"Did the whole place for forty seven dollars" -Ted

Oh Ikea... how we love you!

After watching Ted, we realized it was time to go to Ikea...

Seeing as how Ikea is Swedish, there had to be some around here! We found it a few days ago, but they were closed for an Italian holiday. Cayman says they need to broadcast these days so we don't waste time our precious American time by going into public on them (everything is closed!). So we made our way back to the beloved Ikea after shopping around online and picked up a few things for the house.

A fake Persian area rug! Cayman looked at real ones at a market, unknowing of the price... come to find out they're about $3,000 for a small one! We'll stick with Ikea's!

And so it begins...

Cayman- hard at work!

We both are tired of throwing our jackets and coats on the ground of on door handles, so we figured we'd get a coat rack! How European of us!

We picked up some posters in Rome and again in Paris. Finally framed and ready to be hung!
We finally have an entertainment center! Before it was just: TV on the ground with a pile of cords next to it. This looks so much nicer!!!! 

While Cayman was slaving away on the entertainment center, I made dinner! Sautéed chicken with Italian herbs and olive oil and yellow rice and black beans for sides! 

We picked up an area rug, a coat rack, entertainment center, coffee table, end table and three large poster frames for around 350 Euro! The house with be complete by the time I leave!

Christmas has come and gone...

It's now the 28th of December and Christmas spirit has come and gone! We didn't do much this year since we (me) are wanting to save money (aka I don't have any). Next year, we'll have a nice Christmas with lots of gifts under the tree since I'll have an awesome new income!

Cayman scored and got me the Chanel perfume I've been drooling over! Fancy, Fancy! He said he couldn't remember which one I liked, so he smelled them all and picked which one he liked! He even called it "Grown Up Bree." Always nice to have a man with taste and one that likes what I smell like! I picked out a few things for a couple's photo-shoot I want to do. I got a cute matching bow tie and suspenders set from H&M here in Italy and an American Apparel jacket that he desperately needed!

We decided to just fill stockings, which was an easy way to keep cheap (kind of!). I ordered our custom stockings on Etsy.

Sorry for the picture on the ground... I managed to put away all our decorations today!

Preparation

67 days until I arrive at Basic Officer Training in Alabama. Just enough time to do INSANITY 60 DAYS! I feel like a spokesperson for their product, but after day two, I am feeling it. 

Day one was a basic (yeah... okay!) fit test to see where you are and to begin your chart for progess. After waking up the next morning, I almost felt like giving up. Then I realized I actually am doing this for something VERY important. I am doing it for me... but I am also doing it to prepare myself for the physical torture I will endure in training. 

(and who doesn't want a bangin' bod in the winter!)

Day two, Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Once again, Insanity, you have made me drip sweat. I thank you for that. 

Here are a few pictures after my workout and maybe to help me gage my progress. 

The Great Outdoors!

Being outdoors is something we both love and I am eternally grateful for that common denominator! We've gone hiking, rock climbing (I attempted), and just general explorations of where we live around Italy.



We spotted this guy on the road when we were heading home. This is a spotted salamander, they normally live in wooded areas and come out when it rains a lot. This was the first week I was here and it rained a lot! He was rather creepy and walked similar to an alligator.

[caption id="attachment_300" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Hiking in Dardago[/caption]

We hiked to a climbing area in Dardago. When we got there we found this pooch patrolling the cars, we thus named him Brutus. Brutus followed us all the way up the mountain, effortless climb for him, extreme death climb for me.







 

In my attempt to be in shape, I promised myself that I would run down the mountain every day. Well, I've been here a month and a half and I've done it... twice.

So this is what the end of the run looks like! Then I had to run/walk back up the mountain to our house, which is only about a mile and a half, but the incline is really steep.

Life in Italy

Well, it has been almost a month and a half since I've been here in Italy and I absolutely love it! I love being with my husband, I love being in Italy, I love traveling all over Europe, I love making new friends, I just love it!

I flew in from JFK in New York to Rome, Italy. I was supposed to fly into Venice (which is an hour south of where Cayman lives but the flights were all booked). So Rome it was! After flying to South Korea twice, this flight was a breeze! There was more turbulence, but I obviously made it okay!

My experience in the Rome airport was rather disturbing... I felt like everyone in Italy was allowed to carry guns freely and got many weird looks since I was sitting in the same spot for over 6 hours.

Once we got back to Aviano, which is where he is stationed, we relaxed and met up with some new friends! It's weird meeting people in real life after knowing/talking to them on Facebook for months.

[caption id="attachment_293" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Took this the first weekend I was here in Italy, we live on this mountain.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_295" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Hiking up the mountain, find out this is why the road has been closed.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_296" align="aligncenter" width="201"] We went to Lake Barcis (which is a glacier fed lake) with a few friends! It was too cold for this Florida girl![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_294" align="aligncenter" width="206"] Stopped off the road to get some PDA in.[/caption]

Lake Barcis, Italy