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I am in the midst of doing some buying for my son, who seems to be down to a handful of things that actually fit him / aren’t stained. I picked up long-sleeved Lacoste polos in white and navy (50% off!) a few days ago and have been building carts elsewehere since. I’m also eyeing these ecru jeans, these shorts in basically ever color/pattern as we head towards warmer weather, these pistachio colored pants, this snap-button pullover, this submarine sweatsuit, some fun Nikes.
On the home front, we are planning to buy some new furniture for our children’s rooms. We’re specifically looking for new bookcases and proper desks for both children. Mini now has nightly homework which she tends to do at the dining room table (fine with us, as we can guide her and glance over her shoulder every now and then), but there have been occasions where I’ve wanted her to have a proper space to sit down and work. She’s also prodigiously productive on the writing and drawing front (apple, meet tree), and I’d love to honor that energy by giving her a designated space. I’m still in the researching phase, but I’m out of the gate drawn to this Jenny Lind desk and this stationary chair (her room is carpeted). I thought this bookcase was sweet but can’t tell if it’s too sweet and will feel babyish in a few years. The classic Cameron may be a better bet. I did contemplate the Jenny Lind bookcase, but bookshelves with open sides is a complete non-starter for me. We currently have bookshelves with open sides, and it’s a nightmare to keep the books actually on the shelves — they’re always sliding off! We’ve tried to use book-ends — nothing helps. For my son, I love these shelving units from Crate and Barrel, and they also have matching desk options. The Hampshire bookcase and desk are handsome, too. For his room, I like this classic chair, although how cool is this botanical print chair? I’m looking for non-toddler-sized seating, but these play chairs also caught my eye in my hunt.
For organization, I’m eyeing these bins and this organizer. We have so many art supplies, activity books, etc — I just need to get a handle on it all.
Also beginning to contemplate Easter. I’d love mini to wear this dress, but am guessing she’s going to summarily reject it, so need to do some more recon on options for the occasion that will pass muster with her. If you have an itty bitty girl, you must consider this sweet bubble! This would also be very sweet for the occasion. For my son, something like this top with pastel pants, or seersucker with a white oxford.
Target already has some really fun/cute little Easter basket finds, including the fuzzy wind-up chicks and bunnies seen at the top of this post. I’m going to try to keep the “little toys and whirligigs” to a minimum this Easter, though — they are so fun for the children to open but I’m getting tired of throwing away so many of these little cheapie toys that tend to clutter our home. We’ll be re-using these Easter tokens and then I might get them a few things that have longer legs or map to their artistic interests: some Ooly pastels and drawing pads, Usborne sticker books, a small lego or Plus Plus set, some pastel Magatiles.
Winter gets a bad rap, and I’m contributing to that zeitgeist with all of my laments for spring and celebrations of the pilgrim crocus. But winter has its own sparse appeal and bare-faced charms. What, I wondered, was my favorite part of winter?
Christmas came to mind first: its merriment and hygge. But what of the long, plodding months of January and February? And was there something specific, or shapely, I could trot out in response?
Instead of one, a few splintered out:
The first bracing breath when I step outside — medicinal.
Soft cotton base layers hugging the skin.
Standing on our covered porch, looking out at the snow-capped arbor vitae, whose fronds dance even in somber times.
Warmed, socked feet by the fire.
The perseverance of stick figure trees against the austerities of wind and ice.
The understanding that things must end to begin again.
What are your favorite parts of the season? (Let’s find reasons to celebrate this moment we’re in!)
Post-Scripts.
+Took the photo above back when we lived in NY and were visiting the Guggenheim on a snowy weekend.
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“We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.” – Louise Gluck. I’ve been carrying these words around with me this week. At the risk of running litigious, I don’t fully agree: there have been many moments in my life in which I’ve crossed a threshold and seen the world anew. Becoming a parent, closing a business, losing a pregnancy, falling in love — to name a few. These experiences reset the system, and made me look at the world as though with borrowed eyes. But there is something so true, too, about Gluck’s sentiment, and it has to do with the way memory works like a pastiche, porous and overlaid, but its very first layers live, intransigently, in childhood. Sometimes I forget these lower elevations, and think only of the serac. Flowers, for example. I think of them now through the latter-day lenses of Mr. Magpie and his green thumb, and the way the roses that bloom on the side of our home draw me to Elizabeth, and my mother-in-law’s obsession with cut flowers, and the local flora of our home in Bethesda. But if I strain to the hear the music at the bottom, I know what I will find: my mother’s love of peonies, and the ants that crawled their tender petals, and the way she’d wrap the cut stems in wet paper towels and send them in with us as gifts for our teachers in the month of May. And the delicate glass flowers in my grandmother’s living room — “look, don’t touch.” And the flower-embroidered dress my father brought me from Mexico when I was little, and the way he’d say “ooh la la” every time I wore it.
