3 Weeks Between Island Stays

Two kids' birthdays, a showroom build, and a fall photoshoot in July heat — then the island exhaled.

I came back to the island yesterday morning with just the dogs. My husband and my daughters followed later in the afternoon. For a bit, it was just me and the dogs, quiet, on the back patio, doing absolutely nothing but taking in the calm and beauty around me. I can’t remember the last time I was alone at home and not working. I did crack open the laptop eventually, but I had some solid time of blissful peace first, and it was very needed.

The three weeks before this were a chaotic blur. We were back in Connecticut, and every single day had something stacked on top of it. Both my girls had their birthdays - two rounds of friends and parties, plus a full day at the amusement park. The following weekend was family in town for a 75th birthday, wonderful and also nonstop from Friday to Sunday. In between all of it, Cailini Coastal was its own kind of chaos — we’re building our first-ever showroom right now, which is thrilling and also a genuine amount of work.

And then, in the middle of all that summer-crammed-full-of-summer, we did our fall photoshoot.

Styling your home for a season you’re not currently in is a strange kind of mental whiplash. I turned my own home into a full coastal fall set while it was humid and 90 degrees outside and my kids were dripping through the halls in their swimsuits.

I don’t mind being a season ahead in January when I’m shooting spring, or March when I’m shooting summer — looking ahead to warmth when you’re cold feels natural. But shooting fall and holiday at the peak of summer just isn’t my cup of tea (although, I can’t wait to share the collection!). Summer is the season I love most, and I don’t want to rush past it. I want to stay in the moment I’m actually in.

We used to launch our fall collection in early-to-mid August, the way most brands in the industry do. After a couple of years, we intentionally said no. I suspect most of our customers are like me — summer-lovers who don’t want to hear about fall before they’re ready. Let’s cling to summer as long as we can!

Waking up today, back on the island, my body already feels like it’s shifted into a relaxed mode. The calendar and the season and my brain are finally telling the same story, and it’s already a breath of fresh air.

When we’re on Nantucket “now” means now. Where I’m not managing kids’ schedules against a business calendar against a shoot calendar against a school calendar. I’m just here, today, in August, on an island, and the season outside my window matches the season in my head for the first time in a month — and that feels so good.

We’ve got fifteen days here for this final stretch of summer, and then we go home two days before school starts. So here’s to soaking up every beach day, every post-dinner sunset bike ride, every quiet morning walk to the beach, as many iced roasted lattes as I can get, and just being in this place I’m so grateful to call home.

Cheers to the back half of August — and to those of you whose summer doesn’t get cut short by a school calendar. Enjoy every last indulgence over the next month and a half!

Warmly from the coast,

Meg