Friday Night Leftovers on Sunday….

because it’s been that kind of week that bullet points are required. (visit danifred for the rest of the leftovers that happened friday!)

• My christmas cards for family/friends are addressed & ready for stamps.
• Which means I have to go to the post office to get said stamps (and mail some other fun stuff).
• The christmas cards I am sending out to customers, on the other hand, those are not ready. But I don’t have any more ink for my printer, or stamps, so who cares!
• I am ready for the cold to be over and it just started.
• Friday was CD1. Again. Fuck that.
• I dealt with it with a box of wine, girl talk and double stuff oreos.
• Christmas shopping is almost done. Only a handful of odds and ends to pick up plus a few on-line orders to still place (slacker, much?)
• Oh, and lots and lots of wrapping.
• I haven’t actually been grocery shopping in at least a month.  We keep picking up random things here and there, but our stash of staples is quickly dwindling.  And I really have no motivation for grocery shopping or coupons or any of it.
• The great toy purge of 2011 needs to happen pronto.
• We have water in our basement and I seriously don’t want to deal with it, but obviously that isn’t so much an option.
• I feel so good about what we have not only been able to buy for our friends and family this year, but for what we have been able to donate to several families in need.  It makes my heart happy to know that we helped put lots of smiles on peoples faces.
• Ugly christmas sweater party at my mom’s this weekend and I am ridiculously excited about it!
• This week is slightly less crazy than last week, my goal is to wrap presents, finish cards and catch up on blogs because I am WAY WAY WAY behind.  and maybe get to the grocery store at some point!

Wordless Wednesday

Not so much loving Santa.

Naturally, after her “visit” she proclaimed “I LOVE Santa!”

Deserving Eyes: Glasses, the necessary accessory

I have worn glasses since I was 3.
That is 23 years.
Minus about 6-12 months in sixth grade when I HAD to have contacts and then realized how much I hated them.

Back to the glasses.  Each of my eyes has a pretty much opposite prescription, as in, one sees far and one sees close.  I have a pretty small face (big brain, though, lets not be mistaken) so most frames look ridiculous on me.  And, in case you didn't know - glasses can be spendy.

I used to get one pair of eyeglasses every year or two until I found out about ZENNI Optical.

They are an online glasses manufacturer and retailer, they sell their own high quality frames with lens for a GREAT price.  The prices are so reasonable, you can get a pair to match every outfit and a pair of sunglasses as a bonus.

You pick the frames you like (use the  ZENNI frame fit and you can virtually try them on!), enter in your prescription and click order!  It is seriously so easy.  The hard part is picking just one (or five) pairs you like.

I have ordered from ZENNI twice and been more than happy with the price point, customer service and ordering process (remember my 2 different eyes? they always double check with me to ensure I entered my information right since that is a totally weird thing to see in a glasses rx) and WAY more than happy with the quality of the glasses I received.  I am generally hard on my glasses, so it's great to have a durable pair that will hold up (that I can SEE out of!) but that I can match to my outfit!  I believe I currently have 6 pair of glasses from ZENNI on my dresser right now, one in my car and one pair on my face.

Glasses are the best necessary accessory on the block, I recommend them to everyone!


**I was compensated by PayPerPost for the content in this post, however the opinions are 100% mine and I really truly do adore ZENNI - I even posted about my love for them way before this opportunity came along!*

Our Great Italian Vacation, continued

Rome was the next day. This was really the day that I thought “holy shit, we are HERE!”  We had a private tour courtesy of the most awesome parents ever and our tour guide, Lorenzo, was awesome.  We hit the Coloseum first and I really learned a lot about the history there.  When Gianna asked where we were this time, my sisters told her that the Ancient Roman’s used to play here. So naturally, she wanted to know WHERE the Ancient Romans were….. Aunt Krissy told her they were nocturnal.  It wasn’t quite satisfactory to her, but we all enjoyed the conversations that ensued!

<<hearing about ancient romans

Trevi Fountain was our next stop after a riveting drive around Rome. Road rage takes on a totally different meaning over there. And traffic laws seamed to have zero meaning. It was intense!

^^ throwing our coins in so we always return to rome

<<drinking from the Trevi aqua duct fountain

A fabulous lunch and Vatican City followed.

If you have a bucket list, no matter what your religion, please put the Vatican on it. It is literally breathtaking to see the paintings, the statues, the ceilings, floors – EVERYTHING. 

We were able to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, which  - AWESOME!

^^do you see the face?                      ^^man touching the hand of God [on the ceiling]

St.. Peter’s is even bigger than I could have imagined and really, it is all just very overwhelming.

We got Gianna a rosary before we left, which is the one thing I really wanted to get for her.

Pisa and Florence were up next. The tower? It leans REALLY REALLY far!

Florence is a great city, we didn’t have a guided tour there – but we walked around, saw some Jersey Shore landmark’s, ate some awesome food, saw one of the coolest Baptistery's ever and just had a good time.

Oh, and I bought a genuine florentine leather jacket. You guys, it is the most beautiful jacket ever – and it is so soft. And pretty. And it has my initials in it and it’s just beautiful!

France was up next, we didn’t see much of Toulon – or at least what we saw wasn’t much to look at.  We did find a cool fountain, McDonald’s for Gianna and cappuccino/crepes for the big kids!

On the boat, Gianna ice skated for the first time, which was quite an adventure (for Mike and Aunt Cori anyway!)

we had another formal night and just hung out and relaxed for the next day.

OH! And Gianna celebrated Halloween by being a tiger!

<<RAWR!

It was sad to head home, and even though we were all ready to be back in our own homes, and despite more ridiculous airline issues, we were all still smiling at the end because, honestly, how could you not be?  it was an experience like none other. One that surely wouldn’t have been possible with out a big dream, amazing parents and grandparents who talked so highly of the country they were from that we HAD to see it for ourselves. 

Arividerchi! Can’t wait to come back again!

If you want to know ANYTHING about our trip - ask! I’d love to share more!

Part 1 of our trip

Over 1500 pictures of our trip