When 3 Blondes Tour Italy

I'm currently recovering from post-best-week-ever-depression as my best friends have touched back down in America following their week in Italy. We planned this trip not long ago, in July actually, as I purposely got them both drunk and shoved the orbitz.com website in front of their face and convinced them to never look back. We decided Thanksgiving time was perfect, as they would need to take less time off than a normal week, and in that moment of vulnerability they both booked flights to Venice and the rest was history. I've been awaiting their arrival since I got here and have constantly been referring to our guest room solely as "Brie & Alison's Room". 

I had high hopes for this trip, I'll be honest. But I've traveled enough to know there are always hiccups, problems & drama and when three girls are together non-stop for a whole week, it's never easy. However, I can honestly say their time here went smoother than I ever could've imagined. We had an absolute blast 24 hours a day for 7 complete days.  It's extremely accurate to say you don't know someone until you've traveled with them, and luckily I've put in miles around the world with both of these girls and can say whole-heartedly that they are two of my favorite people on this planet and we made the perfect trio.

The girls arrived last Saturday and we spent the first night in Venice. My favorite thing to do is go in and out of all the little bars and try different wines & cicchettis (Venetian tapas) so I brought them to a few of my favorite spots & we hit a fresh pasta stand I've been wanting to try forever (It was here that Brie first referred to her food as"the best thing she's ever eaten", which she would subsequently repeat after every meal on the trip). 

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten"

The next day we woke up and headed back into Venice. When you visit Venice, it's imperative that you see the city in both the day and nighttime, as you really can't appreciate it until you've witnessed each. Brie, in her later years, has developed motion sickness, and we almost lost her on the bus ride into town. Unfortunately, the mix of body odor, claustrophobia & a potentially intoxicated bus driver didn't sit well with her but she bounced back quickly upon our arrival and was good to go. We had an amazing day bopping around, drinking sangria & prosecco and rejecting multiple offers for purchasing selfie sticks and fake louis vuitton to the point where we wanted to physically harm the next person who attempted to seek our patronage. After half a day on the island, we went back to my house and headed to D's game. The girls loved seeing how crazy the Italian fans were, and D had an amazing MVP performance with 15 points and a few huge 3's to win the game at the last minute. 

I totally took one for the team and compromised looking absolutely ridiculous with this selfie stick for the sake of a great photo opp.

Monday morning we caught a 6 AM train to Rome. Aside from being sat across from a certified psychopath who continuously licked his lips and poked himself in the face, it was a successful trip. I was most excited about this leg of our travels because it had been 8 years since I was last in Rome and wanted to see if I'd like it better the second time around. When we arrived to check into our hotel room, it was brought to our attention that I had accidentally booked our room for the following day. The man at the front desk told me there was nothing he could do for me and that I'd have to pay for both that night, and the next night that we wouldn't be there for. After a few charismatic exchanges, he told me to have a seat and that he would go speak with the manager (for a second time). Five minutes later we were summoned to the counter and told that they would not only not charge me for the second night, but also upgrade us to the executive suite and offer us a free mini bar. We aren't sure why Emmanuel had the sudden change of heart but we were confident that Rome was off to a fantastic start.

The Coliseum!

We spent the day drinking prosecco while wondering back and forth to all the tourist sites. I have no idea why I wasn't blown away with Rome the first time around because I absolutely loved it this trip. I think after traveling so many places, as opposed to my first trip to Italy straight out of high school, I have a completely different appreciation for places I visit and I felt like I owed Rome a huge apology for my ambivalence towards it all these years.  That night we had a fabulous dinner in Trastevere, the young locals-only part of Rome,  and decided to explore the area after.

We randomly popped into a hipster looking bar and were told right away by a young Italian that the bartender was the best in the city. After talking with him about further bar recommendations, he suggested a speakeasy about 10 minutes way and handed us a paper with the password, a few surrounding landmarks and gave Brie the directions on how to walk there. After assuring me she understood where we were going, she suddenly forgot everything he said as soon as we got outside. Somehow, we miraculously were stopped by roughly 10 Italians who asked if they could help us find our way. We would then hand them our random post-it note and they'd point us somewhat in the right direction. We have no idea how but we ended up in front of a random door and decided it looked like a great place for a speakeasy. After ringing the doorbell and uttering the password, we walked inside a greasy hallway full of trash cans and knocked at the first door we saw. When we were finally let in, we looked around and realized we were clearly the only ones in there who didn't have "My Chemical Romance" lyrics tattooed on our wrists and start doubting our dear bartender friend's recommendation. Regardless, I went to the bar and ordered my favorite cocktail, to which the bartender replied "you're kidding me right? those don't even go together". Super. After getting our drinks and retreating to an isolated corner of the bar, Brie managed to somehow drop her glass within seconds of us getting there and we all watched in horror as it shattered onto the ground. Assured that it was one of the grumpy bartender's great grandmother's ancient china, we officially wanted to die and couldn't leave that place fast enough. We apologized endlessly, paid and sprinted to the nearest cab.

