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ELIZABETH NARINS • Hotel Lilien & More Than Mom

CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine

ELIZABETH NARINS • head of content and communications, Hotel Lilien • author, More Than Mom
Neighborhood you live in: Cobble Hill

It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
As the voice of Hotel Lilien, an 18-room Catskills boutique hotel and cocktail lounge helmed by a group of friends that include my husband David Harmatz, my main priority every Friday is shoring up promotions for weekend programming. We have an amazing DJ on Saturday nights, and we bring an emerging musician up to the mountaintop for a live concert every Sunday night. It's my job to make sure everyone knows about it.

When I'm not Upstate, I wrap that up from home, and my next stop is a local coffee shop or restaurant to work with David. Our favorite spots have friendly staff that make us feel welcome à la Hotel Lilien; when you're in hospitality, you can't really turn off high expectations. We also look for some sort of design vibe or great branding to keep us feeling inspired. When it's cold and we want to stay close, we go to One Girl Cookies, Talea, or Anais. On nicer days, it's Saturn Road or Poppy's, although our New Year's resolution is to branch out a bit. We recently went to Quarters in Tribeca, In Common With's loft concept store and wine bar, which serves coffee by day.

Once properly caffeinated, I'll wrap up any writing deadlines and figure out my next More Than Mom post, which I'll chip away at throughout the weekend. It's always a treat to write in my own voice and for parents in a similar season. Then it's back to Hotel Lilien stuff — responding to press inquiries and influencer collab requests, refining our wedding marketing materials as we expand into an adjacent event space, and managing partnerships. In the past year we worked with Books Are Magic to curate our library's contemporary collection; brought Pendleton in to sponsor our Sunday night programming; and recruited a handful of maternity and baby brands including Hatch, 7AM Enfant, Halo, and Aden + Anais for our babymoon gifting program.

By 235p, I'm back on full-court-press mom duty. It's a constant struggle to straddle part-time work and parenting, but we're making it work.

Any restaurant plans?
We're excited to check out Il Gigante in Ridgewood, which was opened last month by a parent of our son's classmate. We know firsthand how much work goes into creating your own place, and how great it feels when friends show up to see what you've built and support you.

How about a little leisure or culture?
Last weekend, I saw Alicia Keys' Hell's Kitchen, and it was next-level enjoyable. Our kids aren't quite old enough to sit through performances, so we spend a lot of time bopping around play spaces and parks. Next on our list is Genius Gems and the new Space Club in Fort Greene, although we love taking the Dumbo ferry to their Greenpoint location since it gives us an excuse to browse mid-century and early American furniture at Good Behavior. (Our apartment remains a work in progress, and often serves as a pseudo storage space for vintage furniture, antique rugs, and art going up to the hotel.)

Any weekend getaways?
David and I also love checking out similarly-sized boutique hotels in different markets, although these trips always feel like work, too, since we literally take notes on everything from room booklets to menu design, signage, and amenities. Last year we loved our stay at Guild House in Philadelphia. We also took our kids on a Berkshires road trip to Tourists and Little Cat Lodge, which is still our son's favorite spot thanks to the bottomless babka and berries they serve at breakfast. On the West Coast, where we spend lots of time visiting family, we've enjoyed Cuyama Buckhorn, which is helmed by the family of our friend and designer Kiana Toosi, White Water Cambria, and Sea Ranch.

What was your last great vacation?
In the fall I was invited on a press trip to Miraval Austin. I finished Miranda July's All Fours and half of Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise, had all kinds of epiphanies while holding on for my life on the high-ropes course, and came back craving hemp hearts, so I'd call that a success.

What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
David spends too much time on LiveAuctioneers gathering gems for the hotel, especially now that we are building out four more guest rooms with the help of my sister-in-law at Field Theory Design. We recently purchased what we thought was one 1970s Martial Raysse exhibition lithograph, but later realized it was a lot of 17. We'll hang one at the hotel, and will be adding the rest to Hotel Lilien's Come Back Collection, a promotion that invites return guests to pick a vintage piece of art or an object to take home with them.