Greetings! I’m writing this as I pack for Miami, a trip that’s equal parts ease and intention. I’m taking a few days to slow down at The Shelborne, but I’ll also be connecting with fellow founders, hoteliers, and creative minds at the independent lodging conference. I’m looking forward to that duality. Time for quiet reflection, time for connection (and hopefully time for a dance party!!).
This rhythm, reflection and connection is something I’ve found works magic. Here’s your reminder that slowing down doesn’t mean stepping away, it means creating space to listen, notice, and connect with more care. The work gets deeper when life does, too…
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what it feels like to step back not out of exhaustion, but curiosity. I’ve realized that every time I make space to pause, something expands… ideas, energy, perspective, creativity.
For a long time I believed rest was what you earned after the work. Now I see it as part of work. Journaling, movement, intention setting, even taking 15 minutes to process after a meeting. These small, personal practices don’t take time away from my business; they give it longevity.
So this week I’m looking forward to connecting, to slowing down, to noticing more, and to continue designing a life - and a studio - that makes room for both momentum and pause.
A few ideas on my mind & in my journal pages as I head into the week (an airplane ride is always a great time to have some of these on the ready – you never know when you’ll be blessed with shitty wifi and some free time):
Ease as strategy. Building systems, for both life and work, that protect energy and invite flow.
Creative collaborations. Continuing to connect with people building thoughtful, high-touch brands in hospitality and design.
Bridging strategy and story. How to guide clients to communicate why they exist as clearly as what they sell.
Personal practice. Writing every morning before emails. Moving my body daily. Dedicated time away from phone. What do you need?
Taste as muscle memory. Train it. Stretch it. Use it. A reminder, creative mastery is really just paying better attention.
As a die-hard carry-on queen, I’m packing light and dressing easy. Miami always feels like a study in contrasts. Refinement and decadence, calm and chaos, serenity and spectacle, momentum and pause. My contrast this trip is beach babe & business meetings.
So, what’s in my bag?
Current closet MVP – crisp white Donni Drawstring Pants, perfect over a bikini or with a blazer
Flip Flops – Tkees have been my daily driver this summer
Chan Luu – My sequin tank is another shape shifter, I’ll wear with shorts to dinner & my Donni pants to meetings
Left On Friday suit – the most flattering & comfortable swim brand out there (more colors in the swim thong please… and thank you)
New Clare V Bag – love the black woven leather with a fun strap!
Plane Pants! Miami calls for a fun sweatpant to travel in, and lounge around in.
I’m packing my Louisa Ballou cover-up & wishlisting a new dress or skirt. Her line is a packable travel favorite
I constantly get asked about ‘what I bring’ or ‘what my travel routine is’. Here are three things I’ve done to make prepping for travel feel like a breeze.
My dopp kit is 90% ready to go at all times. It’s a carry-on friendly sized duplicate version of my at-home medicine cabinet (before I leave all I need to throw in are the 1-2 ‘expensive’ or ‘prescription’ things). I order a refillable travel version of products when I can, or if you can’t I fill my own mini in a glass spray bottle or these silicone tubes. I even have a second toothbrush ready to go in there. I’m shocked at how much time & how many brain cells this saves.
I have a travel pouch + pill case (also always stocked, I refill AFTER travel – not before). There’s something grounding about opening your bag and finding a system of small, familiar things. It’s the portable version of home. Proof that your rituals can travel with you.
I have a list on my phone of anything else I need to consistently remember to pack, so that way I don’t have to remember. Cords, chargers, notebooks, water bottle. I’m a creature of habit – so I’ve recognized that and I work with it. (now I never forget to bring a baseball hat!)
In the category of ‘traveling prepared’… I always travel with a good book. For this trip, I turned to the queen of great book recs (especially ones that pair well with sunshine), my dear friend Elyse of ChickLits. (Please subscribe, her world is SO FUN!).
Take it away Elyse <3 …
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Confession: I haven’t read Catalina yet, but I know I’m going to love it. People keep saying it’s wild and brilliant and alive, and honestly, the jacket copy alone could have seduced me: “bright and tragic, circled by a nimbus of chaotic energy, driven by a wild heart.” I mean, come on.
Catalina herself is finishing her last year at Harvard—an undocumented immigrant who’s been raised by her aunt and uncle in Ecuador and then her grandparents in Queens. She sees the elite college world through this perfectly calibrated mix of curiosity, disgust, and biting humor. And I just love that. Give me a short, sharp novel about class and belonging and what it means to be a person who can see the absurdity in it all. Quick, cool and completely unforgettable.
Okay, yes, it’s still in hardcover, but it’s slim and gorgeous and absolutely worth the suitcase real estate. Heart the Lover is one of those books that makes you ache in the best possible way: a story of tangled hearts and impossible timing, the kind that leaves you blinking back tears by the end.
Set first in the gauzy light of college—young love, big feelings, roommate living—and then decades later, when everyone is older and steadier and life has, you know, happened, Lily King delivers this perfect slow-burn of a novel that unravels just enough to make your chest hurt. It’s a love triangle, but it’s also a story about memory and regret and the ways people keep choosing each other, even when they shouldn’t. It absolutely wrecked me.
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a bit of a wild card, but I love this book. It’s perfect for that in-between mood when you want something a little bit thrilling, a little bit gorgeous, and just a touch deranged.
Tom Ripley gets sent to Italy (as one does) to fetch back a spoiled rich boy named Dickie Greenleaf — and what begins as a glamorous seaside jaunt slowly curdles into obsession. It’s part travel fantasy, part moral disaster, and you’ll find yourself kind of rooting for Ripley even as everything goes off the rails. It also has one of the best adaptations ever — Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge?! Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf? Iconic. Perfect for reading with a Negroni and a vague sense of unease.
And with that we are off! Here’s to Miami. See you at the beach!
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