​What would your life look like if you had made a different choice somewhere along the line? I'm sure at some point we've all pondered, "What if I had gone to that other college?" "What if I'd stayed in that relationship?" "What if I'd gone on that trip?" 

The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig explores that question. After a series of disappointing events, Nora thinks she doesn’t want to live anymore. After making a decision to take her life, she ends up in a library, run by her school librarian. There, she has a chance to explore an infinite number of possible ways her life could have turned out. But what she discovers is something she never imagines she would. While we all wonder what our lives would have been like if they had been different, would any of those lives truly be better?

A beautiful book with an important lesson to teach, I really enjoyed this. It was deep without feeling overly heavy, and it’s the kind of book I feel better for having read. 

Last week, Eddie and I took a couples trip with some friends and we went to visit The Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. I went along because I knew it would be a fun time with Eddie and our friends, but I didn't anticipate enjoying the tours and tastings as much as I did! I don't normally drink Bourbon straight, but I do enjoy an Old Fashioned when I'm having a cocktail and I really enjoy doing fun things with my husband, so I knew we would be in for some fun. 

Before I start sharing, I have to preface this by saying I did ZERO planning for this trip. Our friend Carlos planned everything start to finish, and we basically showed up! His biggest suggestion is to plan in advance and book any distilleries you want to visit as far out as you can. We found that we got the most out of tours, rather than just tastings. 

​We stayed at the historic Seelbach Hotel. It is an older hotel but it is clean and well-maintained, plus it has SO much history (it's also said to be haunted!). It's also well-located in downtown Louisville and you can walk to a lot of places from there. The hotel's concierge is a historian and we saw him while we were there. There are some beautiful rooms you can visit with some very cool stories - think Prohibition and Al Capone. 

We also rented a car - there are a few distilleries in Louisville, but we also wanted to visit Frankfurt and Bardstown. 

On Thursday we woke up early and made the drive to Frankfort (it was just about an hour from Louisville). We headed straight to our first distillery of the day. You can watch a recap of our day here. 

• Four Roses
  • Here we did a tasting as their tours hadn't opened up when our reservations were made. It's a beautiful property, so I wish we could have seen more of it, but the tasting was great and was a great starting point for our day!
• Capitol Building 
  • We drove by the Capitol building in Frankfort and it was beautiful. There's also a lookout point where you can see the building from higher up and that was very cool, too. 
• Buffalo Trace
  • At Buffalo Trace we did the Barrel Tour. This was a pretty comprehensive tour of the distillery and we all agreed that this was the hands down favorite distillery we visited. The grounds are impeccable, and you can see where the old has been merged with the new.  
• Bourbon on Main
  • We had lunch at this delicious spot with a view of the river. It's locally owned - and that's always a good reason to support a business in my eyes. The House Burger was delicious! 
• Woodford Reserve
  • I also LOVED this distillery. The grounds are gorgeous, on rolling hills, and you get some more of the process on their tour. 

Watch a recap of our day here. 

Watch a recap of our day here. 

There you have it! All the scoop on our trip to Kentucky! Is this a trip you would take? 

xoxo, 

​Jenise

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba is Chanel Cleeton's fourth book in the series about the Perez women. While they are all considered a series and some of the character make appearances or have ties to characters in other books, they can all stand alone. Meaning - you don't have to read the three previous books (Next Year in Havana, When We Left Cuba, or Last Train to Key West) to understand the story. 

Like many other Cuban-American women of my generation, Cleeton's books have resonated so deeply  because for us, Cuba is a thing of our imaginations. I personally have never been there. My mom just visited for the first time a few years ago. We feel a connection to this land, to this culture, to this place - but our experience is one built on memory - the collective memory of those who were exiled and longed for their home but had no chance of returning. There is so much of Cuba that I don't know, and with each of Cleeton's books, I learn a little more. So while the story moves along, I also find myself learning new bits of information that I didn't know. 

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba takes place in the late nineteenth century during the Cuban War for Independence and is inspired by real events. It follows three revolutionary women who all end up connected. 

At the turn of the century in New York, newspaper tycoons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer run rival newspapers. Grace Harrington becomes a stunt girl reporter for Hearst's paper and quickly comes to realize that getting the scoop can make or break your career. By proving her mettle, she scores the story of a lifetime coming out of Cuba.

Evangelina Cisneros is unjustly imprisoned at the start of the war. When the papers in New York catch wind of her story, they dub her "The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba" and use her story to sell papers. 

Marina Perez, a revolutionary working as a courier, helps Grace and Hearst's staff get messages to Evangelina in an attempt to free her. 

It's a story of how three women sacrifice so much of themselves in the fight for freedom.

