Good morning!

Christian and I came down to Salzburg for a little bit to check our emails and other online stuff.  We're still having a great time.  It's pretty cold over here today.  It's been rainy the last two days and it must have been a cold front that came through.  Friday, the four of us (Christian, me and his grandparents) went to another mountain top restaurant.  That day was beyond hilarious.  Christian told me we'd have to park and walk a little ways to the restaurant b/c our rental car didn't have a certain pass that we needed to drive up.  So, his grandparents drove up the mountain and Christian and I were just going to meet them up there.  Well, little did I know, this "little nice walk" we were going on was a friggin' hike from just about the bottom of a mountain to the TOP of the mountain.  It took us over an hour and I was cussing the entire time while Christian just laughed his ass off at me.  He kept saying "I can't wait to tell your mom & dad about this" hahaha.  Needless to say, I did NOT expect to be hiking a mountain so I had just showered, was wearing "designer jeans" (that's what his grandmother calls my jeans) and some little canvas shoes.  By the end, I had my shirt pulled up so the sweat that was drenching my back wouldn't soak my shirt.  But, when it was all said and done, the view at the top of the mountain was worth it.  It was just a funny situation.

Other than that, it's been pretty low-key the past couple days.  Yesterday was actually "thanksgiving" in Faistenau.  Not sure what the exact tradition is but we walked to the center of town and everyone was wearing traditional clothing like we wore to Oktoberfest last year.  It was kind of interesting.

Oh, another thing.... we eat so much bread over here that my TMJ has started acting up and my jaws are killing me.  So, that sucks.  I also forgot to tell you guys that the morning of the day we flew out of Sicily, I ended up in the ER on base because of a UTI.  Thank God it happened while we were on base b/c I don't know what I would have done if it happened while we were in Austria or Germany!!!

We leave Thursday to go to Frankfurt, Germany.  There's a lot to do there and I'm excited to see the rest of Christian's family.

That's about all the news I have for now!  I hope everyone has a great week!  Love y'all!

xoxo,

Chrissi

PICTURES OF SICILY ARE ALL POSTED ON FACEBOOK!

Hello everyone!  We finally found internet here in Austria in downtown Salzburg.... at a McDonalds! haha Apparently Europeans are very stingy with their internet b/c there are about five different wireless signals near Christian's grandparents' place but they're all locked.  Oh well.

We're having a great time!  We flew into Munich, Germany Monday and drove about two hours from Munich to Faistenau, Austria to his grandparents' vacation home.  It has been great to see them... even though I can barely understand them.  My german is getting a little better day by day.  I'm understanding about 1/2 of the conversations.... I'm just too timid to actually speak haha.

I've posted two pictures below.  The first one is us at the top of Taormina in Sicily and the second is in the mountains in Austria!  Our days have been filled with mostly eating and walking.  Faistenau is a tiny little village in the mountains that has a little town square and it's about 20 minutes from Salzburg, which is one of the larger cities in Austria and a major tourist trap.  Tuesday, his grandparents took us to a little restaurant on top of a mountain where you can sit outside (this is where the second pic below was taken) and take in the scenery and drink beer (which me and his grandfather did) haha.  Wednesday, we came to Salzburg and did some touristy stuff like go on a tour of a the big castle here and walked around all the shopping areas.  This morning we walked a mountain trail for about two hours, ate lunch and now we're back in Salzburg.  We just went to see the Mirabell Gardens and it was beautiful.  I think we're taking a trip to one of those spa places tomorrow!  I'm excited!!!

Anyway, I love all of you!  I hope everyone is doing well and that the weather is cooling down for everyone!

xoxo, Chrissi

TAORMINA

I officially fell in love with Sicily as of yesterday.  Christian and I went to Taormina and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life.  Here's a picture I found online of it but I have some amazing pictures on my camera that I hope to load later today!