I think of this and I panic for a moment about all of the “first looks” I have witnessed and stewarded with my own children. Was I adequately present, and helpful? Was I pointing them in the direction of wonder, or was I shoo-ing them out the door when they first saw a hopeful crocus poke through the tundra? I cannot think too long on this, or I find myself in a posture of self-recrimination, or moving through my motherhood with stiff performance. I must instead trust. Trust my children and their vibrant imaginations and tendernesses, and my own self, who I know to be a genuine noticer of the world, and a bleeding heart, too. As Edna St. Vincent Millay put it: “The world stands out on either side / No wider than the heart is wide.” Which is to say that we control the bandwidth of our appreciation for the world with heartstrings. And I know we are extravagant with those in this house.
Here is my prompt for this week: practicing notice. A few quotes that pertain:
Mary Oliver: “To pay attention / this is our endless and proper work.” and “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”
Arthur E. Smith: “Metamorphosis is the naturally occurring consequence of paying attention.”
Simone Weil: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
In order to be effective at this, there are things I must let drop. (There are, after all, economies of attention.) What can I let go of? What is worth my focus?
Onward, Magpies —
Some snippets from the week, too.
+I found delicious raspberry-shortbread cookies in stock at Trader Joes. Divine! Strongly rec — worth a trip. Beneath them, and in the photo of my noodle lunch, you can see my placemats from Proper Table Co., which spark joy (and are highly functional) in our every day life. They introduce sophisticated designs and punchy colors to the table but don’t require laundering or ironing, and are easy to wipe down after the kids routinely smatter them with oatmeal, tomato sauce, etc. I just noticed she launched some new patterns that are FUN! The chopsticks in the photo are similar to these. Also spark joy.
+The sweetest book for helping children through the loss of a pet. It’s not too maudlin that you can’t make it through without crying, too. Sweet but not saccharine in the most perfect way.
+Taking time to sit and do nothing at all was just what the doctor ordered earlier this week. I like to listen to the Apple Music spa playlist with my noise canceling headphones when I need a minute to breathe and reset.
+Pajamas seen above are Petite Plume. My other two go-to pajamas for bumpy weeks (when I “take care of myself as though sick”) are Lake’s Relax Set and Lunya’s modal boxer set. Both have gorgeously soft and springy fabrics.
+I’ve featured these Camilla Moss scripture cards countless times but they are such a joy in my everyday life. This one has been sitting with me all week long.
+Soru sent me a few pieces of jewelry this week and these heart earrings arrived on Valentine’s Day! I put them on immediately. How gorgeous?!
+The first crocus sighting!
+Frank and Eileen sent me this collared popover (seen in final photo) and it’s honestly exactly what I want to wear daily. I put it in the same category as my Xirena white gauze blouse. Soft, breathable, requiring no adjustments. Throw on with your favorite jeans and you feel comfortable but pulled together. I like the way they look with my light-wash Charlotte jeans. (You can see my favorite Target socks and Ugg slippers peeking out at the bottom — #fashun. I love them so.). Also debuting my new Ossa phone wristlet. I love her!
Some bits and bobs…
+Blue Mercury is offering 20% off orders over $200. Now is a good time to stock up on our pricier beauty staples — I know many of you swear by Skinceuticals’ CE Ferulic serum, and I hate to admit that I’m positively dreading when I run out of my Augustinus Bader rich cream (also included in the sale). I find myself using it only when I’m going out and want my skin to look at its absolute best, which is to say, I realize its preciousness and effectiveness, and I’m trying to make my bottle stretch. Also a good time to stock up on splurgey candles and hand soap, or finally spring for the Dyson Air Wrap!!!
+Sezane’s new spring arrivals are spectacular. I am swooning over this skirt, this fun denim vest, this eyelet blouse, and this powder pink coat.
+Target is running a sale that ends tomorrow! You can score these Hermes-inspired sandals for $16, and these Loewe-like sneaks for $28. Also included: $8 sandals for the kids — mine have lived in these for several summers in a row. Inexpensive, waterproof, wipe-clean, easy to get on/off. Ditto some good deals on furniture/decor, like this rattan mirror and this console table.
By: Jen Shoop
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation. Image via.
I’m switching up the format for Weekend Vibes today. I felt like letting some new air in.
Listening: Kacey Musgraves’ “A Deeper Well” single. I can’t wait for the entire album to come out. The track titles are winningly evocative.
Reading: The Spanish Love Deception. I needed something light and frivolous, both in the wake of Tilly’s passing and after enduring an aching book hangover post Demon Copperhead. This was a romance rec from a trusted friend. It’s off to a slow start but I am grateful for the froth nonetheless.
Eating: We tried pita sandwiches from Yellow in Georgetown this week — they were delicious. (And they should be, at $18/pop!). Yellow is by the team behind D.C.’s beloved Albi. We will be back!
