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Ciao my Allured Loves!! 🇮🇹

Did you all miss me? I missed you!! I know I'm super late in getting my Spring 2022 newsletter out to you all but I have very good reason. Also, don't let the warm weather fool you. It is still officially Spring season up until June 20th. So technically, I'm still right on time with the delivery of this newsletter.

Nonetheless, here's why the debut of it is coming to you all later than usual. After I wrapped up my highly ambitious and successful crowdfunding campaign for my upcoming limited design web series, yours truly took some much needed time off and headed out to the Mediterranean to the land of Italia!!

Initially, I thought about producing a Spring newsletter right before I left town for Italy. But quickly made the decision that I'd much rather document my trip with a wealth of photos and videos to share with you all upon my return. From there, I decided perhaps it would be a great idea to produce my first ever Travel Edition newsletter and share all of the details about me and my Husband's trip to Italy. So let's dive in shall we? Starting from the very beginning of course because ya'll know how I do. 😉

If you all remember, I mentioned back in my Fall 2020 Newsletter that Charlie and I would be celebrating our ten year wedding anniversary in October 2021 with the hopes of returning back to Italy for a second time. We honeymooned in Italy ten years ago and made a promise to ourselves that by or before our ten year anniversary we'd make our way back.

With the pandemic shutting everything down, including international travel (during the time I first began early planning back in 2020), the likelihood of our plans materializing for a 2021 trip just didn't seem likely. So we made the decision to push our trip to Spring 2022 instead.

And, let me tell you...We could NOT have picked a better time to go. 

Italy didn't open up its borders to American Tourists until July 2021. Technically, we could've still traveled there in that year. However, because the country was just opening back up and things with the pandemic were still evolving (as they are even today), there was so much still up in the air with many things not completely accessible.

My Husband and I are explorers and history lovers.

We LOVE to get out and about and tour museums, historical monuments and sites and just stroll about discovering new things. Had we gone in 2021, so much of what we wanted to do and see wouldn't have been available to us. So, ultimately...it just didn't make since to spend money trekking across the pond with a limited itinerary. International travel is quite the expense and if we were going to invest into yet another trip to the Mediterranean, it needed to be worth every penny. 

When I tell you this recent trip was worth EVERY DIME AND MORE!!! It's now been a little over two weeks since we returned back home and I'm still filled to the brim with a calming zen and peace of mind that I seriously want to hold onto forever and never let go. It's the exact reason I documented so much of this experience, simply to be able to look back and reflect on every moment and every little thing.

In the very early planning stages of this trip, the goal was to do it really big with a three country tour (France, Greece and Italy) to celebrate our milestone in our marriage. My Husband quickly aborted my big idea for such a lavish trip and proposed that we do two countries instead of three. I was ok with that, considering we'd just toured Greece in 2019. However, we then mutually decided that because we wanted to spend a longer time in France and not just a quick few days...perhaps it would be best to do two full weeks covering various regions of Italy where we'd really get the time to take it all in. When we first visited Italy during our honeymoon (ten years ago)...we were there for ten days touring Rome, Florence and Venice, trekking off to a new city every three days.

While that's a very common and popular way for American Tourists to tour the country, (and honestly most countries in Europe) just two or three days (per city) can also leave you craving to see and experience so much more. With this now being our second opportunity to experience the country of Italia...I'm so happy my Husband became the voice of reason for us to truly indulge and spend more time in just Italy alone. And, save touring France at a completely different time giving that country its own time as well. 

Charlie and I are BIG ADVOCATES of hiring a well traveled and highly experienced travel agent from a reputable travel agency to aid us with planning our international trips. There are many that struggle with understanding the amazing value a travel agent or advisor can bring into your life. We are NOT those people at all!! There's a reason why there is such a thing called the Travel Industry in the first place because it's a business as well as a specialized craft.

Travel agents and advisors take the stress away of the minutia of planning, especially when planning big international trips with several or multi-destination stops along the way. In addition, reputable agencies offer perks and VIP amenities that you, yourself will simply not be able to tap into if working to plan your trip solo.

