Domino Magazine Spread

Our apartment was recently featured in Domino Magazine in an interview with our interior designer, Ali Tick. We are so thrilled with it and love the fact that we will always have these images of our “forever home.” As you may know, we went through a major renovation for 8 months, during which we put together our dream interiors and designs. We love our home — so so much — as it truly represents us…  comfortable, clean, modern, and cheerful. To take a look at the full article, go here. Thanks to Domino and thanks to Ali for working with us on so many different projects (remember this in Lonny years ago?) and thanks to you all for letting me indulge in sharing this article! Thank you! (All photos by Cody Guilfoyle for Domino)

 

This is our “formal” living room. I love the colors and the chairs.

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Ken’s 40th Birthday!

Happy boy

 

My husband Ken is one of the most caring, down-to-earth, and fun people I know, on top of being extremely brave, courageous, and committed. For his 40th birthday, he threw a concert (similar to his 38th year birthday recital) but instead of doing it solo, he cobbled together a full band (frequent readers know he started taking guitar lessons 3.5 years ago when he won an O.A.R. Sound Check at a silent auction). So, with a lot of work, practice, and dedication, he had a fabulous 40th birthday party last weekend.  I am so proud of him for putting himself out there and taking risks. Here are the photos (most of them are taken by Cynthia Delconte, our wedding photographer!) Enjoy!

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Dolce and Gabbana: This is My Family

A few weeks ago, fashion designers Dolce and Gabbana made some pretty controversial comments. In addition to opposing same-sex marriage, they also made critical comments about IVF, suggesting the procedure and other forms of fertility treatments created “synthetic babies.” While this blog has been a great outlet for me to share my ideas on fashion, food, fitness, parenthood, and more, I have tried to keep it free of any bigger picture discussions about politics or social issues. Until now.

 

IVF, and fertility treatments in general, are something that strike incredibly close to home for me, and for Ken. Without fertility treatments, we wouldn’t have any children. IVF gave me (us) the two most important gifts in our life. So Dolce and Gabbana… your comments were more than a little offensive and hurtful.

 

Ken and I first started trying to have kids in the Spring of 2008. As I hadn’t had a regular cycle in years, I was already skeptical of my ability to get pregnant. On a startling phone call from my OBGYN, I was told that if I wanted to have children, I immediately needed to see a specialist. And so seconds later, I placed the call.

 

My non synthetic baby.

My non synthetic baby.

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O.A.R. Sound Check

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! The highlight of the long weekend…or month of November….or 2014, was this past Saturday when Ken had the opportunity to perform during the sound check with his all-time-favorite-band, Of A Revolution (O.A.R.). It was the equivalent of PR’ing his marathon. Not only was it a rush for Ken, but for me, too. And I am a self-acclaimed Miss Sour Puss who *HATES* jam bands, dislikes guitar and saxophone solos, and despises fratty crowds. And yet, OAR was unbelievable. CRAZY GOOD, FUN, AWESOME, and now I am a huge fan. HUGE OMG HUGE! Count me in as the newest member of #OARgroupie. And having the good fortune of watching Ken experience a lifetime dream was pretty awesome, too. I love my Babers and watching my Babers be happy, makes me happy (transitive property).

 

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2014 NYC Marathon- We Did It!

Geez louise, holy moly, what an amazing day! The conditions were extremely difficult: cold weather, damp, and 20 – 40 MPH winds. Nonetheless, Ken and I finished the NYC Marathon and *both* made our goals: Ken broke 4 hours (3:58) in his first marathon ever and I ran in 3:38 which qualified me for the 2016 Boston Marathon. It was an incredible, emotional, and gratifying day. We both worked so hard — physical training and fundraising, which required time and energy, and we are so pleased that we raised $13,525 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of our family member Joanna.  More later (I am tired!) but here are some pics.

 

Welcome to 4:45 AM Sunday morning at our house.  Getting ready for our 6 AM bus to Staten Island.

Welcome to 4:45 AM Sunday morning at our house. Getting ready for our 6 AM bus to Staten Island. This was my actual running day attire — but it took until mile 13 to get to this point — I layered so many shirts, gloves, hat, jackets, and discarded them slowly.

