for fun: Do/Would you still put on all your makeup and decent clothes if you are quarantined

[slidergirl]

Been a tad busy, so I haven't even had a chance to look at things.

 

Sharon - congrats on the grand-baby!!!  It's always a wonderful thing when there's a new one around.  

 

Lois - sorry 'bout the mattress delivery.  As long as you aren't sleeping on the floor and they are hauling away the mattress, all should be good 😄  And, that's a good lookin' pie!!!  I didn't do pie for Pi Day.  Used to get French Silk pie at Marie Callander's back in the day.  

 

Melody - that storm totally passed us by!  I think we had many 2 inches.  And, it's been warm yesterday and it'll be warmer today (46), so we've got a decent melt happening.   At least the landscape/plow folks got a full schedule of work from that storm over there!  I want to send everyone who is showing up here for Spring Break over to Colorado for the snow!!!  

 

I watched Stanley last night.  Oh, how I want to go back to Tuscany!!!  My two favorite dishes that I do make are ribollita (one of the 3 soups at that one restaurant, made with beans and black kale) and panzanella.  Now, I feel that I have to make up a pot of ribollita on my days off this week as it's going to be a tad cold and snowy.  I make panzanella all year 'round and it used to be my go-to for a "take to work" meal.  And, I'm definitely the odd duck here - I LOVE Tuscan bread!!!!!  I have a bakery here who makes it - I'll buy it when I make rebollita or panzanella and I use it for avocado bread and tuna sandwiches.  Maybe it's because I don't like salt all that much, anyway.  I don't salt anything except pasta water.   And, I have to go back and hunt for those wine windows!!!  Do photos of them like my one friend does Italian manhole covers...  When I was in Florence with my friend, we were going to go to the Cinghiale Bianco, but we ran out of time.  Now, seeing those luscious soups, I wish we had been able to go there.  My friend's husband had one of those hunks of Bisteca Fiorentina for dinner at Aquacheta in Montepulciano.  It was HUGE.  I took one bite - it was indeed mouth-melting.  My friend and I stuck to all the veggies they had and some cantucci and Vin Santo for dessert.  Her husband doesn't drink, so Susan and I always had a good time!!!

 

 

[awhfy]

2 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi Melody, he is so cute!😃

Happiest dog ever. I keep trying to steal him (& he lives to come to my house...I have good puppy treats!)

[slidergirl]

Man, I totally scored today.  Good reward as it was busy today with just me and the boss, units to inspect and guests to check in.  It's a very busy Spring Break week up here.  I guess they're not all going to Florida...

The boss decided to divide up our liquor/beer treasure trove for the last 2 weeks.  My eyes immediately spotted a bottle of Kistler Chardonnay and a bottle of Latour Pouilly Fuisee.  Not wanting to be a wine hog, I "volunteered" to take the Kistler and leave my boss the Latour.  She doesn't know much except that she likes Whites.  Well, her White is about $25 and my Kistler is about $75!!!  I knew the Kistler name so I really wanted it.  So, I got that and a 6-pack of some craft cream ale beer.  I made out well.  Now, can I be unafraid to open up that bottle??????

Then, I just got a text from the boss:  she forgot her groceries in her office.  She has 2 loaves of crusty baguette in there that will go stale overnight (just in the paper sleeves).  She told me to take them home.  I'm going to do that, then tomorrow stop off and pick up some tomatoes and mozzarella and make Panzanella.  Yummy!!!

 

OOTD:  teal blue sleeveless Cotopaxi Tshirt, navy blue Athleta Pranayama wrap and my greenish/gray Woolx leggings.  Most dressed up I've been since I wore this same thing last week ☺️

[cruise kitty]

Hi Ladies!  Still trying to play catch up!   

 

A very, very big congratulations to Sharon !!  (& your kids too of course)  what wonderful news, & how great that she had a quick delivery :)

 

Melody, thank goodness you have your son staying with you & he does your shoveling (sorry about the reason) , hope you continue to be safe! 

 

Kat, nice score today!   That bread sounds wonderful, it's rainy & cold here, so comfort food sounds nice & cozy.

 

Christy, congrats on your upcoming visit!   I completely understand how very excited you must be :)

 

Sherri, I hope you are able to get an in person visit soon, I agree, FT is nice, but not the same...

 

Lois, happy early B-Day, & I hope your bed arrives & is super comfy :)  Also, things are slowly opening here (indoor dining at 25% capacity & gyms, woo hoo!)  I would say that by late May, June, your bus tour would be lovely....  but I don't have a crystal ball....  I'm optimistic, we're doing pretty good at vaccines finally :)

 

For everyone asking about Vegas:   the "weird" crowd (of course I guess I'm part of that lol)  there were a LOT of red hats if you know what I mean, they would wear masks when required, but very loudly voiced their disapproval in not so nice terms....  then there's the weed issue...  I'm not a prude by any means, people smoke in their backyards here all the time, but in Vegas we could not get away from it, the minute you walk outside, it's all you smell, & on the east side of the strip there is a kiosk or shop selling it every 15 feet or so, & clouds of it wafting in the air...  pretty sure we all got a contact high lol....  the table games have big plexiglass barriers (as well they should)  but without the interaction with others it's not the same...  

