After the mesmerizing beauty of Venice, my family traveled (again by train) back southward to Florence. I was looking forward to Firenze, having been told that I would “love it” given my interest in art. The museums on our to-do list looked interesting and I had found (via Instagram) a list of sandwich shops that…
Tag: travel
Venice, Italy | 2025
For most of my life, Venice held a sort of magical mysticism in my mind—based, of course, primarily on what I had seen on film and read about in books. The first time I remember really encountering the city was in the 2003 movie The Italian Job. I won’t spoil it for you, but the…
Rome, Italy | 2025
When in Rome… I’m not sure any of us actually used that phrase during our time in Italy, but we certainly tried to do as the Romans do in terms of eating, drinking and generally enjoying life during our time en Italia. We arrived on our direct flight from Chicago O’Hare to Roma Fiumicino early…
Book Review: The Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief
On my trip to New York City this spring, I picked up a pocket-sized edition of Maurice Leblanc’s seminal work, The Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief, in the gift shop of the New York Public Library. I was thrilled to find a copy in English because to my own dismay, I have yet been able…
Niagara & Toronto, Canada | 2025
Third time’s the charm is the adage that perfectly sums up my spring 2025 travel to Canada. For having been around the world a few times, I somewhat surprisingly had never crossed the northern border of the U.S. to visit our good-natured neighbors, even though it’s closer than other regular road trips I take with…
OBJECT THINGS STUFF
messy bits we carry around. In 10 days, my debut collection of poetry will be published & available for the world to see. But before that, some context. I have loved poetry since I was a child. My cousin, Lindsay, and I once produced a hand-illustrated, yarn-bound collection of poems based on the creek in…
New York City, New York | 2025
Generally speaking, I am not a spontaneous person. My mind doesn’t normally even consider last-minute major decision-making, particularly with travel. Sure, I have about 10 different Google flight alerts set for various destinations on any given day, but I’m never anticipating buying a ticket the moment I get a price drop email. However, every rule…
Book Review: Tom Lake
Earlier this year I read The Dutch House by Ann Patchett and absolutely loved the storytelling. You can read my full review here, but my overall description would be that the novel was a poetic ode to family in all its beauty and complexity. The book felt rich. I am always years behind on best-seller…
Book Review: The Nine
I wouldn’t call myself a history buff, but I have always been interested in looking back to learn about the world through the lens of historical documentation. In school, I really loved history assignments, literature reviews, biopics, geography challenges and researching about any topic that brought me back into a previous time. But for some…
Book Review: Color—A Natural History of the Palette
As I have expanded my artistic career over the past few years, I’ve taken a particular interest in the materials I buy. Wanting to sell quality art made with quality materials, I usually conduct research before restocking paper, paints, canvases, pens and packaging supplies to consider multiple options. I not only want to invest in…
L.M.Beatty 