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xoxo, Vanessa Rivers

Casting Call: Looking for 2 models for the first ever Happy Endingz® Eco Swimwear photo shoot & the new face for an American Apparel® campaign.

When: Saturday, September 11th from 11am-3pm

Where: Private location in Montecito, Ca. Address will be provided via e-mail.

Description:

Happy Endingz® Eco Swimwear Models
~18-28 year old females
~Looking for exotic, dark hair & skin, also blond surfer types.
~Must be willing to live with 3 other girls in home & be filmed for a SB Reality TV Show
~Active healthy lifestyle
~Eco conscious
~Open to travel
~Surfing experience a plus
~Fun & outgoing personality
~Some modeling background
~Cant’ be on any reality show in the past or have any nude photos on the internet.
~MUST BE AVAILABLE ON SEPTEMBER 17TH FOR THE PHOTO SHOOT

American Apparel® Models
~18-28 year old females
~All natural look
~Any ethnicity
~Preferably un-groomed eyebrows
~No visible piercings or tattoos
~Natural hair color

Casting Director: Vanessa Rivers

Please send head shots & full length photos (bikini shots preferred), along with your age, height, weight, hair color, eye color & which company you want to model for (can be both) to:

vanessa@happyendingz.com

After you send in your photos, you will receive an e-mail back from Vanessa if we are interested in having you attend the casting call on September 11th.

Audition Location: will be provided via e-mail.

About Happy Endingz®

Happy Endingz® Eco Swimwear was created to provide bikinis that are functional, sexy & environmentally conscious. The Designer and Founder, Vanessa Rivers, grew up on an eco ranch in Central California and attended college at UC Santa Barbara where she fell in love with surfing. The line’s green concept was born out of Vanessa’s passion for protecting the environment & her bikini’s signature “butterfly cut” bottoms with minimal back coverage are inspired by the Hawaiian Islands. Despite having a celebrity lineage including father, singer Johnny Rivers, grandma, actress Debbie Reynolds, & aunt, Carrie Fisher, (aka Princess Leia), she has managed to stay grounded & dedicated to her goal of helping green become mainstream. Vanessa lives in Santa Barbara, CA, where she spends her time teaching surf lessons and designing swimwear.

Co-Founder Lyndon Lea also has a home in Santa Barbara on Butterfly Beach where he spends each August, playing polo with his high goal team Zacara. The team was formerly called Jimmy Choo as a result of his private equity firm, Lion Capital, buying the brand & expanding it from 23 stores to over 60 stores worldwide. The now famous shoe line, boasted over $128 million in annual sales in 2007 when Lion Capital sold the company for $362 million. Lyndon is actively engaged as the Managing Partner of Lion Capital which he co-founded and travels the world in search of attractive investments. He is also the proud father of two beautiful children, Zachary & Chiara after which his polo team is now named. Recently he has taken up surfing, which has lead to his dedication to supporting green companies that care.

Happy Endingz® Eco Swimwear launched with initial funding of less than $20K, with it’s first 2011 collection of just one bikini in three colors, to encourage young designers with limited resources that you can make a difference if you start small, work hard, and dream big.

It takes just one person, one choice, one step… one teeny, eco bikini to make the world a greener place. We have a responsibility to protect the earth for future generations & the fashion industry needs to be a part of that. All our swimwear is made in the USA, from recycled nylon, & packaged with recycled paper & organic cotton. Our philosophy is that you don’t have to compromise on style or price to go green. In addition 10% of all profits go to the Happy Endingz® Alternative Energy Fund, created to allocate money to small businesses that want to convert to eco practices.

Whether you’re paddling out for a surf session or lounging on the beach, going green never looked this good!

