And it looks like this blog is going to be posted just barely in time to still be the anniversary (here in Sicily, anyway). That’s so entirely my style, it is ridiculous. Especially since I’m currently using the pressing “need” for this blog as a reasonable excuse to take a break from a different assignment.

Anyway. A year! Yay! Honestly, this is just another reminder of how lucky we are to be here right now. Chris and I talked about moving overseas for years before this opportunity came up, and I always said that if we did move overseas I wanted to do a travel blog. Now I am getting to do that! I am beyond grateful for this chance.

This has been a bit of an experimenting-and-trial year with the blog, but as we come into Year Two I’m going to make a concerted effort to post more often and to include more traveling and planning tips. I’m also hoping to improve my photography skills. Please let me know if there is anything in particular you’d like to see as well!

I will have to post about this event as soon as I’m done with all my assignments due this week! And after I’ve stopped obsessing over Fiona’s birthday party. 

The last week has been very busy with activities and birthday parties and such, and I owe a couple posts about what we’ve been up to. But hey, it is August and half of Sicily isn’t working right now so why should I? Ha. Anyway, as midnight looms, I thought I’d just leave you with a couple** of my favorite posts from this past year:

On finding out we were moving to Sicily.

On our house-hunting adventures, here and here and here.

On my goals for our time here. Note: I do like red wine and espresso now, but still can’t roll my Rs.

On flying home with the kids without Chris.Ended up scraping lentils off the floor of a plane with my hands, but things otherwise went (mostly) smoothly.

On our lovely but somewhat wacky home.  And then about getting locked out of said lovely house.

On travel planning: hotels vs. apartments

On why learning Italian is fucking hard

On our trip to France: Fiona makes a scene at two monuments, and I lecture you about Catherine De Medici at various castles.

On driving in Ireland. It went swimmingly! … if you ask me, anyway.

On traveling with kids without losing your mind, and the unexpected benefits to taking them with you!

*To be super technical, it was longer than a year because I had a different website that I messed up first and I had to redo it and repost these blogs. But I don’t know when that date was so …. yeah, it is my anniversary.

**On second read through, I note this doesn’t really qualify as “a couple.” Oh well.