Wednesday, December 14, 2011

PhD scholar!

I just got the offer today, a full scholarship to do a PhD!!!

So much hard work, so many hours of slog to get to this point ... and so much more to do before I can be Dr Pundy!

The paths a life can take you are truly amazing - some paths are horrifyingly terrible (IF) others are astoundingly wonderful (PhD).

I've not been in here much, time's at a premium and I've been writing so much that writing for pleasure doesn't often cut it. I am reading all of your blogs though, sending positive thoughts out to the Universe for those who need them and cheering all of you on on your paths.

Be well.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Awesome #10 and an update

I owe you all some awesome ...


Photos that work without trying (the rides were awesome too especially No Limit).





Naughty chickehs that come looking for cat fud.




Impressionism by accident (our Gallery has a water window).

What a busy study year this has been. But much better than the Year of Hell doing my Honours thesis and IVF at the same time. I started the study year very apprehensively because of that bad awfulness but I settled into it ok and my anxiety levels haven't caused collapses or breakdowns (so far). And now, suddenly, I've almost finished the coursework for the Master. I've maintained a straight A average throughout the year and I'll be so fucking glad when I'm done with the last two pieces of assessment and I can forgo straight As forever and just work on the "Ps get degrees" theorem.

I'm finalising my application for the PhD and while I'm a shoe-in to get accepted into the program, a scholarship is not so certain, so I'm nervous about that.

I still wish that I'd get miraculously pregnant and it still hasn't happened and I still get disappointed every single month. Stoopid or what?

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Awesome #9


The view through my umbrella during Spring rain.

And speaking of rain ... Rain's news is also awesome. Congratulations Rain and McRuger and welcome to Cadet!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Awesome #8

Sunbeams (and spring blossoms)





Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Weekly Awesome #7

Completely not weekly at all.

This awesome goes to finishing assignments - the feeling that comes along with handing one in, the joy in being able to cross it off the list.

1 down, 6 to go.






Thursday, August 25, 2011

Discarded dreams

When our last IVF cycle was a bust last year, I had a fridge crisper full of leftover drugs. In fact I had exactly enough drugs to do one more cycle - alone. I planned dosing myself with the same (or less) Gonal-F as my last cycle, getting my GP to organise an ultrasound on about day 9 of my cycle and then depending on the measurement of the follicle/s I saw at that appointment, I'd plan to trigger and then go at it like rabbits with the Big Guy for one last medicated hooray.

But something always stopped me from doing it, certainly not lack of drugs, not lack of courage, not lack of willing GP because my GP is both awesome and malleable. I guess I just figured it was pointless really.

But I didn't throw out the drugs, they stayed in our crisper taking up valuable space. Every time I looked in the fridge I saw both the possibility of another cycle and the hope of a pregnancy, as well as the futility and pain of the same.

I got back from Bali on Sunday. And in the afternoon, in my jet-lagged haze, I opened the crisper and decided to dispose of the drugs. I have known I'd have to do it for a while, but I kept on not being ready. And then, out of nowhere, I was.

I stopped in at the hospital at the end of our street; the hospital where I planned I would deliver that baby we never had, where my mother-in-law's sister is a midwife who would have taken such good care of me, of us. Emergency was quiet last Sunday afternoon, and so I waited while a paramedic found out where to check in the dazed young man on her gurney.

The nurse asked what she could do for me and I confessed that I had a strange request. I had all these drugs and sharps leftover from our final failed IVF cycle last year that I'd been hoarding and I wanted to dispose of them safely. I started crying halfway through my silly explanation and she looked at me so very kindly, such tenderness in her eyes, and said that would be fine and was I alright.

Am I alright? I'm not sure really. I do know I have a lovely family and a wonderful husband. My life is full and busy and everything really should be fine. I should be over it. But my heart got torn wide open by infertility. I never expected it to happen (no one does) and it broke me into pieces. And I'm just slowly stitching myself back together.

The drugs are not in my fridge anymore but the crisper is still empty. And now its emptiness haunts me a little like my empty womb. The crisper, I can fill.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Weekly Awesome #6




Sunset on Jimbaran Bay :)

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Weekly (kinda) Awesome #5


First up let me apologise because apparently I suck at super-regular weekly postings! Who woulda thunk it?

Anyway, this 'week's' awesome goes to snow and skiing.

