When in Rome...

That title should probably say "When in Florence..." because that's where we are, but I'm going to do some back posting to catch up. You may be wondering why I'm choosing to spend any time blogging when I could be exploring? The answer is pretty simple: 1) Our (AMAZING) hotel has free wifi, 2) it's a Sunday evening in a country that favors limited work hours, and 3) the weather isn't too great right now (i.e. rain and wind with spots of sun).

To back it up, we landed in Rome on Thursday in the mid-morning. Our flight from Seattle - JFK - Rome was turbulent and uncomfortable, but we both managed to sleep and/or deal with it. (One ::big:: issue was the lack of entertainment. I didn't realize how normal it was to have a tv in the seat back until we had to try and watch it from overhead TVs in the center of the plane...)

We did get a great look at the Italian coastline as we landed!

Once we got through customs (what a breeze!) and into the train station, we caught the Leonardo Express to the Rome Termini station. Our hotel was maybe a two-minute walk from the terminal.

Quick Story: We had opted to make our train reservations once we got into Italy to avoid spending a lot of extra money to have the tickets UPS'd to the US. I had read that this was a pretty common thing to do and didn't think about it again. I did, however, want to make our reservations ASAP. As soon as we got to Termini, we started the search for the reservation desk. For some reason, the direct train from the airport goes into the most-out-of-the-way-platform-EVER! It took us a good 30 minutes to figure out where we could do the reservations. Part of the issue was that we were looking for the Eurail Aid Office and not the main ticket counter...turns out they're one-in-the-same. Anywho, we waited 20 minutes in the line to make our overnnight reservations from Venice to Paris, only to be told "Sorry, train full" for three different days. We were exhausted, sweaty, irritated and a gamut of other emotions and I seriously almost started crying. Thankfully, Tim kept his cool and we had thought to bring computer along to upload pictures. We headed to our hotel, started searching booking sites and managed to make reservations for a hotel in Milan and a flight from Milan to Paris within 30 minutes. Plus, we managed to do it all for less than what the overnight train was going to cost if we had even tried to book full-price tickets. WIN! Tim later commented on how amazing it was that all of that could be done so easily these days.

Here's an inside view of our hotel (Hotel Palladium Palace) in Rome:

 Gotta love how a "double" is really two twin beds stuck together...with separate bedding.

We took an obligatory nap (seriously the BEST way to cure jet lag...Tim and I adjusted to the time zone without any problems) and then headed for the Spanish Steps. On our way we passed the Santa Maria Maggiore...

 Crossed through the Piazza Barberini and the Triton Fountain (we would see this many times during our trip)...

 And we found ourselves at the Spanish Steps...

 It was a beautiful and relaxing place to watch the sun go down over Rome with the rest of the tourists and some locals.

 After a bit, we headed south to the famous Trevi Fountain or Fontana di Trevi, as the Roman say...

 After needling my way down to the water's edge and tossing a euro in, a woman kindly offered to take our photo...

 That evening we ate our first Italian meal at Il Chianti. Pruciutto with melon and pizza is a great way to end the day!

Once we got back to the hotel we started researching for day #2, but when I looked over, I couldn't help but laugh and take a few pictures...

This will end up being a common theme every evening.

Ciao!

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Baking FAIL (and a win!)

Every once in a while, all of the stars align and we have the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. And when that happens, we like to take advantage of it! This makes it twice as disappointing when it turns into a giant FAIL.

Why so smirky?

Yep, that would be the ENTIRE egg in the mixing bowl. I even dropped it in WHILE the mixer was running, to make sure it really ::got:: in there. 

Now you may be thinking, "But Arianna, it doesn't look like you were that far along in the process. Why not start over?" And I would say "We totally started over. Absolutely nothing was going to stop us from enjoying delicious, chewy chocolate chip cookies." HA! Except that we, as evidenced below, can ruin any recipe. 

Want a crispy-flying-cookie-saucer of doom?

On a happier note, I did get a big WIN later in week. In trying to be more self-sustaining (and all-around awesome), I made my very own biscuits! From scratch!

And, yes, you do need a butcher's knife to make rolls. I'm almost certain I read that somewhere...

 These suckers turned out delicious!

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Flying back with a bloom!

Although I've been able to post text and single-photo blogs, I've had a lot of restrictions on my blogging capabilities because of the whole photo issue. To recap: the storage site for blogger photos alerted me that I was at my storage capacity. After erasing hundreds of photos from the site, I was still at 98% capacity! Truth be told, I had pretty much given up. I didn't want to or have time to deal with it. After realizing we're leaving for big vacation next week, it was time buckle down and figure out the problems. After painstakingly going through every single photograph (over 1,000) and resizing them, I am now at 12% capacity! Lesson of the year: Resize your photos before adding them to blogger!!

Now on to the goods...

On Easter weekend we were invited to join two of Tim's coworkers for a flight on their plane. Yes, THEIR plane. I am pretty nervous in small planes, so I had actually been dodging their invitations for a good year. (Tim joined them last year for a jaunt up to his hometown.) I finally decided that it was time to bite the bullet, but with stipulations. I wanted to go to my hometown and eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant. They were game!

D, our pilot, is explaining the safety procedures and helping to calm my nerves.

He even gave me a map to follow our flight path...we were in the air for about 20 minutes.

Lookin' good in the aviators and headgear.

The Olympic Mountains from the air! 

We made it! YES! :-)

 As we were leaving A-town's airport, we passed these gliders waiting to be pulled into the air.

 I asked D if we could fly north to see the Tulip Festival in bloom...

 The fields looked amazing and we were so glad we missed the huge traffic jam getting there!

 Look at all those tulips! 

