If you’re more of a pared-down, capsule wardrobe type gal, this is a post for you. Today, I’m focusing on the kinds of wardrobe basics that can be remixed and re-matched ten ways to Tuesday. I’m lusting after several of the pieces on this list, especially this crisp white skort, this woven bucket bag, and this petal pink mini. I’m also loving the return of heavy gold jewelry, an effort largely spearheaded by J. Crew’s Olympia Gayot — I think we all need these bangles! (Look for less with these or these.). Meanwhile, these Hermes Chypre-inspired sandals are turning my head! I already bought a pair of dad sandals this season, but this style is really hot at the moment. Apparently all the Paris Hermes boutiques are sold out of the Chypres, and very limited colors/sizes available online! (Seen on the street style starlets above and below.) Get the look for less with these similar ones from SM for under $100 — but run, these are starting to sell quickly.
I was ushering my daughter through her bedtime routine one night last week — nipping at her heels, really —
“Did you brush yet? Can you put your clothes in the laundry bin? Did you pick a book to read?”
After moaning and stomping against my expediting, she interjected: “Why are you rushing me?”
I felt a prickle run down my spine. I stood empty-pocketed. I was reminded of the words I have shared here so many times: “It’s their day, too.” I had been sprinting through her bedtime routine in pursuit of my own quiet. I had forgotten, for a moment, that my job as a parent is not to simply cart my children from Point A to Point B. It is that, but it is much more, too, and I’d neglected “the much more.”
“OK,” I nodded, not so much answering her question as apologizing. I sat in her armchair as she walked through the remaining pre-sleep rituals, saying nothing about the speed or order in which they unfurled, and then I laid in her bed next to her and listened to her read two chapters of her book aloud. When I had rubbed her back and sung her song and closed her door behind me, I stood just outside for a minute to collect myself. It was quiet in the house for the first time all day, and yet her voice crowded my mind: “Why are you rushing me?”
Two days later, I took her on a mommy-and-me date, part apologia. She’d requested ice cream and a manicure. The entire trip, I fastidiously avoided any accelerations. I let her read every single ice cream placard, sample two flavors, sit on the bench and eat every last drip of her cone. At the salon, she agonized over polish colors. I said nothing. I was relieved when the manicurist popped by a second time to ask whether she’d picked something, expediting her in her own way. I watched the varnish dry on her nails for eight minutes. She wiggled and asked “How many minutes are left?” every thirty seconds. “What, you wanna get out of here? You tired of hanging with old mom?” I asked her in a joking voice after the sixth or seventh time check request. She craned her neck, smiling, her eyes shaped liked crescents: “I would never say that!”
On the way home, there was laughter, and there were lulls. We listened to the Trolls soundtrack for the umpteenth time, and she lowered and raised her window herself, and I caught her admiring her iridescent blue nails in the rear view mirror. Finally, I said: “I love spending time with you,” and she said: “Me. Too. Ma-moo.” Staccato, half-silly.
I have no rich insights today: just the threadbare, up-close experience of motherhood, the way I make mistakes and try to change; the admission that even when I am doing what I trust is right, things can still feel hard (and sometimes, almost unbearably slow); the practice of listening to my daughter and having to decide, minute-to-minute, how much or how little to honor her requests.
There is something in our mother-daughter dance these last few days that feels shapeless and at the same time statuesque. I have so much to learn: I was re-made that night she chastised me, and re-made again on our date. I am fluid, I am change. So is she. And yet we are as old and unanswerable as time: Demeter chasing Persephone, or Ruth remaining with Naomi.* I see us reduced to forms: arcs reaching for one another, two complementary colors cleaving.
Post-Scripts.
+Over the weekend, my friends at Half Past Seven published an essay I wrote on entertaining with young children at home that touches on similar themes.
+On sending my son off to school. Wow. I still feel these emotions when I think back on his first day. We are rapidly approaching the end of the year, and he will be “graduating” to join his sister at her school. I am overwhelmed with emotions about this transition, too.
+Just ordered this sport dress for summer — currently 30% off! More colors available with less of a discount (20% off) here. One of my resolutions this summer is to get outside more often. I want to get to the driving range, go for runs, and go for long walks and hikes. I figure this sport dress will be a practical thing to wear on mornings I want to go for a long walk / hit some balls / etc. I also love these ones from Alala and have been hearing good things about these new ones from Lulu, but I prefer the neckline/thin straps of the Madewell one.
+Mansur Gavriel’s new woven bucket bags are SO beyond chic. Bottega-esque, but its own vibe. I love it in the classic brown leather but also would be fun in the strawberry, and chic in the neutral latte…
Some really happy finds that make me want to celebrate in this post. My favorite is this cheerful little Farm Rio number. I put it on and it just made me smile. I’m not normally a big mini girl (prefer midi/maxi), but one is cute as a button. This one runs snug. I took an XS (my true size, though sometimes I get away with sizing down in these kinds of smocked styles since I’m narrowest at the waist), and it was TIGHT to zip up. I would size up if in any question. As I’m writing this, I’m planning on wearing this beauty to a Kentucky Derby party.
This Rhode top and skirt set is a true work art. These pieces feel artisanal, one-of-a-kind, as though handmade somewhere you traveled abroad. They boast exquisite embroidery, fabulous proportions, and the most funky pom pom detail on the top. I couldn’t decide whether pairing the two together one me was too overwhelming on me (I’m 5’0 and it was a lot of fabric!), so I think I might try styling the pieces separately — perhaps the skirt with a top that can be tucked in, like this or this, for a slimmer silhouette, and the jeans with a pair of high-waisted denim (<<just ordered this pair). But honestly now that I’m looking at the photos below, I’m feeling like the set makes the statement.
I wore the set below with these floral mules (which I actually styled with everything in this post) and I ABSOLUTELY ADORE. They are so fabulous, unexpected, sweet, comfortable, funky! I’m in love. I also really like where the straps hit — I find two-strap sandals can occasionally cut your foot/leg at a weird point and make you look stockier than you are. These really elongate. So fun! This is my first pair of shoes from Larroude, and I’m going to be taking a closer look at their collections moving forward. I’ve heard that their Annie heels (come in gold, tan, black, and a few other colors) are a perfect wedding guest heel. A decent heel height, accommodate/go with almost any style of dress, great colors. I have them in my mind as an alternative to my higher-height Claritas, which have been my wedding go-to for years and years. Finally…these Barbie-meets-Missoni-or-Pucci pool slides! SO fun.