Shopping: I had the most special experience at Catbird’s new Georgetown location this week. The team invited me to select a few pieces from their beautiful, delicate jewelry line and I picked out a slender signet ring with a T for Tilly in the middle, plus two delicate diamond solitaire rings (this and this) to flank it, guided by the thoughtful staff. Fortuitous, that they’d invite me there this week, and help me find a way to honor Tilly. (Life rearranges itself.) Anyhow, if you’re local, the store is whimsically beautiful and I think their pieces are perfect for commemorating milestones, birthdays, achievements, etc. – think cute charms to send off with college graduates, and delicate rings to mark promotions. Their best in-store sellers are their “permanent bracelets,” which they sodder at the seams on site. The team told me they see lots of best friends, mothers and daughters, and even lovers come in to do this together. So sweet.
Watching: We tried watching “Upgraded” on Prime on Valentine’s Day and it was terrible. DNF! I love Marisa Tomei but the accent and bald miming of “Devil Wears Prada” workplace dynamics were not only inauthentic but inert. Hoping to redeem ourselves tonight by watching one of the romantic comedies you recommended here.
ReflectingOn: “Metamorphosis is the naturally occurring consequence of paying attention.” – Arthur E. Smith
Inspired By: This chic look Sara Reilly wore to NYFW. I love everything, including her hair! Her ensemble is Tibi, and I keep thinking how avant garde Banana Republic is with some of its styles this season, including this one, which is Tibi-adjacent. (This denim maxi dress is also a ten for me — wowww. Perfect wash and minimalist styling.)
Weekend Musing: Yutori.
At the dawn of 2024, I set “stretch” as my intention for the year ahead. I wrote: “…Not in the sense of “straining to make things work” or “reaching for bigger goals,” but rather: sitting in the center of a room, sprawling out. Shaking out my limbs, leaning elastic, unfurling into the day. I think what I really mean is: making space.”
This week, I learned about the Japanese concept of yutori, or spaciousness. After discovering the concept from a Japanese student, the poet Naomi Shihab Nye described yutori as “leaving early enough to get somewhere so that you know you’re going to arrive early, so when you get there, you have time to look around. Or — and then [the student] gave all these different definitions of what yutori was to her. But one of them was: after you read a poem just knowing you can hold it, you can be in that space of the poem. And it can hold you in its space. And you don’t have to explain it. You don’t have to paraphrase it. You just hold it, and it allows you to see differently.”
I’m running a revision on my 2024 intention: yutori better captures what I’m after. Finding spaciousness in my everyday life, and all of its modalities. Sometimes this means turning off all sound and music and driving in silence. Often this means “rounding up” in terms of how much time I think a given task or errand will take, so that I can accomplish it without feeling pinched or frazzled, and actually bear witness to what I’m doing. Physically clearing spaces that feel cluttered in my house. Actively practicing self-compassion when I have said or done the wrong thing. Taking small breaks to step outside, perch on the floor, take a deep breath. Honoring multiplicity in my reading and thinking. Allowing myself to sit in irresolution, wide open with thought.
Weekend Buy: Goop 25% Off Code.
Goop is running 25% off its beauty and wellness products this weekend with code glowy. I must implore you to snap up their excellent Microderm Instant Glow Exfoliator! I swear by this when I’m short on time. A two minute glow-up. It’s both a chemical and physical exfoliant and works like a charm. I also love their salt scrub for hair, especially in the summer months. Helps keep hair squeaky clean when you’re constantly sweating, swimming, applying spray sunscreen and bug repellent, etc.
Also had to sneak in two other great sale snags this weekend: 1) I just bought my son a few of these long-sleeved Lacoste polos, currently 50% off, and 2) my favorite facial cleanser is currently 20% off with code BIRTHDAY. It is creamy but exfoliating — I love it and miss it now that I’ve kicked my tube and moved on to other brands I’m testing. I am definitely buying myself one of these with the promotion.
This Week’s Bestsellers.
Far and away, the bestseller this week was this pair of J. Crew kick flare sweater pants, followed by my Donnis. Thoughts on how to style here, and I enjoyed Sarah Shapiro’s history and analysis on the style in her Substack here. A must-have for spring 2024!
I am in love with this Frank and Eileen set and wore it twice this week. It has a great, semi-structured fleece fabric that feels more elevated than your average lounge set. Would not mind being seen in this – would be a great travel outfit. Runs TTS.
The Quince set is divinely soft and slouchy, and the colors are magnificent. This perfect lilac pink color is running low in stock — run if you love it! Runs TTS. Pants are a tad long on me (I’m 5’0) but I just flip up the cuffs or let them slouch.
This morning, re-publishing an essay from the archives. It glints with new meaning this week — the passage of time, the seemingly invisible gaining and losing of things we love. Today I am challenging myself to see it all — my daughter’s two front teeth, halfway-grown-in; my son’s defiant cowlick; the arbor vitae that dance outside my window all day long — and to invite these ephemera to sit still for a second, even if they won’t stay this way much longer.
