A wide grosgrain ribbon around a perfectly-wrapped gift.
The one-block walk between the end of my run in Central Park and my apartment — I am always pleasantly tired and happy for the occasion to catch my breath amongst brownstones.
The way my son slow-blinks himself to sleep while staring straight at me.
Freshly-laundered sheets.
A glass of “bed wine” while watching a comfort show.
A new box of crayons — I have enjoyed reliving the joy of this experience through my children.
Sugar cookies from Wegmans.
A completed list of to-dos.
The smell of rain.
The big bite of spaghettini twirled around a fork.
The moment after I’ve finished the dishes, turned on the dishwasher, and taken out the trash — goodnight, moon.
Listening to my daughter play: I love her distracted, high-pitched voice emulating my own in the hazy conversations between her toys.
The first sip of coffee in the morning.
The way our Airedale will press her face against my face, leaning her body against mine, in affection — tail slow-wagging, eyes soft and happy.
Lying in bed in a robe, reading on my Kindle.
Drinking champagne from a coupe.
The way my husband chills an old-fashioned glass in the freezer while mixing me a cocktail, and keeps my food warm in the oven, and will never neglect a garnish of parsley, or lime wedge, or radish sliced so thinly it is nearly transparent, as the finishing touch on my dinner plate. These tiny undertakings are love incarnate.
Much of it, come to think of it, love incarnate — from the sacrament of rain to the solicitude of ironing bedsheets that are destined to wrinkle by sunrise.
+Just added a few sleep sacks in the 18-36 months size to my cart. I think we had weaned mini off of sleep sacks by around now (two years) but I didn’t at the time know about the brand Kyte, which are my absolute favorite sleep sacks! I like that they come in different weights depending on season. Micro often sleeps in the 0.5 TOG weight because his room gets warm even in the winter, as it is located just off the kitchen and close to the laundry!
+I’m such a big fan of statement pearl necklaces like this. So chic under a button-down or over a crewneck!
+Have we talked about finishing powder? Do you use it? I have been using and loving Hourglass’ formula in Ethereal Light — very light and illuminating, just sets everything and imparts a nice amount of radiance — but am intrigued by this Ilia formula.
+I think micro needs these swim trunks as we move back to the mid-Atlantic!
We are closing in on Memorial Day and the dawn of summer! Last year, we bought this inflatable kiddie pool and an Aqua Joe sprinkler for our trip to the Hamptons and both were huge hits. Mr. Magpie and my brother-in-law also thoroughly enjoyed these quick-fill water balloons (their minds were actually blown — you can fill like 100 balloons in 60 seconds! what innovation since we were children!), and they stowed them amongst beers in an outdoor cooler. Sharing these and a few other finds in the collage and notes below!
Guys! Wanted to sneak a little heads up your way that at 3 AM EST tonight, Target will be launching its 2021 designer dress collection with RIXO, Alexis, and Christopher John Rogers. All dresses are under $60 and come in an extended range of sizes. There are some dresses that are so good and so sure to sell out that I may have to set my alarm…I still have two Missoni x Target dresses from my mid 20s that I wear nearly ever single summer! My absolute favorite is this dress by Alexis. I must have it! A few others I adore:
My sister and I have a long-standing joke about serving as pack mules for one another in the sense that neither of us can sustain a sad thought without sharing it with the other. It is, I think, a peculiar and common habit of sisterhood to commune openly around the grievances and challenges and disappointments of life together, no holds barred. With a sister, you rarely have to say: “I know it’s not a big deal, but…” With a sister, you can just jump in, no excuses or preambles, lay it all out, vent and cry if you need to, blow off disproportionate steam. I am grateful for this gift three times over, as I have three supportive sisters who will listen to me at any hour of the day about any subject under the sun.
I came across an interesting quote on this general subject earlier this week that left me thoughtful, though:
“Not everything that weighs you down is yours to carry.”