Believe in Happy Endingz®…

xoxo Vanessa Rivers
Founder/ Designer
Happy Endingz® Eco Swimwear
www.happyendingz.com

On our third day in Rome my Dad called our room and woke me up, asking if I wanted to go down to the lobby to get coffee and croissants. On our trip my Dad not letting me sleep in pretty much became a daily occurence. Looking back I now realize that it was his excitement that woke him up so early each morning, but at the time I found his uncontrollable urge to never let me sleep in annoying to say the least. Now for most kids their parents waking them up early might be something they had the chance to get use to, but for me it was the complete opposite. I can’t remember a single morning from my childhood when I saw my Dad up before 11:30am. He was usually out late performing or socializing so as kids we were expected to stay in bed or be quiet till “his highness” as we jokingly called him, was up and about. And if you did happen to accidently wake Dad up you would know to be prepared to feel his wrath, which my brothers and I often compared to surviving a fire-breathing Dragon.

But although I was very annoyed that I wasn’t allowed to sleep in even one day on my entire vacation, I did my best not to show it because really when was I going to be back in Italy again and when was I going to have another opportunity to spend this kind of quality time with my father? So each morning I would drag myself out of bed, splash freezing water on my face and coax one leg in front of the other with the promise of hot Italian coffee and fresh butter croissants. (Thank God for Coffee!)

After breakfast my Dad and I again went running through Villa Borghese Park but on this day we stumbled upon a horse show taking place at the equestrian center. This was exciting to me because I grew up on a ranch and I did horse shows with my quarter horse, Anna, till I graduated from high school. We paused for a moment at the gates of the show watching the beautiful thoroughbreds with their freshly oiled English saddles being lead to and from the massive arena. To this day I still love the smell of hay, shavings and horse hair… All it takes is one whiff and I’m right back there with my mom, listening to her words of encouragement and feeling those butterflies in my stomach as Anna and I enter the ring of the horse show and do our best to make my mom proud.

Anna died of old age exactly a year after my mom passed away which was beyond hard. As far as horses go I know I’m biased but I really believe she was one of the most amazing creatures in the world. Anna was often a total brat, the way most woman can be but she loved going to horse shows so much that all you had to do was untie her and she would load herself into the horse trailer. My mom and I never got over being amazing at that… I’m sure I got choked up as usual just thinking about all those memories but Dad probably didn’t give me much chance to cry before barking at me to hurry up & keep moving.

After our run we had lunch at a very cool modern looking Italian deli down the street from our hotel. I unfortunately don’t remember the name of it but I do remember the lunch very vividly because Dad had a total meltdown about the salt and pepper and it took all of my strength not to burst out laughing and further enrage him. In Italy it is considered an insult to the chief if you season your food, especially if you salt it. So as a result no restaurants have salt & pepper shakers on the table so you basically have to beg for them to let you use the one set that every place seems to have in the back in case someone as high maintenance as my Dad happens to come in and have a fit.

At this deli that one set of salt and pepper happened to be sitting on the counter as we walked in, so like an eight year old my dad immediately grabbed both off the counter and put them on our table. But right before our sandwiches came out, our waitress who was obviously beyond annoyed with us, came by and grabbed the salt & pepper and took them back to the kitchen or somewhere where tourists like us wouldn’t be able to abuse seasoning privileges. A few minutes later dad received his Caprese sandwich and immediately reached for the salt & pepper only to find both were gone. Once I informed him that the waitress had taken them he flailed & stomped his feet saying I’m the customer and I’m paying fo this meal so if I want to put salt on my food then I should be allowed!!! I had to admit he did have a point but his mini temper tantrum was so funny that all I could do was laugh. After lunch I vowed that on my next trip to Italy I will carry salt and pepper shakers in my purse, especially if I am with my father.

In the afternoon we went on a tour of the Vatican Museum and the actual Vatican, both of which were amazing. I was in awe of the Sixteenth Chapel as well as the Egyptian exhibit. It would take me hundred of pages to describe in detail how incredible both the museum and actual Vatican are, so I just have to say if you ever get the chance go and see them both for yourself…

But I do have to recommend seeing the Vatican in the early evening. I think it closes to the public around 6pm. We made the mistake of trying to go straight from the museum to the Vatican in the afternoon and the line was so long that my Dad almost had a heart attack. Luckily there was a bar down the street called the Proud Lion, which had great beer and served as a good place to kill time. I really don’t see how going to a bar before visiting the Vatican was in any way appropriate Lol but I wasn’t going to complain about getting to drink good beer and not having to wait in that crazy line.