Taormina is a beautiful town on top of a huge cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.  The streets are super narrow, lots of shopping, beautiful old buildings (similar to New Orleans architecture).  There are two levels of the town where the majority of the tourist areas are.  The first level is where all the shopping (VERY nice shops with designers like Gucci, Armani, etc) and great restaurants and the Greek Theater is there as well.  I also fell in love with a pair of boots that were 700 euro.  Christian didn't think that was too funny.  haha  Oh well.  We weren't able to make it down to the theater b/c there was some big concert going on.  We also saw a wedding going on there and the bride and groom were Greg & Nancy.  Their names sound so American so I was a little jealous about a destination wedding!  haha

After we walked around a little bit more, we went to the top of the cliff, had some drinks, watched the sunset and then had dinner.  The place we had dinner was called Bar Turrisi.   It was hilarious.  It's a bar with penis statues everywhere!  haha  Here's their website:  www.barturrisi.com  I got some great pictures of that too!  The food was, once again, amazing.  I could live forever on Italian food!

We came back to base after dinner and we're just lounging around today getting ready for our trip to Austria tomorrow.

I'll send a note later once I have the pictures loaded onto Facebook.  Love y'all!!!!

Chrissi

Good morning everyone (it's actually the middle of the night for you guys)-

I hope everyone had a good start to their weekend yesterday!  Christian and I had a great day but I'm still recovering from being so tired!!  Jet lag plus a 14 hour trip yesterday is not the best thing for me.  But, I'm carrying on!

We went to the Aeolian Islands off of Sicily.  This is the "spa" trip I told you guys about.  We left base on a bus at about 6 a.m. yesterday, had a two hour ride up to the port town and then took a two hour ferry ride over to the islands.  It was a beautiful ride and we got lots of pictures!  I'll load them when I have more time.  The ferry stopped at one island first and the majority of the passengers got off and then it took us over to Vulcano (a volcanic island).  Our trip included the ferry ride and then entrance into this mineral pool place.  They had three different pools (all different temps) that were pure mineral water.  It was kind of neat.  Then, we had the opportunity to do the sulfur springs/mud but it smelled SOOOO bad that I refused to get in it!  haha  Christian wasn't too keen on it either.  The smell of sulfur was so strong so you had the constant smell of rotten boiled eggs.  It's supposed to be great for your skin but I like to think I already have great skin and don't need that!  haha  So, Christian and I lounged on the beach for a little while.  It was sooooo beautiful and the water is so crystal clear!  There were cliffs all around the little cover we were in.  We ate lunch twice haha.  One time I had a caprese panini that was super good and then we got pizza.  The pizza over here is amazing.  All of the menus are in Italian so I just try to pick one that sounds somewhat appetizing and it always turns out so good!

We had to be back on the ferry at 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon and then the ferry drove us all around the islands.  The sites were stunning!!!  I can't wait for you guys to see my pictures.  There are seven islands and we saw three up close.   There are beautiful rock formations jutting out in the middle of the sea and then caves that are so vibrant in color!  We saw where the lava used to flow from the islands and the steam still coming from one of the volcanos.

All in all, it was a good trip.  I think it was a bit expensive for what we actually got to do but it was beautiful.  So, we took another two hour ride back to port and two hour ride back to base.  We got back to our room around 8:30 and I was OUT!  Then, my slave driver husband made me get up at 8 this morning.  Ugh.  I could have slept all day!  Not sure what we're going to do today.  He wants to go climb Mt. Etna but I'm not feeling too great today so who knows.  We're going to Taormina later today for dinner and to see the sites.

We leave here Monday for our trip to Austria!  We're both so excited about that part of our trip!  I can't wait to see Austria and the family.  My german has gotten little better so hopefully I can somewhat communicate with his grandparents while we're in Austria.  Once we're back in Germany in a couple weeks, pretty much everyone in his family speaks english so that will be comforting.

Anyway, I just wanted to update everyone!  Love you all and miss you!!!

Chrissi

Buongiorno!