I hope I have never weighed my sisters down. I hope that they have learned to draw boundaries, to listen but not necessarily assume the burden of my own concerns. It is a tricky business, isn’t it? To love wholeheartedly, to accept, but also to protect yourself? To understand what you can and cannot control, to understand what you should and should not carry?
There are other profound applications for this phrase that get at social and cultural conditions, but on the narrow surface of it: a gentle reminder to perform a quiet accounting of whatever is weighing on you today, and to perhaps sift what is yours from what is not.
Post-Scripts: Hunter Bell Top.
+That Hunter Bell top I mentioned last week is on sale here!!!
I wandered into the lovely, hydrangea-hung world of Cape-Cod-based Instagram account Old Silver Shed (image above) and don’t think I ever want to leave. Hydrangea blue was one of my wedding colors; it was perfect for a hot August wedding in sticky-still, full-humidity Washington, D.C. The color reads sleepy and settled-in: it is dusk, or dawn, or something in the shade. Our florist put together an enormous heap of deep blue hydrangeas in an antique silver bowl at the top of the steps leading into our reception, and it took my breath away. (One of my uncles still talks about this arrangement!) Today, a few gorgeous finds that pay homage to the blues in which hydrangeas bloom…
Sharing some hyped beauty products I’ve already purchased and am currently testing, as well as a few I’m eyeing — I will provide honest reviews of everything I end up testing in a future post! (You can read past honest reviews here, here, and here, among others posts.) I’ve sprinkled in many of these beauty finds across a couple of different posts, but thought I’d put them all together here:
WHITE RABBIT COTTON FACE PADS. I’ve been a longtime devotee of good quality facial cotton and have used Shiseido for years now, but Nan Philip recommended this brand and I find her very authentic in her suggestions, so I’m willing to give it a test when I’m next out of cotton.
ARTIS OVAL 6 BRUSH — REPLACEMENT! I was shocked and dismayed when my Artis brush literally snapped in two one afternoon. I am not sure what happened, but one minute I was swiping down against my face and the next, the head was on the floor! I decapitated it! I am not sure what to make of this. I must have been pressing way too hard? But anyway, I cannot go another day without this brush. I literally have no idea how I applied makeup before it. I find the six to be the most versatile, easy-to-use implement — I use for everything from foundation (when using) to blending concealer to applying blush. It is a dream. No other brush compares!
ELTA MD DAILY FACIAL SUNSCREEN. I have used La Roche Posay’s fluid sunscreen for several years and I love it because it glides right into skin and layers beautifully beneath makeup, but I recently saw a couple of beauty bloggers poll their audiences about the best facial sunscreens and Elta MD came back as the clear winner! Going to try it when I’m due for a restock.
SAIE GLOWY SUPER GEL HIGHLIGHTER. Anything for a little extra radiance. (I already use Westman Atelier’s Highlighting Stick every day, but on top of my makeup — it’s the last thing I apply over everything else, and I put it on the top of my cheekbones, under my brow, and on the tip of my nose. Je l’adore.) I’m very intrigued by this heavily-hyped brand!
SAIE MASCARA. So, so many of you have raved about this product. (It’s clean, too!)
SUPERGOOP GLOWSCREEN. Perfect for mornings when I am going for a run first-thing and want SPF and just a TINY bit of oomph.
I ORDERED THESE LINEN PULL-ON SHORTS IN THE ROSE COLOR — IF I LIKE THE FIT, WILL BE GOING BACK FOR THE OREGANO! WILL PAIR WITH BLOUSES LIKE THIS OR THIS
Are you headed somewhere sandy sometime soon? I was arrested by the recent Instagram post from Hathaway Hutton (her work also seen above), who paints and lines Goyard bags and will soon be launching a series of Goyards lined with vintage D. Porthault terry cloth towels! Wow. You can sign up to be notified of this and other future Hathaway Hutton launches here.
