By: Jen Shoop

*Yes, I’m quoting Mulan in the title of this post.

**You can get that marbleized Macbook look with this.

I often write Magpie posts while walking Tilly or lathering up in the shower or drifting off to sleep at night or hurling myself down this particularly nefarious stretch of Broadway between 64th and 65th that is routinely clogged with too many slow-moving people — all situations in which access to my computer is highly inconvenient.  My mind will be flitting around, magpie-like, mentally indexing the need to add Dapple bottle soap to the next Amazon order and wondering whether I should adjust mini’s nap thirty minutes later and attempting, unsuccessfully, to unpack what I actually thought about The Shape of Water, and then BOOM, a sentence will uncurl, fully-formed, and I realize I’ve had something to say all day.  Then I’m off, a million miles a minute, drafting an entire paragraph in my head.

A friend of mine recently asked, “But how do you write so much?  You write every day?”

Well, yes.  I trotted out Ephron: “Everything is copy.”

But that was only partly true, I realized later, while sudsing my hair.  The other reason why I write is because I am in conversation with you.  Yes, you, specifically.  I don’t quite understand how you’ve found me, as I know next to nothing about marketing or getting the word out about myself — and for many years, I actively swept this blog under the rug.  “She writes a wonderful blog,” my mom would say, beaming.   I’d squirm.  “Um, yes.  But I also…”

But the mechanics of your discovering me isn’t the most startling part about your being here — it’s the black magic of how I managed to find you, a ridiculously smart and empathetic and substantive woman.  (I can say this non-frivolously because — well, just wait and see.)

I was astounded the other week when I discovered that Claire, a frequent and meaningful commenter on many of my posts, pens this blog and — more specifically — authored this post on New York, which I read in a ginormous gulp, without coming up for air.  I then stared blankly at the page, my jaw on the keyboard.  Her writing is crisp, sharp, imagistic, and she jumps quickly and without faltering from thought to thought, her excellent vocabulary stunning yet accessible.  (She also has a knack for rhythmic parallelisms.)  I wrote immediately to thank her for the gift of new words — logjam! window lick! ineffable! — as I could hardly wait to use them myself.

And it’s not only Claire, with her lovely way with words — it’s so many of you who have taken the time to email me or comment on my posts.  I have been brought to tears more than once while reading your words, and I will turn to Mr. Magpie and say something embarrassingly mawkish, like: “This is why the Internet exists” as I sniffle into my sleeve.

So yes, who IS that girl I see?!  Whoever you are, thank you for being here, even if I only catch a glimpse of you now and then in the comments section, from which I am copying a few of my favorites below, because I loved them so much I copied and pasted them into a document to flip back to when I need encouragement, or inspiration, or a reminder of why the Internet exists.

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 1: Bold Literary Analyis from Holly

For extremely thoughtful literary and cultural analysis that has stayed with me, and left me thinking and re-thinking a lot of the plot points in “pop chick lit” (in reaction to my January Book Club post), Holly wrote — and spoiler alert for those who have not yet finished The Last Mrs. Parrish:

“I too got The Last Mrs Parrish to read while pumping after reading you couldn’t put it down — and I definitely couldn’t put it down. Made pumping much more bearable! What has sat uncomfortably for me is the end. Amber is of course absurdly evil, as you say. And yet beyond the emotional and physical abuse that Jackson displays, the sexual part of it (at least with Daphne) is rape. Are we meant to understand at the end that because she did other bad things that she deserves a lifetime of marital rape? She cried wolf with the man from her past, and so now she deserves what is coming to her? I enjoyed the book a lot and ate up all the twists but while the raid seemed like just punishment for Jackson, it seems incredibly gruesome that Daphne walks out — no matter how horrible Amber is — basically saying you got what is coming for you, emotional and sexual abuse and no money. Any thoughts? Don’t know anyone that has read the book to talk it out with, and I’m not sure given the end how comfortable I’d be recommending it despite the immense pleasure of the reading experience.”

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 2: Lifehack from Katie

Um, this life-hack from Katie, in response to some of my standard griping about the joys of being an adult, has been CLUTCH:

“I had to comment to recommend making a shortcut for your email address – I did this for myself and it’s *life-changing*: On the iPhone, you navigate to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Text Replacement. I use three letters in a row that match my email address (and that I would never otherwise put together) and when I type those three letters and hit “space” – my full email address, gmail.com and all, magically appears. It is the best.”

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 3: Words of Wisdom from Claire

Because I really, really, really, really need to hear this after writing about one of the most stressful months of my life and I feel like I know you, Claire:

“OK, breathe. Take it one day or even one hour at a time. I’m reading your blog and thinking how lucky you are to have lived in Chicago and now you get to try New York. People wish to live in either city. However, I keep thinking you will ease into NY City seamlessly, with your gorgeous style and Gucci shoes. Prance the streets and show them what you got girl! Remember Mary Tyler Moore’s song, “You’re gonna make it after all”. Hang in there. We are all cheering for you.”

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 4: Keeping It Real from Taylor

Because I put my foot in my mouth when dismissing the song “Bad and Boujee,” Taylor kept it real:

“The term “bougie” (don’t miss the point they have misspelled the slang) is distinctly an insult. It is similar to “basic” in that you might joking call your friend basic, but it is not a compliment. The French bourgeoisie were merchant families who were just as wealthy as the (lower) nobility, but didn’t have the title. Today, bougie is used to describe a middle-class women trying to flash enough designer labels as to appear upper-class. In this song Migos is expressing annoyance and discontent with superficial women. They want “women of substance” too!

Finally, it is painfully obvious you have not watched the video because the styling is quirky and gorgeous and you would have had something to say.

(Rant over. I’m just hurt you’re hating on our song. Your blog is my absolutely favorite. I love your voice and your aesthetic.)”

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 5: New Mom Advice from Anna

Anna helped me get back on track when I was being over-precious about my role as a new mom — but she did it gently, kindly, and through her own example:

“Re: stuffing your days. I felt the same with my first child. I taught high school and every weekend or day off was planned out to be an ADVENTURE. Now I have a toddler AND an infant and something my mom said to me resonates: Every day doesn’t have to be an adventure. Some days the adventure is the grocery store, or Target. I remind myself that my parents did not take me on daily outings, but often we stayed at home and played with our zillion toys. Likely so my parents could get sh*t done, but… I’m fine and I never doubted I had a good mom. Hope it helps you – it does for me!”

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 6: Weaning Advice from Jennifer B.

When I was seriously struggling with the decision to wean mini, Jennifer weighed in thoughtfully and ended her note with just what every mom should hear:

“Looking back, some of my most cherished moments were spent nursing and rocking my babes to sleep. It was worth every agonizing moment and there are times I wish I had done it for longer, but then again, I remember how liberating it felt not to be tethered to someone or something. What will you regret more – sticking with it when you were ready to move on, or weaning before you were completely ready to let go?…

Whatever, whenever, you decide, know that you’re doing the best thing for yourself and therefore, mini.”

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 7: Parenting Advice from Jenna

Jenna, these words hit me like a ton of bricks when I was musing on my new role as a mom and I think about them constantly.  Thank you for the caveat.

“The best words of advice I ever got when I would wish that my daughter would stop doing this or start doing that was, “don’t wish their babyhood or childhood away.”  Enjoy every moment that you have, take in the good and the bad because you will never get it back :).  My daughter is almost 3 and while I absolutely cannot stand her tantrums, I know that in a few short years they will be gone and it will be a reminder that she’s not my baby anymore and that she’s growing up way too fast.  Enjoy that sweet babe 🙂

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 8: Book Selection Thoughts from Alison

Alison, this comment, in reaction to my question as to what book you would recommend for “a bro book club,” stood out to me in part because it reflected how well-read and thoughtful you are, but also because I loved the image of you noodling over book choice while doing laundry and washing dishes — just a smart gal, thinking about smart things, while handling her business:

“The challenge of suggesting a female author for the bros is fun, I’ve been thinking about it while tackling my Saturday chores. I keep coming back to Just Kids. Patti is just such a good writer, her stories are fascinating but still relatable, and I think it is an important account of when New York really was cool and bohemian and a place for artists and dreamers. I feel like dapper 20 somethings probably need to know about that version of NYC 🙂.”

Magpie Hall of Fame Comment No. 9: Handling Criticism, Also from Alison

I wear my heart on my sleeve, and spoke honestly about a critical comment I’d received on Le Blog a few months ago.  Alison (same Alison as the previous!) had this to say, which I loved both for the opening statement (how true!) and for your authentic reaction to how I’d handled the criticism:

“Some years pass kind of quietly and others you come out at the end a completely different person than when you started. It’s clear this one was the latter! A few thoughts…
It’s true that it could have been presented in a MUCH more respectful and thoughtful way, but I think you were right to give it a little reflection rather than just dismissing it outright. I think you’re ultimately right about the reaction being largely a misunderstanding of tone (or maybe something just hit a nerve in a weird way for that person), but there is value in knowing that someone has misunderstood something (even it seemed so clear to you!)”

