When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

Matt and I have decided to incorporate some traditional Italian music into our special day. Please go here and listen to some samples!



This will go so well with our big spaghetti and meatballs reception! With the bottles of chianti wrapped in raffia and the red and white checkered tablecloths.

(Oh. dear. lord. Thanks Anna.)

Pompeii

To remind you occasionally that we ARE actually in Rome, here are some pictures from our latest excursion, to Pompeii!


This is one of the gates of the city. Outside is the necropolis, which has quite a number of large chamber tombs and such that look like mini-temples.


This is the creepy thing everyone has to see, from the "Garden of the Fleeing." That is, as excavations were taking place, the head archeologist noticed strange-shaped holes in the ash/dirt/deposits of time/pumice stone, and on a hunch had them filled with plaster and dug around them. Sure enough, they represented places where the bodies of unlucky Pompeians had been buried and then burned away by the heat of the ash, but not before the ash had cooled around them to leave an impression.


Many buildings are quite well preserved. Pompeii was covered with ash and rock, not lava, but most of the buildings are still recognizable, with many frescos. We saw a bakery, a brothel, several houses, food shops, theaters, and temples.


This is the forum. No, those mountains are not Vesuvius - it's in the other direction. Too cloudy to see.


And these were all in a huge makeshift warehouse - obviously they haven't figured out what to do with them. Pompeians were drinkers, obviously. (See the little guy kneeling? Creepy.)

Another reason to become a lawyer

Finally, some press time for medievalists!

I love Tolkien, I really do. But when Kalamazoo is in the same article as Dragon*Con...

(Thanks for the link Dad)

Two, count them TWO totally hot bridesmaids!

I must pass on the exquisitely worded sentence from The Manolo, whose witty banter never ceases to make me laugh...

As we all know, historically, the typical dress of the bridesmaid employed such undermining tactics as the over abundance of rump-enlargening ruffles, and the strategically misplaced, bust-minimizing wickety-wack, to make the attendants look faintly (if not explicity) ridiculous.

I thought it appropriate to share with the happy news that BOTH of my wonderful friends are actually able to come, and that we chose (yes, we all chose together) the very beautiful (and very on sale) Sophia from J Crew, which last season was offered in pink quartz:


Which I've asked them to pair with gold sandals.

In fact, I believe this dress is so lovely that I got it for myself in the long version (for that uhhhh.... other ceremony thing which is not the real wedding), which I plan to pair with gold shoes as well:

Cynthia Rowley Trilogy from Zappos

Weddings are fun when they come with shoes!

I love the alphabet

Look! when I'm alphabetized I come first! (In the links, that is.)

p.s. bitches

Oh PS - no, I'm fine, really - crazy ladies who come by your outdoor table at a restaurant asking for money and end up tipping over your bottle of wine, breaking your glass and brandishing it at you with raised fists? Totally normal. Happens all the time, judging by the total nonchalance of the waiter and all the passers by (who, incidentally, were busy comforting the crazy lady). Well loro sono stranieri indeed. All we got was a "mi dispiace." Not even a new glass, either. Bitches.

pretty!!

If I ever have any doubts about why I need to give up on academia, I just go to the Anthropologie website... seriously, imagine giving my conference paper in those! no one would even be listening to me - we'd all be looking at my beautiful shoes!