Christmas SUBWAY art { FREE DOWNLOAD }

I can't believe that December is tomorrow. Wow, this year has gone by so fast. We had a wonderful thanksgiving with my family. Though, I didn't take many pictures... and the ones I did take are still on the camera. For Black Friday, I did very little shopping, though I did do some.

I've been designing Christmas cards for people. Always fun, and if you want one let me know. ($25 for the design. You print them at your local photoshop.) Last year I designed about 5 cards for myself and never sent one out, this year I plan on doing better on getting one printed. LOL. (If I had sent one out last year 2010, this was my fav.) The picture was when we were in Venezuela. A simple layout.
But my favorite one was done in 2009. I thought that the design was really unique and fun.

Currently, we are in the process of getting our tree up and ready. We have a FRESH tree this year. (Thanks to Cruz's very nice co-worker, who went to the mountains and got one for us.) It is unique, and smells fantastic. It is 12 feet tall!!!! I love it... but not loving how long it takes us to get the lights to work and be on the tree. We hope to finish today. :)

Here is the SUBWAY art for CHRISTMAS, as promised. 

Download your own here.

{ Don't use this one above, go to the link for a high res. file!!! }

I hope that you are decking your halls with Christmas love.

I am waiting for December 1st to put mine in it's frame, but it is all printed and ready to go.

Luxembourg 2011

Third Stop was LUXEMBOURG: (Europe trip continues...) Also our wedding anniversary.

We Loved our little visit to Luxembourg! Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in Europe, and we only spent the afternoon there. I did love the little streets, and the gardens were amazing. They had cobblestone paths and really fun old buildings like most of europe does. It is a tiny country, but a pretty one. Look at the picture above with the flags and garden... stunning. They really take pride in the landscape.  

We had lunch while in Luxembourg, though we weren't that hungry. So, we stopped at a little bakery/cafe and bought a sandwich. They warmed it up, and it was super hot.... so as we walked back to the place where the bus would meet us we let it cool off. Once we took a bite, we were sad that we didn't order one for each of us... IT WAS THE BEST SANDWICH I have ever tasted. Cruz agreed. Though I think he wished that I didn't like it so much. LOL. But really it was so yummy with melted cheese... almost like alfredo sauce. Drool it was so good. 

Today was also our 3rd wedding anniversary! 

What a great day we had. It was such an adventure to go to Europe. We planned it to go over our anniversary and believe me it was a awesome idea. Happy anniversary babe. Love you. 

That night we went to Switzerland! 

So, for the evening we were able to go to a dinner with our tour group. At first we weren't sure about going... if that is what we wanted to do for our anniversary... but I am so happy that we did. It was so fun, and very festive for being in Switzerland.

This is us walking to the dinner place. :)

In beautiful Switzerland!!!

 us at dinner.

the dinner program had traditional swiss music etc... 

They even had a contest, and wished us HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.

Cruz was "LUCKY" enough to be part of the contest.

He had to yoodle.

Which was especially funny because before we left for dinner, he asked "what is a yoodle." Good thing we had this conversation. It was so funny. He wasn't very good. ha ha. 

But he gave it his best Yoodle-odle-dee-hee!

He also go to blow in one of those long horns you see above.

Really fantastic way to spend your 3rd Wedding Anniversary!

I wish I had the movie... still sad about loosing our pictures etc. Dang. 

11.11.11

Are you doing something festive for 11.11.11?
At the very least I will making a wish and giving my love a kiss at the pm hour, since we are both at work we can't do the am one. ;)

Today is already fantastic. My cute husband that couldn't sleep made me a yummy breakfast before we both headed out to work. It was delicious, and warmed me up.
also...
I am grateful for those who have served and are currently serving for our country. So that we can enjoy all  the freedoms that we have. I don't want to forget their families for their sacrifices; so a huge thank you to you too. I am lucky to live in a free and safe land. THANK YOU.

Happy 11.11.11!!

Brussels 2011

Second Stop was BRUSSELS: (Europe trip continues...)

