Today I turned 37

Even as I write it I can't believe it's true. How did I ever get to be 37? Must have been the same way I came to have 2 little people living in my house calling me mommy. Being an adult is strange. When do you start feeling like one? Anyway. Today I'm 37. Other than turning a year older, it was a very lovely day.

Bryce took me out for a wonderful dinner last night. The restaurant itself was gorgeous and romantic, cozy and special. It was in an old barn and had a vaulted wooden ceiling. I was reminded of the barn we got married in. It was decorated with huge silver candelabras. It was amazing. The food was great too. I had sole. I started with an aperitif of champagne splashed with mirabelle brandy. {Insert contented sigh.}

Today I got to sleep in. I awoke to frantic squeals of "don't come down yet!" The girls were writing my cards. Around noon we went to an arts and crafts fair (called a Hobby Maart) and finished the day on the St. Nicolas Train.

In between all that I received calls from my mom and sister and enjoyed some birthday cake. The girls were bursting with excitement about the cake - "It has macarons on it!!!" Yes, other than the aging part, the day was lovely indeed.

Zig Zag Done

I've fallen in love all over again with Orion's baby quilt. I'm so pleased with the red binding. It also puckered up nicely after being washed. I'm excited to send it to Orion. Even if it's (more than) a year late. I don't think he'll mind.

{Italy} Pisa

Pisa was beautiful. It was small, charming and felt, well, very Italian. Which is a ridiculous thing to say, I realize that, but it did. Perhaps Pisa felt so Italian because it didn't feel as touristy as Florence. Which is a also a ridiculous thing to say as it houses one of the 7 wonders of the (medieval) world. But it did. Pisa felt more "Italian" and less touristy than Florence. Doesn't make sense, I know. But how many feelings actually do?

Pisa should definitely be on your list of places to see in Italy. Not just for the Leaning Tower, but for the town as well. This is what we arrived to in Pisa. Don't worry we didn't get soaked. We decided to wait out the rain over cocktails. The next day was beautiful. This is Santa Maria della Spina. It is right on the Arno River.
After reading your comments, I feel a bit of regret for not taking a "pushing" picture. hmph.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I've been busy this week! And to think I believed I would have all the time in the world once my youngest was in school 3 times a week. Ha!

This week I've been having a cyber baby shower for my sister! It has been fun. I set up a private blog for the shower where there were introductions, games, refreshments, gifts and even prizes! My cousin is so great to send little gifties to the game winners. Right now we're in the middle of gifts. Shower guests have sent me pictures of their gifts and I'm posting them on the blog. It's been a great way for those of us who don't live near Emily to celebrate her leap into motherhood. BTW, her leap could happen *any* day now. I'm can hardly wait!

I've also been making this pumpkin bread. My youngest and I could pretty much eat the entire loaf ourselves. It is delicious.

And I'm going into both girls classrooms to talk about Thanksgiving and do a little project. I've been trying to get that all sorted out. Pilgrim hats and bonnets for the 3 year olds and the 5-6 year olds will be making a Tree of Thankfullness. They are also making apple turnovers, which I assumed would be more well recieved by that age group than pumpkin pie.

I finished 2 quilts - the handprint quilt and Orion's baby quilt! Pictures soon -

And -I've had a head cold. My face doesn't hurt anymore, but I'm still a bit stuffy.

Um. So that's where I've been this week.

{Italy} The Tower Pose

Hilarious! Do I even need to tell you where these were taken?

There is a whole flickr group devoted to these "pushers."

{Italy} Things that caught my eye

If you read this blog with any regularity you know that strange, unusual, and, well, confusing things interest me as much as beautiful things do. Here are some of those types of things ~ Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you? (in their white hats and matching bags) Florence PoliceA street performer in Rome. He was pretending to be a drunk. He was actually quite good. Not that I'm a connoisseur of street performers pretending to be drunk. This little girl was just fascinated with him.
Love Locks. Do you know about these? I didn't until our trip to Rome last spring. You can read more about love locks here.