We took the kids up the mountain this past weekend and though they'd only learnt to stand and ski a tiny bit last time, this time they were all capably whizzing down the slopes by the end of our weekend. Wrangling all three of them into their gear and then teaching them was not as hard as the Big Guy and I had imagined and we ended up having a fantastic time.

TBG and I both learnt to ski when we were little and we really wanted our kids to get the bug and be able to feel the joy of skiing and love the magic of a snow-covered wonderland. We're so lucky to have the opportunity to teach our kids and the cashola to fund it.



And...
3 sleeps til Bali! How lucky am I? Skiing one weekend, swim-up bar-ing the next. AWESOME.








Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Weekly Awesome #4

Getting high distinctions for both subjects in my first semester of the Master (and thus half-guaranteeing entry in to the articulated PhD). Two more high distinctions for the remaining two subjects and then it's all aboard the PhD train.


Also awesome, going to Bali in a fortnight for a week. Completely random and unexpected, gifted to me by a sweet friend (Hi K!). Cocktails ahoy!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Weekly Awesome #3

Catholics



Because there's a patron saint for everything, even digestive problems.

And lest any of you think I'm being religist, I am catholic :)

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Weekly Awesome #2







This weeks awesomeness belongs to Japanese dollar stores and their excellence at stocking incomprehensible items.

What's the deal with that tomato story plate?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Clever chickehs!




Please excuse the messy balcony complete with washing everywhere - it's testament to my spontaneity.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Weekly Awesome #1

Rainbows where I least expect them






... on the hand dryer in the bathroom at work.


Props to 1000 Awesome Things - I'm now inspired to find the awesome in my life. I'm going to make this a weekly thing, feel free to join in!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Pieta



The Pieta is my favourite sculpture and when I stood before her in January I was rapt. Her beautiful sad face enthralled me, her love, her pain. Did a religion spring from that love lost? It's an interesting thought.

So much tragedy in our bloggy world lately, so much pain, shared by so many. When there are sorrows we are all cut, each sad post breaks so very many hearts. I wish I could change the world with a wave of my hand and the typing of a kiss. Alas.

But, in this world of IF, news is often mixed together. Pain with joy, sadness with light.

And when there are joys we share them and exalt and wish only the best (my lovely numb lucky Lady).

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Universe is confusing

Because poor darling Misfits lost to the House ... again.

I just can't bear the unfairness of that and can't even imagine how they are coping. Lucky number 7 was supposed to be lucky. And this is just so cruel. Infertility is so very cruel.

:(

Sunday, May 29, 2011

IF A-Z

A. Age when you started TTC: 35

B. Baby Dancing or Se.x: Horizontal Mambo

C. Children wanted: I wanted 4. And when I was 13 I wanted two sets of twins!

D. Dogs/Cats/Fill in Children: 2 cats, 3 chickens, 5 fish.

E. Essential Oils/Vitamins/Snake Oils: prenatal vitamins, false unicorn root, CoQ10, Evening Primrose Oil.

F. Fertility Meds I’ve taken: clomid, Gonal-F, ovidrel, Synarel, Lucrin

G. Gain: 5 kgs

H. HSG (Hystosalpingogram): All clear

I. Infertile Pet Peeves: People assuming that I'm over it now.

J. Job title: Research Fellow

K. Kid’s names you’re afraid will be taken by the time you can use them: Not telling ;p

L. Length of time TTC:




M. Miscarriages: 1 chemical

N. Number of times you’ve switched OB/GYNS, REs, FSs: 0 - but I did get a second opinion

O. Ovarian quality: terrible

P. POAS or wait for AF: For the first couple of years, POAS.  Now, mostly wait.

Q. Quote from an obnoxious fertile: After she heard we'd been trying for over 3 years she said (gesturing to her 8 month pregnant belly) "This one was a complete accident - we were done!"

S. Sperm: fine (or maybe ... yes please)

T. Time you tried naturally: 15 months or so

U. Uterus quality: great

V. Vagina: lovely

W. What baby stuff do you already have?: Lots of old stuff from my Little Guy.

X. X-tra X-tra Hear all about it! How many people know the ins and outs of our crazy TTC journey? Everyone I know. Yes, pretty much everyone. Sometimes cause they asked, sometimes cause it was on my mind, sometimes in relation to something else.

