LIFE'S ANOTHER MISTRI: 2013

Friday, July 5, 2013

J'ADORE

1. This craft project my son did on the first day of his Summer Camp.

2. Macarons from the Sweet Lobby on Barrack's Row.

3. The Release of Before Midnight and this A-to-Z Guide to the first two movies.

4. The Pool.

5. David Sedaris' hilarious new book,
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

6. That it is now warm enough to enjoy the water at Yards Park.

Photo by Amy McKennis Mistri

7. That peonies are in bloom.

8. That the slip dress is back.

9. Designer Kelly Behun's Hamptons Home in this month's Elle Decor.

10. This song from The National.

Friday, June 14, 2013

So I turned my husband, Alex, the other night and said "I think I am having kinda a BoHo moment..." Blank stare. "You know tunics, surfing, jewels, safari, gypsetters"...clearly he had no clue what the hell I was talking about--and come to think of it, nor did I. He just looked at me like I had three heads and calmly went back to watching the game.

I don't know if it's Summer, wanderlust or a mid-life crisis but there is something lately I have found aspirational about a bohemian chic lifestyle.

Gypset Style

Gypset Style

Women like Jade Jagger, Julia Chaplin of the Gypset Style and Gypset Travel tomes and a recent article in Tatler of the Ibiza hedge-fund-set come to mind. I don't surf, one would hardly consider me bohemian and I live in buttoned-up D.C., what gives?

Julia Chaplin

Jade Jagger

It's Summer, and while trying to find my sartorial swagger for the next few months may have triggered some of it, I think that it's more than my new aversion to shorts at my age. I love to travel and while I have been blessed to do a bit of it lately, I miss truly exotic travel: Africa, India and the Middle East.

Photo on the Nile by Amy McKennis Mistri

Photo of Xaranna Resort in Botswana by Amy McKennis Mistri

Photo of Amber Fort in Jaipur by Amy McKennis Mistri

Photo of Bangle Makers in Jaipur by Amy McKennis Mistri

Photo at Amber Fort in Jaipur by Amy McKennis Mistri

Last night, I punched in "Happy Valley set" into Google and an hour passed with me trying to find a Vanity Fair article I read some time ago. Living as an expat in Kenya just sounds so glam. Of course, after reading an article about Tom Cholmondeley and his families' struggles...it dimmed a tad.

Alex and I speak often about how long it will be before we can take Dyl on safari. We certainly don't want to wish his life away--so that time will come soon enough...but places "touch" you and it's hard to escape those emotions: the freedom, the open skies, the natural beauty and calm.

I recently pulled one of Dan Eldon's journals off my bookshelf, The Journey is the Destination, and leafed through his artistic accounts of his travels and inner thoughts. At the age of 22, he was stoned to death in 1993 while on assignment as a journalist in Mogadishu, Somalia. As devastating an incident as that was, his private journals are witty, thoughtful and artistic. He seemed to have experienced more in his 22 years, than most people do their entire lives. With Africa as most of his backdrop, he was able to capture that intangible thing of travel and esacpe, with nary a word.

Perhaps it's the escapism that has such an appeal to me now. Maybe it's the heat. Whatever it is, I thought the images below said it all better than I could to ever explain my state of mind right now to Alex...