British Accents and TCBY

Last weekend was crazy busy but so much fun!  Although it was cold and pouring down rain, Jeremy and I went on a date on Friday night.  We went out to dinner and to see "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".  I LOVED this movie!  We will probably watch it again once it hits Netflix.  It had a great plot, very little cussing (this is huge for us), and who doesn't love Ben Stiller??  Honestly, I was refreshed to see a movie that isn't the same typical story line....Go see it if you can!

Oh and how could I forget our little trip to TCBY.  This is my favorite yogurt place.  I always get the same thing, White Chocolate Mousse with a TON of sprinkles.  What can I say?  I love sprinkles on ice cream!  As we are eating our ice cream a group of young college students sit down next to us.  A little side note:  Jeremy and I always goof around with each other and do fake accents.  Well.... I asked Jeremy what time it was and he responded in the most ridiculous British accent.  The kids beside us heard him and started laughing.  Not the kind of "we're laughing with you" but the "we're making fun of you" kind of laughing to be followed with whispering and trying not to look obvious that they were talking about us.  Ha ha!  I about DIED.  Jeremy was just encouraged to keep it up.....  oh boy.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to spend my day with 87 k-7 kids.  Yep....  EIGHTY SEVEN LITTLE KIDS.   32 of those were in kindergarden.

The Varsity cheerleading squad is competing at Nationals in Orlando, FL in a couple of weeks and they hosted a cheerleading clinic as one of their final fundraisers for the year.  We had a great turn out and the kids had so much fun, but oh my gosh was it exhausting!  I have SO much respect for Elementary teachers who do this on a daily basis.

The cheerleaders had fun and I know all went to bed super early that night :)

One of the things I absolutely love about our church is the many opportunities to learn, grow and serve.  They offer SO many classes!  My teacher heart just loves starting new classes to learn all I can.  ha!  We started a Discovery class to become members, finally!  So Sunday morning we started off with Discovery and then headed to the worship service.

I helped coach Varsity practice Sunday afternoon so I invited my SIL Megan to come too!  She coaches cheerleading at another school near by and is amazing at it!  It's always nice to have an extra set of eyes.  After practice Megan, Jeremy and I went to the gym and then out to dinner.

The weekends always go by so fast!

Friday Confessions

It's another Friday!  Although, it doesn't seem like a Friday to me considering I have only worked ohh....1 day so far this week.  But more on that later!

Here we go!

1.  This past week Beth Moore gave away many of her ebooks for FREE.  I confess that I downloaded every single one.  Who doesn't love a free book??

2.  I confess that... a week in I have stuck to ALL of my New Year's resolutions! Woo hoo!  This is the farthest I've gotten...ever.

3.  I confess that in the past 6 1/2 weeks, I have only worked 9 days.  Thanks to Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, and EIGHT snow days.  I am perfecting the art of stay at home wife and becoming quite good at it :)  It is going to KILL me next week when I work a full week without a snow day.  It's going to kill me even more when we are still in school come July!

4.  I confess that my extensive time off will not prevent me from complaining about the plight of a teacher probably later this month when I am tired and cranky.  I'm apologizing in advance for that.

5.  Finally,  I confess I cried when I saw this video:   100 Day Transformation

Our Italian Honeymoon: Vatican City

Vatican City sits within the city of Rome and is the world's smallest State.  It is home to the Pope, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum.

We spent nearly an entire day exploring Vatican City.

The Papal Swiss Guard, who protect the Pope and Vatican City.

The Sistine Chapel

"Without having seen the Sistine chapel, one can form no appreciable of what one man is capable of achieving."

-Johann Wolfgang Goethe, 1787

The Sistine chapel is absolutely breathtaking.  Everywhere you look paintings grace the walls and ceiling depicting historical events, primarily, historical Biblical events.  It was inspiring to view these events as the artists who lived before viewed them.  

We were not allowed to take any pictures once we were in the chapel, so I had to steal this picture from Google so I can remember the magnificence of the place.  When you think of the Sistine chapel, the famous Michelangelo's paintings "The Last Judgement" or "The Creation of Adam" might come to mind, but there are so many other marvelous works that also line the ceiling and walls.  You neck starts to hurt from looking up so often.  

