Currently: September 2025

Wow, September felt long. What a chaotic month. I’ve been in Italy, Houston, Washington, DC, and all over the metroplex. We hosted a lot of events for work. It has been long, long days. Last weekend, after our big event on Saturday, I decided that I would not do anything work related on Sunday. I’m trying to do the same today. The world weighs so heavy for the work that we’re trying to do. There have been so many challenges, and I think we’re just at the beginning of most of them. That being said, I think it’s more important than ever to show up in the ways that bring you joy.

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.

Celebrating:

We spent our 12th anniversary at the St. Regis Florence and continued the celebration in Montalcino, which is Tom’s favorite hill town in Tuscany these days. We had a truly lovely trip filled with seeing all our favorite people. In addition to going back to Cinghiale Bianco and Vini Vecchi e Sapori (twice!), we had the opportunity to try Cosimo, the new rooftop restaurant at the newly-renovated Excelsior Hotel. It was really lovely. They had wines from Ciacchi Piccolomini on the wine list, which is one of Tom’s favorite wineries, too. (The black truffle pasta was incredible, too!) It was actually very sweet because Eduardo, the sommelier for the Winter Garden at the St. Regis, walked us over to ensure that they took good care of us.

We flew home from Rome on our actual anniversary, so I made pasta at home that night. However, the night before we had dinner at Il Pozzo in Sant’Angelo in Colle (near Montalcino). They have THE BEST wine list. We were spoiled by it both nights we ate there. We had the 2015 and 2016 Sesti Brunello di Montalcino, as well as a 2019 Castiglion del Bosco Millecento and a 2023 Baricci Rosso di Montalcino.

Eating & Drinking:

Marco from Cinghiale Bianco sent us home with ragu di cinghiale, so I made that for a dinner I hosted at home the following weekend. I also made my penne arribiata with some peppercinos he sent us home with as well. The peppercinos add a rich complexity to the sauce that makes it even better. How lucky are we to know so many people who find ways to continually enrich our lives, not just when we’re traveling?!

Last weekend I made fresh pasta with Bolognese sauce as a thank you to my mom and my cousin. I also made a toasted almond-pear torte from the first class at the Ritz Paris Escoffier that I ever took! We purchased some of the ingredients before coming home this summer. There are still a few more things I want to purchase to make baking at home a little easier (hopefully). I think it turned out pretty good, but there are definitely some harder-to-find ingredients that shouldn’t be substituted.

This weekend, I’m going to try to make Beef Bourguignon, as a nod to our trips to Beaune. We’ll see how that turns out. I’m excited and nervous.

Wearing:

I haven’t been feeling my best lately. (Blame the fatigue.) It’s also still 90+ degrees in Dallas. In addition to all my favorite summer dresses and Sarah Flint sandals, I am still getting a ton of mileage out of my Lafayette148 gramercy pants (some colors on super sale on Gilt!) all year. They are such a great investment and even more so if you find them on sale! I’ve used my Marta Scarampi capes a lot more throughout the year, too. (Sometimes the AC is too much but you don’t want to wear a sweater in the summer!) I’ve picked up a few more Wolford bodysuits to pair them with this winter.

I’ve been kind of excited about some fall fashion and cultivated a few things that would be on my fall wish list. I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to take the Castiglion del Bosco members event in a few weeks. Part of it will depend on the weather. I’m hopeful to get to break out some fall clothes though. I really *love* this La Double J asymmetrical top for fall. A few weeks ago, I did snap up this draped Kallmeyer top that was on my summer wish list. I think it will be really cute with my J Brand Maria skinny jeans and my Sarah Flint stretch boots this fall (save $200 with Sarah Flint discount code YAY200).

Travel Planning:

The next big thing on our agenda is the members event at Castiglion del Bosco. I am so excited about being back there with our friends. (Tom will also have the opportunity to debut his custom sports coat that we won at the February event in Dallas!) After that I’ll be home for a few weeks before heading on back-to-back trips to NYC and Virginia for work. I’ll be back in NYC again for work right before Thanksgiving.

We are taking a family trip with my mom and my cousin for Thanksgiving. While it will be all places I’ve been (and love), it will include some new places for both my mom and my cousin. I’ve been working on finalizing those details this week. Stay tuned for that itinerary though.

We are still very much up in the air for December. I’m working on coordinating with some friends as it relates to my birthday. We will end the year in Florence as we always do, but we’re trying to challenge ourselves a bit for our Christmas travel. I really think we need to mix it up and go new places… we just love too many people and places sometimes.

Photo Editing:

There hasn’t been a lot of time this month for photo editing or blogging.

I do want to take a moment in this paragraph to give nod to our sweet friends at the St. Regis. We were upgraded to the contemporary suite for our anniversary stay. (I think this is our third stay in this suite in the last year!) It was much appreciated given how much I worked that week, though I’ve missing the classic Renaissance rooms.

However, more personal than the upgrade, was the note they left in our room, along with the customized amenities. We had a cheese plate and bottle of wine on arrival with the kindest note. (They really feel like old friends and family to us.) One night, we returned to find this amazing chocolate Duomo from Boutique del Cioccolato in our room. And, on our last day, they decorated our room to celebrate 10 years of staying at the St. Regis. The staff took a group photo together for us. It’s truly something we treasure because the entire has staff has been an extraordinary part of why our trips to Florence are always amazing.

(St. Regis Florence always and forever. Let me know if I can help try to make your stays just as magical.)