Wine & Design: Where to begin??

I cannot believe I have gone this long without a post! I, selfishly, got so caught up in my "birthday week" that I gave up on everything else! So...lots to catch up on. So, since my last post was my first day of school (pathetic, but true), I will start with that. I am now in my third week of Italian class, in the second level of the program (there's probably about 10 levels). I so enjoyed the first week of class. I really liked everyone in my class, and as a whole we had a great dynamic. I got to know some of the girls, which was great. After the first week though, it was time to move up to Level 2. Moving up a level meant my class changed as well. I was sad to see our group broken up, but it was also nice to meet more new people. Overall, I am learning a lot from the school and am picking up the language relatively well. I have noticed that I am understanding so much more, which is comforting, and I am able to speak it much more than before. I still have another week left (I initially only signed up for 4 weeks, but will most likely add on), but will have to take a break after this week and finish up two weeks later. The kids have their mid-semester break next week so we are going to Paris on Friday until the following Thursday! I am so looking forward to it (and another house exchange!). So before I get ahead of myself, I want to begin from where I left off (bear with me for those of you that care!).

After my first week of school went so well, Shana gave me the weekend off for any pre-birthday celebration I wanted to do, and they headed to the beach house for the weekend. They didn't leave until Friday night, so I ended up staying in here and getting an amazing night's rest after a full week. Saturday morning, I got a call from Meredith saying she was pretty much free for the rest of the weekend, so I literally jumped out of bed and hopped on a train to Florence. I was there by lunch time on Saturday, and we had such a great time. We walked around for a little while Saturday afternoon, baked a delicious cake for her family (but mainly the two of us!), and relaxed around the house. Saturday night we went to this cute little wine bar for proseco and appetizers, Le Volpi e L'uva. Then we went to this awesome place called The Fusion Bar and Restaurant. The outside was this cozy dining area with heaters and huge sofas for lounging. The requirement to sit outside was to order dinner, so we pretended that we hadn't just had plenty of food at the first restaurant of the night and ordered dinner for two! When in Rome, right....? It was completely worth it though! The atmosphere was perfect and the food was amazing (first time having sushi since I've been over here).

Dinner: Round 1

And, Dinner: Round 2 at Fusion

Sunday morning, we woke up and went to St James Episcopal Church. It was an English church and was truly a beautiful service. Meredith and I both found ourselves with chills as we were walking out- completely moved by the service. I spent the whole day in Florence...had lunch with Meredith's family after church, played with the kids some, and (the best part) got a new leather jacket for part of my birthday present!! (Grazie Mommy!) I have been looking for a leather jacket for so long, and couldn't be happier that hadn't found one yet! I absolutely love it and I also fell in love with the store where I bought it. It is this great boutique called Anna in Piazza Pitti. They gave me the jacket without tax so I promised them that I would be back and would send everyone I know too! So spread the word...it's fabulous. Sunday night, Meredith and I cooked her mom's Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe for her family. It was so much fun and ended up being delicious- and luckily everyone else liked it too (we had our hesitations about introducing their very Italian family to our Asian cuisine!). I left Florence late Sunday night, so content after such a great weekend. I am so grateful to have Meredith just an hour and a half away.

Meredith and her adorable, camera-shy kids.