Y. Yearly Exam (do you still go in even though someone sees your lady parts most months?): Yearly, just got the all-clear for this year.

Z. Zits: small and infrequent.

So now you’ve read mine. What are your IF A to Zs?

Monday, May 23, 2011

39

And feeling it.

Thank you for your surprise birthday wishes on my last post - t'was very unexpected.

I'd been doing my best to ignore it. But it happened to me anyway and here I am, living the final year of my thirties and bleeding after nookie on CD12. Hello peri-menopause how I hate thee.

Woe is me. If I wasn't feeling so woeful 'd tell you about the lovely birthday dinner I had with friends (I did, it was) or how sometime yesterday I thought to myself how much worse it could all be (like my entire 20s) or how the song I sang to the Little Guy (my best beloved) at bedtime last night (10:30pm after our dinner out) was "Happy Birthday to me" and at the end he hooray-ed and piped up with his new catchphrase "cha-cha-cha!"

I'd tell you about how gorgeous my husband is, how he tries so hard with all his loving of me and he wins. His whole self is For The Win. He left me notes scattered around the house yesterday, detailing his love and all the reasons why. He loves me so well. And just now as I cried softly on his shoulder, bleeding and definitely not post-org.as.mic, he cradled me and was gentle with my silly old self.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Faaaark

I really thought I was pregnant last week.

My period was late and I was hopeful and I planned the post I would write here and the people I would tell and I even looked up a due date.

And then I tested. I haven't done that in oh-so-long. So very very long. And it was so awfully devastating to see the shadow of a second line that never turned into a proper second line.

I cried and cried and cried. And then I was madmadmad like nothing else and I screamed at the walls (I was alone at home). And then my period arrived the next day (CD30, I was due on CD27).

I'm just so fucking pissed off. It's GIGANTICALLY unfair. And I'm so dumb for being so hopeful.

How do I get over this? It's 11 months since our last failed IVF cycle now and I'm wishing we could try assisted conception again. I wish it would be of some use to try again. I wish ...




In other news I'm busy like a very busy hive of bees and I'm really glad that I'm not a poor alcohol and drug-addicted lady who's stunted her child's cognitive development (placement anyone?).



Glad you liked the chickens.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Circus chickeh

I have the beginnings of an excellent circus here :)

Sunday, May 1, 2011

I made awesome rainbow cake

I did it! You may remember that I said I would and this weekend I did! And it was awesome. So awesome I can't hardly believe I managed it.


Don't you just love these batter bowls? I do!

I used a ton of icing in this, so much that the kids were mostly defeated by their slices.

Our gorgeous girl turned 11 - how can that be possible?

The slice emerged to the sounds of excitement and appreciation - and the kids liked it too ;)

Why are there so many songs about rainbows? Because they're AWESOME!

Thank you to Whisk Kid and her inspirational post. The cake was a hit with everyone and I was pronounced an awesome cake-maker and an awesome Step-Mother. Booyah!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Superfetation

Amazing.

People and animals who are already pregnant can get pregnant again. Yet I can't at all.


The Big Guy has two step-sisters - they've both had babies while we've been trying. He has two cousins - one had her second baby just before we started trying (while I was still convincing tBG), the second had her baby this morning.

Why couldn't I have married a man whose female relatives were done babying?

I gave the new baby the socks that were for our baby, the rattle-booties that were for our baby and the organic baby stuff pack that was for our baby.

I'm slowly giving it all away now and that hurts.

Smelling that sweet, sweaty newborn smell (she was only 10 hours old when we visited her tonight) was delicious, holding her was glorious, giving her back to her Mama was wrenching. I want so much (and I use the present tense with ooomph) to have a baby and that desire is not leaving me. Not fading, not diminishing, not abating, not going. 

Something that tells me there is no intelligent designer. Today was my first placement.  The 12 year old child I am to assess has a drug-addled, brain-damaged, alcoholic mother. That poor lady has a 12 year old, an 8 year old, a 4 year old and last year she had a new baby who was removed from her care immediately. 

Yet I can't get pregnant. 

Flying Spaghetti Monster?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Hoppy Easter Peeps!




Because we're in the future it's all drawing to a close for us, we're chocolate-d out and have had a lovely day.

