When in Rome: Part Two

After spending a few days touring ancient Rome and the Vatican, we spent the next few days in the center of Rome. There is so much to see!! We went to a lots of museums, churches, and piazzas. Here are a few pictures from the second half of our time in Rome.

Here we are at the Trevi Fountain. Gorgeous! There were a thousand people taking pictures at the fountain--it was quite the tourist attraction, but very beautiful indeed.


Here I am at the Pantheon. Let me just say, that I have been dreaming about seeing this building since I was a freshman in college. Some of you know that when I first started college I originally wanted to be a math teacher. After my first calculus class I decided that wasn't such a good idea. During my freshman year at U of A, I enrolled in an elective class called the History of Architecture. In this class we discussed all types of civilizations and how their history is reflected in their architecture. I LOVED this class, and I fell in love with Roman architechture along the way. I have been obsessed with seeing the Pantheon ever since. It was because of this class that I switched my major to history instead of math--a good switch, if I do say so myself! Thank you Pantheon!


The dome of the Pantheon is AMAZING, and even better than I had imagined.

Here we are at the Piazza Navona. It's a lively places filled with street performers, artists, and restaurants.
On our last night in Rome we decided to take walk around the city to see some of the sites at night. This is my sitting on the Spanish Steps wearing my new scarf--all the girls were wearing scarves in London and Rome, so I had to join the club.


We also took a walk around the Colosseum one last time...



We had an amazing time in Rome. The sites were spectacular and the food was delicious. They say that all roads lead to Rome, and I hope my road in life leads me there again someday.

To see all of our pictures from Rome, click here.

When in Rome: Part One

Our next stop was Rome. Rome was a lot like I imagined heaven...pizza and gelato on every corner. I only hope the gelato is as good in heaven as it is in Italy. We adored Italy. Our time in Rome was filled with yummy Italian food, gelato everyday (sometimes twice a day), and lots and lots of historical sites. It was a history lover's dream come true. I literally felt like a kid in a candy store.

We started off with a tour of Ancient Rome. I fell in love with the Roman Forum and Colosseum faster than you can say "Beware the Ides of March."

I was literally beaming as we walked through the Roman Forum. We were walking on the same paths as great emperors such as Constantine and Julius Caesar. It was just incredible.

This is my absolute favorite picture of the Roman Forum...courtesy of Sean's fabulous panoramic photography skills.

Our next adventure was a tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. We love, love, loved the Vatican and St. Peter's. The Vatican Museums are FILLED with art, sculptures, and amazing frescos. The Sistine Chapel was as beautiful as we imagined and we just stared at it in awe. Michelangelo has quickly become my idol!

After the incredible sights in the museums, we headed into St. Peter's Basilica. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped to the spectacular marble floor. It is the most beautiful building I have ever seen. It was so beautiful and so grand, it's hard to explain in words. Of course the pictures don't do it ANY justice, but here are just a few of my favorites.

After exploring the basilica we tightened our shoelaces and began climbing to the top of the dome. Halfway up we got a chance to stop and admire the dome up close. This is me admiring the gorgeous mosaics. Check out the tiny pieces by my hand, and the huge cherubs that they create in the background. Just amazing! I am seriously want to take up mosaics as my new hobby.

This is Sean climbing up the 323 steps to the top of the dome. You can see how tiny the hallway is. Can you say claustrophobia?

It was a long, steep climb, but it was SO worth it for this view...

We really enjoyed our trip to the Vatican...definitely one of the highlights of our trip!

God Save the Queen

Let the European vacation begin! We started off our journey in the fast paced city of London. We arrived in London around 11am. After 12 hours on a plane, and only a few hours of sleep, we were exhausted, but in order to fight off the jet lag we got right to it! We grabbed our camera and headed straight to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. It was a beautiful sight indeed and so fun to actually be standing in front of the buildings we see so often in movies and television.


In order to get a bird's eye view of the city we took a ride on the London Eye. The London Eye is this giant observation wheel built in 2000 to celebrate the millennium. It over 400 feet tall, and has amazing views of the city.


Here's a picture of us inside the London Eye overlooking the Houses of Parliament.

We had a great afternoon just walking around the city and enjoying the sights. We toured Westminster Abbey (which was beautiful!), walked through gorgeous St. James Park, and checked out Piccadilly Circus.

All that walking leads me to the next two pictures. These pictures crack me up, because we really were as tired as we look in these photos. I like to call these our "Jet Lag Photos." Here we are taking a quick break at the memorial just outside of Buckingham Palace, and these are the pictures that we took. I think the look in our faces say it all...TIRED.

Over the next three days we saw all of the great sights of London. Here are a few of our favorites:

St. Paul's Cathedral - The whole time we were here I kept singing the "Feed the Birds" song from Mary Poppins. I was hoping to see the bird lady, but no such luck.