And speaking of things that are not appropriate. Someone in Rome decided it would be a good money-maker to create a calendar of “Hot Roman Priests.” Somehow they pulled it off and as a result there is not one gift shop in Rome that does not sell this famous Calendario Romano. I thought this was pretty hilarious so of course I had to buy a few copies for my girlfriends. But what was even more hilarious was that on our way to the bar that day we stumbled upon a group of priests checking themselves out in that very calender, and one of them happened to be Mr. December! And of course I had my trusty iPhone so I got it on video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIkK2oq6Z8k

Inside the Vatican Museum

Egyptian Exhibit

Outside the Vatican, forget the line, on to the bar...

So officer, where is your favorite place to get drunk near the Vatican?

Calendario Romano

Hurray, beer at last!

Yesterday I spent Father’s Day with my Dad at our house in Big Sur. It was the first time we’ve been together on a Father’s Day in twenty-five years. (I know, crazy!) We hiked our property and my dad proudly showed me the garden and all of our fruit trees which are bursting with baby fruit. Later my god mother Sue and I had a drink at the River Inn and shopped around at all our favorite local boutiques. We ended the day with dinner at the Ventana Inn and a fire back at our house, where we sat around reading magazines, drinking tea and chatting about our trip to Italy.

Of course I cried as usual because this has been such a life changing year for me, for both personal and business ventures. This spring I officially partnered with a huge name in fashion, who will be helping me to launch and grow Happy Endingz® Eco Swimwear and next fall I start graduate school at Hawaii Pacific University. So I feel blessed to have this new chance to get to know my father, especially since my mom, who was my best friend, is no longer here to share all of this with me.

Father's Day Dinner with Dad & Sue at Ventana Inn

My mom made these imprints of me and my brother's little feet in the rock wall at our house in Big Sur, the last time I had Father's Day with my Dad.

We ate lunch at an overly expensive place around the corner for our hotel called Ristorante Giovanni,  which we dubbed the “squid place.” Chiara and I both ordered calamari salad which was presented to us in overwhelming portions and when I pushed my plate to the side still half full of squid, the owner came over to my table, grabbed my fork, scooped up some squid, and made a sad face as he tried to suggest that I should eat it all. I responded with a nervous laugh, and reluctantly choked down another bite of squid.

Italians take great offense to you not finishing all your food. They think it means you were unhappy with the meal so you have to try to eat everything that is put before you which is crazy to me because we are raised the exact opposite in America. I mean open any women’s magazine, Cosmo, Health, Fitness, Self and you’ll see articles in every single one about how to stay healthy, lose weight or stay thin by never cleaning your plate. I understand both points of view but I am sorry, I am not eating a pound of squid in one meal just so that a restaurant owner isn’t offended!

Chiara on the other hand was raised in Italy and is very sensitive to the customs and cares a great deal about not offending people. So she ate all of her squid and when the owner wasn’t looking she ate the rest of mine! I was so thankful because there was no way in hell I was going to eat all that seafood, so it became a running joke for the entire trip whenever she had to do something for me. For example she had to buy and eat an entire piece of apple pie just so I could use the bathroom at a bakery outside the Vatican and another time she had to drink a double espresso so I could use the bathroom at coffee shop. Chiara doesn’t even drink coffee, only tea, but she would just laugh every time and say “I’m just eating my daily squid!”

That evening we took a taxi to Anna’s house on the outskirts of the city. Anna’s mom was my grandma Ramistella’s first cousin and I was excited to meet her for the first time. She lives in a cute little one bedroom apartment that reminded me a little of my place in Santa Barbara. Anna made us dinner and we chatted about how are families are related and life in Italy versus America. We got on the subject of being an entrepeneur and my Dad brought up his friend John Paul who started Paul Mitchell with $700 at the age of 37, and Anna said that in Italy it is almost impossible to be an entrepeneur. She explained that there is a sort of caste system here and the people with old money do not help or encourage others that weren’t born into wealth. It is expected here that you will take on the family business or follow in a line of work similar to what your parents did.

