swissmiss

New year and another trip around the sun. Hey 2022, here’s to:

– more parties in the heart
– more listening. Less talking
– being ok with being misunderstood
– spending time with expansive humans
– staying open
– more dancing
– long walks
– petting dogs
– BELIEVE (Ted Lasso style)
– less sugar
– remembering that fear is the absence of love
– remembering to interpret mixed signals as a no
– continue to gently recognize my limiting beliefs
– trusting that inner whisper
– sprinkle fun and good vibes
– be intentional about rituals / traditions (create new ones)
– notice when the universe is cheering me on
– no more overwatering plants
– notice and celebrate what’s working
– clarity
– recognize when I am swimming upstream and swiflty turning around
– write my book (at least start)
– being open to love

Whispers: Thank you for visiting my garden on the internet. I appreciate you stopping by.

In summer of 2020 I was unexpectedly offered to buy my dream home in the Hudson Valley. November 12th marked the one year anniversary of me owning this house, I would like to share this magical story:

In fall of 2015 I found the listing for Maitopia on Airbnb. I gasped and within minutes booked a stay that was a good 6 months out, the first weekend I could get my hands on. 

I’ll never forget the moment when we entered the driveway, in spring of 2016. There she was, this modern, tiny beauty. I could barely breathe of excitement. As we got out of the car my daughter noticed the Swiss cross flag on the shed and jokingly said: “This house was waiting for you, mommy!”

We kept coming back to Maitopia, 1-3 times a year, for long weekends and I became Instagram-DM friends with the owners. Every time I stayed, I would post about the house, gushing about how perfect it was and thanking the internet for the sharing economy. What a magical world we live in!

Then, on June 17, 2020 the owners messaged me saying “We are thinking about selling the house!”

I remember jumping from my chair, screaming “OMG!” My daughter thought something bad happened and looked at me with a look of horror. “What’s wrong, mommy?” I said “Heath and Sarah-Mai want to sell Maitopia!”

I typed back, in all caps: I WISH I COULD BUY IT!

Their response blew me away: “Well, we were hoping you’d say that, as we can only sell the house to someone who loves it as much as we do and we think that person is you. We won’t put in on the market!”

I felt so many feelings.

I was in no place of buying a house. Or so I thought. With the pandemic raging in NYC, I was terrified of losing everything I had built over the past 15 year. The last thing on my mind was buying a house. I was sure I couldn’t afford it.

Yet I knew in my heart of hearts that this property found me. So I examined my limiting beliefs, tried to find solutions on how it could work, and things started falling into place.

About a week later, I asked the owners, whom I had never met, if they’d meet me on the sidewalk outside their Upper West Side home. 

I shared with them that I didn’t take it lightly that they offered the house to me. After all, it was their labor of love. They designed it. They built it. It was an extension of them.

I handed them a plant and my offer (love) letter, which was wrapped in drawings of the house that my kids made.

It was a powerfully loving moment. On both ends. Some tears were shed.

(This process taught me so much, as it made me think that if I ever were to sell one of my companies or anything else I have built, this is how I would want this transaction to go down. Loving. Heart-centered. Thoughtful.)


A few days later they let us know they accepted our offer. My kids and I were estatic, dancing through our Brooklyn apartment!

The mortgage journey that followed after was not the most pleasant but we got there eventually. Lots of lawyer-y non-heart-centered stuff followed too. Part of the process, I guess. Deep breaths.

And here we are, a year later.

I have been a homeowner for 365 days. I admit, I have dealt with more broken things than I want to acknowledge, but I am starting to really understand the house. My friend Sue once said that the house is teaching me how to take care of it. I feel that.

This also means I have been an Airbnb host for 365 days straight. And let me tell you, I have grown as a host. (I have so much to share on this front, but that’s for another time.)


Today, I just want to revel in the fact that this house found me. It is my happy place. My heart swells up every time I enter the driveway.

Thank you for choosing me, Maitopia.

PS: Yes, I do rent the house, you can see the listing here. Please note I am slow about opening up the calendar, I do it a few months at a time. If you want to see more photos, you can check the Instagram account here and a walk through of the house is here. Sarah-Mai and Heath who built the house have since created a new magical home in the Northfork and are soon going to be renting that one out too. You can see it here.

It’s been a bit quiet here and you might be wondering why? Well, this family is growing. We are picking up our rescue today and have been busy preparing for the new family member. (Shelter adoptions are no joke in NYC. Three rounds of interviews, a home visit and then meeting the pup!)