I hope you all have a safe and eggsellent Easter and that the Bunny is kind to you!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Like a ratty old jumper

I've shrugged studying back over my head again. Assignments, group work, countless readings that I'm not doing enough of.  It's all so familiar and well-worn. I know how to do this. I am doing it.  Quelle horreur.

I've not much to say this week.

1. My Little Guy is off with his Dad for 9 sleeps having the first half of the Easter hols 2 hours away from me. I miss his squirmy little body and his silly little voice and his little rat-fingers trying to tickle me.

2. The Big Guy's kids are off with their Mum on the normal week-on-week-off schedule. Thus we are kidless and it's sucky. And nice, but only for a little while.

4. The chickehs are doing well.  I am trying to train them to leap for food, which works sometimes but only if they can see the food.  Then they flutter and leap to get it. Dry cat food = nomnomnom. Perhaps I will open a  chicken circus one day. No doubt I will have to teach them other tricks besides chasing me and leaping. I will ponder it further.

5. I signed my fellowship contract today and I feel like a fraud because I'm nowhere near as Fellow-y as the other Fellows, but c'est la vie.  I am still deciding whether to change my position title on our website (I'm the webmaster) because of my fraud-y-feeling.

6. I got a Very Good Mark for my first assignment but I'm pissed off because the marks came from the peer ratings and our lecturer had told us that those ratings didn't count for anything and as it turned out they counted completely and I'd been soooooooo (SO) kind to the other students while they killed me with Death-By-Powerpoint. Now my choices in this matter are thus:
       a) keep marking everyone stupidly high (47 out of 50),
       b) mark everyone else a average grade only (30 out of 50) unless they blow my mind,
       d) write "I refuse to participate because it's so patently invalid to have me marking my peers".
What would you do?


And here's a picture for your eyes.

The traditional Venice shot. Ahhhh, holidays, they go so fast.

Friday, April 8, 2011

For your viewing pleasure

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/50-unexplainable-black-white-photos

I'm particularly fond of these six.

#2 - who did they kill and why are they all so happy?
#8 - the best kind of stalkers
#10 - no words for this
#22 - why?why?why?
#28 - she's so adoring
#46 - olde-time-math-nerds

Tell me which are your faves and why :)

Monday, March 21, 2011

The running of the chickehs



As promised.

Thanks for the love.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Slow carbs and dead chickehs

What is this space for?

I'm not here very much, I read all your blogs and I comment here there and everywhere but I'm not sure what I'm doing here. Anyway...

Updates:
1.  Our chickehs were all eaten by foxes while we were in Italy. It was awful for our housesitter and awful for us when we got home because I did not see the letter she'd written us so I went searching for the chickens in the dark with a torch through our large backyard :(

The coop wasn't strong enough. Foxy Loxy got in and killed my chickeh-darlings. So sad.

We have new chickehs, they lay an egg a day each and I love them. Which sounds weird after just telling you all about our poor first set of chickens.  But we waited a while, and we got these from someone who didn't want them anymore and I really do love chickens.  These 3 are very funny, in that they chase me around the backyard for treats. They also climb the back stairs and cluck around on our patio in hope of finding/getting dry cat food (their favourite treat). I will endeavour to record them one day soon and post the vid of them here.




2.  The Big Guy and I have been on the 4 hour body diet and we've both lost tummy fat and are finding the diet relatively easy. (Kinda.)

Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates. Don’t eat bread, pasta, rice (brown or white), any grains (including corn), potatoes, breaded fried food or dairy (except some lactose-free cheeses) on your slow-carb days (except cauliflower).

Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again. Meals should include protein, legumes, and non-starchy vegetables; eat as much as you like, 3-4x/day.

Rule #3: Don’t drink calories. Avoid milk (including soy), sweetened soda (no more than 16oz of diet), and fruit juice. One or two glasses of red wine are permitted.

Rule #4: Don’t eat fruit. Tomatoes and avocados are okay (the latter in moderation).

Rule #5: Take one day off per week. Go nuts and eat lots of calories to keep your metabolic rate (thyroid function, conversion of T4 to T3, leptin) up. Do at least five days of rules 1-4 before following rule 5.

