This past year has been one of deeply aligning Livie & Luca with joy, embarking on scaling, and building an A Team that humbly rolls up their sleeves and does what it takes to spread joy while delivering best-in-class footwear. As I was entering the year, I sat down with my family and explained what this would mean for us; their response was only mature, loving and supportive and I was grateful. It has been amazing to be able to challenge myself professionally but it has definitely meant compromises on the family side.

However, the support of my family is part of the reason I can keep putting much of my whole self into this work overtime. And what kept me moving through this intense year was the regenerative and precious time I knew I would spend with them in Spain this summer, a place we go every two years to spend time together and with my husband Carlos’s family. I left on this journey with the consciousness that I would savor every moment, that I would travel with full focus on my family. I would plug into the hearts of my children, Maya & Luca and reconnect with my adorable husband Carlos. This would be a time of nurturing, giving and receiving for my whole family. 

Spain has always been my place of inspiration. I’ve been enchanted by the ancient soul of this country, where there is a castle a stone’s throw away at every turn, where each passageway through an old village offers a weathered detail of this connection to the past. I became aware of how it takes hundreds of years for these charming details to be nurtured and created, in the same way that it takes time, attention and love for our brand to be nurtured. 

Now that I’m home I’m full of the many wonderful moments during my travels – dancing and sharing an embrace in the waves of the Mediterranean with my daughter Maya, photographing moments we wanted to hold on forever with Luca, and holding hands with Carlos as we savored getting lost in an old city. I became intoxicated with the artful details of the alleyways, the long drawn out dinners where our bodies were fed with amazing foods and our souls were fed by family time. These memories will feed my soul for a long time. As a family, we were able to get in touch with spaces within ourselves that only being outside the daily rhythm of regular life can provide. As a mother, wife, artist and business owner this trip, as hoped, provided the love, inspiration, and introspection to pour into the coming year. And I have recommitted to being fully present in the moment, whether it’s at work, by myself, or at home.