A great and highly seasoned travel agent has a wealth of resources, connections and partnerships with various travel vendors including (airline reps, hotels, car service and car rental companies, events, tours and activity booking companies, etc...) all over the world. If you, yourself don't have these direct relationships with travel vendors abroad...there is absolutely NO WAY POSSIBLE for you to take full advantage of being able to tap into all resources and amenities available to you when booking through a reputable travel agency or travel company. Unless of course, you're traveling abroad on business travel and you're tapping into a variety of international resources through your job or your employer.

Or, you're a travel blogger/vlogger and traveling and jet setting is now a way of life for you. And, even with that it can oftentimes take a considerable amount of time and years of consistent travel to begin building relationships and resources that one can take advantage of.

My years of experience in managing and handling travel logistics in the Film Industry alone for cast and crew that I'm responsible for getting in and out of whatever city the television series or film is being made in, has afforded me a wealth of knowledge in the travel industry. It's also taught me the extreme great value an experienced travel agent or advisor can bring to the table. With that being the case, there's no way I would even consider traveling abroad without going through one of my trusted travel agents.

I mean I can, but why bother?

It's kind of like people that try and design their own house but struggle with doing so. Why struggle in the process when you can just hire someone that specializes in the craft like an Interior Designer or Decorator to take the burden away from you?

I'm sure you get my drift, so back to this amazing trip...

For this particular vacation, I utilized my trusted film travel agents over at FROSCH Global Entertainment Travel. I've worked with some of the ladies from FROSCH for the last few years in the film industry and have developed an amazing working relationship with them. They've booked and traveled all of my cast and crew for Queen of The South: Season 5 and also for the 20th Century Fox Series, Filthy Rich starring

Kim Cattrall.

I typically utilize FROSCH for some of my personal domestic travel. However, I knew I badly needed their help and expertise to plan this anniversary trip of a lifetime to Italy. In addition, FROSCH specializes in Italian trips and I knew there resources would serve me and my Husband extremely well. And, boy did they ever!!!

Our trip was a total of two and half years of planning. Very early preliminary planning began in 2019 when we first returned from Greece. Active planning began in 2020 and then came to a halt until further pandemic developments evolved. Planning resumed in mid to late 2021 and then we hit the ground running in early 2022 finalizing every single detail one week out before we took flight on April 29th. 

Planning such a big trip (an international one at that) in the midst of a global pandemic definitely came with a lot of worry and concern. I most certainly had my days where my anxiety was through the roof!!! There were so many rules, guidelines and protocols to pay attention to for entering into Italy. It was an overwhelming amount of information. But I tried my best to just organize all of the most pertinent information needed and weed out what didn't apply to me and my Husband.

What truly helped me greatly, were some of the Facebook Travel Groups that I'm part of. Both Charlie and I are in several different Euro Travel Groups, with a few focusing strictly on travel to and from Italy. Everyone in our groups were so helpful with sharing information...the do's, the don'ts, what's truly required, what's not, and what the current atmosphere is like in Italy amidst the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

We were all at different stages in the planning process of our trips, with many in our FB groups having just returned back to the states from Italy. So just about everyone heavily relied on the immediate experience of the travelers that had first hand knowledge of what to expect. I cannot stress enough to you all that if you're planning on doing any international travel this year, to not only consider hiring a well experienced travel agent or advisor...but to also consider joining one or a few different social media travel groups where the main topic of discussion is the country or city you're traveling to. 

There's such a sense of camaraderie within these groups because ultimately everyone has the same goal. To travel with little to no problems at all, to share valuable resources, to arrive and return back home safely, to try and be as fully prepared as possible for any issues that may arise upon entry or while there, to have all proper documentation needed and most importantly to have an

AMAZING TIME!!

Just to know that I wasn't the only person having moments of worry and there were others in my Facebook group facing the same concerns, honestly made me feel a bit more at ease. It reassured me that I wasn't crazy and that my concerns were valid. It also didn't matter that none of us in the group were traveling together or even on the same dates. The only thing that mattered was that we were ALL traveling to the same country and would ALL have to meet the same requirements for safe entry into Italy and back into the United States.

Once all of the big ticket items were taken care of (flights, hotels, car service, city transfers, daily activities and tours, travel insurance, etc...), it was the long list of minutia of personal or work related things I had to handle that was driving me a bit insane. But as usual, I made a thorough checklist when we were two weeks out from departure.

