Rome - day 2

Let me tell you a little more about my trip to Rome...

When I was talking with the man from Susan G. Komen in Dallas he said that he found out that another woman from Lubbock was also going to walk in the Race for the Cure....
I contacted her and met her for coffee before the trip.
Linda is a breast cancer survivor who loves Rome and has been several times.  She is active with the Komen Race here in Lubbock.  She decided she wanted to go to the walk there and was taking her Aunt with her...

We planned to meet Linda on Sat. morning at her hotel and go from there...
I printed out the map showing the short walk from our hotel to hers.
It looked easy but due to the lack of street signs and such we never found it...
she called me and met us at a corner near the bus stop since we couldn't seem to get there...
as Jennifer said "if I can't read a map at home I'm not sure what made me think I could here..."

We took the bus to the Campo de fiori market and took in all the beautiful fruit, flowers and a few other random things for sale...

I could not believe the fruit and vegetable selection.  There was anything you could think of and more...

they had grapes that were as big as plumbs and one vendor had the cutest tiny strawberries, I had never seen anything like them...

I could only think how wonderful it would be to cook with this selection!  I wish I could take all of it home!

I had read about the zucchini flowers and how they stuff stuff them with cheese and deep fry...I wish I could have found them on a menu somewhere...

I hated to leave this market but we headed to Piazza Navona...

I'm not sure what all the police were doing there...

We left there and headed for the Pantheon....

We sat right in front of the Pantheon for a little snack and coffee... it was just perfect...

The Pantheon was amazing...
amazing that is almost 2,000 years old and still standing...
amazing that they knew how to make the dome so perfect and without supports that long ago...
amazing they are still using it as church...

We headed to another church near by...

Santa Maria Sopha Minerva was a beautiful church with a lot of art and history...

the first thing you notice when you go in is the statue of Our lady of the the Rosary....

It was so beautiful it prompted me to buy a rosary from the little man selling them there...

and also there is Michelangelo's statue of Christ with the cross

did I mention that this is a real Michelangelo?

We headed out for the Metro and went to see the Protestant Cemetery which is behind the

Pyramid of Cestius

Poets Shelly and Keats are buried here....

I love cemeteries... not sure why but I always have...

this crying angel was beautiful... I'd like this on my grave one day please...

Loved this. 

We left the very hot cemetery and headed to the Race for the Cure Village to meet Barbara from Komen Italia and pick up our shirts, etc..

Did I mention it was VERY hot... I had heard the high would be 79 but it felt like 99 with 300% humidity... or at least my hair looked like the humidity was that high the whole time we were there...that heat promted us to enjoy many $4 cokes, water bottles and one afternoon when we found a "slushy" thing I thought we had found the best spot in Rome!

Are you tired of this day yet?  This was the day that seemed to go on forever...and I'm leaving a lot of sights out for you...

We took all our goodies from the race area and dropped them off at the hotel and went to check out the hop on hop off bus and all the sights it had to offer...
We got off at the Spanish steps stop

headed to Trevi Fountain

where we each threw in coins to insure our return to Rome...

and after the best pizza ever we headed home, fell into the hard bed and dreamed of my cappuccino that would be delivered at 7 a.m.....

The rose's Sunday morning were just a beautiful bonus!

Rome- I didn't want to come home....

I keep thinking about what I want to write about the trip to Rome and I still don't know!
It still seems a little unreal. 
Does that sound crazy?
I know I was there
I know I enjoyed every minute of it
I know I came back with the pictures
but yet, it still seems a little like a dream..

Let me tell you all about it...or at least the first day or so...

I flew Lubbock to Dallas Tuesday morning...
Jennifer picked me up at the airport and took me to a favorite restaurant for lunch (Blue Mesa!)
We ran a couple of errands and then my sister took us to the airport.
We flew for a verrrrrry long time to Madrid.  I could not sleep on the plane.  I tried but just couldn't....
I watched a lot of other people sleep well...
Navigated a very confusing Madrid airport, changed planes and were soon in Rome...

