Spring Break OOTD

This year my family went to sunny St. Barths for spring break. It had been nearly 10 years since my first visit to the island so it was interesting to see how things had and hadn't changed. I already miss the daily dose of vitamin D and fear that my tan will fade too quickly. It is a really beautiful place with incredible, uncrowded beaches and chic French women who look like models but it is expensive and difficult to visit in a lot of ways. I saw plenty of Beyoncé-level yachts and people rich enough to graffiti their Birkin bags. So that was kind of bizarre.

Apologies for the bathroom photo. During daylight I was mostly in bathing suits and cover ups and the evenings were a bit too dark and windy to take outside ones. I will share a bit more about my favorite island spots when I have time.

Details:
Anthropologie dress (I forget the name of this one... But I think it is by Odille)
Tieks flats
Etro sunglasses

Also, today-March 29th, you can get 25% off almost everything at Bloomingdales.com with code: FRIENDS!

Holiday in St. Croix

When you manage to finish two doctoral degrees during the first year of being a parent, there's plenty of reason to celebrate. So Chris and I pooled our frequent flier miles, took advantage of the "anyone under 2 years old flies free" rule, and headed to the Caribbean as soon as the fall term ended.

After much debate we decided to go to St. Croix because it was still technically in the US, meaning we'd have one less hoop to jump through since Emilia wouldn't need a passport. It was beautiful! We rented a very reasonably priced villa on the eastern part of the island that had incredible views and a private pool.

We liked the ease of traveling to St. Croix. Unlike St. Lucia, the airport was relatively close to where we were staying so we didn't have a long commute by car after a long day of travels. And unlike St. Barths, St. Croix doesn't require any elaborate additional flight on a terrifyingly tiny plane or a ferry trip to get there. It's a lot cheaper than St. Barths because everything is priced in USD and although you find some inflated island pricing, things were mostly akin to prices you find in a major metropolitan area.

Traveling with Emilia obviously changes our ability to just explore aimlessly, without constraints. We wanted to follow her cues and ensure she could have some semblance of normalcy in schedule. Our villa had a high chair and crib so that helped (though we mostly co-slept). It was surprisingly baby-proofed actually, save for the pool.

Renting a car was necessary for us. But renting a car has been something we've done on every similar trip. With baby in tow, we found ourselves looking for beach spots with more amenities rather than seclusion. Our favorite was the resort beach of the Buccaneer, where we met a lovely family from Italy on vacation. The mom was also still nursing her baby and balancing a career with her role as a mother. It was nice to find so many commonalities with her. It was also great to see Emilia with her little beach friend.

As far as food goes, if you ever find yourself on the eastern part of St. Croix, be sure to check out the La Reine Chicken Shack. It was amazing. I wish we had ordered twice as many johnny cakes as we did. The chicken was incredible too. We also loved the Blue Water Café for both take out options and sit down dinners. They had decent coffee and were fairly close to our villa so we stopped by a few times. We had an amazing meal of local seafood at Duggan's Reef. They put lobster in everything but it still manages to be priced quite fairly. We also had delicious island roti from Singh's Fast Food Restaurant in downtown Christiansted. We didn't get to do any shopping while we traveled but that was just as well. I don't recall shopping much on our last island trip to St. Lucia and have no regrets. We ate and slept very well.

We were all super happy to get away and spend some uninterrupted time together. It was a fortunate thing to get to do and we didn't spend a ton of money to do it thanks to the nearly free flights. Finishing our degrees and surviving our first year of parenting were big deals and it was fun to really commemorate them! I hope we are as lucky in 2014!!

Scenes from my December holiday

Last year Chris and I were lucky enough to be reunited in Brazil, where summer had just begun. This year we left together for St. Lucia to enjoy a little sunshine and relaxation at the semester's end. And it was as beautiful and inspiring as every other voyage we've taken.

Our villa had incredible views and on clear days, we could even see Martinique! It was named aptly the "Windsong," nestled at the northern most part of the island in an area called Cap Estates. Although it was somewhat remote, we loved how quiet and secluded we were from the bustle. The trade winds were so strong that they whistled at night. The property had a hot tub, which proved clutch on windier and therefore chilly evenings.

The famous pitons from a vista on our day trip, driving south. 

 At the Botanical Gardens where we soaked in the hot mineral baths (hence Chris's bathing suit trunks).

The "drive in" volcano and bubbling sulfur springs in Soufriere

Jalousie Plantation (now a resort) nestled between the Pitons

The property owner greeted us with this beautiful tropical flower arrangement on the evening of our arrival. On the right I'm resting during our hike up Pigeon Point.

The view at Pigeon Point. You can see one of the three Sandals resorts on the island.

We were so fortunate to get to take such a trip. I doubt we'll be traveling next December so we relished every moment of this particular pre-winter escape. Everyone we met was so friendly. And everything we ate was delicious. We can only hope to return to St. Lucia someday!


St. Lucian favorites:
The neighborhood of Gros Islet where we ate many meals and went to the Friday night Jump Up
Agnes's Bar near Pigeon Point where we met locals who gave us great recommendations
Flavours of the Grill which had our favorite rum punches and delicious meats!
Sea View's blue marlin plates (so cheap and delicious... only on Sat. and Wed. nights)
Prudee's House of Roti (delicious pockets of curried meats and veggies but go early cause she sells out!)
Le Sport beach (public beach with staff that allow visitors to use the chairs and umbrellas without charge)
Razmatazz (expensive but delicious... plus the chef kindly helped us change our flat tire in the parking lot!)
Drive-a-matic who rented us the adorable Suzuki Jimny that we drove while there
Shopping at Rodney Bay for ladies sandals and other things
The roaming livestock and dogs
The many beautiful views

'Tisn't the season for island inspired prints

Currently, I'm enjoying a little post-semester voyage with Chris, due south. We're in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. We've never been before, so we're pretty excited. This time last year we were honeymooning in Brazil. And thanks to an about-to-expire flight voucher Chris had to use, we are lucky enough to escape for some warm weather yet again! I'm excited to work on my December tan before heading back to the snow and cold in Pittsburgh. But above is a taste of what I packed. Linens, cottons, and silks. Breathable is key.