Sightseeing Trio

I've been lucky enough to have had a little bit of girl time since moving to Italy. So what exactly does girl time consist of in Italy, you ask? Well on special occasions, today being one of those days, it involves Venice & the surrounding islands. And for your viewing pleasure, I quickly grabbed a couple photos from the day to share with you.

My fabulous chickadee Melissa, you may know her as New Girl or my super awesome workout buddy, and I met up with our equally fabulous chickadee Jessica, you may know her as Jesstagirl, in Venice. Venice just so happens to be the midway point between all of us via train. After meeting up we jumped on the vaporetti (water buses) for the long journey to the island of Burano, known for it's colorfully painted homes. It took nearly 2 hours for us to make the 7km journey.

The island is actually itty bitty, but ever so charming. My favorite houses were the magenta, teal, and purple houses. I wonder if my landlord would let me paint our house one of those colors? Probably not. We spent the afternoon exploring, snapping lots of photos along the way, and enjoyed a delicious lunch outside.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day...

We asked a fellow tourist to take our picture, and I have to say I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

It was a wonderful warm day and we even made it to our train in time after a super speedy walk/jog to the station. I did, however, drop my brand new iPhone in Burano, cracking part of it. All because I was trying to take a darn picture of my sugar deficient treat from the local bakery that I crumbled all over myself. I wanted to cry, but I didn't.

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A few weeks back, the three of us met up in Venice to take in the sights of Carnevale as well. I've been horrible about sorting through pics, thus the delay. So here's a random selection from that day.

The costumes were fantastic. It was even better when people truly embraced their characters. It was, of course, jam packed, but a shutterbug's delight, and they even had a wine fountain. 

I've been very lucky to have had some girl time with these chickadees. 

It's been a welcomed break from the stress of this transition. Unfortunately, I've been spoiled, and my time with Melissa is limited, as she is moving very soon, and Jessica lives about 2 hours away. So I have to enjoy this time while I can. Pretty soon I'm going to be solo in my neck of the woods. I'm not looking forward to that, and sadly meeting new people on post has been a major bust. 

How do you meet new friends when you PCS/move?

10 Years of Wedded Bliss

On this day, 10 years ago, I married my soulmate. It's so weird to be able to say that we've been married for 10 years! I don't feel like we're old enough to have reached this milestone yet. On one hand the time has flown by and I find myself desperate for more time with my lover (darn deployments), and then on the other hand when I look back at the multitude of fabulous memories we've made together, I know that we've had a blessed, exciting, colorful, and full 10 years together. 

It's been a decade of multiple combat deployments, countless schools and training/field problems. Many days, weeks, and months spent apart, but our hearts have always been intertwined through it all. Our love has stood the test of military strains, and the strains of life in general. Reality is always good at throwing a monkey wrench into our love bubble. Fortunately, we have thrived as a couple, discovering a more mature, pure, and passionate love along the way.

We were young and naive, but crazy in love when we promised our hearts to one another forever. Without a doubt, we both didn't fully realize the magnitude of such a promise at the time, but I can say it was the best decision I've ever made, and I know he feels the same way. I wouldn't change a thing about the last decade of our love story. Through the struggles and separations we have found a way to persevere and grow into greater beings contributing to our success as a couple. I know that I wouldn't be the person I am today without the love, support, and partnership of my lover. There's something magical about a love that can make you feel exhilarated & forever young, while also making you feel protected & significant.

Reflecting on the last 10 years of being The Missus, I have an even greater appreciation for this momentous milestone. When I was 18, the life I had envisioned for myself was nothing like the life I have today, and I'm thankful it's not. My life has turned into something far greater than I could've ever imagined. It hasn't been without its challenges, but it's also been filled with extraordinary moments that make my heart swell beyond immeasurable means. 

I'm lucky to have found my soulmate at such a young age. I'm even luckier to be able to say that we're a gazillion times more in love today (that's a lot of love, folks!) than the day we said "I do", and we still have an entire lifetime ahead of us to continue loving and living in one another's arms. It makes me giddy to think that I get to continue making new memories with my best friend, especially knowing that there's an extraordinary amount of fabulosity in store for us.

So it's with an enormous amount of love, gratitude, and pride that I say 

CHEERS TO US!!

Lover of mine, you are still the only one who can make my heart skip a beat!! I can't wait for the new adventures that await us. I love you with every ounce of my being...every moment of forever!!

Vantini Winery

On President's Day, my lover and I took an impromptu trip with friends to a winery near Verona by the name of Vantini. They are known for producing Valpolicella wines; dry, sweet, red, white. My palate leans towards the super sweet variety, although I did give a few of the dry reds a try.

We were graciously greeted by the owner's daughter who educated us on the various wines produced by her family as we sat in an area that closely resembled a family dining atmosphere. She was hilarious and inviting...it was like sitting down with an old friend. We were especially spoiled when she brought out a large sampling of the salami they make on site. I've never been a fan of salami, but I certainly didn't want to come across as rude by not trying it. I took a thin baguette slice, drizzled it with olive oil (also made on site), and placed a paper thin slice of the salami that was marinated in their Amarone wine on top. Oh. my. word. It was SOOO delicious! So much so that we had to buy some. This surprised me immensely. Looks like it's time for me to invest in a deli slicer.