We were greeted by a driver holding up a sign for us...

He took our luggage and walked VERY fast even with our bags...

That was just a preview for the really fast driving he was about to do...

He drove us to the perfect little hotel... Komen had made our reservation at Roma Boutique Hotel.

It was absolutely perfect for our stay... it was in an old building where they changed a floor into a small hotel with only 7 rooms....

It was right across from the American embassy also which made us feel safe.

Except for the very first day when we left the hotel and blaring from loud speakers inside the gates of the embassy was the message "Take cover.  This is an emergency.... Take cover"

We looked at each other, debated if we should be concerned and kept on going... hopefully it was just a drill or a mistake cause if it was a real emergency, we missed it...

We stopped for a snack on the way to our Vatican after hours tour....

I can't even begin to tell you how good that cheese was...

We made it to the Vatican, took the tour and learned more than any Baptist girl ever needed to know about the Vatican and all of it's Pope's...

Our tour guide had more knowledge of the vast amount of art there than we could have ever absorbed.

(I don't recall what this was but I believe she looked like the witch from Snow White to me...)

Our two hour tour turned to three and half and ended in with Jennifer possibly being in a little trouble for sitting on the steps of the Sistine chapel...and they don't let you take pictures in there...

We found a taxi after a bit of a search and soon fell into (a very hard) bed unconscious...

My favorite thing about the hotel was that they brought you a tray every morning. 



I'm still having withdrawals from the cappucinno and pastries being delivered every morning....

Tomorrow I will tell you about day 2...

School nurse....the best job ever

A hundred years ago when I graduated from nursing school, I never pictured myself as ever going into school nursing... I had always done adult nursing and loved it. But, after having kids and wanting to be off when they were it seemed a perfect fit in terms of schedule.
God placed a job I didn't really know I wanted right in my lap at just the right time!
I have been doing this for years now and now can't imagine ever doing anything else.

When we had to move to Lubbock I was sick about leaving my school but again, God put me in a great school a lot like the one I had been in before.  My office even looks the same!
Every year since I've been there, the staff has worn scrubs on Nurse's day in honor of me...

I don't have any scrubs anymore but I am sporting a lovely nurse's hat a student made for me...

The best part about Nurse's day every year is the cards I get from the kids

This one is pretty self explanatory - I safe lifes...

and as you can see from this one where it spells out "nurse Cara rocks" that I am really healthy and the king of nurses....

This is a kid I see all the time but, he simply thinks the Texas Rangers rock...

                                        and as you can see it's time to party for nurse's week

This might be my favorite this year...I was a little relieved that he doesn't love me in a bad way, no crushes here!!!

This is a little hard to read but he said "if it wasn't for you I would be sick"... his teacher pointed out the erased area because he first said he would be "screwed" without me...

I love my job! 

7 days, but who's counting?

Life is just busy the last couple of weeks.
There are many dance rehearsals, many choir rehearsals, all x 2 since both girls have them and never at the same time. 
This tends to make tired cranky girls.
It keeps me from playing as much as I'd like.  And by playing I mean taking walks, reading magazines, folding laundry, etc..I have things I need to do.

But yet, tonight when I did sit down, I somehow ran across a baking blog and spent a good chunk of time and now I would really like to go bake a few things...
If my friend Deana was here I would make this pie tonight...

Instead, I need to make a list of things I need to get/do before going to Rome one week from tomorrow.
In case you were wondering, the forecast for the day we get there is 'partly cloudy' with a high of 72 degrees.  Sounds perfect to me.

I've read this book cover to cover instead of going to sleep when I should the last few days...

Mike thinks I should be reading about the history instead...

I also read more about our hotel today and was glad to hear it is right around the corner from the American Embassy and there is a police station a couple of buildings down...
Funny that when I was a teenager in a foreign country I couldn't understand why it made my mom nervous or why she was so worried she wore one of the under the clothes pouches for our money and passports...
Jennifer is wearing it on this trip...
My Mississippi cousin called to tell me my trip was in danger... I googled it and sure enough, someone many years ago predicted that today Rome would have the big earthquake...
I sure am glad his prediction was off...But I feel a little safer knowing that if we do have a disaster we'll be by the Embassy...

