Skipping around Florence

This past weekend I had one of the best times of my life! My closest friends threw me my "Addio al nubilato" (Bachelorette party) early since two of my dear friends will not be living in Florence closer to my wedding date. They wrote riddles where I had to figure out what person they were speaking about, then it was my duty to go to their place of business, walk up and say "Dammi un bacio!" (Give me a kiss) : on the cheek of course!

We spent hours skipping through Florence, going to our favorite wineries & restaurants seeing our friends and collecting the innocent kisses. Finally to settle down for one of the best meals at Il Santo Bevitore. Truly, I don't think I have laughed so hard in my entire life - we had so much fun! Everyone was such a good sport, but it just goes to show, that even though there are so many darling people in this town, I could not WAIT to call my honey to get a real kiss from him (hubba hubba!). 

My real true love. 

I have the greatest friends here in Florence who keep me grounded (and also keep the prosecco pouring). 

I am going to miss the ones who are leaving soon, but so glad we were able to celebrate together! 

I love y'all! Thank you for one of the best nights in Firenze!

 

Our good friend Barto at Osteria Santo Spirito with my Riddle about the Hot Gnocchi! This is for you VAL! :)

Nulla Osta!

We just completed the second part of the process here in Italy for obtaining the correct paperwork - The Nulla Osta. Taking care of this piece of paper was a breeze! You receive this document from the U.S. Consulate, so to put it plainly (and a little bratty) - Americans are organized. We live really close to the consulate here in Florence, so we could walk one morning to turn in our papers. As we walked towards the building, we could see a line forming outside. I politely waved my U.S. passport to the handsome, Italian, line controller, police officer, gentleman guy. He quickly came to me and said "Americana!?!?!" I said "SI!' He sweetly asked me skip the line and wait to the side.
"As I giggled, my fianced glared at the handsome fellow". 

I had made my 9:15 am appointment two weeks earlier, so the officer checked my passport to confirm my name was on the appointment list. For security reasons, he asked my fiance to wait across the street. A few minutes later he came over to me to say "Madam, you will go inside in 2 minutes", I politely responded with a smile "Okay!".  2 minutes later, he returns, and calls me by my first & last name and asks me to go ahead through security. Ahhhh, customer service..it is so nice!

I walk into the Consulate and can choose two rooms : Room #1 to obtain a information to go the the United States.  This room was jam packed with people. Room #2 were for people who needed documents for Italy (this is where I go, and it was empty, note taken). I am standing in front of a very nice gentleman who proceeds to tell me "Congratulations on your engagement, give me a few minutes to process this, go pay your money, then I will be done with this when you get back".

I pay my 40 euro, 2 minutes later go back to the counter to the man comes back with my NULLA OSTA, signed, stamped & approved. I entered the consulate at 9:12am, I left at 9:25am with my paperwork. Moments like this I am savoring because I KNOW there will be moments in our future where things will not be this orderly (in either country), nor this quick.
The Americans have said "Va bene" too!

This is where the fun begins!  Now, what do you do with all these documents now that you are in Italy with them? You have to take them to the Prefettura (along with your two special stamps you buy at the Tabacco shop) and get them "legalized". So we walked to this office (they said they were closed, but were open!) took our number and waited, along with dozens of other foreign people for them to call our number. Thankfully, we only waited for 45 minutes to get our Nulla Osta legalized.

So here is a synopsis thus far about the process of getting married: 

April 5th - Appointment at the Italian Consulate (IN USA) Atto Notorio

April 19th - Appointment at the US Consulate (IN ITALY) Nulla Osta

 Official Information to Getting Married in Italy

We thought that morning that were having such luck (that is what they say here when things are done in a sense of order, that its "luck") that we might as well head on over Palazzo Vecchio and turn everything into them. So that is what we did!!!

And then........to be continued...........

