extra in the ordinary

this post is dedicated to all the normal things i do during my times here that i still find exciting.

vanna and i every so often take the dogs, and sometimes even the cat!, on walks around the forest nearby. vanna gives walking tours to tourists sometimes so it's nice getting a personal tour on a frequent basis. she shows me all types of beautiful wild flowers and spices (pictured above). during the winter she picks the wild mushrooms to cook with! i also love the wild orchids here that i know my mom would really love as well. i also like having alone time with vanna to talk about all sorts of things like her sons, her life, her thoughts, etc.

we go to the grocery store like 3 times a week to stock up on food for us, the guests, and parties. i have yet to get sick of grocery shopping, surprisingly. this is a picture of the cool carts they have here where you have to insert a coin in order to use and put the cart back to get your money back. i also appreciate how most people bring their own bags to sack their groceries!

our neighbor just had a baby. like i mentioned before, we get at least 1 neighbor visitor per day. fun :).

we went to the vet to take care of johnny's poor eye. i saw the most beautiful dog with the longest hair there!

this is the wine cellar or cantina where you refill wine in large quantities. there's a cool machine to wash your jug before they put new wine inside. the wine uses the same type of pump found at gasoline stations. weird.

whenever we go to florence, we always stop by the fruit and vegetable market. they have really good things for a good price. i enjoy the colorfulness of all the fruits and vegetables.

during my free time i get to READ. during school it's hard for me to find time for reading so being able to read until my heart is happy and content is soooo nice for me. i recently finished real sex (good book!) and now i'm reading harry potter 6 and a book about poverty/slum life for STIM. like the bookmark ;)

i got to pop the peas out of the pod for eating purposes. it sounds simple and dumb, BUT I HAD SO MUCH FUN DOING THIS that i even took a picture!