Neighboring

I sometimes stand and stare at the leaves of the oak trees cascading over our front yard. It feels slow, mundane, incredibly peaceful. The sun casts shadows of indeterminate objects as the leaves part with the breeze and for a second, I forget all the noise. The noise in my head, on our phones, in the air, permanent currents of what technology has brought us. The quiet gets interrupted by a shriek of laughter, the twin boys two doors down running circles around their house, the putt putt of an old vespa that the neighbor across the way has been tinkering with. It’s an interesting idea, the fact that we can literally hear the lives of those around us when we’re listening, when we’re aware. When our heads aren’t buried in our screens, imagining a friendship or opportunity based on profiles and likes.

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Traditions

The neighborhood trick-or-treating, sweet potato pie, pulling up to the local tree yard for the noble fir just after Thanksgiving, sebae and rice cake soup on New Years Day - traditions are what keep us close, nudge us to gather even if an entire year has passed since the last hugs goodbye and we'll see you soons.

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Our Weekend Away

There’s nothing quite like looking forward to a weekend away. Close enough to drive, but long enough for rest - no frills or fuss. With two babies in tow and summer slowly coming to a close, it seemed the best time to begin traditions so we packed up for a weekend in Pismo Beach and reinstated the one Donna and I had growing up. We spent a few summer weekends in Pismo when we were young, riding those four-wheeled group bikes down the boardwalk, digging for sandcrabs, and standing in line for clam chowder at Splash Cafe. How sweet it was to relive those memories with our husbands and little ladies.

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Two.

Charlotte, tomorrow we celebrate the gift you've been to all of us for the past two years. I used to love reading your grandma's birthday cards to me - even at a young age, I'd imagine the quietness that came as she sat at the table, letting her mind trace the past year so that she would have just the right words to say. This is the beauty of writing for another. We get to be generous with our time and thoughts and as your mama, I promise to do that for you always.

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Character

Truly humbled, friends. We've received wonderful feedback from you all on the article written by our team and it's had me reflecting further about how we've gotten here, to have a group of people who love coming into the studio daily. To have family at work. And seeing how the post has resonated with so many of you, I've realized how important it is that we invest in people, not numbers, not hands. The people we surround ourselves with is essential. So let's flesh this out a bit.

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The Spaces To Create

It's always that striving, striving for more, striving for better (or as it's perceived). Especially so after having Charlotte and turning 30, I've become more insistent about speaking back to the inner dialogue that often escapes me, running wild - just wait until you have this, or wouldn't it be so great if you could change that? Pause. No. You don't need any of those things. As the head of creative and the founder of this wonderful thing we're blessed to be able to do at Our Heiday, I realize that my social media feeds are often flooded by images of things I love (design, interiors, fashion, women in business), and they often lead me to a deluded sense of what it means to have "made it." Oh, that private office with high ceilings, arches, and velvet accents? The desk, gotta get that desk. As if those things dictate the deep call to create that's been formed within, before Pinterest, Instagram, the Internet were even things. It is a sad lie, that my work, my art, requires something more than drawing tools, paper, and water, and a notebook. I hope I remember this, no matter how big we grow or small we stay.

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An Open Letter

Dear girls,

With your arrivals came not only the sweet gift of knowing you, but also a birthing of an entirely new version of ourselves. As mamas, we suddenly start again, trying to situate which parts of our pasts get sorted into the future wisdom or things never to do again boxes we now organize for you. And every decision moving forward will never be made apart from the forever knot we've formed with your tiny bodies. It's beautiful, it's sacrificial.

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How I Do This Thing, Toddler In Tow

Working mama life - I learned soon after Charlotte was born that this was a thing. Yes, I took maternity leave, but quite honestly, what does that look like when you're suddenly relearning who you are as a mom while running a company or doing work that you love? There's no such thing as completely shutting off so that you can adjust to life turned on its head. That's how I felt, wholly undone, unsure of who I was, examining my life upside down and trying to figure out how we got there. The constant tension - loving the sweet smell of her forehead, hating the exhaustion, desperately craving adult conversations, basking in the miracle of this tiny human - it all seemed endless.

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Shifting Careers

When we were in high school, Pat and I would chat about how much fun it would be to run a business together (a retail shop? or maybe wedding planning…), but these conversations were lighthearted and casual - never accompanied by any real or concrete plans. Instead, we went to college, received our degrees, and pursued our respective professions - hers in law and mine in teaching. When our 15- and 16-year-old selves envisioned potentially working together, we had no idea that we’d both make major career shifts before landing side by side in our future business.

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