There are so many more, but these are a few that rocked my world and that have me rocketing out of bed to check my comments every morning.

I also must — MUST — give a shout out to my girl MK, for staying in conversation with me over hundreds of posts and always encouraging me to write, and my girl Bunny, who is hilarious and prayerful and sharp and just the kind of smart, nurturing woman of substance I’d like to know.   Both of you have written too many excellent, well-timed comments for me to isolate just one.

Post-Script: Truly Random Links.

+Mr. Magpie has a bad case of “dad back” — meaning that he’s constantly complaining about his stiff/sore back because he’s constantly being asked to carry 2398 pounds of gear, baby, and groceries.  “A chiropractor?  Advil?” I offer, hopefully.  “Pffff.  Nope.  This is how you get old man strength.”  I may have convinced him to try one of these acupressure mats, which people go insane over.

+What in the sweet heavens is this dress?  I’m obsessed with it and have it earmarked as a potential birthday dress for myself.  It’s hard to tell if the cut-outs will look too showy/revealing in-person.  I’m very flat-chested so things that look a bit revealing online tend to look boring on me, so I’m not too worried.

+I usually hold out for RRR’s spendy kiddo jammies to go on sale, but the print on these is too good, and I think mini needs them for the family reunion we’re going to in May.

+Has anyone used Boll and Branch sheets?  They’re ALL over the Goop podcast, and Gwyneth says she uses them in her home(s).  Very curious…

+I need this frothy blouse.

+Eberjey jammies, on sale!  They are the softest, most luxurious things you will ever sleep in.

+The cutest stationery for a little boy — but why don’t they make superwoman ones too?!

+My sister gave mini one of these precious stuffed animals for her birthday, and I LOVE the company: for every ethically-produced, hand-knit doll they sell, they are able to feed 10 children!

+Very intrigued by this makeup removing pad, which my friend Hitha recommended: “Face Halo works with either cold or warm water. The water loosens your makeup allowing the HaloTech fiber strands (which are 100 times finer than a human hair) to reach deep into your pores to remove and trap makeup, giving your skin a healthy and invigorating clean in half the time. It’s just clever. And so easy.”

 

 

By: Jen Shoop

My Latest Score: The Hair Scarf.

I neglected to mention, in my roundup of excellent H+M snags, that I also threw a floral hair scarf into the mix.  It’s since sold out (boohoo), but they have this bandana style (similar to the one above!) and it’s just as good.  For those who don’t want to mess with tying a scarf, there’s also a headband style that I’m into.  Don’t they remind you of the stretchy headbands we all wore in the 90s, but in a good way???  I had a trillion and ten, personally, all of them from The Limited.

The Fashion Magpie Hair Scarf 2 The Fashion Magpie Hair Scarf 1

Also, this has nothing to do with headbands, but I was trying to figure out a way to share super specific, random, one-off things I am obsessed with (like this young adult book I’m reading at the recommendation of Grace and her podcast and cannot put down — I have so many thoughts about it! — or this linen spray, which smells soooo good and I use on mini’s strollers and other harder-to-wash items) as they occur to me, and without writing an entire post, and I’ve decided to send out super short Magpie microposts via email to my subscribers.  (If you’re interested, sign up here!)

You’re Sooooo Popular: The Prettiest Spring Dress.

The most popular items on Le Blog this week:

+The prettiest spring dress, with an accessible price tag.

+Just finished this book.

+These jammies for mini!

+The daintiest ring.

+Wide-leg pants!  Who else wants to try them?

+An Easter classic.

+Finally started using this blow dry primer, and am LOVING IT.

+The absolute best round brush — lightweight, lets air through the center, and with a cushioned handle.  Plus, Gisele uses it.

#Turbothot: Goop Podcast. 

My bestie and husband mock me relentlessly for talking about all my podcasts ad nauseum.

“Oh, Lord — here she goes with the podcasts again.”

It’s like that joke — “if someone is both vegan and does crossfit, what will they tell you about first?” — only: “If someone listens to a podcast and is a mom, what will they tell you about first?”

Sorrrryyyyyyyy!

Anyway, I’ve been tuning into the Goop podcasts and had some strong, stirring reactions to the one on postpartum anxiety and the motherhood shift in particular.  I’m still processing it, and would like to write a longer form post about it (stay tuned), but I think it’s worth a listen for anyone who has given birth — you might find yourself shaking your head, or grimacing, or nodding your head, or coming to a sudden realization.  (All reactions I experienced.)  But its principle virtue was its offering of a structured space for me to think through the absolutely insane experience of childbirth.  I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on it already, but this podcast pushed me into a different thought room, and I found it meaningful.

But today I want to posit a different, more general observation about the type of “wellness” content the series presents.  Let me foreground this by saying that I essentially tuned out Goop as a brand when they started talking about “earthing therapy” (or…walking without shoes) as a means to combat insomnia, and advocating that women should place jade eggs in their nether regions.  I did not identify with the paradigmatic woman they seemed to be nurturing me to become — someone with a prescriptive, oddball diet; someone who went to extremes in pursuit of physical/mental wholeness; someone who used self-involved, neologistic phrases like “conscious coupling”; someone who spent an hour meditating each morning, an hour exercising each afternoon, and an hour re-centering and detoxifying with a range of tinctures and potions and movements before bed.  It just wasn’t me.  I wish I were that woman sometimes, but…I’m me.

Anyway, I was telling Mr. Magpie about the series — about how they really made me think, really pushed me to check in with myself on a range of wellness topics, really nudged me to think about self-care, especially after I’d drafted a list of things that make me feel good about myself earlier this month and noticed that only a handful of them had to actually do with physical wellness — but I told him that the aspect of it that really bugged me was the over-pathologizing.  In the hands of the Goop staff and the various experts they interview, everything, it seems, is symptomatic of some sort of disease, disorder, problem.  (And the patois!  The Goop patois!  I found myself biting my lip with anxiety each time a new one rolled off the interviewer’s tongue.  For example, she uses “reparenting” a number of times in a casual (i.e., non-clinical) context, i.e., “becoming a mom requires reparenting.”   Based on my limited understand of psychotherapy, I believe that reparenting is a legitimate practice in the field, but to extract it from that setting and instead toss it about as some sort of necessary rite of passage for every mom?  Yikes.)

I find the over-pathologizing worrisome.  They seem bent on convincing us that we are all hopelessly misaligned, blocked, toxic, emotionally disturbed, hormonally challenged women.  (What’s the cure?  READ GOOP, OF COURSE!!!)  It reminds me of the observation that an English professor of mine made during an excellent seminar on Baudelaire my third year of college.  She pointed out that the European romantics talked a lot about “ennui” and “temperaments” and “humors” and “bile” — pseduo-medical concepts that drew a relationship between physical attributes or experiences and psychological ones, i.e., if you had an imbalance in humors, you might be “choleric,” which would have a bearing on your appearance and your manner.  These concepts have long since been debunked, of course, but she made the point that nowadays, we have our own pseudo-medical concepts, too, and she suggested that “stress” was one such example.  “I don’t feel well.” “Oh, you’re probably just stressed.  Or “I have a stress headache.”  Or “I went to the doctor, and they said it’s probably just stress.”

Now, I’m not saying stress does not have physical repercussions–in fact, I’ve experienced the physical impact of stress first-hand in the form of bouts of insomnia, a panic attack, and a stretch of maybe four months when we were first launching our business where I was constantly having heart palpitations and thought I was having a cardiac issue.  But I also think that there are times I’ve had a one-off headache or symptom and I shrug and chalk it up to the convenient catch-all: “Stress.”  Stress is everywhere, liable to cause anything, and we have built an entire industry around the concept of de-stressing ourselves.  If you had a word cloud of all the most-used words in the last twenty years, I’d guess stress would be one of the biggest — and it would appear nowhere in a parallel word map from the 1960s.

I guess what I’m saying is this: a lot of the stuff I read about or listen to on Goop feels parallel to the concepts of “temperaments” and “biles” and “ennui” and “humors” from back in the day, and I, for one, am leery of it, and leery of its invitation to self-diagnose.

What do you think?  Do I have this wrong?

#Shopaholic: The Statement Earring.

