I have had my eyes on this Orseund Iris bustier top for months and months. I love everything about it, but especially the unexpected bone color (and the velvet ties, too!) I’ve been drawn to a few neutral pieces this season — a few favorites below:
P.S. Any of the neutral accessories and shoes would look unbelievable with an LWD.
P.P.S. In case you need a little encouragement easing into your summer fitness regimen, some fun new exercise clothing here. You all have been loving this lightweight coat!
“I want what you have,” she said. “An easy kind of love.” I was 35, had been out of the dating game since my first year of college (and in a committed relationship with Mr. Magpie for nearly as long), and yet had been daftly sputtering input as my friend sought advice on finding a boyfriend in her mid-30s in Manhattan when I was so taken by this earnest admission — by my friend’s bald and unflinching grasp of her own needs and her keen assessment of the nature of a relationship I had not previously considered visible to others — that I sat there in silence for a good while.
An easy kind of love.
Oh, you mean —
A Charlottesville kind of love, born in the sticky-summer heat of the mid-Atlantic:
Bare feet on the dashboard as you bounce through dirt roads, a mirage of “Red Ragtop” by Tim McGraw and 7-11 Slurpees and a little white dress with little white spaghetti straps and sunburns and an inner tube down the James River and him standing on the bank in his swim trunks, holding your sandals in his hands.
And bare feet, too, on the gravel as he rounded the Jeep and swung into the front seat, the tan arc of his back curving as he craned his neck and gestured for a cluster of students to “Go ahead, y’all,” before dipping slowly onto the asphalt of Rugby Road. His hand on yours and nowhere to be.
Oh, you mean an Appalachian kind of love —
Shivering around a bonfire in his faded sweatshirt four sizes too big,
The one with the fraying cuffs,
His hands searching for yours, and the night spilling out into the shocking spray of stars above you,
Just one more song from Benny Dodd, and one more minute perched on his knee, and one more, and one more, and one more.
Oh, you mean the kind of love that flows easy, coats every last nook and cranny, from the way he rests his elbow in the window of his college Jeep to the look of pure astonishment he wears on his face as you walk down the aisle on your wedding day to the anxious clenching of his jaw as you lie on the operating table, giving birth to your second child.
You mean a Sunday kind of love, unharried and worn in at the seams, the kind of love that takes you from lying on the roof of your first home, shoulder-to-shoulder with him in we-could-never-want-more bliss, to grieving all-consuming losses, his body pocketing yours, and yet waking up each morning to the familiar sounds of him narrating his coffee-making rituals and slamming drawers shut with his hip and knowing — just knowing! — that you will one day regret not letting him rest his feet on yours at night in that nightly faux battle of the bed.
You mean a summer kind of love, conversations spooling into the night over tumblers of wine in the backyard, fireflies and twinkle lights dotting a night thick with the warmth and contentment of the letter he wrote to you the day your daughter was born, and redolent with the pride in his voice — yes, pride! — when he says: “This is my wife, Jennifer.”
That kind of love.
I don’t know how you find that kind of love.
It feels like it was born before the wind.
Bigger than me, bigger than him —
Forged by something greater.
And yet I would be remiss not to offer, humbly,
That while I am lucky this love chose us,
We have anointed it with kindnesses. Oh Lord, I annoy him, to be sure, but I watch him — time after time — just let it all go, and so I do the same. He carves out a space for me, generous enough to accommodate my alternate bignesses and smallnesses, and I climb right in next to him and oh yes —
This kind of love bears all things.
Post-Scripts.
+Thank you to my girlfriend for prompting me to sit in gratitude for “this kind of love” over a year ago. I haven’t thought of my relationship with my husband the same way since.
+OK, I’ve never been able to go all-in on Birks despite wanting to, but I have seen so many women wearing these $45 Freedom Moses sandals the past week and might need to take a plunge. I like them in the white or pastel blue.
+Um, these shorts. I need for at-home lounge or over a swimsuit. I’m so into this throwback look for weekend!
+Cult Gaia has such good shoes out right now — I love these!
+I am intrigued by this Tula product I’ve seen SO many bloggers tout, but I feel as though Magpies have given “smeh” feedback on their products in the past…
+I’m not a big cut-off denim kind of girl (any more, at least — college Jen would disagree), but these feel somewhat grown-up. I imagine tucking a white button-down into them.
