Happy Birth-Giving to ME!

So this year my Birthday fell on Thanksgiving! And BOY! do I have a lot to be thankful for! My mom cooked a wonderful 3 course meal (Red Italian chicory risotto, stuffed Capon since a Turkey would have been too much for only 5 people, and cheese cake!) I got to skype phone with my family in San Diego, saw my Papà, Nancy, Grandma, Brother Nick and Finaceè Kathryn! So fun to talk to them! Tonight (Saturday) I'm having a buffet dinner party at our house and, oh yeah, and I got these AMAZING gifts! ;-)

Yes, that is a PRADA zip around wallet! Two good friends, Marco & Stefania, spoiled me with it!

New Netbook, from which I am posting from! Thank you Mamma!

And my sweet husband got me this STUNNING black pearl and platinum diamanteé necklace!

COULD I BE ANY MORE THANKFUL???

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Easter

We didn't do much this Easter. The weather was reaaaallly bad! :-( boo hoo.

My Mom had us over for lunch at her house, along with Enrico's Mom & Sister Simona. It was nice to be together!

Nonna Maria

Enrico found this funny swim cap in his Winnie-the-Pooh chocolate easter egg!

Simona & Marinella

Enrico & The Dog

Charlie-Bruno

Better late than never!

Got started a little late this year on X-mas decorations.... but I think I made up for it!

The finished product

This year my tree top is a butterfly to symbolize freedom, the greatest gift of all.

My growing Christmas Village tradition. This year I added the nutcracker & the sugar plum fairy under the tree.

Fireplace set-up

Cousins & Nieces, aren't they cute??

"Feriae Augusti"

Ferragosto is an Italian holiday celebrated on August 15. Originally, it may have related to a celebration of the middle of the summer and the end of the hard labour in the fields. The Catholic Church celebrates this date as a Holy Day of Obligation to commemorate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

Before the Roman Catholic Church came into existence, however, this holiday was celebrated in the Roman Empire to honor the Gods —in particular Diana— and the cycle of fertility and ripening. In fact, the present Italian name of the holiday derives from its original Latin name, Feriae Augusti ("Festivals of the Emperor Augustus"). Almost the entire month of August was taken as a holiday and leisure time in Italy in honor of this feast day.In present days, Ferragosto is mainly a short holiday when Italians take brief vacations. The holiday often coincides with peak activity of the Perseid meteor shower, leaving Italians at a particular advantage to view the astronomical event seen best at pre-dawn hours.

After that explained.....................

Here is what we did to celebrate!

Our good friend Sandra invited us and two other friends up to Cala Gonone in the Gulf of Orosei to spend the weekend with her while her husband is off to Vancouver to visit his Family.

Sandra & Stefano

Map of Cala Gonone and its coast

Sandra & I

Why is it when there's a hat stand you just HAVE to try them on!

Sandra's hat suited her just fine!

Enrico was smmmokin'! ;-)

Then we hopped on a plane and went to Hawaii...oops what??

I meant, we took the car and went to a near by beach!!!

Then we hopped on a boat and explored the coast!

Enrico was our Skipper for the day!!!

Magical caves and coast line....

Happy Father's Day!

The way things are!

Easter Week End - Perfection!

Saturday morning I thought it would be nice to go for a hike since it was such a nice day.

Now, whoever knows me well knows that I've gotten lazy lately, so it was kinda strange for me to have proposed such a thing! But it was well worth it! I can't believe the colors that day and the beautiful sights we saw, literally 10 minutes away from our house.

We started out here at the small cove of Calamosca.

The light house in the background was built in 1638 and has the Spanish coat of arms engraved at the entrance. It was used as the main signaling and weapon point during the Spanish reign. It played a determining role in the war against the French in 1793, signaling their presence, enabling Spanish fleets to attack before the French reached the coast line.

The lighthouse is still in use today.

And I mean it when I said that the day was fantastic! Just look at the blue sky!

As we started to hike, we got a glimpse of our city nestled in the valley.

And then.... I think I died and went to heaven!

No need to comment on the rest of the pictures,

I really think they speak for themselves

Enrico near one of the old Spanish look-out towers

built in the 1500's by the Kingdom of Aragon

one was even transformed into a bunker during WWII

And this is what you could see from the tower....

...seriously, you could see forever.

Even if we were up at 650 feet, the water was so crystal clear

you could see right to the bottom!
There's a sail boat in this cove, we were up so high that the boat seems teeny-tiny!

Oh How I would have loved to have been on that boat!!!

We even thought we were in Torrey Pines for a second....