Eye glasses shop - love this sign.
Graffiti on the Metro in Rome

Teeny tiny truck that looked like it belonged in Busytown.

Big Gelato.
Whaddya buy when you go it Italy? Polish pottery of course. We saw this at a craft fair in Florence. Yes, I bought a piece. A darling little butter dish. I know it's wrong.

I can only assume this Porccetteria can be compared to a gelateria or a pizzeria. A shop where Pig is sold? I have a handful of friends and a husband who would *love* to patronize a house of pork. These Romans hang around the Colosseum and Pantheon selling photo opts for euros. Um. If you know me, you know how *mortified* I was by this whole ordeal. If you know Julie, you understand how we ended up in this situation :)

Coming up . . . PISA. The final destination.

{Florence} Boboli Gardens

Upon reading the description of Pitti Palace, "The building itself is mammoth, holding several different museums. You'll walk through one palatial, chandeliered room after another, walls sagging with masterpieces. . . " Julie and I let out a collective groan. Apparently there was a limit to how many museums a person can visit on a trip to Italy. Needless to say, Julie and I had reached that limit. So we opted for the garden of Pitti Palace - Boboli Garden.

Boboli Garden was designed in the 16th century. It covers 11.1 acres of land. It even houses a museuem, the Museso delle Porcellane. The museum holds a collection of precious European porcelain used by the reigning families that lived in Pitti Palace.

The gardens were just what Julie and I were looking for. We could be outside, enjoying the sunny, warm day and wander around at our leisure.
Piazzale dell'Isolotto
Detail from the exterior of Pitti Palace My *favorite* thing in Boboli Gardens were these drinking fountains. They were only about the size of a pair of cupped hands. These fountains were scattered about the Gardens. Wonderful, huh? View of Florence at the bottom of the Garden

* Quoted text from Rick Steves' Best of Europe 2009. I love this book.

{Florence}

view from our hotel room where we could hear the bells of the Duomo

I was excited about the next stop on our Italian adventure - Florence. I'd been there once before in 1996. It during my first trip to Europe. I didn't remember much about the city, really only David and the red roofs of the Florentine buildings. I was anxious to see it again with adult eyes.

Another Christmas card possibility for Julie was a picture with David. I was surprised to see that photos were no longer allowed in the Academia gallery where David was housed. Luckily there was a fake David (a copy) outside the Palazzo Vecchio that we could photograph to our hearts' content. Santa Maria del Flore - Duomo. We climbed to the top - a whopping 463 steps. Whew. View from the top of the Duomo of Florence and Santa Croce Church

Ponte Vecchio. Lined with shops selling gold and silver. Right next to the Mercato Nuovo (Straw Market) is the Porcellino (wild boar) rub his snout and leave him coins to assure your return to Florence.

Grom. The *best* gelato in Florence. Yes, it's a leap, but I'm willing to make it. The gelato was that good. It's made with organic ingredients and seasonal fresh fruit. This gelato really tasted differently from the rest. It is located right near the Duomo. Get the cream on top. Trust me.

{Rome} Day 2 - Famous Sites

During our second day in Rome Julie and I visited as many famous sites as we could. Here are some snapshots from our day: View from the top of the Spanish Steps The Trevi Fountain. Um, it's somewhere in there. Parts of it anyway. We got in the habit of ending our site seeing around 6:00. We'd find a restaurant, order a spritz, rest our feet and watch the scene. We did this in Florence and Pisa too. Not a bad way to decompress.

In the Piazza de Popolo there is a statue in each corner depicting one of the 4 seasons. Julie and I really couldn't decipher who was who. Whaddya think, spring? Pinocchio paraphernalia all over the place.

A peek of The Panetheon
Building detail from The Piazza Rotunda

NEXT COMES FLORENCE- yipppeee!

