Some of you may have heard I'm going to Italy....

Fail. Yep, I set out for weekly blogging and have failed. Actually, it's just been over 2 weeks this time, but I will give no guarantees on when to expect the next one! I am leaving for Rome, Italy in just a few hours. I am afraid that when I get back, I'll forget all the cool stuff I did in the 2 weeks before I went to Rome. SO, I'm going to jot down a quick top 10 (off the top of my head, not necessarily the best!) and then finish packing for my trip! (Yes, I have mastered the art of procrastination.)

Let's start at....um...
1. Oranges are in full bloom over here. Which means, we are eating lots of oranges and mandarines picked straight from Gma and Gpa's garden. Yum!

2. It's getting a little bit colder over here. Not to the point of turning the heater on during the day. But, Grandpa is starting to use the fireplace and the heater in our house kicked in for the first time at 5:00 this morning.

3. Still meeting new friends and drinking plenty of wine and coffee :)

4. I made pumpkin pie. Not one, but 2!!! Yep. The first one was a square. The second was in a proper 28" aluminum pie pan. I figured the hardest thing to find for would be canned pumpkin, but it turns out people here don't make "american pies". (seriously no pun intended.?.)

5. I visited this adorable little coffee shop with a friend and it reminded me that when I grow up I want to have my own coffee shop. When I told my two most regular baristas my plan, they said they wanted to join me. So look out, America, as soon as I get my business plan figured out, Spanish coffee comin' your way! (they still need to speak English...)

6. I posted a picture of our "jamon" the other day. But, I went shopping with Inma the other day and encountered this rack of typical pig legs here. Very typical. Very tasty. But, not something I would have bought myself in America ;)

7. I gave you a preview with my last post..But, I celebrated 2 thanksgivings here last week. I really loved sharing traditional Thanksgiving day foods with my friends and they all were really excited to try everything.

8. I found the equivalent of Towne West Square here....not exactly the equivalent, but ya know. And, it could be a dangerous place for me. I may contribute more money to the Spanish economy than originally planned!

9. I booked a last minute trip to Italy which has turned out to be quite a pain. I had to purchase all 4 necessary flights separately and as luck would have it, I messed one of them up. I had to purchase a new flight and am hoping that RyanAir will give me a refund for the other (although I'm not expecting it, as I've heard they don't have the best customer service. I can't tell you all my plans yet, which may or may not mean that I don't have any. But, either way, I'm headed to ROME! And I KNOW I will love it!

10. In case you are wondering.....Hablo espanol ahora. Pero, lo hablo muy poco. Todo lo mundo aqui estan diciendo a mi, "Poco a poco..". Si hablas espanol, sabes he hecho muchos errors en este frase. Pero, lo he probado!

Congrats if you read this whole post....as it was quick and not too exciting. But, it's my life and I'm loving it right now! :)