+Those shoes feel tailor-made for these cute shorts (which come with a great and versatile belt I would use a lot with other dresses, too).
I mentioned this on Instagram a few days ago (if you’re inclined, I often post fashion finds and daily snapshots in my stories there!), but this $33 blue and white floral dress was restocked last week in most sizes. It is easily one of my most-worn dresses! (You can see me in it here and a few of my other most-worn dresses here.) After posting, I received a few messages from Magpies saying how much you love that particular dress, too — it is so easy and lightweight, and it never fails to draw a compliment!
Anyhow, a couple of other recent finds on Amazon…
01. //These $13 silicone bibs come in the greatest colors and prints. I have a few of these for Hill and love them.
02. // I shared this $42 eyelet dress in a different pattern a few weeks ago but it comes in several fantastic colors and has pearl buttons down the front! I love keeping a dress like this in my closet for a last-minute and impromptu special occasion — something as simple as opening a bottle of champagne at home or as fun as grabbing dinner out at the last minute! It’s fun to have a little something special to pull out for an unexpected moment like that.
03. //Freedom Moses sandals — I have been seeing these on tons of stylish women in Manhattan.
04. // I have one of these mini Fjallraven backpacks for my children — it’s great for stowing their toys and books and distractions for little car trips or afternoon adventures. The faded mint color is so good!
05. // I really need help in my undereye area. I have the darkest circles! I have not yet found an eye cream/product that truly brightens the area and usually lean on concealer. Could this be worth a test? I have seen this product touted to the high heavens.
06. // I have been wearing this pearl mask chain daily. Fun little add-on accessory to add interest and polish to any outfit, and highly functional now that mask-wearing mandates are relaxing and I am more likely to take my mask on and off and on and off again and again while outside.
Mini has been coming into our bedroom most mornings between 5:45 a.m. and 6:15 a.m. Usually these visits have only the vaguest of intentions: “Hi Mama, hi. I made a pink bracelet.” Or: “Dada, what’s that sound?” It’s not so much the early wake-up call as it is the persistent repetition of these visits over the course of the following hour until one or the other of us gets up for the day, as her noisy entrances, chatter, and slammed-door exits ensure that everyone in the house is wide awake from the stroke of six a.m. We have tried everything from setting out activities on her table the night before to having long conversations about why she has to wait in her bedroom until we come get her, and nothing seems to resonate. We decided we will give one of these OK-to-wake clocks a try. (I considered multiple models, but this one was well-reviewed and specifically recommended by Lucie’s List, whose rubric I trust.) I am wrapping it up like a gift and we will cloak it as a special clock for her bedroom, but we are hoping this will help us regain that extra 30-45 minutes of sleep every morning…
+Hill has been wearing these sneakers in red every day. I love that they can be worn without socks and look just as cute with jon jons as they do with a polo and shorts.
Many of the artworks for which Claude Monet is best known were painted after he moved to Giverny, France, in 1883, midway through his life. Once settled there, Monet planted an elaborate garden that then became the focal point of the bulk of his most famous impressionist pieces, including his lily pond series. So if you ever feel stuck, or hemmed-in, or regretful that you missed out on some opportunity in your life, consider the ambition of Claude Monet, who not only arrived at masterpieces of artistic genius after designing and nurturing their subject with his own bare hands (!), but did so in the second half of his life.
There is more, too, that I find compelling in the arc of his story:
Monet moved around quite a bit before settling in Giverny, where he remained until his death, continuously painting his gardens. There is something exquisite about the idea of a jumpy artist angling this way and that, moving from town to town, all question marks and inquisitive glances over the fence next door, before stumbling upon Giverny, where he stopped and dug into the earth and stayed. He was transfixed by his home in Giverny, called away from his vagrancy, arrested by its beauty. I love that: the near-magnetic pull between the right subject matter and the hands of the right artist, one so evident in the biography of Claude Monet that it is difficult to not see the entire thing as preordained, or kismet, or whatever you feel comfortable calling it. I also love this: the way sometimes we feel compelled to travel the globe over in pursuit of adventure or satisfaction or beauty when it turns out that the best of the best is sitting in our backyard, waiting to be watered.
Sharing a couple of cute pajamas for your little ones as we head towards warmer weather. One note: one reason why I tend to be willing to splurge on nightgowns for mini is that they last so, so long! She now wears a size 5 but up until a few weeks ago was still able to wear size 2 in one of her beloved nighties!
