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Back From Europe

Being outside of this insane asylum where the most disturbed run things was a much needed break. Traveling through England, France, Italy, and Greece was amazing as ever and only reinforced my desire to live outside of 'merica! for a duration no shorter than two years. During the days and early evenings I traveled with a group of six girls ranging from 16-17 years old. They were all fun to hang around with and our personalities meshed well.

At night, I would often venture out alone through the cities and small towns across Europe. Every night I would meet strangers and strike up conversations over local wines and sometimes foods. Nearly every person I met wanted to talk politics. The message that I received everywhere was that people are afraid of the United States and see it as a threat to peace. I even met a group of Canadians that feared for their natural resources should the US ever look Northward. It was pretty sad. I also received numerous questions about American gun culture. I explained to a Greek man and his friends that Americans do not often look at the greater good and instead tend to focus on individual impact and responsibility. The Greek man said that he understands that, but wondered if I realized how many innocent people are killed violently every year because of my desire to shoot guns for fun in the desert. An Italian couple that I met on the beach in Sorrento had dreams of traveling to America to study some day. Another Greek couple told me that they had never met a rude American. Everywhere I went I was treated with respect and never had the impression that "they" hated us. Every person that I talked to explained to me that they loved Americans as individuals but distrusted the US government. With the exception of the girl that I caught naked with an Italian man in a rubber boat after having only been acquainted for about ten minutes all of my girls were excellent ambassadors and destroyed negative stereotypes of Americans and in particular American women. I have so much to write about but will spare you all of the details. Instead, I will try to list the things that I saw/did over the past 15 days along with some photos.

* London: The Tower, The Crown Jewels, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Darwin's tomb (yes, he is entombed in a church), Newton's tomb, Wicked, the Camden market, Big Ben, the tower bridge, some amazing Iranian food and wine in a little hole in the wall cafe near my hotel, the Chunnel.
* Paris: Notre Dame, The Louvre, Eiffel Tower in the evening, a short trip down the seine river, the Arc de Triomphe, Versailles.
* Florence: Piazza del Duomo, Michelangelo's tomb, Michelangelo's David, abundance of free time were the seven of us wandered around Florance and had giant Italian meals in interesting restaurants off the beaten paths.
*Pisa: um, the leaning tower, and a beautiful baptistery
*Rome: The Forum, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain
*Vatican City: Aside from being overcharged for everything the Vatican was beautiful. The Sistine Chapel is amazing, the sculptures and art are beautiful.
In the official Vatican store, yes there is an official Vatican store, you can buy a rosary for 18 Euros and for an additional 6 Euros you can buy a blessing upon the rosary where a uninspired looking religious person dips it in special water, makes a special sign, and presto! you have a blessed and "magic-y" bauble. I know this sounds terrible and to many of my friends this is very serious business. As an outsider it looked like more of a crass economic venture than a spiritual one. Also the amount of stuff that the Vatican sells is amazing. My favorite item (which three lucky people will receive as Christmas gifts this year) is the attractive priest pin-up calendar. Father March is especially attractive with his brooding stubble and his "what would you like from me" glance. Again this is sanctioned by the Vatican, I am not making this up. They also sell Pope ashtrays which even I thought was inappropriate. Being in Europe and especially the Vatican had a "viewing the man behind the curtain" effect on me.
We also visited the Catacombs where many of the early martyred Christians were entombed and which also served as a secret place to worship for the early Christians of Rome.
St. Paul's church was my favorite along with Notre Dame. It was huge, beautiful, and quiet. Seeing Paul's tomb was humbling. St. Peter's was also incredible but extremely decadent and crowded. St. Peter's Basilica was the most opulent place I had ever seen. Masterworks of art adorned nearly every square inch of the place.
*Sorrento: Beautiful hotel on a quiet beach where we relaxed for two days eating good food, drinking good wine, and drifting in the Mediterranean.
*Pompeii: We climbed Mount Vesuvius which had exploded and destroyed Pompeii. We also visited the ruins of the city and saw the dramatic casts of the people and animals.
*Overnight Cruise across the Aegean to Greece. Very fun with an all night disco. When I arrived at the disco at 11:30 with my group of girls the Greek dj was playing "Party All the Time" by Eddie Murphy. I felt like a crazy person as I was the only one amused by that song.
*Meteora Region: This is a place where monks would build monasteries on high cliffs or live in caves in order to escape the evils of the world (along with the Ottoman Turks). A beautiful place with dramatic, shear, grey mountains. It reminded my of a much larger and much more dramatic Garden of the Gods.
*Athens: More swimming in the Med., the Acropolis and Parthenon, the Plaka, a ghetto carnival that had rides with no seat pads, gypsies, gypsies, and more gypsies, excellent food, hospitable people, Mars Hill, first Olympic Stadium.

