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| Our Wedding Celebration on our First Year Anniversary! |
Coming back from my annual summer blogging hiatus, I'm realizing how much has actually happened since my last blog. We finished up Playoffs in Turkey in May then D and I headed on a two week trip to Spain and then back to Lithuania to have our second wedding! We had promised his family and friends over there who didn't get to come to FL for ours that we would have a celebration there as well. It was an absolute blast! My mom & her now fiancé (wahoo) came over and it was so much fun showing them Lithuania and all the people and places that I have come to love so much there. The wedding was absolutely perfect and I can now say I'm officially "weddinged-out" and am having a really hard time understanding how Kim Kardashian does this shit every year.
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| My Mom & Bill with D's Parents |
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| All of our loved ones in Lietuva :) |
When we headed back to the States after the wedding, we were prepared for the sometimes terrifying, sometimes stressful, and always exciting "waiting game". This period is always an intense time for basketball players waiting to figure out where they'll play the following season. Luckily, D had such a great season last year that there were a lot of teams interested in him and we made the tough choice to play for Umana Reyer in Venice, Italy! I absolutely loved our team in Turkey last year so it was bittersweet to move on elsewhere, but I know deep down that there's always a chance we could be back and I would welcome that :) Italy has such a strong basketball league and his team has a great reputation, so we knew we couldn't pass this up.
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| This little cutie being introduced by his new team, via twitter |
Our early signing made Summer, which is usually a time of immense google image searching different European cities I'm unfamiliar with and back and forth negotiating between teams, relatively carefree. True story, one off-season I did a quick google image search of a city interested in D and the search results ended up being pages of mail-order brides to choose from. Needless to say, that negotiation didn't progress. Luckily this summer's calmness was offset by something else consuming my time!
It's always a tricky situation for Basketball Wives overseas who have to live somewhere where they can't work. I'm definitely not the type to think a woman's work defines them, or that anyone is any less of a person for not having a job but I've personally been yearning to do something of my own. It was definitely never my intention to get married and stay at home, and it's been a tough adjustment. I've spent the past year reflecting on the things that I love, and how I could somehow convert it to a business that could be managed overseas.
I've always loved fashion and shopping and my mom will tell you my two first words were "mall" and "fries" (some things never change). I am always having a hard time finding boutiques who carry unique & affordable original pieces that I won't worry about showing up somewhere and looking like everyone else. I launched Saule Boutique, my own online Women's Clothing & Accessories Boutique, on June 30th this summer and could not be more proud of it! I am so grateful for the many people who have helped me in this project, and the strong support systems that I have in my life. Please check it out: www.shopsaule.com .
This year will be a totally different experience for me working while living overeas. I'm so lucky to have my mom here to hold down the ship on this side and I will continue to work hard and make it a success from across the pond! Typically I go right over with Deividas at the beginning of the season, but his team suggested otherwise this year as they will be in the mountains for training camp for several weeks. It's super tough being away for this long, but every time I start complaining, I think of all the amazing military families who are forced to do this under much longer (and far more stressful) circumstances, and I immediately want to slap myself in the face.
Deividas left August 24th and arrived to our new home in Venice! As I'm hyperventilating worrying about what our apartment will look like, it's tough to take the back seat and realize this is all out of my control! The initial arrival to our new home is always so exciting, yet daunting at the same time. Some teams allow you to choose your apartment, but usually you are just given one and hope for the best. It's an odd experience, when you think about it.. You arrive in this new, foreign country and are picked up by people you've never met and brought to your "new home" you know nothing about. This super weird, uncomfortable situation, has become so normal for us that I always forget how weird it must seem to everyone else. I was anxiously awaiting by my phone for the call from D to tell me about our new place and I'm happy to say he gave a great report.
We will be living in Mestre, which is the mainland area of Venice, positioned about 15 minutes from the famous canal areas. I am so excited to go back to Italy after I was there 7 years ago and can't believe I'll get to call this awesome place our new home. I'll be in Florida for the remainder of September then on my way to join him October 1st! I am literally counting down the days and cannot wait to be back over in Europe. People ask me how hard it is living overseas and how much I miss living in America, and they're always surprised by my answer. Of course I dreadfully miss my family & friends but I absolutely love living in Europe and I miss it so much when I'm home for the sumer.
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| See ya soon, Venezia! |
I recently read the following quote and was so moved by it:
“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.” – Miriam Adeney
I can't begin to tell you how true this is for me. With family in Lithuania, friends all over the world, and my own family in the States, a small piece of my heart always feels a little empty. Still, I wouldn't change it for anything in this world. I feel so lucky & blessed to have so many people to love all over the world.
Check back in, I'll be updating a couple times before I'm en route to Italy! Thanks so much for reading. Have a wonderful day :)
