July 2023 — Vicenza, Italy — Happiness is not having the words to describe the ache of leaving a place a bit of your soul tethered to, grateful tears in my eyes as I think back over two years of the good and the hard of living in Italy and traveling around Europe, and the luck of heading to a very cool place to lessen the sting of walking away (but make no mistake I am getting on that plane kicking and screaming a little).

July 2023 — Limone Sul Garda, Italy — Happiness is streets, shores, and stairways bursting with lemons and flowers, pools and playgrounds with mountain lake views, and one final quick trip to explore a few more charming Italian towns before taking off for Hawaii (if you’ve been following our move drama, yes, we finally got approved to go!).

June 2023 — Cinque Terre, Italy — Happiness is an adventurous little travel buddy putting up with 25 trips in less than two years, a fun and brave kiddo who LIVES for big slides and big waves, and a new parenting level unlocked: a vacation with NO stroller whatsoever.

June 2023 — Cinque Terre, Italy — Happiness is making the most of a good ol’ Army-induced move delay with a last-minute trip, a place so idyllic it’s absolutely worth enduring the summer tourist rush for, and a perfect holiday weekend filled with all the best seaside things (swimming every single afternoon? check. stunning hotel balcony view? check. lemon-marinated anchovies? check. shops filled with linen dresses? check. crisp white wine at 10am? check!).

May 2023 — Montreux, Switzerland — Happiness is old steamer boats and flower-lined lakeside strolls, slow rainy mornings turning into gorgeous sunny afternoons exploring, and having very, very good luck in the hotel room view department as of late.

May 2023 — Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France — Happiness is a rack-and-pinion railway that takes you 1,913 meters up to a glacier, tulips and daffodils happily sharing the stage with snow and alpine rivers, and one last hit of evening sun hitting the Alps before heading to Hawaii (Lucas has already taken to calling all mountains “volcanoes” so we think he’s ready!).

May 2023 — Valle d’Aosta, Italy — Happiness is a place with more castles and fortresses than you can count, the classic combo of sunshine and snow-capped mountains, and visiting our fifteenth and final Italian region for this round of European living (those last five around the Tyrrhenian Sea will keep until we can swap our SUV/car seat/suitcase travel style for a quick flight/tiny rental Fiat/weekender bag one).

April 2023 — Puglia, Italy — Happiness is a permanent smile on all our faces during an amazing day at the zoo (easily one of the highlights of the entire trip), copious amounts of McDonald’s + hotel room naptime + piggyback rides + €6 balloons + stroller hauling + “mean dad won’t let me get in the freezing cold water/mean mom won’t let me yeet myself off this cliff” tantrums, and the joy and the struggle of traveling with a toddler (all that to say do not let Instagram fool you into thinking Europe with kids is “easy” because sometimes it is anything but).

April 2023 — Puglia, Italy — Happiness is the stunningly beautiful Polignano a Mare not being overrun by position-jostling Instagrammers (although we spotted a few of those even off-season), long drives through the countryside to see trulli casually strewn about (although Alberobello itself has a gross amount of inauthentic tourism mixed in), and under-the-radar Martina Franca quickly becoming one of my very favorite places to get lost in an arresting maze of silent alleyways with complicated, layered, unique architecture (no “although” needed on this one…trust me, go).

April 2023 — Puglia, Italy — Happiness is a sun-kissed hillside masseria with a sea view, the contrast between white-washed buildings and colorful laundry being hung out to dry in Ostuni, and the most special meal at a four-table restaurant run by a generously hospitable mother-son duo that included no less than nine antipasti dishes, cool jazz coming from an old record player in the kitchen, the most incredible digestivo of our lives (prefaced by a declaration from the son of “this is my moment…this is my passion”), and lots of hugs and kisses from Silvè and Mamma Maria as we left.

April 2023 — Termoli, Italy — Happiness is ducking into charmingly tiny alleyways to escape the rough sea breeze (our car was COVERED in salt after being parked on a cliff side overnight!), a seaside town with a sweet little spring market and the bluest water, and two lovely stops in Marche and Molise on our road trip down to Puglia.

January 2023 — Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany — Happiness is the perfectly sized rocking chair in Garmisch looking a lot smaller now (scroll back to one of my first happiness is posts to see the difference!), the best monthly antique market being just ten minutes from our house, and a Michelin restaurant that made us feel like kids again with their dirt-style nocciola gelato (no gummy worms but it was 🙌🏻).

January 2023 — Salzburg, Austria — Happiness is hills that fill my heart with the Sound of Music, a city that doesn’t waste a single rocky wall or cliffside but instead transforms them into the most beautiful scenes, and a toddler who’s ditching the stroller more and more in favor of exploring on foot (well, mostly 🤷🏼‍♀️).

