Next stop...the greatest place on earth!

Nope...its not Disneyland... it's one of my new favorite places on the planet. It's a little place that I like to call Sicily!

This was the first port on our cruise . We took a bus up to a town called Taormina and it was a little bit of heaven on earth! (And you will notice the same lovely black and red attire that I am wearing! I love how it looks like I only had a few shirts! haha! Oh wait! I did! :) )

There is so much to love about Sicily!

I loved walking down the cute little streets and seeing the balconies with beautiful flowers...

I loved eating something called Granite (Pronounced Gran-ee-tay...I think!) It was like a smoothie but oh so much better!!!

And eating a pizza sand which that is to die for! (I wish I was eating one right now!)

I loved just looking out at the AMAZING scenery! I could have stayed there for months! Blue sky--blue water--white buildings. Do you see why I love this place? (Sorry there are so many pictures...but they are all just so beautiful its hard to choose just a few!)

Mt Etna is also in Sicily and adds a nice backdrop to the ocean! I was thankful that it decided to not erupt while we were there! :)

I loved this sign that I saw. It made me laugh so I had to take a picture!

(If you make it bigger you can see what it says! It still brings a smile to my face. Since we didnt go up there, I will never know! )

I loved that we could take a cable car down to the beach. I just tried to focus on the Ocean and not the fact that we were hanging from a tiny wire! See- child life works on myself as well!

Once we made it safely I loved the feeling of the sand between or toes and splashing in the waves!

We did find this sign and both quickly decided to show our disgust! (Remember folks Alitalia = bad airlines! They messed with the wrong girls! :) )

On our way back I took this picture out the bus window... you can see Italy across the water! They are even contemplating making a bridge to connect the two! We shall see!

Oh Sicilia I loved ya! I will return someday and spend more than 4 hours! :)

But wait the fun does not end there! on to the next stop!

Jill vs the computer

Okay- it has happened. I am ready to throw this computer out the window and stomp on it a few times! I am sure that all of you have been on the edge of your seat just waiting on more wonderful adventures and wondering why I haven't posted since Wednesday.I mean I've almost been back 2 weeks and have only written 2 blogs! Well- Instead of asking me-- how about you ask this big ole black box in front of me? It has decided that it truly has had a mind of its own! And it is going to prove that to me if its the last thing it does! (And it may just be the last thing it does before I throw it away!)

Before I started posting I spent a TON of hours getting my pictures along with 2 CDs from my friends down here that went with me, organized in order. I Finally got them organized and picked the best ones, erased the not so good ones (even though a blooper blog may have been funny) and put them in one folder---and was all set to just copy and paste to my blog. Well, on Thursday I received the 4th and final set of pictures from my friend in Utah. Somehow after I had finished downloading her pictures- I erased all of my pictures from the other 2 CDs! How?! I have no idea. My computer got tired of working long hours I guess. Maybe he wanted overtime?! How was I to know?

So, I had to re-download all of theirs...and put them back in order and re-erase the bad ones and re-pick the ones I wanted. It was long and tedious, but I did it. However, it was extra tricky because they were all completely out of order this time. Some of Sicily's pictures were in Crete's and then all of a sudden there was one from Ephesus etc...they were a mess- so that took extra time to put them in order. THEN to top it all off, all of a sudden the original pictures re-appeared in perfect order...except in 3 different areas (for the 2 separate CDs and then my own pictres that I had originally downloaded). Is this making sense? Because it isnt to me! So I didn't need to re-download and re-put in order etc... it was basically done for me! How? NO idea.

All I know is that I did a lot of extra work today during my lunch break that was not needed. So tonight I decided to abandon Picasa and go straight to my pictures and compile the original 2 CDs + my pics into one folder again and put them all in chronological order. After about 1 1/2 hrs I finished it and went to play games with friends. After returning- I opened "my pictures" and BOOM it was all back in 3 separate places again!!! Why do I even try to organize them?! None of this would have happened if they hadnt got deleted in the first place! Those first 2 blogs were slick without too many problems!!!

So... long story short. I THINK I have figured out what is going wrong and I should have this problem fixed in the next 2 days and then the blogs will start flying. I guess the good thing is that I have looked at these pictures SO much that I basically know which ones I want to use and what to say!