P.P.S. The most popular children’s items on le blog from the past two months: these crib sheets, these ballcaps, these floral hair clips, and these waterproof sandals, which I am personally loving for mini this season, as the leather is very soft and the velcro closure is a game-changer for getting out the door!
Mr. Magpie and I had ourselves a day last week. We hadn’t been out and about in the city in so, so long, and we started our afternoon with tacos and margaritas at Yellow Rose; meandered up through the city on foot with iced coffees from Everyman, taking in Gramercy Park with particular interest and then sitting on a park bench in Madison Square Park; stopped in at Todd Snyder (one of Mr. Magpie’s current favorite menswear shops — we stocked up on some summer finds, including these striped shorts and these linen ones, which serve up major Kevin Costner in the 90s vibes, and were styled so handsomely with a navy cashmere sweater); went up to the top of the Empire State Building (bucket list for me, and blissfully empty thanks to timed tickets); popped down to our favorite aperitivi bar, Pisellino, via the Subway; and then headed back over towards the East side for dinner at Casa Mono, a New York institution. We ended the evening by taking a delicious cab straight up Park before cutting across the 86th Street Transverse to get to our home on the Upper West Side. I detail the route because the ride home was, perhaps strangely, an exclamation point for me at the end of an already delightful day. It’s a peculiar delicacy that I’d nearly forgotten, flying up towards Grand Central when it’s warm out and the air is whipping through the windows. Something about approaching the station, closing in on it, then slowing to round the often strangely untrafficked stretch of Park that curves around it, feels other-worldly to me: I am always electric with self-awareness. This is New York, I think. There’s no place like it.
The day was indulgent on many counts, but we especially savored the feeling of having nowhere we needed to be. I mean — we actually sat on a park bench in intermittent conversation for thirty or forty minutes. No books, no phones, no agenda, no “I need to use the toilet” or “I’m hungry” from small children to impel an early departure. I can’t remember the last time I succumbed to such pleasant, unharried idleness. When we arrived at Bar Pisellino, there was a thirty minute wait, which would, under most circumstances, leave me heaving a sigh and rolling my eyes as I’d fluster through a Plan B or C or D. Instead: “No problem,” we said, and we stood under the shade of a tree and watched the singularly beautiful people of Greenwich Village stroll by wearing designer handbags and cuts of selvedge denim I do not understand.
The day was a celebration. A celebration of a return to some measure of normalcy after fifteen months of pandemic living, of being fully vaccinated, of warm weather, of our favorite food, of this vibrant and nowhere-quite-like-it city we will soon be leaving. We were flooded with alternating waves of nostalgia, excitement, and contentment. I was also reminded of what a joy it is to date my husband, who made me laugh so hard I nearly spit out a mouthful of wine at the dinner table, who is always down to try the strangest thing on the menu, who looks good and knows it (!), and who has this fetching way of letting conversations ebb and flow with graceful accommodation. I would imagine easy conversation a treasure many couples married over a decade enjoy, but he has always been this way: gracious with his attention, with his pauses, with the way his eyes crinkle around the edges in generous anticipation of a punch line. He is the person you want sitting next to you at a dinner party. Lucky me.
The afternoon out also made me excited to trot out all kinds of festive dresses to celebrate — well, everything. The end of our time in New York, the beginning of summer, my imminent 37th birthday, the abatement of this virus. Cheers, cheers, and cheers all the way around. I wore this dress with my Pam Munson tote, an embroidered cardigan (as it was cool in the shade), Hermes Oran sandals, and a pair of Nicola Bathie earrings similar to these, and it was great day-to-night vibe, but the evening left me hungry for even punchier fashion moments in the weekends future, and we have been busy making plans for them. Accordingly, some FUN pieces if you are in a similar state of jubilation:
*Image above from Aerin Lauder’s house in East Hampton, as seen in House & Garden.
Mr. Magpie’s Mother’s Day Gift to me is a series of family portraits set in Central Park before we move to D.C. I am ecstatic — we have never gotten into the groove of having professional family portraits done, and I know I will forever treasure these images of us here in Manhattan, after muddling our way through a pandemic in Central Park’s embrace. I know I will want to display them in our future home and have already been eyeing a couple of pretty frames to showcase them and a couple of other recent favorite photos of my children in prominent places. Below, some gorgeous frames for favorite pictures. (All of these would make excellent gifts for loved ones, grandparents, teachers, caregivers, etc!)
