Hey, baby—it’s Fall!

So maybe not officially, but let’s be real.  Once August is over, it’s Fall.  And that means two things: college football and the return of fall television.  My love for college football (namely, my Dawgs…) goes without saying if you’ve followed this blog for any period of time.  So let’s focus on TV, shall we?

The Emmy’s are on tonight which are getting me all revved up for Fall TV.  Again, if you’ve followed this blog for any period of time, you also know that we watch way too much TV around here, but hey.  Whatever.  Leave me alone.  Anyway, I thought you guys were probably ready for some non-Italy speak, no?

So here’s what we can’t wait to start watching again, in order of weekly appearance…

Sundays

 Desperate Housewives [I’ve watched it for too long to stop now and I figure there’s not too many seasons left anyhow.]

Brothers & Sisters [I l.o.v.e. this show and can’t wait to pick up from last season. Sarah and the French guy. Rob Lowe dying. Uncle Saul is HIV positive… I love the Walkers.  My sister-in-law has even assigned a character for everyone in our big ol’ family.]

Big Love [I can never keep up with HBO’s schedule, but whenever this show comes back on, I can’t wait to see what happens after the family goes public with their polygamy after Bill was elected as a state representative… On election night.  Oh, it was a nail biter, readers.]

Mondays

 Castle [This is one of our, “If you don’t watch this show, you must start” shows.  I can’t wait until Castle and Beckett finally get together, but then again, the anticipation is half the fun…]

House [An oldie but a goodie.  The show is essentially about what it’s always been about: House being obnoxious, offensive, politically incorrect, yet charming and appealing all at the same time… It’s never too late to pick up this show.]

 How I Met Your Mother [A good ol’ fashioned 30 minute sitcom complete with laugh tracks. Hard to come by these days.  And I love Jason Segal.]

 Chuck [This show kinda flies under the radar, but I have a serious crush on Zachary Levi’s nerdiness.  Funny, cheesy… Dramatic, but not really.  We love this show because it doesn’t take itself too seriously.]

Tuesdays

Parenthood [What can I say, I love shows about huge, functionally dysfunctional families… For obvious reasons.  This is another, '”If you don’t watch this show, you must.”  Without a doubt, my favorite show on TV right now.  Well, this and Modern Family, but we’ll get there in a minute…]

 The Good Wife [I think Tyler’s into this show a little more than I am, but Tuesday nights are slow and it’s pretty good… I always think I’m not that into it, but by the end of each episode, I’m excited for the next…]

Wednesdays

Glee [This show is fabulous.  You’re seriously missing out on 21st century pop culture.  Thank God, musical theater is hot right now.]

Modern Family [Funniest show on TV right now.  Hands down, without a doubt.  Another, “If you don’t watch this show…'’]

Cougar Town [Okay, I’ll give this one, one more season.  I really like Courtney Cox and want to give her a shot, but I was always wavering between, “This is really stupid” and “This is sorta funny…”]

Thursdays (Our DVR starts smoking on Thursday nights…)

30 Rock [Tina Fey is a genius, but if Jack McBrayer ever leaves I’ll give it up...]

The Office [Sad that this show is wrapping up.  I love every character on here. Michael, Dwight, Jim, Pam, Kevin, Stanley, Angela…]

Grey’s Anatomy [Not every season is spectacular and they nearly lost me with the Izzy sleeping with dead guys bit, but I think they’ve recovered nicely and I’m too invested in these guys to stop now. And can you believe last season’s finale??  They earned my viewership…]

Private Practice [This show was off to a slow start in the beginning, but I’m now faithful.  You’re not missing any cultural phenomenon, but I like it…]

The Marriage Ref [Cute show. We always enjoy taking sides and the celebrities are fun to watch.  My life wouldn’t be over without it, but I’ll give it a thumb up…]

Saturday

 All day.  Starting at 11am with College Gameday, it can go beyond midnight and picks back up with Sunday morning reviews and highlights… We love Georgia and Nebraska, but we watch ‘em all.