Wish me luck because if I do it all again and the computer randomly mixes them up again...I may have to do something drastic like...buy a MAC!!!

Some more of Rome

After a little TLC, I do believe that my computer is doing much better today! So lets try this again!

Next stop on our tour was Palentine hill- aka where Rome started.

I was fully intrigued with all of the many things that I was learning that I did not know about Rome and then I found this...

I decided that it was a prayer stone... and therefore began summoning the heavens for help to find our bags!

One of the things that I was really excited to see was Circus Maximus- where the Chariot races were held. (Are you all singing the Chariots of fire song? Its okay. I am too...we can sing it together.)

However when we walked over to the look out here it was we saw ...

A big field. That's it. Still to this day I can not figure out how something that held MORE than the Colosseum had absolutely no ruins. No remnant of the millions that died there. Mind boggling really. (Almost as mind boggling as how an airline can have absolutely no idea where your luggage went...but I digress). It was pretty though, and we did see a wedding party walk across it- so that was cool/different.

However, what was not expected was that there is something called Circus Minimus! Did you know that?! I sure did not. As it sounds- Circus Minimus was a smaller version of the Chariot races. The King/ruler/emperor --whoever he was...was so afraid of being assassinated at Circus Maximus that he built it inside his palace and only invited very privileged people. It was smaller and therefore even more deadly and bloody than the bigger one. And the best part- there ARE ruins of this one! Here it is...

Pretty darn cool. I would have loved to have seen the MAXIMUS! but I was thankful that this minimus was still partly there! (And here's an odd twist to the story. The King was so paranoid his entire life of being killed and took every precaution to not be...and in the end he was assassinated by someone in his own house! I guess you can never be too careful so just live your life and for heavens sake go see the Chariot races!)

Next, we were just wandering around, looking at more ruins and imagining how big the bedrooms were, guest rooms and great hall...and then all of a sudden there was a pinkie toe right in front of my face. Not only was it right in front of my face, but it was as big as it!

So lets just think for a second...if the pinkie was that big- the statue must have been MASSIVE! I love how big everything was back in the day!

We got a little lost as we tried to find the Forum. This was one of the main streets in ancient Rome. There were a lot of temples, palaces, and I believe Parliament etc... Therefore we kind of gave up and decided to find the "toilets"When low and behold we found the forum as well... and what a site it was!

I love that you can see the Colosseum. Everything was so close.

So many ruins that made you really use your imagination about what it looked like when the Kings were there. My friend bought a book that showed the before and after. I think that if I had lived in ancient Rome, I would have spent a lot of time in the forum!

There was some couple from France that the boyfriend was standing up on the railing for a picture. I could not watch. I was sure that he was going to be on the 6 o'clock news because of falling to his death. To my relief and I think everyone else up there.... he did not fall!

At this time it was around 7 and so we headed back to our place to "rest" and then head out and go to dinner. Around 10 we realized that we had all fallen asleep! That was it! We were out for the night! Jet lag along with baggage worry quickly added up!

Here's a funny story. My alarm clock was in my luggage so we had to use my friends cell phone as an alarm. All night long I kept looking at it to make sure that we hadn't missed the alarm. Well, my morning brain sometimes isn't the smartest, but yet I choose to use it when I shouldn't. So I looked at it and thought it said 7:30. I jumped up and got in the shower. I came back into the room and told the girls that they needed to get up and that the alarm didn't go off. They were so confused and then looked at their watches. It was 3:30 am. I still had 4 hrs to sleep! Oops! I never did that again! :)

Day 2 (Notice the black capris. They will be in a lot of the following pictures! :) I was thankful that I had a change of underwear and clothes in my carry on!)

We woke up early and headed to Vatican City for a 4 hour tour (Another singing opportunity. Did you sing the Gilligan's island song "3 hour tour?" I hope so- cause I sure did!)


Here is Tiffany and I waiting inside for our tour to start. You can see our stylin headphone set.


One thing that was cool was they were very serious about being modest. And these signs were very apparent that there would be no swimming will be allowed inside! :) If your skirt or shorts were too short, they gave you things to wrap around your legs. Also, your shoulders needed to be covered as well. I really loved the respect that that showed. However, when you're going into a building full of naked statues, it really seems contradictory! :)

So many painted ceilings. I found myself wondering why they weren't as popular as the Sistine Chapel? Did those painters not have to lay on their backs for a long time as well?! Who knows!

