It's been too long...

Ok, first of all, sorry for the much to long of a break...I guess other things had my attention.  I suppose I will just look at that as a good thing, considering there was a time when I had enough time doing not much else to write many posts a day....so yay for being busy!!!

Let's see if I can sum up what has been going on in a shorter version than what I would usually write...so much.

So yes, we shopped at DSF.  A lot. More on that later.

Florence, Venice, Rome and Calabria were all wonderful places to be, a bit on the cool side, but it was refreshing, come to think of it, to be in scarves, coats, Uggs, etc. rather than flip-flops and tanks...although, don't get me wrong, I am overjoyed to once again simply be in cotton tanks with my little toes free from shoes!

Our hotel on Ponte Vecchio couldn't have been in a better location, simply wonderful and not too touristy and just lovely morning, day and night.  We found our own little favorite stomping ground at Golden View and O Bar, and were sad to say goodbye our final night after dinner.  We will return, for sure.  We saw all the essentials - Il Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Santa Croce, Ufizzi, Piazza della Repubblica, etc... - and some non-essentials, which we luckily just stumbled across.  Those are the best.  We took tons of pictures and videos and can't wait to share our journey with our families and friends in April back home in Boston.

Calabria was surreal, for me at least.  Being able to experience in some small way, the way Giuseppe and his family lived before moving to the States, their friends, family, experiences, surroundings, etc.  It is an imperative piece of knowledge for anyone to know their loved ones history and upbringing, and this brought much to light and also just reassured me of the many things I love to much about Giuseppe and his (now my) family.  His town is in the mountains, way up in a little place, seemingly cut off from the world, and yet, so beautiful and simple and organic, what an awesome place.  I am sure I will have to more to say on our experiences at a later time...

Venice and Rome were some quick pit-stops for us, and for al intents and purposes, were lovely small mini-journeys to have as well.  We got to family in Rome, which was so great, and some historical sites, like the Colisseum, which was awesome.  Old Rome is lovely, New Rome, not so much, but still an experience.  Venice was foggy and cold, but such a cool experience and had lovely pizza and went to San Marco, etc.  

All in all, I am in love with Italy, and will go back, and also, I am soooo happy to be home in Dubai, warm, warm Dubai.

Back to the DSF, we won.  We won 10,000 dhs. which is so great, considering how much we spent trying to win!!!  Yay!  We received raffle tickets for every 300 +/- dhs. we spent and one of our tickets was the winning ticket!  We were so excited, neither of us has ever won anything, so that was all worth the pain-staking stress of buying things!  Oh darn it, I LOVE SHOPPING!!!!

That is all for now, I will be sure to be back soon, like tonite or tomorrow, right now I am painting, and not feeling 100%, so just taking it easy.  Hope everyone is still checking back....please do!!!

xoxox d:)

Check out some new Italy pics on flickr!