A Life of Play

Let’s meet.

But more specifically – let’s discuss why I started this “musings report” called The Curated Ottoman. I prefer to call it a “musings report” instead of a newsletter or a blog. A newsletter implies that something you read will be newsworthy. It will not. And a blog implies that this is something of a digital diary. It is not.

The Curated Ottoman is just that – musings. To muse is to think about something carefully and for a long time. There is no rhyme or reason as to why I focus on specific topics, but when I get interested in something…I am really into it. One could say that I have an obsessive personality. I am just a lover of a deep dive and am a podcast binger.

So – the topics will be all over the place. Sometimes I’ll write about my favorite hair products and other times I’ll write about my latest project or an amazing party I just hosted – because who doesn’t want to know the best tricks and tips to have that perfectly messy yet professional style, the key to an all-star charcuterie board, or the most realistic entrepreneurial advice I’ve heard recently.

At this point you may be asking where the name The Curated Ottoman comes from – valid. It’s the next logical question.

I started a company in the beginning of 2024 called The Ottoman Co. It’s a holding company for all my ideas and projects. And the name has a very specific origin. Every Monday night, I have “Family Dinner Night” with my best friend, her husband, and her three kids. We tripped into this tradition. Between the two of us - we cannot remember how long we’ve been doing it - we just agree that it is a Tradition with a capital “T.”

Family Dinner Night has a predictable rhythm: a “tocktail board” (cocktails and a cheese board as defined by tiny people), dinner, bath, books, prayers, and songs.

After reading books, I head downstairs to tidy up. I pick up all the toys and put them on the giant leather, tufted ottoman, and fluff the couch throw pillows. I am not sure where all the toys belong in their natural state, but I put them on the ottoman for a temporary home.

The ottoman has no rhyme or reason. The toys tell the story of everything that happened during the day – coloring books, princess costumes, blocks, and misplaced socks.

I loved the literal and metaphorical representation of the ottoman. It literally holds all the toys in one place – mirroring “the island of misfit toys,” and it is a metaphor for something so much deeper. The ottoman represents all the best parts of play. It represents a life without limits or boundaries.  

That is what I love most. I created a whole company to remove limitations. An incubator for ideas and projects that could one day be taken off the preverbal ottoman and put in its natural home.

This musings report – The Curated Ottoman – follows the same philosophy. I am collecting the very best of what a life of play can look like.

So buckle up. This will be fun.