St. Peter's Basilica

It's been two months since I went to Rome... and I'm just now getting around to writing about St. Peter's. I've been hesitant, mainly because I've had trouble cutting down the number of pictures I took there. So this post is long... and there are 21 pictures.

St. Peter's was, without a doubt, the most amazing thing I saw on the two week trip. Probably the most amazing thing I've seen in my whole life, honestly. There are moments in life that really take your breath away... and walking into St. Peter's for the first time was one of those for me. It's beauty, it's majesty, just blew me away.

The church is huge, but everything was designed to make it feel smaller, more intimate. It covers six acres and is two football fields long. The baby statues at the base are the size of real life adults. The lettering in the gold band around the church (which quotes everything Peter said to Jesus) is seven feet tall. The statues at the base are 15 ft tall, but the ones above them are six feet taller. The bronze canopy over the altar (and above St. Peter's tomb) is seven stories tall. The dome is higher than a football field, 448 ft tall.

{Pope John Paul II's grave}

{Michelangelo's Pieta}

STL Connection! The Pieta now sits behind bulletproof glass because in 1972, a 'madman with a hammer' climbed up and started hacking away at it. And you know who pulled him off? City Museum founder Bob Cassilly! Can you believe that?! Here's the story as Bob told it and it was also mentioned in Rick Steve's book!

{The Atrium}

{The Holy Door, only opened every 25 years}

We actually went to St. Peter's twice. We stopped at Vatican Square before seeing the Pope, then went through the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, and then visited St. Peter's for the first time. We had made plans to go up in the Dome, but were exhausted after an early morning and full day of sightseeing (and losing Socorra), so we decided we would come back to do the Dome (and gelato) again the next morning.

{Bernini's 140 Favorite Saints}

The obelisk in the middle of the nativity scene (yey Christmas decorations!) is 90 ft of solid granite weighing more than 300 tons, and is originally from Egypt over 2,000 years ago. Yes, that's right, they brought it over from Africa. It's seen pharaohs, Romans, Greeks and now greets visitors to the Square everyday. Freakin' amazing. To the right of St. Peter's is the pope's residence and the Sistine Chapel.

I'm glad we went back the second day because (a) it was prettier out, so the pictures were better and (b) because if I had tried to climb the Dome the day before... I would have died. Literally. Climbing the Dome is brutal. Even if you take the elevator, you still have to climb 323 stairs in tiny stairways that are sometimes tilted like a fun house and sometimes spiral staircases! Just when I thought I was going to pass out/freak out from claustrophobia, we arrived to the top. The view is breathtaking.

{the 'paintings' in St. Peter's are actually super intricate mosaics. Gorgeous up close and worth the first elevator ride just to see these, and the view inside the church.}

{seriously.}

But these are the views you get at the top (well, the first two are at the very top, the second two are a level below on the roof of the church as you make your way down). It's just amazing. And something everyone should be lucky enough to see once in their lifetime. I love St. Peter's... can you tell?

Click here for links to all my Rome and Morocco travels!

Course Correct

You could say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.

One of those nights when you toss and turn and fight over the blanket. And then wake up and decide going to the gym and/or to work early is out of the question.

One of those mornings when you pour too much cereal into the bowl and it all overflows when you add the milk. And you watch CSPAN for five minutes before realizing it's not the Today Show. And then get mad at your dog because he keeps getting in your way while you're getting ready.

When you can't stop thinking about how messy your house is, how much laundry you have to do, and that you're almost out of toothpaste. When you start dictating blog posts and emails in your head, hoping that when you sit down at your computer, you'll still remember them, all the while wishing someone had invented some sort of memory recorder where it would just translate your thoughts into the written word.

Yep, it was one of those mornings where I had to course correct and stop for an iced coffee, even if it meant getting a bad parking spot and being 10 minutes late for work.

I Must Watch Too Many Cat Videos

via Facebook Ads

Lent is Over.

Another Lent come and gone, another set of resolutions mostly failed... Here's how I did this year.

Drink water. Accomplished! Thanks to Atomicdust pint glasses, I downed at least three glasses of water every (week)day during Lent. Hope to keep this up,
And only drink one coffee a day. Accomplished! There was maybe one or two days that I had more than one cup, but I doubled my water intake those days... so it's okay.
Organize my closest(s). Still in the process. Check out my purge.
Spend two hours a week cleaning my house. Failed. But I'm going to try harder. I started ready this blog for inspiration - http://unfuckyourhabitat.tumblr.com/
Exercise. Renewed my gym membership... last week. Hey! So what, I'm a procrastinator. It's a start though.
Only one lunch out per week. Eh... I think I only did this one week. Oops.
Wear heels out. I did it more than once! That's improvement.
Clean out my car..... no comment.
No online shopping.... no comment.
Go into work early at least once a week. This conflicts with going to the gym in the morning, but I've still made it in at least by 8:30am once a week. Not bad.
Read a book.... ha. This is funny. Yeah right.

Cara's Back from Africa!

Two years ago, my best friend moved to Africa to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer. And this weekend, we welcomed her home to America... for good.

It's an odd feeling. Having her back. To be truthful, I feel like she never left. I saw her every chance I got when she made visits back. I emailed her. I chatted with her on Gchat. I read her blog and stalked her Facebook pictures. Honestly, I probably kept in touch better with her than I did friends I have living in the U.S., or heck, even living here in St. Louis. 

When she left, I just kept saying the two years would fly by. And they did... sort of. I keep thinking that nothing has changed since she left. That were still 'just out' of college, trying to make our way in this crazy world of 'adulthood' and 'responsibility'. 

But then... I think of all that has happened in two years. We both moved into our first apartments; learned to grocery shop, clean, budget and cook for ourselves (I have a hunch she learned better than I did, though). We both got jobs that, when we started, were pretty loosely defined, yet we were able to find structure and success. She was on TV in Morocco. I was on MTV. We've made trips to DC, Colorado, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, London, Paris, Spain, and Israel (the latter part of this list is hers, and considerably cooler). And together, we visited Rome and Morocco.

It's crazy to think how much we've grown in the last years. And I love knowing that we were there for each other that whole time.... even though we were thousands of miles apart. Now, Cara will be in and out of town all summer on law school tours, trips to visit friends, and working some in NYC and DC. And then, in the fall, it's off to law school in whatever city she chooses. But we made it work for two years while she was in Africa, so I think we'll be fine... as long as Gchat doesn't shut down. 

Laundry

Yup. 

Keep it or Quit it?

cardigan, black jeans and flats from Target. top from Old Navy. gold watch, ring and bracelet. 

This was going to be the last time I wore this top before it got thrown in the giant purge pile, but now I'm kind of liking it. What do you think - keep it or quit it?

Also, I'm well aware I haven't posted in well over a week and that I still owe you Italy recaps, photos from my weekend in Chicago and reviews of the fish fries I went to this year. I'm just busy and distracted and being a bad blogger. Admitting the problem is the first step, right?