+OK, THESE are STUNNING, and have a reasonable price tag.  They’d be the perfect accessory for a bride-to-be at her bachelorette or rehearsal dinner!  (Did you like all of my nuptial-related dress picks here?)

+They’ve styled this dress a little too clunkily for me on the site, but it would look so elegant — think Grace! Audrey! Jackie! — with hair pulled back and some simple sandals.

+Club Monaco has some amazing statement pieces out right now — this jumpsuit looks like it could be Johanna Ortiz, this pleated midi looks like it belongs to Fendi, and this statement top (on sale!) looks like a Caroline Constas confection.

+Crate and Barrel just launched a kids collection!  I’m dying over this gingham changing pad cover, this chic Scandi-inspired rug, and these alphabet jammies.

+I have a boho streak to my aesthetic, and tops like these will always find a welcome home in my closet.

P.S.  My favorite Amazon purchases.

P.P.S.  Brutally honest reviews on some trendy cosmetic/beauty purchases.

 

By: Jen Shoop

Some pretty little thangs on my radar this Friday:

Pick No. 1: LoveShackFancy Bow Belt

I have been swooning over LoveShackFancy’s latest collection, with its boho-feminine-vintage-floral vibes — it feels like Laura Ingalls Wilder meets George Eliot, and I like it. I especially love this mini dress (the sleeves are so major!) and this cropped sweater, but this silk bow belt would be absolutely darling paired with a flowy white dress from anywhere, like this one (under $50)!

The Fashion Magpie LoveShackFancy Dresses 1

The Fashion Magpie LoveShackFancy Dresses 2

Pick No. 2: Bobbi Brown Illuminating Balm

I’m very keen on trying this illuminating balm, which you can blend with your foundation, use a moisturizer, or use for subtle highlighting on your cheekbones/brow bone.

 

The Fashion Magpie Bobbi Brown Illuminating Blam

Pick No. 3: Onyx Serving Tray

 

This onyx serving board is well-priced and elegant.  It would look just as chic with some cheese and charcuterie as it would on a shelf, displaying curiosities, or on a bedside table, showcasing favorite baubles.

The Fashion Magpie Onyx TRAY

Pick No. 4: The Petersyn Blouse (On Sale!)

The brand Petersyn has been all over the place — they’re renowned for making the perfect little statement top, and this one is at the top of my list after I spotted it on the beautiful Julia of Gal Meets Glam.  How precious?!  Lucky for us, a couple of last season’s styles are still en vogue AND ON SALE now — like the asymmetrical Dahlia blouse, which is currently marked down to under $100 here (shown below on socialite Sara Foster).  I also found a couple of other Petersyn styles on sale at Rue La La — love this and this (<<for the fourth of July?!).  And don’t miss this precious dress!

The Fashion Magpie Petersyn Top

The Fashion Magpie Petersyn Top

 

Pick No. 5: The H+M Printed Set

I’m loving these printed separates from H+M — $60 for pants, $50 for first blouse, $50 for second blouse.  I even kind of like them paired together for that high-end pajama look, but I’d probably start by pairing the trousers with a simple button-down or tee.  Such a chic pattern!  And why is H+M so good right now?

The Fashion Magpie Printed Outfit

The Fashion Magpie Printed Pnats

The Fashion Magpie Printed Blouse 1

The Fashion Magpie Printed Blouse 2

Pick No. 6: The Kitchen Rack

How chic is this little kitchen rack?  Would be a perfect solution for next to the stovetop if you — like us — have a constant clutter of pepper mills (one for white pepper, one for black), a salt pig, and at least two different oils.  You could even gussy it up by putting a mini potted boxwood on top!  The brand also has a very chic trash can!

The Fashion Magpie Kitchen Rack

Pick No. 7: The Rattan Mule

These rattan mules ($100!) are everything!  The minute I saw them, I imagined wearing them with jeans and a chambray button down and ruling the world.  I also think they’d look incredible paired with the printed H+M trousers above, or the cropped trousers I’ve been contemplating.

The Fashion Magpie Rattan Mules 1 The Fashion Magpie Rattan Mules 2

Pick No. 8: The Denim Popover Dress

This $59 steal is the kind of thing I live in during the summer months.  So easy to throw on with my Hermes slides and enormous shades and just get out for the day.  I also loved this style and length while pregnant!

The Fashion Magpie Denim Popover

Pick No. 9: The Hair Milk

One of you lovely readers reminded me of how much I absolutely die over the Oi scent from the Davines haircare line.  It smells absolutely divine — I don’t even know how to describe it, but it’s clean and ladylike and I can’t stop smelling my hair when I use products with this scent!  I just ordered a little bottle of Oi’s Hair milk (read the reviews!!!!  people die over it), which is a conditioning and priming spray.  My old hairstylist used to use it, and swear by it.  Cannot wait for this to arrive!

The Fashion Magpie Oi Milk

Pick No. 10: The Zimmermann Dress

I have my eye on this elegant Zimmermann dress in chic lilac for a summer affair — big bonus: it’s on major sale at The Outnet, along with some other amazing finds by the label.

The Fashion Magpie Zimmermann Dress

P.S. I’m dying over these!

P.P.S.  This looks like a bag Clare Vivier had out a season or two ago — only it’s under $50!

P.P.P.S.  What’s in your refrigerator?

By: Jen Shoop

My sister is a specialist in early childhood reading, and she generously shared a list of the best books for babies, by age, last year.  I found that minimagpie gravitated towards and loved every single book she recommended, so if you’re starting a library for your future child or looking for a creative gift for a book-loving mom-to-be, be sure to include all of them!  I also wanted to share a couple of additions that mini has been nuts about:

+Pig the Pug.  For the most part, we only read mini board books these days.  She has already ripped or mangled the pages of several regular books, so I tend to keep them separate, and out of reach.  (I also find that most non-board books are too long or wordy to keep mini’s attention, so it works out OK!).  There are only two exceptions to this rule, and Pig the Pug is one of them.  She has LOVED this book since the day we read it to her at six or seven months.  The pictures are big and dramatic, the rhyme pithy and catchy, and the length appropriate.  There’s one page where the pug falls out the window, and I always make the same whistling sound — like a bomb dropping — when we get to it.  We’ve read this book so many times that when she turns the page and sees the pug falling out the window, she looks at me and makes a sound similar to the one I make!  The story is also sweet — about learning to share — and the language so catchy that Mr. Magpie and I can cite it by memory.

+Please Mr. Panda.  The second exception to my only-board-books rule, though I now see it’s also available in board book format!  This is such an attractive book, with dramatic illustrations.  The first time I read it, I was totally mystified by what it meant — what the hell is going on here?! — but then noticed that they’re teaching a really important lesson about manners.  This is quick, without a lot of words, and I do a funny voice that seems to catch mini’s attention while reading it.  She loves when I shout: “PLEEEEEEEEASE MR. PANDA?!?!?!”

+Goodnight Sophie: A Touch and Feel Book.  Not on the same caliber as the first two when it comes to good children’s books, but mini has been attracted to this book for months and months.  It’s the perfect small size for her to open with her own hands, and there are textures for her to touch and react to.  I also appreciate that it’s short, but she lingers over the images for a long time.  We have read this book a trajillion and ten times.

+The Going to Bed Book.  We have another book of Sarah Boynton’s that I loathe — mini loves it, and my sister recommended it, but I cannot stand reading it because you have to make a thousand and ten dog noises  (“woof woof!” “awrrrr” “ruff ruff ruff!”) to get through it, and once I’ve read it, mini always wants to hear it again and again and again, until — at some point — I look down at myself and wonder what I’ve become, sitting cross-legged while making dog noises for thirty minutes straight.  (But mini does love it, so I’ll of course do it.)  I much prefer her Going to Bed Book, which has cute illustrations and a snoozy, soporific rhythm.  I keep this and a handful of other books separate from her collection and only read them at bedtime; if I had my druthers, I’d read this virtually every night, because it’s short and cute and it makes me feel sleepy, too.

+Goodnight Moon.  A total classic; I remember my mom reading this to me when I was little.  I like the illustrations and find it to be a rather post-modern-leaning book between the fact that the mouse in one page is virtually out-of-frame (so clever and bizarre — suggestive of movement and making us think about the illustrator’s intentions a bit more than I otherwise would…I mean, why is the mouse’s tail cut off?  He couldn’t have painted the mouse a quarter of an inch further into the page?), there’s an entirely blank page that just reads: “Goodnight nobody” (so meta! — how do you represent nobody?  what is nobody?  etc), and I just love the decrescendo of the book, which gradually fades into silence (“goodnight noises everywhere”) and drops us into a sleepy, quiet haze.  A perfect bedtime companion.