Saturday is Crazy Day for us and we're both finding it hard to eat all the stuff we can't eat all week; not because there's not enough time, but because we just don't feel like it that much and it's hard to schedule eating crap into the day. I had pancakes with syrup and fruit last Saturday and was ill for a few hours after.  I think my body likes the veges/legumes/protein diet.



3.  I've been going to counselling class which has (so far) taught me that I'm probably not meant to be in drama school because I fucking hate role plays. I've also been attending cognitive/personality assessment classes which have taught me that IQ is a crock and that the courts love the shitty old MMPI. But I knew that dudes, teach me something new already.



4. I like making friends in my course and my Openness domain NEO-PI score puts me square in the psychopathology section.



5. My light period and my menopause fears have combined to make me overly hopeful that I'll skip a period for the next however many months and pop a baby out  because I'll have been pregnant and that was why my period was so light and I got O pains so early.  Ha! I'll show you psychopathology.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Once a scholar ...

Always a scholar?

I've started the Master. Oh Emm Gee. So far it's interesting and I'm finding my balance between work, study and family. Ha! I'm like a somersaulting acrobat juggling three balls on a tightrope and it's only just begun.

I also had a 1.5 day period, with a sum total of about 20 ml of blood (I know this TMI because of my Lunette cup which has convenient measurements). And then yesterday afternoon/evening I had what felt like ovulation cramps - on CD6. WHAT THE FUCK? Is this the beginning of the end? Potentially you lovely ladies will get to travel down menopause road with me and hear all about the highs and lows to scare the bejeezus outta you all (there probably won't be any highs except the high temperature at night when I make the bed all manky with my night sweats).

It's scaring me.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Bones WAS my favourite show

But not anymore.

I still have a metaphorical hard-on for David Boreanaz, I still enjoy the quips and the plots, I still like beating them to the cause of death and the murderer but my love for the show has, on the whole, been tainted, destroyed even, by two things.

1. Seely Booth is in a relationship with a blondie. That just kills me. I used to spend a good proportion of any episode waiting for him to take off his shirt and do Bones, in a dream, a coma, a fantasy, whatever. I waited and sometimes he did.  Sometimes he even got nekkid with casual s.ex partners and that was cool by me. But now the writers have ruined the UST (unresolved sexual tension) between Booth and Bones and to top it off they gave him a p.orn-worthy, intelligent, Bones-liking girlfriend.  She's the antichrist peeps and I hates her. He's MY precious.

MY precious!


2. Then, not only did they screw with my fantasies, they screwed with my safe haven. Were there ever any babies or pregnant people in Bones? Noooooo, just rotting corpses and lots of s.exy thoughts. Now, NOW they have ruined that too. Ruined it so much that even tBG sighs loudly every time they mention their babyjoy.

Stoopid Hodgkins and Angela made a baby - accidentally no less. And every fucking episode has mention, no,  dedicated screen time to the pregnancy.  So I want to shoot the TV. And the writers. How dare they fuck up my favourite show so badly.


Damn.




(Not sure if these pics are NSFW - male chests shown. Are they NSFW?)



And now I'm thinking about vampire hotties, is it just me or does everyone lerv Eric Northman.

And who would you prefer - David Boreanaz or Alexander Skarsgård?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Oh My God!

Mournful-Maura ... I'm still plodding along completely unpregnantly with frequent well-timed non-contracepted s.ex to keep my hopeyheart alive. Maybe that ought to read dopeyheart. Whatever.

The other night as the Big Guy and I watched an ad that featured cute toddler twins in boy/girl nappies, tBG turned to me and sighed. He told me how sad he was that we weren't having a baby. How much he had hoped to meet our child. All in the past tense, a done deal so to speak. Blerk.

We're not having a baby peeps. I don't like that reality. Not one bit. When will I stop giving pregnant women dagger eyes and muttering 'you're so lucky' under my breath when we pass each other? When will I look at/hold a baby and be happy for baby love without feeling like crying simultaneously? When will it stop?

Being on holidays was awesomely distracting - and I can't remember seeing ANY pregnant Italian women. Can't I stay away on holidays?