Seriously, this was the speakeasy entrance.

The decor was really beautiful.

The next day we took a tour of the Vatican and developed a love/hate relationship with our dear guide, Angelo. Angelo clearly didn't take his ADD medicine that morning which thankfully made it much easier to stay awake throughout the tour. All jokes aside, it was an amazing tour and the Sistine Chapel was just as memorable and breathtaking as the first time I was there. After our tour we caught the train to Florence and I was excited for a slower change of pace. We had an amazing dinner (yet again) and called it a pretty early night. The next day we toured the sites, did some shopping in the leather market, and headed back to Venice for Thanksgiving preparation.

Vatican City!

Florence Duomo!

We spent Thanksgiving day cooking and I was so happy to have the girls with me as I'm usually alone cooking for a dozen basketball players and really missing my family. We brought our dishes over to one of D's teammates house and had an amazing night with a group of his teammates and their families. This year, I was so thankful to not only have my best friends in Italy with me, but to also have a new group of wives to hang out with that I get along with so well! 

Our Thanksgiving Crew! So thankful for them <3

Friday morning we headed to the Island of Burano, which has been on my "to-do" list since I arrived.  Knowing it would be a 40 minute boat ride from Venice, we decided it would be best to handle Brie's motion sickness ahead of time. It was a blast playing charades to the pharmacist, as I was acting out a scene in which I'm on a boat and suddenly feel the need to vomit overboard. Call it my 10+ years of acting lessons, but clearly I nailed the performance and in no time Brie was popping the Italian version of dramamine (which we didn't think to google until after she had taken it). Anyways, Burano is a small island off of Venice famous for it's colorful homes and handmade lace. It is more beautiful than I've seen in pictures and looks straight out of a Dr. Seuess book. It was the perfect last day to wrap up the girl's trip and we finished the night having dinner with D at our favorite pasta restaurant in Mestre. 

Unfathomable that a place like this actually exists

 

Overall it was the best week ever and I am hoping this fun-filled post inspires more of my friend to book a trip and come see me! I'm grateful the girls forfeited their Thanksgiving with their family members and that their families allowed them to do so.  This Thursday, I head to Florida for two weeks for an early Christmas celebration with my family and I can't wait to see everyone.

During this holiday season I feel so grateful for all the wonderful people in my life, my loving family, amazing friends, hardworking husband & the opportunity to live in and experience this new country. Hoping everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving and that we can all continue to feel that gratitude from each day forward. 

Visitors Galore!!

It's been a super crazy few weeks here with the anticipation of our visitors arriving! Last weekend, D's parents, sister and her fiancé all came to visit us to celebrate my father-in-law's 50th Birthday. We had such a blast. Since D had two-a-day practices, I was solely in charge of the group activities. First, we went sightseeing around Venice and took a gondola ride that was beautiful (regardless of our candy-crush-addicted-gondolier who couldn't seem to put his phone away). Total atmosphere-kill, dude. The next day we went into Treviso, a nearby city that is really beautiful to shop and walk around in. On Sunday morning, we woke up and drove an hour and a half into Bologna where D was having an away game. We went early to be able to check out the city center before the game and I was pleasantly surprised by what a cool town it was. Whenever we travel around Italy, we always ask ourselves if we would like to live in that place, and my first impressions of Bologna were that I could definitely enjoy living there.  Luckily, we left early to head the 10 miles to the arena because it ended up taking us over 2 hours to get there!!! It was absolutely insane traffic and any well wishes and thoughts I had about Bologna were thrown out the window with my sanity.

