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THE LIVING EDIT

The Living Edit is where we share the belief that both our spaces and our lives are never finished, only refined. Through this lens, design becomes more than aesthetic; it becomes a tool for clarity, confidence, and transformation. The Living Edit offers comprehensive guidance for architecting all areas of your life.

LIFE ARCHITECTURE:

IT'S NOT A LIFESTYLE.
IT'S LIFE'S WORK.

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THE PRODUCTIVE ART OF F***'ING UP

ARE YOU META MINDED?

MUST READS

NEXT LEVEL HEALTH

NEXT LEVEL HEALTH

NEXT LEVEL HEALTH

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Written letter on stationary

WELCOME TO LIFE ARCHITECTURE

CONTENT TO COMMERCE

WE'RE SOCIAL

THE RECIPE OF ALL RECIPES: My Ba NAN a bread! I’ve tried them all, and trust me, this is the one. Always consistently delicious.

Give it a try! N. B. x

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

4 large ripe bananas

1 ½ C all purpose flour
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

½ C (or 1 stick) butter, room temperature (salted or unsalted, fine)
¾ C sugar

2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

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Butter or spray and line a 5” x 9” loaf pan with parchment.

Mash bananas and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients, set aside.

With standing or hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Once butter and sugar are creamed, fold in the dry ingredients, eggs and vanilla extract. Once combined, add the mashed bananas. Mixed until integrated.

Pour into lined loaf pan.

Bake for 50-55 minutes depending on your oven until a toothpick comes out clean.

* I usually place foil loosely over the loaf halfway through baking to keep the top from burning.

*You can add 1C blueberries, choco chips or chopped walnuts to the recipe if desired.

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[banana bread, summer recipe, baking, cooking, sweet treat, dessert, life architecture , Nannette Brown]

THE RECIPE OF ALL RECIPES: My Ba NAN a bread! I’ve tried them all, and trust me, this is the one. Always consistently delicious.

Give it a try! N. B. x

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

4 large ripe bananas

1 ½ C all purpose flour
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

½ C (or 1 stick) butter, room temperature (salted or unsalted, fine)
¾ C sugar

2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

——————————————————————————————————————
Butter or spray and line a 5” x 9” loaf pan with parchment.

Mash bananas and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients, set aside.

With standing or hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Once butter and sugar are creamed, fold in the dry ingredients, eggs and vanilla extract. Once combined, add the mashed bananas. Mixed until integrated.

Pour into lined loaf pan.

Bake for 50-55 minutes depending on your oven until a toothpick comes out clean.

* I usually place foil loosely over the loaf halfway through baking to keep the top from burning.

*You can add 1C blueberries, choco chips or chopped walnuts to the recipe if desired.

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[banana bread, summer recipe, baking, cooking, sweet treat, dessert, life architecture , Nannette Brown]

Food shopping has always been part of my DNA. I can’t imagine not choosing my food in person. I want to pick the loaf of bread, look at the produce, see what’s fresh and beautiful. For me, sight is part of our connection to food. So is the ritual of shopping for it.

And if you’re curious about the way we New Yorkers shop, it’s one of the very best features—and greatest luxuries in the city. Choice. We have our everyday grocers, but we also have an extraordinary collection of specialty markets, neighborhood institutions, and increasingly, viral newcomers.

Which brings us to our series store this week, Ouri’s.

An upscale kosher market with roots dating back to 1976, Ouri’s arrived on the Upper East Side in 2024 and quickly became a social media darling. But what’s interesting isn’t that it’s kosher, or viral. It’s the sheer depth and range. It’s exactly the kind of place that reminds me why I still love going food shopping.

FIELD NOTES

Worth the trip?
Yes. Especially for the prepared foods, exceptional meat selection, produce, specialty finds, and a pizza that’s absolutely worth crossing town for.

Price- $$$$

My Picks
• Sourdough Pizza — the hype, and absolutely worth it. This is proper pizza, not “good for a grocery store” pizza.
• Rotisserie Chicken — exactly the kind of beautifully prepared staple Ouri’s does well.
• Sea salted chocolate chip cookies. Absolutely worth a box to bring home and zap in the microwave for that just-baked taste• Meat — an outstanding selection and one of the real strengths of the market.
• Shaken Salted Cinnamon Honey Latte — don’t leave without a trip to the coffee bar. This was the standout for me.