Now this Cleobella dress is a ray of sunshine. I love, LOVE the pattern — it has a vaguely 70s vibe but also feels a bit like an overblown Liberty London? The neckline is FUN, reminiscent of styles from Zimmermann. I found this dress lengthening (made me feel taller than I am), flattering, and comfortable. This would be a great pic for a summer party, cocktail reception, more casual-leaning wedding, etc. This one is for sure a keeper. I took my true size.
I really, really wanted to love these pleated Citizens denim shorts. They are on-trend and I like the overall silhouette. I’ve been trying lots of new shorts styles lately — I’ve never been a big shorts gal but I’ve seen them worn with aplomb so many times and always think they’d be the greatest thing ever for mom life. I ordered a size up from my usual size since I did not want these too tight, and they were enormous. I would take your true size or possibly even a size down? You want the waist to fit snugly at your waist or they will look sloppy. Still, I love the overall style and wash and think they could be fantastic if properly fitted. I paired below with this happy Rhode blouse (cuffs are so fun — blouse does run pretty big) and my cheerful Naghedi tote.
Last but not least, this asymmetrical Sundress statement. I’m super drawn to these bold, 70s-inspired patterns! I like that you really need nothing else — simple jewelry, simple shoes. This dress in particular would look amazing with nothing but simple gold hoops and gold sandals (flat or heeled, depending on occasion). Heads up that you need a nude half slip with this one (fabric fairly sheer) and it is pretty long if you’re a shortie like me. I will need to have this hemmed or pair with heels. Kind of digging the one shoulder. What do you think?
By: Jen Shoop
Have you ever received bad advice? How did you handle it? Do you now have a litmus for separating the trustworthy from the circumspect?
For some reason, I found myself fixated on this after watching the most recent installment of HBO’s “Succession.” Without spoiling anything, there is a scene in which Kendall Roy is riding an underling to inflate speculative numbers on a program’s potential, and the employee visibly squirms in his seat before acquiescing. Of course, there is a power dynamic afoot, and Kendall is less an adviser than a tyrant, but I found myself reflecting back on moments in my career in which individuals more studied, more senior than I passed along advice that did not feel right to me. Over time, I learned that refuting or even mildly questioning the input rarely yielded anything besides a “you don’t know what you’re talking about” response, and so my routine was to nod speculatively, as though turning the input over with solemnity, and then communicate that I would reflect on how I might put the suggestion into practice before swiftly ending the meeting or changing the topic. This would buy me time to digest and, usually, discard the advice, fashioning a well-thought-out rebuttal if required.
On occasion, I have found that advice is lightly-veiled self-justification. As in: “Well, I did this, and everything turned out OK for me!” or “I’m not sure how well things turned out, but I’m going to try to explain all the reasons why no other paths could have worked to account for my actions,” or “Here is a chance to convince myself, through the puppet of this other person, that I did the right thing.” None of these subtexts are malicious. To be honest, their impetus moves me: most of us want to do right by ourselves, right by the world. But any one person’s advice is necessarily narrow, idiosyncratic, shaped by unique circumstances that likely do not mirror my own. If I can find patterns across advisers, great. But I must not let data be the plural of anecdote. I was reminded of this recently while talking to different experts about a technical aspect of running this blog. There were lots of confident opinions — but they scattered across a map. My go-to response is: “Hm, let me think about that.” I like to hear a lot of different opinions — in the entrepreneurial world, we called this “mentor whiplash” — and then sift through them and see which resonates best, or if obvious patterns emerge.
Someone once told me that “good advice always feels annoying,” and the sentiment landed. There is often a rudder pointing me in a direction though the path looks perilous or fatiguing, and I can glimpse other, easier, more appealing ways out. But I have found that there are few shortcuts when you are doing something that is really worth doing.
I also think that sound advice tends to fall in line with the “good teachers tell you where to look, not what to see” adage. Which is to say: I am chary of hyper-specific counsel. How can anyone fully understand the complexity of your own experience? If a mentor is giving you marching orders rather than a rallying cry, it might be time to pause. (What’s really happening here?)
As I re-read these rivulets of thought, I am struck by how shape-shifting, how frustratingly imprecise they are, and I find myself thinking of a quote I recently came across by Marc Randolph, co-founder and first CEO of Netflix:
“Unfortunately, our educational system rewards a behavior that doesn’t really exist in the entrepreneurial world. Which is getting the right answer. For an entrepreneur, the objective is to provide a wrong answer as many times as possible.”
He later added:
“Gain the ability to make decisions based on incomplete, inconclusive, and often contradictory information.”
I am drawn in by the thread between the two: there are often many paths forward, and the goal of selecting “the right one, right away” may ultimately be a fool’s errand. Sometimes we must fail many times before we find the right way, or we must choose the least bad option, knowing full well about the risks.
These are not cheerful directions, but I think they are honest, and they do not seek to gain anything by their propagation. By this I mean that Randolph is not suggesting he has always done the right or best thing, but that he has learned to make decisions swiftly in the face of complex inputs, and perhaps this is the facility we must prize.
+This shibori-print dress is gorgeous, and under $120. Don’t miss the back!
+This is next on my list for Vitamin C products to try (Biossance’s formula is my current favorite). Have heard SUCH good things. Actually been hearing a lot of buzz about the entire Goop skincare line. Also dying to try this exfoliator, which multiple beauty bloggers have raved about.
+Significant Other has some really gorgeous dresses that get the Agua Bendita vibe for about half the price — but don’t feel like imitations. I’m obsessing over this one and this one in particular.
+There is almost nothing Westman Atelier releases that I don’t immediately add to my cart…I don’t need their new “skin activator,” right?! I’m desperate to try! I still absolutely adore and swear by their Vital Skin Foundation Stick. I don’t use it every day, but when I want a bit more coverage, it’s primo.
The headlines this week: no one was sick, I started running again, and (per usual) lots of fun fashion and home finds.
It was cold this week! I wore my boxy Barbour (I sized up — I prefer a boxy, borrowed-from-the-boys look) most of the week, and found myself wearing a lot more athleisure than usual, as I went on a number of cold walks and runs, and frankly — I’m tired of my jeans and just wanted to be warm. I shared some of my favorite athleisure finds earlier this week, and this roundup included the little $22 sherpa pouch I’ve been wearing all the time, seen above. It’s actually pretty well-designed for the price, with an interior mesh pocket and a decent amount of room for the standard essentials. As you can see, my current “essentials” include this Merit lip gelee, which has turned me into a lip oil person. I promise I won’t make it my entire personality, but it is good.
