Currently: March 2025
Every so often, the school breaks don’t perfectly line up, so I have to figure out how to work and how to enjoy a little bit quieter time. It’s probably one of my least favorite things because I never feel completely content with the balance. And, it makes planning difficult. However, it is what it is and we adjust. When we figured out that we had to cancel our trip to Chile due to a schedule conflict, we decided to do a spring break trip completely composed of places that we’ve already done. That means places with reliable internet. And, places that we wouldn’t feel bad about missing if I had to work. And so we wrapped up a week in central Italy where our biggest concern was where to go to dinner. It was Tom’s dream trip and it was, admittedly, very fun to see how excited he was about every part of it.
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Eating & Drinking:
At the end of last month, we did another one of the Wine Around the World dinners at Fearing’s at the Ritz Carlton Dallas. We invited a couple from our wine storage, and had a really lovely time. The wine focus was on blended grapes, and it was a truly lovely meal. I think my favorite course was the Korean smoked BBQ pork belly, though there was a mushroom soup that was unreal. We met some new people and had some great conversations. I’m really, really proud of us for pushing beyond our comfort zone and attending these events.
Also in early March, our Castiglion del Bosco wine club came to Dallas to host two dinners with wine pairings of the new releases. We decided to attend both because 1) we love their wines and 2) we were so excited to see our friends from Italy in Dallas! The first dinner was held at La Stella in downtown Dallas. It’s been awhile since I attended something that I considered to be a “Dallas Dallas” event, and this was it. I was so grateful to sit next to Filippo, one of the CdB wine team members that we have gotten to know over the past few visits. He and I both agreed that the polpette della nonna were the best course. I do think the gnocchi tartufo cacio e pepe were very good; I’m not typically a gnocchi fan because they are too dense for me. These were good though. However, for me, the wine stole the show. The pairings were superb, and I remain excited about the 2020 Brunello di Montalcino vintage, though it is completely different from 2019.
A few days later, we were at a dinner at 55 Seventy with the CdB team. This was a completely different experience, and I found the guests to be much easier to connect with in a lot of ways.
We found that we had some shared interests and acquaintances. This dinner was also lovely. It’s hard to say what my favorite course was because we were talking so much.
As with most dinners these days, the wine stole the show for us. I am so exceptionally delighted by a good pairing! Are we now owners of a bottle or two of the Zodiac collection? We might very well be…
And, as an added bonus, the hosting club member gave away a custom jacket, and I won! I will be giving it to Tom so he can have a sports coat made, but that was SO exciting. We’ll be meeting with the designer at the end of April.
Travel Planning:
I’m currently in the middle of a whirlwind work trip to Boston. I got here late Tuesday, drove to Providence, drove back to Boston on Wednesday, and I’ll be home late Tuesday night. It’s an in-person recruiting and interviewing trip since it has not felt like we’ve been able to find candidates in the same way since 2020. One of my friends is also in Boston for work this week, so we were able to celebrate her birthday with her while we are both here… and sneak in some additional time with friends this weekend, too. Hopefully. Work trips are always really hard on me because they require so much extrovert behavior – and then I have to get caught up on everything that I’m missing at the end of the day. It doesn’t ever feel like there’s enough downtime to truly recover. (Isn’t that the story of our lives right now though?)
Looking forward to our upcoming travels, Tom has conceded all trip planning to me for the next 18 months because he got his perfect trip for Spring Break. I still really want 2025 to be the year of new places, so I’m trying to figure that out. Does it mean that we bypass our anniversary in Florence? Should I rework our summer in France itinerary a little more? Should I completely change our Thanksgiving trip? I’m not entirely sure. The problem is that I LOVE seeing our familiar faces and friends when we travel.
Photo Editing:
I am really proud that I used part of spring break to catch up on some blogging. After spending yet another 3 nights in Montalcino, I published an inclusive guide to visiting one of Italy’s most famous wine regions. I updated my post about Castiglion del Bosco to include information about the CdB suite that we enjoyed in January and the daily breakfast.
My St. Regis Florence post is updated with additional pictures of the Arno Junior Suite and the bespoke experiences that they created for us on our last two stays. On our last two stays, we have been in the same junior suite that we had on our honeymoon – the room that started my obsession with the St. Regis Florence.
And, after wrapping up another 2 night stay in Montefalco, I updated that guide with some new restaurants and details about our meals. Not bad, not bad.
I am not 100% sure what I’m going to write about next. I have several drafts going, but if there are things you want to see or know more about, drop your thoughts in the comments!