Let me tell y'all, my checklist became my reference point of sanity. It truly helped to keep me and my Husband together of EVERYTHING we both needed to handle before we left. I would update it daily, as new things evolved or came up that we had to handle and at the end of each night, I'd check off all that was executed for the day to make sure I kept us on track.

To be fully transparent, I always create a checklist or a list of things to do before me and my Husband travel, even if it's just a domestic trip. But, everything about this trip felt extremely different!!! Two and a half years of planning, two and a half years of excitement and adrenaline that finally came down to the last two weeks (before departure) of nothing but nervous energy.

The day I was finally able to breathe a huge sigh of relief was on Friday - April 22, 2022. I met one of my close girlfriends, Ateja Lewis for lunch that day at one of our favorite lunch spots, Barrow's Catfish. Being in Ateja's presence was such a joy and kept me calm. Going through my checklist with her reassured me that all was good and going well.

And, then it happened, the moment I'd been waiting for...

As we were finishing up with our lunch, I received an email from my travel agency with our finalized itinerary and instructions to download the pocket travel app, where our daily agenda, full itinerary and ALL pertinent travel details could be accessed. In short it was our travel bible specifically created and customized for our trip to keep us on track each and every day, as we toured one region of Italy and one city to the next.

In addition, our itinerary was complete with every travel vendor name and contact information, which included our flights, hotels, car service drivers, train stations, and all of our Italian activity touring companies that were handling all of our daily activities and tours, per city.

If anyone knows me well, you'll know that ORGANIZATION is of utmost importance to me and non-negotiable!! To have such a well put together daily agenda for our trip so easily accessible on our iPhones was absolutely EVERYTHING!! It was the moment that a full two and a half years of planning all made sense...seeing all of the hard work (and the millions of emails between myself, my husband and our FROSCH travel agents) all put together so beautifully in one well organized, thorough and highly detailed itinerary.

Allured Loves, having a mobile accessible itinerary via a travel app is another great reason to consider hiring a travel agent or advisor for your future travels, especially international travel.

As I mentioned above, it was the moment I was able to breath a huge sigh of relief knowing that in that very moment...Charlie and I were good to go and all we now needed to do was finish up the last of personal things we needed to handle, pack and then get ready for TAKE OFF!!!

To say our trip to Italy was amazing is a complete and utter understatement. It was BEYOND AMAZING!!! Typically, I really don't care to compare our trips because I like to have each trip be memorable and unique in its own way. Every continent, every country, every region, every state and every city has something different and special to offer. So I try my best to hold each of our trips in its own category and space in my heart and mind. But I'd be lying if I were not to say that our most recent trip to Italy was indeed one of our very best trips yet.

Charlie and I had the most glorious time touring several regions and cities over a full two week span...

TOSCANA / TUSCANY 
•Florence
•Greve
•Chianti
•Montefioralle
•Badia a Passignano

When we first visited Italy back in 2012, we went during the cold season and I sadly became ill. So much to the point, we stayed cooped up in our hotel for most of the time we were in Florence. As a result, it was imperative upon our return this go round that we'd start our trip in Florence and take full advantage of doing and seeing everything we missed out on last time.

And, full advantage did we take...we toured everything from the Boboli Gardens, The Accademia Gallery (to see the magnificent statue of David sculpted by Michelangelo pictured below), The Uffizi Gallery, The Gucci Museum, the legendary Tornabuoni Street (aka the 5th Avenue of Florence), The Salvatore Ferragamo Palace, and soooooo much more!!

FUN FACT: Il Porcellino, as the Italians call him, means “the little pig.” However the bronze porker sitting at the side of the New Market (Mercato Nuovo) is really a wild boar, or cinghiale in Italian.

It is speculated that when a tourist strokes his nose and puts a coin into his mouth, he will bring good luck and ensure visitors will return to Florence. This wild boar sculpture, cast by Pietro Tacca around 1612, is one of the monuments most closely associated with the Florentine people today.

We crossed by foot the historic and oldest standing overpass in Florence, the Ponte Vecchio bridge almost daily during the five nights we were there. In addition, daily we walked passed the most iconic building that represents all of Florence, the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral otherwise known as "The Duomo."

We toured the Duomo Museum and also toured the historic Baptistery. We ate loads of gelato every single day because to do otherwise while in Italy is simply un-Italian and we absolutely couldn't have that, lol.

