| The Leonetti Family - Italia |
| L I N K S |
| Another PERFECT Ski Day! It has been SO foggy here in Milan - that my weekend ski days are therapy. And today I had a dose of vitamin D and I got girl time too ~ yahoo!!! Was so happy to spend a day with the lovely Trillium. Yesterday Joe had man ski time with Michael ~ T's boy. Two great ski days ~ Gressoney, Italia Tomorrow off to Barcelona - looking forward to seeing my colleagues. 3 febbraio 2013 below right ~ busted bota bag. Damn. |













| Joe had a perfect ski day with Lin. I had planned on going, but Zaven, with the flu, fainted last night and hit his head - so of course we coudn't risk him being home alone and passing out. I am happy Joe had a great day and I got to be domestic...smoothies and chicken soup. Lin looks like a sinister Alpen hitman! Week after next Avalon flies down and we have ski vacay! We all need to be well. Madesimo, Italia 10 febbraio 2013 |










| Oh what a gorgeous send off. I had a busy work week in Barcelona - but made the most of it as who knows the next time I will be there with my new job. Barcelona, Spain 4-8 febbraio 2013 |
| My last training session... |
| A few of my lovely colleagues who came and had cava with me. So thankful for these wonderful people who I have had the pleasure to work with. . |
| Ms. Madrid who made this beautiful card and had everyone sign it and organized my dinners and cava. She is the BEST! |
| No let's call the taxi and tell them to come later - I won't miss my flight (while drinking more cava). And um look at me - I couldn't manage to get my coat on properly - scarf under belt #toomuchfun Adios Barcelona!!! |











| It was so sunny and gorgeous at the vacation house, we rolled out our beach loungers (Joe's idea) laid in the sun and had a picnic on the hill Perfect 15-18 febbraio Serole, Italia |
| Avalon arrived weary from Denmark. So happy to have us all in the same country! Joe and I are off to ski vacay tomorrow - Sestriere. I have Zaven's sickness now - ugh. 18 febbraio |


| Ski Vacay 2013 Sestriere ~ Sauze D'Oulx Italy Yes where they held the 2006 Torino Winter Games The largest ski area in Italy 400+ kilometers of slopes. Sestriere was built by the Agnelli family in the 1930s and well as my friend Maurizio said..."Una brutta posta." I must concur. And I always forget ski vacay means being around a lot of English people on their ski vacations. Ugh. Great slopes but some of the buildings, I suspect because of the Olympics, were 'thrown up' - or because the Agnelli family were Mussolini supporters and not in the lovely Fascist architecture way...the buildings were FUG. |
| Day 3 ~ the weather changed - look at the pea soup behind me. Still a good day of skiing |
| Joe with his great winter tan. |
| Day 2 ~ Beautiful! We skied over toward France |
| The signs point to...home. Tomorrow Interlaken Switzerland for night time sledding. 21 febbraio 2013 |
| Me 'discussing' with the senora that I had asked for Nebbiolo...and saw her pour the pickle juice out of the box and could I please have something else...Shame on you Sestriere Piemontese - this is the wine capital of the world! |
| Interlaken ~ Jungfrau ~ Eiger ~ Grindelwald Gorgeous Switzerland!!! Love it. We decided that for ski vacay 2014, we will venture out of Italy to visit this area. We have been here before, back in 2002, but in our early days in Europe the beauty of this region was lost on us. Plus I LOVE the movie & story of Nordwand We came for the night sledding - Beatenberg - Niederhorn - with the Hooley Family and it was wonderful! I am ready to just be 'still' for a bit - I have had a very busy last few months. Nothing planned until MUN Dublin for Zaven in March and Germany in April for me..but I know how that goes :) So happy that Av was with us for this fun adventure, he will be here until next weekend and then head back for his final semester of college - yay! 22-23 February 2013 |
| The bus ride from Interlaken to Beatenberg station was weird because the driver had to chain up due to so much crazy snow - so we were a bit delayed. Then the gondola doors wouldn't open to let people off so we couldn't get on...ie we were delayed getting up there and our sledding window got smaller. |
| The sledding lasted over 30 minutes - it was snowy and dark and we didn't know what the hell we were doing. (Next year we will be pros) It was still fun even though I was thinking, 'You could easily die, crashing, going off piste, colliding....' It was dangerous and out of control - we did crash, but I loved it and can't wait to do it again! Right: Post sledding - no pictures during sledding because it was dark and crazy. Below: Swiss Fondue - YUM + crisp white Swiss wine = perfect post sledding meal |
| After the sledding, fondue and before the last gondola down the mountain - we went to another hut - mid gondola ride - for gluhwine in a cow stall - a great end to a totally memorable evening! PS riding in gondola's in the dark is FREAKY but very exciting. |