I was four when my parents moved myself and my siblings from a stone house in Connecticut to a stone house in Washington, D.C. I remember the morning we left, but unusually. I have no recollection of moving vans, or watching my then-home disappear in the rear view, or driving down 95 to the swamp to which I would forever belong. Instead, I recall with clarity playing in a shard of hallway light on the floor of my still-dark bedroom. I had a rattan canopy bed whose lumbering shape loomed over me, portentous, and I was brushing the postiche hair of an aquamarine My Little Pony. Outside my door, my parents spoke in soft syllables, but their rapid footfall told a different story.
This is my first sentient memory.
It seems curious that I am only able to draw out the antecedents: not the actual move, not the Rock Creek Park house that would raise me. But on the other hand, in this firstling remembrance, I find so much of me: the imagining, the listening, the held breath before the leap. And perhaps this is the mystical mechanic of all memory-making, anyhow. Our minds will seem to send out the offprint instead of the original article, the endnote instead of the body, but on further study, we learn that maybe we have been mis-parsing the parts. And what seemed like marginalia is in fact longform expression.
How we feel about things almost always overwrites their actual happening.
And how liberating to realize this? Onward, then — beyond the loup-garou.
Post-Scripts.
+What was your first sentient memory as a child? What do you find when looking at it today?
+A different look at my childhood home.
+How I’d describe D.C. as a native Washingtonian. (I was born in DC, left for two years to live in Connecticut while my father was in-house counsel for a major technology corporation, and then lived here until I went off to college.)
Shopping Break.
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+Shopbop is offering us an extra 25% percent of sale items with code EXTRA25, including the barrel leg jeans I’ve been wearing a ton this season (run just a touch big – I’d take your true size though)! You can see me in mine here, here, here. More of my top picks below, including this Alex Mill cardigan I own and adore! I also wanted to mention that if you like my Veronica Beard brown jeans (I styled them here) but have been looking for a less expensive version, you might consider these DL1961s, on super sale!
AUREM EARRINGS // MOTHER JEANS // ALEX MILL CARDIGAN // VERONICA BEARD VALENTINA SNEAKERS // DRAGON DIFFUSION BAG
+Today through Friday, Hotel Lobby Candles is offering us Magpies 15% off with code JEN15. They have the chic, sophisticated scented candles – I’ve tried a bunch of them and love to gift, too. And I have been LOVING their hand wash, which they just released in their limited edition Hamptons scent (!). I burned that candle (sadly sold out) all summer long and my sister described it as “our perfect signature house scent.”
+Suede everything has been trending this fall — I have a guide to the suede top layer / overshirt / jacket going live later today — but how great is this little mini? Under $60! Pair with a cozy knit for texture contrast. This is exactly how I’d like to style.
+Mr. Magpie and I have been using this face cream exclusively for weeks now. It is SO GOOD. Very similar in texture and results to Augustinus Bader. I just told my mom to switch! She’s been using AB for awhile and I’m curious how she thinks it will compare. (If you are a die-hard AB fan, though, you can get it for 25% off here! Pretty steep discount! More of my top picks from Blue Mercury’s beauty sale here.)
+Just ordered this cookie cookbook.
+A few Serena and Lily look for less picks: this console and this lamp!
+Truly love these hardware-embellished riding boots. Imagine paired with my Alice Walk cape for a fall event. I found a look for less for the cape, by the way – how chic is this?! Larroude also released the boot in a shorter shaft length and heeled version. So good.
+Before we move on from Larroude, they also have a great, unfussy pair of mary janes in the perfect espresso suede.
+Are YOU SERIOUS, Veronica Beard?! This skirt is beyond perfect!
+Easy home fall decor: arrange faux fall grasses into vases!
+Somehow missed the fact that Rue de Verneuil bags are included in Tuckernuck’s Friends and Family sale, which ends today. Love this and this for mom life.
Beautiful remembrance! My first clear memory is playing with a dollhouse in the family room of the home where I grew up, with my baby brother in a bassinet nearby and my mom unloading the dishwasher in the kitchen (which wasn’t visibile, but WAS audible due to a pass-through and a couple of open doorways nearby). If my brother was in a bassinet, that would put me between 3.5 and 4 years old!
PS – I wanted to mention this as I know you’re a fan — Tracksmith is running a sample sale right now with 260! Do you know this company? They run in-person sales in NYC as well as weekly digital ones. I find that a good chunk of their online sales are with brands that do not appeal to me, but once in a while they’ll have a real winner! I recently bought some pajamas from Rhode in a pattern I’ve been obsessing over for years (!) and I stumbled upon a Cecilie Bahnsen sample sale in New York last fall where I found a bunch of coordinating undergarments for my wedding dress (also by CB) for about 75% off!
Here is the link to the Tracksmith sale: https://260samplesale.com/collections/tracksmith
xx