I had to take a picture of this! This was an honest true bath tub that was used by the Queens! What?! And to top it off- they actually used Milk! How did they not drown? This is not a bathtub... its a hot tub! I gotta get me one of these!

This was my favorite statue because she was so modest! SHE read the sign outside! :)

Inside St. Peter's

Here I am outside of St. Peters Basillica.




Vatican City is its own country. So at this moment I was standing in 2 countries at the same time!!! Rome and the Vatican City! I know- you all want to touch me--- Later.

Just eating some Italian Pizza outside the Pantheon. Oh happy day! I wish I was back there right now!

We spent a lot of time in this square. Admiring the Pantheon as well as making a lot of phone calls to the airline and reminding them that we were going on a cruise the next day. It was maybe not my favorite moment of the trip, but there was a really cute Italian waiter who tried to help me so much and I guess it made it worth it! There were so many people that helped us in Italy!

Our bags were still unaccounted for on Sunday morning which left us running through the streets of Rome with 1 hr to buy clothes. It was a fun filled high stressed morning as we barely made it to the train station, the train left late and we were some of the last few on the cruise ship. Once we found our room, I collapsed in exhaustion as the Cruise ship took over the search for our luggage. I will forever be grateful! :)

to be continued...

And the adventure begins!

I always knew that "adventures" follow me where ever I go...so I really shouldn't have expected anything more when I decided to have a Mediterranean vacation!

So here it goes...

Those who know me know that I have a fear when I fly.... I worry about my luggage. Whenever I fly, I pray really hard the night before that my bags will follow me on each plane that I get on. We always have a happy reunion and I feel a sense of relief when I see it pop out of the baggage return.

However, for some reason, this time I was more afraid of crashing and blowing up over the ocean. That seemed more important than my bags. So my prayers were more for the safety of the plane, pilot. etc... I don't believe that I even mentioned my bags in my prayers. That was something I will never do again! :) (Even though I am thankful that we didn't blow up!)

(This is a picture in Chicago before we got into the plane headed for Rome. I doubt I would have been smiling had I known what was to come! I think I would have ran out there and made sure my bag was on the flight before we took off! :) )

When we flew into Rome (and the overhead compartments were popping open as we were starting the final decent. That was fun. I was waiting for any moment that someone's carry-on would be banging into my head.) we found my friend who flew in from Utah by herself (which was a miracle in itself) and all headed toward baggage claim. One word will describe what we saw... Chaos.

Never had I ever seen anything like what was before my eyes. I am surprised anyone received the right bags. My Utah friend got her bag almost instantly. After searching for what seemed like an eternity we finally found the correct baggage carousal. We were so happy to be there and were quite enjoying ourselves (and with our sleep deprived- jet lagged- sense of humor... we thought we were hilarious) That was until the movement stopped on the carousal and our bags never "popped" out. My first thought was "umm...wait. There are 3 things missing." All 3 of us and all our cute new things that we so carefully packed for this vacation were lost somewhere in the world. My heart sunk and I realized that our Mediterranean adventure was going to be just that.

I won't bore you with details because we really tried to focus on the positive, but I have dedicated myself to send out a message to the world and that is to never ever fly Alitalia. Their customer service really should be re-named "oh we lost your bags? Well sign this paper that is in Italian and I will get annoyed when you ask what it says because I have to help the next person in line and then I am going to lunch- oh by the way we have no idea where your bags are. They are probably here but we're really too lazy to go figure it out. Oh and you're going on a Cruise? well we'll just catch up with you at your ports". It was fun. I was sure I would never see my bag again. Okay- soap box done. On with the show!

Once we left the airport we just tried to put it out of our minds (even though it was a weight on our shoulders the whole time ) and enjoy the fact that we were in Rome and were seeing some of the most amazing sites in ancient history!

So what do you do when you are trying not to be swallowed up in self pity??

Go to a place where millions of people fought each other and animals to the death! (That kind of puts losing your bags into perspective!)

We hoped we were in the right bus to the Colosseum and just as we began doubting it-WHAM! There it was. Its sure is something that you don't miss!

It was amazing and surreal. I couldn't believe where I was standing. We would look up to where the people would have been sitting and tried to imagine what it would have been like. Thankfully- there were no Gladiators charging us and no starved animals running at us. My problems seemed very minimal at that moment.

