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| Butt Roasts with dry rub, pre cooking :D - it was yummmmy |
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| Cupcakes were for the attendees and the cakes-in-a-jar were for a deployed Airman that we included in his package! |
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| Mini strawberry filled cheesecake bites - thank you pinterest :) |
On Monday, I went out to lunch with a co-worker of the hubs/a new friend of mine :) Then we met up with another new friend/co-worker and the three of us did some window shopping around town and ran some errands - they did their best getting me out of the house and I love em for that!!
On Wednesday, we got our HOMEGOODS SHIPMENT!!!! And let me tell you, our house was WRECKED from it. Every spare inch of space had boxes crammed or shoved. It, as most of you are aware, is our first PCS (Permanent Change of Station = Military ordered move) so the whole process of having someone else pack my belongings and trusting them to get to me in one piece was absolutely nerve-wrecking for me... and apparently for good reason. Of course the first things I went for were my beloved books. And I was quickly heated in discovering that these dumb bitches who packed it up put paperbacks with the pages up underneath hardbacks. Naturally, gravity will take over and the heavier item will smash the lighter items underneath, meaning, my paperbacks pretty much got destroyed. I mean, honestly, any normal, sane, non-book addicted human being would see nothing wrong. But to me, in my eyes, my books have been assaulted, injured, mistreated, and neglected and I'm not having it. They are now warped, pages bent, some slightly ripped, and will take weeks for me to press back into shape with PROPER weight distribution from heavier books. OKAY - rant over. In any case, I was very worried to see the rest of what these so-called "professional" movers' work looked like. I was most worried (after my books of course) what my "china" looked like (and for me china encomapsses all my nice dishes, servingware, pretty much anything glass, and most importantly - my wedding toasting flutes). Welllll... everything was fine! Although their packing techniques were absolutely RIDICULOUS, nothing was shattered or broken. So we're going to leave a lovely little review (and by lovely I mean angry, aggrivated, annoyed, and displeased) for them when we get their generic email about "please go to our site and rank our movers for your recent PCS..." blah blah blah.
Now on Thursday, my husband informed me that the guys were coming over on Sunday.
HOLD UP.
We just got 6000 pounds of homegoods, haven't opened anything but books, and you're telling me you want people over here. WTF. Men... gotta love em :)
Now my lazy ass has to rush this unpacking thing, because I'll be honest, I hate people seeing my house in any state of disarray (I know, I know... just wait til you have kids, right?!). In the past five moves we've made (all non-military related mind you... just college-related - ha!) I've taken up to a month to get every single box out of the house, because, let's face it, life is more important. I take my time. I go through every single photo album that gets unpacked. I go through every little thing that sparks a memory. I have to have every wire hidden so the wandering eye can't just see them sticking out. I'm freaking OCD. So rushing this thing wasn't something I was okay with. So all of Thursday and Friday, I unpacked. I cut open, I untaped, I broke down cardboard boxes, I stacked, I organized, I sorted... shit got done. My intention was to also spend all of Saturday and the morning of Sunday doing this as well, but my female friend I was telling you about earlier, she called me up and told me about this Friendship Festival in the town of Maniago and asked for me and my husband to be her "dates" - how sweet, right? I got the info from her about the festival, thought it sounded like a good time, and decided since we hadn't really gone anywhere new and fun in a few weeks that we should totally do it. I mean, I'd been working my ass off to make the house presentable for our weekly "Sunday Funday" so I felt I deserved a little Funday of my own :)
So, this festival, you're wondering about... well this is what the Aviano website says about it:
The 11th Italian-American Friendship Festival, hosted by the town of Maniago, begins at 2 p.m. at the Maniago Sports Center. The event celebrates the friendship between the two countries through music, food and sporting events.
"I strongly encourage Team Aviano to come out and celebrate the partnership we have with our Italian partners during the Italian-American Friendship Festival," said Brig. Gen. Scott Zobrist, 31st Fighter Wing commander. "The festival comes on the heels of the consolidated unit inspection and offers a great opportunity to relax and enjoy a free meal, while strengthening our friendship with our Italian hosts."
The schedule of events for the free festival is as follows:
- 2 p.m. - Soccer, beach volleyball and basketball tournaments and archery demonstration
- 5:30 p.m. - 9/11 remembrance ceremony featuring music by the Maniago Philharmonic Band
- 6:30 p.m. - Free food and wine in the Piazza Italia
- 7:30 p.m. - Martial arts demonstration
- 8 p.m. - Awards ceremony accompanied by music and dance performances
The festival will also feature Italian and American emergency vehicle static displays, a knife museum and paragliding demonstration.
At first, when the three of us got there (myself, my husband, and our female Airman friend) we were a bit skeptical about it, seeings how there were hardly any people there, but we made the most of what we saw and then soon realized that the majority of the happenings were located away from the Sports Center and in the town center. We made our way over and were pleasantly surprised. We saw some jets flying overhead just as we approached the center, and were lucky enough to hear the base commander giving a speech discussing our (American Airmen) joined efforts with the Italians and how we honor that relationship and value the joined services. Then the Italian commander gave a similar speech, also making mention of the remembrance of 9-11, and then both the Italian and American military members marched around the square behind an Italian military band. That was all followed by free food!! Of course the three of us made our way to the line as soon as we saw ladles and hair-netted old Italian women - and that stuff was yummmmm. They also had free local wine and water to accompany our meal, and then we visited the little stalls all in the center before heading out. The festivities continued on into the night, but we'd been walking and discovering Maniago for over five hours at that point, and were fully satisfied with what we'd done and were ready to end the night.
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| Two local Italian teams playing some good ole fashioned futbol :D |
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| My love and I getting ready to watch some basketball |
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| Me, the hubs being a goof, and our friend :D |
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| Candy stall in the town center - YUMMM |
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| Yummy Yummy in my tummy |
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| Perfect end to a perfect night :D |
I ended up finishing some last minute organizing/straightening the next morning while the hubs had to go into work for a few hours and by the time everyone got to the house, the place actually started feeling like home finally. I still have much more work to do, but having a good night with some friends, good food, and football makes the work worth it. Oh, and I've already planned the menu for next week - homemade chicken enchiladas, homemade guacamole, beans, and rice!! Come on over, it'll be tasty :D
So that was the past 10ish days in a nutshell. There's a Bazzar on base this weekend, so I'll probably be posting again in a week or so... stay tuned :)
Until next time...
So that was the past 10ish days in a nutshell. There's a Bazzar on base this weekend, so I'll probably be posting again in a week or so... stay tuned :)
Until next time...
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