to describe this weekend. Friday I had a seminar for work which was awful. The instructor kept talking about his personal life and politics (YAWN!) so me and Vikki snuck out around 2. Me, my mom and Trey went to the mall so I could find a shirt for my 5 yr high school reunion. Once Derek got off, us and the family went to Beef o Brady's for dinner which was fun.
Saturday, Value City came and dropped off our couch and dining room set. The saleslady forgot to ring up our coffee table so we will have to go back and get that sometime this week. But the couch looks great and we are in love with the dining room table. Jim and Charlie came over to see the new furniture and to get Seasons 3 and 4 of One Tree Hill (I've converted them and now they're addicted just like everyone else!). Charlie got a new SUV; its very nice. And we showed them the pics from Italy..
Gweed came over around 9 so we could head down to Covington for the reunion. I can't even begin to describe all of the emotions I felt that night. It was nice to see some of those people.. others not so much. I felt like I was in high school all over again! Everyone was in their little cliques and I felt awkward and uncomfortable the whole time.. needless to say I drank about 6 beers and had a shot with Gweed lol. I dunno.. some of those girls.. need to grow up! Dressing like skanks and getting trashed and shaking your ass is soooo 5 years ago! haha.
I hadn't ate much before so we left around 1 to get some White Castle (which I can't stand by the way!) but I succumbed to eating some chicken rings. Gweed was wasted haha. We always joke that he's going to be our "guy on the couch" but I love him like my brother so its always fun to have him over. I think we all passed out somewhere between 2 and 3.
Sunday, my mom and Morgan picked me up around 11 to go to Reception's Bridal Show. It was a lot of fun! We found the cake place we want to use (it is soooooo good!!!!) and we tasted the food for the reception and made some decisions for that. We also went to Wendy's Bridal and Morgan tried on the bridesmaid dress I had picked out a month ago and she loved it. So I will be making an appointment here soon so all of us can go..
We have new neighbors.. they moved in about 2 weeks ago. We met them early last week and since their deck and ours are so close to each other we pretty much talk daily lol. So we played some cornhole with them last night and then just caught up on some shows from the DVR. I finished the first season of Gossip Girl and watched a couple of episodes from OTH. I can't wait til they're both back on on the 1st! We decided we're going to have an ongoing party Labor Day weekend.. so hopefully we can get everything cleaned up this week!
I'm cleaning up some drama that ensued this weekend. Hopefully there is some form of closure by the end of the day so I can enjoy the rest of my week!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
3 Down.. 1 to Go
So I got my grade for the REG section.. I passed! :) This was actually the best score I've received thus far.. I got an 88! So now all I need to do is retake the Auditing section, which I plan to do in early November because that will give me a full 2 months to rewatch all of the lectures and study.
My partner, Vikki is still waiting for her score. We took this section together..
My partner, Vikki is still waiting for her score. We took this section together..
Monday, August 18, 2008
Busy Weekend
So our first full weekend home was spent either buying stuff for the house or working on stuff with the house. Friday after work, me and Jess went to Belterra, which was fun but of course I didn't win anything :( Afterwards, me and Derek spent about 2 hours going through our pics for Italy and narrowing them down on which ones to order from Walgreens. We narrowed it down from about 1200 to a little over 400.
Saturday we woke up pretty early to go to the DMV to get our new driver's licenses. Mine actually turned out REALLY well! I think this is the best picture I've ever had lol. Derek's turned out good too. From there we went to several different furniture stores from Walmart, to Steinmart to American Freight to finally Value City. We found a few good home pieces from Steinmart bc they are going out of business so everything was marked down. I had a budget for the couch and dining set and let me just say that there was no way I was going to make it unless I wanted cheaply made furniture. So we talked in the parking lot at Value City and decided that it would be better to spend a little more today for something that will last us a long time. So we found a very pretty red sectional at Value City, coffee table and a very nice dining set. It will all be delivered and assembled this coming Saturday. I am so excited!
