The Continuing Italy Saga

Here I am again! Let's pretend that it's Sunday, May 24 and I am returning from a wonderful day spent with friends in San Gimignano. San Gimi is one of my all time favorite Tuscan towns. The town originally had 72 towers, giving it the nickname "Manhattan of Tuscany". Only 15 remain today...one of which Jason, Regina, Donna and I climbed. San Gimi is also known for it's local products: ceramics, olive oil, saffron and Vernaccia wine (a high quality white wine made exclusively in this medieval town).

Jason & Dick exploring the wee alleys of San Gimi:


There are fun courtyards with doors to peer around...


and gas lamps and frescoes to admire....


many towers to climb....

beautiful views from those towers....the Tuscan countryside is amazingly beautiful...too beautiful to capture in photographs.

and views into piazzas...whew, that's a long way down!!!

Photo ops for showing off new shoes!!! According to Donna, her new Keens were great shoes for climbing towers.

Fun ledges for more photo ops....

breathless laughter as we ascend another tower....

So many places to explore (and eat gelato)

tourists everywhere...

local ceramics....

yummo...local treats...

curious doors at the end of streets....I wonder who's lucky enough to live here?

My peeps: Jennifer, Donna, Dick & Jason posing for their San Gimi pic.

narrow streets all over town....

Hope you enjoyed the little tour of San Gimignano. It is a MUST see if you visit Tuscany!

Arrival in Italy

Well, finally I have some time to post some trip stuff before I head off to the beach! Our first travel day is always long. Dick and I had the 6:00 a.m. flight out of Denver to D.C. That got us in way early since we weren't leaving for Rome until 6:15 that evening but since there is only one flight to Rome from D.C. every day, I never want to take the chance of missing that flight. Case in point. Jennifer, Jason and Regina were flying from D.C. to JFK to catch their Rome flight.

Here's Dick sharing a pre-Italy glass of wine before they head off:


Well, we all leave our wine and go down to their gate to see them off...oh oh....flight to JFK delayed. Dick and I have to go back to our terminal to get ready for our flight but we are communicating by Blackberry. Last we know before we head for Rome is that they are on their way to JFK. Well, we arrive in Rome...along with my sister, Donna, who has made the trip from Houston, through Philly, to Rome. I couldn't believe that she and I were in Italy together....a dream come true for both of us.

But more oh ohs....the rest of our group missed their flight to Rome from JFK. After much wrangling, they have gotten on a flight to Pisa and are expected to land mid morning. So Donna, Dick and I load up our fancy Alfa Romeo station wagon and head up to Tuscany!

Of course, we have to head straight to Montespertoli to Il Mondo Degli Gnomi, our favorite restaurant in all of Italy!!! This is a small pizzeria in the Piazza Popolo in the center of Montespertoli. Rosa and Giuseppe (brother and sister) run the restaurant and welcome us as if it had been just days since they had seen us instead of a whole year. Plenty of pasta and wine later...the rest of our group arrives. Exhausted from their adventure...it took them almost 2 hours just to get a rental car in Pisa...more pasta was had, along with more wine. It was a great way to start our trip. Finally, it's time to head off to our villa. This year we stayed at a place called Villa Castiglione near a town called Fiano and about 8 km from Montespertoli. A little more remote than our villa last year but still great!!! We had a brand new pool which came in handy with temps in the mid 90s this year, and we had great views of San Gimignano.

Here's the front of our villa... you can't really see them in this pic but there were gorgeous roses everywhere!!!

ere's the view from our "backyard". Plenty of olive trees and vineyards on those hills!

Our awesome pool. It was down the hill a ways so was very private and a fun place to hang out.

After a long, exhausting day you'd have thought that we would all be in bed early but no, not this group. Dinner was waiting for us at the villa so we had dinner then we started on our wine and our limoncello. We ate, drank, put on music and danced into the wee hours of Italy!

Here's our dinner all prepared and waiting for us: lasagna, salad, bread, wine.

Hanging out on our loggia after dinner.

The girls looking relaxed and happy.

And last, but not least: Donna teaching Dick to dance to her music.

Stay tuned for more adventures!!

Food, food and more food!

We're back!! 17 days away from home feels like forever but we had a great time. I'm trying to catch up on household stuff, bills, etc. before I head off to South Carolina for Sally's big birthday bash, but I hope to get the blog updated before I go so please be patient. I just thought I'd share one thought with you tonight. Normally I'm a pretty healthy eater. I try to watch what I eat...stay away from too many carbs, sugar, etc. but on this trip I really outdid myself. I usually profess to "not like Italian food" in general but it seems like I couldn't get enough pasta and pizza and gelato while in Italy this year. Add alot of yummy Ugolini white fizzy wine....need I say more. Then just when I think I'm out of the woods, we head over to France....the home of frites, frites and more frites. Just as long as it wasn't pasta...I was good. I definitely had my fair share of excellent food and wine so for tonight...here's our before and after shots.

Me and Dick before we went to Italy:


and now...upon our return!

Hope you enjoyed the update. I promise to post more soon. By the way, both of these statues were in Monte Carlo. The before was at the Jardin Exotique near the Palace. The after is a sculpture near the harbor and the casino.

Tell someone you love them!

This is my dad and me. He died on April 23, 2002. I don't remember when this picture was taken other than it was in my parents' dining room in Louisiana and I was there during a flood. It's not the best picture ever taken of the two of us but I think it truly reflects how we felt about each other...we loved each other!

Why am I posting this now? I've never posted anything about losing my dad before but I watched the stupid Grey's Anatomy finale last night...and yes, I broke down at the end, even though I had an inkling of what was coming. If you didn't see it, I won't spoil it but the whole point of the episode is "don't wait...tell the people you love TODAY...tell them how much you love them...tell them what a difference they've made in your life."


