• Road trip in southern Spain

    alhambra spain

    Last year, my friend Patty and I decided to take a free military flight to Europe and do a girls’ road trip in Southern Spain for about five days. We visited Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada and Rota before heading home, and it was an awesome trip! Because we weren’t 100 percent sure we’d even get on […]

  • SUP yoga in Bahrain

    sup yoga in bahrain

    I have been wanting to try SUP yoga for years, but no one would ever do it with me in California or DC. So imagine my surprise when we moved to Bahrain and my first (and best) friend there turned out to be a certified SUP yoga instructor! Haunani is an awesome yoga instructor on land AND […]

  • Off the shoulder in Barcelona

    travel style off the shoulder dress

    I wasn’t really on board with the off-the-shoulder look when it first started trending. I never thought it looked bad (although some stuff can be weird if it’s not made correctly). It’s just that I thought it was annoying to not be able to lift my arms and to have to wear a strapless bra. […]

  • 9 best date night restaurants in Bahrain

    cut bahrain steakhouse

    One of the things we weren’t expecting when we moved to Bahrain was an amazing restaurant scene, with everything from roadside shawarma stalls to cool, upscale restaurants that made us feel like we were in New York or L.A. Today, I wanted to share a few of our favorite Bahrain date night* restaurants that combine […]

  • 1001 Nights pistachio rose cake

    pistachio rose cake recipe

    Near our house in Bahrain, there’s this fabulous bakery and tea room called The Orangery, and they have a beautiful cake called the 1001 Nights cake, which is pistachio with rose buttercream. That sounded amazing to me, and I wanted to create something similar for our rug flop (sort of like a Tupperware party, but […]

  • Flamenco dots

    polka dot dress red shoes

    Not that I need a reason to wear polka dots, but really, what better occasion is there for a swingy polka dot dress than a flamenco show in Spain? I had gotten this super cute dotted dress a few months before I went to Barcelona last year, but I hadn’t had the chance to wear […]

  • Visiting the Abu Dhabi Louvre

    Visiting the Abu Dhabi Louvre

    I’ve visited the Louvre in Paris several times, and was thrilled to be able to visit the brand new Abu Dhabi Louvre. But I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first time my family and I visited the Paris Louvre, it took us 20 minutes to figure out how to get inside (FYI: the entrance […]

  • 12 of the most romantic places in the world

    Santorini sunset

    Are y’all doing anything for Valentine’s Day? We are going on a trip to an extremely romantic and amazing location, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! But, planning the trip got me thinking about the most romantic places I’ve ever visited, and in honor of the most heart-filled holiday, I wanted […]

  • How to overcome obstacles and crush your goals

    overcoming gym intimidation

    Happy February! I hope you made it through January with all of your resolutions and plans for 2018 intact. But if not, don’t freak out. There’s nothing magical about January 1! If you want to make some kind of change or create a healthy habit in your life, you can start right now. Or tomorrow. […]

  • Military family guide to Disney World

    magic kingdom railroad

    Many years ago — long before Magic Bands, rose gold mouse ears, and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train — Toby and I went to Disney World. It was the first time he had ever been to a Disney park, and the first time I had been since my high school graduation. We were going to […]