****
A couple of college summers, Mr. Magpie waited tables at Faccia Luna in Arlington. His shifts ended late, but he routinely drove the 20-ish minutes to my childhood home in Northwest Washington, D.C., where he would eat his 11 p.m. dinner standing at the kitchen island. I learned a lot from those late night conversations: that you should never take a pen from a restaurant (he had to supply his own), that waiting tables is tiring work, that the customer is always right even if you must eat your pride to accommodate their quibbles or outright wrongnesses, and that he must have really liked me to make those midnight treks. “Tell me more,” I’d say, and he would describe the impatient guest who left a short tip, or the two women who sat in the corner all evening ordering only an appetizer, and I would imagine him navigating these interactions and wondering how anyone could not see who I did in their waiter. I felt a twinge of protectiveness, of near-jealousy, as I’d envision him accommodating both the unkindnesses and flirtations of strangers. “What else did they say?” I would pry, and he’d tilt his head back to remember. As the nights drew long, he would begin to gather himself to leave.
“Stay a little longer,” I’d plead,
and he would.
I’d forgotten these visitations (how?) until this weekend, when some alchemy of home town happenstance and dinner at a pizza joint not too dissimilar from Faccia Luna — Frankly Pizza in Kensington, MD — dredged them up. We made eyes over the table while our children fought over a sheet of stickers, and I found the delta between our lives right now and the ones we lived back in our early 20s staggering. On the way home, I had to clench my jaw to prevent tears from welling in my eyes. It was occurring to me that I now have so many of the things I one day dreamt of. That a lot of the anxious and worrisome meanderings of my twenties and thirties had finally deposited me here, in this car driving through the neighborhood of a close childhood friend, and I had my husband and two children and a spirited dog to show for it, and it was almost unbearable to think that after decades of willing life into an arrangement that resembles the one I am now enjoying, after hurtling through time like an arrow, after positively sprinting to find a vocation that is meaningful, to conceive and raise two young children, to move around the country in search of a comfortable and permanent perch, I am now at a landing that I never want to leave. Yes, there are goals for the future, but can’t we stay here a little longer?
Time, however, keeps moving apace, unguent and slick.
“I will be seven next year,” asserts my daughter, proudly, her front teeth wiggling,
And the azaleas that bloomed yesterday now litter the lawn.
My husband brings news of the green cherries on the the tree:
“They’ll be gone within a few weeks — damned chipmunks.”
My son burst into tears this morning when I informed him that it was not, in fact, his birthday. He had been confused by the nomenclature: we’d told him “tomorrow is the beginning of May!,” and he had conflated the month with his birthday, which falls on the 31st. His mouth formed an upside down u, his brow furrowed in disappointment: I could see the shape of his tiny spirit, desperate to grow.
I pulled him into myself, smelling his little-boy hair, still downy-soft; I wiped the tears from his cheeks. I wanted to say:
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+This denim dress is so good — looks like it’s from a higher-end designer, but under $120.
+Has anyone tried Kate McLoud’s body stones?! I keep hearing fantastic things. They are lotion bars. I think I’m going to treat myself. I will say I’m still loving all the deeply hydrating products from Hanni, though! I use this spray-on “balm” (sort of a liquid lotion) and oil every time I get out of the shower.
+These kids’ pocket tees come in such great colors. While there, these are probably my son’s most-worn everyday pants and many of them are on sale. Great colors, sturdy, hold up well, easy to pull-on. A great buy.
+There’s this whole conversation going on amongst the serious fashion Substackers about how we’re heading into an era of richly draped clothing that one newsletter (Magasin) described as follows: “Fashion is entering a menswear revival that spans the Renaissance to the Regency—epochs apart but united in their ensembles of delicately billowing sleeves, sumptuous contrasts, and handsome finishes.” This dress from Banana feels of that vein. Love the ice blue color and looks like something Tibi would put out.
+Just when you think La Coqueta couldn’t get any sweeter…! Their spring collection is darling and perfect for Easter Sunday. This dress…! These shortalls!
+I’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of my new VB vest. Strongly rec a vest for this season into spring/summer. Banana has a good one here.
+The oushak rugs at Locust Lane are spectacular. I can’t get over the colors and motifs! They match the colors to Benjamin Moore paints. How clever?! Love this and this.
+Cute $20 Paris tee for layering beneath blazers, with sweats/leggings, etc.
+Fun terry cloth beach dress. Serious fashion writers and Substackers are calling this mid-blue the “it” color at the moment.
+This shoe flies a private jet to Ibiza for spring break. (I love her!!!)
By: Jen Shoop
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation.
01. I wrote quite a bit about this Half Past Seven vase last week, but it’s really a workhorse in our home. I reach for it almost every week! The perfect size for most little bodega bouquets, and I love the way it fans out the blooms. I filled mine with lilac this week — you’ll notice if you look up close that I was in such a state of distraction that some of the elastics are still in the water, but I figured this counted as a “smidgie” and am publishing nonetheless.
