At this point in the trip, I kind of stopped taking notes.  I have things written in my journal, but it's all notes about sites to see or places to eat in the areas we planned to be in that day.  Not a lot of stories or entries about the day or the fun or interesting things we did and saw.  But I have to say, even though I didn't write much, Florence was my absolute favorite place out of the six cities we saw during our two week trip and I will remember it forever.




From the art to the food to the shopping to the landscape...I could have spent a week soaking up Florence.  But I only had a little over a day.  Which means, I had NO TIME FOR SHOPPING.  At least, not the kind of shopping I was hoping for. But, oh well, so I saved some moola.

There were three main places we visited in Florence (at least that I'm remembering).  The first was the Galleria dell'Accademia where the statue of Michelangelo's David is on display.  First of all, I apologize to anyone that I told this story to and I refered to the museum as The Uffizi...completely different museum from the Galleria.  Oh well.  Again, with the remembering without proper notes - this is why I write everything down at work, otherwise I would have been fired ages ago for incompetence.

Second of all - HELLO! HUGE STATUE!!  I don't mean big, I mean GINORMOUS.  I was NOT expecting the David statue to be so overwhelmingly massive, and yet, completely perfect in every detail.  I wish I could have taken photos in the Galleria, but it was prohibited.  Boom and I walked right into the museum thinking we'd have to wait in line to get into the room where the David is on display, but as we were having that conversation we turned the first corner into the museum and, BAM, there it was.  I still can't believe how accessible this masterpiece was to see.  I icould have stood there all day. I wished I'd had a sketch book. I'm a CRUMMY artist, but looking at something so iconic and beautiful made me want to take something from that room home with me.

Next we went to the Pitti - a collection of museums housed in the massive residence of the Medici Family, who lived there in the 16th Century.  It really is a treasure-trove of art and artifacts, antiques and costumes. I particularly liked walking through what's called, the Royal Apartments; all the rooms are designed and decorated in the style of when the Medici Family lived there.  Hard to describe, and again, no photography was allowed, but this is the type of place that you want to take time exploring all the rooms and getting lost between the stairways and hallways and quarters.  Unfortunately, we only allowed ourselves two hours and due to the time we entered, the museum was closing and I was unable to view the Boboli Gardens.  Definitely putting that on my list for "next time."

What was interesting when we arrived, because of the cultural week and an Italian National Holiday being celebrated in Florence, we got to see a grand procession and production inside the Pitti Courtyard.

  

There were flag twirlers, drummers and knights that put on mock duals.  It was fantastic and so entertaining.

Boom and I fell in love with a particular knight.  We'll call him Lancelot.  Because I can make it up...it's my story.



Look, he's so cute and charming that Lancelot.



He was up against this dude. Weird, feather hat, looks like he's wearing a diaper, man.  He doesn't get a name.

     
 
Go Lance, Go!  Beat Diaper Man!



Oh, that's too bad.  We still think you're cute though!



After the museum, we took a stroll. Well, a long stroll. Ok, kinda a hike.  Up to Michelangelo Piazza.  This is where one of the two David replicas is.  They aren't the same in size or color as the original in the Galleria, but they are still beautiful to look at and I had fun playing with the sun's shadows.

  


This is the perfect place to be for a view of Florence, and it's especially beautiful at sunset.



Breathtaking.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Peaceful.  Awesome.  Just a big, fat WOW.

 

I'm so glad I got to see this view in my lifetime.  I think I seriously would have been missing something without ever having seen it.




P.S.  I FORGOT ABOUT THE DUOMO!  The Wha?



Oh yeah, that thing.  That was cool too.  Lots of stairs though...

More photos on my FLICKR SITE

So, I've been trying to be good about getting those Europe recaps posted, but they are quite tedious to put together, mostly because LJ takes frickin' forever to upload a photo and I can only upload one at a time. I'm sure there's a better way, but I don't know what it is and I'm an old biddy that's stuck in her ways and this is the way I DO IT.

Anyhoo, there was a nice long break there for me for awhile and I'm going to finally let you in on what was keeping me from posting all my wit and wisdom for you lovely readers....












BABIES!!!  CUTE BABY COUSINS!!!!

        

Well, he's not quite a baby anymore, because this is his third birthday party.  You know how cool it was to watch Riley figure out how to make the little birthday horn work?  Look at him, he's so proud of himself.