This made me very sad because my whole life and way of thinking is built on the belief that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it. It hurts my heart that other people in other countries aren’t encouraged or even allowed to live life in this way. The word Believe is what gets me out of bed every morning with a smile, makes me reach for things that seem impossible and be able to accept that times of sadness and hardships are part of the journey…

I really hope that more countries begin to accept and reward entrepeneurs and their way of thinking because they are the ones who help keep the economy going when it is crashing, they are the ones who invent and create things that make our world a better place, and they are the ones who make it possible for a poor family to step out of poverty and be able to live a life that allows the opportunity to experience a trip such as this. My dad came from a poor Italian family and grew up in a one bedroom apartment in New York, became a music entrepeneur which made it possible for me to be on this trip that will forever change my life…

An entrance to Villa Borghese Park

Streets of Roma

Via Veneto Street

Dinner with Anna

Speaking of how you look at things… On our second day in Florence Chiara, my Dad, and I, saw a statue inside the Westin with the title “Hospitalitus.” Dad said we should call Garvin Emporere Hospitalitus and we of course agreed that this was in fact a perfect nickname. Later, after hours of hearing my dad lay out the worst case scenario for just about everything, Chiara and I decided to start calling him Marcus Negativitus. He actually laughed at this and the name stuck so at least now whenever we he starts in with his negative BS (which is all the time!) we can tease him enough with the nickname to usually snap him out of it. My dad can be a very difficult person to be around, but for the most part on this trip he has done a pretty good job at keeping his negativity and temper in check, excluding our train ride incident, which I will go into later because it’s too funny not to write about.

So after a very eventful train ride we made it to Rome where we again stayed at the Westin. In Rome the Westin is on Via Veneto, which is like the Rodeo Drive of the area. I initially thought it was odd when I realized we were staying at the same hotel that we stayed in Florence. But my Dad also stayed at the Westin in Rome with my mom too, so I was happy to be there despite the fact that I would have prefered the chance to experience a different hotel. But when I thought about it I realized that I should know by now that my dad decides what he likes and sticks to it. At this point in his life he is very set in his ways. For example, 9 times out of 10 when he comes to visit me in Santa Barbara he wants to go to Lucky’s and I am for sure not going to complain about that amazing restaurant choice! And the Westin is a great hotel so I did feel very lucky to have the chance to stay there, especially in Rome…

Rome or Roma is amazing! There are so many gorgeous statues and great shopping and wonderful parks to run in. My dad and I have jogged together in every city we have visited, which really is the best way to find “hidden gems” near where you are staying… streets, restaurants, parks, stores, views, all can be discovered while getting a good workout.

On our first day in Rome, we had lunch in Cafe de Paris across from our hotel and dinner at an amazing little place called Pietro Valentini Ristorante. It is a tiny “hole in the wall” place with only 6 tables and the food is to die for and the service is even better. Simona, our waitress, gracefully carried a plump figure and an inviting smile. As the evening unfolded we found out that she owns the place with her husband and it had been in his family for three generations. She filled us with amazing food and laughter all night, as she did everything from convincing us to go with the cheaper Chianti because it would taste better with our seafood, to asking us to leave our address so she could send us Christmas cards, to giving me a butterfly off the wall… Yes, I know it’s crazy but there were literally tiny butterflies all over this place and of course I again cried when I saw them. Simona informed us that her mother in law put them up for decoration and upon hearing that I loved them she promptly turned, took one off the wall and presented it to me as a gift.

After our amazing meal we hugged her goodbye and stepped out onto the tiny cobblestone street where our driver was waiting to take us on a night tour of the city. It was a magical evening with perfect weather & stars lining the city sky. Our driver, who’s claim to fame is that he also drove Russel Crow and  Dan Brown, drove us up into the hills around the city so we could get a real view of everything and took us to all the major monuments in the Rome from the coliseum to the Vatican.