January 2023 — Zagreb, Croatia — Happiness is a lively capitol city that does the season up right, a hotel whose Orient Express history and art deco style made for a Gatsby-esque New Year’s vibe, and wrapping up our 2022 travels: 13 trips, 68 days, 55 nights, 28 hotels, 11 countries, 8 Italian regions, 20 something UNESCO sites, and 50+ towns and cities (cue us taking 2023 a little easier because Lucas has started protesting this pace)!

January 2023 — Camisano Vicentino, Italy — Happiness is days spent at Christmas markets, toy stores, and pasta shops, a quiet holiday weekend at home with lots of traditional Italian food and good wine and nostalgic movies, and a toddler who is starting to get the magic of Christmas (and insisted on carefully throwing away each piece of wrapping paper).

December 2022 — Vicenza, Italy — Happiness is savoring a late birthday dinner with the most festive view (and a casual Michelin star), celebrating the sweetest kid’s third birthday with dinosaurs and balloons everywhere, and another year of decorating the Christmas tree with Sunday market flower stand finds.

December 2022 — Umbria, Italy — Happiness is breakfast conversations over moka pot coffee at the cutest B&B in the foothills of Orvieto, stopping at every viewpoint for glimpses of dying cities and the hilliest of hilltop towns, and finding THE antique trunk you’ve been looking for since you moved here last summer.

November 2023 — Umbria, Italy — Happiness is boutique hotel perfection at the base of the walls in Assisi, exploring tiny cashmere and ceramics shops in little hillside towns as your Black Friday shopping, and confirming that the light in Umbria is like the light in Tuscany: somehow it’s just *different* than everywhere else in the world.

November 2022 — Budapest, Hungary — Happiness is experiencing some of the world’s most magnificent architecture from sunrise to sunset from rooftops to boat decks, a toddler who is more enamored with a few balloons than exploring a unique and charming city, and confirming there is no better place to be when you’re sick than snuggled up in a Ritz Carlton robe with room service and a top-floor view.

November 2022 — Bratislava, Slovakia — Happiness is streets of alternating jewel-box Baroque facades and Communist-era concrete block apartments in Bratislava, a second trip to Ljubljana reaffirming it punches far above its weight, and a European capitals road trip itinerary that allowed for a few days in each of these small but interesting cities.

November 2022 — Vienna, Austria — Happiness is fanciful gold signage + antique glass ceilings + red and green velvet everywhere you look, elegant opera houses and storied cafes galore, and getting in the holiday spirit as Christmas markets start going up throughout the city (not pictured: big-as-your-oversized-plate Wiener Schnitzel that was demolished embarrassingly quickly).

November 2022 — Graz, Austria — Happiness is a sweet little city full of the most photo-worthy staircases (not to mention my camera roll full of classic Austrian churches and city halls, modern museums and floating cafes, and our hotel’s awesome hillside views), screaming like little kids in the largest underground slide in the world (175m and 40 seconds of pure fun!), and a location that went from being a convenient overnight road trip stop to an under-the-radar favorite in just 24 hours.

October 2022 — Piedmont, Italy — Happiness is a sweet little agriturismo with a twelve foot long breakfast spread just for us, celebrating our favorite guy at a thoughtfully designed restaurant with fabulous Piedmontese wine and food, and a trooper two year old who might not have been as impressed with this underrated Italian region as his parents were.

October 2022 — Cote d’Azur, France — Happiness is a celebrated hotel with a fabulous restaurant on an iconic promenade in Nice, soaking up as much luxury as possible while hauling a stroller through a very hilly Monaco, and escaping the rain in Cannes by ducking into awning-covered cafés, rightfully famous pastry shops, and effortlessly cool toy stores.

October 2022 — Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy — Happiness is wandering around the loveliest Ligurian beach town in the off-season, salty little anchovies pairing perfectly with our beloved Prosecco, and a balcony view so heavenly that my favorite photos from the entire visit were morning, afternoon, and night from that singular spot.

October 2022 — Rome, Italy — Happiness is a quick getaway to see some of your favorite people when they have ten hours to kill before a flight, tacking on an afternoon for a little shopping at your favorite store in the world, and having full awareness of just how spoiled you have to be to say “oh, sure we can meet you for a chic little Roman lunch and charming alleyway dinner and to see a few of the world’s most famous spots!”