 

The people there were definitely ready to party, & party they did lol...

 

We totally enjoyed just being together & going to restaurants....  our first real ones together in a year...   Laying by the pool was wonderful (nice weather on Friday & Sat)  I ordered a 32oz (you read that right) giant frozen pina colada....  felt very vacationy...but I was happy to be back in my own bed at home :)

 

[cruisemom42]

21 hours ago, purduemom1 said:

Sounds like cruisemom42 is ready for another visit..........

 

Oh I am, I totally am!

 

I don't have my Florence photos handy, but a few favorites from my last trip (Nov 2019) to Rome:

 

 

 

[Lois R]

10 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Oh I am, I totally am!

 

I don't have my Florence photos handy, but a few favorites from my last trip (Nov 2019) to Rome:

 

 

 

Good morning, love the photos😃.......and I spoke to my gf yesterday and gave her

a heads up👍

[cruise kitty]

16 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Oh I am, I totally am!

 

I don't have my Florence photos handy, but a few favorites from my last trip (Nov 2019) to Rome:

 

 

 

 

Oh my gosh I miss this...   any luck with vaccines in your area?   Here, there are a ton of ways to sign up, actually so many that it's very confusing.... we have city run pods, county run pods, pharmacy run walk ins...  & if you are not internet savvy, then you are pretty much out of luck, unless someone helps you.  I managed to get appointments for the woman who has cleaned our house for 20+ years.... this was through Walgreens,  it was one a bit far away, but at that point she didn't care.  I think now it's getting a little easier for eligible people to find appointments here, hopefully the same where you are :)

[PurpleHays]

23 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

For everyone asking about Vegas:   the "weird" crowd (of course I guess I'm part of that lol)  there were a LOT of red hats if you know what I mean, they would wear masks when required, but very loudly voiced their disapproval in not so nice terms....  

 

I ran across that this afternoon in NC. We've been under a mask mandate for a looooooong time. Woman, two teen aged girls and a man were headed into REI about the same time I was. This store has double inner and outer doors. Woman goes through outer door, stops at inner. Teen girl (with mask below her nose) holds door for me. Woman at door grumbles about wearing mask, takes for-ev-er to put in on, still grumbling sarcastically about how we're "all doing our parts--right". B****, if you wanna complain, go somewhere else. Let me peacefully shop. And I'm glad she had to wear one. They were policing just inside the inner door and commented on how long it took her to put it on. 🙄

[slidergirl]

 I don't do many scenic photos when I'm in Italy, but I do food p*rn photos! 

 

Photo 1:  Cacio e pepe from Armando al Pantheon (Stanley ate there)

Photo 2:  The daugher's Roman Torta from Armando

Photo 3:  The "piccolo" chartuterie plate at La Proscietteria in Florence

Photo 4:  The Butter Chicken ("petti di pollo al burro") at Sostanza in Florence

Photo 5: some of the pizza al taglio at Bonci Pizzarium in Rome.

 

Enjoy!!  

[Lois R]

Hi Kat, thanks for sharing those with us........they all look sooooooooo good😃

[Lois R]

Hi girls🙂

 

[awhfy]

Kat!  Gorgeous food photos 

[57redbird]

[slidergirl]

3 hours ago, awhfy said:

Kat!  Gorgeous food photos 

Thank you.  But, wait, there's more...  no I won't.  I take photos of food because I want to remember how good things tasted that I've eaten all over.  And, to make my friend jealous that they aren't there with me... You can find postcards or photos online of places, but it's hard to find the same with your food!

 

Day off today.  I'm doing some things around the house, maybe try to get the rest of the snow off my driveway since it's a warm day (supposed to get up to 48 this afternoon).  Hanging out in my tie-dye hoodie tunic/mini dress.  When I go out, I'll just pull on some leggings to go with it.  