On the subject of “being tired of jeans”: I did buy a new pair this week, inspired by some of the pleated styles I’ve been observing, seen on Abby Hernandez, Maria Valdes, and Yatri below. I liked the cropped length (no need for tailoring) and light wash. They also come in a chic natural color. Will share photos once they arrive and I’ve styled. They could be a disaster but it’s fun to try new things.
Before we move on from Joe’s Jeans, I know I’ve featured these a lot, but I wore these pants twice this week and have probably worn them once a week since purchasing. They are so comfortable — a good amount of stretch, a nice weight. I find them oddly flattering on me. Take your true size! I wore with this top (actually part of a lounge / pajama set — really soft and has a cute silhouette, a little longer/wider in the back, almost trapeze-esque? — and the cuffs are fab!) and this adorable little Paris64 bag. The other day this week, I wore them with a white long-sleeved tee and a navy and white striped La Ligne sweater around my shoulders.
On the food front, I was startled by how many of you enjoyed this Grub Street-style food diary I shared earlier this week. Thank you so much for letting me know of your pleasure! I am going to make this into a more regular series. I mentioned in that post that Mr. Magpie and I usually have a lunch plan in place by 9 a.m. each morning (if not the day or two prior), and we try to eat together every day, but sometimes, things go haywire and it’s suddenly noon and we’re famished. One of our “emergency lunch” go-tos lately has been these packaged Momofuku noodles. They are actually quite good. Don’t be deterred by the price — I was at first (hey, you can get ramen noodles for like $2/package), but you get three packages of noodles per box and honestly I’d rather spend an extra few dollars per bowl of ramen for something superior, and it’s still a meal under $5. This week, we tried a new flavor, these “tingly” noodles with some leftover Peking duck and a quick sesame cucumber salad Mr. Magpie whipped together! Avoid if you don’t like heat/spice, but they have other varieties. (Note: you can spy the colorful chopsticks I mentioned earlier this week here.)
On the children front, a couple of fun new bundles of clothing from Zara and Bisby. How fun are these bright floral shorts, this ric rac tee, and this dress from the latter?! Such joyful patterns and colors. I picked up a bunch of really cute things for my son at Zara. For some reason I’ve been really drawn to this forest green color for him at the moment. I thought these jean shorts with this little linen top would be a smart “weekend birthday party” look for him, finished with his Floafers. I also got him these little shortalls. Could not resist!
In my studio, I’m constantly re-shuffling and re-organizing items on this side table. It’s almost like a 3D mood board. I have books I’m liking, bags I’m wearing a lot, pretty notebooks and boxes I’ve received, etc. Below, I am spotlighting a beautiful jewelry case Calpak sent me along with this cosmetics organizer and this tech organizer. I love organizational products like these and I didn’t have a proper jewelry case for travel — normally, I put my pieces in tiny clear plastic envelopes and then toss all those envelopes into a pouch. This little guy is so thoughtfully designed, with snap tabes to use to keep necklaces separate from one another, a big pouch for your earrings and watches, and a snap pillar for rings. It’s already making me very excited for upcoming trips. I love having everything properly sorted. Not seen here, but I’m also totally over the moon about the large cosmetics organizer. It’s really big and can actually fit everything I need in one place versus the 2-3 smaller cosmetic bags I usually schlep with me. I’m going to try to take some photos or maybe a video of it so you can get a sense for what can fit this week. More great travel gear here!
Last but not least, how funny are these “Club Pour” cocktail napkins from my friends at Half Past Seven? I actually wrote a little something for their blog that will be going live in the next week or two. Will share once it’s posted!
I love this little striped lounge set Haven Well Within sent over. It is ultra-soft, and I wore the top out to happy hour with my parents paired with these trousers. I also picked up a few of these spicy peach honeys — giving as a hostess gift wrapped up with some pimento cheese straws at a Derby Party I’m attending today, and can’t wait to use it on a cheese board.
Earlier this week, I had a very off day. I went through all the usual motions, but I felt adrift, even upset, as though I might burst into tears at any moment, which is a horrifying condition for me because I am already prone to crying. I sat in my office chair and searched for clues. I had written an essay that morning that had led me to confront some dark worries I have carried with me for a long time, and perhaps the task had depleted me, or so pushed me into the realm of intense emotionality that I wasn’t yet out of the hole. I also had a lot of “open tabs” in my professional and personal life: projects and plans half-made that were waiting on a response from someone else, or blocked by some externality. My day’s work felt a bit like an unmade bed. Rumpled sheets, pillows askew. And that’s not normally how I live.
I went for a long walk with my neighbor, also a writer and mother, and a gem-like person — kind, smart, with the sorts of well-considered opinions that make you lean in and think differently. I felt a little better. I took a hot shower and then blow-dried my hair and changed my clothing. When my children tumbled through the doors from school, I pulled them in for long hugs.
Which is to say: I did all the things that usually right the ship, but I still felt off. I thought for a minute about my children’s book, “The Grumpy Monkey,” in which a primate has a bad day and endures a barrage of well-intentioned suggestions by neighboring animals as to how he can improve his mood, which he tries, white-knuckling his way through the contortions. Nothing helps. The punch line is that sometimes it is OK to be grumpy; this, too, shall pass, but in the meantime, just let yourself be.
Later that night, we watched the episode of Netflix’s “Full Swing” in which one of the golfers cries after a round of golf and explains that his dad always told him not to hide or suppress his emotions. “If you’re angry, or sad, be angry or sad.”
These were well-suited refreshers. I have found it is much more healthful for me to sit with my messier emotions, to let myself feel each jagged edge or baleful tone, versus push them out of the way — as they inevitably crawl out sideways, in bizarre and disproportionate forms. I was reminded of this when reading an essay from Leslie Stephens’ excellent blog in which she writes about her first week alone in an apartment after separating from her husband. She writes:
“…At the same time, at least half of my thoughts were consumed by forks. Yes, forks. Would Jonah and I split our forks in half? That only left us each with four forks. Is that plenty? How many forks does one person need? Would I be hosting people in my apartment? More than four? Would that be inconvenient for the dishwasher? Should I just order more forks? If this is a temporary separation, do I need more forks?? I called a friend who went through a similar separation two years ago to ask her about my fork conundrum (which, at some level, I understood had nothing to do with forks). I was sitting on the floor of my Airbnb’s kitchen, where I had planted myself an hour earlier and couldn’t muster the energy to stand up. “Worry about the forks later,” she told me, “For now, focus on what you need to do today. Tomorrow, focus on what you need to do that day. By the time you cook your first meal in your apartment, you will have forks.””