02. Alex Mill launched jeans today and they sent me a pair to test! They’ve been working to make vintage-inspired, perfect-fitting jeans for years now and are finally introducing. I chose the high-waisted Carla in the vintage dark indigo wash, and it is a really good wash. I love the way they fit, too – they’re too long on me now (I’m 5’0) but I’m debating how much to hem them. The trend seems to be longer these days, so I might keep these on the long side. Also, I’m sorry, but how good does a striped button-down (mine is Alex Mill’s Jo) look with jeans?! So simple and always so punchy. They also just released a great striped shirtdress and ribbed sweater dress. I’m obsessed with the versatility of both. I also saw them and thought: great wardrobe for an expecting mama — works with bump and for nursing.
03. I could hardly believe my eyes when I found this pennant wall hanging that reads: These are the good old days. I am trying to decide where to put it, and what size to get it in. I’m inclined to hang it in my writing studio so I look at it regularly. I would do well to keep that reminder top of mind. (More about what the phrase means so much to me here.)
04. While we’re talking writing studio stuff: I am obsessed with these dotted notepads in the 5.5 x 8.5 dimension — perfect size for quick jots and specifically for mapping out my days in iterative form. I have had so many errands, chores, calls, commitments this week that I’ve needed to wrap around strange requirements from my children’s school — they had two late-start days (where they went in at 10 AM); multiple free dress days; I always pick my son up early one day for speech therapy; no school Friday. I found myself needing to map out my days hour by hour and sometimes revising that schedule a few times. I don’t know why I find this soothing to do by hand. I have also been writing little notes to myself in the margins. “Drive gently” and “yutori” being highlighted and operative this week. And on the highlighter point: I also have been making great use of these highlighters and these white out pens. The highlighters are now my method for isolating the absolute, non-negotiable, must-complete items on my to-do list, which has been helpful this week, during which I have let a considerable amount drop in favor of self-care. And the white-out pens! Usually, I strike-through any tasks left unfinished at the end of the day, but sometimes I realize I mis-calendared a task and it feels gentler to just white it out. Splitting hairs, but these things really help me stay clear and focused. More of my favorite recent desk finds here.
05. My Quince sweatsuit (hoodie / joggers) arrived and it is divine! The softest, silkiest material, and the lilac color is beyond gorgeous. It just makes me feel restful looking at it. My colorway is running low in stock — run if you love it! Run TTS. Pants are a tad long on me (I’m 5’0) but I just flip up the cuffs or let them slouch. I’m a little more forgiving on the preciseness of the fit because I consider this set true loungewear for home.
06. Above, I’m wearing my beloved noise-canceling headphones and listening to Apple’s spa music playlist. The mind needs time to do nothing at all, or at least to propel itself on its own, with limited outside stimuli. I love these headphones for that reason.
07. My friend Mary discovered the cutest “pop open” love notes for putting in my children’s lunchboxes! I could hardly wait. They have the sweetest different messages in side.
Earlier this week, I treated myself to a solo Galentine’s evening — Mr. Magpie was out of town on business, and I mixed up a cocktail (this one, which is red and was therefore perfect for the occasion!) and settled in for a romantic comedy. I have watched so many of the “classics” hundreds of times (I put them on when I can’t sleep, which is often) and was in the mood for something new. I consulted Rotten Tomatoes’ Best Romantic Comedies of All Time list and ended up with “Broadcast News,” which I’d never seen. Magpies: it is fantastic, and complex, and peak 80s, and Holly Hunter is a national treasure. It’s also set in DC, which bears its own charm for fellow Washingtonians. But I hesitate to classify it as a romantic comedy? In some ways, it’s the opposite, or at least an undermining of the classic marriage plot and its cousins. The girl ends up alone, and we have no resolution on which if either of the possible suitors would have been a better mate. All of the characters are flawed, and prismatic, and richly drawn. I was fascinated by the moment in which William Hurt’s character lies to Holly Hunter’s about what his father said behind her back. Instead of passing along the misogynistic “women should be quiet and affectionate” message his father actually communicated, Hurt’s character uses it as an occasion to praise her, even as he’s falsifying his father’s true sentiments. She is touched, but we as the audience must contemplate what this white lie means, especially as it portends the later admission that he made himself cry on camera for grand effect and audience-winning. When is it OK to perform? At what costs? Still, Hurt is not damnable. He is likable, and not without his own vulnerabilities, including his insecurities about his intelligence, which are exploited in their own ways throughout the film by both Hunter and Al Brooks (who wrote, produced, and co-starred in it). The narrative around intellectual snobbery was perfectly drawn. There is a scene where Hunter’s boss says (paraphrasing): “It must feel good to be so sure you’re always right all the time.” And she replies: “No, it’s awful.” The writing is pitch perfect, and so smart: a reply only an unrepenting intellectual snob could deliver with a straight face. Ah! I could go on. All in all, I found the movie defied most romantic comedy conventions, though I don’t know of any other genre in which it might fit. As an unsolicited aside, I found William Hurt much less appealing in this movie than I did in steamy “Body Heat” — his foppish haircut in “Broadcast News” was such a turnoff! Hunter, though — electric on the screen, with a great wardrobe, too. Just a gem of a movie. Watch it and let me know what you think. I haven’t even touched on its satirical take on broadcast news…!
