sigh!...

after a kennel call...a nine hour road trip in the middle of the night fueled by caffeine (omg, i could *not* find a starbucks to save my soul)...a weekend at the girlfriend's awesome crib (goodness, we slept in our own **wing**!)...meeting SPF, oh yes we did!!!!!...one space shuttle launch...4 countries...14 decks of cruise ship fun...& endless hours of line dancing (you really didn't think i would incriminate myself with a photo of *that* now, didya??)...we are home, the laundry is caught up, the guest room is turned around...& for what!!?!!?...the next round of visiting~~


the soul sisters will come full circle next week (sadly, sans edwin & limos, but we'll make do!) i must say that even with all the busy-ness of this travel time, i am missing my blog-buddies! so watch out~~ i'll be droppin' by for a visit very soon!


catching up...with internet time on board the cruise at 55 cents a minute, i decided that the blog & blog hopping were on vacation too! not only was the travel happening, we also celebrated some important dates last week~~ Big Bro turned 16!!!! on a cruise ship~! (& no, he did not drive!) Baby Girl entered a new decade last week...celebrating the big 2-0, also on board the ship!& piacere celebrated a blogiversary~ june 3~ at sea! i want to give a shout-out to a few blogs who inspired me to begin piacere~~ i discovered blogs 3 years ago through several of my favorite authors, one of whom traveled to roma in 2006. in one of her posts, she mentioned bleeding espresso as a go-to for the italian life of an expat. one click & i was hooked! visiting sognatrice was more than a mere coincidence...as i read her '100 things about me' i realized that we had a bit more in common than just a love of all things italian going on...we grew up in the same area! it was the kick in my seat that brought me out of the lurk mode...i finally dropped a line to a blog author. turns out her mom & my husband used to work together!


around this very time i was stumbling through miscellaneous blogs still in the lurk mode & i found constance, SPF & corey. i distinctly remember thinking how wonderfully creative the blogosphere is & yet feeling so very intimidated. each day i would visit these 4 amazing women plus many, many more & finally something inside me said 'why not'! with sognatrice's help, i was up & running with my first post 3 june 2007!


shortly thereafter, shan welcomed me to the what's cooking wednesday crew (sorry, shan, for my shameful absence these last few weeks!) & frances to the she who blogs gang. it has been one wild & happy ride ever since! ladies please take a bow for your exceptional contributions to the blog world...y'all were my inspirations!


up soon...more reminisces from italia (i still need to give a nod to firenze e venezia!)~~ better get crackin' before that next trip...our roman language holiday redux in july!