September 2022 — Padua, Italy — Happiness is a day spent staring at golden frescoes and creepy skeleton statues in a UNESCO site church from 1232, hanging out at the world’s oldest academic botanical garden created in 1545 (another UNESCO site!), and living a funny modern Italian life in which we had no trouble visiting both of those on a busy Saturday but couldn’t find parking at IKEA. 🤷🏼‍♀️

September 2022 — Marostica, Italy — Happiness is a historic human chess match that only gets played one weekend every other year — and we got lucky enough for it to coincide with an incredible harvest moon, rain showers that left us nearly soaked but laughing (my second day in a row to get caught in a downpour 🚫☂️) and a 45 minute rain-induced intermission that gave us a chance to run to a cocktail lounge we’ve been wanting to check out for ages!

September 2022 — Bressanone, Italy — Happiness is escaping the late summer heat to a kinderhotel in the mountains (kinderhotels are all-inclusive resorts for kids with tons of indoor and outdoor playgrounds and pools found throughout parts of Europe), evening walks through the charming village that felt way more Bavarian than Italian, and having absolutely nothing on the agenda but to enjoy being together.

July 2022 — Schwarzenberg, Austria — Happiness is the combination of delicious locally-sourced food + a fascinating architecture and design culture + clean crisp mountain air, the most stylish and delightful hotel we’ve stayed in all year (and we’ve stayed in 27 hotels since we moved here last July y’all), and vacillating between wanting to shout this place from the mountaintops and wanting to keep it all to myself (but seriously it’s just too good not to share).

July 2022 — Tirol, Austria — Happiness is escaping the heat to hang out on breezy balconies and shaded patios in Bolzano, Schnitzel + Würstchen + Käsespätzle + Gröstl + Apfelstrudel in Innsbruck, and taking your 2.5 year old to his TENTH country — teeny tiny Liechtenstein!

June 2022 — Isle of Skye, Scotland — Happiness is hairy coos hanging out by hauntingly beautiful cemeteries, being pretty sure there’s a *cue rainbow hologram* button someplace (complete with a line of animatronic cows to casually stroll by underneath it…I’m not kidding when I say people were screaming and running out of our hotel’s restaurant to take photos as that stunning scene appeared), and not having the words to express my love for my new favorite place on Earth.

June 2022 — Edinburgh, Scotland — Happiness is a city with stunning architecture that takes you back in time, a camera roll filled with black + gold + jewel tones + typography that makes your moody-vibe-loving heart go pitter-patter, and a precious kiddo with lots of kisses for bear statues (and his travel companions).

June 2022 — The Highlands, Scotland — Happiness is day after day of scenic drives with more photo ops than seconds to snap them, tiny towns that are home to unassumingly cool distilleries, restaurants, and hotels, and a special trip with a special Nana to bottle/cork/label/register a very early 21st birthday present for a presently unimpressed toddler.

June 2022 — Veneto, Italy — Happiness is getting dressed up with your love for a military ball at a beautiful villa, celebrating your wonderful brother’s birthday with a perfect lunch in the Prosecco hills, and having such a busy few weeks (in a good way) that you totally forget about the photos of those pretty iconic Italian experiences with the people you love most.

June 2022 — Veneto, Italy — Happiness is playing tour guide while revisiting old favorites and discovering new ones all across Veneto, watching your mom attempt to keep her cool at every cute corner and each amazing view on her first trip to Europe, and a sweet little boy who sure loved a week of exploring with his Gigi and Uncle Blake.

May 2022 — Rovinj, Croatia — Happiness is getting into the most picturesque (Michelin!) restaurant without reservations, working off all the truffle ravioli and calamari strolling through charmingly hilly streets, and rocky seaside views between every building (and like one photo from Pula because I don’t want it to feel left out).

May 2022 — Rovinj, Croatia — Happiness is not wasting any time getting out of the house after a long fourteen day quarantine (COVID finally got the May family…and got us GOOD), your cooped up kiddo losing his little mind at the plethora of pools, playgrounds, beaches, and wide open spaces, and the perfect post-COVID recovery weekend at the most toddler- and parent-friendly resort.

April 2022 — Lucerne, Switzerland — Happiness is four days of views so unreal you find yourself saying “is this real life???” a hundred times (even if Lucas was once again unimpressed), the travel gods smiling on you and turning a forecast of rain and clouds to clear skies and a full moon rising over the Alps, and feeling pretty dang good about your trip planning prowess after what can only be described as the most perfect weekend ever.

March 2022 — Rome, Italy — Happiness is chatting with the nicest people on the quaintest street during the loveliest dinner of gricia and carbonara, the perfect Roman lunch of artichokes, supplì, and cacio e pepe in the Jewish Ghetto, and finding the coolest bag that I simply couldn’t leave Rome without (yes, I’m aware my favorite things on this trip were food and shopping…deserved a second post if you ask me).