Viral
The Sourdough Pizza. And in this case, the hype is deserved. It’s genuinely very good and bears little resemblance to anything you’d normally associate with grocery-store pizza.

Best For
The food shopper who likes to discover. Beautiful produce, serious meat, prepared foods, specialty products, a great coffee bar, and plenty of things you didn’t necessarily come in looking for. It’s expensive, but Ouri’s isn’t just about hype. The range and quality give you a reason to come back
N. B. X

@ourismarket [Ouri’s, UES, market]

Food shopping has always been part of my DNA. I can’t imagine not choosing my food in person. I want to pick the loaf of bread, look at the produce, see what’s fresh and beautiful. For me, sight is part of our connection to food. So is the ritual of shopping for it.

And if you’re curious about the way we New Yorkers shop, it’s one of the very best features—and greatest luxuries in the city. Choice. We have our everyday grocers, but we also have an extraordinary collection of specialty markets, neighborhood institutions, and increasingly, viral newcomers.

Which brings us to our series store this week, Ouri’s.

An upscale kosher market with roots dating back to 1976, Ouri’s arrived on the Upper East Side in 2024 and quickly became a social media darling. But what’s interesting isn’t that it’s kosher, or viral. It’s the sheer depth and range. It’s exactly the kind of place that reminds me why I still love going food shopping.

FIELD NOTES

Worth the trip?
Yes. Especially for the prepared foods, exceptional meat selection, produce, specialty finds, and a pizza that’s absolutely worth crossing town for.

Price- $$$$

My Picks
• Sourdough Pizza — the hype, and absolutely worth it. This is proper pizza, not “good for a grocery store” pizza.
• Rotisserie Chicken — exactly the kind of beautifully prepared staple Ouri’s does well.
• Sea salted chocolate chip cookies. Absolutely worth a box to bring home and zap in the microwave for that just-baked taste• Meat — an outstanding selection and one of the real strengths of the market.
• Shaken Salted Cinnamon Honey Latte — don’t leave without a trip to the coffee bar. This was the standout for me.

Viral
The Sourdough Pizza. And in this case, the hype is deserved. It’s genuinely very good and bears little resemblance to anything you’d normally associate with grocery-store pizza.

Best For
The food shopper who likes to discover. Beautiful produce, serious meat, prepared foods, specialty products, a great coffee bar, and plenty of things you didn’t necessarily come in looking for. It’s expensive, but Ouri’s isn’t just about hype. The range and quality give you a reason to come back
N. B. X

@ourismarket [Ouri’s, UES, market]

Ahh, the final days of summer. How slow summer seemed to get here, and how fast it’s gone.

This week I’m off. Nothing exotic, or particularly planned. It’s home for a few laid-back days. I’ll be playing them all by ear, chillin’, taking it easy, and there will likely be some sitting on a screened porch at my cousin’s lake house involved. I’m officially on Tennessee time.

Stay tuned for this week’s Substack. It may be a day late because we’ve officially Gone Fishin’ this week. But I promise to make it a good one, with some design, food and, of course, a few of my thoughts! N. B. x

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[summertime, southernsummer, summer, gonefish’, fishing, design, wisdom, food, recipes, comfort food, garden food, southern food, vacation, family, time off, relaxation, reconnect, disconnect, Nannette Brown, lifearchitecture]

Ahh, the final days of summer. How slow summer seemed to get here, and how fast it’s gone.

This week I’m off. Nothing exotic, or particularly planned. It’s home for a few laid-back days. I’ll be playing them all by ear, chillin’, taking it easy, and there will likely be some sitting on a screened porch at my cousin’s lake house involved. I’m officially on Tennessee time.

Stay tuned for this week’s Substack. It may be a day late because we’ve officially Gone Fishin’ this week. But I promise to make it a good one, with some design, food and, of course, a few of my thoughts! N. B. x

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[summertime, southernsummer, summer, gonefish’, fishing, design, wisdom, food, recipes, comfort food, garden food, southern food, vacation, family, time off, relaxation, reconnect, disconnect, Nannette Brown, lifearchitecture]

A little change of pace this week, and it will be a little light overall. Keeping things loose, easy and very much in the moment. No big idea to unpack, no deep dive, just a few things worth enjoying, looking at and thinking about as we enjoy the last days of summer.

