A Wonderful Surprise! Grazie!!

First, to give you some history on one of my friends. LoisAnn and her hubby are now living in Italy for 3-5 years! Of all my friends, I think LA is the one person to appreciate this new lifestyle so I think the move has been a fantastic opportunity for them both! LA is one of the most active and enthusiastic ladies in my group of friends. In addition to being a mom, wife and runner (she's been in several races and does extremely well!), she is one of the most artistic and talented ladies! Her painting on fabric is outstanding to say the least as is her overall sewing and artistic abilities! LA made this yellow panel for our underwater fantasy group project.

So with that background info....look what was in my mailbox yesterday! LA sent me all these different articles from Italy!!! She's written on them to hightlight areas she and her hubby have visited or can see from their home. I was like a kid at Christmas! Each piece was so much fun to see and read about! Then I got to the bottom and LA sent me a beautiful journal book! She took articles from different magazines, newspapers, brochures, etc. and put together this large package for me!!! I just took pictures of some of the articles...check this out (you can click on pics to see more info).

This is from an Italian newspaper..guess their football/soccer is quite the thing! You can see LA's notes on several of the articles.

Now this one intrigues me! FOOD! Go figure! Actually, one of her notes is 'no red sauce in Italy' which I would love...don't get me wrong I love red sauce but at home I make mainly noodles with pesto or a cream based (fat free of course!) sauce. LA also made note that she and her hubby like 'grapa with fruit called Bosco'.

This was some of the wrapping paper LA covered my journal with! For those who don't recognize it, the work are different paintings by Gustav Klimt...which was one of our Inspired by Masters artists we are working on in our fiber group (see my last post). Cool paper isn't it!

And this is the beautiful paper journal book LA sent me! Isn't the cover wonderful!

These are the pages inside the journal. Now to decide what to do with it! I will do something that's for sure!!!!

I keep looking at all the different pictures and articles. THANK YOU so much LA!!!! I am thrilled beyond words! This took some time for her to put this together and I appreciate it SO much!!!! I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends and now to save I have an International friend is the best too! Again, thank you dear lady for your effort and friendship! So in your new language, LA, a big Grazie from me!!!