A roundup of even more cute summer tote bags for the beach, pool, and other summer adventures, though I want to first call out two highly practical beach-bound buys: first, these clever $46 jelly-material totes (also in a peach/pink combo). I love the classic shape! Second, for a long time, I could not find my beloved Hinza plastic totes anywhere online, but Annie Selke now carries them. I have a couple of these and they are major MVPs for travel and storage. They are ideal for holding snacks for car trips (the rigid sides mean nothing gets crushed/lost at the bottom of a shapeless tote), beach or bath toys, art supplies beneath a craft table (currently in use in this way in my daughter’s room), and even serving as mop buckets (something else I use one of mine for). They are incredibly sturdy and can be simply rinsed out with water to clean. I have also used these when shopping at the farmer’s market/grocery and I find them so handy because of the rigid shape. You can keep milk cartons upright, vegetables nestled safely on one side, etc. I’ll leave it there, but these totes are just amazing!
A couple of others I neglected to include in the collage above that I would be remiss not to add — Naghedi totes are made of woven neoprene, so they are absolutely perfect for beach/pool excursions; Scout Bags are great for schlepping toys/sports gear/outdoor gear/groceries (I have a couple different styles of Scout and they are great “schlepping”/travel bags); and I know many of you love your perforated State of Escape bags for gym. Such a fun athletic look!
For in-bag organization, as Queen of Pouch Life, I have to add that I love these wet/dry bags (you can tuck wet swimsuits inside) for my children and own several ones personalized with their names — though how cute is this strawberry print one?! I also found these cute shadow lettered zippered pouches, though I should note that I believe the seller is using these mesh zippered pouches, which I own TONS of and actually use to organize my children’s toys (i.e., decant puzzle pieces into some of them, keep small toy sets together in them) and though I LOVE them for price and convenience, they are not built to last long. I find they show wear (look crinkled, have small tears) pretty easily after a year of heavy use by tiny fingers constantly chucking them around and smashing them into drawers and toy bins. That said, for an adult using the pouch occasionally for beach gear, probably not as much of a heavy wear-and-tear issue. Finally, Stoney Clover has such fun, punchy, personalizable pouches for beach gear!
Lastly, a few other fun finds for your next beach adventure…
*Image above of the one and only Christy Turlington. I’ll have what she’s having.
I learned a new word the other day: eunoia. Eunoia is Greek for — well, there is no precise translation in English, but it refers to the sense of friendship and goodwill between a speaker and an audience. The claim of this new word shuttled me into a couple of different orbits of thought. First, I mused: eunoia: a word for the aspiration that underpins the writing of this blog. I tapped over to a mission statement I’ve been editing for going on a decade now and added it to the mix. Y’all have goodwill in spades, and I am determined to return the favor. Second, I thought: I’d like to adapt this concept to the realm of literary criticism. There are books that feel gracious to their readers and books that feel downright cruel to them, whether stemming from mechanical decisions (i.e., abrupt and confusing shifts in narration) or subject matter (I am still not over the emotional melee that this unbearably difficult book elicited). Of course, sad, hard, truthful stories need to be told. But sometimes, we move from “sad and hard” to grief-peddling and emotionally exploitative. And sometimes we are forced into nonlinear narratives for no ostensible reason save for ornamentation. At any rate, the degree to which eunoia is established between a book and its audience will remain in my mind as a useful barometer for measuring the pleasantness of reading a given work. Patchett’s novels, I think, rank highly on the eunoia spectrum. Patchett is good to me, her writing balm and breeze. Is it melodramatic to say that I have needed her voice this past year? Have in fact leaned on the grace and sprawl of her prose? There is something about reading her books that feels similar to watching ants thread through a patch of soil by my bare feet, or rain drip from the shocking green of a post-rain tree: a quiet, connected-to-the-world kind of release. It is no understatement to say that reading The Dutch House was a high point of 2020.
Finally, as I was searching for approximate translations of the word in English, I came across this happy little site dedicated to “words that don’t translate.” Oo, what a treasure for us word-hoarders. A few favorites I had to jot down from this site and a few similar ones I came across:
Abditory: A place into which you can disappear; a hiding place
Sturmfrei: Having the house or flat to oneself
Yuputka: A word made for walking in the woods at night, it’s the phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin
Taraadin: A happy solution for everyone
Sobremesa: The moment after eating a meal when the food is gone but the conversation is still flowing at the table
However, this word can go ahead and stay in untranslated German forever: Rabenmutter: A bad mom. (!) I mean, really!