As I was hunting for a movie, I asked my Magpies over Instagram to share their favorite under-the-radar romantic comedies. I’m overlooking the obvious ones here — the Sleepless in Seattles, the When Harry Met Sallys — and looking for films you may peripherally remember but never watched. Below are the top recs from Magpies. I omitted ones I’d classify as “mainstream” and focused on ones with multiple upvotes.
“Spanglish”
“Plus One”
“Five Year Engagement”
“Two Night Stand”
“About Time”
“French Kiss”
“Picture Perfect”
“Fools Rush In”
“Salmon Fishing in Yemen”
“Rye Lane”
“Crazy Stupid Love”
“The Cutting Edge”
“Strictly Ballroom”
“Bull Durham”
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”
Several of these are personal favorites of mine — “Picture Perfect,” for example, is Jen Aniston at her finest, engaged in the old “fake dating” trope romance novel lovers will recognize. I saw this when I was maybe 12 and it blew my mind. I found it scintillating and charming and wrote entire offshoot novellas recreating the story and its scenes. It somehow makes Jay Mohr dreamy?
“Bull Durham” is excellent, and the scene with the cereal bowl flung across the kitchen remains seared in my mind as peak sexiness on screen. I consider that moment hotter than scenes in 91/2 Weeks, etc!
One I would add: “Moonstruck.” I’m always shocked by how few people have seen this 1987 gem, which is delightful and quirky and deeply romantic. Treat yourself!
Post-Scripts.
+A fun romance book. (I think it was my first in the genre, and less than a year ago!)
+How are you doing with your new year’s resolutions / intentions? (Here’s my intention for 2024.) I’m moving along apace. I find myself really thinking about creating space for myself, for my emotions on a regular basis.
+We compiled all Magpie recipes into beautiful cards for your kitchen! Get the recipe card collection in your inbox here.
Shopping Break.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation.
+This striped shirtdress has sold out multiple times but was just restocked. I’m eyeing it for myself. Just the happiest colors.
+If you don’t yet own Charlotte Tilbury’s lip pencil in Pillow Talk — please treat yourself. I have never been a liner gal and I basically only wear lipstick if it can be applied without a mirror (is more like a balm / gloss / does not need to be precise), but I am hooked. This makes your lips look such more defined, and bigger, too. The Pillow Talk color is considered fairly universal. It’s wonderful. I line the lip and then use it to shade the lip in a bit, too, but then top with a lipstick or gloss in a similar color — usually my UBeauty plasma in the rose color. I have also been wearing this spectacular lipstick (shade Gentle) from Trish McEvoy any day I’ve wanted to put a little extra pep in my step the past week or two. It is SO beautiful — a great soft pink that’s warmer than neutral, and very feminine.
+My favorite Dorsey necklace was restocked again — my friends over there let me know it’s the biggest restock of this style they’ve ever done! They are flying!
+Tuckernuck has some really cute new beach items. I must have these pants and the matching top. I’m really feeling patterned sets with straw totes for summer. (But the pattern is GREAT and also comes in a cute dress format — under $150. And if you’re not into sets, you could also pair the pants with a simple white tee!)
+Two great everyday dresses that you can style a zillion and ten ways: this Madewell and this En Saison. Both under $150. The latter is a no-brainer if you go to the office, but would also look chic with plain white canvas sneakers or leather sandals.
+So many of you purchased items from Doen’s latest launch. I keep going back and finding other styles I love or am intrigued by. For example, this slinky floral? I love it — it’s like the 90s meet boho grandmillennial.
+But if you’re still shopping for this season, I’m obsessed with this short-sleeved sweater. It is so interesting and different and would look fab tucked into ecru jeans. You can get the look for less with this J. Crew. I can’t stop thinking about short-sleeved sweaters!
+Niche, but I’m going to go there: I’m planning my daughter a Taylor Swift themed birthday party where she and her girlfriends go into a studio and record themselves singing/dancing to one of her songs (!). I’ve had a blast finding decor and such for it. I found these adorable personalized tags to wrap around scrunchies and friendship bracelets as a “goody bag” of sorts. (I also thought this option was cute.) She’s going to flip! If you are planning something similar, holler because I’ll share some other fun goodies I’ve found.
By: Jen Shoop
This post is sponsored by Shopbop.This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation.
This morning, I noticed a small patch of crocuses poking through the snow-flecked ground by our front door, in defiance of (as Frances Harper put it in her poem on the flower) “the tremors of winter” still reverberating through this February. They are always (also Harper’s words) “the first to weave for Earth a chaplet…and to beauty the pathway / where winter still does tread.” Channeling that spirit this morning with some springy picks to contemplate from Shopbop.