And then there's the newest one...Caila Blaine

 

She's soooo tiny.




LOOK at those toes!



"Hey lady, enough with the photos. Can't a girl get some sleep around here??"

Oh, if she only knew how much I love playing paparazzo.


And then there's Caila's big brother James (he's the subject of my profile photo for this post).  I'm sorry, can someone please keep him at this age forever?

 




Ah! That face!!!

Now you see why I had to take a little hiatus.  Because I DIED FROM THE CUTENESS!  It took me a while to recover.

Flickr Link to more photos HERE

After a long Day 3 of trekking through Rome's ruins, we got a good night's sleep and woke up bright and early to face our last day in Rome.  We were also moving hotels due to a tennis conference, so it was my official first backpacking day.



 Boom and Erik woke up in different hotel rooms, got dressed without ever speaking or seeing each other and walked out into the hotel lobby to discover they were wearing the exact same outfit.  All day it looked like Stef and I were being accompanied by medics.  I love how this photo gives you the idea of not just how short Boom is but how tall Erik is.



Our first planned stop after checking into our new hotel was to take a walk through the Borghese Gardens to reach Galleria Borghese.  Along the way we stopped for a snack at one of the vendor carts in the park and we finally experienced the joy that is Paprika Pringles.  Don't let anyone tell you that these are the equivalent to the American BBQ Pringles, because THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.  Sadly, the Pringles Website said they have no plans to bring these delicious chips to America.  Phooey.



Borghese was beautiful inside and out.  So many pretty things to see...but you couldn't take photos inside, so I was left with just my memories and whatever I could photograph along the grounds.



OK, so not EVERYTHING was pretty.  I apologize, but I just had to.  He was begging me to take his photo.  How does one sit on a cool concrete step and not realize that his ass is hanging out?


  

After the Galleria we took a stroll through Rome and I had a great time taking photos of all the wonderfully colored buildings and residences.  I love how warm everything is and how quaint the windows and doors are.

     

I also tried to get a little artsy.  I think I'll frame and hang these in my entry way when I grow up and have my own place.

We followed Rick Steves' walking tour from the guidebook Boom and Erik had to see the Spanish Steps, then Trevi Fountain and then the Pantheon.

        

More ominous clouds as the storms closed in, but I think they actual made the pictures look better.



We did something a little fun with this photo.  Click on it for a larger view, and then try to find Boom, Stef and me in the shot.  Kind of our little version of "Where's Waldo?" Italy style.

 

Trevi Fountain was crazy with people, but it's understandable considering how magnificent it is to see.  Every little detail is just beautiful and we couldn't help but throw in a couple of coins and make some wishes.

 

  

This place was pretty dang cool.  It was once a pagen temple that is now a Catholic church. But the main draw about this site is the massive dome with its 18 foot perfect, open circle.  It lets in light and and rain and thus there are holes in the temple's floor for draining any water. Seems odd and yet really cool to me.  So what do they do when Sunday mass falls on a rainy day??  No one could tell me.

We decided to take a small break, have some gelato (oh yeah, be jealous of all the gelato I got to have on this trip) and then we were going to retrace all our steps from our walking tour during the day so we could see all the same sites again at night.  In theory, we were excited. In execution, we felt a little crazy.

I took some time around the piazza we got ice cream in to take in some of the sights for your viewing pleasure.

     

    

We had a lovely dinner at an outdoor cafe.  A carafe of wine, a little pasta, great panna cotta for dessert and a lot of laughing.

     

I gave Stef and Erik my Italian phrase book opened to the Nightlife and Getting to Know You sections. AKA - The dirty section. Not that we had any plans to use some of the phrases in those sections, but it was pretty funny to imagine ever having to use those lines.  I think Erik's expression says it all.

We were all ready for a good night's rest after dinner and walking back through all the sites, but there was a small snag.  Our new hotel location meant we had to take the metro to a train and we must have misread the timetables because we missed the last train and we really had no idea how far we needed to go and we didn't  want to wander around in the dark.  I could see a sign for a bar up the block from the metro and decided that we should just go in, order a beer and ask the bartender to call a taxi for us.  Believe me, this was the best idea we had the whole trip. 



This was our bartender. I never got his name, but I say we call him Marcello.  Name that movie.

 

It was like the bartenders thought we were the royal family with the awesome service we received.  They brought us a huge platter of bar snacks (that we didn't order and we weren't charged for) and they kept the drinks coming (which of course, we were charged for).

