Why We Love Aldi

Today's grocery list:

Gallon of milk

Bag of lemons

Butter

3 bags of cranberries

Celery

12 Eggs

Baby Carrots

A bag of apples

Another bag of apples

4 grapefruits

A bag of sweet potatoes

3 logs of goat cheese

Mouthwash

12 rolls of toilet paper

6 paper towel rolls

Soap

A pair of shoes for my niece for Christmas

TOTAL: $50.84

Publix - I love the variety, thanks. But Aldi is kinder to our bank account.

Aldi, you win.

Greenville and Charleston, SC

This past week we were in South Carolina -- partly for work, partly for play. Our first stop was Lewis and Melissa Young's house in Greenville, of course. Dan lived with them for 4 1/2 years after college. Of course, he was on the road for the majority of that time. But you'd never know. He walks into the house and it's as if he never left. Melissa's had a trunk full of his fishing gear sitting in the guest bedroom for years, which she was more than glad to get rid of finally. And they still make him clean up after himself.

We had a dinner party for some of our Greenville friends. For dinner, pumpkin pasta and asparagus. For dessert, poached pears with a vanilla bean sauce. We had to roll our guests out to their cars. But fortunately, everyone enjoyed it.

I took some photos of trees on their gorgeous property. They've had a little more rainfall than we have, and so I enjoyed the beautiful colors while I could. The one below I've titled, "Don't Be Shy."

We also visited the Citadel, Dan's Alma Mater. The campus was empty for fall break when I took these pictures, but we did drive through the campus the day before when all the students were there. So I saw the freshmen (the "Knobs") walking rigidly in the gutter from one class to another.

My talented husband. We found this hanging on the wall in one of the common rooms -- memorabilia of a talent show Dan won while he was there. He's the one holding the guitar in the second picture down.

It was quite chilly out, but we did stop in at the beach for a few minutes.

And, of course, Kaminskys, one of Dan's favorite little places in Charleston. Their flour-less Chocolate cake is pretty fantastic.

We stopped in on some old friends, as well. Below is Bryan Ray, looking at Dan suspiciously. Bryan was Dan's best man. What an incredible friend. And he has an adorable wife and two little boys. We really enjoyed hanging with them for a few hours.

Oh -- and the reason we went to South Carolina in the first place. Dan played at Fort Jackson and made some great connections with chaplains at the chaplain school. I didn't get many pictures of this either. (Sigh.) It really was an encouraging time of ministry. We stayed with John and Isie Kenyon (ahem, no pictures) and their five beautiful kids. They were a treat for me to get to know.

Home!

We are so glad to be home. And we're enjoying this beautiful Franklin weather. Thanks for cooling things down before we got home! We were worried when we looked at weather.com and saw that Franklin was still in the 80s. We were just trudging through snow a couple of days ago!

Okay, here are some remaining pictures of our trip.

Dan got this note from a 6 year old. Note that she didn't include me in the picture.

We frosted about 1 ton of cookies at Dan and Denise's house. I'm holding up my favorite butterfly and Dan's holding up his favorite moose. True works of art.

Oh yes, we did. We went on the Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg, Austria. It was fantastic. Especially the singing! Dan told me that he wasn't embarrassed by me, but I have my doubts.

If you've seen Sound of Music, you'll recognize this as the Captain's Palace. Actually, they only used the outside of this palace. The views of the inside are a completely different house in a different location. (We couldn't go in because it's being used as a girls' music school now.)

A view of the mountain from the captain's palace. "The hills are alive..."

The abbey! "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"

"The hills fill my heart with the sound of music..."

Where Captain and Maria got married (in the movie). The wedding scene was actually filmed in 3 different locations. This was one of them.

Another good cup of coffee we got in the Munich train station.

Dan's camera broke in Salzburg, so we took this with someone else's camera, and somehow the snow turned out to be purple. Don't worry - the snow in Europe is white, too.

Yet another fantastic cappuccino - at Dan's favorite coffee shop in Garmisch: Aran.

Blowing kisses...

My mom took pictures of my niece Harper blowing me kisses. She's only 16 months old, but I like to think that she misses her Aunt Jules.

Dan's attempts at making me feel tall...

In Vicenza underneath a very short awning

In Sicily next to a Cinquecento

Back to Germany: Ansbach (and Rothenburg)

We miss Italy, but it is good to be back in Germany (even though the cold and rainy season has hit hard and we're in a bit of shock!).

We had a good weekend in Ansbach. On Sunday, Dan played at a couple of chapel services, at an Awanas event, and a fundraising event for the youth.

Just a 45 minute train ride from Ansbach is Rothenburg, a beautiful ancient walled town. You can't visit Rothenburg without going to the Kathe Wohlfahrt shop. Ahhh, I'm so glad to be getting some of my Christmas shopping done here!

Last stop in Italy: Vicenza

Dan played at a chapel service in Vicenza last week. We took a day trip to Verona, where Romeo and Juliet was based. We stopped by Soave, a medieval walled city known for it's Amarone wine (4 grapes, partially dried and then squeezed).

Verona had just held a festival, and these grapes were part of the decor. Pretty cool!

In Verona

Lee and Jessica Clark with their two boys, Thomas and Sam. Dan knows them from Charleston. We liked them so much that we stayed with them a few extra days.

Jessica and me in front of the Coffele winery.

Juliet's balcony!

Pistachio gelato, of course.

Under the Tuscan Sun

We spent a couple of days in Tuscany between our time in Sigonella and Vicenza.

After seeing a Tuscan sunset, I understand the meaning of the title, Under the Tuscan Sun. I wasn't crazy about the movie (and never read the book), but...

I'm in love with Tuscany.

Here's why.

Gorgeous sunset that turned everything orange

Downtown Florence

More downtown

Introducing Jessica, the girl who just might be able to compete with me in a game of Dan Meyers trivia. Dan and Jessica have been good friends for years (probably because they have the same personality). She's lived in Italy for 9 years working with military youth. She is fantastic and we had a blast spending a few days with her.

Quite possibly the best coffee in the world - melt in your mouth deliciousness. And a lot less expensive than Starbucks.

Dan and I found our inner child on a playground.