Italia: Day 1 - Roma, May 4, 2011

After 14.5 hours on a plane its so nice to finally be here. We took a train to Colesseo, Roma. The trains are difficult to understand but we're getting it.
We asked a man to point to the direction of the Colosseum, and he laughed and led us to the door of the station and said "Di Colesseo!"

It was MASSIVE.

What a sight for our first step into Rome.

Our first stop was definitly the Colosseum. We walked inside the lower level first, then the top. It was such an amazing piece of ancient architecture. Each stone was placed by the hands of people who lived centuries ago. Wow. The amount of attention to detail was amazing.


After this, we decided to start looking for some real dinner. Airplane food just wasn't cutting it.

Dinner places open at 19:00 here, which is 7pm - later than Americans eat. We arrived at our planned dinner spot slightly disappointed because was 16:00 and they weren't open yet.

So we got Gelato instead :)

It was the best ice cream I had ever had. Chocolate and tiramasu. Mmmm....

We decided to get a taxi back to our bed and breakfast. Roma dirvers are crazy here! They squeeze in wherever they can fit at high speeds which also makes for some intense braking. So fun!

We arrived at St. Peters Vacancy B&B around 19:30 and were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome of a young husband and wife and their newborn son. The room was similar to a room in a house; down the hall from the kitchen and living room and across from our private bathroom.
Oh! And almost all of the furniture was from IKEA! :D

We decided to try to get our bearings and lay on the bed reading Rick Steve's guidebook. This turned into a two hour nap.
We woke up groggy, jet lagged and starving.
So we walked down the street to the Guinness Pub to grab something to eat.

Angelo got salmon pasta in red sauce and I got grilled ham and cheese. Mmm. We both got our first glasses of Italian wine. Red for him, white for me. So good!

After we finished, we decided to hit the hay and headed back to our room for the night.

So ciao for today! More tomorrow!

Cat Allergy Experiment: Day 1

So sad story of the week goes like this. As many of you all know, I have been hacking up a lung coughing for the last... well who knows how long. After a lot of worrying that something more serious was going on in my lungs than just a post-cold infection, I prayed (once again) that God would miraculously heal this sickness and relieve this stubborn cough.
Long story short, after searching once again for an explanation, we have come to discover that my two cats, Milo and Otis, may be the culprits of this one. The solution, Jenn must treat cats like lepers. At least for a few weeks just to see if our speculation is correct.

Emerald Bay In My Living Room

After months of musing I have finally decided it is time to tackle my gynormous 4.5' x 4.5' "magnum opus" painting of Sunset Over Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe. The lines are sketched, the blue, orange, pink, and green paint is out, and I am on my way to recreating the artwork of my hero, God.

For the past week my living room floor has been covered with newspaper, paint tubes and brushes and Angelo has been super excited to watch me spend hours upon hours painting what will hopefully soon be the main piece of art work that adorns our walls.

The sky is a brilliant blue with a vibrant stretch of pinkish-orange clouds. The lake is glassy and reflects the sunset in the water. The bay is framed by the silhouette of the pine covered mountains and Fannette Island.
The sight is breathtaking.

Psalm 19:1 - "The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands."





Just a hint...................

Thought of the day

One of my best friends just got engaged Sunday (WOOHOO!!!!!) :D

and

Toms new wedge shoes are wonderful.....



Thats all :)

Sick of Being Sick

So this year I think has got to be the sickest year yet. It's not so much the super sick kind of sick, but the super annoying, dragging out, super long kind of sick. Basically, I've had this cough for a year now, and even though it has given me some nice washboard abs due to the jarring muscle spasms that some with each cough, I'm over it.

Last February I had a cold and cough. That turned into March-June spring alleriges. That turned into July-September Hay fever. That turned into October-Now chest congestion. Ugh.

Now being sick does have some benefits, as long as no major pain is involved. Due to my lack of energy I have spent a lot of time with my butt on the couch knitting and crocheting a bazillion projects. I made a ton of Christmas gifts, a few sweaters, hats, scarves, gloves, cowls, etc. Kind of cool. Okay but I lied. Not as cool as getting over this sickness. That would be way cooler.

Your Honor, I Plead Not Guilty

I don't even know why I'm writing right now. I've just had so much going on in my mind that it felt like it was time to flush some of it out and move on to better things.

I guess the bottom line is, I'm tired. Tired of trying to please everyone on the planet all the time. Tired of caring so much about the way people see me. Tired of being so afraid of accidentally "hurting someones feelings." Tired of being afraid that someone might start another awful rumor that will haunt me till it dies. Tired of wearing my heart on my sleeve. Tired of looking for the approval that will never come. Tired of pretending.

I've believed a lie for so long that would constantly tell me that I am incapable of being anything other than small and insignificant. That I needed to prove myself to the world. That I needed to make sure that no one misunderstood me. That I needed to be so open with everyone that they couldn't judge my character even if they wanted to. Sounds like a good thing right? Brave. Open. Trust everyone.

But it is a lie. The truth is, not everyone is worthy of trust. And it's when you run into those people that you find out the hard way. Believe it or not, lady, but not everyone cares about your well being. If you wear your heart on your sleeve it will be torn off and destroyed over and over until you decide to defend it.

Well, I'm ready for the fight now.

The guilt of disappointing someone, or hurting someones feelings, or "offending" someone no longer has control over my decisions. I will stand up for my heart even if it means I might make someone upset. I'm tired of being walked on and manipulated by Satan. I chose to be humble for Christ, but Satan came in and lied and said that being "humble" meant I needed to be a doormat too. I needed to sit back and take all the mud and filth off the shoes of everyone I meet for "Christ's sake." It took me until now to realize that it wasn't Christ telling me this but the Devil in disguise.

There is one phrase that still rings in my head since the moment it was said to me 7 years ago.
"You cannot take responsibility for everyone's emotions." It is the battle that I have fought unconsciously my entire life... until now. The blinders are off and I can finally see the little man behind the curtain controlling the whole thing I thought was so wonderful. It was all an illusion.

God told me to be selfless, but he also told me that my body is a temple and that I am to defend it.

No more guilt. No more frustration. No more living the lie. It's time to fight for me.

Music?? Hello 2006 :)

So I decided, after much thought, that even though I haven't recorded anything new in over 4 years and since my last online music page crashed, it was time to make a new one. So after taking the time out of life to create and upload, alas, here it is.

http://www.myspace.com/iworshipchrist

Check it out. Nothing new is up yet but hopefully that will change in the near future. :)

Tata!