I was in the kitchen making dinner tonight and I looked down at my right hand after drying it off and saw that a stone was missing from my ring. I am so sad! Those of you who know me well might remember that I purchased this ring in a little town called Arundel in southern England while on my study abroad in London during the winter of 2001. It was on display in the window of a little jewelry shop and it caught my eye, but when we tried to go into the store the door wouldn't open. At first I thought maybe I was just trying to open it incorrectly so I tried a few more times, but the door was indeed locked. A little disappointed I turned to leave, but suddenly I heard the voices of several women coming from inside, arguing about whether or not to let me in. Kindness prevailed and a sweet little old woman opened the door and invited me to come in. It turned out that the shop was owned and run by three adorable little old ladies who reminded me of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, the three fairies in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty. The nice one who had let me in retrieved the ring from the window and as soon as I put it on I knew I wanted it, but I didn't have any cash and they didn't take debit card. I felt so awful that they had taken the time to let me in (one of them was rather put out that they were late for tea) and then I didn't have the money for the ring, but once again, one the women told me that there was an ATM across the street and they would wait for me if I wanted to run and get some money. So quickly as I could I ran across the street, returned within minutes, and this little ring became mine! But now the black obsidian stone that used to be in the ring is gone and I have no idea where or when it came out. I remember it being there this morning when I put it on, and it was also there while I was at the archives, but after that I went to the grocery store and came home and I could have lost it anywhere. I used to joke that someday the frog on the ring would turn into my handsome prince . . . I hope that losing the stone is not some kind of bad sign! Anyway, I just thought I would share my sad story with everyone, so there it is! I can still wear the ring without the stone of course, but it just won't be the same!

p.s. I have another new post in the works about my wonderful trip to Scotland last weekend and I hope to have it up within the next few days, so keep an eye out for it!

Two weekends ago I was able to take a little break from research and visit my friend Shona in Scotland. It was such an amazing trip! When I did my study abroad to London way back in 2001 we traveled in the northern part of England but never made it over the border into Scotland so this was my first official visit. Shona lives in a little village near Glasgow called Eaglesham and her adorable flat faces the village green and is near the church so you can hear the bells ringing. But I am getting a little ahead of myself . . . let me go back and start from the beginning.

My adventure began Thursday afternoon as I waited for the bus to Milan. I found a really cheap flight from Milan to Glasgow, but the flight left too early in the morning for me to go straight to the airport from Siena, so I had to spend Friday night in Milan. While waiting for the bus I met a sweet older couple from California who I was able to chat with on the journey. The ride from Siena to Milan is about 4 hours, and we hit some traffic going into the city which added about 40 minutes to the trip, so I actually gave in and took a taxi to my hotel instead of trying to take the Milan subway during evening rush hour- the streams of people pouring out of and into the subway helped me make that decision! After checking into my hotel around 6:30pm I went wandering and found a small grocery store where I bought myself some dinner and things for breakfast the next day and then I went back to my hotel room, ate, watched the Italian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and by 8:30pm was so exhausted that I go ready for bed and went to sleep. It was so nice to go to bed that early- I don't know why I don't do that more often!

After an amazing night of sleep I was off to the airport early in the morning. I had to catch a shuttle to the airport from the main train station in Milan, and walking from my hotel to the station I ran into a group of missionaries on their way to a zone conference. They all looked pretty surprised when I stopped and said hi, and there was one sister missionary in the group who thought she recognized me and asked if I had been in Torino. When I told her I was actually living in Siena she gasped and said "Were you there last summer?" and suddenly I recognized her too: last summer she had been one of the BYU study abroad students who I met in Siena, and here she was back in Italy on her mission. Sometimes the world is a very small place!

