The Hunking Herald



Mallory too tired at breakfast to hold her own head up!



I thought I'd give a bit of an update on what has been going on over the last week. We switched Hotels to more of a Residence type hotel with two bedrooms, living area and kitchen. It has really been working out well and allowing Mallory and I to get out more during the day. There is a big pond to walk around and besides being eaten alive by mosquitoes, Mallory enjoys seeing the ducks, baby ducks and the turtles in the pond. Her other favorite  is GELATO, "the pink one." This is strawberry of course or in Italian "Fragola" I remember how to pronounce it by remembering one of my childhood favorite shows"Fraggle Rock" Anyway, she loves Gelato and has mastered eating it out of a cone!

I've been out an about quite a bit with an English Speaking Women's group who get together for things like book club, cooking classes, wine tasting, crafty type dates, and coffee/brunch. I won't be partaking in a hiking, eating, wine tour thing happening in September, since I'll be 8 months pregnant, but it certainly sounds like a BLAST!
Josh and I have been looking at houses and have it narrowed down for the most part. It is difficult to find a house that is big enough for our growing family, our gigantic dog, and visitors of course!

For Father's Day, we had big plans of going into the Center of Milan to see the Duomo, but the tour we wanted was full. Instead we had a relaxing day around our hotel filled with naps for everyone and a nice stroll to the playground where we almost avoided being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Here in Italy, mosquitoes are part of the culture. I know this because I have been bitten at all times of the day AND there is a commercial for a baby doll that gets mosquito bites. She comes complete with hydrocortisone cream, band-aids and a fly swatter! Strange, but definitely the norm around here! The mosquito problem is a little worse where we are since we are mostly surrounded by sweet corn fields and rice fields which hold standing water and well... increase the risk of west nile virus by about 1,000%! I don't know if that is the EXACT percentage or not, I'm really just taking a guess. :)

We also had our first trip to the laundromat. They are very small and cannot be found as easily as one would think. Maybe if you are a local, sure, but certainly not for a foreigner. We managed to fit 2 weeks of laundry in 2 loads. The dryers are pretty costly due to the fact that most Italians don't dry their clothes with a dryer, they hang dry their things. We put our clothes through quite a few 10 minute cylces and still had damp clothes to bring home to lay out on our patio. The way I think about stains on clothes has completely changed. Mallory always wears a Bib now, and as soon as I get back from somewhere I change out of my clothes into what I call "hotel clothes" in order to keep my more presentable clothes cleaner longer. Here is a picture of Mallory enjoying her time at the Laundromat!

We are headed to Rome on Thursday for a nice long weekend to celebrate our 5th Anniversary. Never in a millon years would I have guessed  I would be spending my 5 year anniversary in Rome! We will be meeting up with our friends Dusty and Jackie who are honeymooning there! I have requested they smuggle in a bag of goldfish for Mallory. She still asks for them daily and of course we can't find them over here! Abig thanks to my friend Susan and her husband Jamie for giving us a bit of a hotel hook-up while we are in Rome! Thanks guys!  

I had my first driving experience yesterday when I took Josh to work. It wasn't too bad, I can be a perfectly good defensive driver when I want to! Watch out for the mopeds though, they really do come out of nowhere. They have more roundabouts than New Jersey. Take New Jersey roundabouts and multiply by 1,000. Seriously they are every 1/2 mile here. Nothing really groudbreaking to share on this subject, obviously.

A Tastefully Simple Update: I have had quite a few people inquire if I am still selling Tastefully Simple and YES I AM! My website is completely open for business! www.tastefullysimple.com/web/lhunking Here you can view the online catalog or if you prefer to have a hard copy in hand e-mail me at Libby6423@yahoo.com and I will have my State-side assistant get one out to you immediately. I have not hit my leader sales requirement yet for the month, so if you have been thinking you need to stock up on your favorties like Beer Bread, Cool Drink Buckets, Seasoned Salt, Absolutely Almond Pound Cake or a perfect gift for an upcoming birthday or event or BY GOLLY...try these fantastic products for the very first time, NOW IS THE TIME! Be sure to tell your friends too! Just visit my website to place your order. I am currently running multiple specials while I am in Italy, I hope you'll participate in at least one!

