Ciao Sardinia!

Wednesday was our last day at Li Cuncheddi and thank the Lord we woke up to sunshine. We set up shop (and by shop I mean our 30 different types of sun block, 4 novels, towels, etc.) early so we had prime location for sun bathing and, of course, people watching. It was a beautiful day!

By lunch time, Brad was craving pizza (again) so we found a little restaurant that overlooked the cove near our hotel. Wouldn’t you know it, they weren’t serving pizza until 7 pm. What kind of deal is that? I don’t know. But we enjoyed melon and prosciutto and a tomato caprese salad with a homemade spicy olive oil dressing instead. It was perfection!

We couldn’t leave without spending some time on the beach so that’s how we spent our last afternoon. Brad had decided on day one that he wanted to go sit on the rocks that were out in the cove and he was running out of time. So away he went…

Our Hotel - Li Cuncheddi

The day soon came to an end and it was unfortunately time to pack. But on the bright side, our flight wasn’t leaving until the following evening so we had most of the next day to enjoy our drive back to Alghero and spend some time in the adorable Catalan town.

We kicked off the morning with a delicious breakfast of croissants with Nutella and what I swear looked and tasted like chocolate cake…works for me. We said goodbye to our beautiful hotel and hit the road.

On our initial drive to Olbia, we passed a beautiful church in the middle of nowhere that we wanted to stop at on the way back. I found some information on it in my little Sardinia travel book and it turned out to be a pretty neat highlight of our trip.

The church is called Santissima Trinita di Saccargia and was built in striped layers of black and white stone. It’s surprisingly simple but still impressive, especially when you consider that it was built in the 6th century. We couldn’t take pictures with a flash inside (and it was really dark) but we took plenty outside.

Alghero was only about a half hour from the church; unfortunately, we had NO idea where we were going or what we were looking for. So, when in doubt, follow the signs for “City Center.” We did a little sightseeing from the car before hitting the jackpot with a parking spot. We strolled along the Ramparts, the ancient wall that is positioned between the old city and the sea.

We picked a small outdoor restaurant for lunch, not realizing what we had gotten ourselves into. A chalkboard advertised 16 euro for lunch and a glass of wine. Sounds good. We should have read further. When the waiter brought us another set of silverware after we had just stuffed ourselves (Brad had an incredible spaghetti Bolognese and I had delicious pasta with mussels) we were a little worried. Sure enough, round two came and we couldn’t just let it go to waste. Needless to say, we had to roll ourselves back to the car after that.

And that is where our trip ends. I may find the energy to tell you about our flight home and how Brad has refused to fly RyanAir ever, ever again…but that will have to come another day.

So goodbye Sardinia, you will be missed.

Sardinia Part Three

Waking up to sun flooding through the windows was rather misleading. I suppose the high pitch whistle coming from the balcony should have tipped us off but we still acted mad as hornets when we noticed the pool had waves. Pools aren’t supposed to have waves. Stupid wind.

Not wanting to spend the day pouting in our hotel room, we opted to hop in the car and just get lost. I remembered reading there were some ancient ruins outside of the nearby town. I typed “Cabu Abbas” into Karen and hit “GO!” hoping for the best. Before we knew it, we were driving through some industrial area in Olbia. We figured “this can’t be right” but Karen didn’t change her route even after I changed the address multiple times. She seemed to know where she was taking us. (Is it weird that we follow our GPS system so blindly?)

Whew! A good sign...no pun intended.

When we finally saw a sign for Cabu Abbas, we gave Karen a little pat and continued on. Unfortunately, part of the road was out and we were going to have to hike this section of the mountain/large hill, as well. Brad was adamant that he could make it in the Nissan Micra…he would have been wrong.

This little trek was right up our alley as Brad and I don’t do relaxing vacations very well. Don’t get me wrong, we absolutely LOVE beach/pool time but if that’s all there is….we get bored. I should remember this when packing. Instead, I opted to bring sandals, flip flops, and a pair of little Sketchers which are basically the equivalent to ballet flats with a strap. Not exactly hiking gear but I managed. Only rolled my ankle a dozen times and tripped just as many.

But I’d say it was worth it.

History lesson time: The Cabu Abbus ruins date back to 1600 – 1300 B.C. Stop. Think about that for a minute. 1600 B.C. It’s a tad old. The main part of the Cabu Abbus complex is a big stone wall about 240 yards long and 16 feet tall and wide. I hope for the sake of those who lived here in 1600 B.C. that it wasn’t always that windy. Whew! I about took a nose dive off that mountain on more than one occasion.