This is not to say that Leslie was pushing her emotions out of the way (in fact, I think she was hard at work processing something really big and needed to hyper-fixate on something as a way through), but to say that I have had my fair share of “fork moments,” where, for example, I am ruffled at an email asking me to send something in for a potluck at the last minute, or I am outraged at how many pots and pans and implements I dirtied while making dinner, or I find myself crying at a video my husband’s shared that is meant to be funny or shocking, and I realize it’s not about the pots and pans, or the email, or the video at all. I’m just tugging at loose threads.
So, what to do? It’s not appetizing, but you sit with those thoughts. You cry if you need to cry. You slam a door if you need do that. You run through the usual range of mood-lifters and mood-changers. But really? You go to bed early and you hope that the feeling will pass. It usually does. As Eric Jerome Dickey put it, “A million miracles are born every morning,” and I often find things look different at daybreak. If nothing else, you’ve put distance between yourself and the sore spot.
Onward!
Shopping Break.
+We’re closing out denim season (for me), but I did just order this chic pleated pair after seeing similar styles on street style starlets. I’m having a love affair with this brand from my college years after wearing these ALL season long!
+Paravel is offering 25% off sitewide. A great time to buy my favorite summer adventure bag! This carries so much and I love the look. I used it to schlep stuff to/from the pool. It’s not waterproof but the inside is lined and it was just the perfect size.
+A good time to buy your boy a seersucker blazer — it’s on sale!
+This cheerful headband is so cute for a little girl.
By: Jen Shoop
There have been a number of recent days in which I’ve planned to take a long midday walk with a neighbor, explore a local garden with Mr. Magpie, or take a stroll on the Crescent Trail with a friend, and so I’ve been getting a lot of wear out of athleisure pieces. My favorite items I reach for time and time again:
SPLITS59 AIRWEIGHT LEGGINGS — THE BEST FOR NON-RUNNING ACTIVITIES; THESE DON’T READ “PERFORMANCE WEAR” AND FEEL APPROPRIATE FOR DAY
J. CREW TEES — PREFER THE THIN WEIGHT OF THESE WHEN LAYERING
GAP VINTAGE FIT SWEATS + SWEATSHIRT — HAVE WE TALKED ABOUT THESE?! THEY ARE SO WELL-CUT AND HAVE A GREAT VINTAGE VIBE TO THEM…FOR A GREAT DEAL! I OWN THE SET IN NAVY AND THEY LOOK REALLY GOOD WITH DRESSIER SNEAKS, TOO
STATE BAGS BENNETT BAG — REALLY, REALLY GOOD BAG…GREAT QUALITY, CAN BE WORN DRESSED UP, TOO
At home, when I’m putzing around, I love to wear caftan dresses — my top two current favorites are the Saffron from Mille and the Kitty dress from S.Z. Blockprints. If I’m in the mood for a shorter hemline, I adore Marea’s Casita dress and Lake’s Patio dress. The Marea one in particular makes me want to pour a margarita and sit on the back deck with bare feet and good music. I am also eagerly awaiting the arrival of this Lenora nightgown. So pretty and love the easy midi length — a perfect “evening at home” dress!
Haven Well Within just sent me a striped lounge set (shorts and top), and while it’s marketed as pajamas, I wore the top out to dinner (the cuffs are so chic!) and am contemplating wearing the whole set out?! Like, I’ve seen super chic street style starlets style with aplomb (ahem and ahem). So fab? The pieces are (at the time of writing this post) 40% off! Even if you don’t plan on taking the fashion risk and wearing out of doors, it’s a REALLY good lounge set. The cotton is soft/almost brushed and not that starchy-poplin sensation.
Finally, recently mentioned this in my “shower/bath favorites post,” but I’ve had a resurgent love affair with my Eberjey rompers. They are SO soft. Love to wear while getting ready for a night out.
I was at an event recently where a reader approached me and said, among other lovely things, “I just have to tell you – I love your dad. I had tears streaming down my cheeks reading what he said.”
I wanted to ask which essay she was referring to, but quickly decided that it didn’t matter. Instead, I nodded: “I know. He’s the best.”
Earlier this week, I listened to the section of Anne Lamott’s book in which she talks about writing as a gift for people we love. Of a book on her father’s diagnosis with and death from brain cancer, she says: “I first I wrote down everything that happened to us, then I took out the parts that felt self-indulgent. I wasn’t writing the book with my thumb stuck out trying to hitchhike into history. I just wanted to write a book for my father that might also help someone going through a similar situation. Some people may have thought that this book was too personal, too confessional, but what these people think about me is none of my business. I got to write books about my father and my best friend, and they got to read them before they died. Can you imagine? I wrote for an audience of two whom I loved and respected, who loved and respected me. So I wrote for them as carefully and soulfully as I could, which is needless to say, how I wish I could write all the time.”
I’m not sure if I realized, before I listened to Lamott, how much my writing takes the form of love letters. I mean, I know that my writings about Elizabeth and my grandfather and other deceased are elegiac. They are conscious expressions of remembrance. I’ve elsewhere described them as “paper boats: something slight and hand-formed that still, against all odds, float.” I also observed: “When I write about the past, and particularly those beloved deceased who belong to it, I am able for a moment to unstrap myself from the present. I find things lost. Sometimes these unearthings are only shadow and dust: there are details, for example, of my friend Elizabeth that have atrophied to the point of disintegration. I mourn those degradations intensely. I wish I had written them down when the grief was keener and the memory sharper. It is, I realize, a mad task, to believe that I might somehow resurrect her in her entirety through language. But it can sometimes feel that way, when I am sitting at my screen, and she appears on the page wearing my own words.”
But I did not realize that when I sit down to represent the advice and lessons I’ve learned from the still-living, I am also writing directly to those mentors: “You were right,” and “I listened,” and “I love you.”