 We leisurely strolled about in Piazza della Signoria. We dined in fine Italian restaurants as well as highly enjoyed various street food meals if not even more. We rented and rode bikes along the Arno River and we looked out to see the most breathtaking view of the city from atop of Piazzale Michelangelo Square.

We indulged in all things Medici by visiting their palaces and chapels. We soaked up the beauty of the Italian Renaissance art that was all around us and all over Florence. We stayed at one of the most beautiful and amazing hotels in Florence that was centrally located to just about everything we wanted to do and see.

That place is none other than Brunelleschi Hotel, who truly had one of the most hospitable hotel staffs that went above and beyond to make Charlie and I feel welcome at each and every turn.

We were so comfortable at Brunelleschi Hotel and loved it there so very much, that it was truly bittersweet to leave the hotel, the warm and friendly staff and our Duomo Suite. 

Our suite was not only beautiful and spacious, but it was adorned in our wedding colors (crimson red, black and ivory) and as the name symbolizes...we had the perfect view of the Duomo each and every day during our stay, which was a request of ours. And, both our travel agency and the hotel staff at Brunelleschi more than delivered. 

Of all that we did and saw in Florence, one of our biggest blessings was finally being able to head out to the countryside of Tuscany and see the picturesque rolling heels aligned with wine gardens, vegetation and Italian cypress trees. For as long as I can remember, my Husband and I have dreamed about seeing the countryside of Tuscany in real life.

We toured the Viticcio / Chianti Wine Farm out in Tuscany and truly experienced an..."Is This Real Life Right Now? Is This Our Life Right Now?" kind of moment. The beauty and fairytale like views were simply unbelievable, yet it was all so very real. 

Again, what a blessing it was to be able to take in such beautiful views all captured with my iPhone 13 Pro Max.

AMALFI COAST

•Conca Dei Marini
•Amalfi
•Capri

In Amalfi Coast we gave our bodies some much needed rest, as so much of our time in Florence was spent walking, walking and more walking. Thankfully because our hotel was so centrally located to everything, the walking was tolerable. Nonetheless, we were in need of rest and relaxation by the time we hopped on our train from Florence to Naples and then by car service to the mountains of the Amalfi Coast.

We stayed at one of the most insanely gorgeous resorts on the coast in Conca dei Marini, which is roughly fifteen to twenty minutes away from the town center of Amalfi. There at Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa, we relaxed, restored our energy and took in some of the most gorgeous views of the coast. In addition, we took in the beautiful views of the hotel property itself, which boasts several levels of the most stunning gardens I've ever seen on a hotel property.

The name of the resort, Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa borrows its name from its past, a former Dominican Monastery during the 17th century and recently restored to sheer rustic/vintage design heaven by American Hotelier & Entrepreneur, Bianca Sharma. The property is known for being so captivating, guests rarely want to even leave. It was also a popular hotel destination that former First Lady, Jackie Kennedy frequented. 

As beautiful and relaxing as our resort was, we did manage to head into town, stroll about and take in the sites of Amalfi town center, dine and of course get some shopping in. We even ventured further out with a mini-cruise along the stretch of Amalfi Coast and visited the Isle of Capri.

Once more we were surrounded by nothing but beauty from the bluest waters, gorgeous botanicals (which seem to be all over Italy in even the most random of places), to beautiful mountain and cliff views, stunning architecture, amazing Italian design and mesmerizing stone of marble and travertine at every single turn.

Oh, and let me not forget while in Amalfi Coast...it was ALL about lemons, limoncello and more lemons. Because if you didn't know, lemons are the iconic fruit symbol of every town along the Amalfi Coast. 

🍋🍋🍋

FUN FACT (s): Amalfi Coast lemons are a traditional lemon variety (Citus limon) from the Amalfi Coast region of Italy. This variety was originally developed as a cross between small, local lemons and bitter oranges. They are also called Sfusato Amalfitano in Italian.

Though lemons grow in many parts of Italy, lemons in Italy are most often grown on the Amalfi Coast and in Sicily. While the Amalfi Coast claims to be the home of the true lemon, Sicilian lemons are more widely known and distributed throughout Italy, and many European countries.