+Night-Night Chicago.  Mini absolutely loves this book — she likes to point out the animals at the zoo and the ducks in Grant Park, and is always fascinated by the page with the ferris wheel — and I kind of adore that she has a book about her birth town!  She brings this over to me and throws it in my lap so I’ll read it to her at least once a day.  (I’m sure there are other cities in this series!)

+Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  Another classic from my childhood.  My mind was blown when I learned that you are meant to sing this to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” (!)  Mini loves this for that reason —  loves any music at all! — and enjoys turning the pages.  We also make the animal sounds at each page, and she enjoys that, too.

+Alphaprints: Colors.  This is such an eye-catching book for little ones — the colors and shapes are bold, and I love that the author incorporates photography into the illustrations, so you have familiar items like strawberries, pencils, leaves, oranges, etc., that they might recognize folded in.  Very imaginative!  Mini also loved the texture of the thumbprints!

+All of the SPOT books, but especially Spot Goes to the Farm.  I think she’s particularly drawn to this one because we’re constantly talking about animal sounds in our house, and she of course loves to lift the flaps.  In general, I find that the Spot books are attractive to her and fun for parents because there’s a lot to point out on every page.

Book Storage

+We ordered a set of these, but have not yet installed them in her nursery.  I like that they are non-intrusive (airy even!), which is important because she has such a tiny room and I can’t imagine cluttering it any more, and don’t take up precious space on the floor.  I also think the lucite/acrylic look is kind of chic, and so many of her books are pretty to look at anyway.

+I keep mini’s pretty non-board books in this wicker toy basket, and then placed a tray and some decorative objets on top, as we won’t need them for awhile and I needed to keep them somewhere, out of the way!

+I keep most of her board books in an open top sea grass basket that looks almost identical to this, in our living room.  Mini loves to pull herself up and pull out a stack of books to read (see photo at top!)

+If I had more space, I would buy one of these for her bedroom.  One of my good friends raved about it — it’s sturdy and low enough that children can select their own books.   As a Manhattanite with limited space, I also love that there is a small shelf underneath — great way to optimize space and double as a toy storage solution!

Book Wishlist

+Dragons Love Tacos.  It looks silly, but people say kiddos love it!

+Arlo Needs Glasses.  Love the illustrations and the message that kids with glasses are cool!

+Pig the Winner.  Because the original was such a big hit!

+Lola Dutch.  I love a strong, imaginative, passionate protagonist GIRL!

Miscellaneous

+Such a cute umbrella for a little girl!

+I hear these are a WONDERFUL thing to bring on a plane with a toddler.

+OMG THESE GIRAFFE HANGERS.

+Mini recently had a really bad bout of diaper rash, and I tried multiple different solutions — Aquaphor, Boudreaux’s, and then Weleda’s calendula diaper cream, and the latter worked MIRACLES.

+If I were expecting, I’d live in these while it’s still cool out, and this in the warmer spring months.

+DYING OVER THIS SWIMSUIT.

+CUUUUTEEEEEE.

+A funny teething toy.

P.S.  Traveling with mini.

P.P.S.  The best toys for babies.

 

By: Jen Shoop

Y’all, I’m going to cede my goal of reading four or five books a month.  It’s impractical and it leaves me with a strange guilt!  (“Why did I binge watch all of the new season of Queer Eye in three days instead of reading?!?” >> but please do watch that show, it is SO good.  I cried during every single episode.)  I’ll instead share whatever I’ve finished reading at the end of each month or every other month, whether it’s one book or six books, and that will be that.  (Grace, how do you read so much?!?!  I feel so pathetic in comparison!  <<If you’re a speed reader, too, you should follow her reads.  She has great recommendations and tends to read bestsellers before they become bestsellers.)

Below, my thoughts on my most recent reads:

Book Review No. 1: The Address: A Novel by Fiona Davis

Three stars.  I majorly geeked out over this book because it takes place 10 blocks from my apartment, at the storied Dakota building (where John Lennon was shot!), and, like the nerd I am, I insisted that Mr. Magpie and I walk by it and the various other attractions and shops it references over the course of reading it.  (Gray’s Papaya for a hot dog?  Check.  Not as good as a Chicago dog, but I’ll take it.)  It was an easy, smooth read and the plot was more complex than your usual beach read; Davis handled parallel plotlines well, and, while I normally find too much shuttling back and forth between protagonists distracting and tiresome, she pulled it off nicely.  I also think that the twin plot structure was well-conceived when you think about what she was trying to explore here — family, roots, connections, inheritances.  That said, about two thirds of the way through, Davis  started tossing outrageously implausible plot twists into the mix, almost like little storyline grenades.  “OK,” she was saying, “How do we resolve this?  Ah, yes, we’ll make so-and-so a shockingly fantastical liar even though we never gave anyone reason to doubt her before, and — nah, I won’t go back and doctor that section to make it more credible.  And, yes, how about someone’s finger gets chopped off by a missing sword?!  Yes.  Yes.  I don’t care that it’s a bizarre aberration from the otherwise nonviolent plot.  And, oh I know — an insane asylum!”  I dunno — it became outrageously fantastical in a tenuous, suspect kind of way, as if she’d given up on the more tender coaxing of character development she’d been busy with earlier in the book.

At the end of the day, the book is about belonging, inheritance, roots, and it explores connections and disconnections and misconnections from our families, from our homes, from ourselves.  But I’m not sure there’s anything particularly provocative about the way she presents these themes.

Book Review No. 2: Then Again by Diane Keaton

Three stars.  Memoir is my favorite genre, and Diane Keaton’s made me realize what an amorphous category it is.  Some memoirs read like love stories, some like romance novels, some like non-fiction.  This one read like a eulogy, as it was more or less a lengthy tribute to Keaton’s mother.  She spends long portions of the book reading and interpreting the journals and diaries her mother left behind, puzzling over her mother’s life decisions and observations and, I think, learning a lot about herself along the way.

That said, while her deep devotion to her mother is moving enough to bring tears to my eyes, I have to be blunt: Diane Keaton’s life is not particularly interesting, and her perspective isn’t particularly riveting, either.  There were a couple of name drops that caught my attention (she is fabulously frank about the celebrities she mentions; she tells us, for example, that the only thing that Marlon Brando said to her on the set of The Godfather was: “Nice tits” — OMG!), and I was impressed with how honest she seemed to be about her relationship with Woody Allen, with whom she remains unabashedly enamored.  She talks head-on about suffering from bulimia, too — and has a provoking take on it, in that she blames no one but herself for it, whereas many academics point to external influences when they talk about the disproportionately high number of cases of bulimia among wealthy, well-educated young women.  I also felt that the prose sounded like her, at least the “her” that we see in the movies — a bit stammering, genuine, thoughtful, wide-eyed, quick to smile — which impressed me.  (So many celebrity memoirs are wooden and impersonable, as they’re ghost-written!)

But there were many moments where I was, honestly, bored.  She spends a lot of time chronicling the gradual decline in her parents’ health, and — while moving — there was nothing particularly powerful about it.  I found myself asking: “Why am I reading twenty pages about Diane Keaton’s father’s health?”

I also did a review of Lee Radziwill’s coffee table book, but that’s not truly reading material — better for curling up on your couch on a Saturday morning to pore over the beautiful pictures.

Currently Reading: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

I’m 60% done with this, and am finding the writing solid and the plot intriguing thus far.  My best friend pointed out that it’s tailor-made for women our age, as all the references to 90s culture make my heart sing and bring me back to my youth!  I’m also dying to know where it’s going…

Next Up

+Letters to Jackie: Condolences from a Grieving Nation.  Apparently millions and millions of people wrote to Jackie after JFK was assassinated.  In this volume, Ellen Fitzpatrick has cherry-picked 250.  I’m intrigued by the idea of seeing what her contemporaries thought of her and her husband!

+Nemesis.  Another insider’s look at Jackie O. — this time her relationship with Aristotle Onassis; the podcast makes him out to be super weird.

+On Beauty by Zadie Smith.  Still on my list from last month!

+Coming to My Senses by Alice Waters.  My next memoir pick, on the famous cook Alice Waters!

+The Immortalist by Chloe Benjamin.  “Benjamin tells the story of four teenage siblings who, on a lark, ask a fortuneteller to reveal the dates of their deaths. Whether that fortuneteller is a con artist or is genuinely gifted with second sight doesn’t interest Benjamin so much as how one piece of possibly spurious information conspires with character and circumstance to warp the siblings’ choices as they grow into adulthood.”  An intriguing, devastating premise!

What are you reading???  What’s good, Miley?

P.S.  My last book club.

P.P.S.  Mr. Magpie and I bought this and this for our expansive cookbook collection and are obsessed with both.  More cookbook recs here!

