Nia is loving the snow!

Thought I would send some photos of our dog. She is loving the snow and would stay out there all day if I would let her! We think that she was actually meant to live in Alaska, because she loves it! We didn't realize that she was the Queen in this house! One night she got up on the couch and made it her little bed. She never usually gets up on the furniture!

So, in case you didn't know yet....

Hello everyone! We figure that now it is time to get this blog going with updates of the real reason that we have continued to post on blogspot. If you haven't guessed or haven't heard from anyone, Mark and I are expecting! I am almost 16 weeks along and due on 8/10/08, but we are hoping for 8/8/08, that would be pretty cool! Now that I am out of the first trimester and have not been sick at all, I am hopeful that the morning sickness bug has passed me by! Thank goodness. I was very sleepy in the beginning, but it has gotten much better now. Although Mark thinks that I am faking this sleepy business and he continues to put me to work! We are very excited for this new experience and feel very blessed. Thank you to all of you who have passed on pregnancy/baby wisdom, books and everything else. This will be a big year for us and we look forward to every step along the way. Our families are very excited and cannot wait for the new little one. Big year for us!! The LaGuardia's are definitely feeling blessed this year...my brother, Joe and his wife Amy are expecting as well, and Amy is due on 4/10/08. They are having a little boy, yet to be named. Also my sister, Jen got engaged a few weeks ago to her wonderful boyfriend, Brian. They will be getting married this October 18th, wanted to give us pregos a chance to get on a schedule and squeeze into a bridesmaid dress, that's all you need for motivation! So we are looking forward to 2008, needless to say it should be a very busy year! Now the deadline on some of our home improvement projects have been moved up and must be done a little quicker. Mark is fully aware that his "honey-do" list has gotten a little bit longer, but he looks forward to getting it all done and ready for junior. I hope to be a little bit better with the posts on here to keep you all in the loop! Enjoy following along on our journey, we look forward to your thoughts, advice and comments!

Bathroom has been finished!

Well, for those of you that have checked our blog, I am sorry to disappoint! As you can tell, I have not updated since the bathroom has been finished. Mark and I are getting down to the end of our construction projects upstairs...finally. Carpet is down, and casing/baseboards are up and looking great as well as the fact that there are now doors on our upstairs rooms, they were off getting painted and now have returned home! Matt and Angela Grilliot visited us last Friday, and enjoyed the "no door" experience upstairs. The one bonus with "no doors" is that Nia is free to greet you in the middle of the night. After that small interruption, I woke up at 2:45am to Mark building a barracade in front of our door to keep "the animal" contained in our room! But anyways, we are very excited about our master bedroom that is now completed for the most part. But are all the projects ever really done?!?!?! Mark has been working his little butt off in the evenings and is doing a great job, despite minor setbacks, he is really working on his DIY skills and patience. Thanks Mark for all your hard work! You are the best!

Almost finished!!

They have been here almost everyday, which has been crazy! The electrician was here yesterday and the plumber will be here all day today, so hopefully we will be in there soon! Nia is really going to miss playing with the workers when they go out to their vehicles. She trys her best to get in their way and make them laugh!

Check out the pics!

Master bathroom remodel

The guys have been working for a week and a half and have made some serious progress. All of the base work is done, so I think the rest is going to go pretty quickly (and smoothly hopefully). The tile started putting tile in on thursday and it is looking great. Will post more pictures next week!

Francis Film Fest

The Francis Film Fest was a huge success! There were about 35 people that showed up for our party including kids and dogs. Thank you to all who brought food or equipment for our event! We look forward to having the FFF next year and hope more people will be able to show their faces and throw their cornhole bags. A special thanks goes out to Jeff Reed for accepting the position as lead technician and got the movie up and going. Where would we be without you...well, sitting and staring at a white sheet is where we would be. Not quite as much fun! I only have a few pictures from the event, and I am sorry that it was never posted. I must have forgotten to post! Yikes, I am somewhat new at this blog thing.

FFF will be in June 2008 for those of you early planners! Hope to see you soon!

Positano

We are taking off today, but I wanted to backlog some of the days that I missed recently. I hope everyone has enjoyed following us on our journey, thanks for your comments. We will be back in the states Friday evening around 10pm. See you all soon! We look forward to our everyday simplicities, ie: bigger showers, regular toilets, understanding menus and people that speak english. See you soon!


Positano-
On Wednesday, we made it over to Positano. A town that is down the Amalfi coast from Sorrento/Sant Agnello. We decided to take the bus ride there and then once everyone was scared to their core from the tight corners and heights, we decided to take the boat back. Good choice. You cannot believe the small bus that we were on and for 30 mins, all you heard was the driver honking (similar to a clown horn) before he went around every corner. The turns are so tight they need to warn each other. Very exciting, since we look out the window and realize that we are a few 100 feet up the steep rocky cliffs...just a little scary. Anyways...we get off at the stop for Positano and the climb begins. At least this time, we are climbing down. We find a narrow path of stairs and begin our descent. After about 20 mins, we are half way! Just keep on moving down , more stairs, and little restaurants and hotels-B&B's that are tucked away in these corners. I am glad that we are not staying at one of these places...we would never find it!! Although the sights would be beautiful!
We make it down to the shops and the lemons the size of your head...seriously! And we find ourselves on the coast, a somewhat sandy beach and tourists. Not as many as Capri, so that is good. Positano is absolutely wonderful. I think I could live here. The homes, hotels and restaurants are built right into the cliffs...so thankful I wasn't on that construction crew! But it is such an amazing sight!! The most beautiful view is from the boat. Everyone should visit Positano for an afternoon, it is truly breathtaking. What a way of life they live there, climbing stairs and uphill walks and swimming in the ocean. The rest of the afternoon is spent at our wonderful hotel pool. We have vino and birras by the pool and relax while we read books. We need a day of relaxing.

Tune in later to read about our trip to Pompeii
ciao, marie