The lemon on the Amalfi coast was cultivated for the first time during the 11th century, when Amalfi was the most important Italian Maritime Republic and established commercial relations with the most important Mediterranean ports and with the Arabs. However, it is commonly debated that the lemon was first introduced to Southern Italy around

200 AD.

Also, because we were on the coast that represents all things lemon, it was only right that we dress the part in our yellow / lemon attire.

If nothing else, at least for one evening for a night on the town.

Oh and don't act like ya'll don't see how dapper my Husband was looking!! "BABY" (in my thick New Orleans accent)

Charlie P was looking NICE!!! 

🍋🍋🍋

ROMA

•Tivoli
•Rome

By the time we made our way to Rome, our energy was restored and we were ready for the second time in our lives to take on the eternal city.

We purposely planned our trip to where we'd end in Rome. Most that visit Italy begin in Rome, as we did for our honeymoon trip ten years ago. However, this time around I thought it would be poetic to end our trip in the city where our honeymoon first began and where we first landed our feet upon entry into the land of Italia.

There in Rome it was more about reconnection. Revisiting and reconnecting with so many of the things we first fell in love with the very first time we ever visited Rome. Of course, we also managed to do some new things as well, like our day trip out to Tivoli to see Villa d'Este and Hadrian's Villa. We even managed to actually go inside of the Colosseum this go round by making the wise decision to purchase our tickets in advance of our trip.

YES!!! If you plan on visiting Rome anytime soon or even in the later future and would like access inside of the Colosseum, please plan ahead and purchase your tickets in advance. Trust me, you'll thank me later for this. Rome although commonly referred to as the eternal city,

is indeed a Metropolis.

It is the most ancient and popular city in all of Italy and where ALL tourists flock to, which essentially means it's always pretty crowded and long lines are imminent.

However, the best way to beat the long lines are to simply make reservations or purchase your tickets for any monuments you'd like to see or tours you'd like to take part in, well in advance of your trip. Because Rome is the Metropolis that it is, it can easily remind one of New York City. Like New York, Rome has a metro system, many of the streets are filled or aligned with taxi cabs to hail about town, or you can even hop on a local bus.

You can also utilize your feet to walk about but it's not nearly as walkable of a city as Florence is. Certain parts are if you're walking to things relatively close within the area of town you're in. Yet, Rome is a much larger city in size when compared to Florence, so things are a bit more at a distance or could be on the complete opposite end of town. Or, just in a different section of the city altogether. So yeah, hence the reason it's pretty much the New York of Italy.

Of all of the amazing things we did while in Rome, including reconnecting with many of the previous things we did ten years ago, what truly made revisiting Rome all the more special this time around was the hotel we stayed in.

Allured Loves, allow me to introduce you all to Hotel De La Ville, which is under the one and only Rocco Forte brand of luxury boutique hotels. Hands down Charlie and I did it big (like very big) for this anniversary trip by pre-selecting each and every hotel property we desired to stay at. The reason I stress the word big is because none of these properties were cheap!! 👀 They were all quite high-end yet worth every penny for the comfort, beauty, well-designed, location central, desired amenities and stellar hospitality we received from each property.

I usually rely on my travel agent (s) to recommend a list of hotel properties he or she is partnered with. From there, Charlie and I typically choose from that list. In addition, they tend to send me a list of properties they believe I'll love based off of my design aesthetic, as most of my travel agents are all familiar with my brand, Allured By Design®.

However, this was the first trip that I went deep and heavy into hotel research in advance and hand selected each property Charlie and I desired to stay at and then sent them to our travel agency to book. 

As fate would have it, each property we loved and pre-selected (unbeknownst to us at the time), was already partnered with our travel agency making it possible for us to take advantage of free upgrades and VIP amenities. Charlie and I were without a doubt ecstatic about every property we had the pleasure of staying at during our trip. But, I must say I was highly anticipating finally being able to indulge in the Rocco Forte experience. And, they did NOT disappoint at all!!!  

My Husband and I are NOT big mass chain hotel lovers when traveling internationally. We much prefer smaller, boutique hotels that cater to a more unique and authentic experience of that particular country.

In general, ya'll should know by now that "boutique" is essentially my middle name.

Give me custom, give me exclusive, give me unique, but most of all give me a boutique experience.

