We haven’t stopped fantasizing about Cinque Terre since we left- it’s heaven on earth. It’s a popular daytrip from Tuscany or Pisa, and cruise ships dock in Livorno or La Spezia, but I’m going to shoot you straight- if you want the full Cinque Terre experience, you have to stay in one of the towns.
David and I had just finished singing Asher his bedtime song, and were settling on the couch for an hour or two of work with 90 Day Fiancé on in the background, when I swiped open my email and saw an invitation to the White House. I was already heading to DC to take part in the #trendingup conference, for creators who use their platform for social impact, so I thought it was just part of that, related to our offsite visits, but Joe Biden was I wrong…
This email came from the White House digital team with an invitation to share my thoughts with the team in the West Wing and have a q&a with senior staff. Um what?!? The five-year-old immigrant girl in me couldn’t quite believe what she was reading. The folks at the White House want to hear from me? What a genuine honor… but also like.. really? They had to have seen my many criticisms of their boss online… are they sure they want to hear what’s going to come out of my mouth? My platform may not be massive, but using it to advocate for important causes has long been a priority. So despite imposter syndrome and a case of nerves, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I was turning this invite from Joe and co down.
I’m still pinching myself over our amazing trip to Europe. Two and a half weeks in Paris and Barcelona was the babymoon of my dreams, and I feel so lucky that we were able to fit it in to our crazy spring schedule. (And I do mean crazy- we came home just in time to start unpacking before David’s ankle reconstruction surgery!)
Before I get into recapping our trip, I wanted to share a bit about our flight (we flew on Norwegian Air’s aptly named new Dreamliner, and it was so SO nice) and the in-flight habits i rely on to make long-haul travel just a little easier.
Five years of marriage seems to have flown on by, and David and I certainly thought it was worth celebrating. As usual, our insane schedules conspired against us, so it wasn’t until several weeks after our actual anniversary that we headed off to sunny beautiful Puerto Vallarta. But we had the loveliest, most relaxing stay at Casa Kimberly, and it was beyond worth the wait.
Right before we moved, we escaped the packing madness for a short staycation near the beach. The Kinney in Venice was kind enough to host us for a little respite, and it was so nice to run away from the mess. It blows my mind just how endless packing was- such a beating. Comparatively, the Kinney was heaven on earth!
As a little girl growing up in the NYC suburbs, my favorite field trip of the year was when my class would visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So it’s no surprise that I still love it as an adult- my mom and I spent nearly a whole day there this summer. And though David doesn’t adore museums the way I do, an afternoon at the Met was the perfect respite from a very rainy day during our last trip.
It was just a bonus that it gave me one more look at this year’s Costume Institute exhibit, ManusXMachina, right before it closed. Fashion in the Age of Technology honored designers and the intricacy of couture workmanship, and it may well be my favorite museum exhibit ever.
While we were in New York, though it was for Fall Fashion Week, the weather was unseasonably hot. Since it felt like midsummer, we wanted to take as much advantage of it as we could. So one morning, instead of heading straight to fashion shows, we walked to a little bakery, and made our way into Central Park and to the boathouse.
Man, oh man, it was good to be home in New Orleans. The official excuse for the trip was a wedding, for one of my college roommates and sorority sisters. But we always want to spend time with David’s mom, have friends and family to love on, new babies to meet and kiss, so our weekend in NOLA was a long and busy one.
