Best Gelato EVER

A few weekends ago GB and took a day trip to Como with our FABULOUS friends Tom cat and Abby dabby doo! I just love them. We always have a blast.

So basically Lake Como is only 45 min away by train and is AWESOME!!!!!! We first arrived in Lecco which is one of the coolest cities. We hit up the market where they had a mini pet store and I proceeded to fail at convincing GB I needed a baby turtle. Fail Fail Fail. bummer.


Anywho, we tried to take a boat ferry over to Bellagio but it was closed for the day so we took a train to Veranna instead to catch that ferry to Bellagio. Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore because the ferry was leaving right then. Bellagio was adorable!! I LOVED it. We hiked all up the little alley ways and around the coblestone. It was grand





From Bellagio we paid a little extra and took the long ferry to Como. One word- SPECTACULAR
No matter where you looked, it was beautiful! So worth the money




Once in Como Abby and I's desire for gelato could not be fought any longer. Luckily we saw a crowd of people mashing there way through a line right outside a gelateria. This was a good sign. If people were willing to be smashed, it has to be good. We. Were. So. Right! Best gelato I have had since my arrival. I also have a new favorite flavor...Canella (cinnamon) which I usually can't stand. MMMMMMM heaven on a cone baby

Tom Cat and Abby with their loot. Abby had some AMAZING pistachio! They are cute huh??

The city of Como was really a really cool place too. We are definitely going to be going back to better explore



Some GINOURMOUS random hands I found...I had a little fun with them


What a terrific way to spend a Saturday!

May as well...

Since I am stuck at home and under the weather, I may as well catch up this blog. I have a LOT of catching up to do. Hopefully, with deactivating facebook I will be better at keeping this sucker up.

Possitano~
For GB's birthday, he wanted to go to his favorite place in the world..Possitano. It was a super fun weekend. We stayed at the Crown Plaza a few cities up in the Mts. It was awesome. If you stood on our balcony and looked to the right you could see Mt. Vesuvius. it was unbelievably gorgeous. I loved our hotel room. My favorite part was the shower. The shower head came straight down from the very center of the tub and you could adjust the pressure with a nob. It felt like rain and it was magnificent!!! Pretty sure I took FULL advantage of that bad boy!!! Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the little beauty but rest assured that when we build our own house, we shall have our very own.

I really liked the more southern part of Italy. I was shocked at the difference between the North and South. The people in the south look a different. They have darker skin and more prominent features. They are beautiful people. I will say that it was a bit more dirty and not very well kept up, but the food was heavenly and the people were incredibly friendly. It really reminded me of the south back home. I guess some things are the same all around the world.

Garrett and I arrived late at night so we couldn't head over until the morning. We took a bus to a city mid way to Positano and ended up having to hop onto another one to actually get there. It was really funny because we ended up on a bus with ALL high school age kids. They must have been all coming home from school. We felt so old. It was an interesting ride to say the least but it was also beautiful. It reminded me of a mediterranean Napali coast. (Napali still being my personal favorite) It was still amazing none the less. When we finally made it to Positano it was a little dead. It was a really cool town but not my personal favorite. While Garrett went nuts taking pictures I planted myself on the beach and began my quest for sea glass. There was an abundance. Since no other tourists were around I got ALL the sea glass my heart desired. My favorite thing however, was Pemi.

Pemi was this adorable Welsh Corgy who decided to become our friends. I named him Pemi but have since forgotten why. We fed him lunch scraps and he followed us all over and helped us look for sea glass.


After we left Positano we once again had to stop in an in-between city. We were hungry and decided to catch some grub. We ate dinner at this quaint little restraunt right on the river. I got the most delectable Tomato soup and GB got his favorite, Pasta Carbonara. After dinner we stopped at a music box shop and got GB his birthday gift. A hand carved music box. He also got a 4 euro grey skinny tie. He was a happy little birthday boy! It was a fantastic little trip!

Diary of a Mad Woman

This post comes with a disclaimer:
If you are in any way jealous of me living here and do not wish to read my whining then this post is not for you.

