The countdown is on!

Oh gosh. Just a week from today, my trip to Italy with my parents and sister is coming! It's come up so fast, I can't believe it. (I could have sworn it was just October when my dad forwarded me the email confirmation of the hotel booking in Rome.) But I'm so excited-- the last time I went was in grade 12 for a school trip! We'll be visiting Rome, Venice, and Florence all in ten days time. As a result of stalling over the last week, all this week I will be packing, packing, packing. I did get myself a pair of nice sandals the other day, comfortable enough to walk around in for ages. I just hope the tan lines from the straps won't be too severe!

I, of course, can't wait for the food experience; what ever I may be eating over there, I can't fathom just yet. I love looking at the art and beautiful scenery, but I also will love sitting in an outdoor cafe sipping my macchiato and watching the world go by. It sounds corny, but there's nothing nicer than that!

Except for the gelato.

This trip will give me a great opportunity to hone my photography skills; I'll be sure to take some awesome food photography as well, because I have been lax lately. Well, except for this grilled cheese sandwich I made a few weeks ago:

I used cinnamon raisin bread and added sliced apples with (real) cheddar cheese, and it turned out to be pretty darn good. I found the recipe in a magazine a few years ago and scoured the net for it, alas with no luck. But it's easy enough to make solo, and how can one go wrong with grilled cheese?

The weather down here just can't seem to make up its mind as to whether (haha) it should stay warm or go cool! Some days it has been warm enough for shorts and iced drinks; other days it has been cool enough to want to stay in doors and drink tea! Aahh, silly Canadian weather. We've also been getting a lot of rain and thunder showers. The rain sounds lovely and relaxing, but the thunder that is accompanied tends to scare one of my pooches, and he hides in the basement. During the school year when things were getting ridiculously loud in the residence I was living in and needed to work, I put on my head phones and listened to this. It helped considerably! As did this to take me away from the dead of winter/school, and into a tropical paradise.

I took these pics outside of my bedroom window during a sun shower on Thursday, because I loved the colour of the sky.

I was fiddling around with my camera at the same time I took the pics further up, and these came out! How fascinating and mysterious. I believe I had my camera set to manual when I took these....

Before I sign off, I have to show this. Some of you may have seen this commercial on television waaaaaay back in the day.... But at long last IT HAS COME ON YOUTUBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alrighty, take care now!

~M.

(and guard that sandwich with your life!)