We didn't know how to order shots in Italian, so we went with the colors we knew.  Pink shots came first and then we dared Marcello to make us a viola shot (purple).  Everyone in Italy wears purple.  We never figured out why, but almost every retail shop window had mannequin after mannequin shrouded in purple clothes.  Marcello was game for this little dare, but unfortunately he couldn't get the shot to turn purple...instead we got a verdi (green) shot.  Boom, a beer and a shot in, pointed at Marcello and shouted, "FAIL!" We all giggled at the joke, but he didn't understand what "fail" meant.  I had no idea what the Italian translation was, but figured out the translation for "to lose," which is Pertere.  Upon my shaky conjugation to "Pertato!" Marcello took a moment to think and then sadly said, "Si...YES, I LOSE!" 

 

We gladly took the green shots and then some appropriately named BOOM-BOOM shots.  Then Marcello came out with a tray of new shots and said proudly, "Si, I no LOOOOOSE!"

    

Voila, Viola!

    

It ended up being an unexpected, perfect evening and closed our last night in Rome in such a memorable way.  I think it may have been my most favorite out of all of the experiences we had.

Florence is next!

Ok, so when we last left off, my travelmates and I had roamed around the Colosseum at night after a long day of exploring the Vatican and getting our barrings in Rome.  Our third day in Europe was even longer than the second.  We started at the Colosseum and moved from there to the ruins, to the Forum, to San Giovanni to the Scala Santa and then dinner in Trastevere.  And of course, along the way, I took dozens and dozens of photos.

It was a great day for a little ruins exploring...sunny and warm and we'd all slept so well and were ready for the day.



Lucky for us, we happened to be in Italy during their national culture week, which meant, every museum, every church, every tourist site was free to the public.  Tours or audio guides were extra of course, but entrance was completely free.  SWEET.

There's no way to explain the Colosseum . It's huge.  The floor of the arena is, well, in complete ruins, but you can see how magnificent it must have been under the arena floor in that huge maze or watching the action from atop the second level.



   

What's really spectacular about the Colosseum is that it looks like as columns fell and the place started to corrode from time and an earthquake, that anything that fell stayed where it fell.  So, you're walking around this massive place and pieces of the walls and architecture are all around for you to touch, sit on, walk around and of course, take dozens of photos of.

        

We left il Colosseo for a trek through Palatine Hill to Capitoline Hill...it all kinda looks the same to me, but it was still really cool to wander through it all.
  

And then we hit the Forum.  Everything is so close together - it put it in perspective for me that we weren't just looking at pieces of old buildings, but we were looking at an actual town that people lived in and worked in.  From the Capital to Caesar's house to all the temples...whew, are YOU tired yet from all the walking??



  

  



Eric brought along his Iphone where he had downloaded some of Rick Steves' tours of Italy.  We sat around a listened at various sites to figure out what we were looking at - it was super helpful and didn't make us look like tourists AT ALL. 

    
This is at Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano...I think.  Wherever it is, these big green doors don't open and they won't open until the new Catholic Jubilee celebration in 2025.  Those Catholics are serious about their doors.  Still, it didn't stop us from trying to open them (click on photos for a larger view).


     

While San Giovanni was gorgeous inside, the real reason we trekked to that part of Rome was to see the Santuario della Scala Santa, or the Palace of the Holy Steps.  Story has it that the steps here were originally in Pontius Pilate's villa in Jerusalem and that Jesus Christ climbed them.  It's a major attraction, but it's also really hard to find, so look for San Giovanni and then the steps are in the non-descript building across the street.  So people come to the steps to worship and pray.  You're allowed to kneel on the steps, but you can't stand on them or walk on them. So people climb UP 28 steps on their knees.  I passed up the steps and just walked up the adjacent stairway so I could see the top.

We sat outside for a little while to rest and reevaluate what we wanted to do and see and when we wanted to do it.  I don't remember how it came about in conversation, but Boom used a bad word. A bad one. One that seemed just a bit loud and really inappropriate for sitting in front of Scala Santa and all the worshipers.
Boom:  "Opps, I probably shouldn't swear here."
Me: "YEAH, don't swear in front of the JESUS STEPS!"
Boom: "Jesus Christ!"

Then I pulled out my journal and wrote that down word for word.  So don't tell me I got any part of that wrong, because I totally have it in writing!