Here we are being major tourists... these were door where the animals would be let out to go kill the Gladiators. Therefore we decided to act it out. Can't you see it? The animal charging the people running. I know- we are great actors! :)

Here is a fun fact... or more of an interesting one that you all probably knew, but took me going all the way to Rome to find out... The Colosseum used to be all in marble! Crazy! It is impressive now- I can ONLY imagine how it look in its day! There are only a few spots of marble left there.

PS see those tan flip flops I'm wearing ... yep- those are what I wore for 8 days straight. Up and down every hill and I'll tell you what- my feet were feeling AWESOME! Target $5. Best things I've bought in a long time!

So here we are...even though we felt sweaty and gross in the same clothes that we had been wearing for the past 24 hrs... we were grateful to be alive and grateful to be in Rome... and these perty flowers were a nice reminder of that!

We loved the Colosseum- Those Romans- I tell ya- they knew a thing or 2 about architecture... and this was only our first stop!

So completely off topic...my computer is acting like a 2 yr old and throwing tantrums... therefore, this is all I can do tonight... Stay tuned for more super exciting stories and pics... same bat time. same bat channel! :)

Come one come all!

The other day I noticed this pamphlet all over the hospital. The picture on the cover completely caught my eye, and caught me off guard as well. This picture is for our hospital's "Report to our Community" pamphlet.

Really?! I wonder who okayed this!


Thoughts?






Doesn't that picture make you want to being your child in to our hospital? I think not! To me it says- Run away from here because we are really good at scaring children half to death! :)

A) Now, I understand that kids dont like shots, and putting a picture of a child that is smiling and happy about it might not be too realistic...but maybe choose one that looks a little less terrified. ( And maybe one that has child life to help with distraction etc... you know, kinda promote a service that we offer :) )

B) Maybe use an older kid that understands what a "pretend shot for a photo shoot" is vs getting a real one. Then they might play a long better.

C) Okay, so you cant get a good picture of a kid getting a shot? Then maybe dont make it cover picture when the whole inside is about how we are going green, and what our values are etc... Nothing about vaccinations. Weird.


Each time I walk past it, it makes me shudder and kind laugh. I cant believe that is what we are promoting and reporting to our community.

I may have a solution... last night I was going through my pictures on my camera and completely forgot that I took this picture of my niece. I think that they should swap the two pictures. She'd make a great poster child, plus she cuter!




(While doing my hair one morning in Utah, she decided to join me and do her own hair! So adorable!)

I think I might make some calls and see if we can photo shop her in!

And the Oscar Goes to....

So one day, I was just minding my own business at work when one of our more "spunky" nurses walked into my office. "Jill! I have the BEST idea!" She said to me as she plopped down in the chair next to me. With hesitancy I asked what they great idea was and how it included me. "Scottsdale Healthcare is having a Scottsdale Idol and WE are going to participate. I have it all planned out"

Lovely.

However, this cute little nurse really went to work. She re-wrote the words to "Its a Small World", made cut outs on poster boards to hold up at the appropriate words, and even made up hand actions! I was a little leery at first (Especially since we had to dance with the wagons, wheelchairs and dolls.) However, once we got the crew together and practiced it- I was amazed at how cute it turned out and how funny it was. (Even if I did feel like I was participating in another pre-school program in my parents basement!)

When we went down to perform I was shocked at how many people were there. There were 3 judges (meant to be Simon, Paula and Randy) as I was expecting. However, in addition to those 3 judges was a room full of people! I guess people really wanted to watch the talent at our hospital? who knows. Simon was super mean and cranky and it became my goal to win him over (since I was positioned to perform right in front of him!)

As the music started, people started coming over from all the different rooms in that hallway. There were cameras everywhere. (Is that what Hollywood is like?!)

By the end Simon was rolling with laughter... I even think I saw him wipe a tear from his eye. (I succeeded in my goal!)

We even got a standing ovation!


Here we are! The theme was "Share and Care" So most of us had care bear scrubs. I think we looked cute!


And guess what?! We made the finals!!! Sept 23rd is the big day.

I was excited until I realized that we will be performing in the cafeteria at high noon. I guess everyone in the hospital is going to see how we move!