P.P.P.S.  I forgot this in my roundup of my favorite Amazon purchases, but we have — and love — this dog gate.  It’s very sturdy, it looks more elegant than most, and — BEST! — when not in use, it collapses and can be easily stowed in a closet.  Separately, and completely unrelatedly, I am dying to try this hair serum after a reader recommended it, as I find this brand has THE BEST stuff!

By: Jen Shoop

My stomach was doing somersaults as the bus lurched towards Lyon St. Exupery Airport.  Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night sat, unread and unopened, in my lap.  I looked down and realized I’d been grasping it so hard, the muscle between my thumb and forefinger hurt.  I took a deep breath and returned it to my college-issue Longchamp before smoothing out my Lilly Pulitzer dress.  It had earned me more stares and turned more heads than I’d wanted on my multi-stage trip to the airport, down Rue Auguste Comte, across Place Carnot, into Lyon Perrache station, then a few metro stops, then up the steps to wait for a bus shuttle to the airport, then onto a crowded bus with stained, plush seats for a forty minute trek to the suburbs — but I was used to it.  Three months in Lyon, amidst chic French women in navy, black, and brown, had not deterred me from my garish display of pastels, florals, gingham, and madras, though I had acquired a number of pashminas, a new pair of flared Miss Sixty jeans, a boucle winter coat that reminded me of Jackie O., and a set of incredibly chic French girl bangs that I have never since been able to replicate.

As the bus pulled to a stop, my heart was pounding.  Everything seemed to expand and contract and I walked, in a dream-like state, towards the terminal and down the escalators.

“Meet me at the baggage claim,” he’d said.

I looked down, for the fourteenth or fortieth or four-hundredth time that morning, at the small piece of paper with his flight number written on it in my minuscule handwriting, and craned my neck up to scan the monitors.

When I spun to my left, in a hurry to find carousel six, I saw him before I saw him.  Mr. Magpie has always had a distinctive way of walking — with a purpose, shoulders back, sort of an unwitting swagger — and my heart was racing as I turned to face him, all six feet of him — taller than I remembered, though maybe that was skewed by the generally short stature of the French — handsome but scruffy, bleary-eyed from lack of sleep — wearing khakis and his signature leather bomber jacket — his hazel eyes meeting mine —

“Oh!” was all I could say.

He dropped his bags and pulled me into him.

“I can feel your heart,” he said.

When I think about our story, I often tell it from the beginning: “I met my husband the same day I met my father-in-law.”  I like the Shakespearean drama and improbability of it.  I like, inexplicably, to underscore that we were “as close to high school sweethearts as you can get”–and I often use that exact phrase.  I don’t know why; I suppose I believe we were destined to be together, and enjoy the small rush of pride I feel when I share how long we’ve belonged to one another.  And I love to think about those early, tender months and years of our courtship — the headiness, the thrill — and how it has given way to a different kind of love, one that is true and deep and comfortable, broken-in, like the hole-laden heather gray VIRGINIA BASEBALL t-shirt of his that I wore to sleep for years and years.  It’s a love that involves the exact same faux sparring before bed every night: “you have all the covers,” “why do you have your legs on a diagonal across the bed?”, “can you give me a back rub?  pleeeease?  you never give me a back rub,” “your feet are so cold!” and the same caring routines, where he makes my coffee, measuring out just the right amount of sugar to the tenth of an ounce using a scale (I kid you not) and I fold his laundry the way he likes it folded (t-shirts in thirds, not halves, as I was taught), and we almost always find ourselves sitting on our couch at nine p.m., swapping two flavors of Haagen Dazs, eaten “right out of the bucket,” as he puts it oh-so-appetizingly, but not before he’s asked me which flavor I’d prefer to start with, a miniature but endearing gesture of love that, when I stop to think about it, makes me a little weepy, because —

I can feel your heart, my love.

Stay tuned for the next installment of the story of us, aka THE M SERIES.  (Part one here.)

P.S.  What I would change about my wedding day.

P.P.S.  An envelope containing the world.

P.P.P.S.  My favorite Shopbop finds.

By: Jen Shoop

Lee Radziwill’s book was bizarre.  Pretty to look at — I especially loved the picture of her and her daughter on the right above (can that be me and mini?!) — but bizarre.  In it, she assumes everyone knows the plot-points of her life (possibly fair? — I didn’t, though, and resorted to Wikipedia), dispenses of narrative, and instead lightly annotates a series of beautiful photographs depicting that jet set life with brief, superlative notes — “so-and-so is the most incredible cook,” “so-and-so is the most fabulously talented designer” — etc.  In essence, she keeps the reader at arm’s length, obliquely exposing her outrageously stylish life through her photographed liaisons to many celebrated, wealthy men and women and a puzzling, multi-page facsimile of a series of letters she wrote to esteemed art critic Bernard Berenson as a teen.  The letters are far from interesting; as with many of the photographs in the book, their presence instead establishes her camaraderie with the cultural elite.  All in, it’s a vanity project, but how can I blame her?  It’s beautiful to look at, and I bought it with the voyeuristic impulse that made the project possible.

That said, I found one observation in the book fascinating: Lee wrote that she finds that people tend to be either “life enhancers” or “life diminishers,” and that she works to avoid the latter.  I couldn’t stop thinking about it — we all know the types of people who leave us feeling bad about ourselves, or who somehow bring out the worst in us, vs. those that leave us feeling whole, full, the best versions of ourselves.  I hadn’t thought about categorizing acquaintances in this light, and while I’m generally squeamish about reductive formulas along these lines (INFJ, ENTP, BARF), it’s a striking litmus test.  A few days later, I read Liz Adams’ honest reflection on how motherhood has changed her, and she had this to say about social media as a new parent: “I find myself unfollowing so many accounts that make me feel like my life isn’t good enough.”

At the same time, I was taken back to some of your insightful reactions to this post, where I shared a critical comment by one of my readers.  One of you (heyyy A.!) wrote:

“…I think you were right to give [the critical remark] a little reflection rather than just dismissing it outright. I think you’re ultimately right about the reaction being largely a misunderstanding of tone (or maybe something just hit a nerve in a weird way for that person), but there is value in knowing that someone has misunderstood something (even it seemed so clear to you!)”

I could not agree more; the reader’s comment has made me more aware of some of the things I take for granted, and has also — I hope — made me a more sensitive writer.  I don’t want to come off as a glutton for punishment, but sometimes unpleasant, challenging interactions with others have forced me to acknowledge my faults, put things in perspective, and grow.

So where does this leave us?  On the one hand, I tend to agree with Lee and Liz: why would we clutter our lives or feeds with those who make us feel badly about ourselves?  On the other hand, conflict, cognitive dissonance, challenge can lead to change — and I certainly don’t want to live in a world of yesmen and yeswomen.

Am I conflating two different things, though?  What say you, Magpies?

Post-Script: Le Truly Random.

+Did anyone else LOVE the movie Grease growing up?  My sisters and I must have watched it 2000 times — we all wanted to be Sandy, I had a crush on Kenickie, and my baby sister once mimicked Rizzo, loudly, with no concept as to what she was saying: “I can get my kicks and get ’em while I’m young, too.”  Anyway, if you share our Grease obsession, you might enjoy this remake of You’re the One I Want, which I’ve been playing on repeat.

+Everyone is now raving about this face mask.  It’s next on my list, when I finish my tub of Tata Harper.

+With all this talk about the Kennedy/Bouvier dynasty (sorry/not sorry), isn’t it weirdly apropos that I recently shared how Caroline Kennedy changed my life?

+This precious coat is on sale!!!

+I’m very excited about this movie.  It’s been a minute since a good chick movie came out, hasn’t it?

+If, like me, you weren’t able to snag one of the Hanes x Karla white t-shirts, check this one out — people rave about the quality!

+These are GENIUS!  Single-serve popcorn makers for le microwave?!?!  Would make a great gift, along with some Anson Mills popping corn, which Mr. Magpie gifted me as a stocking stuffer last year!  (If you place an order from them, though, BE SURE TO BUY A BAG OF THEIR GRITS.  They are next-level.

+This dress has turned my head.

+Love the vintage vibes of these placemats.  Since Mr. Magpie and I have a small dropleaf dining table in our petite Manhattan dining room, it’s been hard to find a suitable runner/tablecloth, so I’ve resorted to chic placemats.  These ones are the list!

+OK, planning ahead: these darling Christmas jammies from RRR, on sale, and matching ones for your mini (also on sale!)

+Love this pretty throw pillow.

+While home in DC the weekend before last, I noticed my mom had this sponge holder — genius!  Is it shameful to admit I’d been just leaving my sponge on the rim of the sink?  This will be so much more sanitary, and tidy!

