Currently: October 2024

Wow. I feel like I constantly talk about how ROCKtober is so much more than I expect. While I definitely had in my mind how this fall would go, it has also been so much more than I expected. I have been home less than 3 days a time for more than 6 weeks because of work travel. It has been A LOT. And, within the days that I’m home, there have typically been large scale weekend events that I have been responsible for, which just adds to everything. I was really excited at the prospect of being “done” with those things for 3 weeks before heading to New York for a big work event. Alas, another work trip has made its way on to my agenda next week. Such is life in management and the professional world though.

Let’s get into this month though, shall we?

Disclosure:  This post contains affiliate links for tours and products I love at no additional cost to you.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Bucket Listing:

If you follow me on instagram, you’ll know that something HUGE happened in October. I saw the Northern Lights!!!! This is something that has been on my bucket list for so long. And, it didn’t take some big plan. In fact, it happened inadvertently. I think that’s the craziest part of all. I posted a few photos taken from my iphone on Instagram, but for this post, I grabbed the small handful of shots that I took with my real camera. Since I wasn’t prepared for it, they aren’t quite as amazing as I would have hoped, but I SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS.

On the first night of fall break, I went to bed early (like before the sun went down). I had been in Minnesota all week, and I had done a big event in Houston the Saturday before flying to Minnesota on Sunday. (In short – I was exhausted.) I woke up (randomly) and happened to notice a red hue in my windows. Confused, I jumped up to see what was happening and it was the Northern Lights. I cut my leg on the bed and tripped over my own two feet, leaving a bruise that is still there, but OMG it was the Northern Lights dancing just for me.

While I didn’t get the perfect pictures of them, I am still blown away by the fact I SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!!!!!

Wellness:

I may have alluded to it (briefly and vaguely), but I gained at least 20 pounds in the last year because of stress. No matter what I did on my own, I could not get the scale to move. There are a lot of reasons that I struggled with this, and I was unwilling to accept that this just comes for women of a certain age. I met with my doctor in August, and we put together a plan together. I’ve lost the 20 pounds, and though it has not helped with the hip inflammation (yet), I feel better about myself. While I know there should be a complacency that comes with aging gracefully, I would also say that you have an obligation to your future to your future self to try and figure out what’s going on with your body before its too late. I am so grateful to have a doctor who listens to me, who noticed that there was something not quite right, and who helped me put a plan together to adjust.

Wearing:

At the beginning of October, I went to Minnesota for meetings. I was so excited to take my Sarah Flint perfect stretch boots, which will replace my Stuart Weitzman 50/50 boots this year. (I’ve had my Stuart Weitzman’s since 2019. It’s time.) The Sarah Flint boots have arch support and they are already treated to be water resistant. I had 16-hour days for 3 days, and they served me perfectly. My feet NEVER felt tired or sore. (You can save 15% with my Sarah Flint discount code – SF-SARA-15!)

Unlike my SW boots, they did NOT set off the metal detector, so I didn’t have to take them off. If you’ve ever been that person in the TSA pre-check line, you’ll know why this is such a big deal. I can’t wait to take them to France next month!

Fun fact: I ordered the Sarah Flint stretch boots on sale at the end of the season a couple years ago. I got the size wrong, and they didn’t fit. However, I listed them on the Sarah Flint Sequel site and was able to recoup the money I spent on them. (I LOVE that they offer the Sequel site!) I’m either going that to buy another pair of the stretch boots in another color or the zip bootie to wear with my L’Agence Selma jeans when it finally decides to cool down.

In the last two months, I have figured out that my Marta Scarampi Rachel cape and my Lafayette 148 Gramercy pants are the only way to travel. I have found the Gramercy pants on Gilt recently, so I’ve been diversifying my pants wardrobe from black and navy. While they don’t have pockets, the flat front is super flattering. Despite the fact that it is still SO WARM in Texas, I’ve found that the Marta Scarampi cape is the perfect way to regulate my temperature in airports and on planes.

Drinking:

I think we all know that I love every part of the wine resort at Castiglion del Bosco. We are Drago members of the Castiglion del Bosco winery. This month, they invited us to a members event that included a master class with a wine expert and several winemakers from Tuscany. We had the opportunity to try several Chianti wines and hear directly from the winemakers. The tasting included a typical Tuscan lunch with wine pairings of the 2019 Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino vintages, which definitely surpassed most of the other 2019 producers (for us). The end of the day (for us) included a classical concert, which was truly incredible. We have never done anything like this before, and our only regret is that we didn’t stay for the formal dinner.

Tom has been on a mission to find few other Brunello di Montalcino producers that he loves. We both have been very impressed with the Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona current vintages. I think it will probably be the next Tuscan wine that we start trying in earnest to better understand its complexity. We have also recently purchased a few older vintages from Buon Tempo, which is a winery we visited last November after trying the 2015 vintage at Le George in Paris last summer.

It may still be 90 degrees in Dallas, but we are trying to make cozy wine season start!

Reading:

The French Winemaker’s Daughter

Note: I originally requested an ARC copy of The French Winemakers Daughter because we were visiting Burgundy last summer. All opinions are my own.

