The Dis Goes to Italy 5/24 - 6/1/2012 Viva Italia!!!!

[Chropistopy]

Kevin - I'm also in.

[NYC MM]

Count me in......Duffy likes Dr Who too. He is a very smart and well traveled bear.... You should see his closet !

[jcb]

Cash only at the Vatican for a while:

The Italian central bank has suspended all bank card payments in the Vatican citing its failure to implement fully anti-money laundering legislation, Italian media report. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20903443

[stenogoddess]

See how it just looks like one ray for miles and miles, one nice little ray that comes over for pictures? And then they bring out the food. And then it's an all you can eat buffet ray stampede. Or swim as it were. And Jeri may or may not have been climbed like a tree by a squealing woman. There's no photographic evidence, so who can really say what happened out there that day. The point is everybody got fed and nobody got hurt. Win/win! And possibly the secondary point is to pay more attention during the how to feed a ray discussion and less attention looking at the piece of squid, with the eyeball still in it, that was bugging out at me when I was holding it in the "approved" feeding position. Whatever! Don't judge me!

*ahm* Here we have some lovely photos of us enjoying the rays before the ray storm? swarm? attack?

[stenogoddess]

We met Dave Smith! So Cool!!!

[Circusgirl]

Originally Posted by stenogoddess

That's Royal Librarian Missy! And as it's employee evaluation time I wanted to let you know that so far on your one day on the job You Are AWESOME! But since you're the Librarian we have to use the word Superlative because it sounds more Librarian-y.

And Jack, as the Queens's Own Attorney, in your employee evaluation I wanted to let you know that You Are (also) Awesome, but have decided that Inimitable sounds more Lawyer-y! And as the Royal Village does not have a courthouse you are doing an exceptional job settling things out of court.

And I didn't want to leave Heather out as our new consulting Royal Veterinarian. I think that Dr. North guy on the sign is getting ready to retire any day now! In your consulting employee evaluation I would say that You Are (totally) Awesome! But have decided that Flawless sounds more Veterinarian-y. Okay, maybe not technically an obvious choice for a Vet, but when the going gets tough with the little and furry it's certainly what we're all hoping for! Plus, I think that Dr. North drinks so you might want to have Jack look into that!

You know, I was thinking I need to get a marina for Marilee and Dino, but now I'm thinking Dino and John could work over at the Brewery, which I understand has several consummate micro brews on tap, and then Marilee and Micki could help keep St. Augustine's Cathedral doing its good works for my villagers. Because, really, where am I going to put a marina? Over by the sink maybe.

And, yes, I did use a Thesaurus on the word awesome to write this post. Why do you ask?

One would think I didn't have 300 pages sitting on my desk to get out, but one would be wrong!

I have so much catching up to do! I am delighted to hear about my gig in the Christmas village, which is honestly where I do want to live, especially at Christmas.

It is blissful to have scrapbook pages again! They are spectacular. Yay!!

My mom and I had a great Christmas together, but her health is scarily precarious, and it looks like we either have entered or will soon be entering a new phase of her life in terms of what she needs to live comfortably and safely. Her health problems have definitely sucked much of the fun out of her life but she is very determined to stay where she is. I am kind of desperate to get her moved up here from Palo Alto, but I completely get her reluctance to give up all her home of 50 years. I want her to have the best situation that makes her the happiest. I will probably go kicking and screaming too, like my grandmother who only gave up her driver's license when she failed the driving test for renewal due to hitting a parked police car during the test.

[Smokey'sMom]

Originally Posted by NYC MM

Count me in......Duffy likes Dr Who too. He is a very smart and well traveled bear.... You should see his closet !

If possible, I want to be counted in too! Smokey has taken up stamp collecting to relax after a long day of keeping the elephants away. This will be the creme of his collection.

[Smokey'sMom]

"My mom and I had a great Christmas together, but her health is scarily precarious, and it looks like we either have entered or will soon be entering a new phase of her life in terms of what she needs to live comfortably and safely. Her health problems have definitely sucked much of the fun out of her life but she is very determined to stay where she is. I am kind of desperate to get her moved up here from Palo Alto, but I completely get her reluctance to give up all her home of 50 years. I want her to have the best situation that makes her the happiest. I will probably go kicking and screaming too, like my grandmother who only gave up her driver's license when she failed the driving test for renewal due to hitting a parked police car during the test."

I like your Grandmother's spunk. I had a great uncle who continued to drive for a time after he became legally blind. I think the other residents in his small town banded together to get him to stop. I hope your Mother has improved health.

[Chropistopy]

Originally Posted by Circusgirl

I have so much catching up to do! I am delighted to hear about my gig in the Christmas village, which is honestly where I do want to live, especially at Christmas.

It is blissful to have scrapbook pages again! They are spectacular. Yay!!

My mom and I had a great Christmas together, but her health is scarily precarious, and it looks like we either have entered or will soon be entering a new phase of her life in terms of what she needs to live comfortably and safely. Her health problems have definitely sucked much of the fun out of her life but she is very determined to stay where she is. I am kind of desperate to get her moved up here from Palo Alto, but I completely get her reluctance to give up all her home of 50 years. I want her to have the best situation that makes her the happiest. I will probably go kicking and screaming too, like my grandmother who only gave up her driver's license when she failed the driving test for renewal due to hitting a parked police car during the test.

Heather - You and your mom are both in my thoughts. I hope whatever the decision on her living situation is what is best for her. I know either alternative will be hard for either you or her.

[stenogoddess]

Originally Posted by Circusgirl

I will probably go kicking and screaming too, like my grandmother who only gave up her driver's license when she failed the driving test for renewal due to hitting a parked police car during the test.

Now that is flawless! I love family stories like that. Thinking good thoughts that everything shakes out in the best way possible for all of you!

[stenogoddess]

New layouts! Y'all are going to be sad when I go back to work next week!

[Chropistopy]

Originally Posted by stenogoddess

New layouts! Y'all are going to be sad when I go back to work next week!

So true...I see you got a picture of the bubbles in Ooh La La. Have you started the redecorating yet?

[stenogoddess]

Originally Posted by Chropistopy

So true...I see you got a picture of the bubbles in Ooh La La. Have you started the redecorating yet?

Have sent letter to David Bromstad for install advice. I'm going to put it in my office behind my desk so when I look up I can daydream into the bubbles!


Here's one from when I visited the family last year. The Bean!!!

[Circusgirl]

Thanks for the good thoughts!

Lauren, your pictures are fantastic, and the layouts are gorgeous. Do you have the photos in a Flickr or other account where we could see them full size?

[stenogoddess]

Originally Posted by Circusgirl

Thanks for the good thoughts!

Lauren, your pictures are fantastic, and the layouts are gorgeous. Do you have the photos in a Flickr or other account where we could see them full size?

I'm glad you like them! I don't save them externally, but have been thinking for a while that I should just upgrade my flickr account (that I got because of you!) and save all my photos there so that in the event of an emergency I can always download them again at full size. I have been storing them on Shutterfly as a backup, but they make me rebuy any that I want. And the only time I'm going to be redownloading photos I'm probably going to want a lot of them so that would get pricey. You asking about it is probably a sign! I did upload my Bean photos to Flickr in case those were the ones you wanted to see.

And I bring you Jeri, my youngest sister, Autumn and myself at the Navy Pier. It was so windy that day, but I guess we were in the windy city, that I really didn't take any photos. Plus I was really hungry, you know, that hungry where someone is going to feed you or someone is going to die? But with the whole family with us that day it was like herding cats!