+These chic gift enclosures are on sale!

+Getting my hair done in early April, and this beautiful bride has me re-thinking my blond highlights.  Should I go back to my (dark brown) roots?  And/or go with French girl bangs?

By: Jen Shoop

OK.  I changed my mind on something.  I mentioned that a certain “it” bag was “just not my steez,” but I woke up one morning with a completely different attitude.

“No, no.  I need that bag.”

That bag is this bag (more colors here): the Staud Moreau, shown above and below, and, while it isn’t cheap, at $375, it’s a lot more reasonable than your standard It Bag goes.

The Fashion Magpie Staud Moreau 6 The Fashion Magpie Staud Moreau 4 The Fashion Magpie Staud Moreau 3 The Fashion Magpie Staud Moreau 2

The Fashion Magpie Staud Moreau Bag

I placed it in my shopping cart, but couldn’t pull the trigger.  The voice of one of my readers was in my ear: “But is it practical, when you’re holding or running after a baby?!”  (She’d asked this of a very impractical sweater cape poncho thing I bought last fall, and made me realize that even eight months into motherhood, I was still buying clothes without thinking about utility.)

I sat in a weird limbo state for the better part of the week.  Part of me said: girrrrl, if you love it, buy it.  (The devil part of me.)  I still find excuses for wearing “impractical” things, like my beloved heeled Isabel Marant booties, and my favorite Alexander Wang clutch — things that shouldn’t work for a young mom, but that I force into the rotation through sheer will.  The other part of me wondered whether I shouldn’t be saving my shekels for that perfect backpack I’ve been trying to find (read the comments – lots of suggestions!).

While ogling over pictures of street style babes with their jaunty Staud Moreau bags, I also came across a flurry of pictures of chic, mainly French, women wearing netted shopping bags as accessories.  My mom had one of these in the late 80s, for groceries and pool gear, but there they were — looking shockingly chic.  The best part?  They cost $8 on Amazon.

The Fashion Magpie Net Bag 6

The Fashion Magpie Net Bag 5

The Fashion Magpie Net Bag 4

The Fashion Magpie Net Bag 3

The Fashion Magpie Net Bag 2

The Fashion Magpie Net Bag

You can also get colored ones here, a jute variation here, or a sweater knit one here, but I’m partial to the natural-colored $8 one, which I promptly ordered from Amazon.

P.S.  More solid budget buys here.

P.P.S. More other of-the-moment microtrends worth noting, and a blast from the past I’m still coveting.

P.P.P.S.  This was restocked in pink!!!! It’s sold out twice now…

By: Jen Shoop

My Latest Score: The Petit Bateau Sweater.

I had been hemming and hawing over the perfect ice blue sweater for a few weeks and finally decided to go with this Petit Bateau one (more colors and sizes here) after a few of you wrote to rave about Petit Bateau’s quality, and then seeing it on the precious Mackenzie (isn’t she a dollbaby?).  Expect to see this a lot in coming Instastories…

You’re Sooooo Popular: The Book You Need to Read RN.

The most popular items on Le Blog this week:

+The book I’m currently reading.   (Along with every other 20 or 30 something woman in the US, especially now that it’s being made into a movie with the likes of Reese and Kerry in it!)

+The new-to-me label of minimagpie jammies that have been getting rave reviews.

+This delicate ring, which my sister had, then lost, and now needs again.

+My favorite shades.

+My new favorite tee.  (WTTW: runs very big.  I mean, it’s meant to be boxy, but I would size way down if you want it to be at all scaled to your frame.)

+A well-priced sweatshirt in great colors.  (More epic sweatshirt options here.)

#Turbothot: Jackie O.

I’ll try to make this my last post about Jackie for awhile (I know I’ve written so much about her and the four-hour podcast about her that I obsessed over recently!), but I had some concluding remarks to share after marinating on Jackie for several weeks now — Jackie the person (as best we can understand her from what’s been left behind), Jackie the brand (she was a branding genius), Jackie the historical figure.

I watched Natalie Portman’s rendition of Jackie the other week and was horrified.  While I give the movie top marks for attention to detail (it deftly, thoughtfully presented a lot of things that happened in real life, according to historical records), cinematography (it was beautifully shot), and, of course, costumes (ugh, the costumes!) — I was entirely put off by Natalie’s painful Jackie voice.  I sat through the entire movie, seeing nothing but Natalie struggling to keep up with Jackie’s admittedly odd breathy baby voice.  If I were the director, I would have said: “Look, Natalie, don’t kill yourself over the accent.  I’d rather have a real and authentic performance and not have the Jackie voice get in the way.”  Because we all know Natalie can act!  It was that damned accent, and her attempt at mimicking Jackie’s weird, stiff way of walking (you can see a Youtube video of her giving a tour of the white house back in the day, and Jackie really did walk in a bizarre, arms-out-to-the-side twisty shuffle) — it all felt so rehearsed, so put-upon.  It made for borderline impossible viewership, in my opinion.

I also felt that the movie was attempting to do what so many modern movies attempt to do — expose the darker side of things, point out the flaws and struggles, lift the curtain to reveal the depressing underbelly — and the whole maneuver feels hackneyed.  I mean, I get it.  I’m no Pollyanna.  And certainly there is artistic and historical merit in presenting a more truthful vision of a time that was very shrewdly, very artificially presented as “Camelot.”   But I sometimes find myself wondering, “To what end?  OK, yes, another movie that reminds us that life is no joyride, and that no one is perfect.  Got it.  What else?”

But the movie, the podcast, the other articles and essays, even the Lee book I’ve torn through in my current obsession with Jackie cannot diminish her magic.  She was a complex woman, and many described her as unknowable, tough, distant, snobby.  She was also a woman who lived through a string of traumatic events, beginning with her parents’ divorce at a young age, her father’s famous womanizing, possible abuse at the hands of her mother (if not physical, certainly emotional), a seemingly politically-arranged marriage that left her in the grasp of a very tough family with a husband who had affairs with dozens of women, a stillborn child, a miscarriage, the death of a newborn baby, the murder of her husband IN HER ARMS, the quick shift from political wife to widow, the assassination of her beloved brother-in-law, Bobby.  And yet she brought such incredible vision to her role as first lady — the stories of her determination to refurbish the White House, to bring class and the arts to the office, to elevate the cultural profile of the US within the world — are nothing short of awesome (and I literally mean full of awe) for me.  It takes serious personality, taste, perseverance, and intelligence to bring such lofty goals to fruition — but she did so, and without a lot of self-congratulation, I might add.  Further, a lot of her decisions were shaped by her love of history — she was an avid student throughout her entire life — and she took great pains to, for example, model her husband’s funeral procession on Abe Lincoln’s in the hopes of bringing dignity to his untimely death.  I am convinced that one of the reasons we still think of JFK in a positive light is because of her non-trivial exertion in lionizing him for all of history.

In short — I left this intense period of studying Jackie more impressed than I had been back when I just knew her as the elegant, cultured, multi-lingual first lady in the pillbox hat.  I have more respect for her knowing about all of her heartbreaks and tragedies, the tough political family she inherited, the stresses and strains she endured.  She was a woman of substance — tough as nails, full of vision, and serious about her many roles.

P.S.  Thank you to Hitha for making me aware of this very Jackie O.-esque bag that I now can’t unsee, especially in the pale blue.

P.P.S.  There’s something so Jackie-in-mourning about this black dress — is that indelicate to say?  The hemline would have been longer, but that capelet, and the black gauze…fetching.

#Shopaholic: Le Denim Dress.

+A love this well-priced denim shift — the frill adds some interest!

+I don’t know why J. Crew styled this top as it did — it looks like pajamas! — but I love the idea of the linen top with some high-waisted white denim!  DARLING.

+Can I justify the purchase of this headband?  I WANT.  Perfect blend of ladylike and edgy.

+Love this midi skirt — so easy breezy, and in such a fun color for summer.

+Into the star print on this evening dress — perfect, and unexpected!, for a mid-summer wedding.

+Meanwhile, this well-priced floral dress LOOKS like a Self-Portrait (love the floral print), but rings in at under $140.

+Have you scoped out Nordstrom’s new Athro Home selection?  I think I need these.

+UM how did I miss this well-priced vertical-striped lovely?!?!  (Especially after my exhaustive round-up?!)  I LOVE IT IN THE LINEN.  I’M SO SAD IT SOLD OUT IN MY SIZE.

P.S.  How to recover from a c-section.

P.P.S.  Gifts for teens.

P.P.P.S.  My favorite Amazon purchases.

