DAY 6: YOGA ON TAP

The virtual world is real these days. It is our present day way of life. Businesses and brands we love have reached out and want to stay connected with you in whatever way possible to keep clients coming and connected. O Studio has taken the reigns by offering online yoga sessions with the option to purchase and rollover your subs until post-lockdown. You can buy now and put those fees towards all of their sophisticated styles of wellness. Virtually cool concept.

They are offering online classes, challenges and music to their devoted clients with daily yoga on tap for all you yogis out there. Click here for more info.

DAY 6: LETTUCE PRAY

Our bubble is a bit unique. We share a large property and separate houses function as such with their own daily routines and rituals. However we are one big family and times like this have brought us together for food, family and daily prayers. Lettuce is a shared commodity in and in our lockdown leisure, we are cultivating for everyone. Different types (spinach seen here) are being distributed daily to enhance the greens on the table, offer extra vitamins and keep us deliciously connected. Food is life, family is love and to that we say Amen.

DAY 6: ON THE FENCE

Behold! The keeper of connections and giver of height. The fence line serves as the great barrier by providing that much needed 2m distance but allowing for humans to interact without being too imposing. Our neighborhood has heads popping up from propping up on the fences where quick daily catchups are the new chat house. 

Best thing I overheard on the fence: I thought that house was empty all this time but he said they'd lived there for 20 years, Jan!

DAY 5: CHOICE READ

There has been an influx of book recommendations into the SYN4W inbox. There are lots of readers out there spending the extra time on their hands engrossing themselves in a nook with a novel.

My Name is Why by Lemn Sissay is the read we collectively selected from a list of many. Grab this memoir and a mug of whatever and get busy reading.

Click here to buy the book

DAY 5: CAKE IS KIND

Seen here is a random act of kindness. The kindness of strangers cannot be unmatched. Some would argue in these times it is vastly important but I'd say at any time it is important to let others know on a spontaneous basis that you are thinking of them. I knew a couple who celebrated Valentine's Day every week. The thinking there was not to spoil each other with gifts but to acknowledge one appreciation to another with a weekly reminder that their love was alive. Keep love alive in whatever form you can. It is the only thing that is real, especially these days and our capacity to spread that is love vital.

DAY 5: SLEEPING IS SELF-CARE

DAY 5: TEA TREE AND A TELLUS

Dear Moms and Dads,

Please try to breathe deeply during this time. Being isolated with your children all day with the expectation that you will comfort, educate, feed, entertain, and discipline all within the same space for an unforeseen amount of time is daunting.

A story to share.

What was once our formal dining space that hosted dinner parties and outer bubble people, has been transformed into a rice carrying and constantly depositing that rice everywhere train station. The track passes through the Foyer Valley all the way into Great Game Room Central Station for the final rice repository. So much fun!

I was also just informed that a dear friend has a child riddled with lice during isolation. I've deemed it her lice-olation and on the good side she knows the source.

Actually there is no good side to lice.

Or rice on your floor.

Lice and rice don't make for a fun time at all.

Good luck parents.

Thank the heavens for tea tree oil and a Tellus.

DAY 5: WORLDLY ADVICE

DAY 5: FASHION

It is an extraordinary moment when I see fashion, function and design come together. I am beginning to find out that this extraordinary moment in history will find the creme rising to the top. I have been in world of fashion since the age of 3. Ballet, jazz, tap, modeling, pageantry, debutante balls, coming out, cotillion, weddings, quincineras, bat mitzvahs, bar mitzvahs I have been involved in all that require just the right clothing thus evolving me into a fashion writer, personal procururer of fashion and immerse myself into most things involving it.

I have worked with designers from the bottom floor both photographing and modeling their clothes. Over 3 decades ago I walked one of my first runways in America for a recycled clothing show with designers headed to study at Stern. In that fashion show I wore a dress entirely made of recycled straws. It wore in the literal sense-like I was in a straw.

Fast forward to just a few weeks ago. I interviewed New Zealand's Juliette Hogan, one of the country's most successful boutique designers, who finished her fashion & design studies in New York.

After years of industry study, which did include quite a bit of shopping, what I see more than a person or price tag on a garment or good, is the utilitarian need for a high quality textile to cover our bodies. We have to be covered to adhere to modesty in the modern age. What does that look like? ripped jeans? A hand-knitted scarf? A $400 t-shirt? Silk shirts? A monogrammed-laden purse or latex leggings? Fashion takes many forms but today that form is for the face. A mask to protect, prevent and promote the idea that worlds are colliding on many levels in order to sustain world peace. Skilled, smart people make the clothes that you wear and now they are doing what they know which is to sew. Prabal Gurung posted this:

Gucci, Cristian Siriano, LVH, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior are just a few of those stepping up to produce and or source masks and try to get them where they need to be.