At first I was skeptical of having a night tour but my father was right, the best way to see Rome is at night. There are way less people out, and the city lights mixed with the glow of the moon and the stars is just breathtaking. Rome is truly a magical place and I think I really fell in love with Italy after seeing it in this way.

The note I left Simona with the butterfly she gave me

The famous coliseum

Piazza Nova

Today is my seventh day in Italy and we have already done so much that it’s getting hard to remember everything so I decided to write down some of the important stuff… mainly food, food and more food!! (This is definitely not the right place to visit before bikini season Lol) But I’m hoping that some day if I have a daughter she will read this and want to come on the same adventure as me… But I will have to warn her that this is the “bawler” version of a trip to Italy. My dad has surprisingly pulled out all the stops for this trip, so we’ve been staying and eating at all the best places, but if this was on my budget we’d be eating Mc Donalds every day and staying at Motel 6 Lol…

Milan…

So back to Milan. On our first night in Milan, Garvin took me, Dad & Chiara to this really good family style Italian place down the street from his house. The restaurant is called Bagutta on Via Bagutta Street and if you ever get the chance to go there you have to try the fried squash blossoms as an appetizer. Italians LOVE squash blossoms and the ones there are especially good.

The next day we had lunch at Salumeria di Monte Napoleone which is on Monte Napoleone street, hence the name. If you love caprese salad, amazing pastries and people watching you have to eat at this place. Dining is literally an art form here in Italy. It’s funny because I remember thinking not long before this trip that I could never date a guy that didn’t like to go out to nice dinners. I told my Dad this while we were having lunch today and he laughed and said, “Well that’s because you grew up like this, going out to dinner, drinking wine & socializing. It’s the Italian way.” My mom, who raised me, usually made us amazing home cooked meals, but she also liked to go out to a good dinner.

So that evening, our second night in Milan, we went to dinner at La Briciolla. As I mentioned Garvin’s building is between Monte Napoleone  Street and Via Bigli and this restaurant was a little bit farther away from his house, but still in walking distance. Me, Chiara and Elisa met my Dad and Garvin there after shopping, visiting the Duomo and one too many drinks at the Bulgari Hotel, which is a perfect spot to relax and have a good cocktail away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The food at La Briciolla is amazing but the people watching there is even better. Garvin compares it to the Ivy in LA and I understood why he made that analogy after watching super models, Italian actors etc coming in and out all evening. And if you love desert this place will overwhelm you. Before they even hand you a desert menu the waiter brings huge glass jars full of everything from cookies to gummy bears and puts them right on your table. You can taste as many of these “desert appetizers” as you want but I seriously recommend ordering the Tiramisu because it was by far the best I’ve ever had in my life!

The next morning which was my third day in Italy, my Dad woke me up at 8am so we could go running before we left for Florence. I groggily drug myself out of bed, made and downed three shots of espresso and was sitting in the living room by 8:30am stretching and wondering why I allowed myself to stay up till 4am writing in my journal and sketching new bikini ideas. You eat late at night in Italy. I guess it’s actually a European thing but my Dad says they especially dine late in Italy. Thus far we haven’t sat down to dinner before 9pm, so I spend all day walking around being inspired by architecture and fashion and then it’s almost 12am by the time I am finished with dinner and am able to sit down and start to try to begin to capture any of it on paper. Oh how magical this place is. If I had two more hands I could write a whole book just about these three weeks. Hmm, Maybe I will…

Florence…

After our run we showered and packed our stuff up and Roberto, Garvin’s assistant drove us from Milan to Florence. The drive was beautiful but the only bad part was that every time I was just falling into a pleasant nap my dad would nudge me and point to something he wanted me to see. I guess that’s good though because I’m sure I can sleep when I’m dead and I don’t know for sure when I’ll be able to come back to Italy…

On a random side note I am still wondering why they don’t have toilet seats on the toilets here?? It really puts a whole new meaning to the phrase “cop a squat.” All the nice hotels and restaurants have them but if you go to any gas station or convenience store there is no chance you are getting a toilet seat. Maybe this is how women  stay so thin here while still eating pastries every morning. Oh I’ll just stop by a few gas stations for a quad workout. Ya, that will do the trick, OK pass me another chocolate croissant…

Which brings me to my next thought. How do Italians manage to eat so much and still stay so thin? I have literally not seen one over weight person since I’ve been here and I’ve also never seen so many pastries and chocolate and cheese, EVER… But I also have not seen a single Mc Donalds. All the fast food places here are little bakeries and sandwich shops. This is how it should be. Food should be good and good for you.