*Image above of Deeda Blair’s bedroom in her Washington, D.C. home. Wowza.
I’ve broken this month’s inquiries into three parts — if you don’t see your question answered here, rest assured I will respond within the next two posts! These are so fun for me!
Q: Couch. Debating white couch with a kid.
A: Honestly, as much as I hate to say this, unless it’s in a formal living room rarely used by your children, I would steer away from white seating for the time being. For the last few years, I have consistently resisted practicality in favor of aesthetics and am constantly paying the (literal) price, whether that means needing to buy new furniture or feeling as though I’ve flushed $100 down the drain on a precious smocked piece ruined after one wear. The only exception I can think of is if you like the slipcovered look — then you can launder or even replace the slipcover when (not if) a stain appears. Even then, you might be a glutton for punishment in stark white. I think you could go for a neutral that’s not full-on white (oatmeal, fog) just to be safe.
If you’re asking for more general couch recommendations, I think Pottery Barn is the sweet spot for heavily-used couches during the young children years. Classic, comfortable, not so precious you will weep when they are stained, good quality, etc. We had one of them in the basement of our Chicago home and it was just a great, solid purchase. You can zhush it up with designer pillows! My favorite style of theirs is the Buchanan — love the clean lines and rolled arms.
Q: A classic white or cream dress to wear my daughter’s Christening in July.
A: Congratulations! I shared a bunch of my favorite LWDs for the season here, but a few perfect options:
This is probably too heavy for July, but I know several Magpie mamas have bought this elegant tweed Sandro dress for the Baptisms of their children — trop chic.
Q: Classic, traditional Baptism invitations!
A: Congratulations!!! I like something simple and traditional like this — I would probably go for a lighter color than the navy shown (and they have tons of options), but navy is also attractive. For something with a little more design to it, this foliage one and this botanical one are both lovely. Some of the super-simple styles (i.e., black cross with black lettering) look more like funeral cards to me, so I steered clear of those, but this one might work thanks to the colored cross in the middle. If you are very set on something even more staid/traditional, I would go to a local stationer that carries Crane’s and have an ecru card thermographed or printed with the information.
Q: Summer internship outfits (for humid DC weather!)
A: Oh, this is a tricky one! (Congrats on the internship BTW!) The key is layering because it is unbearably hot and humid in D.C. in the summer, but the office buildings are always freezing. I still remember coming out of the office and actually enjoying the blast of still, hot air! I would say D.C. tends to be fairly conservative in the office place, especially since many of the big employers there are government or law. I would buy a few skirts and button-downs from places like J.Crew, Banana, and COS — safe but not fuddy-duddy, reasonably-priced (and you can often get a discount on top at J. Crew and BR), and in classic colors that are easy to mix and match. I like, as an example, this pull-on linen skirt (in any of the colors!) with this striped button-down in the navy and white. Finish with a pair of pointed-toe flats — I would probably stick with their “rose nappa” color, which is a great neutral that will go with anything. (If that’s too pricey, these are fantastic, too. I like the sharpness of the pointed toe, which makes it look more high-fashion/expensive than it is.) A few other skirts/button-downs I like:
If you’re a dress gal, shirt dresses will never steer you wrong. I just wrote an entire roundup of great shirt dresses, many of which would be lovely for work.
Just don’t forget to pack a cardigan or even a cashmere wrap for the office! It is COLD in those buildings!
A: What a fun gift for yourself. I shared some thoughts on chic monogrammed wallets in this post and some card case options here that might be worth considering, but my top pick would be one of these card cases with the shadow lettering. So unusual and special! (You can get the look for less with these.) What a treasure.
Q: Fun day dresses that can go into night.
