Also, I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve done a little Christmas decorating around the blog! You can thank Lisa for the AWESOME design that she’s made for me! I can’t express how excited I am about this design. It makes me want to drink hot chocolate by the fire while listening to Nat King Cole!

How was everyone else’s Thanksgiving?

• 12/1/2007 -- Storage Solutions
• 12/16/2006 -- Christmas Meme!
• 7/19/2006 -- About

For those unfamiliar with Club 17, it is a reminder system for the female blogosphere to do their Basically it’s a reminder for the female blogosphere to do their monthly Breast Self Exams (BSE). It is recommended that women begin BSEs at age 20.

Also, word to the wise – don’t overdo it on Turkey Day! It’s OK to eat smaller portions, and make sure you are still exercising! While these are good tips in general, it is especially important that women maintain a healthy diet and exercise to decrease their chances for breast cancer.

• 10/19/2007 -- Club 17: Time for the October check!
• 3/18/2007 -- March’s Club 17
• 2/19/2007 -- February’s Club 17!

Anyways, if the title weren’t enough suggestion, this week’s carnival is all about thanksgiving – not necessarily Turkey Day, but thanksgiving in general. And boy, do we have some great posts! Here they are, in the order in which I received them:

Where was the first Thanksgiving celebration held in North America? CyberCelt shares a surprising story on Texas RV Travel blog.

Anna says, “They rejoiced and feasted in what we call the first Thanksgiving with the Native Americans who had aided them. I suspect that they may have possessed a better character than I.”

truevyne writes about “A fresh start contained in a fresh egg.”

Julie Carobini celebrates family, friends and her beloved California coast.

Some things Barbara is thankful for are her family, professionals, and BLOGGING!

Can’t forget my own post, LOL! I talk about how thankful I am for my AWESOME parents!

Caylynn discusses her first Thanksgiving in Germany and provides some background and history on the Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations.

I will be taking posts until this afternoon, so please send yours in if you haven’t already!

• 7/27/2008 -- Longest Meme Ever (Day of Blogs ’08 #32)
• 10/15/2006 -- Blogging Chicks Carnival!
• 7/22/2008 -- Are you ready to stay awake?

So anyways, when we were in Turkey this summer, my brother and I both got a hookah. He does hookah at home at hookah bars, but I’ve never done hookah. I just thought it looked really pretty, and it would be fun to do (though he STILL has yet to show me how).

Anyways, the dilemma about having the hookah up here is that I’m in the middle of North Carolina. They don’t exactly have an abundance of hookah stores, so where to get the tobacco and such? At the moment, I have some that Bo got at home and brought to me. I’ve been looking around online, and Hookah Town looks fairly decent, so perhaps we can try ordering from there.

My question – have you ever done hookah? What do you think of it? Is it really all it’s hyped up to be?

I am in no way endorsing the smoking of cigarettes, and I am CERTAINLY not endorsing the smoking of illegal substances. Hookah is basically steam with a little tobacco in it.

• 3/2/2006 -- We’re goin’ on a cruise!
• 1/23/2008 -- Holidays, Hospitals, and Higher Learning
• 12/1/2007 -- It’s the Most Wonderful Time . . .

Thirteen Things about LINDSEY

Note: The pics from Barcelona are really fuzzy and I don’t have the Paris pics on my comp yet, but here is a VERY small sampling of the pictures from the trip (my dad took about 2,000 pictures). These are scaled down for the blog. To see larger, uncut versions with descriptions, look at my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/greystonegirl16/. And now, the pictures!

1. Arles, France

2. Florence, Italy

3. Vatican City

4. Rome, Italy

5. Pompeii, Italy

6. Sorrento, Italy

7. Capri, Italy

8. Mykonos, Greece

9. Istanbul, Turkey

10. Ephesus, Turkey

11. Athens, Greece

12. Corinth, Greece

13. Venice, Italy

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Leave me a comment and I’ll give you a shout out!

• 6/29/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #47
• 7/6/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #48
• 3/2/2006 -- We’re goin’ on a cruise!

Thirteen Things about LINDSEY

1. My days are getting all mixed up, LOL! I think it was last Thursday that we went to Ephesus. The cruise ship docked in Kusadasi, Turkey, and then we took a bus out to Ancient Ephesus. These ruins weren’t in as good condition as the ruins at Pompeii, but it was still really cool, especially when the guide pointed out the huge amphitheatre where Paul preached. Then we drove back into Kusadasi and looked at really nice Turkish carpets, haha! It was fun.

2. On Friday we went to Athens. The first stop was the Acropolis – it was HUGE! I had no idea how big those buildings were. We saw temples and things, and we also saw the Theatre of Dionysus (which was really cool because I’ve studied it for so long in theatre classes). Then we took a bus to Corinth where we traveled on a boat through the Corinth Canal (which is reeeeeeally narrow). It was a nice change from the boiling hot ruins.

