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When friends told us that they were going to New Orleans for New Years and suggested that we come along, I was a tiny bit hesitant at first. The hesitation didn’t last. . . I remembered the lead up to our last New Orleans trip when a colleague told me how kid-friendly the city was. Once we decided we were going,  we cashed in on JetBlue points and then set out on finding a place to stay that would suit our little family.

Royal Sonesta New Orleans, where we stayed last time, was my first choice, but due to the holiday and bowl game, it was sold out. We knew we wanted some extra space, and when we came across the suites at Rathbone Mansions, we were instantly in love. I was a little nervous that the property wouldn’t live up to the gorgeousness of the website, but when we were arrived, we were blown away but just how amazing it was.

We booked the Louis Armstrong Suite, which offered two bedrooms (one with a pack and play) and the most incredible balcony, which stretched the entire length of the suite and overlooked Esplanade Avenue.

When in NOLA, you have to have a balcony, and this one was perfect for congregating with our friends and for baby’s naptime! It was warm and humid out, and walking him up and down the balcony put him to sleep late morning every day. It was blissful!

Speaking of blissful, the hot tub at Rathbone Mansions was perfect. After breakfast every morning, we had a glass of bubbly in the hot tub before heading back to our suite for showers and nap time. Having this amenity on site made our trip feel like a real getaway.

Rathbone Mansions offered a delicious free breakfast that included fresh croissants, which our entire family loved. The breakfast area was beautiful and had lots of New Orleans touches, high ceilings, beautiful furnishings, and on occasion, a cute little dog running around. Rathbone Mansions was an easy walk to the heart of the French Quarter, and it was super convenient to get to almost everywhere.

We only took Ubers to get to the newer part of New Orleans, including the Louisiana Children’s Museum, which we visited on New Years Eve. The museum is a must visit for families traveling to New Orleans. Our little guy loved it so much, and it tuckered him out so that we could have a leisurely New Year’s Eve lunch. I have a whole post planned on all of the things we ate in New Orleans, so stay tuned!

Our son loved the music, the lights, the parades, and the energy in New Orleans, and I can’t wait to bring him back when he’s a bit bigger to experience more of this amazing city.

Is this thing on?

Welcome to the latest version of my blog, traveleatlove.me. It has been a crazy six months since I last blogged, and I am excited to be back in this space, even if it’s not quite the same as it was before.

What happened to my old URL?

Funny you should ask. New motherhood and running a business have been more exhausting than I ever could have imagined, and in that exhaustion and constant go-go-go until I pass out at night, I overlooked renewing my domain name. Someone else snatched it up and now claim they’ve been in that space for a number of years, which simply isn’t true. But, I suppose finders-keepers. . .

If you have my blog linked anywhere, please update to traveleatlove.me and please spread the word. It’s beyond frustrating that someone else gets the traffic for the work that I put in all those years!

I am hoping the latest rendition of blogging for me is a space where I can still share travels, food, and my love of wine, along with occasional snippets of family stuff and motherhood and work. We plan to do our best to raise a citizen of the world, so expect to see a lot of family travel, including recaps of past trips to Ireland and New Orleans and our upcoming first trip to Puerto Rico as a family.

While the last 10 months have been extraordinarily busy, tiring, humbling, and many days extremely frustrating, I have learned some lessons worth sharing. Some might be no brainers, such as, take a maternity leave when you have a baby. As a self-employed workaholic determined to grow my business I had severe anxiety about taking time off, and instead I worked from the recovery room, really only taking the first week of baby’s life off, then going back as full speed ahead as I could with him by my side. Working from home is a huge blessing, but when there is no boundary between work and life (and some people REALLY take advantage of that) it can be a curse. If I could do it over again, I would have taken at least two months off and really just let me myself be. I read a quote recently that said “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” I gave myself some really unnecessary stress during those newborn days, and it’s had an affect on me ever since.

I really wish I could Control ALT Delete myself! I need a reboot!

If I could turn back time, I would also have gotten help with the baby right away. With my husband at a client in central MA, I spent many, many 12-14 hour days alone working, caring for a baby, and paying zero attention to anything I needed. The summer was extremely hard and a bit of a tearful blur, if I am being honest. I am glad to have that season of life behind me.

One major thing I would have also done differently is to unfollow a lot of new moms on social media. Everyone seems to have had an easier experience with X,Y, and Z than I did. . . I have found things to be HARD, in case I haven’t mentioned it. I’m not perfectly coiffed or made up, I haven’t lost most of my baby weight, I don’t feel constant bliss, and I am generally a mess a lot of the time! I basically have (not enough) time to work and take care of the baby, and that’s it.

I know that social media is a highlight reel, but to be honest, even my highlight reel feels like a mess a lot of the time lately!

Lastly, before I wrap up this post and get started writing about travel again, I would say that I have learned to start cutting out things that don’t bring me joy. I haven’t gotten into the Marie Kondo stuff, but I have realized that life is too short to keep experiences and people that bring you down, and it’s also too short to get upset over these things. As long as my family is happy and healthy and safe, we are doing okay.

If you’re still reading, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. It feels like to have even taken a few minutes to write this post and to have hope for my blog coming back to the fun space it once was for me, and hopefully for you!

One of our favorite Dorchester patios is back! After several months of being shuttered, the space that was once Ester (and before that, The Ledge) reopened as The Bowery Bar, and we’ve already been there three times.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when we walked inside. The restaurant has been completely redone, and it looks beautiful. I didn’t even grab inside photos as we made a beeline straight to the patio, which has been beautifully updated. The addition of a closed off bar area, as well as a lounge area and games, has made the patio better than it was, and it was already pretty great.

The Bowery has a fantastic list of creative cocktails, including some fun tiki drinks

The Book ‘em Dano and Smoke on the Island are both delicious, and it’s always fun to have an umbrella in your patio drink!

Over the course of our visits, we’ve had yummy guac and chips, with house hot sauce, which I could put on everything.

We’ve also had the tuna poke and chilled half lobster, which comes with the most incredible brown butter vinaigrette. It is amazingly delicious, and I could drink it by itself.

My go-to for an entrée has been the kale salad, and I had it for lunch with the smoked chicken salad, which was nice and light, not too mayonnaise-y, which some chicken salads can be. The smoky flavor of the chicken salad makes the meal feel like something a bit more special than a regular salad. I love that the menu has several salads on it, making going out and healthy eating possible and fun.

I can’t say enough about how great the staff is, especially Emily, who served us for Sunday lunch this past weekend. She saw me struggling to get the baby’s stroller through a door and ran to my assistance and helped with the second door. Care like that does not go unnoticed, and it really elevated the dining experience for me. We have so many great restaurants in Lower Mills, Adams Village, and the Ashmont area that we rarely have to get in the car to go out. I hope everyone else in the Boston area takes a trip down to Dorchester to discover great food and kind people!