Sunshine and Holly

Guess Who’s Pregnant!!!!!!!!!!

By sunshineandholly on February 28, 2012

At 7:23am on Jan 24th I took a positive pregnancy test. Here’s the post I wrote while laying in bed savoring in that very special moment. 🙂

I’m pregnant!!!! Oh my goodness-I’m soooo excited!! I actually took a test yesterday when I got home from work and saw the faintest blue line ever. I didn’t let myself get too excited though-maybe I was imagining that line. But this morning there’s no doubt-that’s def a second line in the window!! I’m going to be a mommy!! And Josh is going to be a daddy!! I’m sooo happy!!!

Surprise!

By sunshineandholly on February 27, 2012

Update

By sunshineandholly on February 8, 2012

So other than the Italy posts, I’ve been really slacking on the blogging. Work’s been super busy, church has been keeping us busy, and life in general has been crazy!

Here’s a quick update:

1. I started taking violin lessons. 🙂 I played in the orchestra in middle school and high school and I was pretty good by the time I graduated. Since then, I’ve played a little here and there just for fun. And I’ve really missed it. So I did some Google-ing and found a place near my work that offers lessons to people of all ages. And I signed up! I’ve had 2 lessons so far (they’re once a week on Thursdays) and I’m loving it! I’ve been pretty good about practicing on my own too. Yay me! Hope I keep it up!!

2. Josh’s brother, Jordan, found out he’s going to be deployed to Afghanistan on Feb 16th. We went up this past weekend to spend time with him and the rest of Josh’s family before he leaves. We’ll all miss him while he’s gone. I know God will keep him safe while he’s there. But if anyone out in blogger world is reading this, please keep Jordan in your prayers. I’m also praying for Josh, his mom, dad, sister and brother. I know they’ll be having a hard time while Jordan’s gone.

3. Work has been SO BUSY. I know I haven’t really blogged about work recently. That’s because it’s been going really well. In fact…and it is so weird for me to be saying this…I actually LOVE my job now. And if you’ve read my early blog posts, you know that I’ve got a lot of…”baggage” that goes along with my career. But I’ve been in this position for over 2 years now, and I really like it. The people in my department are great – they respect me and support me. And I just feel so much more confident in myself and in my work. I’ve been debating going back and deleting some of my old posts about work. But part of me wants to keep them to show what I’ve been through and how I got to where I am now. I can’t decide…

4. My friend Kara is pregnant and due at the end of the month! We had a shower for her – it was a blast! I need to post some pics soon. Can’t wait to hold that little baby!

5. My niece had her 7th birthday. Can’t believe she’s already 7!!

6. My friend Erin is back home. This one’s a long story that I want to devote more time to with another blog post. So I won’t go into it here. But I’m glad she’s home! We’ve been spending lots of time together!

So yeah, I’ve been pretty busy. And I know it’s not going to slow down any time soon. But I’m loving life!!

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Italy | Travel | Uncategorized | vacation

Viva Italia – Day 6 and Day 7 – Amalfi Coast and Pompeii

By sunshineandholly on February 4, 2012

10/26/2011

RAIN! Booooooooooo! We had to take an expensive cab to catch the bus for our Amalfi Drive tour (no shuttle that early). Then it rained for most of the tour and we got soaked. But – the views were amazing and we took the most stunning pictures during this part of our trip. We also had a nice lunch with a couple from the UK. (They talked a lot about 9/11 and the royal wedding. And they totally used the phrase “fortnight” – it was awesome!)

Madonna holding her child

Fresh squeeze Amalfi orange juice – yum yum yum!!

It took all my will power not to stand next to this and mimic the statue in the middle at the bottom. Lol!

Do you see me?

Look at the size of those meringues!

My Toms! I wore these the entire trip – so comfy!

Mmmmm

The Sleeping Giant – do you see him?

By the end of the tour, we were pretty miserable – cold, wet, tired, and sad that it rained and the tour was cut short. 🙁 When we got back to the hotel we changed and warmed up and then realized the next tram back down to the town wasn’t until 8:45! (A cleaver ploy to get you to eat dinner at their hotel restaurant.) Since we didn’t want to spend that much money again, we decided to order room service and stay in. And what a great idea that was! Josh had a hamburger – it was actually really tasty! I had a sandwich and we shared some fries. It was filling and one of the most affordable meals we had. AND we didn’t have to go back out in the rain. We also shared some of the limoncello we’d bough. A nice night in!

“Room service! You want me fluff your pillow?” Name that movie!

10/27/2011

Morning in Sorrento!

The next morning we traveled to Pompeii. This time on the local train, there was an ENTIRE band playing and begging for money – complete with an accordion player!

We didn’t have a guided tour of Pompeii, which was a bad decision. We had no clue what we were looking at most of the time and we got lost at one point. But we still had a good time. I’ve always been fascinated with Pompeii ever since I watch a movie during elementary school about it, so it was awesome to finally see it in person!

Peek-a-boo!

Creepy!

Who knew they had a vineyard in Pompeii?

We ate lunch at a place near Pompeii – Josh had pasta carbonara and I had a grilled sandwich with prosciutto, mozzarella and tomato. I also go a cappuccino – very tasty!

Goofy face, but the sandwich looks awesome. Mmm!

Josh’s 1/2 eaten carbonara.