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2014 Paris Marathon

I did it, again! Thank you to everyone in my life who supported, encouraged, motivated, inspired, cheered, and helped me through my journey of running the Paris Marathon. The run was an unbelievably challenging and rewarding gift, and would not have been possible without everyone in my life. An incredibly huge shout out to my fabulous mother-in-law who traveled from Japan be there for me, as well as my beloved father who traveled from Sweden. Would not have been the same without them (Ken was in NYC taking care of the kids — thank you!), and I am forever grateful of their love and support (and how amazing is it that my parents and inlaws get along so well? Makes me want to cry, I am that lucky of a girl).

 

The start.

The start

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Lonny Magazine Feature!

Thank you, Lonny Magazine!  Ken and I are so excited (and can’t believe) that we were featured in their June magazine.  The piece was on young families that try to make their homes hip and chic, while also family-friendly and functional.

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My favorite picture of the photo shoot!

The article featured both our New York apartment, and our home in Pound Ridge, NY, which the Natoris have owned for more than 25 years (Ken’s parents just completed building another home on the property).  We have spent the past few months redoing and redecorating the house, and are so excited with how it turned out.

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Cruz’s bedroom in NYC; my favorite room in our whole apartment. The colors and patterns bring such happiness and joy to the room, and to us!

We worked with 2 amazing interior decorators.  Nicki Hill Rose helped us with the first renovation in New York (pre-Cruz), and Allison Tick did the second renovation (pre-Zoe), and the full project in Pound Ridge. We would not have been able to do it without their help!

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Our bedroom in NYC, not shy of vibrant colors.

We are so thrilled with how everything turned out.  The article has a lot more pictures (32 pages!) so please check it out and support Lonny!

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Pound Ridge, NY. Master bedroom. Love the LOVE.

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Pound Ridge living room, outside. And yes, hello plastic red and yellow airplane. (Cruzzie loves this plane so much he sleeps with it every night. No joke. He cuddles it like a teddy bear. Safe to say he is a dedicated airplane lover).

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Cruz’s teepee, Pound Ridge guest room. I found the teepee on etsy and love it more than Cruzzie does. If I go missing, that is where I will be…huddled up in the teepee with a jar of peanut butter and some babka.

Thanks to the amazing Lonny team!  To read the whole feature, go here.

Tsunami Survivor

The past several weeks have been a serious blur of not sleeping, trying to balance out toddler and baby, finding my own time (does it exist?), feeling like an alien in my own body, having raging crazy hormones, and dealing with a new beginning. I have the tendency to see things half-empty instead of half-full. It is during these low times that I need to realize how blessed I am and how thankful I should be. Not only do I have a wonderful husband and two growing children, an amazing supportive community, and remarkable friends and family, but I am also alive, healthy, and happy. Life can easily disappear right before us, and it is important to live each day to the fullest. Recently, I have known too many people that have left *Life* too early…

 

I am truly lucky to have so many wonderful friends. I feel so fortunate to know a wide variety of different types of people with such varied backgrounds and stories. Everyone is unique, and each has their own story. Most of my friends touch me in ways that they don’t even know. One of these friends is a wonderful lady named Laura Wales Holliday.

Laura

Laura — pretty as can be. Always a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

Laura and Ken became friends at Stanford Business School. Although I knew Laura from social gatherings and events, it wasn’t until we both ended up in New York post grad school that we became friends. That said, she had already deeply influenced my life. Her story — courage and survival — made such an impact on my life that I had often shared it with other friends or strangers, passing along her strength, life, and passion, and reminding people to be thankful of the life that they have been given.

 

Sadly, Laura was involved in the Tsunami in Thailand in 2004. I remember learning about the tsunami with Ken when we were on a ski vacation with my family on Christmas vacation that year. We heard about it on the news, and instantly, Ken became nervous, as he knew that he had many classmates in Thailand on a study trip. It wasn’t until a couple of days later that we learned the impact of the tsunami on Ken’s classmates, including Laura. Here is Laura’s story, which provides such inspiration and a message to live life to the fullest and be fully thankful for everything that we have. For the past 9 years, I have read this aloud to my students as I know EVERYONE can take something away from Laura and her strength.

Tsunami

Tsunami

Tsunami on Koh Phi Phi
by Laura Wales

January, 2005

Ever since high school I have had a deep-seeded fear of tsunamis. I’m not sure what triggered this fear, as I had never had a bad experience with the ocean. It is just my thing. Some people have recurring nightmares about plane crashes or falling; my nightmares are of tsunamis.  While on a Stanford Business School study trip to Thailand during winter break, I told our accompanying professor about my fear and asked him to calculate my risk of dying in a tsunami. He laughed and told me my chances were “less than zero percent.”

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