christmas is coming...

Despite the fact that it is Thanksgiving this week in America my focus has now completely shifted to CHRISTMAS. Don't get me wrong Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, yet it is no where to be found in Italy. My roommates and I have searched for pumpkins and turkey and they are non existent. However, we did manage to get a can of pumpkin puree from a visiting parent. As it is my first thanksgiving away from my home I prefer to simply no think about it. So instead of doing school work today or going outside in the rainy Rome weather, I have decided to plan some days for when I am home at Christmas.

Christmas Cheer Week #1. CHRISTMAS BRUNCH.


On Christmas my sister and I are planning a brunch, here are some of the ideas...

A spinach and bacon frittata found on http://lifeflix.blogspot.com

Sweet hanging snowflake mobiles over the table...found in Gifted magazine on Creature Comforts Blog

name tags looking like this on the plates also found on http://lifeflix.blogspot.com

good salad to accompany the quiche and Abbey's delicious french toast casserole dish

lattes for all!

self.

My photography assignment for this week was to do a session of self-portrait photography. For those of you who don't know I despise having my picture taken, let alone taking 30 pictures of my self continually. One of the things I have struggled with for a long time is my self-image. I think a lot of people do...last week was really difficult week for me in this department, maybe this assignment was God challenging me to work on this.  Everyday I fight to see myself how God sees me, some days are better then others... Life is a journey.

*sorry for the lack of smiling...I promise I am a happy person!

Bracciano and Viterbo

Alrighty we have finally made it to this past weekend. About 12 of us set out to explore the towns of Bracciano and Viterbo. Bracciano is a small hill town right off the train station, it has the most beautiful castle there. Some of you might recognize as the castle in which Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes got married in. We then walked around the town before hopping back on the train to go to Viterbo. This also was a beautiful medieval town, which we explored, got cappuccinos, and took lots of beautiful pictures...enjoy!

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the castle

My roomie and her new fiance!

view from the top of the castle

my roomies and I

Christmas cookies!!

MB locked out.

the boys.

Assisi

Oh yes we went to Assisi too! A couple of my friends mentioned that they might be going to Assisi on a day trip a couple weeks back. Not knowing it was only a couple hours away, I had never considered it. The famous place where Saint Francis came from and Paul visited during his travels. Oh am I ever glad I did...

It was absolutely beautiful! Not only was it nestled in a hill town on the Roman countryside, it still possessed an atmosphere unlike any other place I have been in Italy. 

 Sarah and Linds on the train ride there...

the beautiful Franciscan Church where the tomb of Saint Francis is housed...

the two A's...Allora and Andrew

cute old man on his bench

setting up for the holidays...not only were their tons of little christmas shops, the smell of roasting chestnuts lingered in the air...

me on our hike up the hill...the view was amazing!

olive pickers...

Florence con Frank

Just a little bit of catch up...

Part of the Temple Rome study abroad program is weekend class trips. I am currently taking two art history courses which required two weekends of class trips. My first excursion was to Napoli with my Italian Baroque course, a time where we were able merge Caravaggio with Napolean pizza. But what I was really looking forward to was my trip with Professor Frank Dabell to Florence. It definitely lived up to my expectations. We viewed many masterpieces, laughed a lot, and had a gelato or cappuccino stop almost every hour. Here are just a few snap shots portraying beautiful Florence, amazing works and fun people.

The Duomo

Baptistry Doors by Gherberti

 detail of the guilded doors

Mary Magdalene done by Michaelangelo

this guy...my best friend here...andrew.

one of my favorite sculptures by michaelangelo

the man of the hour...my favorite professor of all time... the legend Frank Dabell.

Fallster...

Fall in Switzerland

this is suebee's childhood home...it was so beautiful! Perfectly decorated for fall with pumpkins galore 

and the smells of fall wafting from the kitchen. The first night I visited her home her mom was just pulling out a beautiful pumpkin tort.

beautiful suebes

this was on a glorious walk in the Swiss countryside...

apples, old couple, and sheep galore. Absolutely amazing!

 my beautiful walking partners! esther, mimi, and suebee.

 beautiful swiss braid

creepy craves

lots of lattes...

One of Suebee and I's favorite things to do is to go to cafes for hot lattes and the taste of amazing food. So almost everyday we did exactly that, and if we didn't venture to a cafe we enjoyed breakfast together with our own homemade lattes...

This is a run down of our favorite places...visited multiple times.

Henrici...

 breakfast muesli (yogurt with fruit and granola), juice, and chai lattes...

Davos

 This little cafe in Davos was our absolute favorite cafe...
we started the day by taking a three hour train ride through the swiss alps to a snowy ski town called Davos. Upon getting there we immediately ventured to this little haven of warmth and coziness. I never wanted to leave! We stayed from the morning till the evening...ordering lattes, lunch, and sweets...not to mention the cutest gift shop where we bought beautiful treasures. Oh my I miss this!

sue's beautiful sister Esther...

our amazing salads...so good! (more to come on Davos)

Sue's cute apartment...

 these are just a few pictures of the breakfast that Sue prepared almost every morning...
Yogurt, oats, fruit, cheese, break, granola, and beautiful lattes...accompanied with lots of chatter and laughter, while being serenaded by Chris Tomlin...