"Don't spend all of your time trying to find yourself. Spend your time creating yourself into a person that you'll be proud of." – Sonya Parker

Ciao. My name is Kirstin and I am lucky enough to be navigating motherhood and my early thirties while living in a small beach town outside of Naples, Italy. The military currently decides the “where” in my life, but I decide the “how.” I am a passionate traveler, mom to an amazing four year old, and yoga lover. I share travel tips for Europe with a toddler, my day-to-day abroad life in Southern Italy, and more @kirstinkruip.

Over the last five years, I have traveled many roads in attempts to find myself. You may have known me as a marketing director. As the go-to resume girl. As a theater enthusiast. As your mom’s tech support. As a postpartum mental health care advocate and writer.

For the last four years, I have primarily been “mama”—a job I cherish but honestly spent a long time coming to terms with. For the last nine years, my partner has been in the military and I officially started going wherever his career dictated when we got married almost seven years ago. Mom. Military spouse. Words that felt unbearably heavy when I first tried them on and now are simply things that I do while I remain who I am—a person that I am proud of—just Kirstin. And that is enough.

I hope you enjoy my unique brand of military life, the chaos and often humbling experiences of traveling with a toddler, and my day-to-day life figuring it all out.