Thanksgiving 2011, Part II

Hope everyone had a happy Turkey Day! Justin and I burned up the road this Thanksgiving, driving almost 800 miles! First, we drove to Aiken and surprised my mom. She wasn't expecting us until the weekend. She was very surprised to see us and gave me the furrowed brow for not letting her know we were coming. She isn't a huge fan of surprises. Especially when they are for her ;o) We ate dinner at my grandmother's house (Nana) and had a great time catching up with family.

That night, we were crazy enough to battle the crowds for the Thanksgiving and black Friday sales. It was nice not to actually have any particular gift you HAD to get. We could just enjoy the people watching. And there was plenty of people watching to be had!

We got home around 4:30 and crashed. We were up by 11:00 and headed to Lowe's to pick out a Christmas tree with my parents. They get a fresh tree every year and decorate it with all the ornaments collected over the years. It is such a sweet tradition!

Then we were off to Raleigh to have Thanksgiving with Justin's family. Shannon had the cutest center pieces and window decorations made by the boys. Dinner was amazing! The Clemson game...not so much. The only thing that made the game worthwhile was being introduced to Pintrest during a commercial break. I am completely addicted to that website. It is such a great way to keep all your ideas (craft, gift, decorating) and recipes together! Just what I've always needed. Now I can start deleting some of those Ina Garten shows I've been hoarding on my DVR.

Next task on my list, decorating for Christmas. Typically, our decorations are up mid November. Crazy, I know, but we travel so much for the holidays that if we don't put them up early, we don't have long to enjoy them. Pictures to come!

Thanksgiving 2011, Part I

This weekend we went to Justin's grandmother's (Jojo's) house in Charlotte for her Thanksgiving get together. The food was delicious, as always, and it was so nice to visit with everyone. We can never stay as long as we'd like but I'm always reminded when I go there how grateful I am to have such a wonderful family. Jojo's Thanksgiving dinner really kicks off the holiday season.

And speaking of, the Christmas music has started on the local radio station. When I was a kid my dad used to listed to Christmas songs starting in November and I thought it was cruel and unusual punishment, especially since he didn't know the words so he'd make them up as he went along. Often times he would use our names in the song and carol about how bad we were or how we weren't getting anything for Christmas. He found it very amusing. My sister and I seriously considered throwing ourselves out of the moving car a time or two. I swore I'd never listen to Christmas music as an adult but look at me now! It just makes me happy. Who can be in a bad mood when there is Christmas music on??

The holidays really are in full swing...we had our office Thanksgiving Lunch Party today. I made Sherry's sweet potato dumplings and boy, we're they a hit! Everyone LOVED them! I had at least three people ask me for the recipe. Super yummy! I also brought pumpkin cupcakes. There was so much food and it was all delicious...seriously, everything I tasted was amazingly good. No one wanted dessert at the end. I brought home a plate for Justin. He was very happy. There's just something about the holiday favorites (mac n cheese, sweet potatoes, string beans, ham, pumpkin pie, potato salad) that is just so comforting. I am definitely looking forward to the holiday eats!

Still working on all these pictures. I'm looking for the best (and quickest) way to upload them to the internet. I'd like to do it in a creative way but we have almost 700 pictures! Holy smokes! This may take a while, or at least a backseat to friends and family for the next several weeks. One thing that I am focused on is our Christmas card. Justin and I look so forward to designing the card...picking out the theme, the pictures, etc. This year, we're definitely going to incorporate travel pictures! So fun!

I'm in the best mood ever! Delicious food, new Christmas candle, clean kitchen, seeing family all this month. Does it get any better? I think no! Happy Holidays! :o)

Home Sweet Home

I can't believe we have been home for a week today! It makes me so sad! But I have to say, there really is no place like home. Charleston is such a beautiful city and Justin and I missed the water. One reason we loved Venice so much. At work, I daydream about our trip and have fun planning the next ;o)

Sherry gave us the SWEETEST welcome home! At the airport she had balloons and the house was all decorated with welcome home banners. One even had a picture of the dogs! So cute!

Justin mentions something about the trip everyday. Earlier this week, we tried our hand at an apple tart. Sadly, nothing like the one we had in Paris but only because I forgot to take the skin off the apples first. It was still pretty darn good though. The picture below is of me at the Louvre with the delicious apple tart. The second is my attempt at making said tart.