A: I love this question — it makes me excited for a return to date nights and gatherings with friends. A few great day-to-night dresses (just swap out footwear/add a clutch):
Zara is also always good to dig through for hidden gems along these lines — love this red floral (imagine tying your hair up in a top knot and pairing with big earrings for dinner out) — and I shared a couple of beach vacation dresses here that are designed to go from poolside to bar that might be a good fit!
Q: A French blue accent chair (kid-friendly) that would fit into a corner next to my fireplace.
A: I would look at Society Social! They do tons of fun shapes and styles with loads of fabric options, including this bamboo style and this Parson’s. If those are pricier than you care to go, The Inside does a slipper chair in a french blue stripe that might be up your alley, and this OKL one is lovely, too, though I should include the caveat that I find OKL pieces are hit or miss from a quality standpoint.
Q: Dress for a luncheon with a bump!
A: Congratulations! I shared some recent maternity dresses and nursing-friendly dresses that would be worth a quick looksie loo (many of the nursing-friendly pieces would also work with bump), but a couple of additions:
Q: An affordable and quality white campaign dresser for my son’s big boy room.
A: I would go with this Pottery Barn style or this Crate + Barrel. They aren’t cheap but I find them reasonably priced when you consider that these are pieces that will last, not warp or wobble, etc. I have a C+B dresser that I bought for myself just after I graduated from college (so, close to 20 years ago!) and it’s still in great condition despite being used in both of our children’s nurseries. I say those pieces are worth the investment over budget/discount brands. Personally, I would spend a bit more on furniture and save on rug and decor.
Q: Special, heirloom quality earrings for a wedding. Real pearl and/or diamond drop preferred.
A: Mazel tov! For a serious investment, it doesn’t get better than these Tiffany pearl and diamond drops. Stunning. I also love the look of a double pearl drop earring (sort of girl-with-the-pearl-earring-inspired — pearls are so pretty against skin!) and this pearl and diamond drop style. One benefit of going pearl-only is that you can usually get a bigger/more dramatic earring for a fraction of the cost of a diamond-centric one.
You might also spend some time paging through vintage ones from 1st Dibs — these are gorgeous!
Q: A graduation present for a nephew!
A: My first thought was something that he might use for a new job, commute, or apartment. Graduation is such an interesting milestone because so much changes just after — work! lifestyle! living space! A few ideas…
AIR PODS TO KEEP HIM COMPANY ON PUBLIC TRANSIT COMMUTE
A: I feel like I’m a spokesperson for PB today, but I would start there for a good quality piece that is in your budget range. Something like this is timeless, and you could even swap out the hardware if you want to personalize it a bit. I also like this with the bead board. If you’re more into navy, this Anthro style is unexpected and chic, or you could go super simple with these side tables from Serena & Lily, though I think I’d personally prefer a bedside table with a drawer for necessities.
I’m going to tuck this in here quick and then superstitiously not write about it until we close in June (!), but — two Fridays ago, our offer on a home was accepted. I remain in (happy) shock and (joyful) disbelief and am for whatever reason waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it feels too good to be true. I will often find Mr. Magpie thumbing through pictures of the house on his phone. He’ll pause, look up at me in bewilderment, and ask: “It’s…this is…ours?”
One of the aspects that most thrills me about the home is the backyard. The house is lovely, but it wasn’t until I stood in the grass looking back up at the house that I felt a peculiar cinching in my chest: this is it. I was overwhelmed by a thousand future memories at once: the shriek of my children running through the sprinkler, ice cream cones dripping in the grass, Tilly tearing around the perimeter, my man at the grill, cocktails with friends on the covered porch that overlooks the yard, tanned and bare feet pumping on swing sets, fireflies in mason jars, Tim McGraw on the sound system…
This is it.
Oof! I am overwhelmed by the prospect and anxious to get those keys. 30 days and counting…
In anticipation, I have been thinking about easy summer outfits for a barefoot summer — nothing fussy or starched, think Huck Finn in overalls and a straw hat — and thought I’d share some favorites here…