I sometimes feel that there are no easy places to say these things in real life. You are sitting in the dining room over bagel sandwiches, or unpacking groceries, or listening to Siri on the car navigation system, and it doesn’t feel right to interject: “You know all those times you told me, on the eve of a big decision, to move forward anyway? And you did this by insisting, ‘You’re gonna love it,’ even though you had no idea whether I would? Thanks for that. And while we’re at it, thanks for telling me to pursue something I was passionate about, for insisting I carry petty cash, for taking me to the Kennedy Center symphony when I was little, for saying “Oo la la” when I wore that dress you brought me from your trip to Mexico, for never trivializing my writing or my academic pursuits, for introducing me to Sibelius and Schubert and Puccini, for paying for my education, for taking me seriously when I said I wanted to start a technology business, for always answering your phone — even when you are huffing and puffing on mile nine of a long run, for flying to Rome to listen to me stumble through a piffling academic paper at a conference, for teaching me to avoid making jokes at the expense of anyone but myself, for reminding me to give people space, for offering me the benefit of the doubt, for letting me tag along fly-fishing in Aspen, for singing me “Ghost Riders in the Sky” before bed, for insisting that life is too short to hold grudges — especially within the family, for loving Mom, for stopping halfway up the driveway of my childhood home to point out the blooming forsythia bushes for the twentieth time–which is to say, for showing me how to live.”
+From another essay on (ahem, love letter to) my parents:
““But isn’t it beautiful?” he’d ask, gesturing at the forsythia, harbinger of imminent thaw, and we’d murmur or nod in bewildered or shrugging assent, shifting in our seats, anxious to return to play. Or the way he’d drive the back way home from Church and put his car in park on the far side of our home, at the foot of the hill on which it sat, and point out recent plantings from Johnson’s on Wisconsin Avenue, or the growth of the boxwood hedge he’d installed at the property’s perimeter. At the time, I could neither fathom nor feign their interest in such things. But now I see When morning schedules have limited give, and time for tending to the plants in our own yard requires elbowing around plans, and entire months hurtle by in a blink, their care and nurture, their marking of the seasons, their every admiring comment at the blossom-then-fade a reminder that time is a gift.”
Shopping Break.
+If you’re not a one-piece gal, I’ve been seeing a lot of chic peas in this Hunza G bikini!
+Have been hearing good things about this spicy peach honey. Bought a few bottles to have on hand as hostess gifts (wrapped up with crackers in cello) and one to try myself. I’m imagining it on a cheese board, or drizzled on ricotta or avocado toast, or even on pizza? Yum.
+This hand-painted birthday plate is such a treasure.
+This is J. Crew?! WOW! Fabulous for a summer event. Also love this $86 steal for a formal wedding!
+Just added these adorable “dive buddies” to my cart for my swimming-obsessed daughter. I just signed her up for an “emerging swimmers” swim team for the summer and she is SO excited.
+A clever way to get your children to help with the application of sunscreen. I’ve also had parents say that using these Artis-inspired inexpensive makeup brushes to apply sunscreen to children’s faces is helpful. This is still my favorite brand for the little ones — I use the lotion on their bodies (I also have the spray but have discovered the hard way that it can be difficult to get out of stone/pavement…yikes.) and sticks on their faces.
I have amassed quite the collection of LWDs over the years — they are surprisingly good investments because they are, literally, a blank canvas. You can restyle a million ways, with bold accessories, neutrals, black, or brown for completely different aesthetics/vibes, and I tend to find they feel less trend-bound than other pieces because whereas other patterns/colors might “go out,” white never does. Below, my favorite LWD discoveries for the season ahead. I want to spotlight a few exceptional deals: this Madewell beauty (love the back), this Zara mini (perfect for a bridal trousseau), this And Other Stories (a dead ringer for Zimmermann), and this scalloped Lucy Paris dress (also a dead ringer for Zimmermann) — all under $150! I am also mildly devastated this is sold out in my size — it is beyond!
P.P.P.S. Do you have hobbies/outlets in which you indulge “deep play“?
By: Jen Shoop
We compiled all Magpie recipes into beautiful cards for your kitchen! Get the recipe card collection in your inbox here.
One of my favorite content franchises on the internet is Grub Street’s “The Grub Street Diet,” in which they ask celebrities, chefs, and foodies to detail everything they eat over the course of a weekend. This is excellent, distractive reading for my fellow middle-of-the-night worriers. It is light and conversational but surprisingly intimate to learn how and what people eat, and to listen to the narratives they weave around their dining and nutrition decisions. You learn a lot about people this way! I was thinking that it would be interesting to do a “Reading Diet” interview series where writers and celebrities share everything they read in a given day. Which articles? Which twitter exchanges? Which sections of which books? Where do they go to read, and at what time of day?
Anyhow, that’s an idea for another blog. Today, sharing my own food diary from this past weekend.
Friday
For most of the year, I run 3-4 miles every other morning, and during those periods of discipline, I force myself to eat something before my run, though I am rarely peckish in the morning. I am currently in an illness-induced fallow period of exercise, having slogged through norovirus, a sinus infection, and strep, as well as two courses of antibiotics, and shepherded all of my family through permutations of the same. I have had to take a step back to permit myself a full recovery. Normally, I feel a vague sense of guilt and anxiety when I am not clipped into my running regimen, but it turns out that at 38 years old, I have finally unearthed the perspective I need to take care of myself without self-chastisement. In fact, it dawned on me this month that nearly every year of my entire running “career,” I’ve absented myself from the habit owing to injury, illness, or the demands of other things in my life for a few weeks here and there. I am now seeing these hiatuses as a feature of my fitness regimen rather than a bug. Knowing that there will, without a doubt, be times I will need to take a step back, but that I will maintain a much broader pattern of commitment, has unlocked something for me. It is not laziness or giving up; it is making temporary space for other, more urgent things, like nursing myself and my family back to health, or digging into a creative project. And it is OK.
But, all of that to say: I have not usually been eating breakfast these days, but yesterday, I saw that Thomas English Muffins were buy-one-get-one-free at Safeway and bought both the cinnamon raisin and the plain varieties, and I’ve been thinking about them ever since I ferried them home. I toast a Thomas English Muffin, smear with Kerrygold butter (we keep out at room temperature in one of these — which you need, as I mentioned yesterday!), and sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning. I enjoy this in ritualistic silence after ushering my children through the 34 discrete steps we complete every morning between 6:50 (when we wake up) and 7:42 a.m. (when we walk out the door). My husband is taking them to school, and the quiet, and the English muffin, feel like an indulgence.
My husband returns at 9 with an oat milk latte from Grace Street Roasters for me. He normally makes our coffee from home, grinding beans with a hand grinder (apparently, coffee-heads think hand-grinding beans results in a better grind and there is also something masochistic and traditional about it that the Redditors on various deep coffee nerd threads like) and brewing with a Moccamaster, which is sort of a hybrid between a drip coffee machine and a pour over. But today we were out of beans so he stopped at Grace Street and treated me to my favorite coffeehouse beverage.
