Monday, July 23, 2007
I'm baaaacccckkk...
Sort of. Briefly, probably. Good grief.
We got back from Italy a couple of days ago--about 12:45 Saturday morning. The drive was a bit longer than usual because we made two wrong turns. The first one wasn't our fault: the Autostrade from Genova to Milano was closed, so we had to take an alternate route, and didn't realize it until we'd passed the turnoff to Parma.
The second was in Switzerland, and we missed a sign because of pouring rain. Fortunately, we discovered that one fairly quickly. Even more fortunately, the weather was pretty decent for the rest of the trip.
Speaking of weather... Italy was just perfect. Sunny and 80s - low 90s every day. Of course, we get back here to Germany and it's 60s and rainy. Unsurprising.
There's really not much to say in a travelogue. We didn't do any sightseeing other than wandering around the square in Pisa at night. The Venice tour we'd been intending to take had been canceled, and none of the other tours offered during the time we were there seemed all that appealing, so since Dagny wasn't there to nag us, we skipped the tourism bit.
Other than the first day, which I spent sleeping on and off, our days were pretty much identical. The gym in the mornings, beach in the afternoons, great, fresh, healthy food. I call it my spa vacation. It's what we tend to do every year.
Went to Pisa a couple of times, and into Tirrenia in the evenings for gelato. The shopping thing this year was masks, and Carl got a Venetian one and an African one, and all the kids got Venetian ones--Curran got a pair. I'll probably take pix, but heaven only knows when I'll get the chance to post them.
We also got a pair of very cool wooden relief paintings from one of the African vendors (Carl loves these guys because they like to haggle, and I still swear he got the African mask more because he was having fun haggling than because he really liked it. *g*), and then, because I couldn't resist, we got another pair of paintings from a sidewalk artist who was painting them with spray paint while we watched. It was very cool. Heaven only knows where we'll put them--Carl's mom already complained that our house looks like a museum.
The biggest thing for me was....
I wore a bikini on the beach.
==:-O
Shocking, right? No, I haven't lost any weight (though with all that gym time and playing in the water and eating healthy, you'd think I would have, but I stepped on the scale this morning for the first time in almost 2 weeks, and it hadn't budged. Pretty annoying. Maybe I need a new scale. Grrr. Actually, it's probably because I was doing weights, and added muscle mass while (hopefully) getting rid of a bit of fat. Carl told me the day before we left that I looked like a female power lifter. After I smacked him, he said he meant it as a compliment. Uh-huh. *sigh*
Anyway, the first day I was at the beach, it was a red flag day (no swimming) because it was very windy, so we walked along the beach. For an hour. The American beach was the only place where people were wearing one-piece suits, and there weren't many of them there, either. Grandmothers, fat women, EVERYBODY wore bikinis. I started feeling like an idiot, or at the very least, seriously overdressed. So I went to the BX and got an inexpensive bikini, and wore it the rest of the time. Nobody fainted or snickered or seemed shocked or offended, so I stopped worrying. Well, I stopped worrying after I readjusted the lining in the top so I could quit worrying about wardrobe malfunctions.
I took my usual 2-books-per-day along, but didn't actually read even one a day. Part of that was because one of the books I read was Georgette Heyer's Beauvallet, which was a chore to get into, and took me over two days to finish. And the other part was that unlike last year, when I spent a good hour or two every day after lunch lying down resting & reading, the only times I was resting & reading were breakfast, an hour or so on the beach, and just before going to sleep--and the before-bed reading was pretty short, because with all the activity, I feel asleep pretty quickly. So, less reading, but much better health-wise. If it's a choice, I'd rather let the TBR books pile up.
Heh. Pretty long for not having anything to say. Sorry about that.
Saturday was spent unpacking, doing laundry, and trying unsuccessfully to install a router as the first step in getting my laptop up & running so I could use the computer while Dagny's jet-lag-ing in the computer room.
Dagny arrived yesterday morning, early. Then we went to the mother-in-law's to pick up the dog, and stayed there until early afternoon. Back home, dropped off the dog, then the kids wanted to check at the BX to see if they had the DVDs of season 5 Full House (they didn't), then to the food court for fast food, then the commissary. Back home, got Dagz settled, then spent a few hours in more frustratingly unsuccessful attempts to hook up the router.
If anybody has experience with cross-system computer stuff, pretty please let me know. The main problem seems to be that our American router doesn't like our German ISP. And I think I'd rather just do without than go out and buy a German router, cost (and really horrible exchange rate) aside, since installing German software is what killed my old laptop.
Well, I'm off to whittle off a little more of the laundry mountain. With the rain, I've got to use the dryer, so it's going to take FOREVER. *groan*
Missed everyone, and I'll try to catch up as much as I can, before we're gone for another entire week, this time to Garmisch, starting the 28th. {{{{{hugs}}}}} and ***smooches**** to all.
Postscript: Yes, there will be pictures. Probably not until mid-August, though.
...more
Categories: AboutMe, WeekendUpdate
We got back from Italy a couple of days ago--about 12:45 Saturday morning. The drive was a bit longer than usual because we made two wrong turns. The first one wasn't our fault: the Autostrade from Genova to Milano was closed, so we had to take an alternate route, and didn't realize it until we'd passed the turnoff to Parma.
The second was in Switzerland, and we missed a sign because of pouring rain. Fortunately, we discovered that one fairly quickly. Even more fortunately, the weather was pretty decent for the rest of the trip.
Speaking of weather... Italy was just perfect. Sunny and 80s - low 90s every day. Of course, we get back here to Germany and it's 60s and rainy. Unsurprising.