When we were back on level ground we decided to check out several other towns around Costa Smeralda. Our first stop was Porto Rotondo. We walked up and down the street markets where Brad found THIS hat. Be jealous.


After a gorgeous drive through Golfo Aranci (where we almost stayed) we made our way back to the hotel. We had picked up some delicious gorgonzola, fresh bread, and prosciutto (and wine, of course) the day before so we enjoyed a lovely picnic….in the hotel room.

The wind finally subsided and we spent the next two days poolside. We did a lot of reading and a lot of people watching. By day two we had already come up with nicknames for the majority of the people there. For example, Curly Sue was this PRECIOUS 3 year old German girl with the curliest hair I’ve ever seen. She refused to wear shoes ever and was constantly laughing or making some else (usually me) laugh. If Stella were a real person, this is who she'd be. There was also Jude Law. He was another little German boy who I kid you not, looked identical to Jude Law….well, when Jude Law was 10. We also had The Leathery Couple. They were Italian and were the first people at the pool (9:00 am) and the last to leave (7:00 pm) EVERY DAY! Their skin looked like…you guessed it – leather. Then there was the Old British Couple. They were old. And British. Lastly, we had Negative Butt. She was this really pretty girl, maybe 18, super stylish, great figure…but was missing something. I’ll let you figure it out. It was just odd. Maybe she should eat a croissant with Nutella on it.

The dinners seemed to get better throughout the week….or maybe we just lowered our expectations….or maybe that glass of wine prior to dinner put us in a good mood going into it. Almost every night before dinner, we attempted to take a picture on our balcony.

We had one more day to soak in the sun and enjoy the beach before packing our bags for the trip home. But that will have to wait.

Stay tuned…

Sardinia Part Two

After our day of travel, we were looking forward a nice dinner with a bottle of wine. I had read multiple reviews on TripAdvisor.com saying doing the halfboard route (breakfast and dinner included) was the way to go at Li Cuncheddi. Let’s just say I’ll be writing my own review shortly.

Unfortunately, dinner was disappointing to say the least. We arrived at 8:30 to find the salad bar was practically gone. We didn’t realize it was a first come, first serve type of thing so we missed out there. Then the table they took us to was only steps away from the kitchen doors and front entry to the restaurant. Not to mention, the buffet station with all of the silverware was directly behind us. Every time someone needed a new fork, spoon, or knife we had a waiter standing directly behind us slamming drawers. And for a four course dinner, that’s a lot of slamming.

Add to this that the wine was 30 euro a pop…we were not the happiest of campers. But it was a learning experience. For example, we learned if you request a different table your waiter will treat you like dirt for a week….and you still won’t get another table. Oops. We also learned that if you go buy your own wine and enjoy it on your balcony before (and after) dinner, it makes the experience much more pleasant. But we’ll get to that later.

Okay, so dinner was a flop but the evening wasn’t completely shot. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed an after dinner cocktail outside while watching cruise ships go by.

We woke up the next morning to an overcast sky. Not what you want to see when you’re at the beach. With our fingers crossed, we headed down to breakfast. Fortunately, it was much better than dinner. There’s just something about a croissant slathered in Nutella that gets your day started right. It was clear they were catering to their German guests (since they occupied about 85 percent of the hotel…not kidding) with the cold cuts and cheeses for breakfast. I’ll stick with my croissant and yogurt, thanks.

With the sun nowhere in sight, we ventured into town, Karen in tow since it was inevitable that we’d be getting lost, and found a shopping mall with a large grocery store inside. We stocked up on wine, cheese, crackers, wine, snacky foods, and ummmm, more wine. Brad also found a pair of aviators in a little store that were a must have.

On the way back we stopped at a little pizzeria for some lunch. I had a prosciutto, artichoke and black olive pizza (to die for) and Brad enjoyed a massive calzone. Talk about a boat load of food. We made a mental note that this place would be perfect to come back to later in the week, as we were on our own for lunch each day; also noting that ONE pizza would be plenty.

By the time we were back at the hotel, the sun decided to come out so we posted up in some comfy chairs near the pool. Bring on the sunshine!

I awoke the next morning about 6 am because the sun was peering through the windows. For the most part, if the sun is up, I’m up. I can’t say the same for my darling husband. Not wanting to wake him, I spent to morning on the balcony reading my book and watching boats go by.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast on the patio then decided to do a little exploring. We meandered through several trails and made our way over to some great rock formations. I just can’t say enough about the views; every direction we’d look was stunning. We watched a yellow lab play fetch with his owner and roll in the sand which had us wishing our pup was with us.