They don't come any cuter than this...

Lola (5 months)


Kate and Bre (my adorable nieces)


Lola (3 months), Kate (21 months) , and Bre (10 months)

Am I in Denial?

I have always said that I don't have a sweet tooth since I am usually the one who doesn't get dessert and would rather have the appetizer. Yet tonight I found myself making PB cookies and finding it very difficult to stop eating them. I have not stopped with three or four, but am somewhere at about six or seven and starting to get a tummy ache. Of course they are small and I justify eating so many of them because they are so small and really, two of them equals one. I do have one restaurant dessert that I like - the pazookie (not sure how to spell it), which is a giant cookie of your choice topped with ice cream or the occasional recess PB cup, but I still say I don't have a sweet tooth. I like to eat dessert that I make and usually do not like store made desserts as I consider them too sweet. My husband says that he has a sweet tooth and when you compare us, he will order the dessert, yet I am the one eating 6 or more PB cookies because I just can't stop. Maybe it's not about food at all. Maybe its about self control or my lack of. How do you define a sweet tooth? I like to think that I just like food whether it be salty or sweet. Give me a plate of chips and dip and I will most likely eat all of that too. (Yup - definitely about self control :) )

On another note, Sean has made his way to Europe with several other adults and 42 or so kids. No, not kids, teenagers. This opportunity came up last minute and we had to scramble to find sitters for Lola. (She does not start day care until the end of August). Fortunately, we were able to fly Grandma (my mom) out here to babysit. I am sure that Sean will post all about it when he gets home in 2 weeks. He is going to many exciting and beautiful places. I am happy for him and looking forward to spending time with my mom and Lola.

Showbiz

It was a good day today. It started with the Rock Afire Explosion performance of Usher's In the Club. Some guy in Alabama bought an old Showbiz Pizza act and now takes requests over the internet as to which songs he should sync up. This was the highlight in the office throughout the day.

Then I was invited to travel Europe for 15 days at an amazing price and in which I would leave Monday. I spent the day along with Gwen securing childcare and making plans to go. It should be interesting because I will be responsible for six students as we travel, London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Vatican City, Athens, etc. We are flying my mother-in-law out here for the second week and that seriously puts my mind at ease (Thanks Tena!). Right now I am excited and anxious. There's nothing really to do but pack.

Being away from Gwen and Lola is going to be even more difficult than I had imagined but it really is a short period of time when I think of all of the overworked parents that never see their kids. I've had students tell me nonchalantly that they talk to me more than their parents. I'm grateful for the job that I have which allows for serious quality of life.

