Happy Weekend | Virginia Beach, Virginia

I'm in Virginia Beach this weekend for some birthday celebrations.  I'm so excited for a few days of celebrating, but oh, how I've been looking forward to a little r&r with my favorite.  I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

xo

Sonia & Jordan's Wedding | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

We already discussed how badass my friends are, but that was just the icing on the cake at their Dominican Republic destination wedding at the NOW Larimar Resort in Punta Cana.  Their day was filled with love, laughter, a lot of dancing, great food and drinks, and an incredible group of people (I might be biased).

 

More photos here

the Dominican Republic

On my last day in the Dominican Republic, I woke up early and snapped a few shots on the quiet beach so that, on nights like tonight when I'm hunting down sweatshirts and drinking hot tea to fight the chill, I can torture myself with memories of the sun and sand.

I am looking forward to returning to New York tomorrow, but I am not looking forward to braving the cold, that's for sure.

Zuma - Malibu, California

I went to Zuma on one of my last evenings in California.  It was a spur of the moment stop-off that, to be honest, wasn't my idea.  I wasn't having many ideas over those last few days because my mind and my heart were roughly three thousand miles away.  I had been rocked by some pretty serious news the afternoon prior and my last days in paradise were spent inside my own conflicted head, feeling helpless and unsure of what my next steps would be in this crippling situation.

It was overcast and late afternoon and it looked as though it was going to rain.  Kaya wanted to stop and see how high the waves were so we pulled up to Zuma (which is oddly familiar to me, now).  Zombie-like, I walked down the beach to fog and green water and dozens of surfers speckled dark against the waves.  Dolphins were skipping through the surf -- dolphins!

And something about all of that -- the excitement of all of it, smacked against me so hard that I ran to the car, grabbed my camera and did. not. stop. clicking.

Seriously.

I could have stayed there on that foggy beach gasping at the height of the waves for hours.

At the start of this holiday season, I am so thankful to have dedicated years (nearly six!  when did that happen?!) to honing a craft that allows me to transform these beautiful, fleeting moments in my life into something so tangible and solid that I'll be able to look back on it years from now and reassure myself:

It really was as beautiful as I remembered.