At noon, I descend from my studio to the kitchen. We always have a lunch plan in place by 9 a.m. and sometimes the day or two prior. This is Mr. Magpie’s doing: if it weren’t for him, I would be eating a lot of “clean out the fridge salads” and fried eggs. I make the planned tuna salad using fancy tinned tuna procured at Bread Furst, following the ATK Recipe. It’s a tad finnicky, requiring me to soak red onions in red wine vinegar for 15 minutes, add fish sauce, etc, but it’s worth it. I notice that Mr. Magpie has already chopped and soaked celery in a small dish of water the counter (presumably because it’d gone limp in the fridge), and has also brought some parsley in from his garden, which he has rinsed and patted dry on paper towels. He is detailed to the point of affectionate about his food, and the way he preps his ingredients is almost spiritual. I love this about him. I think it says something about his openness to joy. We layer olive tapenade (also purchased at Bread Furst) with the tuna salad, some butter lettuce leaves, and very thinly sliced red onion, on top of lightly toasted levain purchased at Bread Furst, which is absolutely one of the best bakeries I’ve ever been to in my life. We serve with Bubbie’s pickles, which are very garlic-y. (I prefer Wickles or Grillos.) I drink a mango-orange Spindrift.
At dinner, we eat leftovers from the night prior: pork chops Mr. Magpie marinated for three days following a Zuni recipe and then grilled on his Weber kettle. He is a maestro at the grill — the pork has perfect grill hatchmarks, and it is cooked absolutely perfectly. He serves with a sweet potato hash and stewed kale, both also from the Zuni cookbook and outrageously good accompaniments to the savory pork. I think I have some kind of deficiency because I cannot get enough bitter, leafy green vegetables. The kale has been cooked in Mr. Magpie’s own chicken broth and is flecked with bits of onion. The texture contrast between the stewed kale and the crispy, lacey, caramelized sweet potato cakes is unreal and addictive. My children summarily refuse to eat these sweet potato cakes, which is beyond my comprehension. They do, however, like the pork, which I’ve supplemented with buttery peas, berries, and slabs of levain bread, knowing they will not touch stewed kale. I am drinking a margarita I mixed up for myself, which is a faux pas in Mr. Magpie’s book. He prefers a pre-meal aperitif (negroni, daiquiri) and then wine with food. But I am less particular about these things, and we’ve just gotten hooked on a new blanco tequila, G4. It is a perfect margarita tequila — it tastes almost vegetal or fruity, and is very smooth.
After the children are in bed, we eat leftover and mildly stale halves of cupcakes I’d purchased at Georgetown Cupcake the day prior, not knowing that I would also be purchasing them the following day for a birthday celebration for my father in law. I mention this to Mr. Magpie and he says: “There are worse things.” We are in bed by 9:30 after finishing a long and poorly paced episode of “The Last of Us” on HBO. We like this show, but it has taken us months to get through — we need to be in “the right mood” to undertake it, and some of the episodes are pretty shaky. This was one of them.
Saturday
I eat a few cubes of honeydew melon alongside a mug of Mr. Magpie’s coffee, scarfed down as I rush to get my daughter ready for soccer and my son ready for an indoor pool party. (It turns out we have lost his goggles somehow between the final swim of last summer and today.) We are then out for the morning, my son and I stopping to pick up (more!) cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake on the way home. We are greeted by a birthday feast for my father-in-law: peking duck with all the trimmings, plus hot and sour soup and fried squid. We enjoy the bounty at our dining room table, listening to Harry Belafonte and introducing my in-laws to face filters on Snapchat (we howl with laughter when my son becomes Albert Einstein in one). We then bring out cupcakes.
After my in-laws have left, we spend a few hours at home and realize there is a burgeoning, pent-up, not-good energy between the children. I’m sure parents around the world understand the pall I am describing: somewhere around 4 p.m. on a Saturday that you’ve largely spent at home, the wheels start to fall off. We decide to throw the children in the car and take them to our family’s country club for a change of scenery, luring them with the promise of shirley temples and goldfish. The club has big baskets of goldfish, peanuts, and wasabi snack mix on offer, and they take little servings and then sit outside with fresh activity books and sticker pads, sipping on a shirley temple (my son) and chocolate milk (my daughter) while Mr. Magpie and I perch on adirondacks at the edge of the 18th hole with aperol spritzes, watching golfers drive, then chip, then putt the final hole. We are smug with our ingenuity at making this gametime decision. I eat around the wasabi peas in my snack mix, not because I don’t like them, but because they’re Mr. Magpie’s favorite, and he palms an entire fistful of the ones I’ve apportioned for him and eats them all at once. Everyone is happy. Between mild skirmishes over the sticker pads, my children chase birds and “check out the fountain” (furtively dip their shoes in the water) and we decide to prolong our stay and have them eat dinner there. We’d already decided we’d be eating later, and separately, because we are thawing out meatballs Mr. Magpie made a few weeks earlier with his homemade spicy fra diavola sauce, neither of which my children will touch. The meatball rejection is a particularly acute affront to Mr. Magpie, as they will scarf down frozen ones from the local Safeway at least once or twice a week, but somehow draw the line at Mr. Magpie’s tender, perfectly-seasoned veal-pork-beef ones, lovingly prepared from scratch. The children ironically order big plates of pasta with meatballs (!), which they eat hungrily, before selecting ice cream bars from the freezer inside the clubhouse.
Back at home, after the children are tucked into bed, I prepare a green salad with butter lettuce, avocado on its last legs, shallot, and pecans, dressed in a mustard-honey vinaigrette. I always do the same proportions: 3 T vinegar, 5 T olive oil, 1 T canola oil, and a teaspoon each of mustard and honey. Sometimes I will add a garlic clove, but today I omit. We serve this alongside the meatballs in fra diavola sauce (showered heavily with pecorino romano, and by the way, as I mentioned yesterday, you need a pebble grater — it is so much better than the thin, wispy shavings you get from a microplane when topping a plate of pasta or a bowl of soup — trust me, it’s worth the crazy shipping) and a few pieces of toasted Levain bread from the aforementioned loaf, which is an excellent way to mop up the extra sauce. We drink sangiovese out of juice glasses and watch the first half of the Tetris movie. By 9:15 p.m., we are yawning. This is 40: unable to finish a movie in one night.
Sunday
This morning, I skip breakfast and take the children to Mass and then my daughter accompanies me to a “teddy bear tea” at my high school alma mater, Georgetown Visitation. I catch up with former classmates, fawn over their children, permit my daughter to have an ill-advised number of donuts and mini-muffins, and subtly plant the seed that she might one day want to attend this wonderful school? “Isn’t it beautiful?” I ask, and “What do you think?” She looks unimpressed. “It’s good,” she shrugs. We head back to the car.
