Ashley Gets Lost

I seem to remember that I have a blog and want to come have a little chat whenever I’m feeling a little down, which is an unfair representation of my life, but oh well!

Cezara and I got back from a girls’ trip to Italy last week that really broke my spirits, which is a huge disappointment after being so excited about it that I could puke since the moment we hit purchase on our plane tickets. I don’t feel like talking about it much yet, but a couple of very shitty things happened to me.

The first being a spider deciding to bite me on MY BOOB on our first night in Naples, which hurt really bad and is still ugly two weeks later. It’s on the mend though, I promise. No need to send a mobile spider bite doctor to my house. Also displeased to announce that I’ve gained no powers except feeling like it’s ok to get my boob out at the bar (key points covered, of course) to gross people out with it. Usually I’m trying to get my boobs out because I’m bragging about them, but I’ve been using them for evil instead. Shrug.

And then I got robbed somewhere between the Naples train station and our apartment in Rome. Pretty sure it was in Rome because that’s where the thieves tried to make thousands of euros of purchases with my credit card. TRIED. Anyway, I have to replace like everything and it’s been a huge pain in the ass.

More on Italy later when I decide it’s done hurting me.

Oh look at us in Italy having a good time in a castle. I promise we had lots of fun. The highest highs and the lowest lows.

So back to my summer.

Did I tell you all about the pregnant stray cat that showed up? Leslie Ann Mackerel, The Big Lez for short, showed up in May all full of babies, so we started feeding her. Eventually we decided she could come hang out inside, and some time later she showed up with her two ginger children. The kittens wanted nothing to do with us aside from sleeping on our cozy cushions and eating our wet cat food when they were ready to start eating real food.

It’s taken many months of food and forced proximity, but her two babies are our two babies now. So our current cat count is up to 3.5. Lez comes by to eat once or twice a day, but we’re otherwise dead to her. Unless she changes her mind this winter when it gets chilly. She’s always welcome. But officially, we have three orange cats. Which is a lot of orange if you know how uh… dumb and chaotic they are supposed to be.

Got my buns and other parts out at the beach approximately 36 times. It’s supposed to be really warm again soon, so I might go for lucky number 37 in October!

We had an absolutely lovely visit from our friends Katie and Rob. It was hot as the devil’s balls while they were here, but we managed some beach days, a snorkeling trip (turns out I get sea sick while snorkeling, fun to learn at the start of a three hour tour), a karaoke night, and a weekend in Heraklion. The aquarium was my favorite thing there. Like I want to go back. Right now.

Mr. McNeese and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary in Agios Nikolaos, which was a very nice weekend. Yes, I have pictures with his eyes open, but this one is my fave because I can make jokes about how he only has eyes for me. We mostly just relaxed, had drinks, read our books, and got some beach time. It’s a cute place, but the vibes didn’t feel that much different than they do here. Only I like our beaches better.

That’s pretty much it. Beaches, beers, babes. Last summer I was so stressed out about our house in America not selling, and it was our first summer here, so I still felt like a tourist. That whole summer felt like a stressful vacation, but this one was so much better. Now the season is over, and most of the bars and restaurants that open for the summer are either closed or closing soon. It’s finally cool enough to go on walks again, although it’s been so humid lately that I haven’t been doing it as much as I should. Cozy season is upon us though, and I remember how much joy I found in the off season last year.