Hello everyone!  I am now in Sicily w/ my husband!  I flew in around 8 p.m. last night and Christian and two of his fellow pilots came to pick me up at the airport and the four of us went to dinner at a little italian place that was sooooo good!  We had caprese, spaghetti, rosa vino (red wine), and some other asparagus & pesto pasta.  YUMMM!  The owner also made us try some traditional italian liquor which tasted like a mix between jagermister and goldschlogger (not sure if I'm spelling those correctly).  haha

Then we were all so full and tired so we just came back to base.  This morning, Christian and I went to the gym here on base.  After we left the gym, Christian wanted me to learn how to drive one of the cars they have for their trip which is a standard.  Well, that didn't go so well.  I couldn't even make it out of the parking lot!  haha

Today we went out to Catania for lunch.  It was really pretty and old.  It's very dirty here but it's still amazing.  We had a great lunch of yummy food but we have no idea what ingredients were in it haha.  Then, we walked around for a little bit and then went to a city called Lentini where we got three bottles of red wine, one bottle of a red champagne (too interesting to pass up) and a 5 liter jug of olive oil!  It was this little hole in the wall winery and olive oil place.  We tried to chat it up w/ the owner but there was an obvious language barrier!

We're back at the base now and planning on going out to dinner again tonight.  Christian has to go to the Netherlands tomorrow but he'll be back tomorrow evening around 6 so I'll spend tomorrow at the base and around the pool.  Friday, we're going to an island called Vulcano for a sulfur spa!  It's a trip that the base is offering so there will be more Americans.  We have to leave base at 6 a.m. and I don't think we get back until about 8 that night.  I'm pretty excited about it though!  Christian planned that all on his own!  I'm very proud haha.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hello!  Love you all!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Good morning from Zurich, Switzerland!!!
Well, I made it to Zurich.  The flight wasn't too bad and we actually arrived in Zurich about 45 minutes earlier than expected.  Coming into Zurich was beautiful.  There are HUGE mountain ranges covered in snow.  I've never seen mountains like these.  It was gorgeous because the sun was just coming up.  I had an empty seat next to me so I had some room to sprawl out a bit.  I slept pretty much the whole flight but woke up about every hour to change positions.  So, I'm hoping I got enough sleep to get me through the day.  There were some really nice people around me who told me about places we should go while in Sicily.  One woman had been there and she said it was absolutely gorgeous and one of the best trips she and he husband ever took.  Then, there was a guy whose family is from Sicily and he wrote down several places that I should go.  So, I'm definitely looking forward to getting there!  Christian went to Africa yesterday and is supposed to get back to Sicily this afternoon.  However, he said they had an issue with their plane when they landed in Africa and it might delay his return.  So, I have one of his fellow pilots as a back-up to pick me up.  I really hope Christian makes it back!  It's already been too long!

This airport is really clean.... and really expensive!  haha  I went to have breakfast because I'm STARVING and a little croissant and coffee was $11.  The regular American breakfast was $25!!  So, I'm going to try and find some place that sells premade sandwiches or something for lunch. I also forgot how strong the coffee is over here!  haha One croissant and a tiny cup of coffee and I'm all jittery! 

 It's already 10:30 here (4:30 Eastern time).  I'm also going to rent a shower here at the airport to freshen up before I leave.  You can rent little rooms as well but those are about $50 for three hours. The shower's only about $15. 

Anyway, I'll be updating  my blog throughout trip.  I hope everyone has a good day! 

xoxo,

Chrissi

Hoping for the next big adventure:

I've been researching schools up here for the potential beginning of my graduate studies.  I've become very interested in Family & Marriage Therapy and lucky for me, one of the universities around here, Jefferson University, is one of the top schools for that kind of program!  So, I'm going to a workshop October 14 to learn a little more about the program and what I need to do to prepare.

I'm pretty excited about it!  I hope it all works out and that it's possible for me to finish my masters in the next 2 1/2 years that we're up here... and to not break the bank.  I'll definitely need to get a job if I end up going back to school.  Christian's already paying my student loans so I don't expect him to shell out another  chunk for school again.  Yes, I know, what's his is mine and what's mine is his but I still feel guilty!