We are ANXCITED! This is our first dog and we realize we have a lot to learn. When we went to see Beau I asked the foster mom what she needs most. She pondered for a moment and then said: LOVE, a whole lot of love. I exhaled and said: “I got plenty of that. We’re good!”

Also, I think I have watched every Cesar Milan video out there by now. If you have adopted a rescue or own a dog and have tips, please be so kind and drop them in a comment below.

Onward to our new chapter! WOOF!

Update: Sharing some first impressions with her on Instagram, look for the Pup Emoji story highlight. (circle at underneath my bio)

“Dogs are our link to paradise.”
– Milan Kundera

On Monday morning, right before I dropped off my son at school, I got a text from my sister saying my dad wasn’t well.

A few hours later I found myself on a plane to Switzerland and arrived at the nursing home just in time to say good-bye. My sister, her husband and I were gifted the experience to witness the sacred moment of my dad’s passing.

All his life, my dad believed in and studied reincarnation and in particular the moment the soul leaves the body. Here he was, living it.

My sister and I have learned so much from him just by overhearing him talk about death. (He had an entire library on this topic and I remember reading books by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at 16!) Yet, as much as I knew about the process of dying, nothing prepares you for being in the presence of death.

That sacred moment of that last breath, when that deep quiet hits. And you find yourself crying in ways you never have.

It felt as if his soul pulled mine out to give it a squeeze and then let it bounce back into my body.

My dad was a force. A man of many interests and talents. A successful (and ruthless) entrepreneur, yet a soul that got gentler as he got older. I often described him as a ball of love in these past few years.

As he aged he became blind and eventually needed to leave his beloved house to live in a nursing home. Even though in younger years he would moan and complain about a bad cold, in this stage of his life he, with so much of his body giving out, he never complained. New nursing staff, not familiar with his name yet, would refer to him as “the kind one”.

My dad has shown me what it means to dream big, to live a courageous creative life. And in the end, he taught me the lesson that life is one big journey of finding back to your truest self, being and living love. He found it. He lived it. (Maybe not in the early years, but definitely at the end!)

What a blessing to witness his passing.

I miss you, dad.

Ps: Please call your parents, if you still can.

This photo was taken a mere 5 weeks ago, when my kids and I traveled to the Swiss Alps.

21 years ago I moved to NYC not knowing it would become my forever home.⁣
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Two months ago, I became a US citizen, during a pandemic nonetheless.⁣
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Today I voted for the first time, after two decades of paying taxes, building businesses and and raising my children in the USA.⁣
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It feels good to citizen.

View this post on Instagram

This oddly visualizes how the pandemic has felt for me so far, trying to keep three businesses alive. (Via @thiswashollywood)

A post shared by Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) on May 7, 2020 at 5:01am PDT

“How are you doing?”

I have no idea how to answer anymore. Do you?

— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) March 27, 2020

This graph from a Standford University Paper on “How Couples Meet” caught my attention. ⁣
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Having been single for a few years now, it seems as if apps have become the socially accepted and expected way to meet a partner. But what if the way apps work and feel is really not your jam?⁣
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I am determined to help reverse that “meet through friends” graph. ⁣
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When you get introduced to someone via a friend, there is instant common ground and trust. Tapping into the “web of love” as my friend Sharon Lee calls it, is where the magic happens. When a friend introduces me to someone she/he holds in high regard and loves, I show up differently, open-hearted and less garded. ⁣(By the way, this also works in a work context!)
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When you meet a stranger on an app it takes a lot of hard emotional work to figure out if that person can be trusted, is a good human, is who they say they are. ⁣
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Looking back, when I was still married, I realize I was so busy being married and coupled, I didn’t pay attention to who was single in my circle of friends and if I could help make an introduction.⁣
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Seeing now just how hard it this to meet someone, I wish I helped my single friends more. ⁣
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The IRL enthusiast that I am, and struggling with dating apps, I started asking my friends if they can think of a single friend they *love*. If they do, I ask them to write me a little paragraph about them, share their name and email so so can add them to my ever growing secret list of wonderful singles. Then they get invited to fun small gatherings. We had one so far and it was an absolutely delightful event. We are not labeling them as a singles event, we just tell them in the beginning that we all have one thing in common and they’ll probably figure out by the end of the night what that is. We are just getting started with these, Kyle and Christina are with me on the organizing committee. Best team ever.⁣
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Let’s bring back IRL and reverse that graph by tapping into our “web of love”.⁣

(You can read the Stanford Study here: Disintermediating your friends © Michael Rosenfeld, Stanford University *, 2019)
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