La vita e bella.

As you may remember, I have committed to spending the Fall Quarter of my Junior year in Italy. I leave in August for a pre-orientation traveling seminar all throughout Greece and then will spend September through most of December living in Florence, Italy.

I've been spoiled by the fact that I chose to go to a university so close to home and Ethan and I happened just by chance to attend the same school. I've never been away from my life as I know it for too long. I guess you could say I'm a bit scared. The good news? My parents are coming to visit in October!

I realized recently I never shared Ethan's amazing birthday present for me on here. When we celebrated my birthday together, he came over looking like a dream with a sweet, sappy card in hand. In an adorable little speech, he told me the great news: he, too, is coming to visit me in Florence in November! I was so surprised and so touched that I threw my arms around him and cried right then and there. :]

For our anniversary, I surprised Ethan be arranging his hotel accommodations. He will be staying at a quaint little place within walking distance of the university I will be attending in Florence.

The outside of a little something I created for Ethan to tell him about my gift to him. Excuse the disproportional luggage tag; I removed his last name from this image. Anyway, one pulls on the handle to reveal a note inside that was far too gushy to post on the internet. ;]

I can't wait to see the people I live in a place that I'll hopefully come to love as well! So, life is beautiful. I'm excited to share my experiences preparing for and going to Italy with you in the coming months!

Mother dear.

This is my adorable momma at age three.

My brother Tucker is an artist of sorts. He is really into installations and street art, but for Mother's Day this year, he pulled out all the stops to recreate my mom's baby picture...

My brother posing with the work. Notice all of the black paint under his fingernails?

He created a stencil out of her photo and then used a combination of black and white paints to recreate its textures.

Pretty cool, huh? ;]

Our anniversary, observed.

I apologize for the lack of activity around here, but life has been flying by. Happenings over the past month have included, but are not limited to, performing in a fantastic production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," preparing for this month's University production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie," finalizing my stay in Italy this Fall, and, not to mention, trying to stay afloat in a flood of schoolwork, as the school year is ending in a few weeks. Crazy!

Thank you all for your sweet well wishes on my post about my anniversary with Ethan! Because our anniversary fell on a Wednesday (I have rehearsals from about 5:30 to 10:30), we celebrated on Saturday. We enjoyed a fabulously massive dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy and made a quick stop at Kara's Cupcakes afterward. Yes, I felt it was necessary.

Love.

I don't know what's going on here.

I only posted this because it is such a novelty: a photo of me that I didn't take myself. In fact, Ethan took it, which is perhaps a miracle.

The most delicious of stuffed mushrooms.

The biggest hunk of lasagna I've ever seen. Mine.

The heaviest bowl of spaghetti in existence. Ethan's.

The tastiest vanilla ice cream.

By far, the best ice lemon cookies. EVER!

I hope you enjoyed that exercise in hyperbole. We had a fun night just spending time together, which is an opportunity hard to come by these days. Ethan is the best. And that's not hyperbole. ;] Sappiness over.

I wish I had more time to blog, but such is life. I've been answering some pretty deep questions over on my Formspring, if you're interested. I promise I'll have more exciting things for you to read within the next couple of weeks. :]

Happy two years to us.

From my Formspring.