Author: Heather Cassell

Lesbian European travelers (Photo: Courtesy of World Rainbow Hotels)

5 Travel Safety Tips for European LGBT Travelers

The number one concern for lesbian, bisexual women, transgender and straight women travelers and their families is staying safe while traveling.

Europe’s attitude toward LGBT people is rapidly changing from country-to-country. Much of that change is due to the European Union’s strict human rights rules – that are inclusive of LGBT rights – that countries need to adhere to when applying to become a part of the union and maintain once they are accepted.

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American Fashion Travel: Designers on the Go

A Fashionable Adventure: American Fashion Travel: Designers on the Go

Who says women like to keep it safe by staying at home? They haven’t met these women fashion designers who are intrepid traversing the world searching for the best textiles, fabrics and ideas to bring to the runway … oh, and along the way they learn so much more about our humanity that enriches them and their designs for the clothes we wear.

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Women shopping in downtown Sonoma. (Photo: Courtesy of the Sonoma Visitor’s Bureau)

Rummaging Through Sonoma’s Antique Trail

Recently on a lazy Sunday, my roommate, Mel, and I ventured up to Sonoma for a little antiquing and vintage shopping.

The fog still hugged the hills as we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco and up Highway 101, always a beautiful and mystical scene, especially among the vineyards.

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A view of Ciera’s impressive wine selection. (Photo: Super G)

Ciera Is Luxury For The Stomach And The Soul In South Lake Tahoe

It might be one of Lake Tahoe’s best kept secrets, a four diamond AAA restaurant for seven consecutive years in the back of a so-so casino and resort, the Mont Bleu, in South Lake Tahoe.

You would never guess from the small dingy casino floor and cheap eateries that circle the crap and poker tables that a sophisticated restaurant calls this place home, but tucked in the back near a nightclub is the Ciera Steak and Chophouse (55 Highway 50, South Lake Tahoe, 775-588-3515).

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NBC's "X-Factor's" Lorie Moore (Photo: Courtesy of San Diego Pride)

Lorie Moore Is Ready For More #HardWork

Music and football have been Lorie Moore’s life, but you won’t see her on the sidelines cheering on her team in a skimpy outfit. She’s on the field as a semi-pro female football player who also by the way is often tapped to sing the US National Anthem during the half-time entertainment.

Last year, she took her music career up a notch wowing audiences in NBC’s The X Factor and started working with TV star Tisha Campbell-Martin performing with the songstress on “Tisha Tuesdays” at the Xen Lounge (10628 Ventura Boulevard; 818-505-3513; ; XenLounge.com) in Studio City, California.

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Musician Beverly McClellan (Photo: Courtesy of Beverly McClellan)

Beverly McClellan Returns To Her Roots

Beverly “Bev” McClellan hushes her birds and dogs as she looks out onto the porch and up into the sky at the swirling clouds threatening another thunder and lightning storm at her new home in Ashville, North Carolina.

After 20 years living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Gate City, Virginia native has returned home, settling in a log cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains about an hour and a half from where she grew up on the border of Virginia and Tennessee.

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Former San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Prozan, foreground, her wife, attorney Julia Adams, background, and their friend, center, pause to read the plaque honoring American lesbian writer Gertrude Stein outside of Hand Job Nails and Spa on Castro Street near 19th Street. (Photo: Heather Cassell)

New Rainbow Honor Walk Honors Queer Women In Bronze

Changes are underfoot around the Castro neighborhood from new buildings to the newly unveiled Rainbow Honor Walk that was revealed September 2.

It was a warm sunny day in San Francisco when Girls That Roam toured the Castro to check out the new bronze plaques honoring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who have made extraordinary contributions to art, culture, history, science and more.

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Be one of the first this summer to experience the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, a twisting, glittering ride through the Snow White story. (Photo: Courtesy of Disney World)

Doing Disney Right

Remember the 1983 movie National Lampoon’s Vacation? The one where Chevy Chase and family drive halfway across the country to ride some roller coasters and when they finally get to Walley World it turns out to be… (SPOILER!)…closed?

Re-watching that movie recently, I couldn’t stop myself from shrieking at the screen, “Why didn’t you check the website before you left?!” (I know; 1983, but that’s still barely an excuse.)

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The Teysha family showing off their shoes and enjoying the sun on a ranch near Austin, TX. (Photo: Dennis Burnett)

Teysha’s Global Style

It’s been another summer filled with fashion and music as Sophie Eckrich and Travis Breihan make their way across the US popping up their festival store to sell their Central American designed fashions, Teysha.

“[It’s] just amazing to meet people and get in front of customers and spread the word,” says Sophie, co-founder and CEO of Teysha, about traveling and meeting the estimated 6,000 subscribers on its email list and about 14,000 followers on social media.

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Enjoy a casual stroll along the beach front at the Lake Arrowhead Resort & Spa. (Photo: Ellie Perez Photography ,ElliePerez.com)

Lake Arrowhead: Southern California’s Lake and Mountain Escape

On a hot summer day, my girlfriend and I were ready to ditch the concrete jungle and get back to nature with a quick weekend escape to the lake and mountains in the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California.

The lobby was buzzing with travelers checking in to the elegantly appointed Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa (27984 California 189; 909-336-1511; LakeArrowheadResort.com) in Lake Arrowhead, California when we arrive on a busy Friday evening.

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She She producers Annie Albright, left, and Carmen McKay, right, cheers to Women’s Weekend 2.0 at a Russian River winery. (Photo: Yvonne Rainey)

Girls In Wine Country: Sonoma’s Women’s Weekend Revival

It’s a reboot for the women’s weekend at the Russian River in Guerneville this fall with headlining acts and excursions among the vines in Sonoma’s wine country at Women’s Weekend 2.0.

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Comedian Julie Goldman (Photo: www.autostraddle.com)

Julie Goldman Loves Making the Ladies Laugh

Comedian Julie Goldman is coming to women across the US live. All summer long she’s been making women laugh at the plethora of women’s weekends that have sprung up alongside longstanding favorite women’s summer getaways.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to Julie this summer, it’s not too late! Julie loves the summers with all of the women’s weekends that get kicked off by The Dinah in Palm Springs, California and flow through the US, Europe and beyond the northern hemisphere to the beginning of fall.

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