The Irony of a 10-Year Anniversary: How my Handbag Office was born

How offboarding clients, shedding heavy tech, an 18-month detour, and a delayed flight taught me the true weight of freedom - and how a baby blue bag became the foundation for the art of building a lighter life.

On the 1st of May, 2024, I stood in the evening sun on the rooftop above our rental apartment in Florence, wearing a colorful sundress and a sunhat. The magnificent dome of the Duomo was behind me, and the bells of Giotto's Campanile were ringing their 17:30 toll across the city.

I set up my phone and filmed a few short, faceless videos of the view, and of me writing in my brand new pink notebook with the Florentine Lily embossed on the cover. I planned to publish them to the tune of "Dolce Vita" by Ryan Paris.

In the notebook, I wrote, "A new chapter begins... Firenze 1 May 2024," followed by a careful little heart. And then I cheered with a glass of rosé.

Then finally, on the 9th of December, 2025, during yet another solo season in Florence, I sat at my laptop, took a deep breath, and did something that took less than three minutes but changed the entire trajectory of my working life.

I bought a domain name.

midlifeinitaly.com.

There are few things in life that compare to the quiet thrill of typing a name into a search box, finding out it is available, and claiming it as your own. It is the digital equivalent of putting a key into a new front door. The room is empty, yes. But it is yours. It was the absolute beginning of my freedom and my peace.

Here is a screen recording of this memorable moment:

And here, let's pause. Because you might be wondering: Why rosé? You're in Italy!

Well, because at the age of 56, I had not yet discovered the absolute serenity of a proper Italian Prosecco.

That revelation arrived on the 18th of December, ten days later. Sid and I were at the Florence airport, heading home to Sweden for Christmas. Our flight was heavily delayed and the information was mostly unclear. I went up to the upper bar to get a panino, and the person next to me ordered a beautiful, cold, sparkling golden liquid served in a traditional wine glass.

Because it had so many lovely bubbles, but was served in a regular round glass and not the "flute" for champagne (which I honestly feel is a bit too sour, at least the ones I have tried), I pointed at it and asked the bartender what it was.

She stopped. She gave me a look of profound, deeply Italian, non-arrogant pity and slowly said, "Ma cara... it is Prosecco!"

With no further explanation needed, I said, "Then please pour one for me too".

She nodded and said, "Brava".

I paid her 8.50 euros for it and had one of the most wonderful culinary experiences of my life. That "not too sweet but not too sour" single glass made all the airport confusion - and the typically Italian logistical chaos of being relocated to Pisa by bus due to heavy December fog - entirely enjoyable.

It taught me there can be very nice surprises even in bad events.

I am sharing this exact timeline for two reasons.

First, to stake my claim regarding this important milestone in my life. As I write this, I am looking at photos from June 1st, 2016 - the exact day I started my agency, LakeHouse Media. Now we are approaching June 2026 and my 10-year anniversary. In those photos, my desk is covered in the heavy machinery that I then believed a real business required: massive screens, thick binders, colorful pens, a bulky paper calendar for 16/17, an iPad, and endless accessories.

Now, ten years later, to celebrate a decade in business, I am doing the exact opposite of what the industry tells you to do. I am not expanding. I am not taking on more clients. In fact, I have offboarded almost all of them.

I decided to downgrade my physical presence to upgrade my life. I unsubscribed from the expensive, heavy Adobe Pro programs and replaced them with Canva Pro. I left behind the endless WordPress updates of pro plugins, unsubscribed from email automation services, and replaced all of it with one beautifully simple and user-friendly platform: Systeme IO.

However "free" my agency was for the last decade, I did not truly feel free. I was tied to that 27-inch screen and the constant tracking of time for invoicing. I wanted, I needed, to change all that in this new era. I wanted the freedom of fitting my entire business into a baby blue handbag with only my MacBook, a pink notebook, a beautiful pen, and a lipstick as my office setup.