One of the aspects that I loved about Italian culture was the respect they have for the many chapels and churches that dwell in the city.  In the Sistine chapel, you are forbidden to talk.  Even whispering will draw an angry eye from the guards that line the room.  You also must dress modestly, girls cannot wear shorts or have their shoulders showing. 

Would you believe that every time, I mean EVERY TIME we decided to visit a church that day I happened to forget my cardigan.  I bought several for the occasion and left every one of them in the hotel room (and one I accidentally left in the seat of a Taxi)

So that's why I'm wearing lots of lovely plastic "shawls" in all of our pictures.

The Vatican Museum

The Vatican Museum leads the way to the Sistine Chapel.  It houses many great pieces of art, sculptures, artifacts and other regalia.  It's beautiful.

Mummys in the Vatican Museum

The crazy thing about Rome is you become so accustomed to seeing God's creativity.  It's present in the architecture, the people, the sculptures, paintings.  It's everywhere.  God is an artist.  I think I took it for-granted while I was there, because, like I said it was everywhere.  Now looking back on pictures, can I really appreciate the beauty we were allowed to see.  

  

This is a picture of the many Bibles that have been used throughout the centuries by the various Pope's.

This is a painting by Raphael called "The Disputation of the Last Sacrament".  It depicts many historical figures such as popes, cardinals and Dantes.  

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Bascilica is considered one the of the largest churches in the world, and one of the holiest Catholic sites.  It is the burial site of St. Peter, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus.  

  Us, in St. Peter's Piazza

Can you imagine the excitement to stand in St. Peter's Piazza this past March when Pope Francis was announced as the newly elected Pope?  What a day to be in Vatican City.

To say St. Peter's Bascilica is huge would be an understatement, it's massive.  I've never walked into a church anywhere near as large.  

This picture does not do it justice.  Each hallway on the side goes into another area that is just as large as the first.  

Known as the "Apse".  The golden clock behind it is magnificent.  

Behind us, in the distance is the altar where St. Peter is believed to be buried beneath.  

What is absolutely amazing about Italy is that everything holds historical significance.  Every piece of art, architecture, and ruin.  The Italians live among history and do not bring attention to it.  They leave it be, and let the history speak for itself.

For example,  Jeremy knew the "Pieta", Michelangelo's famous sculpture of Mary holding Jesus, was housed in St. Peter's Basilica, however we did not know where.  We were determined to find it and as we turned a nondescript corner, there is was.  Simply named "Pieta".  That's all.  No description.  No pomp and circumstance.  Perhaps one of the greatest sculptures we will ever experience, and the Italians just let it speak for itself.

Everything in the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Basilica was truly heart-stirring.  The grandeur and splendor was like nothing I had ever seen.  It really made me think about heaven.  If places this spectacular exist on Earth, what will Heaven be like?  How beautiful and awe-worthy will the place where our Lord dwells be?  I know it will lead us to worship.  

“You are worthy, O Lord our God,
    to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things,
    and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

Revelation 4:11

Our Italian Honeymoon: Villa Borghese Gardens, The Spanish Steps & The Trevi Fountain

Our plane landed in Rome around noon.  After we found our hotel and freshened up a bit, we went exploring.  First stop was to find a good piece of pizza.  Actually,  in Italy, a "piece" of pizza is an entire pizza.  But hey, I'm not complaining.  I love Margarita pizza and Italy did not disappoint.  After filling our stomachs, we walked to Villa Borghese Gardens which wasn't too far from our hotel.

The gardens are similar to Central Park in New York City, minus the Zoo.  There are walking trails, vendors renting out bicycles, scooters and trebachets.  There are also several museums within the gardens.

 This is an old home that now houses a modern art collection.  I love to picture the type of family that might have lived there.  Could you imagine the lives they must have led?  Before we went to Rome I had read the "Mark of the Lion" series by Francine Rivers.  It really brought the history of Rome to life for me.

Unfortunately we could not do as much walking around the gardens as we had hoped.  I have an old leg injury that loves the continually give me problems.  Flying makes it swell really badly and I was having a lot of pain from the swelling that day.

I convinced Jeremy to rent a trebachet to drive around the park.  How fun!  It was a blast getting to see the park this way.  Well... it was for me :)  Jeremy did all the peddling.

There were many temples throughout the gardens.  What a crazy world it must have been during a time when people openly worshiped multiple gods and built temples to honor them.  

