i am very very lucky and grateful to be splitting my time now pretty equally between raleigh, aspen and nyc. brian meares and i are sharing those silly schnauzies – every two weeks for the most part – so i’m in NC with them, and when Brian has them, i’m in aspen, (sometimes i can bring 1 pup along), or nyc in the studio apartment tad and i rented in the east village. WHAT A TIME. seriously. i won’t even pretend like this is normal or i’m not freaking out, or some real bucket-list shit isn’t going down here. because it is. #soblessedBEYOND
what’s interesting is the challenges that are new to me with living this way – your time, and your things, your friendships, appointments, time zones! –everything really has to be managed more carefully. at least for me – i’m a planner, and an organizer, and i like things to be a certain way. i’ve had to let go of about 70% of that, but the last 30% i am getting right and tight with because let’s be honest, i need to have some control over things or i’ll float away into….. things i can’t control.
living in 3 places has required me to streamline, and by doing so, i’ve nailed down a few things that are pretty essential for me to feel my best. here they are, in no particular order, and yes i’d be fine with fresh air and my health and a bed and a roof and doritos, but let’s be honest – what’s this blog about? let’s live our best lives for a moment, okur?
1 – dyson vac
i’m a cleaner. it soothes me. i do it for pleasure. my work requires a lot of sitting and staring at my laptop trying to snatch some creativity vibrations out of the air, and i’m most productive if my environment is clean and orderly, and aesthetically pleasing. vacuuming is a great way for me to achieve all of these things, and i get it done with this handheld lil Dyson. have one in all three places, and it does the job perfectly. 5 stars. and it’s pink.
2 -uniqlo
i’m now a uniqlo convert. i’ll stfu about the heat-tech stuff, but i do have a black and white turtleneck in each place, black extra-warm leggings and the black tights. recently i’m into their ribbed tees (look great with jeans) – particularly this pair of jeans. my rain jackets are uniqlo, and my old puffer coats have slowly been rotated out for uniqlo’s good-looking, practical and affordable ones.
3 – ‘wellness’ product (that’s what we say now instead of beauty, correct? idk)
so that i don’t have to pack all of my skincare items each time i travel, i make sure that each spot has:
–elta clear moisturizing sunscreen – it’s SPF 46. put it on every morning. this is all I wear on my face, other than some extra eye creamy stuff
–eye creamy stuff – this is my fave. i discovered it at carl’s pharmacy in aspen (the best drugstore ever) and now i swear by it at night.
–kiehl’s hydrating mist – i have actually no idea if this accomplishes anything other than smelling great and feeling refreshing. i spray it on morning and night.
–eye makeup remover – love this one. takes everything off in one swoop
–virtue shampoo and conditioner
so much easier when you don’t have a big overstuffed dop kit full of all the things each time you fly.
4 – sheets
i’m devoted to the bed bath and beyond wamasutta dream zone sheets. my friend nan described sheets so well the other day – either you like cool sheets, or you like soft sheets. cool are matouk, annie selke, or my BB&B ones. Soft are serena and lily, biscuit, things of that nature.
my wamasutta ones are cool. crisp. game-changing. i always feel like i’m home when i crawl into the bed and there’s a nice fresh set of these.
5 – rapid charger
I get these on amazon and I swear they charge your phone in half the time. I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t break every 6 months, however.
6 – sonos speaker
speaker of choice in each place. i don’t love how you can only play music through the app, but i do like how it looks and sounds, and how you can hook up more than one speaker throughout the house and control with your phone. technology. science. wizardry. BUT I DON’T EVER TALK TO ALEXA. that shit freaks me out. no mam.
7 – old rugs
schlepper of the rugs i may be, but i speak the truth. they are in every house. they don’t show dirt, they’re easy to vacuum, they add instant patina, they’re soft and make a room feel cozy and they can move around easily in flights of fancy. dogs like them also.
i do keep these in NC, CO and NYC. they feel like me. i wish i could keep a pair of no. 6 in all the places because they’re a bitch to pack, but that’s extravagant and i do think tad would leave if he didn’t get a break from me clomping around in them.
Totally living vicariously through you. Sad that I never met you in NY although I guess I can “claim” to be doing the same between NY (reallly NJ) and ATL. If you ever end up down in ATL let me know. In the meantime I’ll just keep following along. My husband nixed the cane pantone chairs for the dining room. I will find another place for them 🙂
I hear you on the struggle of having to give up 70% of your plans. A couple years back I quit my job as a planner and moved to Indonesia with only two suitcases. I’m better off having struggled through it. And now hubs and I are mapping out how to split time between the US and Asia- also bucket list shit.