Ep. 07- Weddings, Cities, & Summer Bops

Jul 26, 2024

Ways we’re looking up:

Celebrating love!!!- I have been on my annual wedding tear and I am so lucky to have friends that have impeccable taste (in both wedding curation and in partners), and who have chosen the most incredible locations to collect their friends and family. It has been really cool to see how many of my friends have taken a non-traditional approach to a very traditional affair, claiming the parts of it all that resonate with them, and bringing quite a bit of new into the mix, as well. Last weekend in Costa Rica we, the bridesmaids and bride, arrived by speedboat onto the beach barefoot, and dropped a handcrafted, botanical love elixir into our champagne to cheers after the fact. The weekend before we incorporated pre and post wedding yoga classes at the bride’s yoga studio that she founded and opened in Detroit. There are no rules!! In all seriousness, though, weddings always serve to remind me that there are very few things as precious and rare as deep love connections (both romantic and not), and that getting to do life with people you love, and who love you so deeply in return, magnifies the beauty and richness of it all tenfold. A big shoutout to our founder Nicole who got engaged this summer to the angel and support system that is her now-fiancé, and is in wedding planning mode herself. Cannot wait to celebrate you.

What we’re listening to:

Brat (obviously!): I need not go in-depth here, but this album was released since we last wrote a newsletter and I would be remiss to not throw it in the mix. Highlights include Girl, so confusing version with lorde, Guess, and I think about it all the time. I admit I am a bandwagon, late-to-the-party Charli fan (despite some people’s best efforts) but at least I am here now!!

Summertimesculpted: My latest Sculpt class playlist for your listening pleasure. I am quite sick of it because I’ve been teaching it for the last month, but you don’t have to be! My new sculpt playlist will be debuting next week and will be loosely an ode to New York and the closing of beautiful life chapters. But for now, sweaty, nasty, poppy summer vibes.

What we’re reading:

Martyr! A Novel: This is my favorite book in recent history. Let that be enough! But if you don’t believe me, or don’t yet trust my taste, all of the critics seem to agree. I felt uniquely tied to the story- the journey of a young Iranian man who emigrated to the US after the Iranian Revolution (and a tragic familial accident), a huge part of the story centering around an experience at the Brooklyn Museum, and generally the listlessness of quarter-age crises around purpose, love, and identity. The author, Kaveh Akbar, is a well-known poet and in his first work of fiction weaves poetry in both literally and through some of the most beautiful, allegorical descriptions I’ve read in a novel in some time. I enjoyed my time spent with this book so, so much, and I hope you do, too.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities: A tucked away update for the LookUp community… I am moving to London (!!!) where I will be studying Urban Design (the program is formally called “Cities”) at Central Saint Martins, while continuing to work at my incredible creative agency, and also creatively support LookUp. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be able to hold space for my current creative pursuits and passions, while simultaneously pursuing a passion that I hope to fold into my career over time. All that to say, this book, gifted to me by a best friend who shares this passion, is a love letter to both New York City, and to the art of city making at large by the inimitable Jane Jacobs. It is absolutely packed with information and a dense but beautiful read. Perfectly paired with a novel to alternate between, and something that will be highlighted, annotated, and returned to again and again.

Something that reminded us why we started LookUp:

Getting into our first retail location!!: Find us (soon!) at Huset on Abbot Kinney, the cutest furniture/ homeware/ fashion/ accessories store that is truly the perfect fit for LookUp. We’re excited to expand further in retail settings in both NY and LA, and if you have a shop you know we might be great in please do let us know. It still is genuinely so exciting seeing our products out in the wild. Our hats have been spotted organically too at the airport, in a non-LookUp TikTok, and out on a boat docking in San Diego. Keep texting us when it happens, it warms our lil hearts!

Best thing I ate this week that made me put my phone down:

Cervos (& Eel Bar and literally all of their restaurant group restaurants): I hopped, skipped, and tripped into a dinner at Cervos the other night with one of my best friends after walking into the general vicinity and wondering if we maybe should just sit down for a snack?! The snack of course was yellowfin tuna, white prawns (a la plancha), and their epic piri piri chicken with fries that cannot sit out of the reach of your oily fingertips for more than five seconds. I also recently went to Eel Bar, the newest restaurant in the group, and while you may walk right by it because it literally looks like a garage with no door, once you’re inside you will be in heaven. Make sure you get their signature martini, the meatballs, the potato salad, the black rice, the burger, and honestly just the whole menu (that was a lot of it). I know I need not say more, but also in the restaurant family are Harts and The Fly and they just don’t miss!!

Stay cool and Look Up.

Xo, Jackie, your LookUp Creative Director and phone-health evangelist

The LookUp Times