We went back to Sorrento and shopped around all afternoon. Then did a quick trip back up to the hotel to change for dinner.

We tried to have dinner at a place recommended by the hotel, but we couldn’t find it! So we ended up at a fancy place with an Italian guitar player walking around. We didn’t get any wine (too expensive) but the guy singing and playing the guitar was fun. Josh even tipped him and asked him if he’d take a picture with me. I was sooooooooo embarrassed!

For dinner, Josh had pasta carbonara AGAIN (guess I know what I need to learn to make when we get home) and I had a pasta dish with red sauce, tomatoes, mozzarella, eggplant, and basil. It had a long Italian name and I took a stab at saying it when I ordered. The waiter totally laughed at me. Oh well!

I look so awkward….

The bus back to the hotel didn’t pick up until 11pm, so we walked and walked and walked. We stopped and bought a bottle of wine to drink in the hotel, but we realized we didn’t have a corkscrew! The wine was 3 euros and the only corkscrew we could find to buy was 4 euros…so we passed and didn’t end up drinking wine that night. We made one more stop at a crepe place and split a nutella crepe – mmm! That night, we didn’t get to bed until midnight, even though we had to get up at 6am the next morning for our wine tour in Tuscany.

A few last things about Sorrento:

There were a million British kids touring around. Josh and I figured it must be their fall break.

Riding around Sorrento and Amalfi was SCARY! There were tons of one lane roads curving up the mountains – yikes! The huge tour bus we were on during the Amalfi drive had to back up ¼ of a mile at one point because a delivery truck was driving up the road. At least he was a safe driver – hands on the wheel and never on his cell phone.

There was an orange tabby cat at the hotel. He came into the restaurant during breakfast one morning – the waiters didn’t seem to care!

At the fancy restaurant (where Josh made me take a pic with the guitar player) a dog walked into the outdoor seating area where we were eating. I figured the waiters would shoo him out, but instead a woman brought him out a plate of dog food and fed him right outside the restaurant. He was so cute – soft and brown with big sad puppy dog eyes. After he ate his plate of food, he came back into the outdoor seating area and lay down and took a nap. It made me miss my puppies SO much!

Viva Italia – Day 5 Continued – Sorrento

By sunshineandholly on January 17, 2012

10/25/2011

Y’all…Sorrento is probably one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been! The view from our hotel room is breathtaking. Getting to the hotel, however, was a little difficult. The local train that I was worried about really wasn’t that big of a deal. Pretty similar to Marta. However, it was PACKED. We were barely able to get our bag onto the train and had to stand for most of the trip. It was a long ride – over an hour. Josh and I weren’t able to stand together either, which made it a little scary.

This one older man got my attention, pointed at his eyes, and then at me – telling me to watch my purse for pick pockets. There was also a woman, well – girl really, on the train begging while holding a baby. Josh told me that he read that pick-pockets in Italy will carry around a baby doll and pretend it’s real. Then, they’ll pretend to trip and throw the doll at you and pick your pocket or steal your purse while you’re freaking out about them dropping the baby. But this was a real baby. And the girl didn’t drop him or throw him. Thank goodness!

When we arrived in Sorrento, we had no idea where our hotel was or how far it was from the metro stop. Luckily, there was an info desk. I went up to it and did my usual, “English?” to see if the girl working there spoke English. Turns out she’s from Florida! I asked her how far the hotel was – it was far. BUT – there was a shuttle and it was arriving in 10 minutes. How perfect! Josh and I have this international traveling thing DOWN!

We got to the hotel (beautiful, beautiful, beautiful hotel and views!!) checked in, took some pics and then took the shuttle back to town to get some lunch. We had a hard time finding a place that was serving food (since it was like, 3pm by this time) but we found a little mom-and-pop place and had some awesome pizza!

Hotel in Sorrento – not really much to look at…but the door behind the curtains – that led to a balcony with the most amazing views ever!!

The floor in the hotel room.

The bathroom…with the bidet!

The VIEW!! And thanks again to my boss at work for letting us borrow the company camera for Italy so we could get these awesome pics!

The hotel

Olive tree at the hotel.

A sign in the elevator. We decided it said you couldn’t wear pants in the restaurant. Lol!

After lunch, we strolled around Sorrento. Right in the middle of the city, in an area that wasn’t touristy at all, we saw these two murals and a sign that said “Free Entry” in English. We couldn’t figure out what it was, but we decided to venture in. It was a lemon grove!! Right in the middle of the city!! It was soooo pretty and so quiet.

We walked around for a while, hand in hand, just taking in the sights and enjoying the smell of the lemons. We were the only people there – it was very romantic. At the end of the grove was a little stand with a woman selling limoncello made from the lemons from that grove. We got to try a sample – mmmmmmmmm!! And of course we bought a couple of bottles! The grove was such an awesome unplanned surprise. One of my fav memories from our trip.

After walking around for a while, we caught the shuttle back up to the hotel and took a much needed nap. When we woke up, we didn’t feel like taking the shuttle again, so we decided to eat dinner at the hotel…bad idea. It was the worst meal yet. It was 25 euros per person too. Our 1st course was pasta – which was pretty good. Then Josh had seafood (fish with too many bones) and I had lamb – which was SO tough and overcooked. And they only gave me a butter knife to eat it with! So that was disappointing…