This must have been during the gondolier's 30 second gaming hiatus

First night! Celebrating Virgis' 50th

With my Sister-in-Law

The arena in Bologna was really cool and a great atmosphere to play in. Unfortunately, we somehow got seated in front of the biggest idiot of all 11,000 humans in attendance and it took every fiber of my being to not turn around and punch him in the face. Amid forty solid minutes of him (purposely) screaming in my ear and throwing his hand in my face, I found composure in closing my eyes and imagining the next day's headlines reading "crazy american basketball wife goes to jail for hitting opposing team's fan" and after a quick pro/con balance, I decided to keep my hands to myself. We were down most of the game but ended up coming back and winning at the end and a simple smile to my friend behind me at the buzzer couldn't have felt any sweeter.

Not Pictured: Huge Idiot Behind Me

We had such an amazing time celebrating my father-in-laws birthday with their first trip to Italy and were super excited to surprise him with a car waiting for him back home. Overall we had a great visit together and I'm always amazed at how we can seem to communicate just fine in spite of our difficult language barrier. 

Now I'm anxiously awaiting my two best friends who arrive on Saturday for a week of sight seeing & debauchery!!! I'm so excited that they'll be here to celebrate Thanksgiving with me because it's usually a pretty bittersweet occasion over here. We have a big group of large, hungry basketball players to cook for so I hope they're ready to throw down in the kitchen. I'm sure my next blog post will be filled with hilarious & inappropriate anecdotes, so I'll be sure to keep tabs on them all.

Wishing everyone a happy & gracious Thanksgiving holiday filled with great food and quality time with family and friends (I know I'll be missing mine).  

Life Lately

Artsy Photo Cred to D for this one

I keep catching myself slipping on my blog and I realize I need to be more on top of my shit over here. Let's look at what's been happening lately.

• D's team is now 3-1, woot woot! There only loss was to Armani Jeans Milan a team who's name I'm severely jealous of, as their President is Giorgio himself (who also sits front row at each game).
• I've started back up taking my Lithuanian lessons and although in the past I've constantly chastised D for not coming from a country with an easier, more common language (i.e. France, Spain, Mexico), I'm now super grateful for it. I'm proud to say I'm now successfully at the point where I can make fun of numerous people in D's native tongue and I rarely have to worry about anyone else understanding. It reminds me of the time my best friend and I learned "Jibberish" in Middle School and felt like such badasses telling each other secrets in front of our parents.
• WHAT IS UP WITH ITALIAN BUSINESSES BEING CLOSED AT ALL TIMES? I do not understand this. Restaurants are often closed Mondays, occasionally Sundays and Tuesdays and often in the middle of the day as well. Sure, the idea of a several hour siesta period in the middle of the day is enticing, however it gets super old when you find yourself unable to find an open restaurant for a late lunch. This shit wouldn't fly in America. Some call it greedy, we call it capitalism, but no matter what you call it, you are damn right in America you can find somewhere to eat at 2 pm. On a positive note, I know for a fact Italian businesses would not force their employees to be working on Thanksgiving (if they celebrated it), something that truly makes me sick in America. 
• Deividas convinced me we had a rosemary bush in our front yard and that I didn't need to purchase any at the store for the chicken I was going to roast. Note to self: Even if it looks like rosemary, smells (kind of) like rosemary, it IS NOT necessarily Rosemary. The result was several Christmas Tree Stuffed Cornish Hens. Last time I EVER take foliage advice from D. 
• In the states, I often think the more homeless you look in the gym, the better. You're not getting cred in the weight room with curled hair and a matching lululemon two piece. Guess it's different here in Italy, as I've been getting some unkind attention while wearing my oversized Tupac tee by girls looking like they're about to model the Yoga Line in the Victoria Secret Fashion Show. Swear to God I even saw a belly chain making an appearance on the Stairmaster last week.

  

  Clearly it sucks living here

• I completely understand why Americans so often get a bad rap as tourists over here. Last night, D and I drove just over an hour away, to Verona, for dinner. We had the unfortunate displeasure of sitting next to perhaps the most obnoxious American tourist I have ever encountered. He was in his mid 30's, I'm guessing, and was traveling with his girlfriend, parents, and another older couple. Not sure if he had read the most Rick Steves' Travel Guides of all his co-travelers, or if he actually had some sort of knowledge of  Italy (highly unlikely after listening to him for an hour), but he had clearly nominated himself to be the HMF (head mother fucker for those of you who don't know my mom's self-given nickname) of the trip. He spoke zero Italian but felt the need to order for everyone in the group (although the menu was in English), and he made a short speech whenever a plate was delivered to the table. "Now here we have some meats on the left, cheeses on the right, and an assortment of vegetables in the middle". Unless I missed Ray Charles seated at his table, his commentary could not have been less warranted, or informative. After praising himself for ordering two liters of "WATER NATURAL-AY" at a time, as his group was most likely very dehydrated from their day of site-seeing and he would rather them not have to wait after quickly finishing the first one, it was then time for a fun edition of Family Feud! The category, you ask? He challenged his fellow travelers " to name the elements of making a perfect potato salad" and they took turns yelling out which factor they believed to be most influential in the dish's success (he had watched a show about the science behind potato salad making and was over the moon when no one guessed the vinegar as the difference maker). Honestly, you can't make this shit up and I was embarrassed to even be from the same planet as this man. YOU'RE RUINING IT FOR US NORMAL AMERICANS, SIR.