After shopping, we went to Fuji so I could get my hibachi fix and he could have his sushi. It was pretty good.. I think they changed their shrimp sauce, which is disappointing since its one of my favorite things about that place. That night my grandpa picked me up to take me to Morgan's first varsity soccer game which was all the way in Ft Thomas since she was playing Highlands. They got beat and it wasn't my sister's best game but I was so proud of her! To be on varsity as a freshman is such an achievement and I know how hard she has worked over the years..
Sunday my grandpa came back over around noon bc he was taking a recliner off of our hands. Right after he left, we went and picked up Morgan, stopped at Walgreens to pick up our pictures and went to the movies. Derek saw Pineapple Express (which he says was hilarious) and me and Morgan saw the new Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was cute.. but I liked the first one better. After that we dropped off some clothes to Goodwill, visited with the family for a little bit and headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond and Bath & Body Works to get more stuff for the house. We finally got home around 7.. I made our favorite Tuna Helper and we watched the new episode of I love Money (which is DRAMA.. so much fun to watch!)
All in all, it was not a very exciting weekend, but a very productive one. We still have so much to do at the house.. I know we'll get there one of these days lol. I have my 5 yr high school reunion this coming saturday. I can't believe its been 5 years!!!! I have no clue what to wear lol..
Saturday we woke up pretty early to go to the DMV to get our new driver's licenses. Mine actually turned out REALLY well! I think this is the best picture I've ever had lol. Derek's turned out good too. From there we went to several different furniture stores from Walmart, to Steinmart to American Freight to finally Value City. We found a few good home pieces from Steinmart bc they are going out of business so everything was marked down. I had a budget for the couch and dining set and let me just say that there was no way I was going to make it unless I wanted cheaply made furniture. So we talked in the parking lot at Value City and decided that it would be better to spend a little more today for something that will last us a long time. So we found a very pretty red sectional at Value City, coffee table and a very nice dining set. It will all be delivered and assembled this coming Saturday. I am so excited!
After shopping, we went to Fuji so I could get my hibachi fix and he could have his sushi. It was pretty good.. I think they changed their shrimp sauce, which is disappointing since its one of my favorite things about that place. That night my grandpa picked me up to take me to Morgan's first varsity soccer game which was all the way in Ft Thomas since she was playing Highlands. They got beat and it wasn't my sister's best game but I was so proud of her! To be on varsity as a freshman is such an achievement and I know how hard she has worked over the years..
Sunday my grandpa came back over around noon bc he was taking a recliner off of our hands. Right after he left, we went and picked up Morgan, stopped at Walgreens to pick up our pictures and went to the movies. Derek saw Pineapple Express (which he says was hilarious) and me and Morgan saw the new Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was cute.. but I liked the first one better. After that we dropped off some clothes to Goodwill, visited with the family for a little bit and headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond and Bath & Body Works to get more stuff for the house. We finally got home around 7.. I made our favorite Tuna Helper and we watched the new episode of I love Money (which is DRAMA.. so much fun to watch!)
All in all, it was not a very exciting weekend, but a very productive one. We still have so much to do at the house.. I know we'll get there one of these days lol. I have my 5 yr high school reunion this coming saturday. I can't believe its been 5 years!!!! I have no clue what to wear lol..
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Rome, Italy
So.. before my mind loses all of the details.. here is my blog about beautiful Rome, Italy.
We arrived to the train station Monday night around 6 and caught a cab to our hotel only blocks away from the Colosseum. The room was small but quaint. And the views from our balcony and from the hotel's rooftop were absolutely glorious. Too tired to go out, we decided to eat dinner at the hotel. They have round tables (it was Hotel Lancelot) where you sit with other travellers and talk about your trips. So we ended up sitting next to a priest, Father Bryan and Christopher, a theology student thinking about becoming a seminarian. They were from Birmingham, England. That was interesting to say the least. The food was pretty good and I finally found a red wine a like. Its a sparkling wine that the hotel ended up giving us a bottle to take home as a present.
