Sunday, May 23, 2010

My Children, My Flowers...



There are a few congratulations that are due.  The first going to my little sister, Kelly, who graduated from Centennial High School on Saturday.  I pray for strength, confidence, courage, and wisdom as she makes the next decisions for her future.  So many possibilities!

The second goes to my hubby who just pinned on Captain in the United States Air Force.  So proud of him and thankful for his hard work.  The sneaky guy didn't even tell me he was promoting early (before he left for training), so I was not in attendance.  Although it wasn't a ceremony anyway, so he says, it was just done at the Commander's Call on Friday morning.  So typical Taylor!

And speaking of training, I took Taylor to base this morning at 0545 to send him off for RTC training in Germany for 3 weeks.  And so typically, I got home from dropping him off and I happen to look at the Accord and notice my back tire is flat!!  Go figure, as SOON as Taylor leaves I have a car issue!  Ugh.  It's off to the auto hobby shop tomorrow!  So I'm now on my own, but only for a week because then Meg and Drew arrive!!!  I'm a little excited, have I mentioned that yet??  :)

So I mentioned a few posts ago about my "not so green thumb", but I now have some plants to brag about.  Yes, plants.  I'm quickly approaching the age where many of my friends on Facebook are all posting pictures of newborn babies, and if not children, at least their dogs.  Well I am just now graduating from taking care of myself and now moving on to include plants.  Yes, baby steps, I know.  And while I may have one dead tree on my balcony and one that I still haven't figured out if it's dying or just getting a few dead leaves, I also have some BEAUTIFUL flowers in my yard that I planted about a month ago and they're doing excellent.  So please admire my beautiful Geraniums in my front pots!!  And I'll also add, they don't require any care when I leave on a weekend trip...that's MY kind of responsibility.

My Geraniums only had one bloom when I planted them!  You can also notice my Impatients in the background in the corner of my yard.  They're not doing quite as well as the Geraniums, but they're still living.  That's something, right?

Close up!

And another new addition to our home is finally a coffee table for downstairs.  I kept browsing every once in awhile through the Shopette because things come and go quickly.  After work one day I walked through and saw two of these flag trunks, I thought they were really cute and were very versatile and thought it would work well downstairs.  Luckily, I bought it right there because they were gone the next day!  So here it is. 


The home is slowly coming together, piece by piece!  I'll update again soon!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Please Come Visit...

Just take a look.  You have a place to stay, a personal tour guide, and so many, many things to see.  These are a few pics from the lake 30 minutes from our house in the mountains. 

Lago Barcis (Lake Barcis)












Arrivederci!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Friends, Deployments, Visitors, and Travel



Saturday night I set out to celebrate some friends' birthdays, Andrea and Ivy, at a local restaurant that I had not yet visited.  Still being new to the area this is not an uncommon event, I looked up the address online for my GPS, and headed out.  I have learned over here the problem with relying 100% on my GPS:  it doesn't always take you the quickest route, but it does generally gets me there eventually.  Upon arriving at my destination, as designated by my GPS, I am in the middle of some farmland with a few sheds/barns around.  Clearly this is not correct.  No problem, I'll keep driving for a bit in the right general direction and I'll keep an eye out for the restaurant.  Five minutes later, still no restaurant.  So I pull over into a vineyard (so Italian, I know) and decide to call Ivy.  I pull out my phone and it is totally dead, won't even turn on, dead.  Grrreeeat.  So I continue driving for an extra 10 minutes before I punch "Go Home" into my GPS and turn around.  I drive all the way back home, plug in my phone, get Ivy's number and call her to see what the plan is.  Mind you, at this point I'm an hour and a half late.  (Yes, that's bad, even by MY standards!!)  Turns out other people were going to be late too and I still had time to head over there.  I then got directions from them over the phone.  Turns out the restaurant was about 5 minutes from my house...AND I remember passing it when using my GPS.  Go figure! 

