Roxie and Koura together in Florida

I was very much looking forward to witnessing Koura (my brother's dog) and Roxanne (my parents' dog) meeting for the first time! Lenny and his wife, Lexey, drove from Denver so that they could bring Koura with them. She got to swim in the ocean for the first time!

Roxanne loves going down to Florida with my parents. I'm really glad that she was able to make it down there one more time before passing... at SIXTEEN years old! What a happy, lucky girl she ended being -- having my parents adopt her from a shelter at 3 years old.

Going for a walk with all of the girls  : )

Koura and her beer

Cutie pie, Roxanne

Koura's new present! Bahahaha

Koura is worn out from all of this Christmas morning shenanigans!

Mom and Lenny both went outside... and the girls are WORRIED!

Aaaaand probably wondering why they aren't outside with them!

The Villages, Florida

We used to take trips to The Villages to see my grandparents almost once a year while I was growing up. I love being down there. Their house is on a small lake and you can drive the golf cart all over town. There are even miniature parking spaces at the grocery store, specifically for golf carts!

I really like these first two photos below as a set:

A festive Rudolph flamingo!

Our favorite spot for freshly squeezed orange juice! Expensive but woooorth it.

Sean was able to rig up the lighted Christmas tree at the end of the dock, just like our grandpa used to do it! The tree looked great at night. We could even see it from the other side of the lake when we would drive over to the square each evening.

My dad and I were reading one morning and this happened: 

Gorgeous!! It was really nice to be in Florida with family. The weather was great. We even got up to the pool a couple times. ...Soon enough, I hope to be back again!

Family in Florida

It was so nice to be home in the States with family for the winter holidays. Especially after recently deciding to leave Italy at the end of the school year and head back to the States, in a big part -- to be near family. It was great to have all of those feeling re-affirm.

Lenny and Lexey are taking part in the "golf cart community."

There are multiple squares in The Villages and they each have live music every night for four hours! We were able to see a couple of their favorite groups play throughout the week. (Truthfully, I would sit and work on Sudoku puzzles some of the time. Hehe.)
Mom and Dad dancing at the square. 

We went to my Great Aunt Fran's new house! She was all set with plenty of homemade Italian holiday cookies.  : )  Mmmhmmmmm! The Pizzelles (bottom left) are my favorite!!

My mom got my brother, Sean, and I outside to play tennis a bit one day. It was fun to get outside and hit the ball back and forth a bit.

Mom and Sean

Can you see where the ball is in the air below? (HA!)

Mom and Dad  <3

We took a golf cart ride to a pond to watch the sunset one evening.

Sean, Mom, Lenny, Dad, Lexey, me!

Winter Break - arriving home in the States

It was GREAT to go home to the States for the winter holidays! We had a full 3 weeks off from school because of the way an Italian holiday fell right after the New Year. Yeah!

My parents have been enjoying a few months at The Villages in Florida, so we all met there for Christmas. My mom and her siblings have kept my grandparents' house, which I'm really thankful for.

I love this photo of ice crystals on the plane's window:

Grandma and Grandpa's house  : )

I woke up around 4:00am my first day (...noon by Milan time!). I made coffee in my grandma's personalized mug with the lovely pumpkin chai concentrate that my mom made for me.  : )

(Note: I'm wearing my grandma's robe, as my luggage didn't make it with me upon arrival... more on this with the last photo below...)

I love cuddle time with Roxanne!! Sadly, Roxie has since passed. She lived to an amazing 16 years old!! What a sweetheart.

Ahhhh, this view. What a breath of fresh air (literally).

This is the backyard. Ummmm -- yes, please!

Haha. Nice Dad.

Coffee trip by golf cart!

THIS is NOT my suitcase. (More below...)

I was able to get on an earlier flight from Newark to Orlando, which was GREAT! BUT... my suitcase ended up not making it with me. We were told that the suitcase could be delivered the next morning. Wonderful!

6am the next morning a bag was delivered. ...Not my bag. Ha! Oh sheesh.

The driver swung back around to collect this bag and try again. My bag did make it later. Thankfully!

Funny enough, I was in a jet lagged fog and my mom had woken up from the picture text message of the bag delivered outside the front door... we were both apparently quite confused. My mom said that my bag arrived and handed me this suitcase. I didn't really know what she meant since I knew that this was not my bag (the one I was waiting for). I thought maybe she meant it was an old bag of mine... I just put it aside.

Not even sure what I thought the bag was or what I was going to do with it. My mom was surprised that I wasn't more excited that my suitcase had arrived! Ha!

Later, once we both woke up more, I realized that she thought it was the bag I was waiting for... and that this random suitcase had actually been delivered to the house instead of mine. She had been confused about my lack of response but had gone back to bed for a bit.

All-in-all, we had a good laugh over that and my suitcase full of holiday presents showed up! All was good  : )

Dad Decked the Deck

Every time we pulled into the driveway of the house, Dad would say one of two things... either, "Wow! Look at that house! They have a SANTA on the roof!!" ...OR... "I decked the deck." Hahaha...

Dad decked the deck:

Dad and Dominic going into New Yorker's... daily routine...

Breakfast cuteness at New Yorker's, East Rochester

At Savoia's on Christmas Eve to pick up the cannolis...

We walked in on #19 and pulled #71. Yikes!

Group shot while hanging out at Grandma's in Buffalo:

A rare photo of all of us together!

Home for the holidays

More from my time home in Upstate New York : )

Making Christmas cookies with Mom!

You DON'T make a Christmas pretzel cookie?    : P

I got to spend two weeks with this lady  : )

Grandma made some of her family-famous Tollhouse cookies!

Looking at this photo on my camera after taking it, Grandma couldn't find herself between all of our hair! Haha. She didn't think it was the photo that we could have just taken and she had been in... 

Home  : )

family holiday get-togethers

It was really nice to go home to Upstate New York for the winter holidays! Usually I see some of my relatives when I visit each summer, but since this visit was around the winter holidays and get-togethers were already planned, I got to see pretty much everyone!

Christmas Day at the Smith's!

Hanging out at Grandma's in Buffalo for the evening

Being able to meet my college friend Erin's baby girl was great!!

So glad a visit worked out... Erin, baby Marley, and Jess stopped by my Grandma's:

Jess, me, Marley, Erin   : )

The next night, I was able to see Jess again - and another good friend from college - Heather. It was really nice to be able to have some time with them! (Heather visited me while I lived in Vietnam! We traveled with my cousins to Thailand during the Tet holiday.)

New Year's Eve at the Delforte's!

At the Pizzingrilli's for New Year's Day...

...waiting in line for the second round of Aunt Ann's gnocchi  : )

Big grins for home-cooked Italian food!

Cousin Aubrielle's first birthday party!

heading home for the holidays...

Milan is gorgeous and festive around the winter holiday time...

Gorgeous sunsets on a clear day (this one was taken at the Vigentino bus stop)...

The view of the Christmas tree of lights from my apartment:

And get-togethers with friends!

Carrie had a bunch of us over for a lovely brunch at the end of a recent three-day weekend:

I've enjoyed the past few weeks... but now am excited to head HOME for the holidays!

I haven't spent a Christmas in New York in about 7 years and am really looking forward to the time in Rochester with family and friends. My suitcase is packed... and it's mostly all gifts and little yummy things from Italy and my recent travels through Europe... I was also able to stuff some clothes in there but might end up wearing some of Mom's!

Rochester, here I coooooooome!