Christmas Vacation

I'm back!  I've, so far, have had a fantastic holiday.  I go back to school on Monday, and I'm going to spend my last few days of break resting, hanging out with my family, writing thank-you-notes, and eating.  Because it's not a holiday if you're not eating, I always say.  My mama is making baked mac and cheese on New Year's Eve, per the request of Will and me, along with some hotdogs.

Will and I have extraordinarily elegant tastes, no?

Wow, this post is so easy to type.  My fingers are just flying.... everything's so natural... why would that be?  Oh yes.  Because guess what Santa left under the tree for little old me?  A new laptop.  You've heard me moan about the mostly-broken nature of my Dell, and I am now a proud owner of a 13 inch MacBook Pro.  I strongly recommend this exact computer to, well, anyone.  And I'm lucky to have my big brother here to help me set it all up.  He's a computer whiz, that fellow.

Our stay in Tuscany was bellissima.  The most beautiful place I've ever seen!  It was a villa on an olive farm, and we got to see an olive oil factory.

Now that I know how they make supermarket olive oil compared to the real stuff, I don't think I will ever want to use Bertolli ever, ever again.

I'll have some pictures of the whole shebang for you later, but for now I must go to sleep.  The villa was a little dusty, and Pasta and Waffles is highly allergic to dust mites.  Because of this, I've been snuffling, sneezing, and coughing all week, and it will probably take a few days to get all of this out of my lungs and for my skin to quit itching.  But I don't really care, because, overall, the trip was amazing.

I hope you all had a great Christmas as well, and I'll get back to you soon.

Love,

Happy Christmas

Merry Christmas, dear readers!  I hope your day is merry and bright, I hope your fellowship with family and friends is rich and fulfilling, and that you set your heart on the miraculous truth of the coming of our Savior as a real, humble, and yet perfect baby boy who was fully man and yet fully God.

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 (Isaiah 9:6 ESV)

            

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 

 

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

 (Luke 2:9-14 ESV)

Blurbing

Here are some little "blurbs" so I can check the blog post block off on my completely non-existent checklist.

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This is (probably) my last blog post until after Christmas.  I might pre-set a post to go up on the 25th, but this is my last one for now.  I want to enjoy time with my family and I have to pack for our Christmas destination!

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Speaking of our Christmas destination; I hate to say it.  When I say it, it sounds like I'm bragging and trying to stick my nose up in the air... but I'm not.  I know y'all are going to ask and I know I'll have to post about it eventually.....  I'm going to a villa in Tuscany for Christmas.  THERE.  I SAID IT.


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I just bought an awesome camel coat because it's been really cold here.  A few days after my purchase?  It got so warm I could walk around in a t-shirt.  Welcome to my world.

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Have I mentioned my BROTHER IS HERE WITH US?!?!  I'm so excited I can barely stand it.  It's amazing how quickly we went back to just being our normal four-piece-puzzle... it's like he never left.

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I want to go to no college more than Covenant College, where my brother attends.  I love it so.