Outside the US Consulate - Florence, Italy with Nulla Osta

Amerigo & America Contemporary Women's Art in Florence

Five months ago I became the President of the Young Anglo Women's Network (YAWN) here in Florence. We are a group of women (of all ages) who gather monthly to form friendships, network, socialize, and most importantly, strive to build a positive community in the environment we live in being expatriates.  Shortly upon settling into my new role as the head of this women's group, I was personally invited by Leslie Buskirk of Network (another women's expat group) to be a part of this full scale art show called "Amerigo & America : Contemporary Art in Florence". This show is a part of a series of events that are taking place all over Florence this year commemorating the death of Amerigo Vespucci and his connection to the United States. The planning had been underway between Leslie with Network, and Karen Shannon with the American International League (AILO) for many months, so team YAWN had some catching up to do.

Team Yawn : Allison Miller, myself and Sara Amrhein

Many weeks later, many emails later, many meetings later : we successfully had our opening night at the beautiful Palagio di Parte Guelfa that the Comune di Firenze, and the Amerigo & America Committee so graciously offered the three women's group's as the exhibition space. A beautiful venue, dating back to the renaissance, was a truly blessing for all of our artists to be able to show our work , especially as women in Italy. For this alone, we are very thankful.

The show was inaugurated by US Consul General Sarah Morrison, Robert Shackelford, secretary of the Association of American Colleges & University Programs, Author (and inspiring!!!!) Linda Falcone, as well as Rosanna Cirigliano, journalist & editor of Vista Magazine.

The exhibition was a perfect balance of sculpture, paintings, drawings and photography. My good friend Alison Miller helped coordinate the Art of Giving Back portion of the exhibition through Elaine Poggi's Foundation that were also included in the Amerigo & America exhibition.

For me personally, I would like to thank my partner (and artist!) through every step of this process, Sara Amrhein for her hard work and dedication. She rocks my world. Did you know she writes a super-fantabulous blog too? Yup! Go read it! When in Florence.When in Florence . I would also like to thank the YAWN Artists, AILO, Network Artists and Healing Art photographers for all their beautiful pieces of work, and keeping us organizers focused on the purpose of the show : to showcase women in art.  I cannot forget to mention to ALL the women behind the scenes in each of the three groups that made this exhibition possible, you all are truly incredible. You know who you are.

Here are some of the photos from fellow, blogger friend Birgitte Bronsted from A Dusty Olive Green

∞ Words of the week ∞

Ray of Light

I have been back in Florence for a little over a week, and since returning the days have been filled with gray skies and lots of rain. This has been matched with some unfortunate situations dealing with local people. I know I have only lived here for three years so I have a lot to learn about the mentality of the people. My fiance is now saying "Ahh finalmente you are starting to learn". How to act, and more importantly : React.

I try my hardest to keep negativity off this blog because I know many of my readers don't want to read about how life can be really daunting & challenging for us expats who are used to order and respect for one another. Who wants to read about how back stabbing, selfish and manipulative people are? I am certain this happens back home in the United States, but I never personally felt it while living there. 

Here I feel it every-single-day, and I am exhausted. I am tired of going into places of business to purchase something of great value for my fiance, to have the salesman ask me why I am there so late because he has to go play soccer (during his opening hours). I am tired of Italians stealing ideas and never giving credit for them. I am tired of women here back-stabbing each other - we are supposed to be supporting each other. I am tired of being treated like I am nuisance. These are a few examples  that combined make up the greater part of the daily life here. I am not saying everyone is not kind hearted here, but if someone is openly nice, I want to give them a hug because it's so rare! Please note I rarely talk about the people in Florence, just how beautiful it is.

Hold on y'all, stay with me - there is light at the end of my rant. So this is how my week has been going since returning back to Florence. I went to yoga last night to release some tension because I was just about at the end of my rope. As always, the class was amazing and as I walked home, across the Ponte Vecchio, the sun was setting over the Arno River.

Ironically, everything went silent and I remembered what my friend had told me a few hours earlier: "There is always something good in every experience you just have to find it".

 She is absolutely right. As I watched the sky turn from a cobalt blue to a soft gold I thought to myself that I cannot let people who live in negativity get to me, I have to continue to focus on the people that I do adore here (there are plenty of them!!!!) and my family. Basta. Nothing else matters. Start saying "No". Focus on the good! I swear at that exact moment there was  some sort of clarity that I could continue here, keep plugging away and stay focused. I have so many beautiful things happening in my life in Florence this year to think about!  

