COLUMBUS AND CROISSANTS

Today is important because it is my dear mother’s birthday! It’s tough to be so far from family on celebratory days – but I have a little insight into her celebration that she doesn’t yet have (don’t worry, she’ll know by the time I post this). Pops is giving my mom a trip for her birthday ….to this cute little place I know….also known as the Holy Grail Apartment (and Guest House). WOOOO HOOO!! I’m really, really excited to get to spend some time exploring Europe with her. I feel a little bad that her present is really a present for ME – but that’s not going to stop me from encouraging my Pops from going full steam ahead!!


We have had a relatively quiet week thus far. Our first house guests returned to Italy on Sunday afternoon. We sure enjoyed their visit and we look forward to many more opportunities to share our European experience together!

The State Department issued a travel warning this morning for Europe. It’s a little eerie to consider that we are LIVING here – so we can’t decide to stay home and be safe – but honestly, Hubbz and I are both of the mindset that while we won’t purposely insert ourselves into dangerous situations, we also can’t hide out every time we are reminded that there’s evil in the world. We went ahead and booked a long weekend in Paris for this month. It’s someplace we’d both like to go again – and it’s about to get pretty dang cold there – so we’re eager to get there before Winter does!

Thanks to Senior Christopher Columbus, Hubbz has a four day weekend – so we are welcoming our second set of house guests (also from Italy). I was lucky enough to inherit these sweet friends from Hubbz – he has known them since flight school. In addition to being a truly fun couple, they are the proud parents of three absolutely fantastic boys. We are so excited to have them with us!! We are off to Volksfest (part trois). However, we are insured yet another different fest experience this time – since we are taking three young kiddos with us, this trip will focus on the amusement park portion of the fest.

We cannot wait! Having a house that is relatively clean and ready to accept guests means that I can finally take a few pictures of our apartment! Since I’m still working the anonymity angle here – please consult my facebook site – or our Flickr account if you’d like to check it out!