Securing my position

My long term goal is to one day be the leader of all things crafty at a lovely assisted living center...
I feel like I have to continue to broaden my crafting horizons to be properly trained...

I have a sweet neighbor having a baby in October and we were talking about all the cute little crocheted hats out now for babies...
So, I googled it, watched some you tube videos and made her a sweet little pumpkin hat...Of course I failed to save a picture of it...

Needing a mother's day gift for the mother in law, I decided to do an Afghan...I quickly learned that you can buy a nice blanket cheaper than you can buy the yarn for one...
But, it turned out cute as crocheted Afghans go...

Lucky for me she's cold natured so maybe a blanket in May won't seem so crazy...

Cheese Enchiladas

One of our favorite places to eat in the Dallas area was El Fenix...
Not because it was the best Mexican or Tex-Mex food.  It is good.  And fast.  You order and it's out before you can put your menu down...
The reason I love it so is that we got used to eating it almost every Fri. night.  For years! 
The original old El Fenix is in down town Dallas and our good friends and family who live south of Dallas were regulars there and since it was half way between us it was a good meeting spot. 
It was the only place a party of 20ish could go and be seated right away.  We had our own waiter...
He knew our orders...
He saw of our kids grow up and we tipped him well since cleaning up behind the high chair crowd isn't easy...
When we were in Dallas a few weekends ago for a dance competition it's where Katie wanted to eat for her birthday.  Mike and I managed to eat there a second time for a quick lunch...

I scoured the Internet looking for a recipe for the cheese enchilada gravy since that is about the only cheese enchilada I like... and I found it.  It's not quite as good but I think that is because I had to cook it and didn't have chips and hot sauce with it... 

Cheese Enchiladas (El Fenix style) adapted from the homesicktexan

Chili Gravy

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp powdered garlic
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 T chili powder

2 cups chicken broth
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 4-5 minutes, or until it makes a light brown roux.

Add all the spices and continue to cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring and blending ingredients.

Add chicken broth, mixing and stirring until the sauce thickens.
Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Add extra water to get to adjust thickness.

To assemble enchiladas:
8-10 corn tortillas

2 cups shredded cheddar
Chopped onion optional

Microwave tortillas wrapped in damp paper towels for 30 sec.  ( I did this in small batches)
Place shredded cheese (and onion if using) in center of tortilla and roll up, place seam down in greased pan.

Con't till all are rolled up.  Pour gravy over top, sprinkle with extra cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees till bubbly.

Yum...

Birthday fun

We were all in the kitchen and heard Elvis going crazy...

Add birthday balloons to long list of random items he hates...

Since Katie doesn't care a thing about sweets (she didn't get that from me), I decided to try a new little cupcake bakery near by so we could try different flavors...

The Pina Colada was unbelievable! 

But I have a confession to make. 

When I was cleaning up, one of the kids had scrapped all the icing off of his strawberry cupcake

and I needed to taste the strawberry so I had to eat a bite. 

I feel like I might have reached a new low. 

 Eating discarded icing off of another persons plate.

Don't judge me....please...

We went out for a fun scavenger hunt.

My team won by the way

This picture made me a little sad.

This year they were just sitting there like they were going to drive somewhere

Next year they really can...

what a fun little group

Katie asked "how many candles did you put on there?"

guess 15 made her feel old

I had bought bubbles, hula hoops, frisbees, etc for them to play with outside because we were going to grill hot dogs.  After seeing one of the wild fires up close yesterday I remembered the burn ban we are under...
I had also bought stuff for smores...
instead of smores, they had a contest to see who could put the most marshmallows in their mouth.
I'll spare you the pictures of that and the aftermath....

Abbi's grandmother and I are already planning a combined party for them next year...
It's going to be fun!