Frames above and even more linked with descriptions below…
GORGEOUS AND WELL-PRICED DAMASK (THE GRAY WOULD BE PERFECT IN MY BEDROOM!) — YOU COULD MIX AND MATCH WITH THESE FROM THE SAME COMPANY FOR A COOL EFFECT
One thing I wish I could go back and tell my eighteen-year-old-self is: WEAR SPF EVERY DAY. I’m determined to engrain this mantra in my children! Here are my favorite sun protection finds for myself and my children…
+For me, it starts with fluid sunscreen on face and neck. (I apply this after my eye cream and serums in the morning.). I’m going to swap out LRP for Elta after reading a ton of incredible reviews when I’m out of my current bottle. I also always apply an excess SPF on the back of my hands — my derm recommended this and said the back of the hands are an often-forgotten spot! On mornings I am exercising, I will swap for Glowscreen because I will not wear anything else on my face and I like the idea of having a little glow in addition to my SPF.
+Now that I’ll be going strapless/sleeveless more often, I like to apply a spray to my body — the entire family loves this mineral sunscreen from Babo. Despite being a mineral sunscreen, it has a nice fluid consistency that makes it easier to rub in than other formulas, and my husband likes that it is scent-free. I think I will also buy some of this SuperGoop Play sunscreen for mornings I am running, as it purports to be sweat-free.
+If you or your child have a hard time keeping a hat on your head, you might consider SuperGoop’s SPF mineral hair spray. I just added this to my cart for micro, who is ultra-fair and will sometimes resist a hat.
+I shared tons of chic shades earlier this spring, but the two I reach for most commonly are by Chimi (mine are clear frames but very similar shape) and Le Specs.
+One thing I love about my SZ Blockprints dresses is that though they have long sleeves, they are the absolute lightest, most breathable cotton — it’s like wearing nothing at all. A great way to keep shoulders out of direct contact with the sun (though I know this does not substitute for SPF! — the rays can still penetrate!)
+For sunscreen in general for littles, I like the aforementioned Babo spray for wiggly bodies and their sticks for face. However, I did recently see a clever mom apply sunscreen to her children’s faces using an Artis-inspired oval brush — brilliant! (Have also had Magpie moms write in to share a similar tip using a Beauty Blender-type applicator.)
+We are big into rash guards for pool/water play. I love these for boys (I bought the solid blue so it would go with most of my son’s suits) and these for girls, but a few others:
+Last but not least, a couple of other ways to keep out of the sun…
POP-UP BEACH TENT FOR BABY (WE USED THIS FOR SEVERAL SUMMERS — NICE BECAUSE YOU CAN PUT A LITTLE WATER IN THE TENT POOL AREA SO THEY CAN PLAY OUT OF THE SUN!)
FOR SOMETHING EVEN MORE VERSATILE, BABYMOOV HAS SOME CLEVER COLLAPSIBLE CONTRAPTIONS, LIKE THIS (COULD BE USED IN PARK, AT BEACH, IN BACKYARD, ETC) AND THIS — ALSO HANDY FOR TRAVEL IN GENERAL
On this jewelry thread, a few ways to store jewelry:
IN A BIG JEWELRY BOX — I OWN THIS AND IT’S FANTASTIC AND WELL-CONSTRUCTED
FOR BULKIER STATEMENT PIECES, I REMOVE FROM PACKAGING AND STOW IN THESE BEAD BAGS NESTLED IN PRETTY DECORATIVE BOXES — TAKES UP SO MUCH LESS SPACE, AND THE CLEAR BAGS MAKES ITEMS EASY TO FIND
For jewelry care, I’ve mentioned this a bunch of times, but this dazzle diamond stick is genius for keeping my engagement and wedding band sparkly and I’ve not yet tried it, but people swear by this ultrasonic jewelry cleaner.
Last but not least, I have to say Megan Stokes turned my head when she mentioned that these $20 CZ studs in the 1.5 carat weight are virtually indistinguishable from her real deal diamonds. She compared them both on Instagram and you really could not tell the difference. I mean…!
