She who dares to stand where I stood.

I am BACK!  I am waiting to post some of the food and fun highlights after getting the pictures from my good friend Megan Christine, the same lovely lady who took pics from Galentine's Day.  In the meantime, I will leave you with a few pictures before I post the full account!  Let's just say I ate pizza for every lunch and had wine at every meal, except for breakfast!  To sum it up, I basically ate my way through Italy.  I did manage to get one run in, but didn't bring my Garmin so I have no idea how far I went.  Back to marathon training this week!

I have to admit, that I had a moment in St. Peter's Cathedral where I started to tear up because I felt so blessed to be there, and that I knew I wanted to travel the world and continue to create adventures for myself.  I have the marathon in San Diego in June, North Carolina in July, and want to plan an Alaskan outdoor adventure for my next trip.  However, Europe and Africa are still on my many list of things to do.  Who wants to start a vacation club with me?  I already know Megan and Olivia are in.  :D  Don't doubt that I won't make it to all these places.  I'm the one of the few people that I know who can accomplish everything I set my mind to, even if there are up and downs in between.  Staying in the moment and accepting every part of it is what makes the entire experience worth while.

Right now I'm experiencing jet lag and what I consider to be a vacation travel "crash" and feel a little sad.  I have been so excited for this trip for months, and I experienced it, lived it, came home, and woke up to several inches of snow and a pile of work that makes my head spin.  Thank god I know I have so many things to look forward to.  See?  The ups and the downs are what make it all worth it.  Ok, onto a brief recap of my stay on the Mediterranean.

Here we have me in front of the Trevi Fountain in Roma, Italia.  I threw in two coins, so, fingers crossed.

Then we have the town of Almafi on the Almafi Coast.

Next, we are onto a glass of wine and an entire individual pizza for myself in Positano, Italia.

Our group also took a ferry to the island of Capri.  My camera doesn't do it justice.

Look at some of the graffiti found in the side streets of Sorrento, Italia, where we stayed for most of our trip. Amazingly cool! (Just like me, pfft.)

Below I've photographed the wine and caprese salad I consumed at a rest stop (can you believe it) on my way from the airport to Sorrento.  Autogrill!!

We also were given the opportunity to tour Pompeii, a city famous for its history.  It was developed Before Christ (B.C.) yet was not discovered well into the 18th century, after it was covered by the ashes of a volcanic eruption by none other than Mt. Vesuvius.

The three of us Americana's on the way to dinner. The longer we sat at the bar, the more goodies the bartender adorned us with.  Oh to be blonde in Italia. The only thing it wasn't good for was renting scooters.  Yep.  That's right.  Olivia and I tried to rent scooters to do some exploring and they wouldn't rent it to me.  Stupid.

I also dined on squid and pasta.  Nom nom nom.

Here I am in the town center of Napoli (Naples) where I did a jump for joy, hitting myself in the face with my scarf.  I am definitely pictured wearing the same jacket all week because when I overpacked I took out some key items just before leaving for the airport.  All of those key items were coats.  Um, hello donkey clown.

We also had the pleasure of going to a lemon/mozzarella farm.  Don't tell customs I kissed some cows.  Well, I pet some cows and about ten million cats and dogs.  The family who owned the farm gave us a demonstration of how to make olive oil, mozzarella, and limoncello.  They then served us a ridiculous home cooked meal, with house made wine.  I told you I had wine every ten seconds.

Here is the very moment I started to feel a tear stream down my cheek while at the Vatican and St. Peter's Cathedral.  

We had one night in Roma, and had the pleasure of quickly passing by the Colosseum and the Wedding Cake topper.  

As I was walking through a public garden in Sorrento, Olivia snapped a pic of me mid-spin among the lemon trees. 

Finally, our last night, we dined on the best Tiramisu I have ever had the pleasure of being introduced to.  The restaurant not only served amazing dishes, but also put on entertainment with local artists singing classic opera pieces.

We live in a beautiful world.