Skiing in Roccaraso...

Here are a few pics from our trip skiing in the Appenine mountains in Roccaraso. As my close friends and family know, I do not know how to ski. You just don't get to ski much growing up in the good old Midwest. I had been a handful of times before, but only on really easy hills. We were REALLY excited to ski, but I warned my husband that I was not a lifelong skier like he was, and I needed to start off on the bunny hill. So we arrive at the mountain and the minute we step on the snow he hauls me off to the chair lift and before I know it I'm on what I consider a huge hill. Looking down, I realize I am really nervous and have no idea how I'm going to end up at the bottom of the hill. My lesson from Jason went something like this: "Just turn your skis up into the hill to turn and snow plow to stop." Well, I didn't know what on earth that meant, and soon enough I was flying down the slope and landing on my you know what. After wiping out a handful of times, I decided I wanted off this crazy mountain. I had also decided that I wanted to divorce my husband and wanted real lessons from one of the nice Italian men working at the resort. In between these thoughts came lots of profanities and almost a nervous breakdown on the mountain. So long story short, I took my skis off and walked the rest of the way down. I proceeded to scare my husband away and took a break from all the chaos. Once I calmed myself down and Jason and I had made nice, he and our friend Karl showed me how to do basic ski steps on the small hill. After that, I managed to ski a lot better with fewer falls. Jason, of course, being good at everything he does, was skiing like a pro all day long. Despite all my tumbles I managed to have a blast and can't wait to go again! I've never been one of those people who has made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in life; usually I just take my life experiences as they come and appreciate them as they happen. However, I have been bitten by the skiing bug, and I am setting a goal to learn how to ski well, and even learn how to get on a snowboard. I'm sure I won't be in the winter olympics any time soon, but I refuse to sit on the bunny slopes watching 3 year olds ski past me! Wish me luck!

The happy couple on the bus to Roccaraso

Look at my cute snow bunny!

A loooong way down!

A moment of actual skiing...I look like I'm 5 years old! Ha!

I've made it down the hill!

Hallo!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share some pictures from our recent trip to Switzerland and Germany. Anxious to travel to somewhere other than Italy, Jason and I packed our bags this past weekend and headed to Basel, Switzerland. Basel is a beautiful city with great architecture, tons of museums and lots of shopping. We had a wonderful time roaming around the city, riding the tram around town and eating lots of chocolate and pretzels! (Swiss chocolate is to die for and their pretzels are unbelievably good!). The next day we decided to hop a train and spend some time in Freiburg, Germany, where we also did lots of sightseeing and eating. Jason once again impressed me by being able to speak German pretty fluently, which helped us get around very easily. Though we love Italy, I must say that Switzerland is our new favorite place. The air is clean, the people are friendly and their bus and train systems make it extremely easy to get around. We hope you enjoy the pictures and we hope all is well with our family and friends back home!

A view of the mountains from the plane

The markets in Basel

A view of the town overlooking the bridge

Town center in Freiburg

"Potato Market!"

A sidestreet in Germany

Beautiful Germany

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, we hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday and a safe and happy New Year! Though we were sad we weren't home to spend the holidays with our families, we were thankful to have been able to spend it with our amazing Italy friends. Jason and I spent Christmas eve and day with our friends on base, and we hosted New Year's Eve at our house. Despite having tons of fun, I am glad it's over, at least for another year! (Though I did enjoy cooking and baking for all of the holiday parties!) Other than that, life has been pretty good over here. Jason is back to work, the weather hasn't been too bad, and we've been doing LOTS of bowling :) Soon we will be leaving for Switzerland, and I promise to post pics when we return. We are looking forward to all of our family and friends visiting us over this next year and can't wait to spend time with everyone. Ciao!

Louisville in 2009!!!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share the good news that Jason got selected to do his spine fellowship at the Leatherman Spine Institute in Louisville, Kentucky! After our 2 years in Italy, we will be off to Louisville for one year...we are thrilled that we will be close to our families and friends once again! So proud of my wonderful hubby :)

Tuscany and Rome With Friends...

Ciao! Here are some pictures from when our friends from Kentucky, Danny and Laura, came to Italy to visit and spend some time with us. We picked them up from Rome and drove to Northern Tuscany and stayed in the region of Arezzo. Our days were filled with driving through tiny Tuscan towns, shopping, eating and drinking lots of cappucino's! After a couple days in Arezzo, we drove a little south and stayed in the town of Assisi, the home of St. Francis who is the patron saint of animals. One afternoon we drove to Montalcino and spent some time touring the Banfi winery, one of the largest wineries in the world. We even ran into our Chicago friends John and Kim, who were visiting Tuscany during their vacation. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! We then headed back to Rome and saw the sights and toured the city with our wonderful tour guide, Mr. Jason Zook :) We all had a great time and couldn't have had a better vacation. Hope you enjoy the pictures! We miss everyone back home and hope all is well!

Beautiful Florence

The massive Duomo in Florence

The dome of the church

Michelangelo's "The David"

The piazza in Montepulciano

Cantine Contucci Winery

The boys with Adamo, the wonderful owner

The girls with Adamo...what a ladies man!

A beautiful view of Assisi

The church that houses St. Francis's tomb. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, but it was the most beautiful church I had ever seen.

Assisi at night

This was the view looking out from the top of our hotel

Danny and Laura in front of Castello Banfi

The Zooks sure do love their wine!

The Hutchersons

Time for a cappucino break...I believe that was Danny's third one that day!

Our Chicago friends, John and Kim

Rainy afternoon in Rome

The lovebirds in front of the coliseum!

This blog is dedicated to our sweet little friend, CeCe. This was the dog that belonged to the owner of our Agriturismo in Arezzo. Every day he would greet us and then sneak right past us and head upstairs to his favorite chair. CeCe was not allowed inside but always seemed to find a way past us and in the front door! Ciao CeCe!

Weekend in Tuscany...

Here are some pictures from our romantic weekend in Montalcino, a small, beautiful town in southern Tuscany. Jason and I wanted a relaxing weekend away, so we rented a car and drove 4 hours north to Montalcino. For all you wine lovers, this is where the fabulous Brunello di Montalcino wine comes from! We stayed at a lovely B & B, met some wonderful people, drank lots of wine and spent hours strolling through the town. Our second day there we drove through the Tuscan countryside and stopped in a few towns along the way. Enjoy the pictures!

The duomo in the town of Pienza

The piazza in the town of Montepulciano

Sant' Antimo church.

This Romanesque church dates back to the 12th century. The Sunday morning mass that we attended was emotional and quite humbling.

One of the romantic little restaurants we ate at in Montalcino!