1. Birthday Club: E-mail me with your birthday and you will receive Incentives and special gifts during your birthday month. If your birthday is this month, E-mail me NOW!

2. Catalog Competition: Each month, I will have a minimum of 2 hosts holding catalog parties where they collect orders online easily from friends, family, neigbors, and co-workers. The host with the most sales at the end of the month, will receive an extra $15 in Free products! I am still looking for Hosts for July, November, and December for 2011!  If you would like to earn free products while helping me to reach my monthly goal, please let me know immediately.

3. If you don't currently get my monthly newsletter, e-mail me a request to receive it when you e-mail me your birthday and I will add you right away. Along with my newsletter that goes out once a month, I sometimes send out SUPER SPECIALS you won't want to miss!

Thank you for your support, I appreciate you.

A big blog update to come next week when we return from ROME! Pray we don't melt in the heat or get robbed, and yes, for you Catholics.... I'll tell the Pope that you didn't mean it and you'll do better next time! :) 2 Hail Mary's and an Our Father for you!

Ciao!

Buon Giorno Italia!

Mallory at the Dentist!

OK, so maybe it is not the picture you were expecting when we say "Hello, Italy," but I had to share this. It was Mallory's first Dentist appointment before we left the states and she just looked so cool in her yellow shades, I couldn't resist adding this!

So onto our adventurous trip to Milan! It went smoothly for the most part. We all enjoyed our cushy business class seats, gourmet meals, and Josh had enough free champagne and wine for the both of us! (just kidding...sort of) The flight from DC to paris was about 7 1/2 hours long and we all did get to sleep some. Mallory was very amused by the movie in her seat. She watched bits and pieces of Rapunzel and Kung Fu Panda which kept her occupied until she passed out (too much champagne I guess).  We arrived in Paris on time, but due to lots of air traffic at the airport we were delayed getting to our arriving gate by about 15-20 mins. If you have ever been to the Charles DeGaul Airport, you know it is CRAP and makes no sense. If you haven't been, AVOID it as a stop ANYWHERE in your travels. We literally made it to our connecting flight with 1 minute to spare. A guy came to the counter 1 minute after we did and he was not allowed to board the plane because he was too late. I accredit our being able to get on that plane to God and a little bit of Mallory's adorableness. The trip to Milan from Paris was thankfully only about 75 minutes long which was just enough time for Mallory to eat even more cheese, color, and play with stickers.

Our Life in a Box!

So, here is the gigantic sea freight container that pulled in out front of our house to load up all of our belongings and ship them across the BIG DRINK!

This is what our living room looked like after everything was wrapped up! We have had a whirlwind of the past week and a half. We got to spend time with our families over the Memorial Day weekend. Mallory and her cousins had a blast cooling off in the baby pool at Pappy and Nana's House! It was so nice to get to see and spend a little time with our family and close friends over the weekend. There were many tearful goodbyes which of course made it difficult to leave. We also left our beloved first furry child behind for the next 2 months while we are in interim living in Milan. I felt like I was leaving a child behind. We know she is in good hands while we are gone, but will miss Kota terribly for the next 2 months.

Eily, Ellison, and Mallory: The bathing beauties!

We have spent the last few days in Virginia wrapping up some loose ends, and staying in a hotel. What I imagined to be a few days of relaxation and going to the hotel pool, and taking leisurely walks around the pond, did not exactly happen. We went to meet my sister Julie for dinner, but an hours worth of traffic later, we missed our window to have dinner with her before her show, so instead, Josh and Mallory literally got to see her for 10 minutes before she had to be at the theater. Josh, Mallory and I had dinner at good ole' Americana Seafood House "Red Lobster" ......I know you are jealous :) After dinner I went to see my sister's play "bobrauschenbergamerica" put on by the Forum Theater in Silver Spring Maryland. The show was fantastic as is anything that features my sister! She played a  much different character than what I am used to seeing. You know besides the "murder urging laptop" "The woman soldier pretending to be a man" and well the "hot sexy lawyer defending Judas Iscariot" She was down home, mostly normal "Susan" in her latest role. The ensemble was well put together, and my usual critical eye left me with no complaints, only great things to say about each actor. This play was fun, entertaining, insightful, and sweet. Go see it!