Balmy

I think it's a balmy 5 or 6 degrees outside this morning! What a wonderful change from the -100 degrees we've been dealing with this past week. There is still plenty of snow, but I'm hoping that with the warmer weather, it might all GO AWAY! Still no car - it's still trapped in the garage and the driveway is still a nightmare (sorry mr. mailman - I tried to make you a path last night, but well... it kept snowing). To top that all off, we have a mini-barricade of snow at the top of the driveway thanks to Mr. Plow. A little frustrating, but I'm hoping that there are better, warmer times ahead.

Finally, something to RANT about!

Oh my god - this is getting ridiculous! No offence to those of you who love the snow, but I really wish it would stop... we've had enough, or at least some of us STILL have ENOUGH of it at our house - at this rate, it will last until Christmas! My poor little car has been trapped in the garage for quite some time now. Yes, my feet may be warm, I however, am not whilst trekking up and down the hill early in the morning, and late in the evening. Yes, it may be exercise, but I won't be able to continue it when my fingers fall off due to frost-bite! Make it stop!!!

My own little winter wonderland

A mini skating rink...
a tiny frozen plant...

my own little mini "cooler" - a frozen planter box...

My New Boots

Well ... it was about time I got myself a pair of winter boots - these are called "snowflake" and they are good to -20 degrees :) My feet have been pretty warm and cozy in them!

Riley - cleaning off the trees so they don't break...
Our view - isn't it Gorgeous!!!

Before and After - the driveway (it currently looks like the Before shot again... oh well)

On the street where I live...

Sunday afternoon - it was just ugly out there

First Snow - Saturday night

Yes - my cat actually enjoys the snow

It's your birthday! Gonna Party!

that's one sexy shirt!
We are SO hot!

These guys didn't get the memo

The Looks of 1974

one hot tamale!
she's foxy!

hey! it's Magnum!

Gonna Party Like It's 1974

No Party is complete until you have a disco ball with pink lights...
and punch! Rum punch... tasty

So Proud

So... before my father and Manon headed south for the winter... I thought I'd teach him a thing or two about blogging so that those of us stuck here at home, wouldn't have to put up with the mass emails all the time (sorry dad, the blog is way better). He's done 3 posts in the past 4 days, and I even had a chance to catch up with him on ... MSN! He was using emoticons and "winks"... I feel like a proud parent ... like I just took off his training wheels or something. I, of course, am "tech support" but so far, my job has been pretty easy! Keep up the blogging!!!

More Statues in the Piazza

You tell me - but I think I have a "thing" for statues....

Ah Florence - the ongoing commentary

For the next 3 days... we meandered, wandered, sauntered through the streets and markets of florence... saw churches, bell towers (442 stairs i think... maybe a few more), museums, and gelati shops... mmmmm gelati.... drank some wine, had some pizza, lots of panini's and virtually no salads.... they don't believe in them over there.... or at least, that's my theory.... We shopped, we sat, we ate, we drank and we relaxed... it wasn't crazy, but we weren't totally lazy either... it was WONDERFUL... we totally needed it compared to the hustle and bustle of Roma that we were going to be experiencing.... I bought a very nice Italian Leather purse, a wallet and a belt... I love leather, and it's CHEAP over there! Totally worth it. The art, the buildings, are all so beautiful - a wonderfully romantic place to visit. We made it to Pentalfo D'oro (spelling?) ... we somehow ended up downstairs for dinner so it cost a bit more, but was wonderful. Bruna is gorgeous, but she did the menu more than once for us, and even let us ask questions... we had other english speaking folks on either side of us, so it was a very enjoyable evening... we all tried some new dishes too :)

The Piazza della Signoria

There is so much more to show in the piazza - the Rape of the Sabine Women (real statue) is there, Perseus is there and so much more. It's amazing to have so many statues all in one place. Right beside the Piazza is the Uffizi Gallery. We didn't have time to take this one in, but it was incredible to see all the artwork and statues outside of it.

David's

Can you tell which one is real???

Piazza della Signoria

Me and "Fake David" in the background
Rivoire - a fancy cafe in the Piazza

A Brief Halloween Interlude

I think we got our "man" poses down. These beards were very fuzzy, and very warm... and very entertaining!

There is no "constant sorrow" here.

The Ponte Vecchio

There are tons of tiny little jewellry shops all along the ponte vecchio... skinny little doors and tiny little shops... fascinating!

On the Ponte Vecchio

This is Jenn's photo of the little "fountain" on the ponte vecchio... hers was better as i like the way the water is falling from it's mouth...

Florence Tourist House

This was the B&B that we stayed in for our visit to Florence. The room was decent, on the 3rd floor. You could take the "elevator" up - it held 1 person and suitcases, or 2 people with no baggage. Or, you could just walk up the stairs - which I did most of the time. It was interesting at night as all the lights were on a timer. I got caught one night in between floors when the lights went out... it was pitch black and I had no idea where I was for a few seconds... it was rather entertaining... from then on.. I'd race up the stairs to hit the lights so that they wouldn't got out on me again.
I have no idea why all the doors are SO BIG! One theory I've heard is that in the olden days, the doors had to be that big in order to get your horse inside. That's a pretty darn big horse if you ask me! You can't see it, but my head is basically where the door handle is.
One of those windows up there is ours....
Our room! Not huge, not small, but comfortable.

Our Adventure Begins...

Things didn't start off the greatest... Sunday night we took the train up to Bedford to stay on Jenn's "friends" (that would be Andy, see photo below) army base for the night. I had a TERRIBLE bed, but did have a flat to myself... until about 3:30 or so when some army guy came home... that was strange, but he went to his room quickly, and I layed in the crap bed for an hour counting daddy longlegs and wishing I could sleep. The unfortunate part... we had to get up at 4:30 to get to the airport on time...

Up early to catch a flight from Luton airport to Rome Airport... We got there, checked in and then trekked up thru security which is where everything went pear shaped.... Jenn got stuck at security... very very very inefficient security - they wanted to search her bag, but she was 5th or 6th in the queue with only 1 very slow crabby old lady doing the searching.... long story short... we missed the flight... by mere moments we missed the flight... D'OH! Now what... we NEED to get to Florence today, Doris (one of my aunts) is expecting us. (unbeknownst to me... she missed her connection in frankfurt so in the end, we arrived within half an hour or so of each other).

Eventually, we made it... flight on alitalia at 12:15 and we were there... We had to try and figure out the Rome Termini station though to get a train to Florence... IT'S HUGE! And we came in at one end of it and had to get to the other end!!! ARGH... but.. again, we made it and arrived safely in florence... (i guess watching all those episodes of the amazing race totally paid off!!!) We grabbed a taxi, grabbed Doris from the side of the road and we were off to the B&B ... it sure felt good to have a bed that night!

Jenn and Andy

This is Andy - the fellow that my friend Jenn in London is currently seeing. He's really cute, but it's hard to tell as he has writing across his eyes. This is unfortunately the only photo I have of him. I only met him once, he picked Jenn and I up at the train station, took us for dinner (well, we paid, he drove), and then set us up for the night at the army barracks...

Thanksgiving at Jills - London, October 8, 2006

Shannon & I at Jill's - before dinner - our eyes havent' got that turkey glaze yet...
Beautiful Lena...
Post Turkey Carve...
So much food! Jenn and I made 4 pumpkin pies, we had 3 or 5 different types of salads, 2 types of stuffing, veggies, bread and of course... Turkey!!! Wonderful!