NEW BLOG - FROM ITALY!

I will be discontinuing this blog, now that my time in Vietnam is over.

Updating this blog regularly for two years has been pretty great. I love hearing friends and family say that they follow it every day! That's amazing to hear. It makes me feel very loved to have people along on my journey each day. Thank you.

Tomorrow I leave Denver, Colorado for Milan, Italy. I have signed a 3-year contract with an international school there... as their Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade Librarian! I hope to love the job and the location.

Please follow my new blog: Stacia from Opera, Milano

these are for MOM and DAD - Leadville, CO

...Made sure to get a photo of us kids (and the dogs!) together for Mom and Dad, who are back in New York... Love you Mom and Dad! See you soon for the wedding  :D   XOXO

Moose, Pedro, Koura, and Tito - Leadville, CO

THE ANIMALS!

I love my brothers' pets... Lenny's dog - Koura... Sean's dog - Moose... and Sean's cat - Pedro.

A few beauty shots of Pedro...

MOOSE!

Sitting oh so politely...

Lenny with all three doggies:

Tito, Moose, and Koura...

Moose and Tito think they want those hot dogs!

New buddies... Tito and Koura...

Sean's friend Brad was hanging out with us for the morning too. And he brought his new dog, Tito over... what a cutie!

visiting Sean in Leadville, CO!

I love going up into the mountains for a drive... and visiting my brother, Sean, is the perfect reason to do so!

Lenny, Lexey, and I went up for the morning last Saturday. Sean made us a delicious lunch... but then we had to head back to the city.

The back porch of Sean's house is great... it even has a swing attached to the old sauna... and I love his pets - Moose (dog) and Pedro (cat).   : )

Oh - and it was a gorgeous day out with sunshine and blue sky!

Pedro and Lexey...

The lovely couple... getting married in less than a month!!

And drinking some of Sean's home-brewed beer... which he's also making for the wedding!

Leadville, Colorado - over 10,000 feet above sea level!

Koura

I leave Denver for Milan in just TWO days now! Goodness. I'm not ready. So much that I want to do still... including just enjoying my time in the States with friends and family. ...I'm still excited though!

I'm really going to miss Koura. She's a sweetheart and makes me laugh every day that I'm with her. I hope she misses our daily cuddles as much as I will.

...Just for fun... a couple photos of her as she's hanging out to a treat before devouring it...

DOMINION NIGHT! Denver, CO

Lenny and Lexey love the game, Dominion. And now I do, too!

They have the original... and then two extension boxes.

We've played a couple of times since I've been staying with them this summer. I always love a Game Night! (And I even won once!)

movie night in the garden! Denver, CO

After hanging out for a bit... the sun starting going down... closer to Movie Time! And the sky was really pretty...

Love this lady! Happy to have some time with her this summer  : )

We watched the movie, ANTZ  : )  

My first time seeing it!

Julie's community garden! Denver, CO

Julie has had a plot of space in a community garden near her condo in Five Points for a couple years... and I went with her the other night while they were having a movie night in the garden! Fun!

Julie's tomato plants are crazy big!

Mmmmmmmmm   : )

Telluride --> Denver, driving back

Driving back from Telluride to Denver, it was quite cloudy (had rained most of the night)... but still a pretty ride!

Then things cleared up a bit...

Telluride, CO is a cute mountain town

I'm so glad we made the trip to Telluride! I would have stayed a bit longer! It's a cute mountain town... and even had a number of restaurants to choose from. We ended up getting great food at a Middle Eastern place (mmmm... falafel and Baklava!)... and then Thai food for dinner.

CUTE town with a gorgeous view all around!

We walked along the stream and came upon a BEAR!

I ended up just cuddling the bear to death  : P

Rainbow!

hiking - on the way back, Telluride, CO

The day was so beautiful. ...But it was a good thing we went hiking when we did... because the afternoon got quite cloudy and then rainy at night. You'd never know from the photos below... but I guess that's how mountain weather works.

You can see the mine at the bottom...

You can see the town of Telluride in the middle of the valley...

Where we had just been, at the falls...

...And once more, zoomed in...