So I made it finally and had an awesome time at a Brazilian Steakhouse in Italy with a band playing American rock music!  It was a culture filled evening :)  Turns out to be one of my favorite restaurants I've been to over here.  Not only because of the endless delicious meat, but the fried cinnamon sugar bananas (to cleanse your palate between meats) and the delicious Caipirinha drinks (lime, sugar, and sugar cane spirits!)

Here's a picture of the girls.  All girls from work plus a neice and a daughter :)



These are the cards that sit in your spot.  Green is for Si, per favore, you would like some more meat.  They bring around meat on large skewers and slice off pieces for your plate.  All different kinds, it was delicious.

When you're done, you turn your card over.





Ivy, Kahea, and Natasha.

Misty, Natasha, Meredith, Me, Kahea, and Ivy...taking a lemon something shot.  It tasted like Pledge dusting spray.  Yep, that good :)

Anyway, it was a very fun night with good friends!  Drew and Meg, don't worry, we'll be going there when you're here, which JUST so happens to be in 16 days!  We already have our trip booked to go to Cinque Terre and Tuscany.  Not many people in the States have heard of Cinque Terre (Five Villages) but it is a very popular place over here.  It is apparently a gorgeous place on the coast with hiking between the islands with villages along the cliffs over the sea.  Here is a little pic I found online.  Look it up, it's a gorgeous place!

                                      

I just found this map online.  I'm including it because I think it is a very good reference point for most of the major Italian cities.  This gives you an idea where everything is located.  Notice Venice in Northern Italy which is located on the Adriatic Sea.  We live just North of Venice.  And we are at the base of the Alps which are located along the Northern border of Italy with Austria and Slovenia.  Milan is about 4 hours west of us and Rome is 6-7 hours south of us.  This map also includes Cinque Terre it is just east of Genoa on the Ligurian Sea.  
                                      

The next trip I'm booking for Meg, Drew, and I is to Bologna, Florence, and Rome. You can see they are straight down the Autostrada, I'm debating between the train and driving depending on cost.  I've found that in the States we have this idea that the train is a cheap way to travel through Europe, well it's not!  It is a convenient way to travel Europe, but not cheap.  A round ticket trip from Venice to Rome will cost you at least $130 and that's when you choose to leave at crazy hours like 3am and take the regional train that stops every 20 minutes.  But it may be more affordable then gas, tolls, and parking fees, I need to crunch some numbers!

You also may be curious as to why Taylor is not going with us.  As of right now he is leaving on Sunday (May 23rd) for training in Germany for two weeks.  As of last week, he was tasked for a deployment to Kyrgyzstan at Manas Air Base.  Does this sound familiar? Why yes, deja vu...lets see if this deployment actually happens since the last two have been cancelled!  Kyrgyzstan is a country north of Afghanistan.  It is a transportation hub for troops coming in and out of the desert.  Most troops will process through Manas and receive supplies before they touch down in Afghanistan.  He is slotted to leave the beginning of July for 6 months.  Yes, that includes missing Tennessee football season for Taylor and Thanksgiving and Christmas for me.

I get to write about all kinds of trips and travel opportunities that living the military life in Italy provides.  It is such an awesome opportunity and Taylor and I are greatful for all the things we have been able to do and see.  Sometimes it is easy to see all the trips and experiences and overlook where we pay our dues...but here it is, in deployments.  Being at my first base and experiencing full on military life is such an eye opener from living in Franklin without any military affiliation nearby (Clarksville being an hour away).  It is so strange to think that there are so many people who live with a husband/wife and/or parent deployed for months at a time.  Growing up with parents that worked regular hour Monday through Friday jobs and with friends whose parents did the same it is easy to overlook the sacrifices of so many who are continuously heading overseas to defend the country.  Many are heading over for the third and fourth time (and more).  And when they leave, they leave a life back home.  Yes, it's their job, yes, they are getting paid for the work they do, but they are leaving a family back home that continues on without them for extended periods. 