There's really not much to say in a travelogue. We didn't do any sightseeing other than wandering around the square in Pisa at night. The Venice tour we'd been intending to take had been canceled, and none of the other tours offered during the time we were there seemed all that appealing, so since Dagny wasn't there to nag us, we skipped the tourism bit.
Other than the first day, which I spent sleeping on and off, our days were pretty much identical. The gym in the mornings, beach in the afternoons, great, fresh, healthy food. I call it my spa vacation. It's what we tend to do every year.
Went to Pisa a couple of times, and into Tirrenia in the evenings for gelato. The shopping thing this year was masks, and Carl got a Venetian one and an African one, and all the kids got Venetian ones--Curran got a pair. I'll probably take pix, but heaven only knows when I'll get the chance to post them.
We also got a pair of very cool wooden relief paintings from one of the African vendors (Carl loves these guys because they like to haggle, and I still swear he got the African mask more because he was having fun haggling than because he really liked it. *g*), and then, because I couldn't resist, we got another pair of paintings from a sidewalk artist who was painting them with spray paint while we watched. It was very cool. Heaven only knows where we'll put them--Carl's mom already complained that our house looks like a museum.
The biggest thing for me was....
I wore a bikini on the beach.
==:-O
Shocking, right? No, I haven't lost any weight (though with all that gym time and playing in the water and eating healthy, you'd think I would have, but I stepped on the scale this morning for the first time in almost 2 weeks, and it hadn't budged. Pretty annoying. Maybe I need a new scale. Grrr. Actually, it's probably because I was doing weights, and added muscle mass while (hopefully) getting rid of a bit of fat. Carl told me the day before we left that I looked like a female power lifter. After I smacked him, he said he meant it as a compliment. Uh-huh. *sigh*
Anyway, the first day I was at the beach, it was a red flag day (no swimming) because it was very windy, so we walked along the beach. For an hour. The American beach was the only place where people were wearing one-piece suits, and there weren't many of them there, either. Grandmothers, fat women, EVERYBODY wore bikinis. I started feeling like an idiot, or at the very least, seriously overdressed. So I went to the BX and got an inexpensive bikini, and wore it the rest of the time. Nobody fainted or snickered or seemed shocked or offended, so I stopped worrying. Well, I stopped worrying after I readjusted the lining in the top so I could quit worrying about wardrobe malfunctions.
I took my usual 2-books-per-day along, but didn't actually read even one a day. Part of that was because one of the books I read was Georgette Heyer's Beauvallet, which was a chore to get into, and took me over two days to finish. And the other part was that unlike last year, when I spent a good hour or two every day after lunch lying down resting & reading, the only times I was resting & reading were breakfast, an hour or so on the beach, and just before going to sleep--and the before-bed reading was pretty short, because with all the activity, I feel asleep pretty quickly. So, less reading, but much better health-wise. If it's a choice, I'd rather let the TBR books pile up.
Heh. Pretty long for not having anything to say. Sorry about that.
Saturday was spent unpacking, doing laundry, and trying unsuccessfully to install a router as the first step in getting my laptop up & running so I could use the computer while Dagny's jet-lag-ing in the computer room.
Dagny arrived yesterday morning, early. Then we went to the mother-in-law's to pick up the dog, and stayed there until early afternoon. Back home, dropped off the dog, then the kids wanted to check at the BX to see if they had the DVDs of season 5 Full House (they didn't), then to the food court for fast food, then the commissary. Back home, got Dagz settled, then spent a few hours in more frustratingly unsuccessful attempts to hook up the router.
If anybody has experience with cross-system computer stuff, pretty please let me know. The main problem seems to be that our American router doesn't like our German ISP. And I think I'd rather just do without than go out and buy a German router, cost (and really horrible exchange rate) aside, since installing German software is what killed my old laptop.
Well, I'm off to whittle off a little more of the laundry mountain. With the rain, I've got to use the dryer, so it's going to take FOREVER. *groan*
Missed everyone, and I'll try to catch up as much as I can, before we're gone for another entire week, this time to Garmisch, starting the 28th. {{{{{hugs}}}}} and ***smooches**** to all.
Postscript: Yes, there will be pictures. Probably not until mid-August, though.
...more
Categories: AboutMe, WeekendUpdate
Labels: about me, weekend update
Comments:
<< Home
Hi Darla! {{{HUGE HUGS}}} Welcome back!!!!
So glad to see you back. It sound like you had fun in Italy. And it great that you worn bikini, even when you were worries. You are pretty to not show off yourself :) Can't wait to see pictures (lord know when that going to happen LOL) from Italy. It one of the few places I want to go someday. I hope you have good times spending with Dagny when she get there. But don't exhausted yourself so much! We miss ya ( gotta tell ya I never thought 10 days away to vacation seem awful too long *grin* ). Hope to hear from you soon! :)
So glad to see you back. It sound like you had fun in Italy. And it great that you worn bikini, even when you were worries. You are pretty to not show off yourself :) Can't wait to see pictures (lord know when that going to happen LOL) from Italy. It one of the few places I want to go someday. I hope you have good times spending with Dagny when she get there. But don't exhausted yourself so much! We miss ya ( gotta tell ya I never thought 10 days away to vacation seem awful too long *grin* ). Hope to hear from you soon! :)
Hey Darla! Glad to see ya back! Yeah, you've a lot of catching up to do, hehe. Looking forward to reading more posts (and your vacation pics) from you soon.
Post a Comment
<< Home