Day three: Brussels was a very short visit just about a 20 hour visit. It took a long time to get here. But the views along the way were fantastic. We first took a ferry across the channel, which was fun. Then it was time to meet up with our official tour director and tour group. Our tour director was Ilka, and she is seriously one smarty pants. I felt like she new everything about Europe. Our group that we were with ended up being really great too. Lucky us, I guess. Ok, so when we pulled into the hotel parking lot in Brussels it was so beautiful, there were all these flags and a windmill thing, and green grass with lots of trees. We got checked into the hotel, and then we were off again for a historical tour of the city. It's a small place so we got to see lots of the highlights in a short time.
We then went to the town square. I love that place. I loved to cobble stone streets, and all the cute little shops that were filled with yummy chocolate, and other fun treasures.

BRUSSELS favorites and facts:

1. French Fries are really from Belgium, not France. You can get them everywhere!
2. Mussels are the MUST HAVE Belgian cuisine. (Cruz ordered this for dinner, it was a huge pot filled with peppers, onions an delicious mussels.)
3. Belgium Waffles are so amazing! There is a reason why they are Belgium Waffles. Mine was topped with chocolate and fresh strawberries. YUM! I need to go back to Belgium just to get another one... they are that good.
4. Town square is fun at night, they had color changing lights on the town building. Plus Music to go with. It reminded me of Christmas kind-of. ;)
5. The Picture above that is on the bottom right: shows all the highlights of Brussels, Manneken Pis (Peeing boy) See his story here, he is eating a Belgium waffle, and then a chocolate store, and also featured in the store is the Smurfs (The Smurf comic strips are by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo.)!!! Well Belgium is also known for it's beer, but since I don't drink I didn't care about it.

We were able to meet up with our friends who live in Belgium, which was so fun and a huge plus. We had waffles with them, and we got a little bonus tour hanging out with them. We got to see the Atomium, and also the university there. Thank you Roman and Ani! We loved visiting with you.

to be continued...

London 2011

For our 3rd anniversary we went to Europe!
It was amazing, a trip of a life time.
We loved every second.
I am still morning the loss of our pictures. They were on our laptop and the hard-drive went bad. We didn't back it up, we tried to have it recovered with nothing working. A sad lesson to learn with pictures that you can't re-take. My handsome husband tells me "well we will just have to go back so we can take new pictures." I am still very sad. I am thankful that they are on facebook; well, some of them are. They are now low res, and if we printed them... they would be blurry, but at least we can see them. 


First Stop was LONDON: (a long, post.)

(Top left: Piccadilly street, Top right: London street, with double decker bus in background, bottom left: in front of london bridge, bottom right: on the river cruise.)

Oh, how we loved London.
First adventure started when we got off the plane and Cruz was almost deported. Long story... and kind of a funny one now that it is over. He is from Venezuela and so he has a Venezuelan passport, which he just renewed and it is valid for one more year. However, when they renewed it he didn't get a new booklet; he just got a stamp thing that says that it is valid for another year. Venezuelans do not need a visa to go to Europe unless... they have the old style of passport. (Like my husband did.) The kind that doesn't have a chip in it. So, he was detained for 2 hours, when we checked on this before we planned our trip the embassy told us Venezuelans don't need visas to go to England or Europe. So... while I was sent into the air-port to wait his fate. I was so sad. They gave me NO hope that he'd be let into the country. They made me feel like he was going to be sent home. I cried as I walked to the baggage claim. I had to pick up my baggage and enter into the regular part of the airport on my own, I met our tour director and he was really nice and positive. I talked to the information desk and they gave me no hope telling me about the common area where I could say good-bye to my husband before he was sent on a plane back to the states. This is not what I had planned for our 3rd year anniversary trip. I had to sit waiting for the next hour wondering what would happen. Holding back the tears, I waited.
Meanwhile....
Cruz was being questioned, and the people were all very nice. They basically did a application for a visa right then and there. They let him in the country with a warning, and after some paperwork was filled out they offered him sandwiches and soda/drinks while he and his new friend Peter (a worker in the detainment office) watched a soccer game. Finally he was able to call me, and give me the news.
I was so relieved, and excited for the real trip to begin.


