-

monterosso al mare,
cinque terre


the best concert ever. in a cave right on the mediterranean. think dave matthews band + pearl jam with waves crashing behind you. amazing.

flying proudly

i've been itching to spread some baylor pride ... since these things aren't easy to come by around here, and online cost a fortune, i decided to make my first flag. the ladies at joann's thought i was crazy.

Sic 'Em Bears!!

pisa

old wall of pisa

launch

space shuttle discovery in the clouds
(and lightning)







i absolutely love shuttle launches. there is something about watching a group of people being shot into space that strikes such awe

roma.2

a shout out to my asian friends

gelato at the pantheon :)

santi ambrogio e carlo al corso
100% painted (not even the marble is real)
spanish steps
swiss guards at the vatican
a great way to relax after a day of walking! (apparently, though, in fancy hotel pools in italy they make you wear swim caps... isn't that attractive!)

roma

holiday, part one

we spent a few lovely days in what i (and, of course, the italians) like to call roma.

a city full of history and story, we had a nice long list of things we wanted to see... over the next few days, we visited just about every cool thing in the city- and must have walked a hundred miles. maybe not, but definitely a lot.

some of our nice memories of roma...
...the wonderful hotel we stayed at (rome cavalieri);
.....GELATO! we love love love gelato and ate it at least once a day the entire holiday
........walking where so many throughout history have walked (bizarre!)
...........the view from our hotel room (the entire city!)
..............watching fireworks go off over the city from our balcony, with monuments lit up and live jazz being sung by the beautiful lit pool below our room
..................breakfast
.....................st peters. we were in awe

'mission planning'
breakfast
vatican

headline

our local news always has an interesting take on the ocean and storms, but this was too much...

background: hurricane bill is 900 miles off the coast and supposed to produce big swells (waves) this weekend. this is the time of year when local surfers (hugh included) look forward to, because you can actually pull out the shortboard and have some fun. storm=surf.

well according to our local news station,
surfers should not go into the water this weekend and surf because (seriously, i'm quoting this) "the waves are going to be big" and it's not safe to surf in big waves.

imagine that- waiting until the waves actually get big enough to surf!
(and we're still in florida, folks, so "too big" actually only means 6-8 feet)

one quick photo in the meantime...

holiday

yikes, it's been a while.

we took a little hiatus (lovely holiday!) and went to italy for a couple of weeks... wonderful.

we saw all the cool, historical things in all the big cities, but by far our favorite thing about the trip is that we rented a car and were able to see SO MUCH else! all of the small towns dotted throughout the countryside, on hilltops, surrounded by centuries-old walls, full of gelatto (!) ... i feel like we got a great taste of the country.

of course, tons of photos were taken (i blame the digital camera: "oh, just take as many as you can, you can always delete later"), but i'll spare you from having to go through all of them :)

instead, i'll just give you a taste of our trip, day by day. we hope you enjoy it (if not, you just don't have to read it!)

:)

birthday dinner shared with 2 friends = fun

memorial

hugh and i were able to be a part of a cool tribute to a friend's father today.




paddle outs are a traditional way of remembering loved ones out here (and hawaii and california). friends and family get together at the beach, talk a little, and then paddle out on surfboards and form a big circle...

father's day on the boat

fun times on a HOT day!

our lawn aeration system...

these little guys are out of control. when they go at it, look out.

...

and then this evening!

this morning...

a week of birthday

happy birthday hugh!

hugh's 30th is later this week but we've been celebrating since this past weekend...