  

  Verona, Italy. Home to Romeo & Juliet and the most obnoxious Midwestern Tourist on the planet.

• We had the most fabulous anniversary dinner at the Amal Grande Hotel where Amal Alamuddin just married some male actor (still can't get enough of that headline). After getting lost several times, we found ourselves outside of a large fenced in garden with a bell to ring. The gates opened and we walked into this empty palace with tuxedoed employees everywhere. We were lead upstairs to an incredible (and empty) dining room and spent the dinner being waited on by a staff of 10. It was honestly something out of a movie and a night I'll never forget. 

  

  Literally out of a dream.

  
  
  
• We found the most amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurant not far from our house. I 100% judge a restaurant at first impression, by their patrons and I knew right away this one was promising. Seated next to us was a table of badass Jack-Nicholson-esque Italian men with thick frame glasses, crushing bottles of Chianti and playing cards. Immediately I knew we had nailed it. We had the most incredible Seabass Ravioli & Gnocchi Bolognese. At the end of the meal, the owner was passing around a mason jar full of truffles that he had just gotten in, of everyone to smell. My plan is to frequent this place and eventually offer to wash dishes in return for an internship.

  

  Had to get a picture of this crew... Seriously I wanted them to invite me to eat with them so badly.

  

  And I will never be the same after this. Pretty sure there's crack in the sauce.

• We had a free couple hours last week and I forced D to drive me up to Prosecco Road, where most of the Prosecco vineyards are. It was such a pretty drive and I can't wait to go back and do some tastings.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Deividas family is visiting us a week from Thursday and I am SO excited! They have never been to Italy and I can't wait to finally have some visitors!

Well, I'm afraid that's all I've got for now. As always, thanks for reading!

"Il Dolce Far Niente" The Sweetness of Doing Nothing

Because D constantly has away games every other week or so, I'm always stuck with plenty of alone time. A lot of wives hate this aspect of being married to an athlete but I've grown to love this time to myself. Usually I spend it indoors, working on my business, reading books and doing things that I can't always get around to with D here. I promised myself that I'd take advantage of this time this season to push myself to go explore Venice by myself and last weekend I did just that.

They say the best way to discover Venice is by getting lost so that's just what I intended to do. On my walk around the city, I found some amazing hidden gems (including the most beautiful bookstore in the world- see below). As Venice is nearly impossible to navigate by map or GPS, you really just wing it when walking around. Your only hope at not getting completely lost are the small signs instructing you on where to walk for some of the city's biggest tourist attractions. Unfortunately, these signs tend to be quite ambiguous (my personal favorite are the ones that show arrows pointing you to go multiple directions).  I've kind of learned my way around, but luckily for me my husband is the world's best navigator (cough, cough, isn't every man?). Anyways, the absolute beauty in Venice lies in "Il Dolce Far Niente", the sweetness of doing nothing. Grabbing cicchetti (Venetian tapas) and a glass of prossecco, and sitting by the canals people watching. Life is good.

Truly the most beautiful bookstore in the world.

"Acqua Alta", meaning high tide

They keep all the books in bath tubs/gondolas to protect them from high tide

Seriously felt like I was in Hogwarts for a minute

Some other awesome/hilarious things that have happened lately...

• I found an amazing gym close to my house. It's owned by the Virgin Records/Airline company and is probably the nicest gym I've ever seen. Not to mention they sell glasses of Prosecco for 2 euro (seriously prosecco is cheaper than water in this city) just in case you feel like getting hammered after  a nice leg workout. Unfortunately, like in a lot of European countries, they look at women weird when they are in the weight room and not spending their entire workout on a treadmill or cardio machine. A man even had the balls to tell me to lift less weight (epic).
• D won his first home game 74-57 !! He played an amazing game, scoring 14 pts and kicking ass on defense. Anyone who has sat next to me during any sporting event (especially when D is playing) knows I get temporary Tourette Syndrome and yell the most profane comments.  Like I honestly don't even know where I come up with this shit. Luckily, I have picked up some Russian cuss words and now use those as my go-tos in hopes that those around me don't understand.  After the game, we went to eat with a few of D's Italian teammates who described the restaurant saying "we will eat chicken and a lot of beer on table. Perfect.)
  