Back at home, Mr. Magpie eats leftover Peking duck and I have the last of the tuna salad on the last of the bread. We make a big fuss over how proud we are of having eaten the entire loaf of bread. We hate food waste but bread can be tricky. Levain does keep pretty well in a big Ziploc bag, especially if you are toasting when using the days after it is first cut. This is also 40: having long conversations about how well you’ve done cleaning out your fridge and pantry.
That evening, we take the children to the Mario movie — my son’s first theater experience! He sits in my lap halfway through the movie, pressing his face against mine, and I know he’s finding it overstimulating. I had wanted to buy them popcorn for the full experience, but it is a 3:15 p.m. showing and we are planning to go to an early dinner right after. I love movie theater popcorn but can never figure out the right viewing time to accommodate it. It’s always too close to lunch or too close to dinner?
We drive over to Frankly Pizza in Kensington, MD after, our first time there. They serve up neopolitan style pizzas in a casual, family-friendly environment, and it’s a good thing, because my children — revved up by the stimulating movie — are in a cagey mood, arguing about and snatching at stickers. They do, however, polish off most of a cheese pizza (which comes out blessedly quick), and the mood improves. My son has me cut each slice into small pieces that he then tries ineffectively to spear with a fork, often scooping sad bits of paper-thin pizza off the table into his mouth. For some reason, I could watch him eat food all day. My husband agrees: there is something deeply reassuring about watching your children eat. I think it’s some kind of parental, animalistic instinct, but the sight of my son’s little bird mouth eating bits of pizza, even in an ungainly fashion, makes me strangely joyful. My husband and I split a “masala salad,” a special that evening, which has Indian spices, shaved carrots, green leaf lettuce, pistachios, and dried fruit. It’s quite good. We then share a margharita pizza and a sausage and pepper pizza.
Back at home, we put our children to sleep and then finish the Tetris movie. We both agree this is one of the best movies we’ve seen in awhile — it’s just fun. Well-paced, exciting, funny at the right parts. We speculate that this film, in conjunction with the Mario movie, might be an elaborate marketing program Nintendo is undertaking in advance of the release of some kind of new console or system. This, finally, is also 40: unable to absorb a fun movie without contemplating the business architecture around it. We go to bed by 10, well-fed and happy.
*****
If you are a journaler, or a writer of any kind, you might enjoy undertaking your own food diary. It is surprisingly self-revelatory. I did not realize, for example, that I rarely snack any more? I used to graze throughout the day and now I nearly exclusively eat three square meals. I don’t know when or how this happened? Of course, I am also struck by how much loving effort Mr. Magpie puts into keeping us well and diversely fed. I am lucky!
Please feel free to share some of your own food writing highlights in the comments!
Post-Scripts.
+Not to be morbid, but what would your final meal be?
+When we were at the lake, the house we borrowed from our neighbors had a memory cushion mat in front of the sink and it was kind of…heavenly? I just saw House of Noa released a really chic cushion mat for this purpose that looks a lot like the Stark antelope rug we have in my husband’s study. Tempted…
+My children bring these little artfolios with them everywhere — Church, restaurants, etc! A great little carrying case. Somehow on sale for 70% off. These make great gifts! More of my go-to gifts for young children here.
+This striped rash guard is chic and only $42! Thanks, Mackenzie, for the tip!
+Loving Minnow’s new jammies for summer — these for girls (how sweet is the eyelet at the neckline?), these for boys.
+My daughter is loving this book series — she can read them herself and finds them really funny. More great books for emerging readers here.
+Fun squeeze of citrus dress for a summer wedding.
+This caftan, part of a collab between the boutique Monkees and brand Emerson Fry, is perfect for beach/pool days.
+Currently in my Maisonette shopping cart: this lavender terry polo, this terry sweatshirt, and the little retro gym shorts and ringer tees from Petits Vilains in different colors for both children.
+My daughter saw these sprinkle-emblazoned goggles at the shoe store and has been begging for them. Pretty fun.
This morning, I was unloading the dishwasher and drying rack and it struck me that many of the items we use heavily in our home are not necessarily standard-issue household kitchen staples. To be clear, some are — chopsticks, tupperware, tongs — but the versions we have boast unique design elements that make them (in my opinion) leaders of the pack. Other items, like the Chef’s Press and our hi-soft cutting board, are a bit more recherche and deserve more wide circulation!
01. PYREX GLASS STORAGE SET — The best! The sizes are really well-considered; we always seem to have just the right size dish for leftovers/prep. I also love that they are glass (never get cloudy/warp) and can be popped right into the microwave or freezer.
02. RAMEN/PHO BOWLS — We don’t have this exact style, as we bought ours from a Vietnamese grocery up in Chicago, but we use these bowls ALL THE TIME. We do have pho or ramen frequently (at least once a week for lunch?), but they are also wonderful for serving side dishes, side salads, fruit salads, etc. Even good for popcorn and chips!
03. HI-SOFT CUTTING BOARD — Sushi chefs use these with their fancy knives, and I bought Mr. Magpie a few sizes for Christmas. He loves them! They have a kind of rubbery surface that keeps the board in place, and they are better on knives. You can feel it — the board kind of “gives” to them versus the occasional near-grind feeling you have when cutting on a wooden cutting board.
04. CUCKOO RICE COOKER — Widely considered the best (Mr. Magpie did a ton of research), we use this constantly. We probably have rice as a mealtime starch once or twice a week, and the kids love it. This is a wonderful set-and-forget option that yields a better output than stovetop rice, and definitely worth the expense if you make rice as often as we do. You dump in the water and rice, press “start” and have perfectly cooked rice on the way without doing a thing. It also keeps rice warm for hours.
05. EMILE HENRY BUTTER POT — We keep our butter out on the counter at room temp in one of these. (You fill the basin with water that creates a seal to preserve the butter.) I swear once you have room temp butter you’ll never go back — makes smearing on top of toast so much easier! We’ve turned multiple house guests onto this!
06. EMILE HENRY SALT PIG — The best design for grabbing a pinch whenever you need it!
07. HAAND RIPPLE PASTA BOWLS — If you eat pasta as much as we do, you will love these. They are the perfect shape and dimension for a serving of pasta, and I love the organic “wave” shape.
