The Big Thirty-Five Birthday Celebrations

It was a big birthday for me! As the card says – 21 again! Haha. It kicked off the day before my birthday and went a full week and a half with so, so many lovely things. My husband has pretty much mastered gift giving for me. Everything was so thoughtful, well-planned and perfectly executed. I’ve got really great memories from this birthday and wanted to capture it with a blog post. 🙂 Continue reading

The Long Road Home

The end of an era. My mom and Ron are moving to the Outer Banks and have put my childhood home up for sale. To have one last stay in the house and to see my friend Stacey and her family visiting from Alaska, we planned a quick trip to Ohio. So many memories and I left feeling like I didn’t have enough time to revisit many beloved places or see many old friends. Such is life. But everything we did do was incredibly special – starting with Harrison’s FIRST airplane ride. Continue reading

Family Time in Savannah, Georgia

My entire family loves Savannah! It’s less than a four-hour drive from Atlanta and for my brother and Kym, slightly less than the time it takes to drive to Atlanta so it was the perfect meeting spot for a fall getaway. With summer temperatures! It was also Harrison’s FIRST trip to our special city – site of our wedding and many other fabulous adventures.  Continue reading

Family Vacation 2019: Pisgah Forest, North Carolina

Last year before baby was born, Sean and I went to Brevard, North Carolina for a weekend of swimming in waterfall pools, mountain views and quaint towns. We absolutely loved Brevard and Pisgah National Forest and knew we wanted to come back soon. When planning our family vacation for 2019, we decided to stay closer to home than usual and spend an entire week back in Brevard. We Airbnb’d a beautiful house right in Pisgah Forest that had sweeping mountain views but was only 10 minutes from downtown Brevard. This trip also, purposefully, coincided with Harrison’s first birthdayContinue reading

L.A. Getaway

Almost two years ago my very dear friend MeShae took an opportunity for relocation to Los Angeles, California with her company. I was sad of course but knew that she would shine out on the west coast. I wanted to visit but had to find the right time with being pregnant and then having an infant. Sean traveled for work almost half of the summer so I had his full support for a long weekend in LA to spend with my friend. It was a fabulous time! Continue reading

Outer Banks Vacation + Family Time 2019


Tyler and Kym (my brother and sister-in-law) bought a house on the Outer Banks last fall and we finally got to go out there to visit them and see it! It’s truly the perfect house for them, complete with a saltwater pool and gorgeous lake views, while only being a 5-minute drive to the beach. It was the perfect way to spend a 5-day Memorial Day weekend. Trust me, we did NOT want to leave. We had so much fun! Continue reading

Springtime Adventures in Orlando, Florida

I went to Orlando the week before Easter for a conference for work and planned ahead for a long weekend for Sean, Harrison and Daniela to come down. We rented a townhouse off Disney property (so affordable by comparison) that had a beautiful patio with hot tub and lake views, and a big pool, waterslides, etc. on the property. A relaxing Florida weekend in the spring and an opportunity to see our Florida friends and family. Of course, it rained the first night and was too cold to swim the next day (ugh), but the weather was still great for getting out and about. Continue reading

Chasing Waterfalls and Chihuly Lights in North Carolina

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We’ve been asked occasionally if we are taking a babymoon since we love to travel so much. Earlier this winter, I was really struggling with the expense of a big trip knowing we had a baby on the way. We took a huge trip to Japan less than a month before I got pregnant, too. We decided to do some weekend and driving trips that included Chicago, IL (twice for me); Nashville, TN; Austin, TX for Sean; work travel for both of us; Charlotte/Outer Banks/Savannah weeklong vacation; Plains, GA; Pittsburgh, PA and NE Ohio; and our final trip before baby’s arrival – Brevard, NC and the Chihuly exhibit at Biltmore Estate. I don’t think we did too shabby – got PLENTY of travel in this year.

This weekend trip up to the Land of Waterfalls was truly perfect, though. Lots of the other trips involved family and friends so this really was the closest to “babymoon” that we got – and it was the perfect place to unwind and explore gorgeous scenery on our own. Continue reading