Honey, it’s beautiful.

My grandmother, my sito (known as Sito Mona by many) passed this past spring right as I was about to launch Jaclyn Journey Hospitality in April. Our family never left her side at the hospital, which also meant days of working on my laptop with my cousin Kristina so we could finish my website.

My memories of her are mostly hilarious, especially her final days in the hospital where she was off all medication and fully with present. She was a loyal, loyal defender of her family. She had the most powerful voice and her singing at church in Arabic are my favorite memories of her. I get my Lebanese fire (a term coined by a friend…) from her - it is a specific kind of chaos and intensity that originates from love, but some don’t always understand that. We now call it Sito Energy, lol. I’m glad to have those traits from her and they’ll be sure to carry on through me.

Sito energy has propelled the shop to it’s near completion (1.5 weeks, people!) And if she were still here, she’d walk in the shop and say her signature line, ‘Honey, it’s beautiful’ — but imagine it pronounced more like, ‘HONeee, iz beyoooootiful’ We’ve made it the tagline of the shop and it’s even on the tissue paper! It’s our little way of passing on just a teeny bit of Lebanese fire (and Lebanese hospitality!) for you to take home with you 🖤