Our hotel in England was very nice, and had a modern design. It was also very close to the tube station which allowed us to go anywhere we wanted with out much trouble. We stayed at the Novetel, I would stay their again.


The first night we arrived we went on a optional excursion with our tour. We took a cruise on the River Thames that included dinner at a traditional english pub. I ate fish and chips for dinner... not really that impressed. Cruz had a English beef pie, it was very flavorful. The night cruise on the river was fantastic, colder than I had expected but we got the history of the area and a view of most of the main tourist attractions.


Day two: we enjoyed the fantastic breakfast buffet at our hotel, and it filled us up until the evening. In the morning we went to big ben, westminster abbey and rode the london eye. It was really fun to go on the London eye... a view of the entire city. We walked the streets for a while until we headed back to the hotel to catch the bus to take us to Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace is The Queen's official London residence, though I am sure she wasn't there at the time. I believe that it is only open to the public in Aug and Sept. so we were lucky to have gone during this time. We walked the halls and got to see Kate's wedding dress, and also their cake. I loved every second of it. I loved all the fancy details in every room. I wished that we could have taken pictures, but they weren't allowed. As part of the tour we also got to see The Royal Mews houses the State vehicles, both horse-drawn carriages and motor car are stored there.  Cruz was very impressed by the carriage that was 4 tons of gold. We also went to piccadilly street which was lots of fun, with street performers and fun little pubs and cafes. We had a yummy dinner, we sort of shared our food. A sausage dish with mash (potatoes) and another english pie. For dessert we stopped at an adorable little bakery. We continued walking the streets of london until late into the night stopping at every tourist spot we felt important. London was great, the people were friendly for the most part. The lines weren't long and we felt like we had a great taste of London for only being there 2 days. We hope to go back one day. :)


Day three: We woke up ate breakfast, and we were on a bus that took us on a last little tour of England. We were headed to the ferry to cross the channel and eventually would end up in Brussels, Belgium. 

to be continued...

November SUBWAY art. { FREE PRINTABLE }

This is one of my most favorite months. It is the month I think that people think more about GIVING, and being thankful.

The other day I read this quote on pintrest.

"It is not happy people who are thankful. It is the thankful people who are happy."

I think it is so important to look at what great things life has given you. What your blessings are. I think when I do that, I notice that I am more blessed then I realized. So, I hope that I can have more gratitude this month. I love the wonderful holiday of THANKSGIVING. It is a great holiday filled with food, family and thankful hearts. I love all the traditions that go with it. 

And here is the NOVEMBER subway art that I promised. (printed size is 8x10)

To download your copy click here. 

© Christina Marcano. For personal use only.

enjoy! I am going to put mine in a frame today. :)

Halloween 2011

We had such a fun and festive HALLOWEEN this year!!!!

Friday was the party me and my friend Camie have been planning for all month.

We had a great turn-out, and most everything came together with out any issue. I loved how the chip dip turned out with the sour cream spider web. The cup-cakes looked great, and the popcorn cones were better than expected. Everyone loved the soda labels. The witch hats looked cute, the ice cream was kinda tricky... but it was a great party. Thanks to all those who came, and brought yummies to share.

We were parting until 2:30 am. So, I am guessing people were having fun. ;) Everyone was festive and came in costume. I was impressed at all the creative things people came up with.

My family had a party on Sunday. It was also very festive. The little kids stole the show, like always. Kevin wore Tyler's (who is serving an LDS mission) batman suit, which was awesome. Little David also liked the batman mask. Emma liked the little pumpkin, and kept showing us where the eyes, nose and mouth were. The taco soup turned out yummy, and the chips, cheese, sour cream made it downright heavenly. We had lots of yummy desserts and treats. Thanks family for joining in on the festive-ness.