if I have learned anything in this life, it’s that one will never regret listening hard to the quiet whisperings of your heart.
i love a LOT of things on this good earth, but there are few things i love greater than traveling. i have a critical case of wanderlust that i fear will never be quieted. my heart aches to hear the stories of people in all corners of the world, my feet yearn to find themselves on foreign soil, my eyes burn to see everything i can possibly see before they close for good. and so, when my friend kimberly invited me to come visit her in italy, i didn’t hesitate. despite my husband being unavailable and barely finding a spare 10 days to escape the chaos of wedding season — i wasn’t going to let anything stand in my way. i needed it more than i could have possibly known.
and so, passport and camera in hand, i embarked on a most memorable adventure.
allow me to take you back there…
here is kimberly’s house in which she lives with her airforce doctor husband and beautiful 2 year old daughter:
this is the view seen by stepping out her front door (my heart may or may not have skipped a beat):
a HUGE thanks to kimberly’s husband, rocky, for spending his weekend with their daughter and letting us run away on adventures just us girls…
first stop, THIS PLACE:
where we slept like queens and woke to breakfast in the dining hall (and couldn’t stop speaking in a pretentious brittish accent)
after running rampant through our private estate’s gardens, we ventured onward…
… and landed ourself in Tuscany at what Kimberly so perfectly calls her happy place.
where we once again ran like wildlings through olive tree groves, cameras at the ready.
this beautiful piece of heaven is owned and run by the italian mama everyone wishes they had.
she cooked us a 4 course meal and made sure our wine glasses were always full.
and she has a place in my heart forever.
after many hugs and “ciao, bellas!” we wandered towards the oldest monastery in italy, which happened to be beautifully situated smack in the middle of the oldest forest in europe.
before we knew it, it was home again home again jiggity jig.
the rest of the trip involved castles…
… canals for days …
… pulling over anywhere and everywhere we saw something spectacular …
… cemeteries …
… and this place, Lago di Barcis:
words will never be able to express how intensely my soul needed this time away from home with a kindred spirit.
kimberly, my dear, you are truly one of a kind. I am so incredibly grateful for every conversation and memory we shared.
where are we going next???