Mama shoppers, start your engines. At 9 AM EST this morning, TBBC will be offering an extra percentage off already-discounted sale items (in the past, the additional discount has been 40-50% off!), plus free shipping. I usually use this promotion to stock up on their darling though spend-y pajamas — these are in my cart for mini already — and any of their cotton basics, as the quality is incredible and sometimes you can score solid tees to pair with shorts for under $10. (I’m always so happy I did this!). Sizing note: I find their clothing runs big (I almost always size down in dresses for mini because I prefer a less boxy fit) but their pajamas run a tad small, and would size up if in question, especially as these will shrink if you plan to put in dryer (which I do).
A few favorite sale finds, most of which are in my cart….
There is a stirring quote by children’s book author Mo Willems:
“If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave.”
I sat with this quote for a good stretch the other day. At first glance, it put pressure on my faith in providence, foisting unwieldy weight on the slack-then-taut boundary between fate and agency. Over time, I have come to the view that “God laughs when we make plans” but that I must make them anyhow, must muscle my heart and energy and intelligence to attempt to live an ethical, thoughtful, loving life as if I am going it alone, without a safety net beneath or marked trail ahead. I wouldn’t know how else to proceed. Still, life has proven time and time again that “you may not see it today or tomorrow, but you will look back in a few years and be absolutely perplexed and awed by how every little thing added up and brought you somewhere wonderful–or where you always wanted to be.” (More on that spectacular quote here, though now I might humbly propose the adjustment: “…where you always needed to be.” Most times, my needs eclipse my wants–and for the better.)
Then again.
There is something powerful in thinking about these words from the perch of an author, dipping the concept into the realm of the narrative. Storytelling is a part of life. In some ways, it is life. Whether we are applying for jobs or pitching our businesses or making friends in the carpool line, we are telling stories about ourselves, drawing lines between dots scattered far and wide across our pasts that, without the force of our own conviction and the penmanship we wield, would remain, well, just scattered dots, some of them fading permanently into oblivion. We control the story. We determine which elements stand in the foreground and which recede. We choose the words, too: “I am a writer,” I say. But I could just as easily reply that I am “a working mom” or “an entrepreneur” or “a blogger” or any number of other permutations of the career I have chosen for myself. There have been times, though, where I have not felt such control over my own story and have instead absorbed the ones others have written about me. In my teens, I was all academics — though “not a numbers person,” which, as it turns out, is a story I told myself that was not true. Even though I was interested in other pursuits, I would not have admitted them. I was an excellent student first, and nothing else felt seemly to mention. In my early 20s, I remember feeling as though I had to live up to the expectations of a certain group of friends who saw me as a polite girly-girl. Now, I am polite, and I am a girly-girl, and I was generally flattered by the portrait that they had painted — but I felt myself strangely censored in their presence. I felt I could not admit to liking certain music, or laugh at certain jokes, or air certain grievances. In other phases of my life, I have felt beholden to only reading certain types of literature, worried my secret obsession with thrillers would expose me as a fraud in the pursuit of a career in academia. These are admittedly trivial manifestations of the many ways in which the stories other people tell about us — or, at least, the ones we think they do — can govern our actions. I have witnessed more nefarious examples in the lives of friends who have felt stuck in bad situations at the hands of others. And so I know that it is rarely as simple as realizing you are in the wrong story, and leaving. But the imperative remains, if you need to hear it this morning, or any morning for that matter. In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald: “It’s never too late…to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing…I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”
How’s that for big Wednesday morning energy?
Go get ’em, Magpies. Let’s write ourselves out of the wrong stories.
+Currently in the market for convertible carseats for my children. I had been planning on buying Cleks which seemed to me la creme de la creme — super narrow, strong safety reviews, and very stylish IMO. However, I have been coming across so many great reviews of the Nuna Rava, and I conducted an informal poll on Instagram and people LOVE this carseat. Apparently you can totally remove the cover of the seat and throw it in the washing machine, which is basically the best news ever. I also like that people say it works well for tall children — both of mine are on the tall side. Now I’m undecided! There were also a handful of strong reviews for Maxi Cosi and Diono, but I would say 90% of feedback was ECSTATIC about the Rava.
There are some absolutely incredible finds in the Matches sale section at the moment. I have to say that many of my favorite statement dresses have come from Matches’ sale section — I have managed to scoop up a sequined Saloni mini, an Emilia Wickstead Giovanna dress, and a Loretta Caponi nightgown (among other incredible finds!) at an amazing discount from them over the years, after I finally ventured out into their shopping waters. (For some reason, I found Matches, MyTheresa, and Farfetch very intimidating for a time?) Below, some incredible designer bargains not to miss:
