Baggage, found.

Gone missing: Friday, December 22nd, 2006 somewhere on my American Airlines flight from JFK to Puerto Rico.

Recovered: January 16, 2007, Delta Airlines in Atlanta. Far be it from me to judge (anyway, I am too busy rejoicing).

To all my beloved readers, things I have learned from my experience:

1. Whenever possible, don't check anything.

2. If you must check a bag, bring essentials in your carry-on (underwear, change of clothes, a picture of what your checked bag once looked like).

3. Leave the bottles of Nocino that you were supposed to be giving to your brother at home. This way, you can carry it on (no liquids).

4. Have a mother who is willing to waste half a month on the telephone with airlines everywhere.

There: I have been to the luggage brink but somehow made it back, to teach all of you my valuable lessons. Now let us rejoice!

It's my birthday, dammit!

Admittedly not the BEST birthday in my history of birthdays...first day back to work after a 3-week break. And my first full-time gig in, well...a reeeeeally long time! So, needless to say, I spent most of this, the 32nd celebration of my birth, feeling suffocated.

But now I'm home, Andrea's taking me out to dinner (again! this is my fourth birthday meal in 3 days!) and all is right with the world. Till tomorrow at 9am again!

Happy Birthday to meeeeee! =)

The Befana brought me pre-birthday fun!

Yay! Andrea's the greatest!

We got up early and drove the hour or so towards Ancona, where he surprised me at our final destination: The Frasassi Grotto, one of the largest and oldest (120 million years...I asked Andrea if he brought me there to make me feel younger...) group of stalagmite and stalagtite caves in Europe. It was breathtaking (see photo above) and we had an amazing time. Then we went out to lunch in a nearby town (tartufo, tartufo, tartufo!) and headed home. It was the perfect pre-birthday day.

A day of fun surprises perfectly planned in theme for today's Italian holiday, called the "Befana". Befana is a legendary female gift giver (a witch of sorts); the story is told that Befana, a very old and decrepit woman, refused to interrupt her household duties long enough to accept the invitation of the Magi to accompany them on their journey to find the baby Jesus.

However, after the Magi left, Befana had a change of heart and at dawn went in search of the Wisemen. She had prepared a basket of food for the journey and added toys and gifts for baby Jesus. She was unable to find the Wisemen, but she distributed her gifts along the way.

Nowadays in Italy, the Befana is celebrated on January 6th, the Catholic Epiphany. Her arrival (during the night, bringing stockings full of either coal or sweets...I got some of each...) marks the last day of the feste, or the holiday season.

Post Vacay!

I'm back! The vacation was great - relaxing and fun, and now I'm trying to get over my jet lag and mentally prepared for my return to life and work. Luckily Andrea has planned some surprise outings for this weekend in honor of my birthday (Monday the 8th -- mark your calendars m'dears!) so my brain won't be swallowed up by unkind thoughts of 8-hour days in front of my *gasp* computer screen. Argh!

My mom also made a CD of the professional pictures from our wedding so we finally had a chance to check them out. THEY'RE AWESOME! To the left here you can see one of my favorites, but there were too many to choose from, really.

I hope everyone had a good holiday break and is easily sliding right back into life, a little more relaxed and chubbier than before (what with that holiday eating and all). Pudge up, it's cold out there! =)