Back in the swing of things

My life has continued to be a
crazy
busy
whirlwind
of everyday life since we got home 10 days ago! (Wow! Has it only been that long? I feel like we have been home a lifetime with all I have been up to!!)

The wedding was wonderful!!! I soooooo hope that Penni wants to use me again! I had an amazing time and loved every moment of it! (I was exhausted-but sooooo happy after my long and busy weekend!!)

The week has

flown by

with work as usual and getting back to my blog reading!! I missed reading all these great blogs while I was on our vacation. Whenever I had internet access, I had to make good use of my time trying to upload some pictures to share, and check my email to be sure I didn't have a million messages in my inbox when I got home!

I also got to visit with my one of my neighbors (and fellow blogger) Rachel on Tuesday when I helped her with a project she was working on. I loved catching up with her and being able to work on the sewing machine-two great things together!!

I think I was feeling a little too excited about being back
because....
I have gone and signed up for a few projects...
on top of all my other

regular

everyday

busy self

stuff!

I signed up to send some love to a fellow blogger (who is so talented and amazing in what she accomplishes all the time-she must be great at time management!). Another blogger (who I read regularly) suggested it, and I thought it sounded like a great idea! That should only take a few moments out of my weekend (and the hard part will be finding the time to make it to a post office and mail it!!)

I also saw an adorable "addition" a super talented blogger did to some Halloween towels she had purchased at Target. (I had just bought the same exact towels for the boo baskets I am working on!!) So now I just HAVE to do it as well! I ran by Walmart & picked up some Halloween fabric on Wednesday night...so that is added to my "To Do List" for the weekend!

Next, still feeling excited and alive and ready to sew since I have been away for so long, I signed up for the latest project from Craft Hope. I found them awhile back and have wanted to participate, but I didn't want to sign up unless I felt I could really get it done. So this one won me over with the fact that I can just make the quilt top and then mail it (and the supplies to finish it) to the wonderful people at Margaret's Hope Chest to quilt. That is so awesome...hand quilting takes sooooo long and I would never get it done if I had to completely finish it! It is due on November 15th so I need to get on that right away as well!

Not yet in my right mind...I also signed up for a Christmas Swap through Aunt Pitty Pat's blog (who I found thru this blog)! I am so excited!!

This is my

first

swap

ever

and I am really interested to see how I handle the challenge.

I signed up to do a Christmas Tree (w/presents) block. (I found it online-got to love those free quilt block sites!!) I have to make twelve tree blocks and twelve nine patch blocks and then ship it all the her to distribute to everyone in my group. In the end we will all have 12 different 9 patch blocks and 12 different "special" blocks for a great Christmas themed quilt. I am jumping out of my skin with excitement!! Now lets just hope I haven't over-extended myself here!! (Although, I think it will be fine because this isn't due until January...so it gives me a bit more time-then I will be able to work on getting it all together for a great Christmas quilt for next year!!)

This weekend I will also be busy getting all the details together for our neighborhood Halloween event (which is next Friday), putting out the rest of our Halloween decor (I feel so behind schedule-it is already October 16th!!), working on organizing our vacation pictures (and hopefully creating and ordering a photo book!), changing out my summer clothes for apparel that actually covers my arms, legs & toes!! (It has been quite chilly here the last couple of days...I hope it lasts, I am so ready for layering season!! Fall is my fave!!)

We are also meeting up with Kevin's mom and grandma for dinner on Sunday at Olive Garden. Since we have been home Kevin has been slowly but surely eating all the wonderful American foods he missed while we were out of the country...I find it quite funny that he chose to meet there since we so recently spent

8
nights
in
Italy!!

I am sure there are a million other things I am forgetting about, so as much as I hope to post some updates on everything over the weekend (and maybe some more pictures!!) there is a good chance I won't be back again until next week. The weekends always go by way to fast!!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

We got home on Tuesday evening, (after a 10 1/2 hour flight and then about another 2 hours trying to get our luggage and get through all the customs security in the Atlanta airport to our car!!) and in a way our wonderful relaxing vacation already feels like a million years ago!!

We were able to get Wednesday off to try to get some errands ran, all the stuff for our neighborhood Halloween event set up and of course try to get the laundry done before starting back in the rat race on Thursday...where it has been full speed ever since! It turns out I had to work today (get the guys their work and out the door in the morning) which it is never fun to have to wake up early on a Saturday!! Plus while I was gone I had gotten a phone call from the wedding/events location in Cartersville (Stonewall Manor), where I had helped a friend with a wedding earlier this year, and they had a wedding this weekend they could use me for!! I am so excited!! I LOVE doing wedding coordinating!! However, it was a LONG day yesterday (work early and then the rehearsal late) and it will be a long day today with again work early and the wedding this evening...but, I LOVE it!!

