Betty Confidential

We chose a 4-day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Sky, which sailed to both Cuba and Great Stirrup Cay, the cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas. The flip side is that as an executive and the mother of three children, I wholly embraced being taken care of for the next four days, where I didn’t have to lift a finger: thinking about entertaining my two kids, what they ate, how they dress or the endless log of logistics around kids’ daily schedules. From the moment we go onboard, my kids had a field day with the onboard sports facility, video arcade, and teen and youth programs, while I went into tranquillo mode by the pools, soaking up the balmy Caribbean weather. As you drive deeper into Havana, you witness spectacular Spanish Colonial architecture, iconic sites, such as the Cuban Congress and National Library of Science and Technology_. Coupled with Havana’s cobbled streets, I’d have to remind myself that it is Havana, Cuba that we are in, and not Paris or Rome.

In my case, I desperately needed to be with a few dear, old friends who knew me long before I was married with kids – those friends whom we grew with through crazy adventures, those who we travelled with to foreign places with utter spontaneity, those whom we shared the ups and downs of new cities we moved to for work, and those friends who endured hours of phone calls about the trials of young men who came and went, and finally about the one who stuck. It was a friend’s wedding that inspired the trip to Paris; a friend who was getting married for the first time – late in life — whom since the day I’ve known her (now 32 years), had inspired to marry a Frenchman and spend the rest of her life in Paris, and she did it. It was called the Salle des Capucines, because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier, in recognition of its architect, Charles Garnier. The Musée de l’Orangerie is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings being the permanent home for eight Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet, the museum also contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, , among others.

In spite of that, Squaw Valley’s lends a Switzerland-like backdrop of dramatic, granite mountain peaks and its European charm of quaint chalets and a walking village of restaurants, ski shops and a funitel (an aerial lift for higher altitudes) that unleash you to some of the country’s best ski runs. Squaw Valley has an abundant staff of ski professionals who are there to help you navigate its web of runs on the front and back side of its mountain peaks and rescue you if you get in trouble on the mountain’s more advanced runs. Our visit to Squaw Valley was during the 2018 Winter Olympic (there was something nostalgic about being in Squaw at that time), and while we did not get a chance to visit the Olympic Museum right on the Eastern edge of the village, right in the heart of it all, was a massive screen showing off our current Olympic athletes and their performances. We did not get a chance to visit the Olympic Museum, but according to its website, the museum boasts memorabilia from the 1960 Winter Games at Squaw Valley, USA team uniforms, a historical film, and a hockey stick and puck from the 1960 Winter Games.

The second time around, I suffered every indignity you can think of for a healthy expectant mother: foggy brain, morning sickness, swollen legs, breast pain, mood swings, exhaustion. Using Vagisil® pH Balance Intimate Wash™ was step one. The wash is gentle, and it’s the only wash that contains LactoPrebiotic, which supports the growth of good bacteria in the vagina. new ProHydrate Natural Feel Gel™ works with the body’s natural lubrication.