Housekeeping on Silver-Lined

So many things to blog about today, so little time!!

• First, today is my babiest sister's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Josie!!  That's her above with her favorite boy, our nephew Braxton.

• Second, I thought I'd post a little Halloween fun before the holiday got too far away.  We went to a party at the apartment of some American friends on Saturday night.  We spent $0 on our costumes.  May I present to you a Roman umbrella vendor and the Hamburglar!

Neither costume translates perfectly to pictures since they both require actions.  So, without further ado, here we stage The Great Hamburgling:

We hope you enjoyed that.  Neither of us can stop laughing every time we see these pictures!

• Third, today marks the beginning of National Diabetes Awareness Month!  I think my readership is a bit more aware of diabetes than the majority of the world, but it is still an important time to focus on this disease which affects millions of people around the world.  We don't get the same kind of publicity as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which can be frustrating.  Not that breast cancer awareness isn't important.  Obviously it is.  I have a friend who was diagnosed earlier this year at the age of 27.  She has undergone a double mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, radiation, and is about to start chemo.  So, breast cancer awareness is IMPORTANT.
  
  However, so is diabetes awareness!!  It's a disease that impacts someone for the rest of their life, never goes away, never lets a person off the hook.  And it doesn't just affect those with the disease.  I know that it's on Nick's mind, perhaps not as often as mine but still.  He sees how it affects me, obviously lives the fact that it affects our marriage and almost any situation in our life in some way.
  
  There are so many myths that fly around about diabetes, many of which can be quite offensive.  For example, an acquaintance from high school recently posted a quotation on facebook, something her husband said which she thought was funny.  He said something along the lines of he thought he would catch diabetes from his lunch, with too much sugar in the sweet tea.  And two people "liked" this.  After mulling this over for several minutes, trying to decide if it was worth intervening, I posted the following:
  
  "I've gone back and forth for about 5 minutes about whether I should comment or not.....do I stand up for people with my disease and then seem humorless? Tough call. Anyhow, looks like I decided to comment."
  
  So, I think that my Diabetes Awareness Month advocacy will take the form of attempting to dispel some common diabetes myths via my Facebook status updates.  It might not be much, but maybe someone will learn that it's not appropriate to say certain things, especially to someone who lives with this disease every day.
• And finally, we are leaving for Spain tomorrow!  We'll be headed to Tolosa, a small city in the Basque region, for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.  Hopefully we'll get to see the town a bit.  I just keep thinking about all of the Pintxos we'll be eating.....yummmmmmm.  I'm assuming we won't have internet access while we're gone, but we'll be back in Rome on Sunday.  And then, who knows!  We've got several things in the works for some upcoming adventures....