ég á afmæli dag

We got back from Italy yesterday, after 10 days of marathon eating. Shopping was somewhat restricted, owing to my ever changing size, but I compensated with a "wee pair" of Prada shoes (on sale, of course!), ANOTHER pink trilby, posh genovese candies and going mad with the Credit Card at Heathrow.

The inlaws were just delighted with our news and all had a wee cry. Parents in law were worried about everything, and pa-in-law even offered me his bed, in case I wasn't comfortable enough. In Iceland I hadn't noticed so much (just the smoked salmon) but in Italy there were sooo many things I couldn't eat that are just everyday foods, like prosciutto crudo and salami (not allowed because they are raw). We went out for a pizza and in a list of 20, there were about 3 I could have, because they all had some uncooked meat, mouldy cheese or seafood on top. Not that I was exactly starving, it must be admitted ;)

The football was almost a sellout (Genoa-Empoli playing for the top spot of Seria B) but we managed to find a relatively quiet corner in the slightly posh bit (i.e. it has a seat) and Genoa won, so all were very happy. Roma beat Parma 5-1 in seria A to my delight and now lie 6th, a UEFA place, or 1 point from Champion's League. But they are soooo painfully inconsistent this year so we will just see.

I am well though I found myself getting very tired very quickly and needing to nap most afternoons. Still, being able to sleep a lot, my "morning" sickness was much much better. Till the last two days when I had to get up early and the very last when, having FINALLY squeezed everything into two enormous suitcases, BB reaquainted me with Armatage Shanks, meaning I had to dig back into the case to recover my toothbrush.

Journey home was long and tiring, but all went fine and we had no disasters. Even managed to bring a dinner service without breaking anything :). Hubby and I are now organised for Christmas and New Year. For Christmas, we shall attempt to cook a duck, which cost almost as much as my shoes, so I hope we do a good job! We have booked a wee cottage for the New Year weekend so we can escape from all the fireworks and the drunks.

Oh yes, and it's my birthday today (afmæli dag: birthday). We have a custom at work of all baking a cake for our own birthdays, which I righteously did last night and brought in: to find NOONE in my faculty has bothered to come to work!!! I'll take it to the canteen at lunchtime and share it with the librarians. The best present of all is still inside: I don't get to open it till July ;)