March 2022 — Rome, Italy — Happiness is a city with so much to see you beat your previous step record not once but TWICE (26,472 steps Saturday + 26,953 on Sunday), taking your two year old to his 15th Italian UNESCO site and 5th country (Vatican City is an independent city-state so it counts!), and adding to the ever-growing collection of photos of said toddler asleep in front of the most famous places on Earth.

March 2022 — Lago di Garda, Italy — Happiness is relaxing weekends exploring lakeside towns, sunny views of sailboats, castles, and snow-capped mountains, and a teething toddler who makes us laugh constantly (that last 🦷 was a doozie but we now have a full set of 😬).

March 2022 — Venice, Italy — Happiness is playing hooky on an off-season Tuesday to avoid the crowds, clinking glasses with my favorite boys in the prettiest places, and already scheming ways to get back by myself to spend a few hours in the coolest bookstores and shops.

March 2022 — Treviso, Italy — Happiness is patio umbrellas finally opening in every sunny piazza, fresh spring florals everywhere from porticoes to canals to balconies, and still taking every opportunity to snap stealth photos of chic Italian women who share my love of a neutral wardrobe.

March 2022 — Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy — Happiness is trips that take you from a stately castle on the sea to the quaintest bed and breakfast, old mossy water wheels, and the best tagliatelle I’ve ever had (Tagliatelle 30 tuorli alla Carbonara friulana con guanciale di Sauris, Ricotta affumicata e profumo di tartufo in case you happen to be wondering)

February 2022 — Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy — Happiness is three UNESCO sites in one weekend (Palmanova’s star fort, Aquileia’s basilica and archaeological area, and Cividale del Friuli’s Longobard sites), stopping on every corner to snap photos of charming mailboxes and manholes, and a toddler with a cappuccino foam obsession.

February 2022 — Trieste, Italy — Happiness is finding the best views in the most beautifully-lit seaside city, wandering streets filled with insanely cool vintage shops and historic cafes, and seriously symmetrical Wes Anderson vibes everywhere you look.

February 2022 — Bassano del Grappa, Italy — Happiness is last minute day trips, towns that combine your love of Italian architecture, sunsets, mountains, rivers, bookstores, and stationery shops, and wondering how you could even make a dent in the list of beautiful things to experience in this country in just two years.

January 2022 — Montepulciano, Italy — Happiness is wandering the most charming streets in the loveliest Tuscan towns, visits to incredible underground wineries and cute dairy farms, and an abundance of glasses filled with wine and olive oil.

December 2021 — Montepulciano, Italy — Happiness is spending a quiet Christmas weekend at the loveliest Tuscan villa (that historic outdoor kitchen! that 16th century olive mill in the bathroom! that huge jacuzzi! that VIEW!), the most delicious food in the coziest, warmest dining room (complete with kitty friends every meal), and somehow surviving a three-hour-long, seven course Christmas Day lunch with a two year old (obviously sponsored by Disney +).

December 2021 — Pienza, Italy — Happiness is vines, mosaics, and peacocks, stunning views everywhere you look, and stepping into an iconic movie scene that is even more idyllic and peaceful in real life.

December 2021 — Parma, Italy — Happiness is seeing firsthand the progression of a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano from fresh milk all the way to aging (Lucas may have found his calling in acoustic hammer quality testing), a private tour of a very cool (like, super chilly) Prosciutto di Parma facility, and having a newfound appreciation for some of Italy’s most famous and most delicious foods.

December 2021 — Modena, Italy — Happiness is a day of tours and tastings with the loveliest local guide (@caterinaschenettifoodtours is the BEST), finding a new obsession in the form of the fluffiest gnocco fritto (all three of us could have easily eaten our body weight in that stuff), and falling more and more in love with the incredible food of Italy every day.

December 2021 — Camisano Vicentino, Italy — Happiness is improvising your 2021 holiday decor with locally grown stuff from the Sunday market and neighborhood garden store, craft projects that turn into beautiful successes (and one batch that was a very crispy fail), and a lovely little birthday cake for our little man in front of what has become one of my favorite Christmas trees of all time (it’s all dried flowers and fruit so it’s completely compostable — which is amazing because I have zero space to store stuff until next Christmas)!

December 2021 — Como, Italy — Happiness is spending your birthday in a beautiful place with your favorite boys, finding new obsessions in the form of perfectly curated kid shops and tiny antique book stores, and walking 21,000 steps between some serious wine sipping, cappuccino drinking, and pasta eating.