Anyway, I had a smooth flight to Glasgow and then took the train from Prestwick airport into the city centre. Shona had to give a presentation at work that day so she and I had arranged to meet at the Border's Books on Buchannan Street. I found my way there and then wandered around for a little bit, before ducking into the Border's and browsing for awhile. When it got close to our meeting time I stepped back outside and to wait and after a few minutes I realized that the Border's is common meeting spot- there was a whole line of people along the front of the shop waiting for and greeting people. Finally I saw Shona coming up the street and we did the whole run-hug-squeal-girly thing, and then we went to a yummy Asian restaurant to eat. (Well, my food was yummy- Shona had a tricky time with her order because she asked for no sauce and then had to send it back because they brought it to her dripping in sauce!) We finished off the night by returning to her beautiful little village, Eaglesham, and popping into a charity sale at the local inn where Shona's wonderful mother was manning one of the tables. It was so lovely to meet her! After saying hello we went back to Shona's flat, ate ice cream, watched a movie, and fell into bed exhausted but happy.

Saturday we woke up to pouring rain- fun!! We first headed into Glasgow because Shona had to go wedding dress hunting with a friend she is a bridesmaid for, so I sat happily in Starbucks for an hour with a huge mug of hot cocoa and a book to read. It was a very relaxing hour; I then met back up with Shona and we drove to Edinburgh. Our plan was to park at a train station a few stops outside the city and take the train into the centre, so we parked at Haymarket and were walking over to the tracks when a man passing us said what I thought was "Hey Shanes" and Shona didn't understand him either. We thought it was weird until we got down to the tracks and a girl shouted from the other side that there were no trains going into Edinburgh for the day since they were working on the line. It took only a few minutes that the strange man wasn't strange at all- he was a polite stranger trying to tell us that there were "No trains." Whoops! Anyway, to make up for the lack of trains there were "wee buses" as Shona called them, that shuttled us into the city. Edinburgh is a lovely place! We enjoyed walking around and seeing the town, ducking into stores, and eating hamburgers at TGIFridays. We wandered across the bridge and up to the cathedral and the castle by the time it got dark. It rained on us a bit, but we managed to make it to the train, the shuttle bus, and back to car before the huge downpour started. When we got back to Glasgow around 8:30pm we attempted to go to a movie but we could not find parking near the theatre (or far away from it) so we just headed home and spent the evening in our PJs chatting and watching TV.

Sunday morning came too early, and neither of us wanted to get up, but we forced ourselves and rushed around to make sure that we would be on time for church. Of course we heard the church bells chiming the hour as we were hurrying out the door so we knew that we were already late. We drove to church in the cold and pouring rain and were shocked to see only a few cars in the parking lot. Shona was horrified by the terrible attendance and couldn't imagine what was going on. We entered the building and said hello to a few people who were in the hallway who informed us as we rushed down the hall to Relief Society that there was a meeting going on. This increased our confusion, and they looked at us and said "It isn't time for Relief Society yet. Didn't you know that the clocks went back last night?" Oh. Well, actually we did know, having been reminded in a store in Edinburgh the day before, we just forgot! We were so devastated! We missed a whole extra hour of sleep! Shona made an executive decision and said "We're going home!" and so we returned to her flat for a little rest and a good laugh at ourselves before coming back for church at the correct time.

After church (which was really good, by the way) we changed clothes, grabbed a quick lunch, and headed back into Glasgow. We went to St. Mungo's Museum of Religous Life (which had some interesting points but I thought was a bit disappointing overall) and then across the street to the oldest house in Glasgow. We had to rush through because it was almost closing time and the man working wanted to lock up, but it was still fun to walk through what used to be an old hostel/boarding house. Being in Italy where all the buildings have high ceilings I had forgotten how low the ceiling could be in old homes and I almost hit my head a few times. It was still raining as we left, and it was growing dark, so we went straight to Shona's mother's home for Sunday dinner. She made us fajitas (my first Mexican food in 4 months!) which were so good and also trifle for dessert. It was such a fun evening (we even played Scene It after dinner) and I am so grateful for their kindness in inviting me into their home! Back at her flat Shona and I watched the result show for X Factor (which included a great performance from Michael Buble) and then we chatted until we realized that I had to be at the airport early the next morning, so we headed off to sleep. Shona dropped me at the airport at 7:30am and I was so sad to say goodbye! I loved spending time with her again; she is such a cheeful person and so energetic and fun to be around, plus she is a good friend! I hope that I can return to visit again soon.

