Golf on the Ponte Vecchio

December was such a busy month that I never got around to sharing these neat photos of a golf tournament on the Ponte Vecchio. They place a bunch of green islands in the river (of varying degrees of difficulty) and golfers try to land on them. We watched for about a half hour and only saw one person make it on the furthest green!

New Obsession for My Instagram Obsession

You might call it a circle of obsession.

Happy Birthday to me! A few days ago my first Stickgrams arrived in the mail and I am totally obsessed. For $15 (at least that's the price here in Italy) you get to turn nine of your favorite Instagram photos into magnets. The price includes shipping, so I thought, why not try it.

They are awesome. For real. I'm scoping out every possible magnetic location in the apartment to bling with these things. Currently, they are all over our little red file cabinet.

I LOVE companies that print photos in creative and fun ways. I'm currently looking for a really good site to use to make a photo album of our first year in Italy. I made my parents a beautiful album for their visit, but wasn't thrilled with the customer service/turnaround I received from the company that I used (even for such a gorgeous product, I can't bring myself to reuse the company). Any suggestions for great, high-end photo book sites?

Christmas Market in Santa Croce

Yesterday we took a mid-afternoon walk (with Winston, obvi) to the German-style Christmas Market in Santa Croce. This is our first Christmas in Florence, so we're excited to see as much as possible. As soon as we arrived at the market, we were instantly drooling over strudel, pretzyls, cookies, candy, spices and more. If Winston wasn't with us I'm pretty sure we would've lingered for a while and made some bad (but oh-so-delicious) food decisions. We did warn Winston that if he misbehaved too much on the walk that he'd end up like the roasted big below (kidding, kidding).

It was a perfect, overcast early winter day -- crisp, but not cold, and quiet. It is amazing how the city transforms this time of year. We walked by the Uffizi, through Piazza della Signoria and it was so enjoyable. No crowds and peaceful. I wonder what July visitors to the Uffizi (that waited in line for 4 hours) would think about seeing the place totally empty.

What other holiday events in Florence do we need to know about this month? We don't want to miss anything!

P.S. This was Winston's longest walk in a long time and we were so proud of him! A few months ago he was diagnosed with Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration (SARDS). It's been a huge adjustment for us all, but he's been such a trooper. I think the quieter city streets this time of year are helping to make him more confident walking around!

Living in Florence: Sunset

One of the great things about having guests in town was that I grabbed my camera to take on outings a lot more. I've been slacking when it comes to taking photos recently, so it was nice to get out and capture the city I love at it's best. This photo of the Ponte Vecchio was snapped the same night as this one facing the other direction.

Latest Instagrams from Florence

  

  

It has been a little while since I shared Instagrams that we've snapped around town. These are some of my favorites!

Do you use Instagram, too, and want to follow us? My username is kathryn_anne.