The Rocco Forte brand prides themselves with offering just that to all that have the pleasure of lodging in one of their Euro properties. In addition, they are known to be highly design forward with each of their properties, which completely won me over a million times and more!!!

AND, because they became familiar with my brand through our travel agent (s)...Charlie and I received a complimentary upgrade to an Executive Suite, which was beyond amazing and totally unexpected!!!

We were aware that we'd likely receive an upgrade, yet we had no idea how high of an upgrade we'd receive. Walking into an Executive Suite, which was basically a mini-apartment completely made our stay in Rome for the second time around all the more special.

Hotel De La Ville, was our first RF experience but most certainly won't be our last, as we're already looking into more of their properties in other Euro cities we plan on visiting in the future.

Each and every time I return home from an amazing trip whether it be domestic or international, it always takes me a minute to get back into the flow of things. It's quite a challenge to just jump right back into normal life or moreso the hustle and bustle of life when you've had such a fulfilling vacation void of chores and responsibilities. I mean post vacation blues are indeed a real thing. It's as is you're physically back at home, but your mind and emotions were all left behind in the place you just left. That's pretty much where I am currently. 

And, yes simultaneously, Hubbie and I are already thinking of where our next big international trip will be. We have several different options we're considering but it's far too early to say which option will be the winner. But of course, I will share when the time comes. 🛩

I mentioned to you all in my Summer 2021 Newsletter that me and my Husband are on this journey of incorporating this new way of life, or rather this new way of thinking into our own lives. At the time, I didn't want to say it aloud but promised you all that I would share in due time.

I love to name and create travel scrap books filled with photos, receipts, documentation, and paper goods of anything we bought or collected during our vacations. I titled this particular trip...

Piazza Italian Vacation 2022: La Dolce Vita

La Dolce Vita in Italian means "The Sweet Life!" This is the exact life I see and want for me and my Husband. Now that's not to say that life won't still be filled with its fair share of challenges and obstacles. But I do highly believe mindset and perspective is both powerful and everything. While in Italy, I observed how Italians live and lead their lives. They are well known both in historic and modern times to LOVE luxury!! But luxury to Italians is well beyond just material things and designer labels. Yes, sure most of the biggest fashion houses in the world all come from Italy

(Versace, Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Salvatore Ferragamo, Blvgari, etc...) 

But as I was saying, I observed that luxury for Italians is as simple as a morning cup of espresso paired with their favorite pastry. Luxury is strolling about town and taking in all of the beauty around them. Luxury is having an afternoon aperitivo, or a glass of wine paired with a delicious and well prepared meal with family and friends, or even solo if one chooses. Luxury is indulging into the arts and into history. Luxury is preserving history. Luxury is making time to treat oneself to a daily sweet treat of gelato. Luxury is being out on the water.

Luxury is taking in the views of the land. Luxury is honoring and respecting all that came and existed before you. Luxury is in creative expression. Luxury is having a garden for oneself or simply visiting a public one or two. Luxury is their stones, their divine and detailed architecture, their monuments, their museums, their stunning interiors and exteriors. Luxury is simply ALL AROUND THEM!!

For two full weeks, I felt and experienced luxury in a way that I don't believe I ever have. While luxury may very well be a physical thing to most...I came to realize during my time in Italy...that luxury is also a state of mind. My Husband loves to tease me and often tells me that

"Italians Do It Best!"

Meaning Italians do most things in life better than most.

As an Italian-American, of course he would ever so proudly feel that way. Naturally we debate his opinion and I usually retort with...

"Nah, the whole world knows Black people do it better than anybody else because our culture is always being stolen and mis-appropriated!!"

But dare I now say, Italians know how to live and appreciate the most simple, yet equally beautiful things about life. They fully indulge in it. And, they are also extremely opulent in their taste of luxury as well. I'd be remised to not mention that. But even for as opulent and grandeur as they can be, I think they all have in common appreciating the simple beauties of life no matter how big or small. This is what I believe truly affords them the mindset of the La Dolce Vita lifestyle. 

It's one that I've fully adopted for me and my Husband. I want our lives to be as sweet as it can possibly be. When the challenges and obstacles come our way, I want us to work through them knowing that even amidst of the hard times, life will still be grand and ever so sweet for us...as long as we take the time to truly acknowledge our blessings, from whom which they flow and see the beauty all around us, in spite of whatever the current situation is.

