Snowy Mountains-Happy Thanksgiving

Over the past week I have been looking out my windows at the mountains that we live at the foot of and they were covered in snow!!! I kept saying I'll take pictures of them tomorrow and post them on here to share with everyone but when I finally got up to go and do it the snow was gone! I was so upset, but I know winter is upon, so I'll just have to wait awhile before I can share the beauty of the snowy white mountains that use to be outside of my windows.

I would also like to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! Its not really the way that I would choose to spend mine, but I am grateful that I will finally have my hubby with me tomorrow!! We will be having our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday instead of today....better late than never.



I am totally going to steal this idea from Amanda's blog, but it is Thanksgiving time and we should all be thankful for something. Many of us have lives far beyond what we would have ever conceived for ourselves and still we find reason to be unhappy. I know that at times I dislike some the situations that we find ourselves in but in the end it always seems to work. There are many things that I have become very grateful for in this new life that I have built with my husband.

These are a few of the things I am grateful for:

• The family I have built around me (I love you guys and am more grateful for ya'll then you know!! You know who you are!!)
• My husband- I can honestly say he is amazing...if you knew all he had to deal with you would think him a saint! I have bad days and some worse than others and he is always there by my side trying to help me through
• Most of my family- LOL if you knew everything you would understand most
• For my hubby's job in this time when so many are going with out
• For our free home that many are losing daily
• For being able to do anything I set my mind to and not have the limitations of people saying you can't do that because you're a female
• For the support of my husband so that I can go to school full time and not have to worry about working just finishing my degree
• My G.I. Bill others wise there is no way that I would be able to afford my degree!!
• My little dogs!! I would go crazy here all by myself and I am grateful that I have them here to keep me company when I know absolutely no one
• I am thankful for my sister....we shared a lot and needed each other the whole way through
• I am grateful that I finally have some sort of relationship with my older brothers and my dad
• I am grateful that I am in-laws that actually like me! They are nicer than I ever thought and don't push me to just jump in (I know its been four years but my wall is coming down)
• I am grateful that I was strong enough to go out on my own and was able to build this life and family of friends that I choose to surround myself with
• I am grateful that my sister has someone to share her life with and that makes her happy...and that he is doing well now and will hopefully continue to be well for a long time coming
• I am grateful for the medical and technical advances that we have in todays world that help people continue on with almost normal lives (almost normal being daily meds, therapy, etc.)

There is so much to be grateful for and sometimes we over look all that we have been given. I know at times I forget that I have truly been blessed (I know things may have been very rough and that times such as those may come in the future, but there is always something to be learned and things to possibly be taught during those times). I couldn't be more grateful for the way that my life is coming together....I am grateful for the strength to overcome what so many may not have been strong enough to do and I am grateful my sister has taken the path around it as well. If you know me well you know what I'm talking about. I am thankful that I found my faith as a young adult to help me through trying times. There are so many little things that we seem to overlook on a daily basis and I'm grateful for all that and more!

The History of the Church

We have this beautiful round church right across the street from our home and there is a statue of Padre Marco D'Aviano next to it, so I was curious to who this man was. (As you can tell I have entirely too much time on my hands at the moment)



The Church



The statue

The History:

He was alive during the period of 1631-1699 and born to the name of Carlo Domenico Cristofori. He was attracted to a life of martyrdom and religious conquest from a young age. At the age of 16 he tried to reach the island of Crete where the Venetians were at war with the Ottoman Turks. Arriving at a Capuchin convent, he was welcomed by the superior who, after providing him with food and rest, advised him to return home.Deeply inspired by his encounter with the Capuchins, he felt that God was calling him to enter the order. In 1648, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchins. A year later, he professed his vows and was given the name "Friar Mark of Aviano".

Marco d'Aviano's life changed unexpectedly on 1676 when he gave his blessing to a nun who had been bedridden for some 13 years. Upon receiving Friar Mark's blessing, she was healed. The news of the "miraculous blessing" spread, and it was not long before the sick came to him in search of his blessing.

He is also credited with having united Christian forces against invading Ottoman Turks outside Vienna in 1683. After the Turkish forces fled they left behind sacks of coffee beans which the Europeans found too bitter to drink, so they sweetened it with honey and milk. The resulting drink acquired the name capuccino after the d'Avaino's Capuchin order of monks. I thought this was a cool trivia fact that can't be totally proved but still interesting none the less.

There is more about him just google him and you'll get pages of different people that he helped lead and many stories about how capuccino came to be.

My First Italian Pizza

My wonderful hubby bought me my first Italian pizza the night before he had to leave. We went down the road to this place called Mach 1 pizza. My hubby not being so brave to try new things when he's hungry we just went with a pizza with American Pepperoni on it and yes the menu doesn't just call it pepperoni its American Pepperoni.

It definitely has a different flavor to it. Its not bad just something I was not use to at first. It is also super thin. Almost paper thin LOL. It was good but not if you like that thick chicago style crust.

I also got an orange Fanta because for some reason I love orange soda. Well this orange soda sure doesn't taste like the Fanta you would pick up in the states so I was a little disappointed at first but now its something I'll probably miss when I get back to the states.



Look at all that greasy goodness!!



Me with my first piece.



As you can see he was really hungry and couldn't wait for me to take his pic LOL.



We also went Christmas shopping before we picked up our food. This is for my friend's mom. Just thought it was super pretty and I would share. No Meghan and Mom I will not be posting what I got you! Its a surprise!! If I've even picked your gifts LOL!!