DID find the ticket kiosk, but never figured out the card thing. We ended up going to an internet cafe to write the boys and let them know we were safe and sound. Before we headed to dinner we went to the supermarket to pick up some provisions to get us through the next couple of days. Travel tip #1: some of the best souvenirs are found at the grocery store. We dropped the bags off in the room and went across the street to have dinner at GIOVANNI'S. The food was yummy and hot and the prices were GREAT. We couldn't believe how inexpensive dinner was! I love that there is no smoking in the restaurants, although smoking on the streets is super prevalent and DISGUSTING!!!! After dinner we headed back to the room to catch a shower and get to bed.... since we had to catch a train to Venice.

good advice for anyone

Just a little something so that you all don't think that I am dead or something. I saw this little ditty on a restaurant in Redlands, California. Do not ask me what I was doing there, I may have to kill you. Very top secret stuff. Please take a moment to imagine walking down the street and having a flying pig shit on your head. That would really make my day. First I would be like "OMG, that PIG is f.l.y.i.n.g!" And then I'd be like, "whoa, I'd better stop looking UP because it might just shit in my eye."

Oh, and the lipstick on the pig bit... well, that's like my job right now... nobody sees it but me, but all they are doing is putting lipstick on a pig. There. I know you don't know what in the hell I'm talking about b/c you probably don't know where I work and why I would say it... but I just had to put it out there in the universe. Have a great day people, and please watch out for flying pigs!