Above and below, I’m road-testing Mother’s Half-Pipe Ankle Jeans. I love the color, and the fit is fresh. I took my true size, but they are very roomy — if between sizes, take your smaller size. They are still a tad long on me (I’m 5’0) but are a reasonable pick for fellow petites. You can probably get away without hemming them, especially if you’re a hair taller than I am. I paired with this spectacular SEA blouse — the details are just incredible, and one can never have enough white blouses — as well as my trusty APC bag and Schutz flats.
Two minor notes: every month, I receive at least a handful of questions from sweet mamas looking for dresses to wear to their children’s Baptisms. This Shoshanna is it. Demure, elegant, timeless, but not too stuffy. She’s perfect. The second note: Rolla just released a pointelle tee very similar to my favorite Leset ones, but $30 less. The Lesets are my most-worn base layer — cozy and I love the feminine detail and textural contrast. Just more interesting than your average white tee. Can’t recommend enough, and the Rolla version makes it a slightly more reasonable purchase.
One bonus mention: Shopbop just restocked these fabulous under-$200 white jeans — you may remember I wore them a ton two summers ago. They have a wonderful amount of stretch (airplane-comfortable) and such a great fit.
Tilly died on Friday night. Mr. Magpie and I went out for an early Valentine’s Day date and noticed she was more lethargic than usual when we returned. She passed away in our arms a few hours later — a privileged moment, to be sure, but one of the more challenging experiences of my life. I am grateful that we had the time to love on her these past two weeks, and say our goodbyes, and soothe her as she left the world. But I am heartbroken, and the grief is intense. It flipped like a switch the moment she left us: a sharp ache that would not pass. I mourn her absence acutely, and I use “acutely” both as a measure of the pain and in the narrow ways in which the grief reaches me. I find myself casting after her subconsciously: shutting certain doors and clearing plates because they were here favorite sites of mischief; waiting to hear her officious tick-tack-tick-tack paws and low grumble as the delivery man approaches; glancing into the front living room to see if she’s there in her favorite blue armchair perch. The minute I realize what I’m doing, I have to stop and wait for the wave of heartbreak to crest and crash. I climb the stairs and am paralyzed by a throb of sadness: I had just anticipated her face at the top. Or I wake in the morning and strain for her collar jangle; she was always a light sleeper, rousing as soon as we did. Mr. Magpie cleared out her toys while I took the children to Sunday Mass — I found it harder to have them around — and he told me later that he accidentally squeaked one, and “just about lost it.” If you have gone eight years being scarcely able to open a bag of chips within a mile of the house without curious paws clipping across the hardwood floor, these silences are crushing.
All day long, I feel like I’ve forgotten something. And I know what those things are: the walks in the morning, the opening of doors for her, the refilling of her water bowl, the casual “hi Tilly-too-toos” and head scratches as we’d cross paths. I had not fully appreciated how integrated pets are into our daily lives, how they become the metronome of normalcy. Whether I was sick, deep in newborn haze, grieving other losses, there were still the walks and the feeds to tend to, and those drumbeats often made life feel real while I was navigating spacewalks and surrealisms of various kinds. There was also the comfort of her constant companionship. Tilly has always been close-at-heel since I have worked from home 90% of the past eight years. I have been with her most of my waking hours — most of my sleeping hours, too — for much of the last decade. I sit here in my studio and look at the blank space on the carpet next to me: where she used to lay, and occasionally groan in relaxation, as I wrote. The house echoes with her absence.
Oh, Magpies. These are tender times.
I’m sharing the details, even the ugly ones, because I think it is important to look at death, and to feel less alone in our grief. I know many of you have endured a pet loss, and have written to say the most beautiful, empathetic, understanding things. Thank you for helping me through this time.
I also wanted to share a few notabilia I have found palliative in the past few days:
First, looking at her pictures, and I have thousands. I had thought I’d find this more lachrymose than leavening, but it has helped ease the agony. This is mainly because I took not only pictures of her in cute poses, but pictures of her in the midst of mischief — and she got up to a lot of it. There are hundreds of photos of her doing things that routinely pissed us off: refusing to drop my mitten and instead marching around Central Park in it with her mouth; swiping food off the counters; shredding towels and other toys; getting into these braying, back-talking bark sessions that I can only describe as unfiltered terrier sass (I can look at a picture and tell you if she was making that particular category of bark). I find myself smirking, or even laughing. She was such a character. If you are a pet owner, take heed: the pictures of your animals getting up to no good will one day be a ray of sunshine.
Above: two of my favorite photos of Tilly; below: the aforementioned mitten incident
Second, not pulling back from the moments of intense grief. It is human to want to avoid, or attenuate, pain, but each time I find myself recoiling from the moment by swallowing hard, or frantically looking for a distraction, I instead stop and let myself feel it all. It comes like a wave, and washes over me, and sometimes I cry, and sometimes I let out a deep sigh, and sometimes I just stand totally still. Then I take a breath and keep moving. I remind myself: grief is a permutation of love; it is nothing to be scared of. I owe Tilly this time of grief. I owe it to myself, too. I’d rather let it out now than have it come out sideways in other areas of my life.