 There are so many fountains around the city of Rome and honestly this is only one of two fountains that I saw people putting their feet in.  It's actually considered to be very disrespectful to put your feet into a fountain, so I'm assuming these are all tourists.

The Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps are center of one of Rome's social scenes.  Locals and tourists alike gather to sit on the steps to people watch, or wonder through the alley's below full of high-end shopping.  It was about 2 miles from our Hotel, so Jeremy and I would often stroll by here during our stay.  

The alley's below house well known fashion icons such as Valentino, Gucci, Luis Vuitton and so on.  What amazes me is Italians LOVE designer brands.  Nearly every Italian I saw from the high class to low class carried a Luis Vuitton bag.  You would have thought they were exceptionally cheap in Italy, but they were even more expensive there than in the States.  

The Trevi Fountain

About 1/2 mile from the Spanish Steps is one of my favorite places in all of Rome.  The Trevi Fountain.  It is the largest fountain in the city.  Throwing a coin in the fountain is suppose to ensure you a safe trip back to Rome.  (However, we just realized we threw our coins over the wrong shoulder!  Oh well, hopefully we will return to Rome anyway!)

It is an excellent place for people watching.  It's amazing the different cultures you can observe while in Rome.  It's also peaceful to just listen to sounds of the fountain.

Around the Trevi are many alley's of food and local shops featuring wine, olive oils and other delicatessen.  The eateries are just what you would imagine.... little outdoor cafes with very entertaining waiters.  It was always hard to choose which place to stop at for dinner each night.

The area surrounding the Trevi also has some of the best gelato in the city.  Our favorite was at a shop called "San Crispino".  It was hard to find, but once we found it we realized that it came so highly recommended.  We tried several different flavors of gelato, but in our opinion, the limon (lemon) is the best.  We still crave it.  Most days we had gelato twice a day.  I think if we could go back Jeremy would eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It was THAT good.

Our Italian Honeymoon: Rome, The City

I'm not sure exactly what I envisioned in my mind when I thought of Rome.... sand and ruins maybe?  What I did not picture was a large city, but that's just what Rome is.... a HUGE city!  New buildings built directly next to old buildings, and in between sit ancient crumbling ruins, touched only by the wars that led to their demise.  Alleys that lead to more alleys with Piazzas (Plaza's) in between promoting local art, wine, olive oils, and of course Gelato :)

We could have spent weeks roaming the streets of Rome and still not touched most of the city.  We learned that in order to truly appreciate the value of the Italian life, you must do as the Italians do.  Sleep in late.... stroll through the city investing in whatever catches your attention, and then enjoy slow, conversation filled dinners.  Oh... and you must eat Gelato as often as possible.  The limon is the best, in our opinion :)

I thought the climate of Rome was very strange.  VERY hot.  So, So, So hot.  No need to wear makeup because you would sweat if off the moment you walked out of the hotel.  It was very rare to see an Italian woman dressed up like we do in the South.  They were very natural, no make-up, natural hair.... My hair stayed up in a bun practically every day.  I should have brought more headbands :)  Also, they have palm trees and other vegetation that you would expect to see near an ocean, yet they are still 2 hours from the coast.

 Many of the aqua ducts that once brought the entire city of Rome indoor plumbing still work and run through fountains throughout the city.  You just bring a water bottle and can have icy cold, clean water from the fountains all day long.  It was really neat and definitely needed with the hot weather!

Italians are CRAZY drivers!  Like... hold your breath and say a little prayer that you don't die kind of crazy.  I felt like our lives were at risk each time we stepped into a cab.  They don't obey the laws of traffic.  They don't stop at red lights, stop signs are non-existent, and I did not see a single speed limit sign in the entire city.  Another thing about Italian driving is they drive super-small cars, think Fiats, and they will park ANYWHERE they can!  When you walk next to the cars you can see that they are all banged up from trying to squeeze into so many tight parking "spots".  

Everything is Italy is small and compact.  Even the hotels.  It really made us realize how much luxury we have in America that we take for-granted.  Like big elevators....

Our Italian Honeymoon: Traveling

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would go to Italy on my honeymoon.  Traveling halfway across the world, to a country I had never been, experiencing things both of us had never experienced was a wonderful way to start our marriage and the Lord surely blessed us in allowing us the opportunity to go.  We are already planning our next trip overseas (which, will not be for a few more years, but hopefully not too long from now!)