Tuesday was our ancient Rome tour. My grandma had no desire to go so she stayed back at the hotel. Our tour started at the Piazza Navona. It was so cool to see all of the street vendors and people out. We did a little bit of shopping before meeting our tour guide. From there, we walked to the Pantheon. So cool! It was so dark in there we didn't get too many great pics but then we headed to the Trevi Fountain. There were sooooo many people!!!!!!! We made wishes on our coins and continued the tour. We went to the building that no one seems to know the name of but it is nicknamed the wedding cake topper. Kinda cool. We then walked to Capitol Hill where we got some killer pics of the Roman Forum. During this time, the tour guide said she was going to go show some people something at the top of the hill and would be back in 5 min to get the rest of us. Well.. she never freakin did! So we lost our tour guide and ended up missing out on the Roman Forum. We found them again outside the Colosseum so proceeded inside. No words can express how awesome the Colosseum is. Me and Derek both are huge fans of ancient Rome so it was just so surreal to be inside. We took literally over 100 pictures of that place! That concluded that tour so we went back to the hotel, had pizza at a nearby restaurant (which we would return to every night until we left), had some gelatto (which is amazing btw) and went to bed.
Early Wednesday morning, we had to leave to go for our Vatican tour. My grandma was unfortunately sick so she couldn't make it. We toured the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica along with the Sistine Chapel. Absolutely freaking beautiful! All of the artwork was breathtaking and the stories behind them were fascinating. Our tour guide that day was magnificent. After that 3 hour tour we had 3 hours to kill before our Scavi tour. We people watched in St. Peter's Square and decided to get some food at a nearby pizzeria. I finally found American beer there. Needless to say, it was Budweiser so still nasty but I "manned up". We then headed to our Scavi tour which would take us below the basilica to where St. Peter's tomb is. It was soooo creepy down there! It smelled of death, the humidity was awful and if you are anywhere near claustrophobic, you shouldn't go down there. Nonetheless it was still pretty cool although we couldn't take pictures. Derek found a rock right out side of St Peter's tomb! We got a pic of John Paul II's tomb and were finally done for the day. Well, besides the usual pizza and gelatto for dinner ;)
Thursday, my grandma felt much better so we took her to St. Peter's Square so she could at least see the Vatican. I think she was very much appreciative. We then headed to the Piazza de Spagna where the Spanish steps are. Usually there are jam packed with people. But it was 9 in the morning and there were cleaning them, so there was no one in sight! We then entered designer heaven (can't remember the name of the street) where we proceeded to get Charlie (my future MIL) a Prada purse. OMG!!!!!!! It is rediculous how expensive this designer shit is! My grandparents wanted to eat at the Hard Rock so we walked to this church where underneath they had the Cappucin Crypt. It is filled with bones from over 4000 monks! It was eery but really cool. After eating at the Hard Rock, we headed back to the Pantheon bc there had been some street vendors with "Frada" bags along with Louis Vuitton and Gucci. We bought 3 Fradas and a Gucci for 100 euro and also got the rest of the souvenirs and gifts for family and friends. Pooped out from all of the shopping we went back to the hotel to get some rest before our final dinner. My grandparents had been eating at the hotel all week so wanted us to take them to the pizzeria we had been raving about. This would be the 3rd night in a row lol. Our waiter was so fantastic.. Derek's brother from another mother lol. So funny. They gave us all free shots of Lemoncello and we got our last gelatto.
My grandparents flight left early in the morning. Ours didn't leave for Amsterdam until 5:15 in the afternoon. So we just played cards and watched TV in the hotel and then headed to the airport. We had McDonalds there. It was 15.90 euro for 2 chicken nugget meals!!!!!!! The flight was pretty smooth.. We arrived in Amsterdam around 8 pm, which I will talk about next time bc my hands are getting tired!