Shortly after, it started to rain again. God's timing is so amazing.

The Art of Giving Back

I was fortunate enough to be a part of this wonderful project recently through US & Florence based The Foundation for Photo Art in Hospitals. These photos are on their way to East Jefferson General Hospital in New Orleans, as part of the program of events to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of the Florentine explorer, navigator and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512). 

Contributing photographers who participated were... Allison Miller, Christine Dickert, Jamie Linda Morris, Melanie Scott, Sara Amrhein, Paul Mitchell, Viola Fantoni, Robert Nordvall, along with photos by founder Elaine Poggi.

Here are a few of the samples, for the full project, you can visit the Foundations FB Page  

Photo by Elaine Poggi

Photo by Allison Miller

Photo by Sara Amrhein

Photo by Christine Dickert

Happy Easter, Buona Pasqua!

I hope everyone has a beautiful day with friends & family!

with love from the United States, Christine

Atto Noto!

This week we completed the first step of getting married in Italy : The Atto Notorio. I will keep this brief, because I know none of my readers really care about how daunting this stuff is. However,  its time consuming, frustrating, and sometimes impossible to get clear answers from people in Italy about the process. So we decided to get our papers in the United States at the Italian Consulate. Since I am a resident of Georgia, I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Miami since that is where the jurisdiction falls for my state. Hallelujah! Who doesn't like a few days in sunny Florida?

I pulled up to the address that my representative from Italian Consulate gave me, 4000 Ponce de Leon Avenue. There was no Italian flag outside, and it certainly did not look like a consulate or embassy building. We walked inside the large glass doors to a beautiful, modern, marble filled lobby. Perfectly adorned with over sized modern art, and residents who lived in the same building wearing their fancy clothing & designer sunglasses.  I felt like I was a visitor to see Roberto Cavalli instead of going inside a shitty government building. I gave my ID to the security guard downstairs who instructed me to take the elevator to see my rep on the 5th floor. 

As we walk out onto the 5th floor, my dreams of luxury faded quickly as we were standing in not only a typical government room, but a typical Italian room. Everyone was standing around with muck faces, no one had a clue where to stand or where to go, bad furniture, a metal detector that did not work, and 1980's art displayed crooked on the wall.  Even the men behind the glass counters were hand gesturing at all us little people who had come there to ask questions. "ehhh??? bhhoo?? che dici??" I was back in Italy. I stood there attempting to form a proper queue for a few minutes (it worked!), to tell the gentleman that I actually had an appointment. A few minutes later, I hear over the loud speaker "Chriiiiiistiiiiiine!" I was thinking to myself, this is already a miracle we are being called back so quickly. 

My rep at the Italian consulate was fabulous. She made us laugh and had us in & out of there within an hour with all the documents I needed signed, stamped & approved! I was explaining to my friends how smooth of a process this was, and how lucky we were to have such a pleasant experience. I hope to not ruffle any feathers here, but I have not had good experiences with this sort of thing in Italy, not to mention with women in Italy.  There is always this jealousy or pinned up animosity I feel from some women in Italy, and this was not the case yesterday afternoon. My rep was happy for me, polite, courteous and really really funny. Overall, it was a pleasant experience and I am super excited to have it wrapped up and return to Florence soon. Ciao !

Yoga Challenge - Finale

Hi everyone in Blog land! I am back and ready to write again! I cannot think of a better way than to wrap up my series with the fabulous people in Florence at 19r Yoga & Pilates. The journey the last few months with them has been invigorating, challenging, fun, difficult, delightful, and empowering!

I did not reach my goal of weight loss, but that is absolutely okay because that is life! We set goals, some we achieve, some we don't.  I did lose 13 lbs (6 kilo), but more importantly I am happy with who I am, in this moment in my life, regardless of the number on the scale. I am happy I stayed committed to the 60 day Yoga challenge, that now its a part of my everyday life. Not just the 90 minute physical practice, but also the mental practice that manifests it's way into your day to day life is what is so beautiful about Yoga. 

