Buona Festa della Donna!

Today is La Festa della Donna, or Woman's Day here in Italy. It always falls on March 8, and it's basically a day in which women get together and go to happy hour and hang out with their girlfriends. All except for those women who are ready to crawl into bed by 8:30 because they have a teething 14-month-old whose molars keep waking him up in the middle of the night. Nope--those women are at home. As usual. But I digress...

Women are given these yellow, puffy flowers called mimosas--men give them to the women in their lives, and women give them to each other. They were even handing some out to all the women at the supermarket today, and here are mine:
I know--they look a bit like weeds, don't they? I mean, the thought is nice, and everything, but who thought these flowers would make a good Woman's Day symbol? What about tulips? Or roses? Or jewelry? Or...I know...shoes! A nice pair of Italian leather shoes. Now that's my idea of celebrating Woman's Day.

Although my preschooler did come home today and present me with this:

Cute, huh? I guess a finger-painting of a pair of shoes wouldn't have the same effect, would it?

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For all you females out there, if you don't get flowers (or colorful, puffy weeds) today, go ahead and treat yourself to a pair of Italian shoes. Or whatever floats your boat. Especially if your name is Donna (which means "woman" in Italian). Or Regina (which means "queen.") The Donnas and Reginas of the world definitely qualify for two pairs of shoes.

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Happy Woman's Day!