Third, talking openly to Mr. Magpie and the children about Tilly — not being afraid to bring her up, even if it sometimes leads us to cry together. I want her to be remembered. I don’t want my children to think they must hide their sadnesses, or memories, or questions, somewhere else. Mr. Magpie will sometimes look over at me, and make a little frown, and squeeze my arm, and it’s his way of saying “I’m thinking of Tilly,” and we’ll have a moment remembering her together. We have been talking a lot with the children about what Tilly might be doing in heaven, and the specific ways in which we miss her. Emory has been drawing lots of pictures of Tilly and saying things like: “This would be more fun if Tilly was here,” and “The house is so quiet without Tilly,” and we always roundly agree and talk about what she might be doing if she were around. Hill has been asking whether Tilly can come back from heaven to visit us when she’s better, and other theologically-complex queries. These conversations can be brutal on the heart, but I always feel relieved, and a little better, afterward. It felt good, for example, to explain that God needed her in heaven, and was keeping her there. We’d see her in the afterlife.
Above: Emory’s handiwork
Fourth, leaning on other people who have been through this. Many friends and neighbors wrote notes, and dropped off gifts, and my niece drew a picture of Tilly in heaven. Our angel next door neighbors asked whether they could plant a small tree or bush in our cul de sac in her memory in a few weeks’ time. And so many Magpies wrote me the loveliest messages when I shared the sad news on Instagram over the weekend. One of them has lodged itself in my heart: “when you get to heaven, all the dogs you ever loved come running to greet you.” I cling to this promise.
Fifth, being practical about belongings. Some of you may feel differently, but I found it more maudlin to keep her toys and bowls out. We cleaned and put most of them away for a future dog, and also separated some of them out to donate to a local shelter along with unopened bags of dog food. I kept her name tag and plan to frame it on my desk, though, and I let each of the children pick a photo of Tilly to send off to the printer so I can frame them in their rooms. They picked the two below, and I thought it was sweet they wanted themselves in the photos, too:
Finally, though, and this is a big one: continue to seek joy. Feel the painful bits, yes, but keep moving. Mr. Magpie and I made a point of taking the kids out to dinner and toasting Tilly the night after she passed, and playing our usual morning board games, and celebrating the Super Bowl, and sending one another memes, and looking for any number of small ways to buoy ourselves during this time. One such: the morning after Tilly passed, Mr. Magpie’s amaryllis bloomed. We all celebrated it at the breakfast table. Life finds a way, you know?
+A few thoughts I had on commemorating Tilly, beyond the generous neighbor gift of a plant in the cul de sac and the framed tag and photos: we selected a tree in our backyard with the children and called it “The Tilly Tree.” I am also very close to ordering one of these “pup tokens” — they carry most breeds and then you have your dog’s name engraved on the other side. A generous and talented Magpie, Paris of With Love by Bug is drawing a portrait of Tilly, too. And I found these pennants that I thought would be cute for my son’s room.
+Many of you recommended Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant for my children. We read it together at the breakfast table this morning and they loved it, especially “finding Tilly” on each page. The book proposes that Tilly is happy where she is now, with endless treats and enormous fields to run in, and that “she’s where she’s meant to be, with God who created her.” There is also a section in which the dogs come down, invisibly, to visit with their former owners, and I could see the wheels in mini’s head turning. “Hi, Tilly!” she said, waving out the window.
By: Jen Shoop
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation.
A few bright and punchy finds from the past week or so — several on their way to me / in my closet already. Some seasons of life, you really need to chase the rainbows, you know? Spark joy by wearing pink, or eating some gummy bears, or making a fruity tropical cocktail in the middle of winter. We publish the good news, you know?
01. Happy rainbow-stone-colored charm. (On it’s way, and I can’t wait to work this into the rotation for spring.)
02. This Altuzzara bag is en route to me now. The “confetti” colors are so fun.
04. Pretty much everything from Ulla Johnson’s latest collection, but especially this dress and this skirt. Sidebar: did you notice the carpenter/utility jeans in their collection too?! They’re trending!!
06. Rainbow bins for sorting art supplies/toys. I’m in the midst of a major reorganization of my children’s rooms (and am in the market for some new furniture for them), and I have a huge Amazon cart full of organizational stuff!
07. Been wearing this G. Label sweater nonstop. (Look for less here, and this Target pink sweater is a different hue but also fetching and worth a look.)
10. Love these lived-in-looking sweatshirts from Left on Friday.
11. Lunya sent me one of these washable silk scrunchies and I have to say I’m absolutely obsessed with it. It creases hair less, but I also just kind of like the look? Found a hot pink one from another brand that I love.