 

 

By: Jen Shoop

AHEM.  I just filled my cart with amazing finds from H+M.  Sometimes I’ll go months with no interest in their wares.  And sometimes I’ll see something online, squint my eyes and cock my head, and decide to go investigate it in person at the Columbus Circle store, just to make sure the quality isn’t too shoddy-looking.  And then there are times I immediately order items to my apartment, sight unseen.  This is one of those times.

+This darling pleated skirt (omg omg!) — I have two colors in my cart because I can’t make up my mind!  I was initially drawn to the pastel pink, but I also think the black would look very chic.  In either case, I’d wear it with a simple crewneck sweater and pointed toe flats.

+This elegant printed sarong, to wear over my favorite swimsuit (I have it in the black), or this one in the blue.

+This multi-tone sunhat.  I’m not usually a big straw hat person, but Pamela Munson changed my mind.  And I like the low pricepoint and statement colors on this style.

+This paper bag waist khaki skirt already sold out in my size, sadly — but it would look so incredible with a white linen button-down.

+This easy printed dress, especially in the gingham or dark floral pattern.

+This billowy black sundress.  Love its dimensions.  I’d pair with my Hermes Oran sandals (get the look for less with these << under $80!) and favorite shades.

P.S.  Another amazing budget buy?  These pearl-embellished sandals.  Love!

By: Jen Shoop

You know the old saying, “spring showers bring april flowers”?  Might as well look chic in the rain…

Pick No. 1: The Blue Rain Boot

I pretty much died when I saw the oh-so-chic Jenny Walton (I’m obsessed with her ladylike, vintage style) wearing these blue Hunter boots on her Instagram account, as seen above.  I suddenly wanted a brand new pair in an unexpected color that would coordinate with a rainjacket of mine…the bucket bag and Prada coat ain’t bad either.

The Fashion Magpie Blue Hunter Boots

Pick No. 2: The Star-Print Dress

This star-print midi dress has been on my radar for a few weeks, and it’s just gone on sale.  I love the ladylike, Victorian feel of it — the micro-print, the high-neck, the elegant length — but it looks so fresh, too: the star print is whimsical, the detailing at the cuff and the slight flare of the sleeve feel relevant.  Check out the whole RT sale section — lots of pretty finds!  (You can also occasionally find amazing scores at Nordstrom Rack — check this one out!)

The Fashion Magpie Star Dress

Pick No. 3: The Bow Slingbacks

Remember those suede Carven bow slingbacks (seen below) everyone had for a minute?!  These pretty pairs from J. Crew ($148) fill the void left by the absence of Carven in my closet.  I think they’d look excellent paired with of-the-moment mom jeans and a white tee.

The Fashion Magpie Bow Slingbacks 3 The Fashion Magpie Bow Slingbacks 2

The Fashion Magpie Bow Slingbacks 1

 

Pick No. 5: The Parenting Book.

My sister-in-law is not big into parenting books, but she said she’s been thoroughly enjoying this one, and I majorly respect her as a parent, so I’m on board.  It’ll have to come after I finish this (just started over the weekend), this, and this.

The Fashion Magpie Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Pick No. 6: The Wide Leg Crop.

What do we think about wide leg cropped pants/denim?  I’m scurrrrred.  But also, I look at the snaps of the beauties below and think they’re CRUSHING IT.  I’d love to get the look with a pair of these pastel beauties from Tibi, in the coolest colors — I’d pair the lavender ones with a coordinating-colored top or something white and frilly, and the mustard ones with a denim button down.  I also like this $35 pair of wide leg crops, and it’s probably a safer route when testing a new trend.

The Fashion Magpie Wide Leg Crop 1The Fashion Magpie Wide Leg Crop 2 The Fashion Magpie Wide Leg Crop 3

Pick No. 7: The Belt Bag.

I’m still on the hunt for a backpack that suits my needs (now thinking I might splurge on a Gucci), but ever since Deb mentioned her penchant for belt bags, I can’t stop thinking about it.  I mentioned this when I first moved to NYC, but I think it’d be the perfect solution while walking Tilly.  I’m very into this two-tone python one from a designer I’d never heard of before, Ximena Kavalekas — I think it’d look so surprising and chic with jeans and a denim button-down in particular.  I also really like this because I’m super into the return of the retro Gucci print, especially since I happened to have one of my grandmother’s Guccis from way back when in my closet!  My friend Hitha also has a cute new belt bag she’s been wearing.

The Fashion Magpie Python

 

Pick No. 8: The Rollneck Sweater.

I bought this classic J. Crew sweater last fall in a millennial pink, and wore it constantly — love the fit and the color — but now I’m intrigued by these new colorways…

The Fashion Magpie Rollneck Sweater 1

The Fashion Magpie Rollneck Sweater 2

The Fashion Magpie Rollneck Sweater 3

Pick No. 9: The Summer Mule

These raffia-accented sandals are super chic, only $25, and bound to sell out FAST.  (Would look insane with this sexy linen dress.)  Also available in a cheery gingham, because — ya know — I only wrote a whole post on how much I love gingham recently.

The Fashion Magpie Raffia Mules

Pick No. 10: The Invisible Lightswitch.

How impossibly cool-looking are these invisible lightswitches?  Would be so chic over (as shown) wall-papered walls!  The lucite and gold situation reminds me of this side table — epic!

The Fashion Magpie Invisible Lightswitch 2 The Fashion Magpie Invisible Lightswitch 3 The Fashion Magpie Invisible Lightswitch 1

P.S.  Thank you for all of your reactions to this difficult-to-write post.

P.P.S.  My top picks for spring.

 

By: Jen Shoop

[Ed. note: in snap above, mini is wearing Donsje booties, Old Navy leggings (sold out), and a Kissy Kissy bodysuit.  I love the way she crosses her ankles when she sits.]

I remember a good friend telling me that babies don’t really need toys for the first few months of life — and she was right.

I also remember my mom telling me that household items like tupperware, measuring spoons, post-its, and water bottles are a baby’s favorite “toys” — and she was right, too.

I have therefore tried to keep mini’s toy collection to a minimum, though it’s borderline impossible to prevent an accumulation of them, whether they’re given as gifts, inherited as hand-me-downs, or — let me be honest — purchased in a moment of parental weakness (i.e., “I’m going on a three hour flight tomorrow and need to pull out all the stops” or “everyone says this is the best toy for her age!” or “it’s just too damn cute…”).  Mini received so many gifts for her first birthday that Mr. Magpie and I put a bunch of them away to bring out later — for trips, for rainy days — and I recently went through her toy baskets (we have two sea grass baskets similar to these) to retire and donate items that are too young for her or that she’s never played with.  (Does anyone know where to donate gently used toys and clothes in Manhattan?!  Please leave a comment!  I have been searching online for a good spot!)

All that said, babies do need stimulation and mamas do need to find ways to afford themselves much-needed breaks (Mr. Magpie is a strong believer in giving mini time to herself every afternoon — time to sit in her crib, playing with her own toys and books, entirely on her own), so I thought I’d share a list of the very best toys we’ve come across by age.  I’d say that if we only had these toys on hand for mini, she would have been just as satisfied and stimulated by her toy collection!

The Best Baby Toys: 0-3 Months

+Sophie the Giraffe.  Mini responded to the spots on Sophie well before she could actually grasp her — I think the size, the smile, the pattern on the back, the shape all attracted her.  I can remember her cooing and smiling and batting at Sophie early on.  She then liked to chew on Sophie and clasp her legs and turn her around in her hands as she became more dextrous.  One thing I really like about Sophie is how soft and lightweight she is — some of the other rattles and teethers we had were too heavy and she’d occasionally drop them on her face.

+Art Cards for Baby.  My mom is skeptical of the whole black-and-white trend for babies; people say that babies recognize the contrast between black and white earlier than they do between softer/more similar colors.  I don’t have a horse in the race so I just go with the flow, picking some items in black/white and others in color.  Setting aside the color question, these cards are wonderful when babies are itty bitty — I used them with mini when she was just four or five days old! — and I’ll tell you why: they’re like a book with training wheels, but are WAY EASIER TO HOLD in front of a baby reclining flat in front of you than a book with many pages that you have to awkwardly maneuver with one hand, while other pages fly into her face, etc.  These cards also gave me a tool for making conversation with mini — what else do you say to a four-day-old child besides how obsessed you are with her?  I found myself creating little stories based on the cards and pointing out various features of the animals on them, and it made me feel more motherly.

+Munchkin Rubber Duck.  Mini’s first and only bath toy until about the age of six months.  The shape and color are great, and she still adores it, especially now that we’re teaching her all the animal sounds.  Plus, you can’t beat a $2 thrill.

