Romney's Guest Post

Once upon time, Crystal and I worked together at Illuminet / Verisign / TNS. I left work to become a mommy and then 6 months later my family moved to Wisconsin. Although, that was eight years ago, Crystal and I have not only remained friends but become really close friends. In fact, my kids are pretty sure Jaxon and Brett are their cousins. Crytal and I used to daydream about meeting somewhere for a scrapbooking weekend. We never seemed to make that work... but now I find myself in a hotel in Russia with her, drinking wine and playing on our ipads. Life surprises you. (Note: Crystal has just moved her empty wine glass in front of me and picked up my full wine glass. She thinks I haven't noticed . . . )

So, today's adventure! After breakfast, we spent over an hour walking the streets of St Petersburg looking for the Russian Museum. We took it in stride and once we found the museum, enjoyed the art. We found it odd the pictures were hundreds of years old and not covered. Many rooms had open windows. How, we wonder, will the art last? We lunched on coffee and cake . . . which cost us over $30! Yikes! Back to the hotel . . . where someone . . . fell asleep . . . no worries! I was up in time for our dinner reservation. We ate at the popular Teplo restaurant and made a reservation for Wednesday night when Joe and the kids are here. It was very good and super cute. On our way out, they gave us bags of cookies - yay! (Note: Now Crystal is eating my cookies!)

Then we spent a long time walking around the city. We went to Zara and H&M. And, a hat shop. We got into trouble for taking pictures of us wearing the hats. I bought a fur hat. It is made of squirrel. Yeah, squirrel. I think it makes me look very Russian. To make it more real, I insist Crystal walks with her arm linked with mine. Just like all the other Russian ladies. In fact, someone stopped us and asked us a question in Russian. When she realized we were tourists, she was horrified and hurried away. I felt quite smug. Obviously, my hat makes me look local :) Then Crystal said something funny and I laughed out loud. A guy passing us on the sidewalk stopped to make fun of my laughing. I read about that. Smiling and laughing in public makes people in Russia think you are an idiot. If you have met me, well, then you know. I smile and laugh a lot. And, loudly. So, in summary, I stand out in Russia. The hat helps . . . I'm convinced!

Tomorrow we see Princess P! I am super excited! When I met my daughter, Sadie, she was an hour old and asleep in the hospital. I was so excited I made loud happy noises . . . she woke up and started crying. I'm guessing the same will happen tomorrow with Princess P. I am too excited to control myself. Stay tuned to find out if Crystal throws me out of the room during the visit b/c Princess P is scared of my wild happy American ways!

Great. Now my wine is gone too. Must open another bottle . . .