08. CHEF’S PRESSES — These are patented by a chef and with good reason. They are brilliantly designed. You can layer multiple on top of one another if you need a heavier weight (say, for a chicken breast), or just one for something thinner (say, a tortilla you’re charring in a cast-iron skillet). They are designed to keep whatever you’re browning fully pressed against the surface of the pan to maximize and even caramelization. We use these close to every time we cook!
09. ROSLE TONGS — These are magical. They automatically lock when you point skyward and automatically unlock when you point downward. Sounds gimmicky but amazing if you’re cooking with one hand, which happens a lot more than you’d think!
10. CHOPSTICKS — OK, nothing spectacular technically about these, but I just love the vibrant colors. Why not have a set you love? Currently on sale!
11. SPIDER WHISK — Great for removing ingredients from boiling water or fry oil, but I find we also use these as small strainers when in a pinch. I strongly recommend the style with the wooden handle — a lot of the whisks online have metal handles but you don’t want it conducting heat if you’re fishing things out of oil!
12. PEBBLE CHEESE GRATER — Like everyone else, we love our microplane, but this is a must if you serve a lot of dishes with parmesan or pecorino romano (e.g., on top of pastas and soups). It yields a wonderful texture that does not immediately melt into soup. It’s also really pretty! Worth the expensive shipping, trust me. Buy one for you and one for a foodie sibling/friend!
13. DINER STYLE PORCELAIN MUGS — We own nearly identical ones (they look SO similar) and they are fantastic. Coffee afficionados claim that porcelain is the best material out of which to drink coffee — something about the flavor and heat transfer. I also like that the diner style ones are not too thin-lipped, though. It makes for such a wonderful morning coffee drinking experience!
14. RICE BOWLS — Not our exact style (again, we bought from a Vietnamese grocery in Chicago up by Tank Noodle) but we find we use bowls this size constantly, whether for rice (as intended), dipping sauces, small sides.
15. 1/8″ SHEET PAN — I’ve made this claim a lot in the past, but I find I use the “mini” sizes of kitchen items all the time — mini cutting board, mini baking sheet, smallest pot, etc! This baking sheet is so handy for toasting nuts or bread, or prepping a handful of chicken nuggets for kids. I also find these baking sheets handy for ingredient prep. We are constantly using them!
16. FIVE GAL PAINT BUCKET — We use this for compost. It is really effective at containing smell, super cheap, holds a lot (we usually empty it into our compost pile once a week), easy to clean with a hose, and not precious in case it gets destroyed. We keep ours underneath the second sink in our kitchen so it’s out of sight.
What about you? Any kitchen essentials you feel are under the radar or that you have found “the best” version of? Please share in the comments!
*Image via L’Uniform, featuring their beautiful carry-all tote.
Q: Headed to French Riviera with fam. So excited, but what to pack?
A: Oo la la! I would probably consult with / check out the style of my well-traveled friend Stephanie, but thank you for the question, as it led me to dream up a fun little mood board that reflects my instincts!
A: Fun! We are heading there not this summer but the next. Colorado is magical in the summer — I have a full childhood’s worth of memories of it. I am usually pretty active/adventurous out there, so though I rarely wear “athletic wear” during the day elsewhere, I would favor it there. I would buy a good pair of hiking boots (Danners or Ons), Beyond Yoga leggings and tank sets, and layers to throw on top (weather tends to swing pretty wildly! can be 80 midday but 50 in the morning), like this “Morning Tee” from Ayr, half-zips from Spanx, pullovers from Splits59, sherpa fleece from Everlane, Superdry, or Outdoor Voices, and you’ll definitely need a windbreaker. I love mine from Marmot, but love the colorblocked options from Cotopaxi.
For dinners out, I would dress casual/boho but intentional. Think breezy dresses like this, this, or this paired with Isabel Marant sandals or boots. Have the best time!
Q: Sneakers for my son that are more classic instead of trendy.
Q: My mother, sister, and I just booked tickets to Paris this September! I’m going back to all your Parisian-inspired posts, but anything you do in the vein this spring and summer would be so appreciated! Thanks for all the inspiration you have infused my wardrobe with!
A: SO fun. I’m deeply envious of all of these trips! I would stick to a neutral-chic wardrobe with navy and black that will make mixing and matching easy. I will definitely revisit this closer to the end of the summer, but some off the top of my head picks: a dreamy top layer you can wear with everything from dresses to jeans (also love this); these perfect black pants to pair with an interesting blouse like this or this and ballet flats from Chanel or Margaux; a fab LBD; a black coatigan; ecru wide leg jeans; Marie Morot x J. Crew button downs; anything from Toteme. Dream bag for this season: Celine Triomphe Teen bag. Look for less with an A.P.C. Grace bag. If you’re trend-forward, I feel like I see a lot of street style starlets wearing deliberately long trousers like these and Reeboks (!).
Q: I know you have done this before but I would love an updated post on dressing a third trimester bump for the summer! Trying my best to avoid true maternity clothes and rather find pregnancy-friendly styles and brands with the potential to last beyond pregnancy. I am also petite at 5’2.
A: Congratulations! I would check out the styles from Mirth — they have tons of beautiful dresses that work from bump to beyond. I especially love this and this. I also know there are lots of big fans of Staud’s Vincent dress for pregnancy through nursing, and of course the Julia Amory dresses are a personal favorite of mine. Amazon also has some good buys that would work, like this striped midi and this maxi, and I just heard that Frances Hart is running an archive sale with some styles up to 75% off. I have a few of their dresses and actually just wore this one to a tea last weekend. Totally works without bump, but also accommodates one!
Q: Sweet, special but not too frou-frou outfits for my one year old daughter for a few gatherings this summer.
A: I love so many of the styles from Pink Chicken for little girls, like this or this. Petite Plume also has some really cute rompers out, like this floral, and I lose my mind over dresses like this.
Q: Solid colored tops for my son for summer.
A: I really like the Gap pocket tees or, for a splurge, Busy Bees’ Henry tees, which are THE BEST QUALITY (!!!) and last forever. They run generously and somehow I have actually made a few 18m sized ones stretch until recently. (And my son is nearly four…!)
Q: Go-to nail polish color.
A: I either do red or white-pink. For red, I like OPI Big Apple Red and Essie’s Really Red year-round, and Essie’s Geranium in the summer (too bright for winter). For white-pink, I like OPI’s Lisbon Wants Moor. If I can’t make a manicure stretch between appointments, I remove the polish using wipes and apply Londtown’s nail enhancing concealer, which is a semi-sheer conditioning treatment that adds just enough polish and is virtually impossible to mess up.
