Mangia Mangia~~

Evan is enjoying his new food adventures! We have primarily been sticking to the foods recommended in the U.S--Avocado, Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, & Pears, although we did give him some "Crema di mais e tapioca" this morning which he seemed to like. Babies in Italy are introduced to Parmigian cheese and pasta right away, but I might wait a while for those. We just ordered a new camera, so we'll be sure to catch all the funny faces he'll be sure to make when he tastes something that he doesn't like.

We are headed to Ireland today, so we'll write more when we get back.

Reunion w/ Debbie

I had the opportunity to do some shopping in a little American store today after a Women's luncheon event w/ some NATO friends.

The luncheon was great. Women representing different NATO countries put on the luncheon each month, so yesterday was the British lunch, and next month it's the Greek/Turkish lunch. I guess I behaved myself, because my new friends invited me back to come to the one next month--fun!

About 100 NATO women and their friends attended the luncheon that was on the NATO base about 25 minutes from our apartment. Every attendee had to wear a nametag that also included on it the flag representing each person's nationality. It's weird, but without even looking at nametags, I could tell who the American girls were. There was about an hour of mingling and enjoying some British appetizers and cocktails---I forget what the cocktail was called but it was similar to a 'bitters' type drink w/ cucumber in it. After the lunch time cocktail hour, we all moved into a large function room where we were greeted by some members of the NATO brass band. Everyone sat at tables for 10, and by the end of lunch I had exchanged numbers with an Italian girl, Teresa, at my table---she teaches English at the British School but said she needed more practice understaning American accented English, and with a German girl, Karin, who was a Product Manager for Adidas but is now keeping busy raising her 2 boys on the base. I had been invited by Kirstey, my friend who I met last week after approaching her on the playground at the park after I heard her speaking English. Kirstey is Austrailian, so this has been a successful week expanding my International friend network:)

After lunch, we went to the mini-mart sized American store, and you can see by the picture, that I bought a few of my favorite treats:) It was a great day, and all the girls are planning to come over with their families on Monday, a NATO holiday, so as long as we get some more Ikea furniture built, I should be able to keep that plan w/ them..otherwise, it will be a group social when we get back from Dublin.

Ok..off to enjoy a Little Debbie:)

How do you say Ikea in Italian?

Josh and I have spent WAY too much time at Ikea over the past few weekends, and now that a majority of the shopping is done, the furniture assembly process begins! Evan and I hung out at the new apartment Monday and Tuesday waiting for 2 Ikea shipments. We THINK we received everything, but it's hard to tell since the number of boxes is just overwhelming. My goal will be to have everything assembled before we go to Dublin next Thursday...assuming our flight doesn't get cancelled due to the continuously erupting Iceland volcano.

I attached some pictures from today at the new apartment. I had visitors in the morning--my friend Kirstey , who I approached last week in the playground when I heard her speaking English, and now we're friends--and then in the afternoon Evan 'supervised' me as I assembled 6 dining chairs and a living room chair. I got way more than I expected to get done w/ Evan there, but apparently my singing and dancing as I assemble furniture is highly entertaining to a 6 month old:) I even was using my broom as a fake microphone, so if any of my new neighbors happened to catch a glimpse of me through the window, they probably already think I'm nuts. Oh well, I guess I'll just be that 'crazy American' who just moved in on the block:) ha

In the pictures you can see some of the views from our apartment. Every room has a balcony--the big selling point for me when we saw the place. The views made putting together all that furniture much more bearable, especially, since I could assemble the chairs on our deck!

"How 'bout them apples"...I mean oranges:)

Pictures of one of the orange trees at our new place and Evan getting ready to stroll back to our temporary place where we will try the oranges:) It was a rainy day today, but perfect to get some unpacking done in the new apartment. Evan supervised me from "King Kong", Josh's large recliner, while I got buried in boxes. I think Evan is planning to stake claim on that chair...move over Daddy!

We were lucky to get our electricity turned on today and are hoping to get the gas, Internet, phone, cable tv, air conditioning, light fixtures installed, furniture delivered, appliances ordered etc all done before we leave for Dublin at the end of this month. It will be a super busy time, but we are so ready to be in our own place that we don't mind having a bit of craziness while we work hard to get settled. The furniture is all going to be from Ikea, so we'll have a lot of assembling to do when we get back from Ireland. My folks are coming to visit..I better tell them to bring their tool belts:) ha

Despite the state of the apartment: mess with boxes everywhere, no heat, no lights etc, it already is feeling like 'home'. And as I sit on "king kong" when my boss, Evan, gives me a break, I am instantly relaxed by the incredible views that we get from this apartment. Today it was rainy and foggy over the water, but I still could see cruise ships, fishing vessels, barges and leisure boats cruising by, and it was just beautiful. We definitely chose the right apartment for us and I think we'll really like living in this spot!

A place to call "home"...finally!

We picked up the keys today to our new apartment, and we are so excited to finally be able to get settled. Our next few weekends will be spent shopping at Ikea (where everyone around here seems to shop for furniture) and unpacking things from storage. There will be more pictures coming, but at least these give you an idea of where we will be:)

Pictures:
-Orange and lemon trees in our yard, and flowers are blooming
-Our apt is one unit in this house that has been divided up into 4 units
-The gate leading to our apartment
-Our narrow, cobblestone street. Just a quick 10 minute walk to my favorite park, Parco Virgiliano.

Leapin' Lizards

The "Histo" resort is a beautiful resort down in the "heel of the boot" of Italy. It's about a 3-3.5 hour drive from Naples, although it feels like a whole other world. The resort is settled amidst 70 acres of Olive trees, with views of the water just beyond the trees. The resort itself is modeled after the old basilica next door, so it is luxurious in a modern comfort meets old style architecture type of way. A great escape from Naples, and we were definitely refreshed after our visit there. Oh...and there were little lizards everywhere...it seemed like we were in Palm Springs w/ all the cacti and lizards!

Pictures:
Our patio off of our room--great views
Our room was on the right hand side
The welcome sign to the resort
View from our deck
Evan lying on the bed in our room--notice the cool ceiling

Auguri!

Auguri, or "Best Wishes", is typically scrawled onto the Easter Eggs around here. We showed a ton of self control after my chocolate factory tour, and didn't dig into the huge Easter egg until Easter morning...a feat I am extremely proud of! ha! Inside the egg was a wine cork w/ a message on it from me, and an Italia 'shirt' w/ a string around it that serves as a cell phone case. Neopolitans are big on cell phone cases that they wear around their necks, and this Italia shirt one was a surprise gift put inside the egg by the chocolate factory folks. Evan really liked playing w/ the cellophane the egg came in while Josh and I really liked the egg itself:) We hope everyone had a great Easter!

Evan 'said he was sick', but I'm not so sure!!