We finished Day 3 with a small and rainy adventure through the small, new "IT" town in Italy called, Trastevere (we originally called it "Tra-sta-var-A," but the metro pronounces is "Tras-tev-er-A" with the enunciation on the TEV part...so much prettier than our American butchering of the word).  We wanted to see what all the buzz was about and have dinner.  We eventually wandered through a piazza and chose a really fantastic setting for our meal at Ristorante La Canonica.  We also had an awesome waiter named Ruben.



He liked us.

   

 


  

There's graffiti EVERYWHERE in Italy, but it's different than what you normally see in the United States.  The graffiti in Europe is soooo pretty.  It's all art.  And the picture of Erik on our way back to the hotel on the metro is not staged.  Someone (NOT US!) left an empty bottle of wine just chillin' on the train.  The Italians love their wine.

It was an awesome but super tiring day and Day 4 proved to be even longer and fuller...I'm working on that post now.  If you want to jump ahead and check out the photos - see my flickr page HERE.

Welcome to this month's installment of 12 of 12.  Check out Chad's blog for the history as well as this weeks twelvers.  Happy Easter Eggs!




8:49am:  Easter mass music program...there were a lot of Alleluias today.



11:11am:  Most people watch the Ten Commandments or the Sound of Music on Easter...I think I'll start a new tradition of watching Sex and the City.  LOVED that movie.

11:49am:  This is known as "church hair."



12:33pm:  P-town!  Main road up into the residential hills. There are neon green hills here too. 




12:50pm:  Backyard Creatures Photo#1 - Garden Lizard.




12:51pm:  Backyard Creature Photo#2 - Casey the Monster Dog.




1:32pm:  Decorating eggs with my Dad





1:58pm:  My mom, teaching me how to make deviled eggs.




2:07pm:  My masterpieces.  We had chubby eggs and the little cardboard decorations wouldn't fit, so they sort of looked like Rambo Eggs.




3:07pm:  Went to visit Nani at the nursing home.  My aunts got her that Bunny.  It sings Brickhouse (or some other song that requires the white-man's-overbite dance moves) and the ears swing up and down to the beat.  Cute...wonder how long that will last before the nurses take it and toss it so they don't have to listen to it anymore...




8:23pm:  Enjoying too much wine at dinner means I forget to take photos of the pretty table or all the guests.  I took these as people were leaving.  I said "smile," and for some reason my brother and sister decided to pick up/show off the sugar cookies that were on the dessert plate.  Then they put the cookies back after their dirty fingers were all over them.




8:24pm: The parental units.

Sorry to be short and sweet tonight, but I'm tired and need as much sleep as I can get since this week seems pretty daunting as I try to prepare for my two-week vacation starting this time next week.  Lots to do and people to see before I go and not a lot of time to do it all in.  Breathe....breathe...Italy in T-minus SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!
 

There are a variety of reasons why I've been feeling out of sorts.  Dating, work, preparing for my Europe trip, feeling unorganized and cluttered and feeling like I don't have time for everything I want and need to do.  Life is a balancing act; I think we can all relate to that.  On days that I realize I'm feeling a little off, sometimes I just need to take a few moments and get away from my normal routine.  Every week day I get up, get in my car, travel through the canyon to BART, work all day and then reverse my commute and end up at home to start it all over again the next day.  It can get tedious and sometimes I just feel like I need to break out.  But not in a big way.  Sometimes I just need a small change.  Today was one of those days.  So on the spur of the moment I took a different road home through a different canyon.  At this time of year, the East Bay hills are neon green and gorgeous.  THere's something about living here at this time of year and getting to take in the sights and colors that helps me breathe easier.  Going home through this different canyon only added about 10 minutes onto my commute, but I knew the sun would be streaming through the overgrown, old trees, the hills would be bright green and there would probably be horses and or cows roaming the fence lines.  I thought if I could find a safe place to pull over that I might be able to get out and take a few photos.  Taking photos is similar to how I feel about singing - it's a creative release. I love the results and the more photos I take, the better I get at it.  Or at least, i think I'm getting better at it. 

Take a deep breath and look at these photos I took this afternoon - you might just be able to smell the grass and feel the warm sun.  Click on any of the photos to see a larger view.  I'll also post the full set and few other artsy, creative-releasing photos that I've taken lately on my flickr site:  www.flickr.com/photos/bellacantare
 

 


    

Ahhh, that feels better.