DAY 4: MUSIC TOP 20

WHO WILL SAVE YOUR SOULS JEWEL
LAYLA (ACOUSTIC) ERIC CLAPTON
EVER FALLEN IN LOVE NOUVELLE VAGUE
THIS IS AMERICA CHILDISH GAMBINO
HYPER-BALLAD BJORK
STAND BY ME OTIS REDDING
ONE MOMENT IN TIME WHITNEY HOUSTON
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN LED ZEPPELIN
ROSE ROUGE ST GERMAIN
FREEDOM! GEORGE MICHAEL
NO ORDINARY LOVE SADE
JIVE TALKIN' BEE GEES
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE PJ MORTON, YEBBA
FIESTA DAVE GRUSIN
HOLD THE LINE TOTO
FOLLOW YOU FOLLOW ME GENESIS
ZION LAUREN HILL
DOWN IN MEXICO THE COASTERS
TWO TRIBES FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
CONGA FURY JUNO REACTOR

DAY 4: TO NOTE

DAY 4: PLAYING THYSELF

DAY 4: DAY DRINKING

DAY 4: ARTISTIC ENLIGHTENMENT

Artists get the benefit of concentration during isolation.
Here are snippets from one herself with inspiration for you to color and create something great.
That rhymed.

DAY 4: PHILIPPIANS 4:6-9

DAY 4: ADVICE VIA VOGUE

Pregnancy in a Pandemic click here

DAY 3: GRATITUDE

DAY 3: INTERNATIONAL KARMA

DAY 2: SHOE STYLE

DAY 2: LOST LUXURY FOUND

We are finding an inordinate amount of time on our hands as non-essential workers. The Great Cleanout is occurring in our pod during the great lock down. My latest find was this mini Miss Dior. The days of goodie bags now seem inconsequential but it is the little things that bring us back.
J'adore Dior of any kind.

DAY 2: MADONNA + CHILD

DAY 2: HOMEMADE BEFORE + AFTER

One has to wonder how much homemade food is being made. We have gone back to the basics and that includes the creation of home crafts and creations the likes of which most modern day kitchen haven't seen in years. Here is a before and after of a delicious day. No empty plate was attached in the email but chances are it was devoured by their immediate bubble.

DAY 2: How are you feeling?

DAY 1: CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE

I could think of a worst view for spending my days working from home. Funny story with this one because it exemplifies how life has just stopped people in their tracks on the cusp of monumental moments in the last week. This was not supposed to be the view of this WFH professional but being in the midst of house transfers landed the family back on their homestead before the defection for their place in the city. Long story short, inspiration from where it all began is what's motivating many of us who have had to turn back a few things in order to go forward.

DAY 1: COULDA, WOULDA, SHOULDA

There are those moments in today's new reality when you thiink, coulda, woulda shoulda on many a thing. This seems to be happening quite a lot amongst those I speak to regarding their level of preparedness during these unprecedented times. Well I was not adequately prepared on a few things but these AMOURA candles are one luxury item that I might have missed out on. Plenty of bleach in the house but nothing to cover the actual scent that 5 in a bubble produce. None of these couture candles to radiate beautiful smells as we spend these weeks together. Socially distancing ourselves within the home will be nasally important for a while.

DAY 1: Fresh Press

Preparation goes to an entirely new level when one tidily dressed indiviudial takes the time to ready himself for whatever event may come up. Those half-naked Zooms are the highest on the list these days as we hunker in our homes but still maintain a semblance of organization.

Scene here are 27 freshly pressed gentleman's shirts all done DAY 1.

Semper Fi.

DAY 1: Sofa Solitude

DAY 1: French Lesson

DAY 1: PILOT

The next four weeks we have been told to lock down. Go nowhere except for essential places. What does that mean? For everyone it is different. There are those of us who have a regular routine. There’s the recluse. Then there are the reckless. Those all can take on different meanings but we are social beings to whatever degree in the modern world. Relying on the system to assist us. We cohabitate together, we correlate ideas together and we congregate together for exercising, shopping, praying, eating, drinking, socializing, celebrating and simply just loving the time we get to spend in the world.  Now we are all being told to stop.

A virus has stricken our world. Our confidence is shaken as Simon & Garfunkle would say. What are we going to do with that time? Sit around and watch TV like a local ad proclaimed. Using the wrong vocabulary no less. These days will be what you make of them so do what you can with whatever you can. I have heard on this first day alone many goals from a plethora of people that live far outside of my current bubble from all walks of life with differing ways and means that make me feel positive despite living in a lockdown. To note: It is very quiet.

We are going to share the highlights of our days in an effort to reveal, once this is over a productive journey of mind, body and spirit. Short stories, family, food, photos, poems, style, snippets or snacks is what you may see as we curate a day in the life.

We invite you to submit your stories and share with the world the magnificent and the mundane. All in good taste, of course.

See submission guidelines.

See You In Four Weeks xx

DAY 1: #SYN4W