We arrived to the train station Monday night around 6 and caught a cab to our hotel only blocks away from the Colosseum. The room was small but quaint. And the views from our balcony and from the hotel's rooftop were absolutely glorious. Too tired to go out, we decided to eat dinner at the hotel. They have round tables (it was Hotel Lancelot) where you sit with other travellers and talk about your trips. So we ended up sitting next to a priest, Father Bryan and Christopher, a theology student thinking about becoming a seminarian. They were from Birmingham, England. That was interesting to say the least. The food was pretty good and I finally found a red wine a like. Its a sparkling wine that the hotel ended up giving us a bottle to take home as a present.
Tuesday was our ancient Rome tour. My grandma had no desire to go so she stayed back at the hotel. Our tour started at the Piazza Navona. It was so cool to see all of the street vendors and people out. We did a little bit of shopping before meeting our tour guide. From there, we walked to the Pantheon. So cool! It was so dark in there we didn't get too many great pics but then we headed to the Trevi Fountain. There were sooooo many people!!!!!!! We made wishes on our coins and continued the tour. We went to the building that no one seems to know the name of but it is nicknamed the wedding cake topper. Kinda cool. We then walked to Capitol Hill where we got some killer pics of the Roman Forum. During this time, the tour guide said she was going to go show some people something at the top of the hill and would be back in 5 min to get the rest of us. Well.. she never freakin did! So we lost our tour guide and ended up missing out on the Roman Forum. We found them again outside the Colosseum so proceeded inside. No words can express how awesome the Colosseum is. Me and Derek both are huge fans of ancient Rome so it was just so surreal to be inside. We took literally over 100 pictures of that place! That concluded that tour so we went back to the hotel, had pizza at a nearby restaurant (which we would return to every night until we left), had some gelatto (which is amazing btw) and went to bed.
Early Wednesday morning, we had to leave to go for our Vatican tour. My grandma was unfortunately sick so she couldn't make it. We toured the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica along with the Sistine Chapel. Absolutely freaking beautiful! All of the artwork was breathtaking and the stories behind them were fascinating. Our tour guide that day was magnificent. After that 3 hour tour we had 3 hours to kill before our Scavi tour. We people watched in St. Peter's Square and decided to get some food at a nearby pizzeria. I finally found American beer there. Needless to say, it was Budweiser so still nasty but I "manned up". We then headed to our Scavi tour which would take us below the basilica to where St. Peter's tomb is. It was soooo creepy down there! It smelled of death, the humidity was awful and if you are anywhere near claustrophobic, you shouldn't go down there. Nonetheless it was still pretty cool although we couldn't take pictures. Derek found a rock right out side of St Peter's tomb! We got a pic of John Paul II's tomb and were finally done for the day. Well, besides the usual pizza and gelatto for dinner ;)
Thursday, my grandma felt much better so we took her to St. Peter's Square so she could at least see the Vatican. I think she was very much appreciative. We then headed to the Piazza de Spagna where the Spanish steps are. Usually there are jam packed with people. But it was 9 in the morning and there were cleaning them, so there was no one in sight! We then entered designer heaven (can't remember the name of the street) where we proceeded to get Charlie (my future MIL) a Prada purse. OMG!!!!!!! It is rediculous how expensive this designer shit is! My grandparents wanted to eat at the Hard Rock so we walked to this church where underneath they had the Cappucin Crypt. It is filled with bones from over 4000 monks! It was eery but really cool. After eating at the Hard Rock, we headed back to the Pantheon bc there had been some street vendors with "Frada" bags along with Louis Vuitton and Gucci. We bought 3 Fradas and a Gucci for 100 euro and also got the rest of the souvenirs and gifts for family and friends. Pooped out from all of the shopping we went back to the hotel to get some rest before our final dinner. My grandparents had been eating at the hotel all week so wanted us to take them to the pizzeria we had been raving about. This would be the 3rd night in a row lol. Our waiter was so fantastic.. Derek's brother from another mother lol. So funny. They gave us all free shots of Lemoncello and we got our last gelatto.