On our first evening in Florence we took the photo that I talked about in my previous post and had a late dinner at Harry’s bar. My dad loves that place but I have to say that between the way, way too bright lighting and the bright pink table clothes that place could be described as Anna Nicole Smith’s dream house, ambiance provided by Rite Aid Pharmacy… And they frowned at me when I ordered by salad first because in Italy the tradition is to have it last. I understand now that it helps with digestion to have it last, but what is worse, having your salad first or being too full by the time you get it it that you can’t eat it at all?! All these little thing are so funny to me. I love traveling!!!

The next day we went to the Uffizi Galleria, (Galleria de Uffizzi) and it did take us about three hours to get through the whole thing but I really loved it. We saw so many amazing paintings by artists such as Rembrant, Michelangelo & Da Vinci.. And I fell in love with an artist called Jacopo Zucchi. There were only  three small paintings of his displays there, but out of the thousands of amazing works of art I saw that day his work just spoke to me and pulled me in.

I stood staring at his paintings for a long time before my Dad came looking for me because I had fallen behind. I started to leave then went back to write his name down so I could look up more of his work. I think what I like most about it, beyond his use of rich, deep colors, is the fact that he depicted amazing fairy tales. I loved The Last Unicorn and The Never Ending Story when I was little and Jacopo Zucchi’s paintings remind me of those stories. Looking at them was like be invited into a fantasy world, where anything you could dream up is possible.

That night my Dad wanted to take me to a hotel in the hills where he and my mom had also stayed during their honeymoon. We weren’t able to find the same hotel but we did go to a new hotel in the hills called Hotel Villa la Vedetta which had a fantastic view of Florence. We ended an amazing day with dinner at a restaurant right on the Arno River, called Burgo San Jacopo, in Hotel Lungarno. We sat on the balcony overlooking the water with a view of the Ponte Vecchio and watched little tug boats troll for fish and chatted about all the beautiful things we had already been able to do in our short time here in Italy…

View of the Arno River from the Westin in Florence

Quiet Alley in Florence

On our way in to the Uffizzi Gallery, Florence

Italy's version of MickeyDs

The Famous Ponte Vecchio bridge, Florence

Toasting at Hotel Villa la Vedetta, Florence

Dusk settling on the city of Florence

So when we arrived at the Westin Hotel in Florence or Firenze yesterday afternoon of course all I could think about was getting that picture. Anything I can do to feel connected to my mother still, brings me so much joy. Chiara knew how important this was to me so she called ahead to the hotel and told them about my dream to take a photo just like my mom had. So when we arrived the woman at the front desk told us we could get settled in our rooms, then meet her back at the front to go up to the suite on the 5th floor where my parents stayed on their honeymoon 28 years ago.

So we made our way up to our rooms which are absolutely beautiful, decorated in old world charm with high ceilings, plush curtains and an incredible view overlooking the Arno River and the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge. We got settled in and wasted no time in getting all of our cameras ready for the picture. And just before we headed down to the front desk again, Chiara handed me the room key and told me I should hold onto it for us. So I pulled it out of its paper slip and when  I looked at it my eyes once again filled with tears. There on the room key was nothing but the name of the hotel and a picture of a Monarch Butterfly. I handed it to my Dad and told him the story about the butterfly and all he could do was whisper “heavy” as he turned away to hide his eyes that were now also brimming with tears. I have only seen my father cry one other time in my life and that was at his mom’s funeral.

