When in Rome...

So, people, I'm on vacation! I've had limited internet access, and let's face it, I'm in ROME at the moment, so I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time blogging, or really on the internet in general. But today I have a few minutes and access to a computer, so I'll just tell you about my day today. Pictures and stories of the rest of the trip will come later.*

The rest of my family went and saw The Hobbit this afternoon, but I decided to stay behind, in part because my introverted self was needing a little time to stretch her wings, and also because I'm in ROME, and I can see The Hobbit AT HOME. So I grabbed my book, my wallet, and my sunglasses and started walking. And this is what I did:

• wandered through a green shady park, strewn with the occasional remains of a marble column (fenced)
• watched a soccer game between two community teams, played with all the passion and intensity of Italians that you can imagine
• sat on a rock between the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, reading a book and people-watching
• wandered the streets around the Colosseum, watching various street performers and vendors
• ate what I think was a giant donut that was put in a panini grill thing, which was amazing
• was told by an older Italian man that I was "very attractive" and then he told me that "if you were not married, I would offer to sleep together for the last day of the year, for many presents." Uh...thanks? But no thanks. Most of me was annoyed at this, but there was a small part of me that thought "How classic. What a classic Roman experience."
• looked at the Piazza Venezia, all lit up
• sort of stumbled upon the Pantheon in a search for a public restroom


All in all, a good day. Wandering is sometimes the best way to visit a place.

* Remember when I went to New York like, a year and a half ago, and was all "I'll write more about this later!" and then never did? Me too. I'll try not to do that with this trip; in an effort to ensure posting, the trip posts will probably be less ambitious than the New York ones were. And just for the record, I'll probably never post about the rest of the New York trip. 

Amaaaaazing Face, How Sweet the Sound*

My sister Beckah has been my best friend for most of my life. When you first meet us, we don't look a lot alike...she's short and has brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin. I'm average height, with strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, and light skin. There's this certain face we make, though, and we look a LOT like sisters when we do that.

And apparently, NO pictures exist of it on facebook, or I'd post it here.

But anyway, Beckah has always been INCREDIBLY photogenic. She was one of the CUTEST babies you have ever seen, and something about her little face made her picture-perfect.

Now, she hasn't lost that ability, but rather, let's say her facial photo abilities have GROWN since childhood. Because over the last few years, we've noticed that Beckah's face is becoming increasingly...flexible.

Let's start with her eyes. In recent years, Beckah's developed this ability:

How does she DO that? I keep trying, and just end up giving myself a headache.

Okay, second of all, her lips.

Note that in the bottom right-hand picture, Beckah is employing both her lip skills AND her eye skills.

There are also several pictures in which Beckah has arranged her face to appear like she's melting.

The awesomest part about that last picture is that it's actually a part of a "Whittaker photo shoot" from a couple of years ago. Yeah, try getting the Whittakers to be serious for a family photo shoot.

When we saw this picture, we laughed until we cried, and then I made it my desktop background on my laptop.

Anyway, all these things combined lead to the most amazing photo faces EVER. 

See? See? How the heck does she do that? How does she get her face to do these amazing things!? She's so awesome.

But, I guess it runs in the family.

* This is probably the worst joke I've ever made on this blog.