NEGRAMARO - MERAVIGLIOSO

Negramaro is a great Italian rock band. I've got one of their CDs (they've got a lot of them though, they're apparently very popular here). Their single, Meraviglioso, is #2 on the Italian charts right now. I'm not sure about this one. It's a weird ballad, doesn't seem as cool as a lot of their other stuff. Anyway, see what you think. Doesn't the vocalist look like a chubby Chris Daughtry?

DANILYNN DOING GREAT!

Look how beautiful Anna Nicole Smith's daughter Danilynn is becoming! The baby met Judge Larry Seidlin (remember, the Anna Nicole judge who cried while deciding who little Danilynn would go to) for the 1st time recently as he and Larry Birkhead appeared on Larry King Live. Judge Seidlin said, "Everything is working out. Larry is a great father."

That's good to know!

AAR DOES WOMANIZER

BRITNEY'S AB-FAB!

Britney's come a long way since the 2007 VMA's! Remember this:





















Look at her now!

MY OWN JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE

Ok, so we've been in Italy for 3 months and I've only got one complaint. Since I've been here, the number one thing people say or post on my facebook wall is "Oh I bet the food is wonderful! I'm so jealous of all the food you're getting to eat over there!" Yes, it's wonderful...BUT IT'S ALL THE SAME! The number one thing I miss about the states, besides all of you, my loved ones of course, is the American food! You know, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Greek...all that good ol' American food!

In New Bern there was Osaka. I used their drive thru at least once a week for Hibachi Steak and vegetables. Even better was the more expensive Musashi. That was the one where they cooked the food on the table in front of you. Last night I attempted to re-create the Japanese Steakhouse experience! No, I didn't cook the food on the table. I didn't flick a shrimp at anyone or make a flaming volcano out of onion rings. But I did make a pretty meal!




See? I even made that white sauce they serve that we call "liquid crack" because it's so addictive. I found the recipe online. It's Hibachi steak with fried rice, zucchini, onions and mushrooms. Wasn't as good as the original, but it was pretty good. Maybe I should've made the onion ring volcano!

GREEK AMPHITHEATER, TAORMINA

So, a couple weeks ago we all went to Taormina. The coolest thing I think I've seen here so far, besides the volcano, is the Greek Amphitheater there. The view from the amphitheater was almost....ALMOST as great as the view from Heinz Field ;)














That's me and Tamila, our friend from the Republic of Georgia. She was dancing while I sang "Georgia on my Mind." Tamila likes that song.














This picture was snapped after I finished singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" to Tamila. She'd never heard of it, but she loved it.





















Another beautiful view! Nothing as beautiful, though, as my rendition of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," which is Tamila's new favorite song :)

TIZIANO FERRO

It's my current favorite single, "Alla Mia Eta" by Tiziano Ferro. I don't know what he's talking about but I love this song!

TAORMINA

Of all the towns in Sicily we've been to so far, Taormina is my favorite. In fact, I've decided it's where we'll take our out-of-town visitors (whenever we get some!)

A large group of us went to Taormina, including Kari & Adam, Shana & Kyal (or Shanyal, their new blended name), Trish, Tamila & Irakli (Kari's friends from the Republic of Georgia) and Mahlon & Me!

Unfortunately, it was a very cold and rainy day. Normally we should have had a great view of the volcano, Mt Etna. It was beautiful, though, despite the weather.



There is a major shopping road in Taormina called "Corso Umberto". At the end of the road is the big Greek Amphitheater. Sadly, my camera died before we got there. Everyone else took pics though, and as soon as they get around to posting them I'll steal them and post them for you!

Here's the whole group of us at the archway to Corso Umberto.




















The first thing we did was eat lunch (of course!) Kari and I split a pizza:
















And we all shared this appetizer, grilled eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms with giant globs of cheese on top...now you're talking!















Some of the shops along Corso Umberto were pricey, but beautiful to look at:















Here are some of the traditional Sicilian puppets we see everywhere. You can still attend puppet shows too. I read an ad that said something like:

Fun for the whole family! Bring the kids out to a traditional Sicilian puppet show! Warning: Some scenes may be graphic!

What the heck?















Here's the piazza in the middle of the shopping road. It was on of the most beautiful ones I've seen. There's a beautiful spot overlooking the Ionian Sea. The boys were talking about how cool it would be to see someone fall over the side.



Some of the guys were arguing over whether or not they could see Italy from this point. Hahahaha...silly boys. I knew what they meant though.











We love Taormina. I can't wait to visit again (with more money on a prettier day!)

TRAMPELLED BY GEEP!

There are some weird sheep here they call GEEP. They're like a sheep/goat hybrid with long tails. Shana and I were driving the other day and nearly got trampelled by them!