I've promised myself that I'll make time to upload some pictures from the trip. I'd like to make a montage of pictures and video set to music to email to everyone. That is a lofty goal for such a busy month. I'll get there!

Justin and I are feeling much better but now poor Sherry isn't well. Don't worry! I'll send an excellent nurse your way! ;o) We're headed to Lancaster tomorrow for Jojo's Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday. Really looking forward to it!

Just a few picture teasers. Justin in front of Notre Dome, my favorite church of all we saw on our trip (and trust me we saw a ton!)

And us in Rome the night of our BIG, rustic Italian dinner. The pasta was amazing!!

So much to look forward to as we get back into the swing of things. We have big plans for this condo! I'm so proud of us for saving for the trip. It is completely paid for (yeah us!) and since we put everything on our credit card, we racked up major points on Capital One and with Delta. Looking forward to using those miles in January to visit Britt at her new home in DC!

Gondolas and hot chocolate

11/9/11

I can't think of a better way to end our trip to Europe than a night in Venice. I wish we could stay longer but we definitely made the most of our evening here. After our last post, we walked to St. Mark's square and visited the bascillica. It was very different from St. Peter's. The design was more eastern European with large lanterns and mosaics. Still plenty of marble and frescos but you could definitely appreciate the eastern European and Byzantine influences.

The large square was lively and charming. It is enclosed with walls of shops, restaurants, and cafes. We went to the famous Florian for hot chocolate but decided we'd rather not spend so long drinking their hot chocolate (which happened to be 13 euros, I'm sure it was worth it). Instead, we went to another cafe and found hot chocolate to go. We listened to the bell towers and the classical music being played in the square before walking to the Rialto bridge.

On the way back we window shopped for murano glass, Burano lace, and high fashion...the closer you get to Milan the more beautiful the clothes. I love it! Then, the best part, we found a very nice gondolier who offererd us the lower price up front. It was a highlight of the trip. We took the ride just before 7pm (when the prices soar) so it was dark, the moon was full and the moonlight shimmered against the dark water. The gondolier took us under the bridge of sighs that is currently under construction, by several churches, and several palaces. He narrated our ride. It was a close favorite of mine, neck and neck with the Eiffel Tower. We almost didn't take it but Justin talked us into it and I am so glad he did.

For dinner we went to a hotel that is ranked very high on trip advisor and also recommended by our hotel. It was delicious. The first pasta was a spaghetti with crab, an odd combo but it worked very well and was the tastiest part of the mean. Justin had tuna and I had the sea bass. Venice offers a lot of local fish and is known for it's sparkling wine, prosecco, which we learned about at our wine tasting :) we were able to put our new skills to work. We finished with an apple tart that had a buttery rum taste with raisins and dates (yummy) and cappuccino.

Again, I can't think of a better way to end the trip. We did so much and enjoyed every minute of it. Well worth the planning stress and money very well spent. We're looking forward to coming home, and hopefully we can make good use of our time in Paris tomorrow. Arrivederci you beautiful sinking island!

Water, water everywhere...

11/9/11

Justin and I woke up this morning and began to wonder if cabbage soup was such a good idea for dinner last night. :) After a slow start to the morning, we got a yummy breakfast and headed to the street market one last time for peppers, spices, and a few other gifts. We went to a wine shop to inquire about shipping and it was going to cost 150 euros! The wine itself only cost about 10. I was a little bummed but definitely couldn't see spending that much. We'll just have to look for the wine back in the states.

When we checked out of our hotel, they gave us a calendar of Tuscany. And everyone came out to tell us bye! It was so cute. They really knew us. The lady (owner) that gave us planning advice yesterday asked us about the details of our side excursion to Pisa. It was a great stay.

On the fast train to Venice we sat across from an Italian girl that was studying philosophy. She had a delicious looking lunch of tomatoes and mozzarella. We hadn't had lunch yet and were starving! :) As soon as we got to Venice's train station, we got a slice of pizza. We were again attacked by the little headless fish, poor Justin was the victim this time ;) He got a new slice, "cheese only!"

After a brief ride down the central canal, we walked through a little maze of streets and arrived at our hotel. It is by far the largest, most luxurious hotel we've stayed at during our trip! The Aqua Palace is the name. We have three large rooms, a bathroom as large as our condo's guest room, and three windows with gorgeous views of the canals. There are gondoliers at every step. It's a good thing we didn't start at this hotel but it's a great place to finish!!