My grandparents flight left early in the morning. Ours didn't leave for Amsterdam until 5:15 in the afternoon. So we just played cards and watched TV in the hotel and then headed to the airport. We had McDonalds there. It was 15.90 euro for 2 chicken nugget meals!!!!!!! The flight was pretty smooth.. We arrived in Amsterdam around 8 pm, which I will talk about next time bc my hands are getting tired!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Pescara
So I have started to upload some pictures on both Facebook and Myspace.. most of you are friends with me on there so you can view them there. The only ones I have up so far are from Pescara. The Rome pics and Amsterdam pics will be up by the end of the week. So this first blog will be all about our first 4 days which was in Pescara, Italy.
We got on the plane in Cincinnati around 7:30 pm Wednesday and arrived into Rome's aiport around 10:45 am their time (it would have only been 4:45 am EST) Already exhausted from the flight, we had to take this train called the Leonardo Express to the big Rome train station called Roma Termini. Well, our train to Pescara didn't leave until 4:25 so we had roughly 5 hours to do nothing but wait!!!! It sucked really, really bad. After we got on the train we had 4 hours until we actually reached Pescara around 8:30 on Thursday night. So the first day was pretty much wasted on travelling, on no sleep or food, and with no AC. My grandparents were not happy campers. I felt extreme jet lag that first night and was even talking about going home!!!
But the next morning I felt better rested and was ready to go. Friday, we had the rehearsal lunch. We had to drive an hour up in the hills to this restaurant. It was beautiful! It took 3 hours to eat.. we had 6 courses!!!!!!! I had tried things I never thought I would (zucchini flower with riccota and anchovies; barley; eggplant; wine!) They served us 4 different types of wine! As many of you should know, I can't stand wine! But I figured I'm in Italy its worth a shot. Well I like spumante (which is pretty much champagne but they can't call it that bc its not from France); they also gave us a cherry wine, a rosetta and this nasty ass sicilian wine that tasted more like whiskey or rum than wine. So anyways, we get back to the hotel around 6 and me and Derek decided to check out the beach. It was beautiful! Nothing spectacular but it was fun nonetheless. We also hit up this cute little pizza place right on the beach and had to put our Italian to the test. We both passed successfully :)
Saturday was Charlie's big day. You could tell he was so nervous! The wedding was about an hour away and we had to ride this uncomfortable bus that would send you about 3 ft up out of your seat every time it hit a bump. Terrible. But then we arrive at the church. The pictures cannot fully capture the beauty of this old church. It was built in 500 AD and rennovated in 1200 AD It was simply breathtaking. It overlooked the Adriatic and we got some great pictures of that. The inside of the church was just as beautiful. The only drawback was again no AC. The ceremony was almost 2 hours long (all said in Italian). Charlie even said his vows in Italian. It was so moving. I had to fight from crying. My grandpa lost it a few times. So after the ceremony we head to this glorious castle where their reception (I don't even wanna know how much this wedding cost!!!!!) We had another 6 course meal under the stars. The only thing was that there was no dancing, no real music, no fun. It was beautiful and elegant and classy. But I prefer American weddings where you can get jiggy wit it ;) all in all we didn't get back to the hotel til 3 am!!! It was a 12 hour ordeal!!!!
Needless to say we slept in the next day and had a nice relaxing day on the beach. Charlie and Dani met us that night and said goodbye before heading off to Greece for the honeymoon. (it must be nice to live in france, get married in italy and take your honeymoon in Greece! lol). That night we packed for Rome which was only another 4 hour train ride away..
which I will tell you about next time. I've written a book already haha. There is so much more that I could say but I'm saving both of our times and giving you the highlights. Trust me, there are so many little jokes and stories that pretty much made the trip so much more memorable. Anywho, I'll write about Rome tomorrow or Thursday.