Tonight we had a guest speaker in class. She is a principal from North Las Vegas. An area that Hunter S. Thompson described as, "Nevada's answer to St. Louis--a slum and a graveyard, last stop before permanent exile to Ely or Winnemuca." She faces incredible odds in her community where there are daily shootings and other random acts of violence. She goes to work everyday with a realistic mission that it is her duty to create future involved and active citizens fit to operate in a democratic society. She has created a sense of community in her elementary school where families come to settle disputes. She also spends her time walking the neighborhoods and visiting the homes of students that she cares about. It is beyond test scores for her and her staff. They look at the positive things that the students bring to the school. They understand that the parents in her community are very poor. An American third world country kind of poor. A place where people not only face stifling generational poverty that really begins in utero but are also politically and economically powerless to the point of near invisibility. Did you know that there is an entire zip code in North Las Vegas where they don't even have a grocery store? It is a place where it is common to find illiterate parents. This is also where refugees typically settle. She has students from various African countries that have fled famine and war. I don't know what this post is supposed to mean. What does a healthy community look like? Do you live in one? How do you know? Pinch faced, petty, hyper consumptionist, and mean spirited neighbors are about as conducive to community as your typical rambling drug addict with a shiv. Hell, I started off writing about the Showbiz Pizza band. Let's get on with the show!

Lola Grace - 4 months

Just chillin' on the futon.


Before the big roll over.


Trying to stay cool by the pool.


In her exercise saucer for the first time.


Sitting up like a big girl in her pod chair. Very focused on her toy.

BONANZA! peak

The weekend was excellent and filled with worthwhile activities. Saturday we went to the pool at a friend's house. Lola was happy, though flushed from the heat, Gwen finally got some sun, all while I enjoyed grapes and veggies around the table and talked about funny things. Lola went to bed early and that left Gwen and I some time to begin the John Adams series (which is excellent).

On Sunday, Chris and I went hiking and decided to conquer BONANZA! peak. We saw many critters along the way along with some mountain lion tracks. When it was all over we climbed over 2300' and hiked over 10 miles. I had not hiked in a while and really felt the fatigue. The reason we chose this peak was because we had heard that this is a place where wild horses like to roam. Having lived in Nevada for three years, I have never seen a wild horse. Rattlesnake? Check. Multitudes of lizards and Wild donkeys? Check. Today I was determined to find a wild horse. Ten miles and six hours later near the end of the trail we encountered three horses that were initially about 25' from us. I am actually terrified of horses, having been kicked by one when I was in 8th grade. A large black male, a small brown female, and a brown and white (Paint? Palomino?) were munching on grass and really didn't pay us much mind.
As of this writing, my feet are sore, my upper arms are burned, and I am exhausted. A note about the photos: I am on summer break and "working" at a film festival with flexible hours. I have stopped shaving and probably will not get a hair cut until late August. Yes, I am wearing a Huey Lewis sleeveless t-shirt.

Also on Sunday, Lola began rolling over regularly. Over the past couple of weeks she has begun to roll over, discovered her hands, begun to play in a crazy activity seat, and articulate new sounds. She and Gwen will be joining me on these epic hikes before no time.

The brief clip below was from early in the hike. We were still on our quest to find wild horses when we came upon grasshoppers that made a crackling sound as they flew through the air.

Alive and well again

The past few days I have had strep throat with a fever of 101 to 103. I spent most of my time in bed since Friday and today is my first day back with the living. Sean has been the sole parent to Lola for 4 days. He had his good and bad moments, but I think he enjoyed spending all this time with Lola and I know she enjoyed it. I missed her like crazy and it was really hard for me to stay away from her. I was extremely cautious while I was sick and probably more than necessary. I think Sean also saw how much I actually do do around here, or at least I hope so. :)

Lola had her 4 month check up last week. She is 13.8 pounds and 25 inches long. We will be starting cereal with her this weekend. She has learned better hand coordination and can now reach for and grab objects. She sits in her pod chair and can roll over when on her tummy. She still hates tummy time, but is getting better. I finally got her to laugh out loud today. So cute.
We had her 3 month pictures done. To see, click below. Some of the pictures are duplicates, but different shading. The photographer is a friend of ours and she likes to play with the photos and let us decide which version we like best. Many of them are of Sean and Lola because by the time it came to my turn, Lola was tired and crabby. Next time, we'll start with mommy first. :) Enjoy!
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