 This is a really beautiful "english-esque" garden.

 My favorite field, with its rainbow of tulips

On our way home we passed over the Hood Canal Bridge...

And had an amazing view of Seattle.

 D took us on a fly-by of the shipyard! This is where Tim works!

 And here's the mothball fleet...there are 4 aircraft carriers sitting there!

 Of course, no flight is complete without passing over your own house! 

 We ended our evening with one of our favorite summer-time activities...the drive-in! Yes, I know it's not summer, but the weather was hovering around 70 the whole day, so we had to take advantage!

And don't forget...Support Your Local Drive-in! 

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The Happiest...Birthday Weekend

Since my blog has decided to hate me, I've been trying to figure out different ways of posting pictures. You may have to just deal with an increased word count...if you'd like to photos from the trip, I invite you to view my Flickr slideshow at this link.  (Hopefully I'll get this blogger issue sorted in the near future!)

About a month ago, I was invited to join my S.I.L. for her 28th birthday celebration in Disneyland. Technically, it was a 10 year anniversary of her 18th birthday and we sure did celebrate!

The parks were jam-packed with families on Spring Break, but we still managed to fit in several rides.

We munched on ice cream, corn dogs, and had a scrumptious birthday dinner at Ariel's Grotto. Because of our dinner reservations, we also had a special reserved viewing area for the new World of Color show in California Adventure. It was fantastic! I took several videos on my camera and my iPhone, just so I could show Timmy when I got home!

The changes they're making to the California Adventure park are impressive...and expansive. The entire entrance is partitioned off, but they've set up a small gallery with blueprints and miniature displays of what is happening. Plans include a "Hollywood Land" and a "Cars Land," which should include several new rides. It looks like another trip needs to be planned in a few years when this is all finished! :-)

You may know that Tower of Terror is my favorite ride...well...it used to be. That title now belongs to Francis Ladybug Boogie. I imagine everyone is thinking "What is that?!" This requires a bit of a backstory...back when Tim and I were living in Japan, Laurie came to visit. We spent one day at the DisneySea park in Tokyo and it was one of the best Disney Park experience I've ever had. Mostly it was because we went on a weekday, so the park was empty! Due to a lack of other guests, we were able to go on every ride SEVERAL times. This was Tim and my third trip to the park, but there was one section that we had never been to, Tim had deemed it "kids only." Seeing as how he was outnumbered 2-1, Laurie and I were able to push him down into the depths of "Mermaid's Lagoon," an underwater playground of...kid's rides. Most of them were pretty tame, but we found one ride that deserved several spins. It used centrifugal force to spin a seashell. We had never seen this ride before. Ever. After about six times, we finally figured out the best method and had that shell spinning like crazy. Flash forward to this trip, they've created a new pathway in CA Adventure that leads through the Bug Land. We were walking through this and in the corner of my eye I spotted some spinning lady bugs. My heart jumped a little, but I didn't want to get my hopes too high. I stopped and turned enough to watch the ride a little while the others discussed our next stop. As soon as I was sure, I yelled at Laurie and ran towards the line. Seriously. And...it was still awesome. And the best part? The ride operator spoke English and gave us tips on how to make it go faster. A luxury we did not have the first time.

I guess Tower of Terror still has to be my favorite, considering that it was because of that ride that I even found the Ladybug Boogie. In three trips to CA Adventure, I had never even stepped foot in Bug Land, seeing as how it was "kids only" and a dead end. Thank you CA Adventure for actually connecting your park and making it more accessible! I appreciate it.

So, despite pinching a nerve in my foot and waiting in the slowest, most painstaking line EVER (Space Mountain...I'm looking at you), it was a GREAT trip. The birthday girl got several good wishes from other guests and Disney cast members (personalized birthday t-shirts helped with that) and we even discovered new (to us) areas of the park.

I'm sorry I couldn't post pictures in the blog, but I wanted to post this before it was too late and the Flickr slideshow is still pretty sweet.

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Luscious Locks of Love Lopped

12" down!

P.S. I have a lot of pictures from our last two weekend adventures (Disneyland and a photography class), but my picasa account is currently full, so I can't add any pictures until I clean it out.  I'll try to do that soon!  Sorry!

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Spring Awakening

Welcome Spring! We've missed you. And thank you for bringing some sprouting flowers with you. We were worried they wouldn't arrive because of our black thumbs. You rock.

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Shake, Shake, Shake...

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you'll know that Tim and I spent the beginning of last year living in Japan. This earthquake business has been an interesting experience for us. Especially considering that we could have easily been there for it. In fact, about two weeks prior to the quake, Tim was put on a short list to go back a.s.a.p. to help with the end of the project.

Needless to say, I am thankful.

On the other hand, we do have friends and co-workers who are currently there and, from what I can tell, it's been a stressful and interesting journey for them. Yokosuka, where we were stationed, is located about 300 miles south of where the most devastating damage has been. Life seems to be going smoothly now, with the exception of scheduled black-outs and constant aftershocks.

If you'd like to read some first-hand accounts of what some of the wives experienced during the quake, here are some links:

Tim's boss' wife, who have lived in Yokosuka for about 2 1/2 years, was at the base school with her son.

A fellow RA friend from college, whose husband is an ASTE, was at home. The same home we had while we lived in Japan. (This is likely the experience I would have had, had we been there again.)

The wife of a a friend from my Senate days at WSU, who now works with Tim.

and finally, A high school friend of mine, who has lived in Japan for about two years, was interviewed on King 5.

Last year, we were in Japan reading about the destruction in Haiti and Chile. We even had a tsunami alert. This year we're home, reading about Japan. It has been surreal.

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