There's this cool orchid in my office lobby that was begging me to take it's photo.  So I took a dozen.  And then I messed with some of the SOOTC shots (Straight Out Of The Camera).  Let me know what you think.




This one just has some increased contrast




Basically the same photo, but minus the contrast and messing with the color saturation.
 

The colors are warmer on this one

 

And I used a bunch of brightening effects for this one.




I didn't do much with this one, I just liked the angle and the macro definition.

So - what did you like the best?  Here they are in a row to help you decide:


  

 


I think one day, when I'm all grown up and have a house of my own, I'll have a whole wall, or maybe two, dedicated to pictures from my macro collection.  Or maybe I'll just take all of these orchid photos and put them in medium-to-small frames and put them up in a bathroom.  I like the idea of a purple bathroom.

see all the orchid shots and some new ones of the emo dog I live with at www.flickr.com/photos/bellacantare

Hey - the new year didn't get off to a great start by missing January's 12 of 12, but I think I got a couple of cool, interesting shots this month.  Enjoy - and check out Chad's blog for other 12-ers.  Click on each photo to see a larger version.




7:14am - Taking Shelby to the doggie day camp in Castro Valley.  She's looking out the window like...I KNOW where we're going, can we GO ALL READY???



7:21am - Club K-9 is where we take Shelby when we've been too busy to exercise her as much as she needs.  She's able to run and play for hours and hours and then she comes home and crashes.  As soon as I round the corner onto the canyon road she goes nuts and as soon as I open the car door she bolts inside the gates like she owns the place and I stand there waving like a parent that's just realized her baby doesn't need her anymore.



7:34am - Fillin' up.  I liked the composition and tire marks.



1:04pm - I forgot my camera when I left to get lunch.  Too bad too because there was this man feeding the pigeons scraps from his sandwich in the Sacramento Alleyway of the Embarcadero Center - it would have been an awesome shot.  Instead you're stuck with a photo of what I ended up getting - Chili Up's Chicken and Corn.  Good, warm chili on a chilly day.



5:37pm - Getting artsy while I wait for my train.



5:39pm - I like the blurry BART shots. 



7:58pm - I met Cory for dinner and some good catchin' up at the newest Chow Restaurant in Danville.  I used to love to go to Park Chow in the Sunset when I lived in San Francisco.  This one is a bit overpriced and not as charming as it's counterpart, but eh, we ARE in the suburbs.



8:14pm - It's been almost a year since I last had Chow's awesome ginger cake with pumpkin ice cream and drizzled caramel sauce over the top. mmmm



8:30pm - mmmm.  Ginger Cake.



8:48pm - The tuckered out pooch next to the fire.  She's the only dog I know that likes to roast herself until we force her to move for fear her fur will combust.



8:58pm - just bought these tickets on Tuesday and they already arrived.  They're for CCMT's production of Evita in Walnut Creek.  My cousin Jimmy is in the show so Laura, our cousins and I are going to support him (or embarass him...depends on how you look at it).



10:37pm - I didn't get a great shot of me waking up this morning (aka - i looked like crap), so you're getting a just before bed shot of me with my new haircut.

Hope everyone is having a good week - come check out Ray of Light's newest show, "I love you, you're perfect, now change," this weekend if you're in the area.  www.roltheatre.com

Ciao

2007 was an extraordinarily crappy year.  Thus I had high hopes for 2008.  Maybe too high.  While I can look around and see how difficult this year was for a lot of my friends, I guess I can't say the year has been awful to me, but it's pretty hard watching the people you care about struggle and deal with more than their share of crap and grief.  I sit here, 98 minutes into 2009 and feel like I can take a 20/20 hindsight look at the past year - some good stuff, some bad stuff, but most of it was, meh...whatever.  But I hate to have a "whatev" kind of year...so...2009, you've got your work cut out for you. 

My favorite photos from 2008

~ 2008 highs and lows and inbetweens ~
The year of weddings: Kelly and Troy, Bella and Mark, Lyndsey and Dan, Derek and Monica, Laura and Jason, Chris and Shane.  Wonderful, beautiful friends (and family) - these memories are the the ones I  most love from the past year.

Travels: Telluride, Reno, New York...  The more I travel, the more I love it.  This might not be a good thing for the savings account.  I'm looking forward to lots of photos in 2009 of Vegas, Italy and Spain.  And wherever else I can be persuaded to travel to.

