For my birthday this year, my husband surprised me with a weekend trip to Palm Springs, Calif. We stayed at Korakia Pensione, the most low-key-luxurious place I know. John knows me well, because I love the desert and prefer my getaways relaxed and romantic.

Talk about feeling transported. I felt like I was in a different world, even though we were just a short walk to the downtown scene. It’s what I imagine Morocco might feel like, down to the afternoon mint tea served with orange slices and pine nuts.

Dress: All Saints (long ago), Jacket: ASOS, Bag: Mercado Global, Scarf: Ella Moss

This is probably my favorite thing I wore in Palm Springs, because it’s perfect for the weather (low 80s this time of year) and just felt right for the setting. I think airy cotton and a jean jacket are essentials for any southwestern adventure. I’m wearing a white bathing suit underneath.

It’s inspiring to be in a place with so much natural beauty. Evenings are especially gorgeous in Palm Springs, as the sun sets behind the San Jacinto Mountains. We swam under the stars in one of the heated pools. Afterward, we warmed up by the fire and sipped a glass of wine—is this real life? I’ll never forget this perfect night.

While chatting with my husband about the passage of time (since it was my birthday) we started taking about what different places mean to you over the course of your life. We’ve been to Palm Springs before, but this is the first time we’ve visited since we became parents and life subsequently became MUCH busier—we therefore relaxed that much more. I think traveling is replenishing and helps nourish the spirit.

Travel Tips for Palm Springs:

• If you’re ever in town, I recommend Matchbox Pizza for good eats and tasty cocktails. I also love Cheeky’s for brunch.
• When we’re traveling, we like stop at a grocery store to pick up a few essentials (wine, cheese, snacks, etc.) We loved Jensen’s Foods, which was about a 5-minute drive from downtown.
• Other things that make this place worth visiting: museums, quirky shops, trails and hiking.
• Check the weather forecast and pack layers. For nights out, I brought a light jacket and I’m glad I did. I’ve also been to Palm Springs in summer and it’s hot all day and night. I love it though!
• While there are plenty of places for lowkey hanging out, there’s also chic lounges and fine dining restaurants if you’re in the mood for that.
• There’s an aerial tram that goes up the mountain–especially gorgeous at sunset.

Palm Springs, you’re beautiful!

p.s. As much as I love a getaway with my husband, I’m excited to plan a family road trip that is parent and toddler friendly. If such a place exists, I will find it! Have a suggestion? Tell me in the comments. 

Like many women, my girlhood views of love were heavily impacted by the final scene in Cinderella when the happy couple rides off in a carriage and you read that they lived happily ever after. This became my barometer for love—an incessant and passionate happiness shared with a charming prince. I think I know some women who still think that’s what love is.

I’m married. Love looks a little different from this side.

To start, we don’t live in a castle or have birds that make our beds. We talk about the water bill, the baby’s diaper rash, the mortgage, taking out the trash. We have a few arguments that we love to rehash—I have a feeling other married people do this too. And of course, there are those minor annoyances in one another we choose to overlook because we love each other. Sweeping gestures of romance are rare.

But I love my husband, and I fall in love with him over and over again. It’s a bit like Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights. In order to avoid execution – wait, wait, I’m getting to the romantic part – the ingenious bride tells the distraught king a story each night, but doesn’t end it. That way, the story continues the next day and the next day after that, for 1001 nights, and ends with the king sparing her life. The tale is close to my heart, not only because it’s a testament to good storytelling, but because it reflects how I feel about love in marriage. Essentially, I don’t think people “stay” in love as much as they fall in love with each other time after time.

A few months ago I went to San Diego with my husband for a work conference of his. We stayed out late in the Gaslamp Quarter, a gorgeously lively place. I felt like we’d gone back in time, to a place before babies, job commutes, and to-do lists. I sat across him and just felt profoundly in love with the man before me. We had drinks, ate food off tiny plates, people watched, danced at a club, and rode the cutest bike taxi back to our hotel.

The nightlife in San Diego is so fun! This is the Gaslamp District. We’re in a bike taxi. #getaway

A video posted by Jay Miranda (@pinklip) on Nov 15, 2014 at 7:43pm PST

In moments like these I feel like a fog lifts and I see my husband again. I really see him. And I feel like the woman I was in college when we first met.

But, you know, a few days later I might get mad at him for forgetting to buy a can of beans or I’ll sulk off when I’ve had enough of his CSI: Miami marathon (really, just one episode is much too much). Then he takes me to dinner on a Friday night and twirls me around while we wait for our Uber ride and I’m back in it.

I’ve also learned that love is more than breathless passion. Sometimes, love is quiet. It’s an embrace while you’re watching your father die, or believing in you even when you don’t believe in yourself, or setting up a dentist’s appointment for you because he knows too scared to do it yourself. My husband has done all of these things. I used to worry about love getting stale. I’m approaching a decade of time with my husband and it doesn’t feel faded at all.

Love becomes deeper, distilled, and remains just as inebriating as ever—for one thousand and one nights, and counting.

If you enjoyed this post, come back for more of my writing on love—new stories posted each week. 

Hey blog readers, those of you who need more, more, (more!) content are going to love February because I have weeks of posts scheduled. That’s right, come to the blog each morning and find a new post every day this week. This month’s theme is Love Stories. It’s that month when shops become blurs of blush pink, red, and plum and greeting cards become effusive, flirty, cheeky and every candy bar is in the shape of a heart. It’s a great time of year!

Here on the blog I’m sharing outfits I’m loving, swoon-worthy wishlists for your wardrobe and home, stories about loving yourself, about loving others, about love lost, and more.

It might be my best month of blogging yet. So grab a mug of coffee and enjoy a daily read. xo Jay