I want to thank my friend Shari for introducing me to yoga and how it would help me manage my headaches, because it has saved my life in dealing with them everyday. I also want to thank Melissa, Lauren & Hanna for being incredible teachers at the studio, and for being so gracious in their time & commitment to all of us yogi's in Florence. You gals rock my world! Namaste.

Bella giornata, heavy hearts ♥

Today I am feeling very grateful for the special people in my life. I love my fiance for supporting me in so many ways that words could never explain. I feel blessed to have so many incredible friends here in Florence & abroad that keep my mind focused on the important things in life. 

This entry is dedicated to two women who always remind me to continue to dream, stay positive and have faith in God : My mother & mia nonna Kiki. 

Oggi è una bella giornata, buon weekend tutti!

edit: I wrote this entry on Saturday evening, then Sunday morning my kindred spirit grandmother, Christine Jones (Kiki) went to heaven to be with my grandfather. 
Rest in Peace to the greatest woman I've ever known.

Source : Le foto più belle di Firenze / Photographer : Stephanie Teplansky

Colors of Florence ~ Verde

There is not so much green space in Florence, so with my camera in tow, on today's afternoon walk, I captured a few of the charming green tidbits throughout the Old City.

 

Breathe - Respirare - Yoga Challenge, Week 7

I am nearing the end of my 60 day Yoga Challenge with the amazing group of ladies here at 19r Yoga Firenze. So, I've been thinking about how to wrap up my last couple of entries for my readers. It's almost impossible for me to know how to do this because the art of yoga is unending and there is so much to learn about ourselves and the practice! What I do know is that one of the most beautiful things happened last week during a couple of my practices at the studio.

One class I was taking with Lauren, and I was feeling mentally and physically really strong. I was having a good day, I felt confident, and my headache was minor. At this point in my life, this is is nothing short of a miracle, so, going into a practice like this is really - FUN. So, naturally with Lauren's amazing guidance I was able to move through the practice & push myself into poses that I had no idea I was capable of. Wowzers! I left class that night feeling even better than I did coming in. Soooo, fast forward to the next night. I was feeling the exact same! In traditional exercise I would think that you could probably achieve the same amount of "accomplishment" again. Not in Yoga. The very next night, I was back at the studio, and the strangest thing happened to me. I literally could not do one posture. The opening sequence I talked about in a previous post called the Sun Salutations I could barely get through. I was exhausted all of sudden, I was shaking, I was an absolute trainwreck.

What I came to realize is that my ego needed a reality check. I had to tell myself to be okay with not doing as much as I did the night before. It is okay to set goals, but is not okay to get ahead of ourselves and push ourselves too far. I should of approached this class with open-ness instead of eagerness to achieve the same thing from the night before.  This idea manifests itself in ways into our daily life in more ways that you can imagine. It is so beautiful.

The only, yes only thing, that got me through this class was my breathing (Prana, or Life Force as they call it in Yoga). My instructor said to me later "Don't worry, everything is okay as long as you are breathing". We take our breath for granted, which provides us with everything. Obviously if we don't have this - we aren't alive, so she is absolutely right! When challenging things in everyday life come up - just breathe! Stay tranquillo. It is really that simple :)

This pose below I could of lived & breathed in all week was Matsyasana or "Fish pose". 

This feels so good on your neck, throat, upper back and belly. 

Until next week's finale week with 19r Yoga! Namaste. 

Places I love ♥ : Trattoria Anita

I keep forgetting to write about this little spot that is one of my favorites! It is owned by three, funny brothers from Basilicata, a region in the Southern part of Italy. So, it's no surprise that the service here is a little bit better compared to other joints in Florence, where the service can be a nothing to run home to tell your friends about (sorry, y'all but its the truth!)

It's tucked away off the main streets of the historic centre, so you need to get your street map handy, but its worth the find on Via Parlascio 2/r (close to Piazza Signoria & the Uffizi Gallery).  My favorite dish here is the 'Tagliolini al tartufo".  Che buono!

Stop in for pranzo (lunch) for really good, quick & affordable meal, or it's a great spot for a relaxing dinner too!

 Source : 2spaghi.it

∞ Words of the week ∞