I still haven't had the chance to look through Kevin's pictures, so I will have a busy day on Sunday trying to go through those and try to get a photo book ordered from Snapfish. (And then it is family night that evening because today is Travis' birthday, our good family friend Abby is in town, mom and dad leave for India (Oslo, Norway & Amsterdam, Netherlands too) on Monday, and Kev and I still haven't seen anyone (unless we work with you) since we got home!)

In other news...while I was gone (since I wasn't eating much at all-and we were doing a ton of walking) it turns out I did lose around 10 or so pounds. However, since we have been home I have been eating like a PIG and I think I may have already gained it all back!! (In 3 days!!) I guess I was making up for lost time eating everything I could get my hands on!!

Since I've been gone...Prague

I was without a computer again for a few days so I didn't have the chance to update lately. Sorry about that! I will try to do a quick update with some pictures of what we have been up to since my last post!
(Well, I am having issues with my camera, so never mind about the full update! We have been busy, I will say that!! Here is something to hold you over until we get home and I can really upload everything. Here are the pictures from our day in Prague with Todd!)

We took the train from Kufstein to Vilseck on Saturday evening and Todd picked us up and we stayed on the base in Grafenwörf (I think that is spelled right) with him. We all spent all day Sunday together driving to and from Prague and checking out as much as we could in the time we had. We then spent the night on base again and then jumped on the train this morning and headed to Munich! It was a quick visit, but it was great!

(Well, I am having issues and I can't seem to write at each picture so here is a quick note about the one of Kevin with his tongue out...We started the day in Prague with lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and I wanted to get a picture...then they brought the food and Kevin couldn't wait to get started on that milkshake!!)

We are now actually back in the small town near Munich where we started our trip (staying at Deitmar & Elisabeth's) for tonight and then we are off to the airport bright and early (before 7AM) tomorrow. We will be on a plane

all

day

long

and finally arrive home in Atlanta tomorrow afternoon. Which means that after customs, getting our luggage, getting to our car, and driving home...

we

will be

EXHAUSTED!!!

Roma

Here is a selection of pictures from my camera of our time in Rome

At the train station in Venice

A shot of some of the pretty countryside we went through on the way
Our first evening in Rome we went for a walk (but nearly ALL of my pictures are blurry-so this is what you get!!)

On our first full day in Rome we had to see the Colosseum & Palantine Hill/Roman Forum. We ended up doing a TON of walking and saw the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and Trevi Fountain as well! Talk about a full day!!

(The lines in the posts near the top of these collumns is where the Christians who had taken over Rome at this time had tried to pull them down, (because it was a Pagan temple) but at the time they (the collumns) were so burried into the ground they were not budging, so instead they just built a church inside the temple collumns.

(Sadly this was closed while we were here, but this is where supposedly Paul and Peter were kept prisoners while in Rome-or at least for a time)

(More ruins...everywhere you turn in this city there are more Roman ruins laying around!!)

They had these tower things in front of most churches, not really sure why...I liked this one because there is an elephant on it!!

The Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Every other street also seems to have at least one church and I loved that there are still cobblestone streets (but tons are paved as well, but there are still cobblestone ones too!)

The Spanish Steps (It was CRAZY busy today!!)

On our second full day in Rome we were going to try to get to Pompeii or go see the Catacombs, instead we kinda got off the map and wandered around the city (and into an area that Kevin wasn't thinking we should have been in!!) and had our own little adventure walking around Rome. But we eventually made it to see Circus Maximus, saw a big political rally or something, and another Roman landmark...The Mouth of Truth

The long line for the Mouth of Truth

(So I just stuck my camera through the fence and got a picture instead of waiting around to actually get myself in the picture with my hand in the mouth...it had already been a long day at this point!!)

On our third, & last, full day in Rome we got up early and waited in line to see the Vatican City. Since it was the last Sunday of the month, entrance was free!

(It was SUPER crowded, but we were still all smiles at this point)

After what seems like FOREVER, and you are still being pressed along through rooms and hallways and staircases, and being even more crammed into a ton of people, we were feeling a little less happy! (However, I moved the camera as I was taking the shot of my aggrivated/staring-to-get-claustophobic face, so this is what you get! I think it adds to the drama of how we were feeling really!!)

On our walk back to the B&B we stoped at a castler (also free entry) (Which I wrote about all of this in my earlier blog entry, but here are a few pictures)

(I have to explain this shot because Kevin had wanted me to take the picture so it looked like he was holding the angel statue...however A)He didn't explain that to me, B)It was super crowded so I was just happy to catch a shot without someone walking between us, and C)Isn't the point of those shots to be kinda funny and isn't this shot REALLY funny since Kevin just looks like a goofball with his hands above his head!?! Man that makes me sound like a horrible wife!!)

We ended up walking by the Spanish steps again, and it was a LOT less crowded, so we got another shot today!