The best laid plans...

Well today has been a bit of a, shall we say, disappointment.  I foolishly made plans for my husband's day off, we were gonna go here:

 

A FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL with some pretty art mixed in too...

(Check out this LINK it tells it way better than I do!)

ANYWHO... we were all geared up to set off to La Sagra del Frico in Carpacco (Udine), about a 45 minute drive from Budoia when the love of my life got a 10am call from his supervisor telling him he was expected to come into work at 2am - they mistakenly left him off the schedule for Sunday night. So not only did our day get canceled (boo), but now he has to work six straight days (double boo).  Eh... such is the way of a military life, right?  At least they didn't ask him to come in for his full 12 hour shift though.  I was grateful for that.

So... we made the best of it.  We did four loads of laundry on base, because we've yet to receive our promised appliances (washer, dryer, fridge, etc.).  Then we had lunch and did some light grocery shopping before hopping over to rent me season one of Scandal (I'm serisouly running out of things to do while he's at work and we've yet to receive our homegoods - not til September!!!!).  When we got home, we decided to do some yard work and lemme tell ya, mosquitoes are ca-ra-zy here!!!! But, we got the yard looking spiffy and the stairwell/back patio cleared of bugs and dead leaves from its un-use where the previous tennant moved out months before we moved in. Then I made the hubs dinner (fresh green beans, baked potato, steak, mushrooms and onions - YUM) and he got some rest before heading off to work!

Our "work-in-progress" yard!! :)  We have apple and plum trees in the back!!

I'm bummed that we haven't really done anything FUN!  I mean, we went to Pordenone last Saturday but I want to do something touristy!  I want to get that out of my system.  I want to see Venice up close and personal and experience ROME's history, and hit up fashion week in Milan, and do a little wine tasting in Florence, and go to Verona and SEE Romeo and Juliet's setting, and taste the AHmazing pizza that Naples is known for.  And when I've visited every Italian landmark, I want to explore France and Great Britain, Germany and Ireland, and beyond.  I know that we'll have plenty of time to do all this, but having been here for almost two weeks and having done almost nothing, I feel as if I could still just be back at home in my old room watching TV and cruising pinterest and facebook.

BUT I'm not.  I am here, with my wonderful, albeit overworked :] husband and for that I am more thankful than I could ever express.  So I can suck it up for now while he gets completely settled into his position, and I will make the most of it and be patient.  So I'm trying and I'm sure we'll get into a groove, and then we'll get to experience everything this fabulously beautiful country has to offer :)

- Side note - I JUST KILLED A GIANT SKITTERY, CATERPILLARY-SILVERFISH LOOKING CREATURE IN MY BATHROOM!!!!! HOLY SMOLEY I FEEL LIKE I HAVE THEM CRAWLING ALL OVER MY ENTIRE BODY AND THEY'RE HIDING UNDER MY COVERS AND FALLING IN MY HAIR.  AHHHHH I HATE BUGS ESPECIALLY FOREIGN LOOKING ONES!

Okay - I smashed it and left it for the hubs to pick up when he comes home from work :)  Moving on...

So since last post we've had some different types of pizza, though honestly I've yet to find a combination that I have absolutely fallen in love with.  So obviously, I just need to keep trying every pizza offered here :D  

prosciutto, carciofi, e funghi

We've also had lasagna, penne something or other, sushi, more gelato, some rustic chicken dish, and then some random fast food on base.  Overall I'm still waiting for Italy's food to knock my socks off.  I dunno if I've been spoiled by getting authentic home-cooked Italian recipes passed down from my grandmother or what, but so far, nobody can hold a candle to my mom's food.  Guess me and the husband need to hit up some more places (of course that'll have to wait until this 6-day work week is over with!)

lasagna from Western House

Kaiten Sushi

I'm hoping that he's not too exhausted after this week to do something fun this coming weekend.  There's this local project thing called "Strada dei castelli e dei sapori" which literally translates to "Road of castles and flavors."  Basically every weekend from May to October, the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (where we reside, where most of our friends/coworkers live, where the base falls in, etc.) is doing a psuedo-community awareness project where they're encouraging locals to open their eyes to the beauty that they drive or walk past everyday.  So for 6 euro per person, you get a tour guide and your pick of a castle in the region.  This weekend their doing a tour of Castello di Villalta in Fagagna (Udine) about 45 minutes from where we live.  It looks AHmazing on the site (click the link - go check it out!), and I bet it's absolutely breathtaking in person!!  I REALLY hope he's up for it and that we get to go!!  Hopefully our friends will join in the adventure with us too!

I'm definitely still adjusting to the way things work here.  I'm still scared shitless of the drivers (my husband included these days!) and extremely intimated to drive at all.  I should be getting my AFI driver's license this Tuesday if all goes according to plan (which I'm learning quickly not to anticipate all going the way I want it to :D) but I honestly don't know how long it'll be until I feel comfortable driving at all, let alone by myself.  All in due time, I'm sure.  On a positive note, I haven't blown the breaker in a few days!!  I think I understand the system and realize how not to overload it.  I am worried that once our stuff gets here we'll have to manage what things operate at what time though; we can't play the xbox in the living room and watch TV in the bedroom at the same time!?!  We'll figure it all out eventually - trial and error, right?

Anywho... It's late (well early, really) and I'm sleepy so... until next time lovely readers :)