Every time I show my fairly minimal carryon situation via my social media, I’m flooded with questions. You’re traveling for three weeks in that tiny bag? What? How? And do have tips for me for packing for a Europe vacation in a similar manner? Packing isn’t that hard, once you realize you don’t need as much as you think you do. And as I pack for my own summer vacation in Europe next week, I’ve put together a packing guide for those of you who have your own trips coming up in the next few months. Powered by GetYourGuide Tips for packing light Before we get into specifics about packing for a E ..read more

When cruising along the Mediterranean, the first night of our 11-night cruise was somewhere I’d always wanted to visit: the charming waterfront towns of southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. And while there was hardly a town I didn’t love in the coming weeks, visiting the Amalfi Coast was definitely a highlight of our summer trip to Europe. This post was last updated in May 2024. I blame Diane Lane for first introducing me to the beauty of Positano; after all, she sipped limoncello from a seaside cafe there in her 2003 hit, Under the Tuscan Sun. But she certainly wasn’t the last. Wh ..read more

My first visit to Martha’s Vineyard was on a day trip from Rhode Island many moons ago. My mom was obsessed with the idea of channeling her inner Kennedy, and SVV, my dad, some friends and I were all along for the ride. At the time, I oohed and ahhed over the houses, mentally bookmarking where to stay in Martha’s Vineyard if ever I got back to this charming island.   This post was last updated in May 2024. How to get to Martha’s Vineyard We took a very rocky passenger ferry over from Providence, and I spent the duration of it paying homage to the porcelain gods (tempestuous seas and ..read more

As a native Tennessean, there was one thing that was always on my bucket list and that was to see the synchronous fireflies in the Smokies. I also just assumed I’d never be able to get there because it’s a highly competitive lottery process through the National Park Service, and to be honest, I never bothered trying. And then two years ago, as it turned out I was already going to be in Gatlinburg that very week, so I threw my name in the hat and voila, I was chosen! But even after I got the official email, I had a lot of questions leading up to the actual experience, and if you’re planning ..read more

If you’ve been following along awhile, you’ll know my mom and I are on a quest to check off all the major tennis tournaments in the world. We’ve done Indian Wells in Palm Springs, the U.S. Open multiple times, and, most recently, the Cincy Open tennis tournament. We’re also tackling our first international Slams: Roland-Garros next month and the Australian Open in January. And if you’re planning your own tennis trip this summer, here’s how to do just that in Cincinnati. FYI: Tickets going on sale today, so hop to it! About the Cincy Open Formerly known as the Western & Southern Open, the ..read more

When we found ourselves with a stopover in Qatar en route to Thailand, there was no question of whether or not we’d use that as an excuse to explore a new country. I’ve seen very little of the Middle East, and my husband had never been period, so 48 hours in Doha seemed a great way to introduce him to a region so rife in culture—and our flight on Qatar Airways made it a breeze to tack on a few days. This site uses affiliate links. All opinions and expenses accrued were our own. Why go to Qatar? Qatar is a fascinating melding of contrasts: an opulent country populated by humble people, a nati ..read more

My niece turned six this month, meaning there were a couple solid years of the pandemic where she and I spent a whole lot of time together having Taylor Swift dance parties. Lover came out when she was barely one, and she immediately took to it, without any nudging from me (I swear!). So when she asked for a Taylor Swift birthday party to celebrate turning six, who was I to say no? She didn’t go to the Eras tour, so this was the next best thing. For this Eras party, we did a lot of homemade crafts and repurposing of past decorations and photo props I had. If you want to get super elabora ..read more

For me, the big draw of Namibia was the dunes of Sossuvlei, the mirage that they are on fire as the sun rises and sets each day, a scene we were lucky enough to view from a hot air balloon. For my good friend and travel buddy Em, it was all about the allure of the Skeleton Coast. And our whole group was more than eager to dive into this sandy coastal spot especially when we learned we could go sandboarding in Namibia and race each other on ATVs once we arrived at Shipwreck Lodge. The experience did not disappoint—it was one of the highlights of our two-week trip through Namibia. Powered by G ..read more

I had this idea of Namibia in my head: windswept red dunes against a cerulean sky, the skeletons of dead, thorny trees rising out of a cracked white pan. Much of what we saw on the first two weeks exploring every corner of Namibia was not that—however, on our last stop, the empty bubbles of the African paint-by-numbers I had in my head started to fill out. We were here for the drama of the desert, yes, but we were also here for me to check off one big thing from my bucket list: take a hot air balloon ride in Namibia. If you’re one of many people I know who weren’t aware Namibia is even a sov ..read more

For the first time in six years, I didn’t write a monthly recap in December, not because I didn’t have a great month, but because it was so busy, I just lost the time and then before I knew it, it was nearly the end of January and seemed silly to still be writing about the holidays. And now February has almost come and gone, but what are you going to do? Life has been life. In truth, the holidays seems lightyears away. I think, in that month alone, we made up for those unspoken-of-years between 2020 and 2022 when social interactions were few and far between by doubling our calendars in 2023 ..read more