Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

.Christmas time in Italy is beautiful! Cold, but beautiful. Buon Natale a tutti!
.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Permesso di Soggiorno

.Anyone staying in Italy for more than 8 days needs to apply for a Permesso di Soggiorno, Permit of Stay. Basically, every foreign national needs to register at the police station. If you are staying in a hotel or vacation rental, they should register you themselves (this is why they record the information on your passport when you check in). If staying with family, friends or at your own residence, they you need to go to the local questura, police station and do so within 8 business days of arriving. I applied for my permit in mid-April of 2007. This process used to take a few weeks, but fortunately (not!) for me, the system was changed in March 2007. It has taken almost two years (slight exaggeration, but not much) to obtain my permesso. High five and Merry Christmas to me!
.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

La Parrucchiera

.This is my hairdresser, Cristina. She is amazing and amazingly beautiful. The first time she cut my hair I had her cut it in the style she was wearing at the time. This last time I went to get my hair cut by her, I was disappointed to see she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail. I thought she was going through one of those "growing it out" phases. Anyway, she asked how I wanted my hair cut and I told her I had wanted to see her hair. It wasn't actually a request, just a simple statement. God love her, she immediately started pulling out pieces to show me the lengths. She completely messed up her slicked back hair and didn't give a second thought to fixing it again. I love that. I love her. I now have bangs too, by the way. Oh-oh, am I a stalker?
.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Cypress Trees

...Random beauty in Pischiello, Umbria.
.
.