I know, I know...we all say that don't we? When something happens...we all say that it won't happen again....

I don't need to talk about the pain of losing my dad...everyone has lost someone...everyone has felt grief in some form or another. What I want to say is that I did tell him...from the time he was diagnosed with cancer until the night he died....I told him how much I loved him...how special he was to me...what a difference he made in my life. I told him over and over again as we hugged and cried and laughed and cried.....there was lots of crying. Angry crying when he was diagnosed, happy crying when his treatment was going well and horrible wrenching crying when he died unexpectedly from surgery complications. I can say now that I have no regrets...

I know that he died knowing how much he was loved...there was no doubt he knew how much we loved him...because we couldn't stop saying it. Over and over and over again...because we were scared...and we wanted him to know ....

...don't wait...don't wait for a diagnosis or a death...say it today. Tell someone right now how much you love them....a spouse, a child, a niece or nephew, a friend...don't let another day go by because you never know ....

A month to go!

Woo hoo...in just over a month, we'll be heading off to Italy again. This time with a whole different groups of friends....and my sister!!! Well my sister isn't final yet but we should know something tomorrow...she's in the process of getting her passport expedited!!! This would be her first trip to Europe and we are both psyched that she's able to join us. This is really a dream come true for her (and me). We'll spend our first week in another villa in Tuscany AND we'll be there during the Montespertoli Chianti Festival....AGAIN!!!!! woo hoo :)

Everyone else will be heading home...but my sweety and I are staying an extra week...driving up through the south of France..ending up in Paris for our last weekend. I can't wait!!!!

I can't wait for a stroll through Lucca

Haggling at ceramics outlets

and looking down on Sienna!!!

When nothing is going on.....

just talk about the dogs!!! A trip down memory lane:

Remember this cutie? Kimi at 8 weeks:

She's turned into a beautiful 17 month old!


and here's Cody @ 8 weeks...another cutie:

growing tall at 10 months!!!

April is Here!

Well hello friends!!! I know it's been awhile since I've posted and I do apologize. Life has been busy around here and quite frankly, since going on Facebook, I don't have nearly enough time to spend here in blogland. I am still doing some work with Sally in the furniture biz and that's keeping me pretty busy. I went on my first solo sales calls two weeks ago and it made me so nervous. But I got through it and just need to get myself out there some more and try to sell some furniture.

All in all things are going well. Dick has been busy busy busy which is good. The dogs are great...they are growing and still manage to crack me up every day. Here's some recent pics, taken with Teddy, our friend Kristi's new pup.

My babies love chasing other dogs and Teddy is way faster than they are.

Teddy & Cody waiting for water...Cody's really growing tall. He's still a little skinny squirt but he's got long legs and a long tail

This is what happens when all the chasing stops! Kimi is still just the sweetest girl and she loves Teddy.

Kimi & Teddy romping in the leaves.

We've got plenty of travel on our plate in the next few months and I promise to be better about positng: I'll be in High Point, NC for furniture market then mom's wedding on May 8 so I'll be spending a whole week down south in Lousiana, then we're off to Italy and France at the end of May, beginning of June and mid June I'm heading back out to South Carolina for a friend's 50th birthday celebration on the beach!!!

Last weekend, Dick and I spent four days in Charleston, South Carolina. We joined Sally and some of our friends from North Carolina for a 10K race over the Cooper River Bridge. It was great weather and we had a great race. Sally and I are both run/walking these days....my ankle is still not completely well and she's still having back/knee issues but we finished the race and had a great time...that's all that matters! Here's a glimpse into that fun weekend. Here's the house we rented on Isle of Palm. It was perfect for our group. There were six bedrooms with 4 bathrooms and there were 12 of us. The house was perfectly situated with a large living area and kitchen in the middle of the house and of course, those wonderful porches. It was so nice to sleep and wake up to the sound of the ocean! This is the back of the house which faces the water....Dick and Ihad the downstairs bedroom to the right of the porch...perfect!!!

Here we are with Ron and Pam celebrating being together again...it's been almost a year since our Italy adventure so there was lots of catching up to do.

Here's all the girls...happy to be together again! Stanage, Me, Pam, Sally and Gina.

Me and my sweety at the Shem Creek Restaurant...yummy seafood for dinner!!!

Our first morning there, all the girls headed out to the beach for a walk. It was a beautiful cool morning and we had a great walk.

It was great being there for a few extra days because we had a chance to explore the lovely city of Charleston. It was stunning this time of year...with the flowers starting to bloom. Pam, Ron, Sally, Dick and I enjoyed a fun day....walking along the water, admiring the beautiful homes and enjoying a yummy yummy lunch of southern food at Jestine's. I had fried okra, collard greens, meatloaf and cornbread...all washed down with some sweet tea and followed by a shared slice of coconut creme pie....it's not very often Iget down home southern cooking and it was delicious!!!!!

The running group: Stanage, Joyce, Gina, Sally, Me, Jerry, Pam & Ron. It was a cool morning but the weather was clear and dry. It ended up being a beautiful sunny day...perfect for running a 10k across a bridge.

Pam, Sally and I after a liquid lunch at the Windjammer on the beach. After the race we decided to re-hydrate ourselves with margaritas and beer! Seemed like a good idea at the time...LOL.


Our last day...sigh. For most of the group, this trip to the Cooper River Bridge Run has been an annual event for close to 10 years. This was our first invitation to join them and we feel honored to have been included. Thanks y'all!!!! Here's our last meal together...their traditional Sunday breakfast at Joseph's...famous for their HUGE blueberry pancakes.

One last stroll around Charleston before heading home!!! I have really enjoyed the time I've spent in South Cackalacky and am looking forward to Sally's birthday trip in June!!!