I have the word Believe tattooed on my left wrist. I got it when my mom got sick and every day since she passed I look at it to remind myself that everything happens for a reason and this is all part of a bigger plan. Life is sometimes very hard but it is also exciting, fun and beautiful and if you take the time to notice the little amazing things that are happening all around you, it is truly magical and you can’t help but believe… in yourself, in your dreams, in the people you love and in God. There really are no coincidences. Life is tough and things will come your way that you don’t think you can endure, but if you are on the right path and you keep your eyes and heart open, life will amaze you in wonderous ways everyday.

Mom sketching at the Westin in Firenze, 1982

Me writing in my journal at the Westin in Firenze, 2010

I am sad to leave Milano after such a short time here, but I am also overwhelmed with excitement to go to Florence today. My mom passed away from cancer almost two years ago and a few months after she died my father gave my brothers and I framed pictures of her painting on a balcony in Florence on their honeymoon. It is one of the most beautiful photos of my mom I’ve ever seen, sketching away on a balcony overlooking the city. My mom loved painting and from what she told me she also loved Florence.

Before I left on my trip here I took a photo on my iPhone of that picture and vowed to go to that same location and take a photo just like it. I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to find the same spot but this morning my Dad told me that tonight we will be staying at the very same hotel where that photo was taken of my mother. My eyes are feeling with tears as I write this, just thinking about how special tonight will be. On to Florence!

My mom on the balcony of the The Westin Excelsior Hotel, Florence

So I met my Dad and Chiara at the gate in Zurich. Chiara is a friend of my fathers who he asked to be our “tour guide” for our trip because she has lived in Italy and speaks the language fluently. The two of them spent two days in Zurich on business then met me at the airport for our flight to Milano.

By the time we landed in Italy and the driver had our bags stuffed into the car, which took a while because I packed way too much as usual, I was already almost asleep, leaning my head against the window, trying to keep my eyes open. I was exhausted from traveling for almost a day straight, but as we drove down the roads towards the center of Milano I quickly forgot how tired I was…

Stretching before me was the most intriguing city I had ever seen. I have been to New York & many other beautiful cities but this is my first time in Europe and the feeling became so overwhelming that I just sat in the back seat next to my father as tears silently crept down my face behind my sunglasses. It is such a crazy experience to go from living in a place your whole life that is less than 200 years old to a place thousands of years old, brimming with amazing architecture & culture.

After what seemed like only a few minutes we arrived at Garvin’s Flat in the center of Milano. Garvin, I discovered owns not only one flat but a whole building of flats overlooking Monte Napoleone Street, which is the heart of the Fashion world in Italy. In a brief moment of weakness I thought of freezing my credit cards the way my friend Daneé use to do when we were in college, so she wouldn’t be able to go shopping, but after a few minutes in some of the shops on this street I quickly realized that there was no way I would ever be even slightly temped to spend a whole month’s worth of rent money on a shirt or a scarf!

After we unpacked and Garvin gave us a tour of his building, we headed of to dinner and by this time it was already 9:30pm but it was still light out and beautiful on the streets. The Italian food was beyond amazing and I fell asleep around 12am, full and happy, listening to the sound of my father play guitar in the living room.

Today Garvin’s friend Elisa took us on a tour of the city so we walked around and shopped, went to an amazing lunch and when the guys were too tired we went on shopping without them, went to see the Duono & then had drinks at the Bvlgari Hotel. And tonight we had another exquisite dinner, with way too much food!

We are leaving tomorrow and I wish we had another day here, but I am also very excited to see Florence and to head on down to the South to meet my relatives in Sicily and see the countryside and the Mediterranean Sea. My dad asked me today if I could ever live here and I said the answer is and will always be no. I love visiting big cities, but I am a small town, beach girl and no amount of shopping will ever change that…

Making the most of my 45 minutes in Zurich

Arriving at Garvin's Flat

View from my room

Shopping with Dad

My favorite Italian Bikini by Missoni - only $400 Lol

Elisa & Chiara at lunch in the city

By far the best Caprese Salad I have ever had!

I never imagined pastries could be so elegant.

Armani on Monte Napoleone Street

Outside the Duomo

Duomo di Milano

Inside the Duomo was the most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen.

And after church naturally you head to the bar...

Elisa convincing us to stay for another round.

BVLGARI Hotel