3. The next day was a day at sea, which I promptly spent all day in my pajamas reading. Yay relaxation!

4. The next day was the last stop – Venice. I have decided that I am moving to Venice. I was sooooo in love, and I’m not even really sure why. I just had a feeling about it. I’m not even joking – when I get home I’m going to research living in Venice and the opportunities MagicMouth might have there.

5. In Venice we went to a neat house that has been converted into a museum, then St. Mark’s church (which we didn’t spend nearly enough time in), and finally the Doge’s Palace, which was huge. It was really neat. And of course, that night, we had a gondola ride. Cheesy, yes. But you can’t go to Venice and not go on a gondola ride, LOL!

6. The next morning we had to leave the ship at 4:30AM in order to get to the airport in time! We were in Paris by lunchtime. How’s that for fast travel? LOL!

7. We spent the day in Paris going on a driving tour through the city, just so we could get our bearings. Then that evening we went to the Arc de Triomphe and walked along the Champs Elysees (stopping at both Haagen Daas and Louis Vuitton, of course ).

8. The next day we went out the palace at Versailles, which was massive. Then we met up with a friend at Notre Dame (a co-pilot for Air France who lives in Paris), which was nice. Then we headed back to the hotel, changed clothes, and went to a show at the Moulin Rouge! That was fun, though it was nothing like what it looked like in the movie, haha.

9. On Wednesday (yesterday) we went to the Lourve first thing in the morning and spent the morning there. It was soooo huge, but I saw a lot more than I thought I would. I felt very productive, haha. Then we walked along the Seine River down to the Eiffel Tower, but we didn’t go up. The line was long, and we were tired of walking, haha. Then we went back to the hotel.

10. Yesterday night was the France vs. Portugal game for futbol, and since France won, we had a hard time falling asleep because of all the cars honking all night long, haha. But it was really cool to be there for that game.

11. This morning we woke up at the crack of dawn AGAIN to go to the airport . . . and right now I’m sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for our connecting flight to Jacksonville. It will be good to sleep in my own bed tonight, hahaha! Thus ends the European vacation . . . pictures to follow at some point this weekend.

12. Heard from Ben – things are good with his mother. Thank you for your prayers.

13. And of course, a quiz:

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Leave me a comment and I’ll give you a shout out!

• 7/27/2008 -- Longest Meme Ever (Day of Blogs ’08 #32)
• 1/12/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #21
• 7/13/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #49

Thirteen Things about LINDSEY

1. Realized that I hadn’t scratched off #35 on my 101 in 1001 – yup, by now I’ve traveled to Europe, LOL!

2. Update from before – I released one book in France and two in Italy through Bookcrossing. That was really cool ! In Italy, our tour guide found the books not five minutes after I released them and thought someone in our tour group had lost them. He was asking everyone if they belonged to them, and my whole family kept saying “you should say they’re yours” . . . but I didn’t, and he finally put them back. Haha, it was a close call .

3. The second night we had supper, our chatty couple was not there and we had the whole table to ourselves, which was nice. Then the third night we had a fun British couple sit at our table, and they have been our tablemates ever since. It has been fun .

4. Last Thursday was the day we spent in France. We docked at Marseille, then rode a bus to Arles (where we saw several locations that van Gogh painted, including the famous cafe painting) and Le Baux (which was a cute little village with shops and an old church). I bought a great table cloth and matching napkins to go on my new table in the apartment when we were shopping in Le Baux.

5. On Friday we went to Florence, Italy. It was amazing to see so many old buildings, bridges, and churches! We saw Michelangelo’s David. It is HUGE! I didn’t realize just how tall that thing is! And carved from one piece of marble. Amazing . . .

6. On Saturday we were in Rome. The first thing we did was go wait in line at the Vatican. We got into the line around 8:15AM. And we waited. And we waited. The line snaked all around the outer wall of Vatican City, probably a mile long. We didn’t get into the Vatican until about 10AM. I was sooo sunburned once we got done, haha. Bought sunscreen that night on the ship!

7. Once we got inside the Vatican, it was amazing. First we went through this long hallway that was full of amazing paintings – like, the walls were all painted, not hanging paintings. Then the next long room was full of tapestries that are about four hundred years old. It was crazy! Then, the next room was the Sistine Chapel. Wow. There just aren’t even words. It was so incredibly beautiful, and the whole room just had this feeling to it. Then we went into the main church which had so many wonderful things in it. It was also HUGE – there was this boarder around the roof with words written in Latin. It looked like a small boarder compared to the rest of the church, but then our guide told us that the letters are SIX FEET TALL. Crazy! And as we were leaving the church, we saw a baptism happening. It was nice to know that not only is the church in the Vatican, not only is it full of amazing art, but it is still a church that is in actual use!

