Happy Halloween!

I have been a major blog slacker recently. I just haven't had time! I fully intended on doing a million posts last Friday when I was working at the schools but their internet wouldn't let me. Plus, my camera is dead so you will just get mini-posts for the next bit. Again, please excuse my pictures, they are on my 1974 iPhone. 


On Saturday, we met with my family to have our annual pumpkin carving party. We had brunch and got to work. I wish I could show you the step-by-step of how it is done, it is actually very easy! I promise to do a better post next year! Below is my final result: cute Dracula! Notice the blood dripping from the mouth.

Saturday night, we had a friend's birthday costume party. We went as hippies. I LOVED our costumes. The best part was that I got to wear flat boots!

Happy Halloween!

Tuscany Part 2

Saturday, our plan was to head to this cute little town called San Gimignano and then to Florence. It was Abbey's birthday so we needed to start the day with some Prosecco.

San Gimignano's cute streets

Look-out over the town

We saw a wedding in town!

My favorite part of the town was the Tuscan ceramics. I fell in love! We found this amazing shop that had hundreds of ceramics. You weren't allowed to take pics or I would have a million. The ceramics are a bit pricy and I had next-to no room in my luggage so I bought the essentials: olive oil container, pasta forks, and a (non-pictured) Christmas ornament.

Off to Florence! 

First Gelato stop of the trip

Fake David statue

In front of the Ponte Vecchio

We all got friendship necklaces with our names

Showing off our necklaces!

Close-up of the Ponte Vecchio

We needed a drink! And free Wi-Fi!

Golden Doors at the Baptistery

The Duomo

That evening we went to a delicious dinner at Abbey's favorite Florence restaurant, 13 Gobbi

Cute interior

Birthday Girl!

Tuscany Part 1

On to the trip! I have broken the posts up as to not bore myself and you. 


Erin, Jennifer and I flew into Rome and landed Thursday morning. Abbey picked us up at the airport (on time!) and we started the drive to our villa. Side Note- Abbey has been appointed to pick me up from airports all over the world (LA, Vegas, and Dublin) and has been at least 2 hours late for each of these pick-ups. Her saving grace was that she flew into Rome so her flight made her on time. MOVING ON... Abbey drove and I was the navigator in our miniature car. I can read maps. BUT, Abbey had Google Maps directions (no pictures) printed out and the Italian road signs are not the same. We started out on what should have been about a 3 hour drive. The entire drive, it just didn't feel right. We weren't seeing any of the signs we were supposed to see. After many turn-arounds, stops, attempting to iPhone map, we realized we were on the wrong highway! Luckily, Italy isn't very wide so even though we were driving up the wrong side of the boot, it wasn't horrific. We got to our Villa about 10PM and had dinner there. 

We ate Caprese at every meal! 

Friday morning, we woke up to see our amazing villa in the sunlight! 

The place was more of a compound of villas. You can see Abbey in our doorway. We met 2 older couples from Georgia staying there too!

 The main office of the compound

Villa pool and views!

We started off to find wineries! Apparently we have some issues with directions because we started out the wrong direction down the highway. We couldn't figure out why we weren't seeing any wineries! This was one random one we found that was obviously someone's personal winery. 

Olive oil farm! I bought a bottle for myself and my parents!

Once we went down the right road, we found this AMAZING winery in the Chianti region. Click to see their website here! I ordered wine and had it shipped home. I'm not a white wine drinker, but they claimed to have the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world. The Prosecco (Italian version of Champagne) was amazing too. I ordered a Chianti Classico and Prosecco for myself, and the SB for Brooke. When I go back to the area (yes, when), I will be staying at this winery.

Tasting

All of the yummy-ness

Our new friend, Rafa

Another view of the winery

My purchases. Please excuse the poor quality. My camera broke mid-way through the trip so this is from my ancient iPhone.

Days 2 of 4 complete!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Series

I have about 10 blogs to do about my trip so I'll start with the shortest! The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Series. It would be redundant for me to blog about each book so I'll do one quickie one. I started book #1 before the trip and finished the final book the day I got back. We had some down-time in Spain while Abbey was working so Jennifer and I spent that time reading. 

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nets

All by: Stieg Larsson

Background:

I had heard lots about this series. I heard the first book could be hard to get into and that the characters could be confusing. BUT, I heard it was worth it. 

First Thoughts:

Everyone was right about it being hard to get into. The first book focuses a lot on Swedish economy and random stuff that I had no clue about. Once I hit page #150 or so, I breezed through all three books. The characters all had Swedish names so I was a big lost. Even after reading all of the books, I still don't think I know all of them!

Final Thoughts:

I loved this series. It focuses on 2 characters that carry though all three of the books. Mikael is a reporter who finds himself researching a 50 year old crime with the help of a young anti-social girl named Lisbeth. It can be a little intense (I heard the movies were even more so) but it was great. I highly recommend!