My room was covered in travel posters growing up.

Paris, London, New York. All the big cities. I had grown up with a series of au pairs from around the world - Germany, Sweden, England, Bulgaria - and their countries always fascinated me. When I had the opportunity to go on a whirlwind high school tour of Europe, my whole world changed. I was captivated by the sights, the food, the museums, the history.

My family began going to London in the summer and I became familiar with the Underground, the bike routes in Kensington Gardens, and the galleries in Trafalgar Square. When I studied abroad at Keble College, Oxford, it was like coming home. All the merging of history and literature in one place. No place impacted me more than ‘the city of dreaming spires,’ especially as I came to know and love the Catholic faith.

After college, I continued to travel and seek out new sights and adventures. My husband and I spent over a month wandering Northern Ireland and the Ulster Way in 2014 in a post graduation ramble, meeting some of the kindest, most open people I have ever met. During graduate school I spent summers in South Africa and then Rwanda, where I studied how people healed post-conflict and post-trauma (and learned so much about hospitality and integrity). But perhaps my favorite place in the world, the place that has stirred my heart like no other, is the wild, raw open hills of the Scottish Highlands.

Though I am now much more ‘home-bound’ with a family and a farm, I continue to seek out adventures abroad (or even just family weekends away in the Shenandoah Mountains). Something about getting out of your comfort zone, seeing the world through another culture’s perspective, has the ability to awaken new and important depths inside us.

And in October 2024, I partnered with Select International and co-led a 10 day tour of Ireland.

This was an unforgettable experience and I would love to potentially lead another tour someday. I am constantly thinking of ways to transform online ‘disembodied’ experiences into physical ‘embodied’ ones - where we can connect, form friendships, and explore the world together. When and if I’m able to organize something like this in the future, all updates will be found here.