Loretta Ellsworth weaves a captivating tale that keeps moving and keeps the reader engaged and intrigued. Immediately, one is immersed into Martine’s world in occupied France. Ellsworth’s powerful and sharp writing allows you to travel alongside a young girl as she tries to survive alone, as a 7-year-old old Jewish child in a worth that fears her very existence. You can feel the confusion, the fear, and the questions that arise in her childlike mind.

Similarly, you are immediately immersed in Charlotte’s world with Henri in romantic Paris. One can quickly see how Charlotte’s story will intertwine with Martine’s at some point. In some moments, I find Charlotte’s character frustrating – lacking in awareness and lacking in depth or complexity. She’s a trope of the independent, successful woman who doesn’t want to let her guard down. Even still, I appreciate how the story unwinds and the part she plays in it. I do appreciate her struggle with the question of who is responsible for returning items that were seized during the occupation of Europe. The book does a fantastic job of grappling with this question that doesn’t always have easy answers and it begs the reader to consider it from a variety of perspectives, too.

Martine’s humanity is beautifully portrayed – the intensity of the emotion, the desperation of the human experience, and a reality that is far from being neatly wrapped up and easily digestible. It’s raw. It’s honest. And, it feels very real.

The end of the book is wrapped up far too quickly and far too neatly for me. Of course we experience the intersection of Martine and Charlotte’s story. Of course we see Charlotte become more open to love. Perhaps what’s most unexpected is what happens with the wine bottle that we hear about within the first few pages of the book. I appreciated that twist.

While the backdrop of Burgundy is secondary to book, I did appreciate the setting and it made me want to learn a lot more about the region and its experiences during the occupation and how it has grappled with the same questions that must surely arise in the present.

The German Daughter

Note: I received an ARC of The German Daughter by Marius Gabriel for review purposed through NetGalley. All opinion are my own.

I was slow to get into this book, starting and stopping it within a few pages a couple of times. (It was me, not the book.) However, once I sat down to focus on it, I devoured it within a day, skipping out on other activities to finish it. The story flips between 1940 and 1968 and does an incredible job drawing you into the stories of Liv, Agnes, and the other characters that shaped their experiences and the trajectory of their lives. Gabriel’s writing transitions effortlessly between WW2 and the Stasi regime in the eastern block that followed the end of the war. The details are raw and vivid, the characters are complex, and the storyline weaves a complicated tale of humanity (and the lack thereof in some cases).

The character arcs are interesting, showing the complexity of the human experience. My own initial inability to get into the book aside, the reader is immediately drawn into Liv’s story and why; her story isn’t given away quickly. From there, your drawn into Agnes’s own tragedy and how it influences her understanding of her own history and her eventual future. You’re introduced to a variety of deeply complex characters whose own stories and actions shape the rest of the book and the stories of Liv, Agnes, and others you meet along the way. A thoughtful reader will likely wrestle with their own preconceived notions.

This novel shed some informative light onto some of the lesser known happenings during World War II and things that happened afterwards. The stories from the Stasi regime are congruent with reported accounts. Gabriel does an incredible job of weaving together a truly life-like and believable tale. I found the details so intriguing and the book so well-written that I’m looking to do more independent research to better understand the complexities raised in the book.

Travel Planning:

It’s officially official! We are traveling with my sister for Thanksgiving! While Tom and I had planned a trip with my mom, we had hoped that my sister would be able to join us. She is fully booked, and we have booked our trip. We will be traveling to Bordeaux and Paris, which isn’t a new itinerary for us. My sister studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, so we’re excited to experience France with her though. We had such a delightful time together last year that I’m excited to visit France with her.

A couple weeks ago, I woke up at 2am (on a school night!) to try and get tickets to The Nutcracker at La Scala in Milan. (You may remember that I did this last summer to get us tickets to see the Paris Opera Ballet in December, which was a HUGE bucket list thing for me!) While the initial date I wanted sold out within minutes, I was able to get us tickets. I was able to secure us a room at the Park Hyatt Milan for those nights, and I’m excited to go back!

In recent developments, we have booked flights to Santiago, Chile for Spring Break! This will be a completely new destination and continent for us. I have been pushing Tom to think about going new places, and we found a great deal to Chile. While I am (slightly) daunted by the idea of two red-eye flights, I am excited about something completely new to us. I ordered a travel guide to start my research.

Photo Editing:

If I’m being completely honest, there hasn’t been much time for photo editing. I think the last photos I touched were from our trip to Beaune. Despite my best intentions, all my creativity has taken a backseat for the past few months. It’s just one of those seasons of life.

I have been thinking about transitioning from my Canon 5D Mark IV to a mirrorless camera. Has anyone done this? One of my staff members had the Canon mirrorless with the adapter on his existing EF lenses, and it was still really heavy. While I had really hoped to reduce the weight of my camera, it doesn’t necessarily seem like it’s possible without replacing my lenses. I would welcome any thoughts on this if you’ve transitioned from DSLR to mirrorless!