Tulum, Mexico

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Discovering Tulum has been on my list for a while now. My friend Claire, who I recently featured in a post about appreciating friends, wrote a perfect go-to guide to Tulum I’ve had bookmarked in my Travel Lust folder for a while now. When Pandora Jewelry reached out to me to bring to life their summer collection, some of which are inspired by palm leaves, I knew my dreams of Tulum would come true.

Traveling is always such an adventure. You have a mental image of what a place is going to be and then what it is in actuality once you get there. Tulum is that fantasy place, bohemian and still a bit wild so much that you can’t believe a place like this still exists. I’m sure 30 years ago it was even more authentic. Everything is a bit sandy, a lot of locals do not speak English, air conditioning doesn’t really exist, nor the need to wear shoes. In Tulum, you’re supposed to spend your days on the beach, keeping life simple and natural.

I chose three key pieces of Pandora Jewelry’s summer collection to take with me, the Tropical Palm RingTropical Palm Necklace and Tropicana charms which felt appropriate with their graphic leafy palm tree patterns that mimicked the canopy of leaves I quite often relaxed under as a respite from the afternoon sun. I love that now, since my return, when I look at these pieces I’m instantly transported back into that summery feeling from this Mexican oasis.

See my discovery of Tulum, what I wore, where we stayed and more below!

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Above~ Waiting to go to dinner at Hartwood in Rachel Zoe’s Leona Ottoman Linen dress, with Pandora Jewelry’s Tropical Palm Ring, and Tropicana charm bracelet and all natural hand woven tote I picked up at Coqui Coqui. 

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We stayed at the Papaya Playa Project which we enjoyed very much. It’s comprised of white adobe buildings you maze your way through. We had a “New Casita” which was a two floor loft facing the ocean with huge bathtub on the 2nd story porch

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Appreciate the Ones You Love

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Pandora Jewelry is all about appreciating the ones that you love and when they approached me about gifting charms to someone in my life I immediately thought of two of my best friends, Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo, who have impacted my life greatly over the years.

History

We first met back in 2010 at a little coffee shop on the Upper West Side and they told me about their dreams of starting an emerging designers platform called Of a Kind. Not only did I come to learn these were two of the most intelligent, visionary women I have ever met, I would also find out that bonds between women are so important and powerful not only in our personal friendship but in the bond these two share.

We shot together, we shared the original Ann Street Studio in the financial district together, I photographed Erica’s wedding (something I never do – but for her, anything), unofficially Claire’s and even all the way down to Texas for SXSW. We’ve laughed and cried, swapped beauty tips and fashion tricks, and seen each other though relationships and moves, business ups and downs, and endless conversations about that future of our lives. I even bought one of Claire’s Grandmother’s paintings! Continue reading “Appreciate the Ones You Love”

Meet Christina Graci

Today is the last installment of our inspiring women series with Pandora Jewelry. From San Francisco with Courtney Klein to Charleston with Helen Rice, this has been an incredible experience for me, being personally inspired by these amazing women all over the country.  I feel so lucky that our roles as women have become so open to any of our hearts’ desires and I have truly loved seeing what these women have chosen to do with their lives. What has been truly meaningful as well is to see the choices each of these women make within the Pandora Essence Collection, selecting charms that are chic and stylish, but also representative of their core tenets. Speaking to them about what beliefs they hold dear has told me so much about each woman, and I have treasured the friendships made through this lovely collection. And so here we are now with the beautiful Christina Graci

Christina is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. She studied in Baton Rouge and abroad in Denmark, worked for two major interior design firms in New York City, and then came back to New Orleans to live and work. What makes this the city to be in?

“New Orleans has a special place in my heart.  The city is so rich in history and culture that you don’t find everywhere.  It’s such a diverse city that is so full of life.  The people here are also truly unique.  Never a dull moment in this city to say the least!”

With her brother Chad, Christina runs Graci Interiors, an interior design firm known for having exquisite and classic tastes, mixing vintage and modern styles with ease. Christina said her passion for interior design showed before she even knew it could be a job: “Growing up my mother and I would re-decorate my bedroom yearly.  We would get new draperies, bedding, change the wall color, etc.  It was so much fun doing that with her that I guess it just grew on me.  It wasn’t until I went off to college that I had the epiphany that I could do that for a living!”

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Christina describes her personal style as “classic traditional but fresh and modern.  Keeping with traditional interiors is important to me but bringing it into our era and how we live today makes is so interesting and fun.”

When I first heard this, I knew Christina and Pandora Jewelry made the perfect pair…classic jewelry with a fresh and modern perspective on the inspiring woman who wears it!

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Christina on what her Pandora Essence Charms mean to her ~

Hope and Confidence – I chose these because they primarily have a lot of meaning to me in reference to my career.  I’ve had to have a lot of hope in my career along the way in order to keep moving forward.  Also, in my career you’ve got to have confidence in yourself and in your work to be successful.
Health – A healthy lifestyle is so important to me.  Being healthy is living life to the fullest for me – mind, body, and soul.
LoyaltyStability, and Love – These all relate to me personally in my relationships with friends and family.  I feel as though all three are interwoven.  You can’t have one without the other and vice versa.

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Continue reading “Meet Christina Graci”