Work:  Hey, I still have a job.  A job I do well.  A job I never thought I'd be doing, at least not for over five years.  I am grateful, even with the aggravation of day to day things and the odd hours and commute, but the economy has hit my industry very hard and that has shown in multiple rounds of layoffs and cutbacks.  There's another one rumored for January and everyone is feeling less and less secure.

Dating:  Meh.  It's unfortunate that the men I meet now have a lot to live up to.  Sure, you're not supposed to compare one guy to the next, but, let's admit it, we all do it.  I feel like I was lucky enough to find something so wonderful once and now all potential suitors seem a bit lackluster.  Also lazy.  But mostly, they haven't a clue how to treat a woman.  I'm not picky; I just have high standards.

Friends:  I have great friends.  Honestly.  No drama, no primadonnas and no one that I couldn't call for a favor if I needed one.  However, I'm beginning to realize how much I miss having a large group of friends to do stuff with.  Everyone that was part of my core set of friends before college are all spread out now.  I only see Boomie once in a blue moon and that's THE hardest part - I miss having my best friend just across town.  It's been 10 years since we've lived in the same town, but somehow it's bothering me more this year than any of the past years. 

Loss:  There have been two significant losses this year.  The first was my Great Uncle Vince.  His health had been going downhill for years and I think we were all preparing ourselves, but it's never easy.  He was my last Great Uncle and his passing has hit me very hard.  It's even hard to type this without fighting back tears.  I take comfort in knowing how wonderful my childhood was in part because of his role in my life and in the entire family.  I have many great memories that I will hold dear to my heart and I know my cousins and I will keep him alive in our hearts and in the stories we tell of him and his dirty jokes that we'll repeat for years to come.
The other loss isn't so much mine as it is Clair's.  And it's her story to tell, so I won't go into too much detail here.  But I am grieving for her...with her...knowing that we've reached the part of our lives where a parent's presence isn't such a guarantee anymore is a hard chapter to deal with (obviously "hard" is a gross understatement).  My heart has been very heavy this holiday season.

The New Year:  Back to the group of friends issue...It makes it hard to get a group of people together for a big night like New Years' Eve when you have various friends that aren't all connected or know each other in some way.  No one makes a commitement.  They're all holding out for a better offer.  Last year I was a bit hurt by this and felt sorry for myself, but this year I decided to just not make a bit deal out of it.  I originally had plans to clean and organize my bedroom, closet, desk, etc.  I started on this project last weekend and got a lot done, but I still have a lot of crap that I've collected over the years to sort through.  But then I realized I'd probably end up being depressed at home all by myself watching TV and cleaning, so I decided to treat myself to some movies, 1) because there are lots of great movies out right now and 2) I NEVER go see movies.  I love to, but I never find the time.  So I thought, maybe if I went and saw at least a couple of movies, including a late night movie that would go into the new year, I could just sort of avoid all the hub bub and enjoy myself at the same time.  I mentioned this on Facebook the other night and my long time friend Jim asked if he could join me.  I thought - "how great! I'm not a loser! I have a friend!!"  haha.  So tonight, Jimmy and I met up in Pleasant Hill to watch "Marley and Me" at 7pm.  Awesome movie; fairly true to the style of the book, and I completely bawled my eyes out.  Girls, this is a 5 hanky movie.  Jim's a tough guy...he didn't shed a tear, but I appreciated that he didn't tease me about the waterworks.  We were too depressed to sit through "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", which we had planned to watch next because it would have ended after 1am, so we went and saw "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey instead.  I wasn't too sure at first, but I let Jim choose and I'm so glad we saw it.  It totally lifted my spirits and we had a great time.  We got out around 11:15pm and went in search of food.  We were at the Denny's in Concord when the clock struck midnight and we toasted to the new year with his Sprite and my cup of hot chocolate over plates of pancakes and french toast.  It was a lovely evening, and true to form, I had to take a picture to capture what we looked like just before the start of 2009.





And then I went home and watched the last part of Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve on TV with my four-legged best friend.



It might seem lame to some people, but this was really the best way to ring in a new year.  I hope yours was just a lovely.