• They are absolutely obsessed with dogs here. There is literally no rules on where you can bring your dogs and you constantly see them all over the grocery stores/ in shopping malls. I bring Tucker to the cafe around the corner and he's become quite the celebrity (his confidence is through the roof). 
• Finally had Neapolitan style Pizza and it rocked my world. Struggling to find that balance between wanting to eat everything in site and fitting into the amazing Italian clothes I'm seeing. 

  

  Cicchetti. You are so good, dammit. 

So far loving every second of living here and can't wait to see more .

XOXO

A Night in Firenze

Takin it to the next level with the Selfie Stick

Last week D had a very rare two days off so we decided to take an overnight trip to Florence. Italy was one of the first countries I visited abroad, when a girlfriend and I went days after graduating high school, and Florence really stuck out to me as my favorite Italian city we went to. I was pretty excited to get back there with D who had never been.

Now, as much as I'm a dog lover fanatic, I'm not the type to take my dog on vacation.. or to the grocery store..  or the mall, etc. But here, we don't really have the luxury of leaving Tucker with friends or family for a night, so wherever we go, he goes as well! Tucker lives quite the life. He's lived on three continents and six countries in his short seven year lifespan. Most people would kill for this dog's life.

He's kind of a rockstar...

Florence was just as beautiful as I remembered, but absolutely flooded with tourists (as is Venice this time of year). There are so many study abroad programs in the city, that I'm sure the comfortability of hearing English everywhere is what attracted me so much to Florence on my first trip here. Now, after living overseas for a few years, I'm more used to not understanding the language, and it I actually prefer places with less expat crowds.

I'll take one of everything

We hiked to the top of the Palazzo Michelangelo for the most amazing view of the city. My approach to getting D to hike/do anything remotely active on his day off is to keep him completely in the dark about whatever plan I have. Once he finally caught on that we'd been steadily going uphill for a few minutes, I promised him a beer at the top and he took one for the team. The view was absolutely worth it.

View from the top!

For dinner, we went to this really authentic Italian place my cousins had suggested. They only offer two seatings a night and it's so packed that you're practically giving a lap dance to the people next to you. I could see this working out fabulously if you had a social pair of guests on either side to enhance the already awesome, all-you-can-drink deal with. Unfortunately, we were stuck next two a couple that appeared to be on a blind date and would rather hang buy their toenails than utter a word to one another. Regardless, it was a really neat experience and I ate far more than I want to ever think about again.

Ponte Vecchio

Perhaps the highlight of our trip was this amazing hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop we found on TripAdvisor. The place is literally he size of a master bathroom and consistently has a line out the door at any hour of the day. We had the most incredible sandwich of prosciutto, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella,  oil and vinegar and some sort of truffle spread. It was one of those life-changing meals that I think I'll crave for the rest of my physical existence.

so much yes.

Our trip was too short (as always), and I'm anxious to get back to Florence again sometime while we're here. I feel so lucky that we can just hop in the car/train and travel to all these incredible cities. D was gone this weekend for an away game and I seized the opportunity to go walk around Venice by myself (will tell ya all about it on the next blog post). I really have to pinch myself that I live in such a beautiful place and I can't wait to discover more about it. Until then, I'll continue to post about my whereabouts and hopefully take enough beautiful pictures to convince you all to come pay me a visit! XOXO

Is it me or does coffee just taste better out of a Gucci mug..?

Tucker admiring one of Michelangelo's finest works

Wake Me Up.. I Live Here?!

All I can say is, WOW. The last 24 hours have been a complete whirlwind. After packing my life up into two suitcases, I was en route to Venice! D and I had been apart for over 6 weeks, so I was so ready to be back with him. After a surprisingly mellow plane ride over and a quick layover in Zurich, I had arrived! My handsome husband was there, flowers in hand, to get me and I couldn't have been happier.