Giggling-Gertie ... yesterday the Little Guy ran out on our back verandah to take some of his laundry inside. He ran so fast and as he passed the back door handle he snagged the arm of his white dress-up shirt and practically pulled himself off his feet. He scraped his arm and was in tears, very very sad when he suddenly looked at his shirt. In a tone that ought to be reserved for noticing that your arm is hanging out of the socket and there's blood gushing everywhere, he cried, "OH MY GOD! MY SHIRT!!!!" It was hilarious and I found it incredibly difficult to remain consolatory whilst wanting to roll on the ground laughing. When talking about it with tBG later, I cried laughing, it was that funny. I wish I could have taped him saying it so you could hear the horror in his voice.


Looky-Lucy


Monday, January 31, 2011

My kraken sleepeth

Heeeellllloooooooo bloggie-friends!

First - I am devastated and blown away and completely thrown by poor Wiseguy's awful turn of events.


Fly free little Lola you are so very loved and missed by so many people.
angel baby




I am return-ned from holidays more myself than I have been for the past god-knows-how-long and ready to rumble, OK, not rumble, but I'm feeling so very good at the moment. I guess that's what 5 weeks of holidays, lots of beautiful sight-seeing, then surfing, sun and relaxing will do for a girl.

About this time 3 years ago I threw out the birth control pills and we started TTCing.  Can I just say (as you all know) that this has been one of the most awful trying painful things I have ever voluntarily done to myself. 3 years of grief, failure and pain.

Now, as I start 2011 (and soon a Masters degree - eeeeeeek!), I have almost completely given up hope.  A tiny, itty, witty, incy bit still remains, but I am starting to sort through all the things I've held onto (for when we had the bay-bee) and maybe, just maybe, to move on with life. I don't cry when I get my period anymore and I don't feel quite so hateful towards random pregnant women as I used to. I do still feel incredibly jealous and I wish they would all take their great big pregnant bellies and their tiny newborns off to pregnant-newborn person land and not come back til said tiny babies are annoying 4 year olds and all evidence of happy pregnancy is gone (but not any of you guys, you've shared this horrid journey with me and I'm delighted for each and every one of your planned or surprise conceptions). Hmmm, I do still feel pretty hateful apparently.

Anyways, I'm back from away and being away from normal life has been excellent. Bring on the rest of the year!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Can't blog, too busy summering

I know I promised more Italy pics but then we got the kids back and went summer holidaying. I hope all your January's are fun.










P.S. Congratulations Eggs Out of Time!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

3 years later

And I love him dearly.

Thank you Big Guy for being the bestest husband evah.

I'm still wading through the Italy pictures, finding it hard to find the time to sort through them. I swear that camera was glued to my face the whole time we were there. And I'm so glad it was because there was so much to take in my brain couldn't possibly hold all the wonders I saw.

I've decided to pick some pictures from each day to show you. And tell you about.

Day 1

After a 23 hour journey we arrived in Rome around 7am on Christmas Eve. This was in the first batch of pictures I took as I rounded street corners and gasped every time I turned my head. Rome blew me away; living in Australia we don't have any buildings older than a couple of hundred years, no architectural styles before Georgian. Rome is a pastiche, a blend of the ancient and the relatively new (relative in a millenial sense). Astounding and intensely beautiful.



The Pantheon.  Just getting there was a trip and a half due to all the things we saw on the way (including a tiny little church - Santa Maria Maddalena - whose beautiful interior had us enthralled for ages). The Pantheon is enormous. So VERY big. How those ancient people managed it is beyond me. It's been rebuilt over time, redecorated and renewed as it was repurposed.



 



Everywhere one turns in the Pantheon, the view is spectacular. And because it's being used as a church today there's a mix of the ancient and the not-so-ancient. It's like mini-Rome. This apse holds the Chapel of the Crucifixion and the wall surrounding the cross is the original Roman wall. From 126AD. The cross is 1400's.  Those old walls. I desperately wanted to feel them.



 




And then I did. Do you think that nail is old? I did.

I'm in love with old. And with Rome.

A friend of mine who had recently returned from Italy said that she disliked Rome - too dirty and busy. But for me it's perfect. Possibly winter visiting is better than summer visiting, it wasn't too busy and it wasn't dirty.

Mi amore Roma.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Watch this space peeps

Because I'm (*sob*) coming home.

Italy is absolutely phenomenal, if you haven't been then I totally recommend that you to go book your holiday NOW. Srsly.

Home in 36 hrs, much photo-i-ness to follow.

I'll leave you with this excellently silly/sexy Italian men's undies box, he has his O face on 'cause it's O time baby!