November 2021 — Milan, Italy — Happiness is showing your son the most beautiful architecture up close and personal (he legit thought part of the Duomo roof was a slide), seeing incredible art that is normally crazy hard to get tickets to, and an insanely special and unexpected experience watching an opera rehearsal at La Scala.

November 2021 — Trento, Italy — Happiness is quick overnight trips to the mountains, discovering the joy of the Italian Christmas market Bombardino, and the loveliest last minute pre-Thanksgiving weekend after our week in Bavaria and Austria got scrapped (damn you Covid).

November 2021 — Florence, Italy — Happiness is a weekend full of culinary adventures — taking your family to your favorite restaurant in the world (Trattoria Zaza was just as good as I remembered it), having aforementioned favorite restaurant dethroned the very next evening with an even more incredible one (Ristorante Buca Mario’s tiramisu almost made me cry at the end of a truly incredible meal), and stumbling upon the pastry shop you adored fifteen years ago but never actually knew the name of (we called it Brutti Boni because that’s the name of our favorite treat there — literally translates to “ugly goodies”).

November 2021 — Florence, Italy — Happiness is showing your husband and child around the special place you spent a short but influential summer in college, having a much bigger budget for paper and leather goodies than when you were twenty, and your most beloved city being just as charming and lovely as you remembered it.

November 2021 — Vicenza, Italy — Happiness is having the most stunningly gorgeous day for our annual anniversary weekend photos, enjoying an absolutely perfect evening downtown with my boys, and being pleasantly surprised that taking the nugget to a swanky restaurant afterwards went far, far better than the hilarious fiasco that was our 2020 anniversary.

November 2021 — Valsanzibio, Italy — Happiness is trading Halloween corn mazes for boxwood labyrinths, swapping haunted houses for spooky abandoned villas, and substituting scarecrows for 16th century statues.

October 2021 — Vicenza, Italy — Happiness is beautiful weekend mornings loading up on goodies at festivals downtown and picking up flowers at our local Sunday market, spending perfect evenings at our favorite neighborhood restaurant’s speakeasy night and discovering the most wonderful pear and brie pizza at a new place, and cherishing little moments that make up the heart of our life here.

October 2021 — Ravenna, Italy — Happiness is hearing people gasp upon entering a space filled with so much beauty (the mosaics in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia were so breathtaking I nearly cried), filling the walk between UNESCO sites (Ravenna has EIGHT!) with cool modern markets, charming streets, and the best gelato I’ve ever had, and knowing no hastily-taken, square-cropped iPhone photo will ever do any of this justice.

October 2021 — San Marino — Happiness is a castle view that really shows off in the fall, magical/mossy/misty trails with mountains on one side and the sea on the other, and celebrating your favorite person’s birthday in a teeny tiny country that’s actually inside another country.

October 2021 — Bologna, Italy — Happiness is exploring kilometer after kilometer of porticos, shops, and food stalls (plus hidden canals!), eating our way through a city that rightfully earned the nickname “la grassa” (“the fat one”), and taking accidental detours that lead to kickass views.

October 2021 — Marostica, Italy — Happiness is spending gorgeous Sunday mornings exploring the most amazing places with our little dude, stopping every 10 feet to take photos of the most beautiful balcony flora and fauna displays, finding the cutest and most delicious restaurants (that pumpkin and truffle risotto primo, y’all 🤌🏻).

September 2021 — Ljubljana, Slovenia — Happiness is lunch with a crazy castle view, the most trooper toddler travel buddy we could have hoped for, and spending the weekend in a city you couldn’t pronounce the name of a few weeks ago.

September 2021 — Lake Bled, Slovenia — Happiness is an abundance of breathtaking views, perfect temperatures for leisurely strolls along the lakeshore, and boat rides to churches on tiny islands.

September 2021 — Cittadella, Italy — Happiness is a playground at the base of 13th century city walls, lunch on a dock in the moat in the pouring rain, and always winning my favorite game of *find the town’s most perfectly lit alleyway.*

September 2021 — Camisano Vicentino, Italy — Happiness is alternating morning mommy + me coffee dates between the fancy pastry shop in town and the corner coffee bar where the owner knows our names, toddler snack perfection in the form of teeny tiny pizzas and itty bitty biscotti, and knowing every single place the stroller gets stuck on the cobblestones during our daily walks.

August 2021 — Munich, Germany — Happiness is not needing to lift weights because your beer weighs 8 pounds, randomly stumbling upon river surfing before bedtime, and marking 5pm in the coolest way I’ve ever seen.

August 2021 — Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany — Happiness is shorts + sweater weather, this insane view, and a perfectly sized rocking chair.

July 2021 — Vicenza, Italy — Happiness is this blonde baby, an empty playground, and a double cappuccino.