Ciao! Ciao!
ps. I don't really proofread this shit so I apologize ahead of time for bad grammar
We got on the plane in Cincinnati around 7:30 pm Wednesday and arrived into Rome's aiport around 10:45 am their time (it would have only been 4:45 am EST) Already exhausted from the flight, we had to take this train called the Leonardo Express to the big Rome train station called Roma Termini. Well, our train to Pescara didn't leave until 4:25 so we had roughly 5 hours to do nothing but wait!!!! It sucked really, really bad. After we got on the train we had 4 hours until we actually reached Pescara around 8:30 on Thursday night. So the first day was pretty much wasted on travelling, on no sleep or food, and with no AC. My grandparents were not happy campers. I felt extreme jet lag that first night and was even talking about going home!!!
But the next morning I felt better rested and was ready to go. Friday, we had the rehearsal lunch. We had to drive an hour up in the hills to this restaurant. It was beautiful! It took 3 hours to eat.. we had 6 courses!!!!!!! I had tried things I never thought I would (zucchini flower with riccota and anchovies; barley; eggplant; wine!) They served us 4 different types of wine! As many of you should know, I can't stand wine! But I figured I'm in Italy its worth a shot. Well I like spumante (which is pretty much champagne but they can't call it that bc its not from France); they also gave us a cherry wine, a rosetta and this nasty ass sicilian wine that tasted more like whiskey or rum than wine. So anyways, we get back to the hotel around 6 and me and Derek decided to check out the beach. It was beautiful! Nothing spectacular but it was fun nonetheless. We also hit up this cute little pizza place right on the beach and had to put our Italian to the test. We both passed successfully :)
Saturday was Charlie's big day. You could tell he was so nervous! The wedding was about an hour away and we had to ride this uncomfortable bus that would send you about 3 ft up out of your seat every time it hit a bump. Terrible. But then we arrive at the church. The pictures cannot fully capture the beauty of this old church. It was built in 500 AD and rennovated in 1200 AD It was simply breathtaking. It overlooked the Adriatic and we got some great pictures of that. The inside of the church was just as beautiful. The only drawback was again no AC. The ceremony was almost 2 hours long (all said in Italian). Charlie even said his vows in Italian. It was so moving. I had to fight from crying. My grandpa lost it a few times. So after the ceremony we head to this glorious castle where their reception (I don't even wanna know how much this wedding cost!!!!!) We had another 6 course meal under the stars. The only thing was that there was no dancing, no real music, no fun. It was beautiful and elegant and classy. But I prefer American weddings where you can get jiggy wit it ;) all in all we didn't get back to the hotel til 3 am!!! It was a 12 hour ordeal!!!!
Needless to say we slept in the next day and had a nice relaxing day on the beach. Charlie and Dani met us that night and said goodbye before heading off to Greece for the honeymoon. (it must be nice to live in france, get married in italy and take your honeymoon in Greece! lol). That night we packed for Rome which was only another 4 hour train ride away..
which I will tell you about next time. I've written a book already haha. There is so much more that I could say but I'm saving both of our times and giving you the highlights. Trust me, there are so many little jokes and stories that pretty much made the trip so much more memorable. Anywho, I'll write about Rome tomorrow or Thursday.
Ciao! Ciao!
ps. I don't really proofread this shit so I apologize ahead of time for bad grammar
Monday, August 11, 2008
Back in the USA
Hi!!!! We have returned from Italy and I have soooo much to tell all of you! and I have so many pictures I need to upload.
I think over the next several days I will give you a better blog of the most memorable moments and pics but I have a ton of work to catch up on. So we are happy to be home, Italy was beautiful, Amsterdam was weird. More later ;)
Ciao!
I think over the next several days I will give you a better blog of the most memorable moments and pics but I have a ton of work to catch up on. So we are happy to be home, Italy was beautiful, Amsterdam was weird. More later ;)
Ciao!
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