[cruise kitty]

Hi Ladies! Happy St. Patricks Day!   Enjoy your day off Kat :)   I'm doing a little work from home,  combined with some laundry & house cleaning, what fun lol....  also attempting to descale my Nespresso machine, which I haven't used in over a year now...  I ordered some pods online...  Also daydreaming about travel....  just discovered that Romania is allowing U.S. citizens to visit if they are vaccinated :)

[slidergirl]

20 minutes ago, cruise kitty said:

Hi Ladies! Happy St. Patricks Day!   Enjoy your day off Kat 🙂   I'm doing a little work from home,  combined with some laundry & house cleaning, what fun lol....  also attempting to descale my Nespresso machine, which I haven't used in over a year now...  I ordered some pods online...  Also daydreaming about travel....  just discovered that Romania is allowing U.S. citizens to visit if they are vaccinated 🙂

My group of girlfriends are trying to organize a get-together again (used to do these yearly until 2 years ago).  I got them calmed down from the game of "telephone" where it started with 2 of us joking that we could now meet halfway between our houses to apparently me saying we should all go to Yellowstone!!!  Have NO idea where that came from.  Well, I said I was going to stay out of the planning  because I can drive anywhere this summer while some of the ladies have swimming classes to teach, grandkids to babysit, daughters expecting babies...  All I said was as long as I can front-end or back-end the get--together with some camping, I'm good.  I've been the organizer for a few of these trips, so I think it's time for someone else to do the deed.  There was one funny moment in our FB messaging when one said that she and another probably wouldn't go for camping because they need to plug in their CPAPs at night or they'd scare the animals with their snoring. 

 

On Romania:  nearby Bulgaria - where my friends in England took their 2 little kiddos last February to go skiing.  Mom & Dad ended up with COVID there.  Given masks and were told to not tell anyone and were flown back home...  Just a weird thing that popped in my brain.

[Lois R]

Kat, hope you are able to take whatever trip with your friends!

 

Well, the Mattress store called and there is another delay.........they are thinking delivery may

be Sunday.  I will just not worry about it and whenever it gets here it will get here.

 

I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond today and got a new "Kurieg Carousel".......for the pods. It is

really nice........I had an older one but this one looks better😃

Here is a picture:

 

[slidergirl]

2 hours ago, Lois R said:

Kat, hope you are able to take whatever trip with your friends!

 

Well, the Mattress store called and there is another delay.........they are thinking delivery may

be Sunday.  I will just not worry about it and whenever it gets here it will get here.

 

I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond today and got a new "Kurieg Carousel".......for the pods. It is

really nice........I had an older one but this one looks better😃

Here is a picture:

 

That's what we need at work to hold our K-Cups for guests who want something other than caffeinated coffee from our big machine.  Now they have to dig into a glass jar...

 

"Thinking" delivery may be Sunday???  Good thing you're being mellow about it.  

[Lois R]

Good morning🙂.....Sunday is what I was told over the phone but they could not be 100% sure.

The guy said there were 19 others he was calling as well.  Getting upset about it won't get it 

here any faster.

 

Today I turn 63..........I wish I could have been on a cruise for my birthday........

Guess I will just go out for dinner LOL

 

My heart goes out to the families in Atlanta........We need to be rid of all this hate☹️

[awhfy]

Happy bday Lois!!  Almost a St Paddy’s Day baby. Hope you have a fabulous day!

[Lois R]

Hi Melody, thank you so much🙂

[sjb317]

HappyBirthday Lois!  I hope your mattress arrives on Sunday with no further delays!  And I agree with you, too much hate festering in the country.  Not sure we will ever rid ourselves of it.

 

Love the pictures of Rome and the food pictures!  Makes me long to go back to Italy again!  
 

My husband seems to have gone completely crazy!  He, who never, ever makes travel plans, has booked a surprise trip to the Dominican Republic in April.  We will be staying at an all inclusive resort for 7 days.  Surprise is really not the word for it, I think shock was a good description of my reaction.  I guess we will see if this vaccine really works! 
 

Have a great day and remember, SPRING officially starts this weekend!

 

Sherri🙂

 

 

[slidergirl]

Happy Birthday Lois!!!!

(and a little belated St. Patrick's Day)

[Lois R]

Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes😃........I appreciate them.  I went out for lunch and will decide if I go out for dinner too LOL.....I had texted a gf to

see if she could do lunch but her daughter in law is having a C section so of 

course that comes in as a priority.

 

Sherri, what a surprise for sure! You will have to let us all know how it goes.....with the flights,

hotels, health and safety, etc...........

 

[cruise kitty]

Happy Happy Birthday @Lois R  Hope your lunch was wonderful & dinner too!  &  hopefully you will get to do a make up birthday cruise at some point this year :)  Have you thought any more about doing the CA tour?    

 

Kat, I spend a lot of time daydreaming planning trips.... so I totally understand, I think you need to make yours a reality :)  sounds like you have all the camping gear, & your 2nd shot is scheduled soon, right?  

 

Sherri, what a wonderful surprise!   We're feeling more & more confident about doing things...  also thinking that the second half of this year people will be going crazy trying to travel & do things, so probably good to plan or do now if possible...anyway, congrats on your upcoming vacation!

 

& I hate to end on on somber note, but the Atlanta shootings are just, well horrifying, & other words I'm not allowed to say on here.  :(