I’m calling this my Gone Fishing week. I’ll still be popping in with a few things, but otherwise I’m taking a bit of my own advice and enjoying a breather. We’ll be back in full form next week.

And as always we’ll have Substack. And this week, a little design, a little life wisdom and something delicious along the way. Come along. N. B. x
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[lifestyle, design, food, recipes, cooking, thought, wisdom, life advice, life architecture, Nannette Brown, travel, summer, autumn, end of summer]

A little change of pace this week, and it will be a little light overall. Keeping things loose, easy and very much in the moment. No big idea to unpack, no deep dive, just a few things worth enjoying, looking at and thinking about as we enjoy the last days of summer.

I’m calling this my Gone Fishing week. I’ll still be popping in with a few things, but otherwise I’m taking a bit of my own advice and enjoying a breather. We’ll be back in full form next week.

And as always we’ll have Substack. And this week, a little design, a little life wisdom and something delicious along the way. Come along. N. B. x
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[lifestyle, design, food, recipes, cooking, thought, wisdom, life advice, life architecture, Nannette Brown, travel, summer, autumn, end of summer]

Funny how some of the things we once considered failures become the very things we’re most grateful for. I’ve never been fired, but I did lose my first real job. At the time? Mortifying. Looking back? I wasn’t prepared enough, and losing it taught me something I probably needed to learn the hard way.

Success and failure travel the same road. Certainly at different points, and rarely in the order we’d choose, but both have a way of moving us toward where we’re ultimately going. Maybe that’s the gift of hindsight. What once looked like a wrong turn can become part of the directions.

So I’ll pass @ryanserhant ‘s question on to you: What failure are you most grateful for? I”d really love to know.
N. B. x

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[failure, mistake, fired, hired, first job, redirection, interview, story time, rejection, failing, messing up, starting over, preparation]

Funny how some of the things we once considered failures become the very things we’re most grateful for. I’ve never been fired, but I did lose my first real job. At the time? Mortifying. Looking back? I wasn’t prepared enough, and losing it taught me something I probably needed to learn the hard way.

Success and failure travel the same road. Certainly at different points, and rarely in the order we’d choose, but both have a way of moving us toward where we’re ultimately going. Maybe that’s the gift of hindsight. What once looked like a wrong turn can become part of the directions.

So I’ll pass @ryanserhant ‘s question on to you: What failure are you most grateful for? I”d really love to know.
N. B. x

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[failure, mistake, fired, hired, first job, redirection, interview, story time, rejection, failing, messing up, starting over, preparation]

FAILURE. MY (least) FAVORITE F WORD. Architects frame houses. I’m what I call a Life Architect. I frame life. And one thing that could use some serious reframing? Failure.

I believe in failure wholeheartedly. I believe it’s necessary, productive and, quite possibly, one of life’s greatest teachers. I also absolutely hate it (and I don’t hate much).

I’ve had enough failures, including a few rather epic ones, to know that all the wisdom in the world doesn’t make getting it wrong feel particularly good. But I also know I wouldn’t be who I am without them. Maybe that’s the deal. Not all failure is created equal, but all of it teaches us something. We don’t have to love it to respect what it can do for us.

I’m working on it. Comment “F WORD” and I’ll send you this week’s Substack on The Productive Art of F**’ing Up.*
N. B. x
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[failure, fail, trying again, starting over, roadblock, success, wisdom, life advice, life architecture, Nannette Brown, resilience, persistence]

FAILURE. MY (least) FAVORITE F WORD. Architects frame houses. I’m what I call a Life Architect. I frame life. And one thing that could use some serious reframing? Failure.

I believe in failure wholeheartedly. I believe it’s necessary, productive and, quite possibly, one of life’s greatest teachers. I also absolutely hate it (and I don’t hate much).

I’ve had enough failures, including a few rather epic ones, to know that all the wisdom in the world doesn’t make getting it wrong feel particularly good. But I also know I wouldn’t be who I am without them. Maybe that’s the deal. Not all failure is created equal, but all of it teaches us something. We don’t have to love it to respect what it can do for us.

I’m working on it. Comment “F WORD” and I’ll send you this week’s Substack on The Productive Art of F**’ing Up.*
N. B. x
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[failure, fail, trying again, starting over, roadblock, success, wisdom, life advice, life architecture, Nannette Brown, resilience, persistence]

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