After a long day of travel (Glasgow to London, London to Milan, train into the city from the airport, bus from Milan to Siena) I finally got "home" at 11:00pm. I am glad to be back in Italy, but I am glad that I had my weekend away!

p.s. Apparently Blogger and my internet connection hate each other so the pictures that I have to accompany this post are instead posted on my Facebook page in an album I created, so you can see them there!

I have a new post all ready and waiting to go . . . except that every time I try to upload the pictures that accompany the post, blogger does not want to cooperate. I keep getting a "page load error - connection timed out" message. Hopefully it decides to work soon- I have been trying for two days now. ARGH!!

Welcome to my first "Little Things I Love About Italy" post! I believe that when most people think of Italy they picture leaning towers, Roman ruins, gondolas, pizza, the Sistine Chapel, and the list could go on. And although those are all things that I love about Italy (especially the Roman ruins and the pizza!) they are not the only great things about this beautiful country. I hope to write "Little Things I Love About Italy" posts every once in awhile so I can show you some of the small, day to day things that I think make life here enjoyable. So, for the first time, here are five little things I love about Italy:

1. Ciccolato e Nocciola! Living in Italy allows me to indulge my love for the combination of hazelnut and chocolate on a regular basis. Here are a few of the products that I currently use to satisfy my addiction: Nutella, Kinder Bueno candy bars, and this yummy granola cereal from Kellogg's that contains both hazelnuts and little pieces of chocolate. (And now, having admitted all of this, I would just like you to know that I have been here for almost three months and I have only gone through one and a half jars of Nutella -based on previous experience I should be up to at least four by now- and I have only had my other chocolate/hazel nut fix -in the form of gelato- six times in three months. Hooray for me and my willpower!)

2. Green shutters! These are found in some form on many, many homes and buildings in Italy, and I am not sure exactly why they make me happy, but they do. Maybe it is because they are useful for so many things: you can open them wide and get full light through the window, or you can open your windows inside and leave the shutters closed or half-open to control the flow of air (and bugs!) into the house, and keep it cool in the summer. Plus, they look pretty! This is a picture of the house I am currently living in; my apartment is on the top floor. (I'll get around to posting pictures of the inside on of these days!)


3. This next one might sound a little strange to some of you (especially my mother who tried for years to get me to eat tuna casserole and like it- I still think it is yucky!) but I really enjoy tuna. I eat it for lunch all the time at home so I was thrilled to find these wonderful little cans of tuna in the stores here. They are a perfect, one-person serving size and easy to carry around and open (there is a pull tab on the other side), plus you can get the tuna in oil, water, or natural (which is what I go for). It inexpensive and healthy- I love it! (Do we have tiny cans like this in North America? I've never seen them!)


4. The Farmacia! I love the pharmacies here in Italy, and especially in Siena. For one thing, they are their own little stores (not hooked into some big superstore like WalMart) and you tend to receive really personal attention. I actually go in and ask them questions about what to take or to buy for certain things and I never do that at home- the atmosphere just doesn't seem to be conducive to that kind of interaction. There is one particular pharmacy I go to here in Siena where they wrap up your purchases in paper before they send you on your way and I love that- it is a lovely, old-fashioned touch! Pictured below is a box of chewable Vitamin C tablets I bought recently and the paper they were wrapped in so you can see what it looks like. (p.s. These vitamin C tablets are some of the best I've ever had- really good flavor and not chalky at all!)


5. My keys! Not only do I love them because they enable me to get into my apartment, but I love they way they look and the mix of new and old-fashined locks that they open. I actually use all four of these on a daily basis: one for the gate to the house, one for the front door of the house, on for the apartment, and one for my bedroom. As my Mom put it, whenever I am home I am safely locked away!