Cuban or not, if you enjoy historical fiction, I think you'll enjoy this one. 

xoxo, 

​Jenise

Last week we kicked off summer vacation by hopping on a plane with the kids and our friends and taking our first international flight in over a year and a half! The flight was short, but I was just excited to whip out our passports again and visit a country I have come to love over the years. You see, Eddie was born in the Dominican Republic and he and his family came to the US when he was young. Before we had Caleb, we used to visit at least once a year, and I always loved it. Oftentimes we stayed in Santo Domingo visiting family and friends, but we had also gone to a couple of resorts. We had been to visit Casa de Campo but had never stayed there together. 

Casa de Campo is a beautiful resort area that has SO much to offer. It is over 7,000 acres large and includes  3 championship golf courses (including the famous Teeth of the Dog course), a marina, restaurants, an equestrian center, a shooting course, shopping, a hotel, villas, and countless other activities. Basically, if you can think about doing on vacation, Casa de Campo likely offers it. 

When you visit Casa de Campo, you can stay in the hotel or you can stay in a private villa - which is a house. We stayed in a villa that we found on vrbo. You can also book directly through the Casa de Campo website. Many of the homes come with a cook and a housekeeper as a standard feature. Houses vary in cost depending on the size and what they include, and many are made to fit multiple families. Make sure you read the full description of what your rental includes and what it doesn't, as well as bed/bath setups. Pro tip: ask the cook to make you Dominican breakfast (tres golpes). 

There is an airport nearby, La Romana, but as of right now there were no flights from Miami to there, so we flew into the capital, SDQ. From there we took a transfer. The ride was just under 2 hours. We stopped in a nearby town along the way to buy groceries, but the truth is there is a grocery store in the Marina in Casa de Campo. It isn't super expensive, and while it's small, it has all the necessities! 

When we went, the entire country was under a curfew (toque de queda). It was 6 pm during the week and 3 pm on Saturdays and Sundays(!). The housekeeper and cook had to leave earlier because of this, but we still took advantage for breakfast, lunch, and help around the house. This also means that restaurants had to close at that time. There were no bars/restaurants open after curfew - I'm not sure how long curfew will last so definitely think about this! 

There is a beach area called Playa Minitas. It has a Restaurant, some food trucks, a bar, and a pool area (I think there is an adult pool area too but we didn't make it there). Due to COVID-19, they aren't handing out towels at the beach club so make sure you take your own from your Villa or hotel room. The service on the beach was pretty slow - your best bet for getting your drinks is standing up and going to the bar (you also need to wear your mask when you go to the bar area or they won't serve you).

The beach is nice, but I wouldn't say one of the most beautiful beaches I've been to. It is shallow and there's a rock formation that keeps it calm. It's perfect for letting the kids play. If you want gorgeous beaches, there are excursions that will take you to places like Isla Catalina or Isla Saona for the day - and the beaches there are beautiful. 

There is a Dude Ranch/Equestrian Center so we took the kids horseback riding. You do need to make reservations for this. We did thirty minutes. We did an early early morning ride and it was perfect because it wasn't too hot yet. Each of the big kid riders had a guide on their own horse and the two little ones rode ponies and were led by guides. 

We only got to spend about 30 minutes in Altos de Chavon, a replica of a 16th century Mediterranean village. But it really is a gorgeous area and I wish we had had more time to explore there and maybe have a meal at one of the restaurants there. There is also an amphitheater where they hold concerts, a church, an art gallery, and shopping. 

Restaurants we ate at: La Casita (at the Marina), Peperoni (at the Marina), and Minitas Beach Club (at the beach). There are many other restaurants but since everything was closed early we didn't get to try more places. The Marina has a lot of restaurants next to each other in a little plaza. The grocery store is also located in the Marina. ​

You definitely need a golf cart to get around. Make sure you reserve one for the duration of your stay.

We did not need a COVID test to enter the country, but we did need one to return to the US. Casa de Campo has a testing site near the hotel. You do need to book your test in advance. It's $80 for hotel guests and $110 for villa guests (yes, per person. If you're traveling as a family, definitely factor this into your budget).  

There has been a big push to vaccinate employees at Casa de Campo so they can get back to business as usual. Aside from that, nearly everything there is outdoors. Even the common areas in our villa were open to the outside, and the majority of restaurants are outdoors as well. Just do all the common sense things like washing your hands and limiting touching your face. 

I think that's everything! I hope I answered your questions about Casa de Campo, and I hope you'll consider it for a vacation! 

xoxo, 

​Jenise

Additional things to do: 

• night golf
• spa
• movie theater
• tennis
• fishing

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Disney and Pixar’s original feature film “Luca” is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.

New Disney Pixar films are always big hit around here, and Luca is sure to be no different! It begins streaming on Disney+ this Friday, June 18, and Disney has shared some activity pages you can do with the kids in anticipation of the film's release or once you've had a chance to watch it! Watch the preview and download the files below. Fair warning, just the preview has me wanting to book a flight to the Italian Riviera! 

xoxo, 

​Jenise