{Rome} St. Peter's Basilica

The other famous site to see in Vatican City is, of course, St. Peter's Basilica. It is like no cathedral you've ever seen. It is huge! It can hold 60,000 people. It houses the famous Pieta by Michelangelo (which sits behind bullet proof glass.)

Julie and I climbed the 323 steep steps to the top of the dome. There we looked down on St. Peter's Square and all of Rome.

The guards of St. Peter's

The *real* crafter in the family. . .

Cinderella, prince, step-mother, step-sister, step-sister and fairy god mother

Is turning out to be my oldest. When she gets an idea, that's it. She's doing it and not stopping until it's finished. That's how this set of Cinderella stuffies came about. I had some squares left over from her class hand print quilt and let the girls have at them with fabric markers. She started with her usual fairy picture, then decided it was Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, and then requested more fabric to make the rest of the characters from the story. Such a great idea, right? And all hers. Gotta tell ya, I'm lovin' the wicked step-mother.

To make the fabric easy for the girls to draw on, I back it with freezer paper. You can buy it in the grocery store (in The States, anyway.) After the pictures are finished, peel off the freezer paper. I cut the pictures out leaving a pretty large margin around them (well, as large as I can.) Lastly, sew, stuff (my oldest did the stuffing) and you're finished.

I know, I know this was supposed to be a post about Italy, but I had to break into real time for a moment. Don't worry, you'll get your Italy. It's all set to go. Have a relaxing Sunday.

Fussen (It's in Germany)

We made Fussen, Germany our home base. It was a 10 minute drive to the castles and only 5 minutes from the Austrian border. Fussen had a cute little pedestrian zone and an interesting looking castle. We had heard mixed reviews about the castle's interior but decided to go inside anyway. It was closed but we enjoyed looking at the castle's courtyard. In it was a small modern sculpture park. We were also intrigued by the window and door adornment that was painted on. Was this typical of castles from this era? Hmmm. We saw some similar adornment in Innsbruck.

View from our hotel Fussen Castle Castle's Courtyard. See the sculptures? Pedestrian zone in the city center. Great pastel colored buildings. Another view of the pedestrian zone with tower in the background.

See more pics from Fussen and Neuschwanstein here
Innsbruck pics here

Next, I'll be moving you all back to Italy as I finish sharing photos from my Italian get-away.

p.s. I updated my link list for you. I'd love to know what you're reading these days.

Innsbruck

Bryce had been to Innsbruck once way back when he was in high school. He remembered that it was a pretty city. That was all we knew about Innsbruck. But that was enough for us, so on Monday we drove to Innsbruck, Austria to spend the day. From our apartment in Fussen, Germany it was about an hour and a half drive.

Innsbruck was stunning. Pastel colored buildings set against snowy mountains - it was the very definition of picturesque. We ate some lunch, walked around the city center, poked around in the souvenir shops and ended with gelato for the girls and coffee for Bryce and I. It was my favorite way to see a new town - just wandering around. No specific plans. No must-see urgency. It was a lovely day.

This building wall had advent calender pictures on it. It was not possible to open the numbered windows as this was only a copy, but the girls enjoyed searching for the numbers anyway. Another city that had *awesome* souvenirs. I'll show you my impulse buys soon.
Chasing pigeons. The Golden Roof, one of the tourist attractions in Innsbruck. We spent a long time in a Christmas shop. No country does Christmas better than Germany and Austria. The shop had trays and trays of hand painted egg ornaments. These are a specialty of the region. We bought one with Innsbruck on it.
I'm getting pretty good at translating translated English. Still this soup surprised me. It was called, cheese dumpling soup. I like cheese. I like dumplings so I thought I'd give it a go. This "dumpling" was more like a small bowling ball of grain or possibly breadcrumbs sunk at the bottom of a bowl of broth. It wasn't bad. It was just confusing. I could not figure out what this huge mystery mass was made of. Does anyone know?

Last holiday post coming up tomorrow - Fussen, Germany