Happy New Year everyone. :-)

I embarked on the 12 of 12 project back in March, and I surprisingly remembered to take 12 photos on the 12th day of every month except for May.  I blame it on my birthday.  There was just too much to do surrounding my birthday to remember to take photos.  Or maybe I was charging my camera and left it charging when I went to work.  Yeah, that sounds about right.  Anyway, here's a recap of the best of my 12 of 12 (all 9 months).  I'm aiming for all twelve months in 2009.  I encourage all of you to join me - it's FUN!  And check out Chad's blog - he's the reason we do this.



March



April



June



July



August



September



October



November



December

Happy New Year everyone.  Let's hope 2009 rocks a lot harder than 2008.

Most of you are facebookers.  I know I'm new to the FB Scene, but has anyone else discovered the games section called MindJolt?  Holy Canoli.  I could live on that site.  I have been playing mexican train, scarb solitare and other mindless games ALL AFTERNOON when I was supposed to be napping to recover from this cold. 

Hi, I'm Stephanie and I'm addicted to online games.  I started mainly out of curiosity.  Maybe boredom.  It seemed harmless at first, but now it consumes my every moment on my laptop.  Luckily I can't play the games on my blackberry, but if I could, oh man, that would be worse than crack.

Anyway, in order to get back to those games...I mean dinner, yes, i mean dinner, it's 8pm, I need sustenance for more gam....I mean, wrapping.  Christmas present wrapping.  So, I thought you all might enjoy a great little photo NOT from my blog.  Hey, I'm sick, I'm allowed to be lazy.  Plus it's a great photo, and I'm only sharing it because I know all of you have checked out my recent flickr photos.  Right?  RIGHT??  I'm talking to YOU.  Go ahead and check it out.  Right HERE.  I'll wait...

Done?  You sure you saw them all?  There are some good ones.  Feel free to comment too.

OK - here's the greatest little dog on the internetz.  Next to Shelby Roo of course.

Good boy CHUCK.  Courtesy of Dooce.com

I know I've been MIA, but I'm home sick with a headcold and figured I'd finally catch up on blogging, reading and writing on my own. There have been a couple of parties around here. Lots of shopping. Many photos.


some of my favorites -




A co-worker and me at the office holiday party at Beetlenut.  We had too much fun with our sparkly hats from Walgreens.




We give out gag gifts for our party, and as one of the assistants, it's part of my job to plan these parties, including the gag gifts.  This is a blow up doll of one the higher ups.  Do you know how difficult it is to find a non-anatomimcally correct blow-up doll?  Did you know that blow up dolls can go for around $500 dollars?  You do NOT want to know what those pricey dolls include. 

Do you know how embarassing it is to tell a cab driver to drop you off at Big Al's in San Francisco with a straight face? 

Yes, I get paid well.



And it did turn out pretty well.



This is me getting my gag gift.  A Bratz microphone, because my secret ambition is to be a superstah singer.  And a tshirt that says "Mother Hen," because I take care of all the boys at work...mostly by yelling at them and telling them what to do.



A part of the gag gift tradition is that everyone MUST WEAR ALL GIFTS.  No matter how embarassing.

     

They're good sports

Then there was a little holiday party the next night at a friend's house.  Adriane and I attended, kinda felt like the only people there over 25 and when my friend Neill and his friend Pete showed up we made a break for John Collin's.

It was Neill's last night in town before moving to New York for work.  So sad.  But we had a good time.  And I don't know where the cowboy hat came from.


Pete and Adriane



Me with Pete



Neill and me



Adriane and me.

So, from all this fun, I'm now sitting on the couch, watching the American President on TV and playing copious amounts of Mexican Train on Facebook.  I still have three gifts left to pick up, cookies to bake and laundry to wash.

Sigh.  It's raining. 

Photos from Rocky and Shane and Chris' wedding on Halloween are up at Flickr.  (Rocky/Wedding Set)

Also, just in case you haven't noticed or I haven't friended you yet, I'm FINALLY a member of Facebook.  Stop by and say Hi.  Linking to it over there on the Right. See it?  Right there.  THERE.  Okay, good.

Back, but NY left me with a bad head cold and lots of photos to go through. I've posted the highlights and the photos I like the most. Check 'em out on Flickr

I went to dinner last week with BionicFemme and Jarysm and had an awesome time.  BionicFemme and I have been friends for quite some time now and I've known of Jarys since my senior year at USF, but he couldn't quite place how he knew me from college.

Jarys:  So wait, tell me how we know each other?

Me: College Players (USF's theatre troup that we were both a part of)

J: Oh! You were in College Players?

Me:  Yeah, I was in the Vagina Monologues my senior year, which I think was your freshman year.

