Random 5...

...Friday

I'm very excited that Nancy from A Rural Journal is back and hosting the meme R5F again.

Here are my random 5 in no particular order.

 :I managed to capture the city center of old Pompeii with no people!

: Did you know there is such a thing as Post Vacation Blues? I thought it was all in my head but after about a week and half of not wanting to do anything creative I started googling and found my problem-I feel like the fog is lifting.

: My 2 year old grandson just got over a staph infection from a spider bite-that was scary.

: Only 6 more Fridays til summer vacation!

: The gas leak in our little city of Porter Ranch has been capped and I haven't had to use my inhaler...Hmmm-kind of scary to think what we've been breathing for months on end.

http://aruraljournal.blogspot.com/p/random-5-friday.html

Happy (random) snapping!

xo

Kelly

Did you miss yesterday's post?

Petites Choses...

...jeudi

(Little Things Thursday)

If you know anything about me, you'll know I'm a sucker for anything French. I can't get enough. A few years ago my husband whisked me away to Paris on a surprise 50th birthday.
It was heaven &  everything I ever dreamed about and more.

Personally if I had 1000 photos of the Eiffel Tower, I wouldn't have enough. We stayed in Paris for 4 days and crammed as much as we could in the time we were there. The problem is, I want to go back...in the worse way, not only to be in Paris...in the Spring (we were there in a Jan.) but I want to drive the country side end to end, visit wineries and flea markets, rent a house so I can shop and cook like the French...you get the idea. 

Several weeks ago, our little Starbucks group was having coffee and one friend has a daughter and future SIL living in Austria. One day they'll have children that will speak German. So, this friend  was showing us an amazing free app on her phone, Duolingo, that was teaching her German. 

When I got home, I download  the app and right away was learning French. I've always wanted to learn a 2nd language & I jokingly asked my husband when I get to be be 100% fluent (the app keeps track of your progress) would he take me back to France. He said yes. AND there's my motivation to learn! So, I'm 3 weeks into practicing 10-20 minutes a day, I'm 6% fluent and here's how a conversation with my DH went:

She: Woo hoo~I'm 6% fluent...only 94% to go.

He: Til what?

She: Til I'm fluent and go back to France.

He: Are you running away with someone?

She: Uhm, no...you said if and when I'm fluent you'd take me back to France.

He: I did?

She: Yup....you did. Are you still gonna take me?

He: Yeah...I'll take you back.

She: C'est bon!

I'm giving myself at least a year to get comfortable with pronouncing the words with the right accent. I can't comment on the other languages, but learning French on this app is the most fun I've had trying to learn another language. Did I mention it was free? If you download it, let me know how you like it and if you're going to learn French, add me to your friends list and we can motivate each other. 

À plus tard

(until later)

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

Linking with Kim @ Littlebylittle

Little Things...

...Thrusday

Good morning friends. March pretty much ended with a bang as

the Mr and I spent my spring break in Rome-

I'm in love...

This is the door to our hotel built in the 17th century! It was a family home converted into a very quaint 10 room hotel pretty much within walking distance of famous landmarks.

Oh my, The Colosseum-is just spectacular and had just finished being cleaned by a very generous donor who paid $25 million euros for the restoration.

If you ever plan to go to Rome, "Walks of Italy" have amazing walking tours. The guides are SO knowledgable and fun to listen to.  The groups are small-max.15 people & you'll get a headset to listen to your guide~which is great if you're like me, you can wander around, snap pics and still hear some great history.

For 7 euro, you can get on an elevator at The Alter of our Father and get views like these...

Palatine Hill was my favorite. I could have spent an entire day there exploring.

 Every step was a photo op.

Pompeii is another site that is not to be missed.

The history that is still being unearthed there is unlike anything you'll ever experience. There are homes you are allowed to wander into where you'll see frescos still on the wall, untouched.

Think about it, Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. Pompeii was rediscovered in 1748 and was mostly intact...people, bread in ovens, life like any other day frozen in time. 

Spring was in the air...

It took a week to recover from the jet lag and I think I'm back on track now so I'll slowly be making my way to visit your blogs.
I'm joining Kim over at
LittleByLittle
for Little Things Thursday.
See you there.
Happy (spring) snapping!
xo
Kelly