Moving On
I know, I absolutely nuts, ungrateful, a brat...yes all of the listed apply. Actually no, I am grateful, EXTREMELY grateful. I have been so blessed to have this unbelievable experience to live abroad and completely be submerged in something so foreign and beautiful. It truly is a remarkable place and I have genuinely enjoyed every minute of it. But I am sickly and have been the past few days. I am not sure about everyone else, but when I am physically sick, it affects my mentality. I am so homesick I can barely stand it. I think its mostly because I just don't feel well, and when you don't feel well, you want to be home. While I adore it here, its not my home.

I have never been a "social butterfly" I don't need to be surrounded by tons of friends. I was always more comfortable with having a handful of really great friends and surrounding myself around family. Right now, I really miss my family. In the words of Micheal Buble...

"Another airplane, another sunny place, Im lucky I know...but I wanna go home"

Hate me if you must ...but its honest. I miss my family so much I could ball my eyes out. I have been really bad about calling home often, but to be honest it makes it worse. I miss home so much more when I call :( Which is also partly why I have decided to delete my Facebook. I need to really focus on my life here and not worry about what I think I may be missing out on back home. I am pretty sure its just because I am sickly and in a few days ill be back to normal, but for today, this is what I am working with.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy and I am so in love with my life, but the people I love are why I love my life so much and I miss them. Anyway, I am crazy and out of my mind and I know you are all thinking, frig Ill switch places with you. Don't worry I'll be back to normal in a day or two. I mean heck, everyone is allowed a little crazy every once in awhile right? In the meantime, to all of my loves at home (parents,siblings,grandparents,cousins,aunts,uncles,and besties included) know how much you are missed by me and how much I love you.

The worst morning anybody's ever had ever

Not really, its not THAT bad. It was still bad though. Bad Milan day. I am going to give you a little treat today and share my morning with you via the thoughts that ran through my head through the course of the morning.

10:28 am
I reluctantly arise to the sound of Garrett, "good morning schplumie plum butter cup lovey cake, I'm heading to class I can't wait to see you there, its the best part of my day" He then ever so sweetly slaps my tush and heads to class.
aww well that was nice, did I really sleep in that long? bluuggg I don't want to get up, but I must.

10:35 I head to the shower
Frig is this hideous rash on my chest ever going to go away? where the heck did it come from and why is it spreading like kudzu? oh well, no matter just be thankful for winter. I think I better wee before I get in.

Oh my crap, you have got to be kidding me. No toilet paper? Is this a joke. Fantastic, Ill just sit here until I dry a little. Of course there is ..the bidet. (For those of you who are not as cultured as I ;) its a device used to clean your fanny with a burst of water.) I think I will have a go at it. Well, I guess I no longer need a bathe since I just got one. MMM I love it when the shower smells extra pee like

Okay can't find my darn tank top....30 min later. Frig a muff I am gonna be late I have to go

12:15 I make my way to school
Are you freakin kidding me? Rain? seriously? I don't have an umbrella. (I then recall a recent conversation I had with my friend Abby about the smog in Milan and how the rain here contains acid) Good I am walking in acid rain, joyous. Poop. no I literally just avoided dog poo. Well there is one in my favor for the day avoided massive, rainy,dog poo. Finally, made it to the metro, I am soaked and looked like a drowned rat, but I made it. Just as I predicted, missed the metro by a measly 2 seconds.

6 min later...
Yes its here. Oh oh oh am I actually going to get a seat on this horrid day? yes its happening. I GOT A SEAT...SCORE BABY. Perhaps this day will be fine after all. I can finally do my morning scripture reading while I wait to arrive. Oh but wait, you have got to be joking. Oh yes, yes Mr. tight jeans, have your junk all up in my face while I read 2nd Nephi IS what I was hoping for when I got out of bed today. Umm excuse me are you aware that your zipper is undone?? Oh okay then, yes of course you do. It seems the zipper is broken. How can a person NOT notice that when they put on a pair of jeans that were obviously made for a pre pubescent 12 yr. old. Don't worry I was only visually assaulted for 7 stops aka about 18 min. Just long enough to scar me.