I feel fortunate to be in the Air Force who generally has shorter deployments then the Army (there are always exceptions, i.e. Thomas who is deploying for a year).  But the Air Force generally deploys 4-8 months at a time while the Army is usually 15 months at a time.  FIFTEEN months, that is a LONG time.  I also feel fortunate that I have no children.  When Taylor leaves, it is just me I have to take care of and no one else.  So many must leave not only spouses, but children as well.

Four girls at work (three of my good friends) all have their husbands deploying this week.  It is just a way of life.  And while the girls are sad to see them go, at least they are all leaving at the same time so we have time for lots of girls trips this summer (along with working 40+ hour weeks)  To people back home it is so foreign to think of living that way and I often hear, "there is no way I could do that".  But truth is, you can.  Sure you don't WANT to, but you CAN do it. 

Phew, just expressing my new found appreciation for so many military families that I took for granted for so long.  Anyway, assuming this deployment doesn't get cancelled...BRING ON THE GIRL'S TRIPS!!!  And the visitors!!

Ciao, bella!!



Monday, May 10, 2010

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

My mom always says she needs to start writing a book about funny things kids say and do at school, well I have a few chapters to add to her book.  Thought I'd share a few humorous moments.

We have a new child (7 years old, I believe) who is beginning her second week at Aviano Youth Programs (AYP).  On her second day a boy threw a wiffle ball at her "boob" (verbatim) as she yelled and burst into tears.  She then proceeded to body slam the boy to the ground.  Yes, body slam.

Same child, different day.  It's raining outside and one of the counselors, Mrs. Andrea, is carrying a plaid umbrella while picking up the kids from school.  The child says, "Ms. Andrea, your umbrella looks just like a pair of my Dad's panties!"

Same child, YET another day.  She's in a classroom with one of the counselors, Mrs. Misty.  The child has a question and calls for Mrs. Whiskey.  Misty said, "did you just say Mrs. Whiskey?  My name is Mrs. MISTY, not Mrs. Whiskey!"  The child totally believed her name was Ms. Whiskey and was blissfully unaware of the humor of her mistake.  Classic.

New child, new day.  A boy in my class (age 9 or 10) looks at me and says, "I need to squeeze the lemon".  As I am processing what he just said to me, I see Misty overheard him and is dying laughing.  So I'm doing my best to hold my composure and I said, "I'm not really sure what you're trying to ask me, but I'm pretty positive you need to rephrase it before you ask me again."  He then looks and says, "I need to use the bathroom".  Yep, that's what I thought.

My, oh my!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Lignano

Last weekend we took a trip down to Lignano beach with a group of friends from the squadron.  It's the beach about 45 minutes away from Aviano.  We had such a blast down there.  We got two hotel rooms for 8 of us, yes, it was a little cramped since we had 2 king size beds and a single, total!  The girls took one room (the three of us shared a king) and the guys took the other (a king and a single, pushed together) for 5 of them...yeah, I didn't even ask how that went.


Here is the view outside our balcony of the hotel...cute little beach town with a park across the street.

And if you look VERY closely you can see the beach between the trees and the building.  Our hotel had a pool on the roof.  We were so excited to check it out and maybe go for a swim...until we got up there and realized the pool was empty.  Hmmm...small detail that wasn't advertised :)

The girls on the balcony.

Hmm...yep, this is a very accurate picture to describe the night/weekend!

Ready to go to dinner and attempt to find some dancing.  We weren't so lucky with the dancing, but dinner was delicious!

Another telling picture!


Trying out the Carerras (or something like that).

Anyway we had a fun weekend at the beach.  No set plans coming up, maybe looking to go somewhere over Memorial Day weekend.  Taylor gets to pin on Captain that Friday, so a bit of a celebration trip.

More posts soon...I'll try to be better with them!!