J: Really? (Not quite registering)

Me:  Um, I used to wear glasses...

J:  *GASP* Oh my God, you're the hot girl with glasses!

Me:  What?!?

J: Do you wear contacts now?

M: Yes

J: Nooo, girls with glasses are sooo hot!

;-)  Thanks Jarys, that totally made my night.  And because I'm bored and haven't had a great day and feel like making myself laugh, here are the many different sides of Stephanie with glasses...



SWEET STEPH



Pensive Steph



"Dude, that stinks" Steph



Sooo annoyed Steph



Cracking up at Annoyed Steph Steph



"Is that a spider on my wall?' Steph



"Yes, that IS a spider on my wall and now I'm scared" Steph



Just Steph.


All of this now seems a bit narcissistic...but it really did cheer me up acting all silly, so thanks for putting up with me. 

Found this on Daaydreaming Dana's blog 





Here’s what you do:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The questions:

1. What is your first name? Stephanie
2. What is your favorite food? Mac n' Cheese
3. What high school did you go to? Pittsburg High
4. What is your favorite color? Greens
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Christian Bale
6. Favorite drink? dirty martini

7.Dream vacation? Europre
8. Favorite dessert? Donettes
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Linda Eder
10. What do you love most in life? love
11. One Word to describe you. Confident
12. Your flickr name. bellacantare 

So, I still haven't posted about my weekend, BUT, I did finish uploading all the photos I took.  There were almost 300 in all.  So pace yourself.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bellacantare/

One of my favorites came after I got home.  I had a little shadow as I unpacked my bags. 



I guess Shelby really does love me.

Some of my favorites so far.  Whole batch can be found HERE .

I've decided to try a little blog project called 12 of 12.  Actually, i've been trying to do this for the last two months but kept forgetting.  You basically take 12 photos throughout your day, every month on the 12th.  Today wasn't particularly exciting.  In fact, as you'll see in a moment, I was stuck in the office all day.  Blah.  Enjoy.


 
5:15am:  Egh...too early.  But at least I was awoken by Sara Bareilles' "Love Song."  I don't care if the radio stations overplay it, I still love it.




6:36am:  Waiting at Castro Valley BART for a god-awful early train.  I'm about an hour early today because I needed to get into work before 8am.  And yes, it really was still that dark out.



7:28am:  Mmmm, my favorite breakfast.  Cinnamon swirl toast with OJ.  No raisins in the bread.  I hate raisins.  Why are people always trying to contaminate my food with healthy crap?


12:17pm:  I know, boring.  Two food shots in a row, but I was stuck in a meeting ALL morning and couldn't take any pictures in there, so the next exciting thing I did was have lunch while I covered the reception desk at work.  Those are my minutes notes from the three hour meeting...need to type them up.  Oh, and don't think that I went outside for that salad sampler from Suisse; i just had to go downstairs in my building.  My boss asked me to pick up something for her and to get something for myself.  That doesn't count against my Lenten promise, does it?



1:48pm:  In my other boss' office doing some work while he's out.  This is my first glimpse at daylight today.  Look, there was blue sky over the dreary bay! 



5:05pm:  Since I didn't get a chance to go outside today or take a real break or meet up with Clair like we had planned, I decided to take two seconds and give you a photo of my cute-ass, red, Steve Madden skimmers.  So cute, they ALMOST brighten up my day.



6:02pm:  The boys in my office ordered some pizza and they let me have some since I still wasn't able to leave the office.  So healthy, but at least I got to eat something.



7:53pm:  Embarcadero BART station.  It kinda looks pretty with all those primary colors.  I don't get the Mini ad there.  Zig. Zag. Zig. Zag. ZUG.  What's a Zug?



8:37pm: Finally back at my car.  Oh look, it's dark again, just like when I parked it this morning.



8:43pm:  Halfway home and noticed this; I'm at 42,000 miles?  I bought this car a little more than a year ago and I think it had 35,000 miles on it.  Can that be right?  I've driven 7,000 miles when I only drive about 16 miles a day?  Hmmm



9:08pm: Finally home.  I figured it would be nice to have at least one photo of a person in one of these shots.  I don't look as tired as I feel.



10:08pm:  Trying to pack for Telluride.  Wow, I'm such a girl...too much stuff.  Car service will be here at 4am.  Sigh.  I guess I can sleep on the plane.