What We’re Up To

As I work to come out of my post vacation blues, know that daily I'm slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things. I'm currently working on a new campaign (just in time for Summer) with a major brand and will soon reveal and announce the moment it's approved to do so. What I can share is that this particular campaign falls right in line with my "travel & vacation" state of mind.

Also, some of you may have noticed that I haven't been super active on my brand social media pages, mainly Instagram. It's truly because I'm taking it easy and just enjoying life away from constantly being glued or obligated to posting on social media. And, also because I have a lot going on simultaneously that requires a great deal of my attention.

In all honesty, social media breaks are imperative for my own sanity. But very soon, I'll be back to posting more regularly with new content I'll have to share with you all. What Else? My film producing team and I were in touch before I left for Italy and we've already had our first zoom meeting since my return, for my upcoming limited design web series.

We have a lot of work cut out for us, especially me as the Host and Executive Producer of the series. So very much that I'm responsible for to make this all happen. But I have an amazing team and I'm just trusting the process and trusting that all will align for us to get all of our locations locked, the shooting schedule put together and then on our way to filming, which we're hoping will be sometime this Summer.

However, the episodes will likely not make its public debut until early 2023. It's possible they can debut as early as Fall 2022. But, I may possibly have some other (film or design) project obligations in Fall of this year, that may push the debut of my web series. In order to avoid a conflict of too many big projects all debuting simultaneously and to give each project a chance to breath and have a life of its own, everything has to be appropriately timed.

Other than all of the above, as I mentioned earlier...my body is physically here in the United States, in New Orleans to be more precise. But my mind, my spirit, my heart and my emotions all seem to have been left behind in Italy. And, I'm perfectly ok with that. 

If you're brand new to my blog or to my email list and would like access to content released prior to you joining the Allured By Design® family...

You can always head to the home page of my website and peruse about, where you'll find all of my video content. To head there, click here.

Also, if you'd like access to previously released newsletters from the beginning up until now, click on the links below...

2020 DEBUT Summer Newsletter

2020 Fall Newsletter

2020 Christmas Newsletter

2021 New Year Newsletter

2021 Spring Newsletter

2021 Summer Newsletter

2021 Fall Newsletter

2021 Christmas Newsletter

2022 New Year Newsletter

Of course, I'd like to remind you all to make sure you're following me on my social media platforms both

Facebook and Instagram where I frequently share seasonal home and lifestyle inspiration. 

⚜️

While our big international trip of 2022 has now sadly come to an end, if you know me well...you'd know I'm already thinking of what me and Charlie's next adventure will be. We have a couple of domestic trips we may get in by or before end of this year. Not sure yet. But another big international trip isn't likely to happen until either 2023 or 2024. Personally, I could do another big trip tomorrow. But there is such a thing where timing and money is crucial my Allured Loves. Plus, next year our home, "House Piazza" turns ten years old. To celebrate, my Husband and I have plans on doing some major upgrades to our home. 

As such, another big international trip could possibly have to wait longer than we'd like to. Yet, at the same time, because I have such big plans for me and Charlie to live and lead this very sweet life...

I simply don't see why we can't just have and do it all, even all at the same time. Ya'll know my Husband is going to think I'm tripping right? Look a girl can dream, OK!!! 🤷🏽‍♀️

But allow me to leave you all with this...

Travel has a powerful tendency to teach, broaden, enlighten and influence our minds and perspectives by exposing us to so many new things, landscapes and overall experiences. Travel even has the power to uplift our spirits and put us in such a great mental space. An amazing trip or excursion is one that can completely alter our behavior and the way we think. I think what's even more profound is the fact that the inspiration from our travels can stay with us for a lifetime.

As the world is opening back up (even amidst of the pandemic continuing to evolve), I hope many of you get out and about and travel, whether it's domestic or international. Whether it's by flight, train, bus or car. Wherever you travel to, I truly hope the experience changes you for the better and ushers in a new way of thinking. May you observe while you're traveling and perhaps adopt something from your travels into your current way of life.

As for me and mine, we are committed to living the sweet life...

To living La Dolce Vita

Travel Well My Allured Loves,

⚜️

Until next time...

⚜️Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler⚜️

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