Getting away.

Hi from a quiet hotel room...

Hi! I’m writing my first official Substack from a hotel bed in Milwaukee. So…heaven, basically.

My best friend of 43 years, Katy O., and I met here to meet our friend and author Jo Piazza at her event at Festa Italiana. Are Katy and I Italian? Nope. Did we fully embrace the culture and did Katy find herself competing in an All You Can Eat Cannoli contest? Yes. (She came in last and was extremely unbothered by the men around her wolfing down 6 cannolis while she delicately nibbled her pastry and sipped her water, pinky up.)

We listened to Jo talk about her new book, The Sicilian Inheritance (if you haven’t read it yet, YOU MUST), met her lovely husband and witnessed her kids living their best lives. It’s always a joy when digital friendships translate to real life ones, and we can’t wait to hang with Jo again.

No matter where I am, give me all the coffee. All the time.