Searching for Pink Nuns (plus a cat story and some layouts)

In the weeks leading up to our trip to Rome, I mentioned to several people that I was looking forward to seeing all the different colored habits that nuns of different orders wear. The conversation would then usually go something like this:

friend: "Really? I didn't know nuns wore different colored habits."
me: "Oh yes, when I was a little girl and I went to Rome, I saw all sorts of colors. I saw blue nuns, and black and white and grey. I even saw pink nuns."
friend: (looks skeptical) "Pink? Are you sure about that?"
me: "Yes, I thought it was so cool to see them all walking around Vatican City."
friend: (with that 'I'm humoring your crazy opinion' look) "Well, good luck with that."
So as soon as we got to Rome, I began to keep a running list in my head of the different colored outfits that I saw the nuns wearing. First there was the always-popular black habit. And over the course of our two days in Rome, I saw white, grey, khaki, light blue, navy blue, and black and white together. I was obsessed with spotting nuns. I managed to get photos of a few of the nuns as they walked by.

And while they were taking their lunch.

But sadly, I did not see any pink nuns. I also didn't see any bright blue nuns, which I also remembered from my childhood visit to Rome. In fact, compared to my memories of city where whole troops of nuns went walking by on a regular basis, the city was practically empty this time around. I don't know if this is due to a trend away from the habit, or whether it was simply an issue of timing; the first time I was there, Pope John Paul II was addressing a huge crowd in the plaza. At any rate, I think Alton thought I had made up the pink and blue nuns.
This weekend, I embarked on a new quest: to find evidence of my pink and blue nuns on the internet. And I found them! So here, for all you skeptics, is some photographic proof of what I saw as a child.
First, we have the Holy Adoration Spirit Sisters:

And the Sisters of Mary Immaculate Queen wear bright blue, while the Redemptoristine Sisters wear bright red. I can't get the images of either order to upload, but you can Google them, if you're really interested. I also found dark brown habits, white and red habits, deep purple habits, and white habits with red veils. I don't know why I find the colors of their habits so interesting, but it was a fun little quest this weekend.
In other news, this is what I found yesterday morning when I walked out of my shower and into the bedroom:

I usually have the covers up over my pillows for just this reason, but I was going to change the bed that day anyway, so I didn't bother. Spike looks like she thinks it's her pillow, doesn't she?
I also found time to finish three more pages for my Rome album. Scrap mojo, on!
This first one is another scraplift from Scrapbook Trends, this time from a layout by Heather Bowser. It is intended to complement the "Vestals" layout I posted a day or two ago.

The next two layouts are all my own. They are intended to stand next to each other. I did a little distressing to match the feel of the ruins. There is hidden journaling inside the envelope on the right hand page describing our experiences walking through the ruins and the colosseum.


I'm off to eat dinner and then scrap or stitch, whichever seems most inspiring at the moment. Happy crafting, everyone!