8. Then we went to see the Coliseum, which was really cool! I kind of knew what the inside would look like with the different layers and seats and stuff, but I never knew what the bottom looked like! Under the floor there was a whole other layer of hallways and elevators and things – there were about 60 trap doors in the floor! From a theatrical standpoint, I was facinated.

9. On Sunday we went to the Napoli region of Italy. We first went to Pompeii to see the ruins. I was thinking we’d see some rubbled city buildings and a bunch of pieces of pottery. No no no. They have uncovered a MASSIVE city. There are still two, three story buildings there, massive columns, and all the streets. That was crazy – the city is so large, and there are still obvious distinctions between the various shops and such. It would have been amazing back in its peak. Then we went to Sorrento, a fun little city that is full of shops and beautiful flowers. We bought som beautiful ceramics there. Then we took a boat to Capri. My goodness, it’s so beautiful!!! I have never seen so many green things. Trees, flowers, plants . . . it was breathtaking. We mostly just had shopping time there, so we wandered around the shops a little bit, then we wandered into a residential area. It was near to see the different little houses, mailboxes . . . I’m facinated by the life in these other countries!

10. The next day was a day at sea, which we were most definitely needing by this point, haha! We just rested, read books, did some laundry, hahaha.

11. Then on Tuesday we went to Mykonos, Greece. It really is all white houses with colored shutters! I didn’t see a single building that wasn’t white. We went in lots of shops there and I got an exquisite painting made by the daughter of a shop owner. It is a painting of the Annunciation, with 18 carat gold leaf. My first substantial piece of art. I am absolutely thrilled.

12. Yesterday was Istanbul, Turkey. We saw the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. They were OK – they were not in as good condition as all the buildings in Italy. I guess they just don’t take good care of their historical buildings. It was neat to see them though – I’ve never been in a mosque before. Then we went to the Sultan’s Palace, which was quite lush. We didn’t have time to go into the harem, but we did go to the treasury. There so many beautiful jewels – thrones, cradles, sabers . . . it was really cool. Then, the coolest thing. There were relics. John the Baptist’s hand and skull. Slightly creepy, but still really really cool. Then we went to the Grand Bazar, which was waaaaay more tourist-y than we had thought it would be. However, I did get a really cool hookah though ! It’s got a ceramic base, so cool. Today we are going to Ephesus, Turkey. As in, the book of Ephesians – sooo pumped!

13. Every day, as a part of these tours, they arrange lunch for us. Just had to mention that seperately, because lunch is always amazing, especially in Italy. We keep taking the business cards for the restaurants . . . just in case we ever get a chance to come back . I will update more later!!!

And as a bonus, I still have yet to hear from Ben about his mother, so please continue praying for her. Thank you!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Leave me a comment and I’ll give you a shout out!

• 7/13/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #49
• 7/6/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #48
• 7/27/2008 -- Longest Meme Ever (Day of Blogs ’08 #32)

Here’s the link!

And here’s where we’ll be:

1 Barcelona, Spain
2 Marseille (Provence), France
3 Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy
4 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
5 Naples/Capri, Italy
6 At Sea
7 Mykonos, Greece
8 Istanbul, Turkey
9 Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
10 Athens (Piraeus), Greece
11 At Sea
12 Venice, Italy
13 Venice, Italy

This is a trip my mom and I have been wanting to take for at least 10 years. We’ve always wanted to go and see all the religious sites in Greece and Turkey, and now we’re finally going to get to go do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 7/13/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #49
• 7/6/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #48
• 6/29/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #47

Yay – they’re back! In honor of Thanksgiving, this week’s “It’s Blogcess” is about leftovers!

1) What are three items you have leftover from Thanksgiving that are in your refrigerator right now?

Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Zipper Peas

2) What kind of leftover treats will you make with the three items you listed?

Leftover treats? Just eating leftover food made by my mom is a treat enough!

3) How long will you keep the leftovers before you toss’em out?

Hehehe, in our house, they’ll all get eaten before the tossing phase!

4) Now that we’ve done some leftover talk it’s time to spread some “It’s Blogcess” linky love?

Subliminal Confusion – because Artemis made an AWESOME WordPress theme for us to play with!

• 7/27/2008 -- WordPress Theme Directory (Day of Blogs ’08 #33)
• 9/5/2007 -- Works for Me: Brand Loyal Edition
• 11/19/2006 -- Blogging Chicks: Thanksgiving

Food
Breakfast: Diet Coke (yeah, didn’t do so hot on that today)
Lunch: corndog and ketchup (it was the last one, and now all the bad food is gone)
Supper: Turkey and cheese panini on the George Foreman (it was sooooooo good, and only 6.5 points!)
Snacks: a cookie, a pasta sample at Costco, some goldfish

All in all a good day! Haven’t even used up all my points yet!!!

• 12/18/2005 -- 101 in 1001 – 67.33% Complete
• 8/23/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #24
• 9/14/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #27