The Story About How We Fell in Love and Founded the RH Lifestyle (With Years of Unseen Images!)

During Fashion Week, you expect to fall in love with the clothes and newness that designers and their teams have worked on for months, but during Paris Fashion week the unexpected happened, we fell in love. It may not have been love at first sight, but it was the closest thing to it without sounding too cliché.

A woman working hard with the top fashion brands, a businessman who invests in designers and has a deep appreciation for beauty and style collided in a hotel lobby one afternoon, while both on travel following the fashion calendar. Unbeknownst to me I walked right by him, but something caught his eye and in a big city you just never know if you will cross paths again.

He recalls springing into action to stop me for a chat but knew better than to leave his belongings unattended in the lobby of Le Meurice, by the time he threw his laptop into his briefcase I was gone. Fatefully our worlds aligned again, later that evening as happenstance would have it. Coincidentally we were at the same dinner that night to celebrate a designer and her new collection.

At dinner we exchanged a few words, but he knew I was the woman who brought him to his feet because I had on the same vintage racing jacket as the mystery woman he had spotted. Dinner led to a night of dancing and dancing led to him finally gathering up the courage to approach me to tell me of his sighting earlier in the day. Red balloons suddenly filled L’Arc and he suggested we make a wish on a balloon that we will see each other again and release it into the universe. As we released the balloon and made our wish, we watched it float into the Parisian skies.

As cheesy as it was, I believed in my heart that the energy we shared was vivacious and that he was a man of his word. One red balloon in the club, one man, one woman, and two worlds and flames coming together to become something bigger than just themselves. 

What could have been a fabulous memory of lust found in the city of love continued to develop and deepen over phone calls that would last until the morning. We learned just how much we had in common and I deeply admired his boldness in lifestyle and his vast array of interests, many of which I also was interested in from our shared love of horses, travel, faith, and at times feeling like an outsider in our perspective worlds.

We would go on to travel all over the world together and we now had a counterpart to share amazing experiences with. A skiing companion, a beach goer, a roller-coaster junkie, a shopping buddy, a best friend, a lover. It felt and continues to feel as though we take on life and all of its highs and lows together as a united front. Two is always stronger than one.   

Mr. M, has described himself as a polka dot in every room he walks into. His unapologetic yet gentle and caring nature stands out; he doesn’t want to fit in, he wants to be the best version of himself. He lifted me up and my confidence in myself blossomed and continues to do so until this very day. He has helped to teach me not to chase after what the ego wants, but to prioritize what really inspires our souls and feeds our goals.

Then COVID-19 reared its ugly head and our family spent more time together than ever. It was not without its difficulties; we have all had our struggles these past months but the good outweighed the bad and we weathered and continue to weather the storm as a unit, as a family. We also went to the courthouse and got married! Yes, I was a COVID bride and while it wasn’t the dream I had growing up, it was perfect for us and we would not have it any other way. We felt like the two people that fell in love in Paris, just us, again.

As we grow as husband and wife and also as parents, Mr. M has three children with infectious giggles who I am honored to have in my life, we find ourselves inspired by the idea of opening the doors for other people like us who are interested in our view of the Americana world. We wanted to share what we love and bond over with our friends and family and be a different voice, a new voice, in this social space.

We thank you for following along, and we hope that you will find pleasure and inspiration as you look through our website and read our stories.