Then, y’know, there’s Ellen, and Oprah’s final season… Throw in all of the the TLC, HGTV, Food Network, and reality shows (American Idol, The Bachelor, DWTS…) that we watch inconsistently and you clearly see how we have a problem. Yes, we DVR a lot of these and catch up over the weekend, but still… It’s a problem.  And before you say, “Oh, just wait until you have kids…” I know, I know.  This isn’t a sustainable habit, but we don’t have kids yet so…

And even still, there are shows we don’t watch that we feel like we should. Like Mad Men.  I’ve seen maybe half an episode… Friday Night Lights, I’ve always heard good things about and I’ve had a crush on Kyle Chandler ever since Early Edition. (And upon googling the name of that show, I learned he’s from Georgia, went to UGA, and is married to a Kathryn.  I knew I liked him.)  Then there’s The Middle which I have seen once or twice, but my mom and sister are constantly telling me how funny it is and need to make it part of the regular rotation…

Dare I ask what I’m missing?  There can’t possibly be anything out there that’s good and worth watching that I’m not already, right?? Dear God, please say no.  My eyeballs might fall out.

Big Trip 2010: Sorrento

So this is it, folks.  You made it!  The last leg of our trip. 

We rented a car in Rome and drove south for three hours toward the Amalfi coast.  We had these grand ideas of keeping Sorrento our home base, but driving to Pompeii to see the volcanic ruins, spending a day in Positano, taking the ferry to Capri and putzing around the island on a rented boat…  We were going to go, go, go and see as much as we could. 

This all changed approximately 3.4 seconds after we closed the doors to our rental car and hit the autostrada.  We were up to our eyeballs in frescos and sculptures and relics and ruins… We just wanted to sit on the Mediterranean and not move for three days.  And that’s exactly what we did.  Sorrento was amaaaaazing.  Heaven on earth.

The drive down toward Amalfi is interstate-like for most of the way, complete with exits, gas stations, and Mickey Ds.  But once you pass Naples, it’s all cliffs and water and beaches.  And it. is. beautiful.

And our hotel was out of this world.  This portion of our trip was meant to be our splurge, our true vacation (in terms of being relaxing) so we paid for it, but neither of us have ever stayed anywhere like La Minervetta.  It was worth every penny.  We just hung out at the hotel, sat by the pool, took walks into town, and ate lunches along the beach…  So anyway, check out the pictures, all eight gazillion of them:

Platter heaven.  An exercise in restraint… Our faaaaavorite dinner spot.  We went two nights in a row here and were all buddy buddy with the owner by the time we left… Our mozzerella platter… Have I sufficiently expressed my love for cheese here?

Ode to La Minervetta… Our first room… (above)  Our second room… (We were upgraded because they messed something up with our reservation.)

Finally, our camera has a remote control, so a simple we’re-going-out-to-dinner picture usually turns into something a little more…

And that was it!  We packed up our stuff, drove back to Rome, and hopped a train to Paris… We were able to head into the city for the last few hours of our trip, enjoy some quiche, wine, and coffee before headed to Charles du Gaulle airport.  And we’ve been recovering ever since!  It was an amazing trip, we learned a lot, and loved (mostly) every minute.  We were so fortunate to be able to take this trip—thanks for tagging along with us for the ride!  Hope you had fun.

The End.

Big Trip 2010: Roma

Rome. The Eternal City.

At this point in the trip, I’m just going to let the pictures do most of the talking… And don’t let the onslaught of them fool you; I was not a fan of this city. Yes, Rome is old and has so much history and so much art…and so much dirt and so much traffic and so many crowds. I know the Romans may hate me, but… I just didn’t like it.