Other than that, nothing exciting has been going on.  I'm getting antsy about the trip!  I'm so ready to leave already!  I have the Junior League kick-off this Saturday down in Philly so that will be fun!  I've already started packing for my trip.  It's a bit difficult to pack for a trip when you're going to be in two or three different climates!  So, about half of my closet is going with me :).

Communication between me and Christian has been kind of spotty the last couple days.  He's been really busy (which is odd haha) and the time differences don't work to our favor sometimes.  Oh well, I'm hoping to hear from him today.

It's actually a little chilly up here today.  It's 68 out right now and the wind is kickin' so I'm a little cold!  It'll probably get pretty cool tonight.  Looks like the low is 55.

Well, I need to go eat lunch now!  Love y'all!

xoxo-

Chrissi

If anyone had difficulty viewing the video in my last post, here's the link:

http://vimeo.com/12562270

Soul Mates

I was on my way home from the gym today and Oprah Radio was on in my car (like it always is).  Oprah's Soul Series was playing at that time and Rainn Wilson (plays Dwight Shrute on NBC's The Office) was her guest.  They were discussing a new book he wrote along with three other folks: "SoulPancake".  Since the gym is only two miles from my house, I didn't hear much of the interview but came home and Googled soul pancake.  Apparently, it's its own movement of sorts.  Here's the website for this whole idea:  www.soulpancake.com

The book is subtitled "Chew on Life's Big Questions: Spear your mind, unload your questions, figure out what it means to be human.".  It actually doesn't come out until November 2, which I was pretty bummed about since I'm searching for the next great read right now.

So, anyway, I perused the website a little and found some interesting areas.  Many are just questions posted where you can comment with your own answer.  One that caught my eye was "What's your definition of a 'soul mate'?"  Many people posted the typical responses like someone you can be your total self with... someone who is supportive, loving, passionate, and fun without materialistic motives, etc, etc, etc.   Others posted comments stating that they do not believe in soul mates, or souls at all.  But at the top of this page, to get the conversation started, the following video was posted.  Please watch this.

Danny Perasa and his wife, Annie, came to StoryCorps to recount their twenty-seven-year romance.  As they remember their life together from their first date to Danny's final days with terminal cancer,  the remarkable Brooklynites personify the eloquence, grace, and poetry that can be found in the voices of everyday people when we take time to listen.


Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

I found this video so touching.  And, obviously, it made me miss my own husband.  Now, whether or not I truly believe in soul mates is still out with the jury.  I'm not sure if there is only one soul mate for each person or several soul mates for one person or no soul mates at all and just, as one commenter said, conscious mates.  I'll take a famous line from "Sex & the City".... Carrie asked Big  if he believed in soul mates and his response was, "I like the word soul.  I like the word mate.  Other than that, you got me."  There's my stance!

However, if I was forced to give a definition of what a soul mate means to me it would be this: A soul mate is someone you can share your life with.  By that, I don't mean the days in your life, but rather the life in your life.  The things you like to do, the music you love, the thoughts you have, the insecurities that inhibit you, the work that you do, as Lady Gaga would say "the freak within you".  You share and communicate all of those things and more and your soul mate reciprocates all of those things plus a little love for the things you've shared with him/her.  I think being a soul mate is more than just being in love or being infatuated with someone.  That wears off.  Being in love and having love are two different ideas.  I prefer the latter.

Thus, I think I've found my "soul mate".  Christian is all of those things to me.  I respect him, love him, admire him, and trust him.  Plus, like both my parents told me, "You better hold on to him.  He can handle you and that's a big deal".  Apparently, I'm hard to deal with?!  :)

So anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the little video.  I also hope everyone has had a great Labor Day weekend!  One week from today and I'm leavin' on a jet plane, hopping the pond, and get to see my husband soulmate.  :)

Have a wonderful day!!

xoxo-

Chrissi