In addition to the indulgent wine & food tasting, we toured the facilities and met the current owner (the founder's grandson). He was rather excited to see my lover, squeezing him to pieces. After a little help with the translation, we learned that he thought my lover bore a striking resemblance to a famous Italian singer. This was incredibly amusing for us, especially considering my lover couldn't possibly look more American, freckles and all.

We had a wonderful time at the winery and definitely plan to go back in the future. For now we grabbed a modest selection of wine and salami to hold us over until the next time we visit the winery.

What types of wine do you prefer?

Ruffle Tree Skirts

A few months back while milling about on Pinterest, I saw a DIY ruffle tree skirt made using only hot glue. I was in love immediately! You could say I have a mild obsession with ruffles. Well leave it to me to resist the hot glue method when it came time to making my actual tree skirts. Sewing ruffles has become second nature to me this year, so I thought how hard could a tree skirt be. The answer is not very hard if you know the precise measurements and have a list of supplies. I had neither one when I made the decision to make the tree skirts. I guess I like a good challenge.

For the first tree skirt, I actually used a round fabric table cloth as the base because it was the only neutral colored fabric I could find on the island that I liked, and it was big enough for me to use part of it for ruffles as well. I slid it under my Hello Kitty tree to figure out the size I wanted and went from there.

Fortunately, after several days of cutting, sewing, ruffling, and attaching, I finished my first tree skirt. I happened to have the thread and ribbon I needed on hand, so I only had to purchase the fabric. I was happily surprised by the final product.

The second tree skirt came together much more easily since I finally knew what I was doing. I bought double the amount of Hawaiian print fabric before knowing how much I would really need. It's a good thing I did this because the second tree skirt ended up needing to be larger to fit our Norfolk Pine. Once it was finished it was the perfect touch to our Hawaiian Christmas tree.

I worked on the tree skirts here and there whenever I could squeeze them in. I continually referred to this project as the "Longest Sewing Project Ever". It took much longer than I anticipated, and several times I wished I had just hot glued the darn things. However, once I finished both of them, I was so happy I decided to sew them. They both have a polished appearance and I know they will hold up for many years to come.

No project would be complete without a little horsing around. I tortured my lover a bit with my first tree skirt. He was a good sport about it though.

I also danced around a bit with them. I had to have a little fun. How else was I going to remain sane working on this project? I seriously thought I was beginning to lose my marbles making these.

In the end, all of the hours, days, and late nights spent working on these were absolutely worth it. Now I have two fabulous unique tree skirts that compliment my trees.

O Christmas Tree!

This Christmas will only be our second Christmas that we've ever spent in our own home in the last 10 years. There's been no need to celebrate in our home due to our trips to see family and several deployments separating us for the holidays. The first year we were married, we went all out and bought loads of decorations for the inside and outside of our house. They were only used that one time, thus the reason we donated everything, except for 3 items, a few years back.

Knowing that my lover will be gone next year for another deployment, and with us getting ready to leave Hawaii for a few years, we really wanted to enjoy a Hawaiian Christmas. With this in mind we decided to have not one, but two trees. We have two living rooms so it only seemed suitable to do so. I'm also adamant about doing anything and everything to make this Christmas special knowing what lies ahead for us in the new year.

I actually started planning for this Christmas last Christmas when my lover was deployed, which is a good thing. It gave me a chance to slowly add to my Hello Kitty collection so that I would have enough items for my Hello Kitty tree. Does it really surprise you that Hello Kitty would be one of the themes? I couldn't resist!! The artificial white tree is adorned head to toe, front to back, with 46 Hello Kitty items; an assortment of mini and full size Hello Kitty ornaments, plush and plastic toys, in addition to green, pink, and silver ornaments. Pictures really fail to capture just how spectacular the final product is in person. I love it! If I could I would keep it up year round, but that would be overdoing it.

Our second tree is our Hawaiian tree. This is the Norfolk Pine we got from the tree farm. My lover helped me decorate this one while we listened to festive music. He was the hooker, as I liked to call him much to his dismay, and I was the hanger. We made a great team.

To continue with the Hawaii theme, we adorned it with the cutest Hawaii ornaments we could find: spam musubi, shaka santas, honus, menehunes, shave ice, tiki faces, rice bowls, maneki neko, our annual HCL ornaments, and a few lovey dovey hearts just because. Oh and how could I forget my lover's Starbucks and Ranger ornaments. He thought they were the perfect final touches.

Being able to put together two Christmas trees has reminded me of how much fun Christmas can be. Of course now I wish we could do this every year just so I could do a different theme each year (might get expensive though). I suppose that's what our retirement will be for, especially since neither one of us will be home for the holidays next year, so who knows when we'll have Christmas in our own home again. More reason to enjoy our special trees this year.

How did you decorate your tree this year?