July visit to North Carolina

Here are some pictures of Andy's visit to North Carolina to visit Emma. Among other things, they built a fort, went on a scavenger hunt, and went to jungle rapids (an indoor jungle gym).

Tarts

Andy was gone last weekend to visit Emma. Since I didn't have to entertain him, I decided to do a little baking. I made some mixed-berry tarts. I've never made them before, but was up to the challenge. I used cream cheese pudding instead of pastry filling (less fattening--thank you very much) and they turned out pretty well. The only downside is that the recipe only makes 6 small tarts. I ended up giving away some to relatives and Visiting Teachables.

Mamma Mia!!! Pizzaria!!!

So Andy has been attending the "Fully Employed MBA" program at UCLA for the past couple of years. As a part of the program, they have to do an international project wherein a foreign company approaches a group of students and asks them to do research on if/how that company can break into another country's market (usually the USA). Well, we found out a couple weeks ago that Andy's group will be working with a company in Italy. The company has developed a mass-transit communication system. For example, the subways in Italy have an electronic communication system such that passengers can be notified of delays or security threats etc. Andy's group will be conducting research on if/how this company should enter the US market.

Of course, Andy has opted to be the team leader and, as such, he will be required to go to Italy for a week to conduct research and meet with various employees of the firm. The company is in Torino and because of my willingness to sacrifice my time and to support my husband, I will be going to Italy as well. So the plan is that we will need to be in Torino from September 17th to the 21st and we will then stay for another week or so to go to Rome and Tuscany and a few other places. I am totally excited because this will be my first trip to Europe. Heaven knows I've been all over Asia, but this will be really interesting to go to Italy. I've always thought that, given a choice, Italy would be my first pick in traveling to a European country. Even though Andy's group was initially contemplating companies based in Australia, New Zealand and Finland (all good options), I'm glad it worked out this way.

If you've ever been to Italy, let me know what we should do and see and if you have any traveling tips. We don't have a lot of time to plan our trip, so your advice will be much appreciated.

Last week was fun. Stephen and Crystal came out for a visit. They arrived on Tuesday, July 3rd and spent the balance of the day at the beach then we had a BBQ and went to a church-sponsored 4th of July Celebration.

For the 4th of July, we went shopping (one of Andy's LEAST favorite activities) and then went to check out some William Lyon model homes. We then met up with Andy's family at the park for food and fireworks. Andy's nephew, Evan, was so funny. We were playing with a football and he was afraid to catch it and would run around with his hand on his head to protect himself. It was hilarious!

Stephen and Crystal spent Thursday at Knott's Berry Farm and Friday at the beach. On Friday evening, Andy got tickets to a local pro tennis match. Anna Kournikova was there. She sure is tiny--but her diamond earrings were not.

On Saturday, Stephen installed a new faucet for us in the guest bathroom. It was not an easy task considering the pipes have become pretty corroded. We have very hard water and I have become friends with CLR in order to get rid of hard water stains on our glasses and stuff.

Before they left, Stephen and Crystal took us out to breakfast (or should I say, brunch) at Mimi's. It was very tasty.

They were also lucky enough to get free tickets to La Reve (at the Winn) in Las Vegas. So they left after breakfast in order to get there in time for the show.

All in all, it was a very fun week.