It's All So Exciting

The last few days I have been doing some majorly exciting things. Let me explain ...

Matt and the rest of HC Asiago left for Herning, Denmark on Wednesday morning around 6 AM to go battle it out in the first round of the IIHF Continental Cup 2011/12.

Each year the champions from the leagues here in Europe play in a tournament called the Continental Cup.  It's sort of the IIHF's way of determining who is just out right the best team in all of Europe. Last year while playing for Sonderjyske in Denmark, Matt and his team took the trip to (none other than) Asiago for the first round of the tournament. They won this round and headed to Belarus for the Super Final where they placed 3rd. Not bad.

Asiago won their league again last year and so Matt was able to go to (seriously) Denmark this past weekend for the first round of this year's Continental Cup. Pretty stinky that he didn't get a totally new country on his list for this tournament but it's okay.

This means that I have been left all alone for 6 days now and he doesn't return again until tomorrow evening. I wanted to make the most of this time, not just sit around the house sulking that my husband is gone. Actually, I don't ever do that. I sleep diagonal in bed, but in his spot (hahaa) and Lucy gets her own spot and pillow. I also get to watch whatever shows/movies I want while he's away. Cook whatever I want, clean and have it actually stay clean, sleep in until whenever and have plenty of girls nights!

I was pretty lucky that I got to spend Thanksgiving with some great people. It wasn't exactly a typical Thanksgiving, but it was awesome! I even got to decorate a bit for Christmas. We wanted to do something awesome while the boys were away too so that resulted in a girls TRIP!

Friday morning we set off for Ljubljana, Slovenia! {Pronounce that sucker: Loo-bee-yana} We met up with some girls from the team there, had some Thai food for dinner, headed out to the bar for the night and had an awesome time!

At TOP bar!

Saturday we woke up and decided to set out on the town and see everything we could. We grabbed some McDonald's, shopped the five story H&M, and headed up to the Ljubljana Castle. My camera died there but I got a few good ones before it did.

I tried some Slovenian beer:

Saw a movie in ENGLISH!

We even found ourselves a City Park, where I bought some avocados, sriracha, sweet and sour sauce, Toffifee, and a surprise for Matthew! I'd say it was a successful trip. Until we get a fine for 150 euro because we forgot to get a highway toll pass. Oops!

It was an awesome girls trip, that's for sure. We returned late Saturday night and decided we wanted to keep the eventful weekend going by having a legitimate Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday! We ordered a 15 pound turkey, made appetizers, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots and pumpkin pie!

We actually had to pluck the turkey a bit, clean it, gut it, and all that fun stuff before we could cook it. Tina the Turkey was quite gross but it had to be done. Along the way I may or may not have played with her a bit.

Here Tina tries to fly away..

I also may have said something along the lines of feeling like a gynecologist and got my picture taken for that but that one isn't available for viewing. Sorry, folks. Here's how Thanksgiving turned out:

It was delicious! Last night was also the final game of the Continental Cup. We were lucky to find a live game sheet to watch after dinner while we sipped some Brulé alla Mela! And guess what! THEY WON!!

Guess where the Super Finals are this year: Rouen, France. Just one and a half hours away from Paris! I'm thinking a few days in Paris then head up to watch the tournament. What do you think?

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a Good Day

Happy Wednesday! Your work week is almost over - if you work like a normal person. I don't fit this category. Moving on.

After another tough loss last night I'm sure the boys of HC Asiago are not exactly in the best moods. Not getting home until four in the morning doesn't exactly help with their energy levels today either. Even with the loss, Matt got his first goal of the year and I thought that deserved a nice breakfast.

I made him a turkey, onion, and parmesan cheese frittata along with peanut butter toast, coffee with milk and some vitamin juice. It was actually timed perfectly because I was stirring the coffee as he came down the stairs. He seemed to enjoy this nice little treat ... until he tried to clean the egg out of the little cup I baked it in.

The cup was for presentation, not functionality. My bad.