The Best Baby Toys: 3-6 Months

+Fisher Price Rattle and Rock Maracas.  It’s true what they say — when it comes to toys, the more plastic and garish, the better; here begins the gradual decline of attractiveness in toys.  Mini loved these from the moment we gave them to her — they were easy for her to grasp, she liked the sound they made, and she enjoyed gumming both ends.  I had looked into getting her some wooden maracas, but I liked that these were lighter weight and had brighter colors.

+Baby Einstein Take-Along Tunes.  She was mesmerized by the music and flashing colors at this age — I remember holding it up in front of her for stretches of several minutes as she’d watch the flashing lights and take in the music.  She still loves this.  She’ll press a button, clap her hands, and rock back and forth.

+Baby Banana Toothbrush.  She’s loved this forever — it’s a great size, easy to grip, and the texture of the bristles at the end is exciting.  I still carry this around in my diaper bag when I need something easy to entertain her for a few minutes.

+Fisher Price Rainforest Activity Mat.  We started using this when she was much younger (for tummy time), but I think she really started enjoying the mat during this age.  I loved that you could remove all of the dangling toys, so she could swat at them for awhile, and then I could hand her them individually so she could chew on them/turn them around in her hands.  She especially loved the monkey attachment, and I can remember many car and stroller rides with her screaming at the monkey (happily), in some sort of urgent conversation.

The Best Baby Toys: 6-9 Months

+Fisher Price Rock a Stack.  A classic for a reason.  Mini still adores this toy, and I think it’s helpful with dexterity, beginning to teach shape and order, etc.  Is it a reflection on how overly-congratulatory I am of our daughter that when she slides a ring onto the center piece, she looks at me and claps?

+Haba Croo-ak Frog Rattle.  I was devastated to learn that mini recently dropped this in the supermarket, and we couldn’t find it anywhere.  One minute she was happily playing with it; the next, it was no where to be seen.  She LOVED this little guy — she would hold it by its rope arms, swing it back and forth to make the rattling sound, chew on it.  We gave it to her earlier than six months, but it’s a little heavy (since it’s made of wood) for an uncoordinated baby — she would occasionally drop this on herself and cry.

+The First Years Stack-Up Cups.  Oh man, these are a bargain.  Mini enjoys nesting these inside one another.  She hasn’t quite figured out how to stack the right sizes on top of one another (when you invert them, they can stack into a tower, but they’ll only stack if they’re in the right size order), but she loves to knock down the towers I create.  It’s also, I think, a good tool for teaching colors, and they’re a nice, petite size for her tiny hands.  We’re constantly losing them, though — rookie mistake to have brought them on a train trip with us recently!

+Hape Music Set.  She plays on her drum every single day.  Another reader wrote about this, but babies ADORE the drumsticks!  Mini will often crawl around with them in her hands and then bang on walls, books, toys, etc.  I also noticed that she learned, fairly quickly, how to strike the drum — at first, she would miss the drum by a few inches; she’s gradually learned to focus her movement so she can strike it in the center.

+Skip Hop Bath Squirties.  We received these as a gift and mini DIES OVER THEM.  LOVES.  The balls/animals are just the right shape for her tiny hands, and she is mesmerized when she dunks them under water and they float back up to the top.  In general, any toy that has a lot of different little parts are fantastic for her.  She’s not quite sure how she feels when we squirt her with the water, but it makes for an entertaining bathtime for us.

+Skip Hop Explore Toy.  This battery-operated toy moves around on the floor and encouraged mini to crawl.    I also think it helped her learn cause and effect — when you lift the bee out of the cloud, the cloud stops moving and the music changes.  The music on this one isn’t as bad as some of the other tunes we’ve had to sit through…

+Skip Hop Activity Center.  I hesitate to call this a toy because it’s more a sanity boost for parents looking for a place to stow their active babies when they’re too tired to hold them or chase them around — but mini truly loves this thing; we still use it with her, though she’s honestly outgrown it.  It’s genius because you can adjust the foot plate so that it’s the right height for your baby as she grows — and it can then convert into a toddler table when you insert the plate into the middle.  The toys can be removed off the side if the baby doesn’t care for them, though the little musical keyboard has been a favorite of hers since she first received it (she still loves it), and she even now will sometimes spend a few minutes playing with the other toys.  (Also, Mr. Magpie and I have a special dance we do when our favorite tune comes on…)

The Best Baby Toys: 9-12 Months

+Corolle Mini Baby Doll.  I’ll never forget when she took this out of the wrapping paper on Christmas morning.  She started panting heavily and grabbing for it, and she’s never let go since.  She loves this babydoll!  She will cradle “Lulu” (the name we’ve given her) in her arms and rock her back and forth — I think her nanny taught her this and it’s absolutely adorable.  She recently received one of these magic milk bottles and she loves to “feed” her doll, too — we were astonished when she immediately knew what to do with it!  She put it right up to the baby’s lips!  She’s also learned how to point out her doll’s eyes — can’t quite remember the ears or nose, but baby steps…

+Maileg Princess + The Pea Set.  I sound like a broken record here, but mini absolutely adores this set.  She’ll sit in her crib playing with all the “mattresses” and her little mouse for a good 30 minutes each day.  Heads up: make sure you remove the mattress with the pea stitched to it if she’s little like mini — it’s the perfect size for her to pluck off and try to swallow.  This brand has the most precious collection, and I gave her another one on her first birthday and may have splurged on another for her Easter basket.

+Edushape Sensory Balls.  She loves chasing these around the apartment.  She’s coordinated enough to hurl them a few feet in front of herself and then dart after them — and she loves when I then punt it out of the way just before she reaches them.  She shrieks and hustles to follow!  My only gripe with them is that our dog seems to love them as much as she does, despite many discipline sessions reminding her that they are Emory’s.

The Best Baby Toys: 12 Months

+Vtech Sit-to-Stand Walker.  So bulky and ugly, but this has been a serious source of entertainment at multiple different stages.  She likes sitting in front of it (in her crib or on the floor), opening and closing the doors, pulling on all the various toggles, and pushing buttons.  You can actually remove the “activity panel” from the walker, so she just has the flashing lights.  She also started kneeling in front of this and pulling herself up as she got stronger — and then just recently started pushing it around and walking behind it!  It’s a great tool for teaching babies to walk (and you can adjust a setting on the wheels so that they move more slowly, then more quickly, as the baby gains balance!), and all of the sounds and activities on the front keep her entertained.  (The songs are my worst nightmare, however.)

+Brio Pull-Along Dachsund.  She received a number of pull-toys for her birthday and loves them all, but this one is the best because it is very easy and lightweight to pull and it rolls really well.  A couple of the others had other moving parts or weird balance, so she’d end up just sort of dragging it behind her on its side.  This one pretty much always stays upright and turns on a dime.  Also, it’s a classic.

Miscellaneous.

+You’ll note that while mini has received dozens of stuffed animals, she rarely plays with them, with the exception of one black dog she received for her first birthday (is this the case for all babies or just ours?) That said, she has long loved her oversized stuffed giraffe — every morning, I pick her up and we walk over to greet giraffe.  She’s taken to tapping it on the head, almost like she’s petting Tilly.

+Mini inherited a set of wooden nesting blocks from when Mr. Magpie was a babe sort of similar to these.  She has LOVED them at every age — even when she was itty bitty, she reacted to the shape and the colors on the sides; now she loves nesting them and stacking them, delicately, on top of one another.

Baby Toy Wishlist.

+I’d like to get her a kickball — she loves those little edushape balls, but I think she’d get a kick out of something slightly larger to roll back and forth.  I’m debating between this one by Melissa + Doug and this one by Crocodile Creek.  I like the dinosaur print on the latter, and it’s a little smaller than a classic kickball, which might work well for her at this age.

+This ballet Maileg set.  I die over it.  DIE.

+Like most babies, mini loves music, and I think she’d find this roll-out piano keyboard exciting.  As a Manhattanite, I also appreciate that it rolls up and can be stowed easily!

+Play microwave.  I don’t know why, but this gets rave reviews!  I think she’d like the activity of opening and closing the door, the interaction of the buttons, etc.

+Cupcake set.  As noted above, mini is drawn to anything with multiple parts that involve stacking/nesting.  I think these would be an interesting change of pace from the usual blocks/rings.

+Doll stroller.  Now that she’s walking behind her v-tech walker, I am dying to get her one of these strollers for her baby.  I’m obsessed with the wicker style (there’s also this more expensive one in white), though maybe this corolle one would be more reasonable.

P.S.  The best bathtime gear and the best feeding gear for babies under a year.

P.P.S.  How darling is this sweatshirt?!

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