Our house isn't far from the airport and just driving the 10 minutes through the countryside I couldn't stop talking about how much I already loved Italy (D laughs because I can always make my mind up about a place within roughly 3 minutes).  This was just my second time in Italy, having been about 7 years ago on my first Eurotrip, but I had forgotten how absolutely beautiful it was. Our house is in Mestre, the mainland area of Venice, located about 15 minutes from the canal areas. When I asked D about our house, he just said "well theres a lot of halls and rooms everywhere" and I didn't understand what he meant until I got here. I feel like we live in a labyrinth and although it's not big, I still have gotten lost several times. It's quite different from the "open concept" living Americans love. 

Our neighborhood is really cute filled with a lot of charming, old Italian style villas, while ours is the only one that looks like it could be taken out of any city in America (go figure).  I'll post more pictures of the interior after I get it looking like it hasn't been a bachelor pad for the past six weeks (which it has). Don't worry, I'll include shots of the epic Austin Powers couches in the living room that look like they were hijacked from a Miami nightclub. Anyways, I am in love with our neighborhood. There are so many cute restaurants and bars and we are a quick walk to the Mestre center which has a mall, and a beautiful downtown area. 

Our new home.. the labyrinth.

A gorgeous Church on our street

Love this cafe around the corner <3

After getting settled in last night, we decided to go into Venice for dinner. There's a train that runs right from our city into the Venice area but we decided to drive instead. We parked our car and D lead me around the 400 bridges and dark sketchy corridors into the most beautiful city I've ever seen. I'm not sure what I was on the first time I came to Venice to not remember this feeling, but I was left completely speechless this time around. It was a totally surreal experience, being with D in this gorgeous place and thinking "holy shit.... we actually live here". I'm so overwhelmed with gratitude thinking about how lucky we are that D gets paid to do what he loves and that basketball has taken us to live in some pretty incredible places. (Side note: Screw Paris.. Venice is the most romantic city on Earth.)

I mean....there are worse places to live

Could there possibly be a more beautiful place to eat?

We stopped for Cicchettis (Venetian version of tapas) and wine in a small hole in the wall restaurant where I was almost moved to tears after tasting the best meatball of my life (sorry Mom). Those of you who know my Mom understand my absolute devotion & appreciation towards true Italian cooking. She learned to cook growing up as the only Irish family in a predominately Italian neighborhood and it's her authentic Italian cooking that has made it impossible for me to be impressed by any "Italian" restaurants in the states. Hers is just that good, period. D & I are complete foodies and will try just about anything, so we were clearly stoked about living in (arguably) the most famous gastronomical country in the world. I complimented the owner on his meatballs (that sounds way dirtier than it should) and he told me he would e-mail me the recipe. I died a little inside and decided I was never, ever leaving Italy.

After dinner, D took me to get gelato at one of the 10,000 gelaterias he had already conquered. He told me a teammate had to talk him out of going to two different gelato shops back to back the week before, arguing that he had two hands for a reason. I love this man. Anyways, the gelato was life changing and I couldn't stop thinking about how many burpees it would take to burn off all that I had consumed that night. Luckily, we tracked our walking and had trekked about 3.5 miles within a couple hours, so that somewhat helped ease my guilt.

The start of a beautiful relationship..

I somehow managed to sleep through the night, in spite of the 6 hour difference, and woke up ready for my second day in Italy! We went into Mestre for lunch and to our surprise, they had a huge international food festival with different vendors set up from all around the world (kinda hoping this is a weekly thing). Lavender from Provence, Austrian pretzels, Guinness on tap, Russian caviar and French cheese, among other goodies, were lined up down the Mestre Center. There was even "Cannabis Flavored Energy Drinks" from Holland, which kind of sounded contradictory if you asked me but who am I to judge. 

Cannolis in the making..

Post indulging in all of these goodies (cannabis excluded), we headed to the grocery store. It's always a fun/interesting experience for me to go to the grocery store for the first time in a new country, to see what i'll be able to find and not find over here. Unfortunately, D isn't always patient during this process,  so I decided to wait to thoroughly check the place out on my own. (I lose him EVERY.SINGLE.TIME we go into any grocery store, but luckily, he can predictably always be found in the chip/beer aisle ). 

yes, yes and yes.

D had to leave this afternoon for an away game but he'll be back tomorrow and we will head to Florence for two days since he has a couple days off! I remember Florence being my favorite part of Italy so I am absolutely ecstatic.

Mestre, city center

I am so excited about what this year has in store. I've promised myself to make the absolute most out of living here this season and I'm sure I'll have many hilarious stories to come. Thanks so much for reading :) 

A little preseason photoshoot for this cutie ;)