The Tower of London -- We really enjoyed our visit to the Tower. Here we got to see lots of interesting items from England's past--we even got to see the Crown Jewels, which were so sparkly and pretty I couldn't keep my eyes off of them. If I was the queen I would keep the jewels at home so I could wear them all day long.
This is a view of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London walls.

The highlight of our London experience was Saturday night at the theatre. We saw Wicked and it was absolutely incredible!!!! Such a treat. The actors were amazing, and their cute British accents made it all the better.

To finish off our last night in London we took an evening stroll along the Thames. The Tower Bridge is just breathtaking at night and it was the perfect place to finish off our London experience.

If you are interested in viewing all of our pictures from London, click here.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

What could be more American than eating a hot dog at a baseball game? I know...how about an all-you-can-eat hot dog buffet at a baseball game. Now that’s American! That American dream came true for us a few weeks ago. Our great friends and Vanessa and Curtis invited us to join them in the All You Can Eat (AYCE) section at the Diamondbacks vs. Giants game. And yes, it really is called the AYCE section. They might as well just call it the Glutton Section.

We arrived in our designated section and we were each given a wristband--our golden ticket to the grand baseball buffet. The wristbands were white and blue checkered—kind of like a picnic blanket. We weren’t sure if onlookers were envious or disgusted by our AYCE badges of honor (no matter – I’m sure any red-blooded American would jump at the opportunity). After we got our wristbands we headed to the AYCE food stand. We were given full access to a complete array of baseball goodies—hot dogs, nachos, soda, peanuts, and popcorn. Yum!

We had a blast! The best part was trying to see how much food we could all eat. Isn’t it funny how the words “all you can eat” bring out the competitor in each of us? It’s like those words automatically make it a contest. I don’t remember who won the game, but I can give you some important stats from our AYCE team: 9 hot dogs, 6 bags of popcorn, 3 nachos, 5 bags of peanuts, and 17 sodas. We really hit a homerun!!!

"I can see Russia from my house."

Saturday Night Live has had its ups and downs the past few years, but they hit one out of the park this weekend. Tina Fey is the PERFECT Sarah Palin. I will now be voting for McCain just so we can see more Sarah Palin impersonations from Tina Fey. I was laughing hysterically. Hil-arious!

Virtual Bumper Sticker

You know those “Proud Parent of an Honor Roll” bumper stickers? I wonder if they have “Proud Spouse” bumper stickers. If they do, I think I’d like to get one, because I am one proud spouse this week!


Sean is official. He is now a Certified Financial Planner. The certificate arrived in the mail just last week. It took six months of intense coursework, countless hours of studying, thousands of pages of readings, and two days of comprehensive exams. And Sean did it all with flying colors! He was so diligent and dedicated this past year as he worked towards this certificate. It's a big deal in the industry and will open up many new opportunities for his career.

Way to go Sean! I am so proud of you!

Week in Pictures

I’m really into news, politics, and current events. I also LOVE great photography, so you can only imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon MSNBC’s Week in Pictures. I found this gem a few years ago and it quickly became part of my Friday routine.

The pictures are from all around the world. Some are funny, some are artistic, and some are poignant. All in all, it’s a great way to recap the week. Enjoy!

Week in Pictures

The Girl with a Plan

Hi. My name is Paige, and I am a compulsive planner.

There, I said it. I always like to have a plan. I think it’s the organizer/perfectionist in me. I don’t know, I guess I just like to be prepared. It’s like that old saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” I plan little everyday things, so you can only imagine what happened to me when I decided to plan a trip to Europe.

That’s right! We’re going to Europe. In less than a month Sean and I will be flying across the Atlantic for a two week European vacation. We will be visiting London, Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Paris. I’ve been dreaming about visiting Europe my whole life, so I’m SO excited that it is finally here.

Well, I was definitely not going to “plan to fail” Europe, so of course the mad planning commenced. The only problem is, is that I can’t stop planning! I’ve been driving myself crazy with planning. I seriously have to stop. I’ve spent the past 8 months immersed in travel books, travel Web sites, articles, reviews, maps, spreadsheets, etc. (and yes, I said spreadsheets with an s. I have multiple spreadsheets okay—that’s how bad it is!) I even checked out some silly video called “Para Italiano” from the library. I watched it for 5 minutes and then decided I already know how to say gelato and pizza, so I’m good to go. How do you say compulsive planner in Italian?

Anyway, I’m here today to proclaim that starting tonight I am going to officially stop planning! No more travel books, or reading reviews, I’m just going to go…well...unless anyone has any last minute Europe tips for me. If you do, just let me know…I think I’ve still got some room on my spreadsheets.