home sweet home

in august i had the opportunity to go home for weeks. it was wonderful. i sent hannah off to college (she convinced me to get my nose pierced), i met my new niece, Harper Grace Wise, saw a college friend, and i visited with Eva Mae and Ali Paige. oh, i also spent numerous hours with my wonderful parents and two other sisters (only previously mentioned through their offspring). 

The end of summer!

Cait's sister, Liz came to visit. I visited Southern Italy, Calabria, for 5 days and I went to Cinque Terre. 

Palmi, Calabria

Cinque Terre

I forgot my birthday and a little something else. . .

My birthday was amazing! My friends made me dinner, bought me amazing presents and then took me our for some drinks. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

Drewbie came down for the occasion.

I also got my hair died, cut and colored.

I also had an allergic reaction. Not funny, but kind of. 

The beautiful view during my run, before I realized that I was going into anaphylactic shock.

Just hanging out in "the parking lot" with my emergency rooms.

Our Move

The girls and I found an apartment in San Niccolo.

Sam basically left us all summer to work at different day camps. We finally got to see her after what seemed like forever!

A Serious Hiatus

This will be an overwhelming next few posts. The last time I posted was about 4 months ago. So you will have to deal with an abundance of pictures and a lack of words. 

My friend, Brenden, came to visit. We went on a moto ride. Sarah and Brenden got into an accident. 

We met our neighbors and had them over for dinner. 

Cait and I walked around Florence and discovered a new area, while we were apartment hunting.

A week of Visitors

A lot has happened since my last post. Sam and Cait's friend, Christian left and then returned and then left again. 

 Nicole (a friend from Pepperdine) came to visit. Her younger brother, Patrick, just finished a year studying abroad through Pepperdine. Nicole and her boyfriend ,Jimmy,  came a week ago and then Jimmy had to return to work while Nicole is staying for another 2 weeks. 

On Saturday Sarah, Nicole, Jimmy, Patrick and I hung out all day. This week is cultural week, which means that every museum is free, so we took advantage and explored Palazzo Vecchio.

Then Nicole and Jimmy got engaged, while Sarah and I were packing for a sleepover at Elizabeth's (the pepperdine director) house. It was wonderful and weird, because Sarah and I had just talked to Nicole about it literally an hour before he proposed. 

We made them take mini-engagement pictures.

Then on Sunday we went to the beach. 

Today we enjoyed the beautiful weather in the Boboli gardens. Elizabeth made us a fantastic picnic!

I apologize for the long post, but like I said, a lot happened this week.