Habit + Habitat: Lacey Soslow

Ever wonder what the folks at terrain do when we're not in the garden? In our new monthly series, Habit + Habitat, we're finding out by asking one person to share a habit (something they love to do) and a habitat (a favorite place to spend time). First up, our well-traveled ecommerce manager Lacey stops by to talk about a few of her recent adventures and what she likes best about returning to her South Philly home.

terrain: What is your role at terrain? Can you tell us a bit about a day for you at the office?

Lacey: I'm responsible for terrain's ecommerce and marketing, basically managing our web business and how we communicate with our customer and community to share our brand. While we're part of URBN, terrain functions like a scrappy, entrepreneurial start-up where we all wear a lot of hats. While there's no typical day per se, my day is usually spent meeting with our creative and web teams to determine what stories we want to tell and what partners we want to work with. I'm in a lot of meetings, but they're incredibly collaborative and fun. I continue to feel like I'm learning something new every day and definitely feel lucky to work with folks who inspire me a whole bunch.

terrain: Can you share one word to describe your habit, and one to describe your habitat?

Lacey: Does it count as one word if I hyphenate?
Habit: Long-Game.
Habitat: Short-Game.

terrain: What habit are you going to share with us? 

Lacey: Traveling. Over the past few years I've been trying to travel as much as possible - long trips, short trips, far away trips, and close by ones too!

terrain: What do you enjoy most about traveling? What motivates you to plan a trip?

Lacey: I've lived in Philly for almost ten years now and while I adore the city, it's really important for me to get out as much as possible and explore new spaces. Hands-down, my favorite part of traveling is just walking around observing my surroundings: the architecture, the people, the history, the fashion, the food, the dogs walking down the street, everything. While I'm definitely a creature of habit at home, I love to get out of my world and see as much newness as possible. Traveling allows me to do that. One of the most incredible places I've ever visited is definitely Iceland. Driving around the countryside was totally wild. One minute you'd see snow-capped mountains, the next waterfalls, followed by black beaches; it was sensory overload in the best way possible.

terrain: What is the most inspiring place you’ve visited this year?

Lacey: This summer I went to visit one of my oldest friends in Pompeii. She's an archaeologist in the field there and has been going for over ten years, but I'd never made it to visit. Seeing the ancient ruins and getting a tour from someone so knowledgeable about the history and process was fascinating. We were able to tour lots of fun spots that are off-limits to tourists. Another friend and I stayed at this wild little hotel called Villa dei Misteri outside the center of the city. It was filled with characters and had an urn-shaped pool. Besides being an incredible escape from 100+ degree heat, it was a great place to drink an Aperol Spritz, and slightly less ant-infested than the rest of southern Italy. It was such a comical retreat that it had me and my good pal churning out ideas for a hilarious screenplay-- history and adventure are never a bad combo! I'll let you know how that one goes....

terrain: Which location is next on your travel agenda? 

Lacey: Up next is a long weekend to San Francisco for a close friend’s wedding. After that, I'm looking at a summer trip to Haarlem in the Netherlands followed by Croatia. I hear Haarlem looks like a painting and you can ride bikes to the coast. Fingers crossed it all works out!

terrain: What's your dream trip?

Lacey: Well, I'd love to go to Capetown, and it's on the short list for sure. But, my family is from Russia and Lithuania so I'd really love to visit those countries at some point. I flew through Moscow on my way to Italy last year-- that’s truly the definition of the cheap seats-- but it would be incredible to go back to the country to spend some real time. If I could rally the whole family to join, it would be even cooler - but I'll manage my expectations for now!

terrain: What habitat are you going to share with us? Can you describe it briefly?

Lacey: I live in a small row home in the Italian Market area of South Philadelphia. It's down the block from an awesome community park called Gold Star Park and it's the perfect amount of space without having too much to manage. It feels old and new all at once, and while I've only been there for about a year it's filled with cool memories, mementos from my travels, and a lot of positive vibes.

terrain: What is your favorite space in your home? Which space are you most proud of?

Lacey: My favorite space in my home is definitely my kitchen. I have enough room to make a little bit of a mess and spread out. Plus, my kitchen opens up into my living room/dining room area, so it's a great spot to cook a meal but also hang out with family and friends. 

I'm probably most proud of my bathroom-- mainly because I've always wanted a black claw foot tub and now I have one. When I moved into my house, I was able to renovate the bathroom and the design is totally anchored around having a sweet, black claw foot tub.

terrain: What is the most unique thing about your home?

Lacey: Other than the big weirdo (me) living in it, I'd have to say the skylight in the bathroom. The house was built in 1920 and the original skylight is still intact-- or it's been restored in an incredibly authentic way. Either way, it's refreshing to have so much natural light in the bathroom.