And by this point, I was on the verge of overload and getting very tired. We have walked and walked and walked (and walked) this trip, which has been great to combat the massive food intake (at least 1/8th of it…) but we are very tired. And Rome was by far the hottest, most crowded city. You go to check out the Trevi Fountation, but you’re standing shoulder to shoulder with the other tourists, it’s 95 degrees with no sign of shade, greasy guys are trying to sell you fake purses and twirly things that shoot up in the air, and the piazza is filled with tacky souvenir shops selling bobble head Popes. It was like Times Square. All the time. Everywhere. I was not having fun. I threw my coin into the Trevi Fountain, but I’m not sure I’ll be returning to Rome.

Okay, so I’m whining too much. There were some cool spots, for sure. I’ll just provide some gross over summations of this leg of the trip and let the pictures take care of the rest…

But first, we haven’t talked about keys yet… Every hotel we’ve stayed in, we have an actual key to get in (Nice, I think). This one you left at the front desk because it was gianormous. I would’ve never heard the end of it if TGrass had to carry that sucker around in his pocket all day.The street of our hotel. Very near the Spanish Steps. Another stellar recommendation from Frommer’s. Fabulous location, great service, huge free breakfast, boutique hotel…All for 98 euro a night. Now, for Rome.

So, we saw a lot of beautiful ceilings…

We saw a lot of relics…

Inside of that gold thing are slats of woods from Jesus’ manger.These are the steps Jesus walked up on his way to stand before Pilate. Constantine had them moved from Jerusalem back in the day (before you say, “Hey, Jesus wasn’t in Rome…”).You walk up the steps on your knees and say a prayer on each one.This door gets opened up once every 25 years and folks on pilgrimage walk through the door so they don’t have to go to purgatory. (I thought that’s where the whole Jesus dying on the cross thing comes into play, but hey…)

And we saw a lot of sculptures…. The Cathedral of Rome

Then there was the Vatican…Word to the wise: book a tour and skip the line. This picture does not do justice for what that “queue” looked like for the Vatican. Saint Peter’s Basilica

Saint Peter’s Square

There were also a lot of dead Popes…

Beautiful views at night…The Scala de Spagna (Spanish Steps)Fontana de Trevi

And then there was good food and new friends… Yes, those are our wine tour buddies, plus a couple friend of there’s. We all had dinner one night, which was great. After spending 24 hours a day with single person for two weeks, you welcome new people and conversation. (Even if the single person is your awesome husband…)

And then, of course, there was really, really old stuff…

The Arch de Somebody… All of these pictures are the ruins of Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum…All very cool… But have I mentioned that is was hot? The Coliseum (My favorite of the ruins—Tyler and I are watching Gladiator when we get home…) I was SO excited to find the Bocca della Verita… We stood in line to take the token, “Oh no, don’t bite my hand off!” picture, but the line was just not moving and I didn’t have it left in me after the ruins. So I settled for this picture.My favorite piazza was where the Pantheon was. Our first night in Rome, we ate dinner here, sitting out on the piazza with the Pantheon and the fountain all lit up. There were a lot people out, lots of music and dancing. I really enjoyed it. (Come to think of it, I think I would have an entirely different opinion of Rome if it were always nighttime there…)

A fountain by Bernini right by our hotel. As I said, I’m not an artsy fartsy girl, but I did develop a true appreciation for Bernini’s sculptures. In any museum or church, you could always identify his stuff because it was always the best.Walking through the Villa Borghese. These trees reminded me of Jurassic Park. (See, who says I don’t have culture?)The Galleria Borghese. Great Bernini sculptures. Also air conditioned with no crowds, so I was a fan.Okay, so the best thing about Rome is the water. They have these fountains everywhere. Some are real fountains, some are pipes sticking out of a wall, others are pumps coming up out of the ground. Either way, they are constantly flowing with clean, cold, fresh water 24 hours a day. Everyone uses them. Even my husband… The same guy who refuses to drink water from our sink in Virginia.And after our third day in Rome, we checked out of Hotel Modiglini, picked up our rental car, and hit the road to the Amalfi Coast. The vacation from our vacation! Ciao Roma! Hellooooo Sorrento.