The day after our wedding we woke up early and headed to the airport.  We flew to Chicago and had a layover there.  Just enough time to eat lunch and explore the airport a little bit.  I LOVE airports!  I love the people watching, all the good food, neat stores.... I just love them!  Jeremy thinks I'm weird, but I really would go to airports all the time if I could!  International airports I feel differently about, but more on that later.

(I just LOVE seeing a wedding ring on his finger!)

After our layover in Chicago we were headed across the pond :)  It was a long, 8 hour plane ride, but we had an awesome airplane to ride in.  It was my first long plane ride overseas, other than being a little cramped at times, it wasn't bad at all.  We landed in Madrid, Spain and just had one more quick flight before arriving in Rome.  As soon as we landed in Madrid, I could not wait to get something to eat.  I was STARVING and we all know how good airplane food is :)  Well..... little did I know, International Airports are nothing like American Airports.  Although we landed in Madrid around 7 am, nothing in the airport was open!  Not to mention, the plethora of restaurants that blankets American Airports was non-existant there.  All we could find were vending machines containing foreign snacks accepting a currency we had not yet exchanged.  Ignoring my grumbling stomach we boarded our flight to Rome anticipating the amazing Italian food we would eat when we arrived.

As soon as we landed in Rome we started praying that our luggage also landed with us.  I imagined the horrors of being on my honeymoon without everything I packed (that Jeremy insisted I was silly for bringing) "YES dear I am bringing my make-up, YES dear I DO need to pack 5 pairs of shoes....""  Soon though our luggage made it's appearance on the baggage carrel and we were on our way.  After we found a currency exhange.... and bought a coke....

Friday Confessions

It's a bittersweet kind of Friday because it's my last day of Winter Vacation before I return to teaching on Monday.  I have to admit, I am ready for a routine and sense of normalcy again... but I know in a couple of weeks when I am exhausted I will wish for a few more days of vacay.  Especially since with the lovely snow, we will not have a day off until Spring Break.  I know all of you who work in the corporate or any other field aside from education are rolling your eyes at me right now :)

Today I'm linking up with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition!

• I confess that I have spent entirely too much time on winter break watching Lifetime movies, Sex and the City re-runs, and reality television.  
• I confess that my husband and I just had a lunch date at Sam's.  Actually, this is one of our favorite lunch places.  Both of us eat for $4.64!  Who can beat that!

• I confess that until last Monday, I had not been to the gym since my wedding...5 months ago.  My soreness is making up for it!
• I confess that it is taking every ounce of self-control I have to stay away from all the sales at the mall right now!  I keep telling myself I don't need it.   I don't....right?

New Year 2014 Style

How can it already be another year?  Let me be cliche in joining the masses saying "Wasn't it just yesterday we were bringing in 2013?"  It is crazy to me to think how fast time flies.... sometimes I just wish it would slow down a little so I can enjoy everything better!

New Year's eve is always special to Jeremy and I because New Year's Eve 2011 was our 3rd date.  Jeremy had asked me to celebrate New Year's with him and his friends in Fayetteville and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to take a chance with him, or just stay back in Little Rock and enjoy being with my high school/college friends for the night.  My mom encouraged me to go back to Fayetteville and enjoy meeting new people and I'm SO glad I did!

(Our 1st New Year's Together)

We are so lucky to have a great group of friends to make memories with.  We went to dinner at Powerhouse (my fav), maybe consumed a few kilowatts (my fav) and just spent the night celebrating with each other.  We were so excited our friends Brittany and Steve announced they are expecting a baby this year!  This year will bring many changes for our little group but I look forward to it!

I was also excited that my best friend, Stephanie and her husband Kyle were able to come up to spend the night with us! We LOVE having company at our house, and I love it when they come up!

We ended the night at a little bar up the street and I couldn't think of a more perfect way to celebrate 2014.  I mentioned on Instagram that in 2012 Jeremy and I were engaged, 2013 we got married... now I'm just hoping for a quiet and restful 2014 :)

It wouldn't be a New Year's post without a few resolutions:
1.  I'm hoping to study the Bible more.
2.  Jeremy and I are committing to visit the gym more often.
3.  We are hoping to be more intentional with our friendships this year.  (Life can be SO busy, but we want to make more time to spend with friends this year!)

Happy New Year!!!