Fresh Red Snapper, Snorkeling, and Sun: A Turks and Caicos Travelogue
The way to know if the red snapper is fresh is to look them in the eyes. If their eyes are clear, they’re fresh.
Travel
a postcard from sea ranch
I’m writing this looking out at the rugged terrain of Sea Ranch’s coast, fireplace crackling & pancakes cooking. Yesterday, I cured my fear of driving in the rain through 3 hours of exposure therapy in our trusty chariot [a rented Tiguan] along a hundred miles of California coastline. In the Gualala grocery store, a local …
Submitting to the Magic Grid: creative decision making through painting
I just returned from a trip to Guatemala with my mom, and I wanted to share some of my reflections from the trip. My mom invited me to come along – a joint trip hosted by Local Hope, a Guatemala non-profit focused on self-reliance through education and medical support, and Art Ambassadors for a Colorful …
Submitting to the Magic Grid: creative decision making through painting Read More »
Florence – A Box of Chocolates
As a recovering Yelp addict, I used to always want to know where the best spots were, what was trending, what people enjoyed. In San Diego, I visited new restaurants, museums, installations, photo spots. I compared my experiences to those I found on Instagram, Pinterest, Yelp, Facebook. Then I realized I always went in with …
Mindfulness in Rome
I am sitting on a covered rooftop balcony in Rome, Italy reading Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan, an exploration of the benefits of mindfulness and self-awareness. Tan explains the phenomenon he calls “Expensive Food Meditation,” where people tend to appreciate expensive food more and take their time. He argues that if we treated every …
Paris, France June 2015
Day 1 I’ve been dreaming of Paris ever since I was a little girl, and I can’t believe I’m actually here. The journey here was quite exciting; Owen and I had dance breaks on the plane every few hours and our family had to sprint across the Dallas Fort Worth airport to get to our …
Chamonix, France June 2015
Hello Everyone, I’m writing from my bed in Chamonix. From here, I can see Mt. Blanc and watch as the clouds play hide-and-seek with the mountains. I can hear the river cheerfully gurgling by, the birds chirping melodically. The temperature is perfect, about 75 degrees. All of our windows are wide open and the occasional …
Cinque Terre, Italy June 2015
Cinque Terre is beautiful. No pictures can do it justice and no words can describe it to its full extent. But I’ll try my best. We’re staying in Villa Montale, the ancestral home of one of the earliest families in Monterosso. Also the home of the famed Italian poet Eugenio Montale, the only Italian winner of …
Villefranche, France July 2015
First off, a quick happy birthday shout out to my dad, who is an awesome person and role model. We spent his birthday driving along the French Riviera, which was absolutely gorgeous. In all the nooks and crannies of the seaside cliffs, little villages staked their claim on the landscape. The houses flew by in …