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I've reached twenty followers!  Thank you guys so much.  I really appreciate y'all.  I never thought that in the span of a few months I would have twenty followers...  I love you guys.

~~~
I guess that's it for now, folks.

Happy Christmas!!

Heavy on the pictures, light on the words

A dusting of snow started falling in mid-afternoon...

A few flakes here, a few flakes there...

Melting almost as soon as it landed

Second by second, the sprinkling got stronger

Faster and faster, it really started coming down

Piling on the ground...

Making a home on the flowers

The day it snowed in Bella Roma

It snowed on Friday, and I know I'm late on posting about it!  But Will is finally back and I've been under the weather, so I've just now gotten around to it.  

I was so excited about the snow, and I stood on the balcony for a really long time snapping shots.  I hope it happens again!

Love,

The title "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" would be too cliche, I think

Hi everyone!  I know I've been a bad blogger lately, but I have good reason.  It's half academic and half me not having anything important to say..... with a dash of me not taking pictures this week.

I figured y'all didn't want play-by-plays of my every day life, so I just held off for a while.  But I have some great, great news.

Tonight and tomorrow morning, it's supposed to SNOW!  The white, cold, frosty stuff that falls on the ground in beautiful, sparkling masses is supposed to grace Rome with its presence tomorrow, and I couldn't be more thrilled.  I don't know how I'll ever sleep... I'll just be running to the window every 4.2 minutes to see if the sky is falling yet.

It's been cold enough here; it might as well snow.  I went to the store today and wore a scarf, a hat, a cozy leather (pleather) jacket, leggings under my jeans, boots, and gloves and I was still really, really cold.

Really.  Do they make nose warmers?  Because nothing covers my nose and it went numb for a little while.  You could have sucker-punched me right in the sniffer and I wouldn't have even noticed.

If it does snow enough tomorrow to be visible on the ground, I'm going to rush outside in the cold just for you and take some pictures.  I'm more excited than the average teen would be about this, but remember, I haven't seen snow since I was five or six.

I know all of you who are buried in snow right now are laughing and shaking your heads, but I'm just to thrilled to notice.  Perhaps you can send me some of your snow?  Thank you kindly.

Letters to the world

I am taking a quick study break to say hello.  All of the books I've read on studying well say that you should stop intermittently to do something enjoyable for a few minutes, so this is what I've chosen.  I like you guys that much.
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Dear neighbors upstairs,

You were doing fabulously for a while, but I think your toddler must have found the pots and pans, which he likes to bang repeatedly on your floor, which is my ceiling.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Sincerely,
Caroline
~

Dear weather,

I love you.  You make my heart happy.  I love that when I go to take the trash out across the street and up a ways, I have to put on a hat and a coat and a scarf.  I've never been so happy about weather in my life.

With much love,
Caroline
~

Dear Dell,

Stop making computers.

No really, I mean it,
Caroline
~

Dear Geometry,

Though at times you confuse me, you still often amuse me, and I loveth you better than algebra of old.  I like to draw squares, and triangles, and lines, it's better than algebra, by twofold.
Stay beautiful,

Very Stylish Girls- My Secret Weapon

  

To steal this button for your own blog, use this code:


<a href="http://pastaandwaffles.blogspot.com/search/label/very%20stylish%20girls"><img src="http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/pastaandwaffles/verystylishgirlpicniked-1.jpg" /></a>


And if any of you can help me out with my tech problems... I used to be able to make the buttons with the grab box below, but all of a sudden it stopped working.  If you have any ways to help me just email me at pastaandwaffles@gmail.com


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There's no end to the amount of style related things I could talk about.  Hair, makeup, shoes, etc.  But today, I'm going to give you a tip.


It's an amazing product, and one you've most likely heard of.  It works magic, and can be used for so many different purposes.  What is this product?

Source

That's right, Vaseline.  I absolutely can't live without the stuff.  I'm going to list some of it's thousands of uses!

1.  I use it as an eye makeup remover.  I once heard of a girl who went to a makeup factory and saw the bins where they kept the eye makeup remover.  She said that every few months they had to change them out because of corrosion!  Ever since, I can't make myself use eye makeup remover.  I just put a dot on my eye and lightly, with my ring finger, blend it around my eyes and my lid to remove the makeup.

2.  Rub it on your feet every night, put some socks on, and voila!  Soft feet!

3.  If you have dry spots on your skin, put a dab of Vaseline on it.  The spot will be moisturized in no time.

4.  I rarely buy clear lip gloss, because Vaseline is perfect for that.  It's very shiny and stays on fairly well, and it's intensely moisturizing.

5.  If you coat your eyelashes with it every night, they will grow.  I've been doing it for quite some time now, and they're noticeably fuller and longer.

6.  Soften your cuticles.  Rub a bit of this around your fingernails and your cuticles and nail beds will thank you.

7.  Put on the edge of a q-tip to precisely wipe away bits of extraneous eye-shadow fall-out.

8.  Clear up eye-liner mistakes with a bit of this on a q-tip.

9.  I've used a very thin coat of this as a base for a fake bruise I did on my arm once.  I let it absorb a bit, and it held the makeup on my arm very well.  If it's just wet Vaseline, it will smudge it all.

10.  Lip scrubs.  Mix with sugar, salt, and honey and scrub your lips.  They'll be soft and smooth in seconds. Just don't eat it.  Please.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.  I always have a tub of this, and it lasts for quite a while.

What's your beauty secret weapon?

This is real, this is me, I'm.... really hoping I didn't scare you away

Ok, everyone.  In case that last post caused you to think that I'm possibly not a very strange, scatterbrained nut, then let me tell you.

Let me TELL YOU I SURE AM.

Here is a list of very strange things about me.  I admit them freely.  Don't judge me.

• Today, I was boiling eggs.  I forgot about the eggs.  Enter the kitchen who-knows-how-long later, look at pot.  Wrinkle brow.  Tilt head.  "Why is there no water in the...."  Run to turn off the stove.  I cooked the eggs so long that all the water evaporated.  I don't know how they'll taste, but we all know I'm eating them anyway.  I'm on a boiled eggs kick right now.  
• Today, I spent twenty minutes or so on Picnik seeing what I would look like with other hair colors by using the highlight action under touch-ups.  I'd make a pretty good red-head.  Blonde?  Notsomuch.  Pink?  Forget about it.
• Earlier this week, I gave directions to a neighbor who needed to know how to get to a certain jewelry store that I had just been near the previous day.  Let's just say these directions involved sentences such as "um, ok, cross the street and turn left at the statue of that one guy with the cane" and "turn down the street by the booths.  You know, the touristy ones."  
• I was combing my hair this morning and I screamed.  Why?  Well let me give you the back story.  This summer, somehow, my hair basically turned black.  It was so, so, so dark, very much like my brother's.  Mom let me buy a subtle highlight kit so now my hair has a little dimension and lightness, which I need because I looked a little goth because my skin is so pale.  WELL.  I forgot that I highlighted it, so when I was combing, I noticed I have highlight roots, which looks weird.  The top part of my head is dark and it fades into these subtle highlights.  And the highlights that I buy I can only purchase in Naples at the military base.  Which is two hours away.
• This morning, I forgot to eat breakfast until noon.  Threw off my whole eating schedule.  You see, the forgetfulness is a pattern with me.  It's a harsh reality, folks.
• For two nights in a row I've had a dream that I have the same camera as my brother.  It's awesome.  But it's really boring if you think about it because all I do is take pictures of pink pansies.  PINK. PANSIES.  
• I have a lot of nightmares.  The pink pansies are definitely a step up from Nazi-Burglar-Terrorists.
• I'm not a very organized person, but for some reason when it comes to the kitchen while I'm in the middle of baking, I have to clean as I go.  It's very odd.
• I know three different versions of "Baby, It's Cold Outside," (four including the one that's my own style) and, yes, I have attempted singing both the male and female parts by myself.  
• My parents have just arrived back in Italy, and there were two nights I spent on my own in between the time Lisa left and today.  Don't worry, it's perfectly safe and we have neighbors who know me and who check on me, etc.  But I would like to admit, here, that yesterday I was feeling really quite sick and after about twenty minutes of groaning on the couch while watching Elf, I realized I was totally talking to myself.

And that's not even the half of it.

Welcome to my head.  There are emergency exits to your right and left.  We advise that you please make use of them.