Being in Italy for 3 weeks has been a great experience and a great way to relax. It ended with a 45-minute bang of fireworks over the island of Venice! The Festa della Redentore is a huge party held every year in July since 1577 to celebrate the end of the plague that killed one third of Venetians. A church...

My best friend from college grew up spending her summers on Martha’s Vineyard with her father, relishing in lobster rolls and clambakes, and watching everyone from celebrities to salty New Englanders merely relax. To honor her father’s memory, we rented a house and vacationed on this woodsy, 23-mile stretch of i...

One of my last wishes before Baby Hortenstine gets here in June was a dining escape to my favorite Creole- and French-rich city that brims with classic restaurants, antique shops and enchanting architecture. Pals Piper Wyatt, Suzanne Droese, Todd Fiscus and I entrenched ourselves at the Ritz-Carlton for a weekend of hitting...