Friday, October 31, 2008

Pictures AGAIN?

Well, yes... Pictures again.... it's a picture rich season, what can I say. Plus, Halloween is my favorite holiday, so you can just live vicariously through my pictures here. :)

Here are a few pictures of our front yard. This stretch of land is where the bobcat rolled through to get to the backyard to dig out the pool. It is pretty much still just dirt. It is the one place we haven't gotten to yet. Or, I should say it's one of the places we haven't gotten to yet. Anyway, it's the PERFECT place to set up a cemetary.

pumpkins 013

pumpkins 014

pumpkins 025

Now here are a few of the kids:

Skeleton Bride:
pumpkins 018

Skeleton:
pumpkins 019

pumpkins 021

A costume on the costume:
pumpkins 023

pumpkins 028

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Pumpkin's Galore!

What a great day I had. I haven't said that in a long long time. But today, I had a great day. I got SO MUCH DONE today. It has been a long time since I've been really productive.

Recap: Took Jasmine to the vet to get her girl parts out. :( We miss her, but she's doing well and will come home tomorrow.

Got a friend a wedding present, got pumpkins (procrastinate much?), packed up my entire office, got a gift for a friends open house on Saturday, got kitty litter (again, procrastinate much?).

This evening we carved pumpkins - OMG! It was so much fun. Of course, here are a few pictures:

Bubba has no shirt on because he didn't like the pumpkin guts
pumpkins 002

Oreo is missing her sister and has been a little needy tonight.
pumpkins 003

Our finished products:

Bubba carved this himself - I'm really proud of him. He did a great job.
pumpkins 006

Prissy "poked" all of hers, and did a bit of the carving. This was a hard pumpkin to carve:
pumpkins 005

Here is my pumpkin. I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF! YAY ME! The rating on this one was a 2/4 difficulty, and I think this might have been one of the hardest pumpkins I've ever carved. Or maybe just the most time consuming, I'm not sure, but it was really tough. I kept worrying that the web was going to break.
pumpkins 004


Trio of pumpkins:
pumpkins 007

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Confidenze

Taken from ihasahotdog

I used to have this poster in my cubicle at work. Although, I think it simply said "Confidence."

Anyway, I ran across this and it made me smile - so I will post it for you here.

dog
see more puppies

Confidenze

dog
see more puppies

Confidenze

dog
see more puppies

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Life Change

Well, I guess I will speak of it on my blog. It is somewhat all consuming in my life right now.

I have quit my job. I got a new and different job back at my old company working for my old boss (whose job I took over almost 2 years ago now.) My new-old boss is fantastic and I cannot wait to work for him again. My last day is on Friday and I start my new job on Monday.

However, my life has been pretty stressful these last two weeks. I told NIB (New Italian Boss) the news while I was in Italy last week. (but seriously, how many people can say that they went to Italy to quit their job?) Telling NIB was somewhat (ok - ALOT) freeing. But, telling my staff and then subsequently the rest of my team has been really really hard. I love my team - really. They are absolutely amazing and wonderful. They make me laugh until I cry at least twice a week. I will miss them completely. Many of them I hired right out of school - so, I feel like I have had a hand in "raising" them in the career world. Okay, maybe not. *laugh* I am sad beyond words about leaving the team.

I told my team yesterday, and last night, I was just sick to my stomach. I don't know if it was stress, or a bug I picked up from the airplane. I had to go to bed early. My team was not happy either - I was being super-poked all over on facebook. I EVEN HAD PALIN THROWN AT ME! *laugh*

On the other hand, I'm really excited about my new opportunity. I will be doing something totally different. I get to learn a whole new set of skills. I get to work for a person I totally respect. I get to work for a person who totally respects me. I get to make decisions again. I get to be listened to again. I cannot tell you how much I need this.

I now very much understand the word bittersweet.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Riding the Bike

Yesterday Bubba took his training wheels off. He has not wanted to ride his bike in forever. I think he was embarrassed that he was still using training wheels. Anyway, Hubby asked Bubba if he wanted to learn to ride without the assistance of little wheels while I was at Walmart yesterday.

I guess it took all of 5 minutes and he was riding like a champ. When I got home from the store he showed me. It actually about gave me a heartattack - he was riding at breakneck speeds and standing up on his pedals. I guess when he "gets" something he really gets it.

I'm really proud of him, and a little jealous that I wasn't there to see it. However, I did take a few pictures (of course):

Italy 343

Italy 346

Italy 352


Today, while I was at work, he went to the park and rode his bike for another hour. He's so excited and loves the SPEED! Man, I'm not looking forward to when he gets his first car...

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Italy In Pictures

Well, I suppose I should actually DO what I say I'm going to do and post some pictures. I realized I had about 350 pictures and that's a LOT of digital to go through to pick out a neat few. But, since you are my internets, I suppose I will do this.

We arrived in Milan on Friday morning. The hotel, Devaro Hotel, was absolutely amazing. It is only a few months old. The floor in certain areas is glass:
Italy 010

The artwork on the walls was fantastic:
Italy 011

Those are straight pins:
Italy 012

We then got on the subway and headed to The Sforzesco Castle. Unfortunately, we hadn't slept in like 24 hours:
Italy 025

We saw this neat artwork as we walked out of the subway. It's a needle and thread with the knot on the other end:
Italy 027

Italy 030

Italy 045

Hubby and I at a fountain next to the castle:
Italy 062

Then we walked over to the Duomo in Milan. It was amazing:
Italy 065

Italy 068

Italy 075

Italy 077

The next day we headed to Venice. Here are just a few pictures. One day is NOT enough in Venice. It was absolutely amazing.
Italy 085

Italy 087

The artwork on the buildings was incredible:
Italy 093

Some doors were quite small:
Italy 102

Some doors were big, not too many standards here:
Italy 144

Fish in a reflection:
Italy 130

There were so many alley-ways:
Italy 149

This is one of my favorite pictures from Venice:
Italy 151

Then, we went on a gondola ride - Oh La La!
Italy 179

Coworkers in the boat next to us:
Italy 180

View from the gondola:
Italy 205

Last picture of the day:
Italy 233

On Sunday we tried to go to Lake Cuomo, however, there was an international bike race going on there so we were turned away. We made the executive decision to go to Switzerland to have lunch. We ended up on Lake Lugano - and couldn't have found a more beautiful place.

When we first got there, we found a weird head, which we very much enjoyed taking pictures of:
Italy 259

Italy 277

Italy 278

Italy 290

They have angels protecting their beer there:
Italy 300

Then, we had to work the next day.

However, one evening we went out, and got pizza. One of our crew ordered a pizza Margharita (means pizza with cheese, tomatoes and basil) the pizza came out just cheese. No basil, no tomatoes. A complaint was made and they took it back and it came back in about 30 seconds looking like this: I guess they just threw some basil on it.
Italy 311

The last night we were there, we went to a city called Monza. It was where I stayed last year. This was the only picture that was even sort of suitable:
Italy 318

I think that's probably enough pictures. If you are so inclined, feel free to puruse my 400 picture Italy gallery on flickr.