By this time, the pool was calling our name. We lathered on the sunscreen and claimed our chairs. And did not move. For hours. Just how it was supposed to be. Nothing but the sun, my book, and some great people watching.

The wind gradually picked up by late afternoon so we moved things to the balcony before getting ready for dinner.

Unfortunately, the wind had no plans of leaving anytime soon. Now, we both grew up in Oklahoma so we know wind…but holy cow! This was out of control. At one point I thought my lounge chair might take flight. With me on it. Looks like our plans of hanging out on the beach the following day would have to change.

Stay tuned…

Honeymoon Numero Tre: Getting There

March 5th. That was the day we made the decision and officially booked our trip to Sardinia. Twelve weeks. Twelve weeks of planning what I’d wear each day. Twelve weeks of “only one glass of wine for me thanks, I’m going on vacation soon.” TWELVE WEEKS of some serious anticipation. And it was finally here.

Packing for an exciting vacation on the beach is fun. Typically. However, Brad and I went the budget friendly route and chose to fly RyanAir. We paid the extra 40 euro each way (more than the cost of the actual ticket, weird) so we were both able to check a bag but this bag could only weigh 15 kilos. For those of you unfamiliar with the metric system, that’s 33 pounds. Seems like a lot….but it’s really not. Let’s think about this: 7 days of outfits (yeah right, more like 11 days of outfit…you just never know), bathing suits, cover ups, outfits for dinner, pajamas, sweaters for the cool evenings…and don’t get me started on shoes. Throw in shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, sun block, special sun block for my face, other special sun block for tanning (legs only, don’t flip out Mom), cooling aloe in case we burned, hair brush, flat iron, curling iron, transformer for the 220 volt stuff, converter so I don’t blow up anything up….let’s just say that 33 pound limit was exceeded. I know this because I had our scale in the hallway and continued to weigh each bag until it was…well, close enough.

And then we were off! Almost. First stop was the kennel which is never fun. We drive Miss Stella a good half hour from our house (even though there are plenty of kennels around here) because this is the nicest place we’ve come across. Such a diva. They assure us that she’ll make friends the minute we drive away and I have no doubt she did. That’s what I told myself anyway.

Because Brad and I didn’t have the option of missing our flight (the next one wasn’t for several days) we arrived a good 2 hours early. Brad missed his morning coffee since I had him running around like a chicken with his head cut off, so first thing we did was get him an espresso. Then he was a happy camper and we were able to officially start our VACATION!



Alright, it’s geography lesson time. The majority of you probably don’t know where Sardinia is (I sure didn’t) much less, anything about it. Quick overview – Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and is a region of Italy. Here, maps make things easier.

It was a quick hour and half flight from Frankfurt Hahn to Algehro, Sardinia. Here we picked up our awesome rental car, a Nissan Micra, and hit the road for Olbia in search of our hotel. Now we obviously hadn’t the slightest idea of where we were going but I thought ahead and remembered to bring Karen. And thought even more ahead and printed off MapQuest directions in the event Karen got us lost. Oh, Karen is the name of our GPS lady. She’s Australian and we have a love/hate relationship with her. If she pulls another stunt like she did upon our arrival into Olbia, we may just have to switch to Bernard, the British guy. (If you don’t have a GPS system, you likely have no idea what I’m saying.) But after a few trips up and down the same road, we made it in less than two hours….largely in part to the way Brad drives.

We checked in and made our way up to the room. Now when you’re staying in a European hotel, you never know what you might get. This was no different. The room was simple but nice, not huge but I’ve seen MUCH smaller. But our breath was taken away when we discovered our balcony with the most incredible view. Ahhhh, bliss. Now. Now we’re on vacation.

More to come…

A Break in the Clouds

It's been raining. Constantly. Every. Single. Day.

Nature pulled a fast one on us and gave us beautiful weather about a month ago that lasted not even a week then BAM! It went right back to being cold. Don't worry about the fact that I'd already put away all of my sweaters and busted out the spring/summer wardrobe. Oops.

It's not just that it was cold but the dadgum rain was just depressing. No sign of the sun for days at a time, then we'd get a glimpse for an hour or so....followed by rain.

This was no different last weekend. Saturday was dreary and gloomy and we expected Sunday to be no different. Fortunately, we were wrong and the sun showed her beautiful face that afternoon.

I mentioned last week that I had to cut the blog short because some friends called to see if we wanted to join them for a drive through the countryside and stop for some wine. Let's just say that it turned out to be a good marble weekend.