We're taking a few minutes to rest and then out to look for a Murano glass demonstration and maybe take a joyride on a gondola! Ciao!

When the moon hits your eye...

11/8/11

Well, we did everything we set out to do today. After getting back from Pisa, we went for a quick view of David at the Accademia gallery. David is such a beautiful sculpture, a second favorite to the Pieta in St. Peter's Bascillica. The details are just amazing. You could see the muscles in his neck and the veins in his hands. So incredibly beautiful! It's easy to see why Michaelangelo is considered the best. We saw several other unfinished sculptures of his and a collection of very old string instruments, some dating to the 1600s. The gallery had a very nice collection, again no pictures. I'm in love with busts now. I want one for our house. :) We've really enjoyed being in Michaelangelo's home town if Florence.

After the gallery, we got dressed for dinner and went to buy a few things from a street vendor that I scouted out last night. I'm very happy with my purchases and we just barely caught him as he was packing up for the night. It was meant to be :)

Dinner was at a rustic "real" Italian restaurant that served bread with dinner. We love that practically each restaurant has their own house wine ("vino della casa"). The chianti we had at dinner was delicious. The Tuscany region of Italy, where Florence is located, is well known for their chianti. We had the full dinner, brucetta for an appetizer, followed by the most delicious cabbage soup (best thing I've eaten in our trip so far!), and eggplant parm for me, and meatballs and mashed potatoes for Justin. He really enjoyed his dinner as well. We skipped dessert since we were stuffed and made our way back the hotel. Packing with have to wait until the morning because we are beat.

Bruce Almighty starring Jim Carey, is in TV, in Italian. Still funny! Justin is already snorring and I hope to be in a minute. Good night all! Tomorrow we set our sights on Venice!

Leaning Tower of Pizza!

11/8/11

Just kidding! I mean Pisa! This morning we woke up early and had a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel (really a B&B). It the best breakfast so far with very, very good cappuccino.

After breakfast, we spoke to a lady at the bed and breakfast. She said that we could easily do one of the galleries today and take a train to Pisa. It sounded great to me. We headed to the Uffizi gallery first, best known for the birth of Venus and the old home of David, before he was moved inside of the Accademia. There is another David replica out front of Uffizi. We saw paintings by all sorts of artists including Rembrant. Unfortunately, we couldn't use a camera (for understandable reasons) so no pictures but we enjoyed it.

After leaving the gallery,  getting lost and given directions by a nice waitress who took pity in us, we found a wood work shop that had lots of sweet wooden toys, clocks, growing charts, etc. I could have bought the whole store but most items were very large. And Pinocchio is HUGE over here. I would assume, from the name, that he is Italian. I'll have to confirm that later. Anywho, there is as much Pinocchio as there is leather here, and not just Disney although that is big too :)

We made it back to the hotel to drop off some purchases and made our way to the train station to buy tickets to Pisa. We took the fast train and were there in an hour. We walked maybe 20 minutes and we were there! The tower is open again for visitors to climb after being closed for years for renovations. It was somewhat straightened and is now only 15 feet off its vertical axis. 

The tower was built in stages, it took over 200 years to build because (for unknown reasons) construction stopped midway for 100 years. It had three major architects, each of whom tried to correct the lean. It began leaning very soon after construction. When you look at it, it is very apparent that there are three separate sections, each section an effort to straighten the tower by balancing the weight. To no avail.

Included in the field of miracles is the duomo and the baptistery. We were a little pressed for time so we didn't buy any tickets to climb the tower or enter anything. It is a little disappointing to know the tower is still leaning and aging very quickly as are the other structures in the field. No one is sure when it will finally collapse but since it is mostly limestone and only covered with marble, that could happen in the near future.

We're on our way back to Florence ( Firenze in Italian) and we have dinner reservations at 8pm. We ended up on the slow train so we won't likely be back until 5:30 or 6pm. The place that we have dinner reservations is the best restaraunt in Florence (according to Rick Steve's) lucky us! And we didn't know that at the time we booked, it was just recommended by our hotel.

More later, tomorrow we leave Florence and head for Venice. I'm looking forward to seeing the sinking city. Only a few more days before we're back in the good ol' US of A! We'll be traveling everyday until we get home so hopefully we won't be too travel weary. See you all soon!