Yesterday I went around town in the pouring rain searching for elements for a birthday present for one of the girls here. I found everything I needed and Matt was nice enough to help me put it together just a few minutes ago. It wasn't tough, and it's nothing super special, but I thought it was a cute idea - on Saturday, her birthday, I'll reveal what I did! She reads this. {STOP SNOOPING MINDI!}

I also got myself a yoga mat yesterday. I feel like the clouds should part and trumpets should sound right now. Only 8 euro! Woop! I've made the executive decision not to get a gym membership until it's absolutely too cold for me to run outside and do fun little mini-workouts elsewhere. This mat extends the time before I need a membership as well. Now I can do sit ups, push ups, stretching, and, well, yoga in the comfort of my own home all year long. Thank you Asiago Euro Store!

This is my goal by the end of the year: a hand stand. Not just getting up there, but a controlled, extended time period, hand stand. Head stand? no problem. Crow? no big deal. Hand stand? Let's do this.

My dailymile goal this week was to get 15 miles by the end of Sunday. I'm at just over four and a half which means I'm heading out again today. It was raining all morning but there's a little calm in the storm so I need to take advantage. 3.17 miles on the agenda today! If it starts raining while I'm out it will just push me faster to get home. It's definitely not a bad thing to take time off your mile!

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Great Weekends Make for a Fabulous Monday

I did it. I did not go on Pinterest one time this weekend - after I wrote that post, that is. I'm not saying I didn't talk about it, a lot, but I refrained from pinning and it felt good. Or at least I felt like a normal person again.

Saturday Matty had another home game and it didn't go as well as we had planned. They lost in overtime taking their record to a horrendous 3-3-2-1. For those of you who don't know that's 3 wins, 3 losses, 2 over-time losses, and 1 shoot-out loss. Don't you worry, I had to ask Matt to explain it to me before I even wrote that. That's not the way we saw this year going. Not. At. All.

Despite the loss we spent some time with great friends, burnt hot dogs, beer and wine, baby kicking, and the girls going to bed "early" until the boys decided it was time to part ways. Early the next morning. It happens.

Yesterday we had a delicious breakfast straight from the "Marriotte" buffet line that consisted of omelettes, sausage and potatoes. Also a little Jersey Shore Reunion watching. If this was Twitter ... #yummm!

We walked around town, did a little window shopping, grabbed some pizza and tiramisu, and I finished off the weekend reading 10% of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I say 10% because my Kindle only goes by percentage, not pages. Which means that I never know how much further until I finish a chapter. This makes it very difficult to say Just give me 2 minutes and I'll watch that show with you, honey.

But this is where I come to my next problem. Kindle. I love it. It's probably the best investment (aside from my computer) that I've made on this European vacation we're on. Lugging multiple books over here each year takes up weight in my checked luggage, space in my carry-on, and then I finish them in one month and have nothing else the rest of the year.

Kindle = Life Saver. That doesn't sound like a problem? Here's the problem:

The new, bottom of the line, Kindle for only $79, Kindle Touch for a measly $99, and Kindle Fire (which could {sort of} rival the iPad) for only $199. Are you kidding me? I contemplated my Kindle purchase for a year. Then three months later this? UGH!

Thanks for ruining my life Amazon. Thanks. -- Too much? Okay.

At least today I got to experience my friend Mindi's favorite bakery here in Asiago. I got a donut filled with cream. It was so good that I had to go for a four and a half mile run afterward. Still in the bag? One of those sugar donuts that I believe also has something oozing in the middle. Tomorrow I'll conquer that pastry. Then run again.

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What I'm {NOT} Doing This Weekend

I may be lying to myself ... okay, I lied ... because today is already Saturday and I've already done some pinning.

WHEN WILL IT STOP!

Go on Pinterest. Do it now! You'll find amazing things and wonderful new ideas. Things like these:

'nuff said.

next summer, expect this matthew.

who thought of this? you're a genius.

cheesecake inside of strawberries. healthy treat? well it's better than a whole cheesecake!

wide plank floors, white/ivory cabinets, beauty.

So it's very possible that I spend most of my week perusing this site. Starting now at 12 PM on Saturday I'm stopping. I'm spending the rest of my weekend being awesome in Italy. That means I'm going to eat a pre-game meal (for the game I'm not playing), take my pre-game nap (because I deserve that), go watch HC Asiago kick some Alleghe bum, then spend my Sunday enjoying the -hopefully- good weather with friends!

Happy Weekend. Peace out Pinterest. Until next time. Or Monday. Whatever, get off me.

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