I'm telling you, the hillsides were the brightest greens and yellows you've ever seen. We didn't travel too far, just enough to truly enjoy the view. Our friends, Alan and Verena, led the way through each little town until we made our way to Weingut Margaretenhof in Schwabenheim. Sidenote: Alan's baby is his Porche GT. You'd think the most beautiful woman in the world just walked by when he drives that thing; people's heads just turn and it's quite funny to watch.

Schwabenheim is a tiny little town and nestled on the outskirts is Weingut Margaretenhof. Alan and Verana had been here once before for a little wine festival (the weekend Brad broke his collar bone so we missed out) and were anxious to come back. It was a little slice of heaven.

We enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine while taking in the view. Great wine. Great scenery. Great company. It took me back to an incredible lunch I had with my family while we were in Italy. Wonderful memories then and now. Before the sun set, we made our way to Essenheim for dinner at the place Brad and I have started buying most of our wine. Turns out they also make a pretty mean schnitzel and I had my very first taste of spargel. I’m sure this is something you could find at Central Market or Whole Foods but we’d never heard of spargel before moving here. It looks just like asparagus (because technically it is) but it’s white and has a sweeter taste. Delicious!! Drizzling it hollandaise sauce only adds to its greatness. Mmmm mmmm.

Unfortunately we had to snap back to reality as the following day was Monday. And wouldn’t you know, it was raining. Yet again. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).

It rained. And rained and rained and rained. And just when I thought I was going to loose it God said, “ok, that’s enough. Enjoy your weekend and the sunshine.” So that is precisely what we’re going to do. We’ve invited several friends over for the evening to have some Sangria, salmon cakes, and other delectable munchies. Out of fear that the sun may disappear once again, I’m going to step away from the computer and go savor the rest of my weekend. You should do the same.

A Desperate Housewife No More

I know, I know....it's been a while. But I have a good reason this time - yours truly landed herself a great job as the Marketing and Sales Coordinator with Andrews Federal Credit Union and I couldn’t be more excited. Actually, WE couldn’t be more excited. But it does leave less time for the blog, ho hum.

So here’s the story: a couple of months ago I went to a career expo that was held on the Wiesbaden Airfield. The advertisements for the expo said there were going to be multiple employers looking for all types of positions and to please come dressed professionally with copies of your resume. Easy enough. Touched up the good ol’ resume and pulled out my favorite suit (which hasn’t seen the light of day in who knows how long). Unfortunately, the expo wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and I left quite disappointed. I was told by multiple companies that they weren’t hiring. Even better, I was told I could take an immediate position with Subway or Baskin Robbins…mmmmm, think I’ll pass, me working with ice cream would end badly.

Fast forward about 3 weeks and I get a phone call from Andrews Federal Credit Union and it’s the Vice President of the European Region. As it turned out, leaving my resume with their recruiter paid off. Even though he told me they were only hiring for teller positions, I asked him to hang on to my resume and if something opened up that they thought would be a good fit to give me a call….so they did.

I couldn’t have asked for a better interview and I left being told I’d hear something I liked by Friday. Sounded promising, right? Friday came and went then Brad decided he wanted to spend some time in a German hospital. Ok, so that’s not EXACTLY how it went but we all know what happened that Saturday. I didn’t even have time to think about the fact that they didn’t call. I knew the VP would be traveling to the States shortly after our interview (Andrews’ headquarters is in DC) so I figured he left before making a decision. I was right and he called with an offer just a week later.

That was on a Thursday and I started the following Monday. So there’s my reason for not blogging; I’m no longer a desperate housewife….ok, so maybe I was never all that desperate but housewife, yes.

So far things are going really well. I like the people I work with and I’m learning a lot fast. I can already tell there is a lot of opportunity for me to succeed here.

It took a few days to get used to the fact that I had to sit in traffic again. But I must say, I almost enjoy it now. The views I have are incredible and right now the fields are the most amazing colors. Thursday was a German holiday which meant the roads were clear. Did anyone else hit 105 (legally) on their way to work? I did.

But it’s not all work and no play. Brad and I are gearing up for our big vacation that’ll be here in less than two weeks. Look out Sardinia! Here we come! We’ve been trying to catch a few rays before we go so we don’t look like complete ghosts on the beach. This means taking advantage of every sunny weekend we can get….which have been few and far between. But when there is sun, we do it up right. Sangria anyone?



Other than that, we’ve been taking it easy. Brad still isn’t able to exercise or play golf but he’s actually healing really well. Better and faster than they expected him to. I don’t think he’ll be swinging a bat anytime in the near future but we’ll see.

Well I’m afraid I have to cut this one a little short. Friends just called and asked if we wanted to go for a drive through the countryside and stop for some wine. Ummmm, yes please. Until next time…..