12:45 Arrive at school (late)
Frig the door is shut. Great already started. What is this? where is my husband today? I know he came to school, he comes an hour before me. He must have gone to the restroom.

15 min later....
Seriously where the hay is GB?!!! Am I going to have to endure this entire class by myself? meh, horrible.

I suddenly remember that the teacher had informed him the day before that he was so far ahead in class that he no longer needed to attend class.

Oh yea...thanks GB, whatever happened to "can't way to see you in class" He may be in trouble.

I leave class one decided to forgo class two in order to locate my missing husband. And back to the rain I go. I finally arrive at home; having barely survived the many people armed with pointy umbrellas. I can not believe I managed to keep both my eyes.
At this point, I realize I do not have the keys. I walked around the building to bang on our bedroom window. I discover the shield is still down from this morning when I was getting ready. This can only mean two things...
1: I can not pound on the window
2: Even if I could, GB is obviously not home. If he was, the shield would most definitely be up.
Now I am stuck in the rain. Outside. I push every apt. call button in hopes that someone would answer and ring me in. I wait in the freezing acid rain for about 15 when a boy comes with a key. Thank you! I then must try to get in my house.

Good thing I left the door unlocked. What? locked? okay this could be good. Someone must be home. I, full of hope, ring out doorbell and knock on the door. (just to be safe) Nope, of course not. Oh great, I bet Garrett went back to class, I will now have to wait at least an hour and some odd min. outside my door. He is most definitely in trouble. Well, I have no choice but to pick this lock with my bobby pin. Obviously Itallian locks are much different than US. No user error here. Oh well, I will resign to my fate.

After only waiting for 20 my hubs arrives......OH HAPPY HAPPY DAY!
Turns out he was moved up 2 levels for the day and wasnt informed until this morning and unable to let me know. After not being able to locate me during the block, the smart man knew Id be home. This day is over. YES sweet mercy.

Well we are starving and just can't stomach pasta today. Garrett decides to go pick up a pizza. Garrett then discovers we are locked in. Well, I think I may have messed up our lock by trying to pick it. We tried and tried and got nothing. Then GB got the brilliant idea to jump out the window since we are only on the first floor. Well turns out there was some weird extra bar that appeared to prevent him from it. PS as he stood on the seal in contemplation, he was yelled at by a woman who spoke no english and did not understand what Garrett was doing and threatened to call the police on him. Eventually he was able to explain it to her and he tossed her the keys and she came around and opened the door from the outside.

I guess the door is all better now because we were able to make it to dinner with our dear friends Tommy and Abby. It was pleasurable as always and definitely made up for the long rainy day. I of course ended the evening stealing a roll of TP from Mcdonald's because we were out and Carefour would be closed. I know, to all my mothers...I am sorry. Pray for me I guess. If it helps you to feel any better I stepped in a giant puddle of water right after, also realized someone had refilled it when we got home. OOOPPS my bad. Oh well...Tomorrow is another day :)

Naughty and Nice

I have been a bad blogger. No excuses really, just too lazy. Life in the boot is still good. Since my last post we have been to Nice on the French Riviera and visited the Amalfi Coast. We have also made new friends! 2 of which are human (Tommy and Abby) and one pup, whom we named Pem. So for a little re-cap here are some photos from Nice. Nice by the way has been my absolute FAVORITE place we have been to thus far.

Here is the view from our hotel room

The Ferris Wheel we rode and a few views from it



Here we have a random thumb



I think there was some sort of city festival...

Hands down the MOST delicious burger I have ever had in my life! Oh what's that you say? am I actually eating a burger with a fork?? why, yes, yes I am because my sweet husband was mortified when people began to glare at me as if I was a barbarian. Sorry Frenchies, its actually NATURAL to eat it with your hands!

Oh this was a NUDE, beach? So sorry we didn't get the memo. If you can't tell from the picture, not one of these men is below 60..dirty old men. SICK

Yes he did make my already glorious day even more glorious.
I LOVED Nice. I loved everything about it. It had a great vibe, good food, good shopping, and terrific weather. Nice, you have not seen the last of me