Jen’s Weekend Drafts: Brie Larson in Peach, Inconvenient Love, + Monkey 47.

Jen Shoop

9 months ago

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I’ve changed the title of my Saturday series from “Weekend Vibes” to “Weekend Drafts.” I’m imagining this as more of an off-the-cuff collection of things I’ve gathered, enjoyed, found the week preceding, plus what you’ve been enjoying, too (drawn from comments, purchases, messages, etc!)

+Style inspiration: Wow. Peach is Brie Larson’s color. I can’t get over it! Also, here I am growing my hair out and then I see photos like this and this and wonder what I’m doing!? (P.S., my current hair strengthening routine here).

+Motherhood inspiration: A Magpie sent me this post on the inconvenience of love by Kate C. Bowler and it sat with me all week. “Give me the good, inconvenient work of love. Link my life to others so that their worries become my own. Give me errands I don’t want which ease the burdens of others.” The lines gave me chills, then purpose. Let me be a channel of love!

It also brought to mind one of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned in motherhood, which arrived last year when I was speeding to pick up my daughter from school for a doctor’s appointment and I caught a look at myself in the mirror. I was harried, agitated — frankly stressed by the interruption to my day. I told myself: “Jen, you’re where you need to be. Doing what you need to do. There is no need to rush through or strain against this chore. This is the work of being a mother.” I say these words to myself constantly when I am frayed by the demands of motherhood. This is the work of motherhood. Not only (in fact rarely) when it nests conveniently into my plans.

I shared these sentiments on Instagram this week and was inundated with messages from fellow moms saying: “I needed to hear this today” and “I repeat this to myself constantly since you shared it.” You are not alone in needing to lean on the mantra! (More on this concept in this essay.)

+Drinking: Have you heard of the gin Monkey 47? Mr. Magpie read about it on Reddit and we have been loving it. It almost tastes like a different spirit — much more citrusy than other gins I’ve tried — and it tastes exceptional with Fever Tree tonic and a thick zest of grapefruit (not lime!)

+Launches: Fanm Mon released a beautiful collection of dresses with wedding-focused e-retailer Over the Moon. What I love about the capsule is that it feels delightfully unconcerned with trends, and instead dialed in on its own aesthetic preferences: feminine pieces in ethereal fabrics and lovely pastels. The idea of unexpected bridesmaid dresses suggests itself, but I also thought this would be adorable for a high school or college graduate, and this for an expecting mama.

+Wearing: My delicate signet ring from Catbird, engraved with a “T” for Tilly, arrived this week, and it is such a treasure. I have been layering it with two thin bands with tiny solitaire diamonds (also gifted from Catbird) and a ring I inherited from a great-aunt.

+Shopping: My most exciting shopping this week took place at Alice Walk’s Warehouse Sale! I picked up another tee and sweatshirt. I absolutely love to get dressed, but my uniform during these winter doldrums has been a soft cotton tee layered beneath a sweater or sweatshirt and my looser-fitting jeans. Easy to wear all day at the desk. I am aching for summer, when I can parade around in my fleet of sundresses and caftans (truly my preferred state of being), but for now, soft basics from Alice Walk are helping me add a little zap of color and comfort to my mid-winter wardrobe. ALSO! The Mille sale pieces I featured earlier this week are currently an extra 50% off, meaning this dress is like $60! RUN! I lived in that one last summer.

+Reading: Making my way through my poetry anthology, 1-3 poems per day. It is such a great way to slow time in the mornings, and the first thing I do after my children leave the house. I find it not unlike meditation, forcing me to shut out my galloping thoughts about the day and its plans. My favorite line this week: “Part of a moon was falling down the west, / dragging the whole sky with it to the hills. / Its light poured softly in her lap.” The couplet is from the strange, convention-defying “The Death of the Hired Man” by Robert Frost, which reads more like fiction than poetry, with long passages of dialogue seemingly unbothered with poetic meter, rhyme scheme, etc. It is a long poem but haiku-like in its delicate evocation of a mood, a moment. It lands on soft feet. I also loved the general concept behind Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Miniver Cheevy,” a poem about an Eeyore type riddled with the curse of perpetual unhappiness, all of life appearing unfair and beneath him. Robinson writes: “Miniver cursed the commonplace / and eyed a khaki suit with loathing,” and I thought to myself: “I’ve known a few Minivers in my time.” A timeless portrait!

+Watching: Making our way through Oscar nominations (we watched “Past Lives,” “Priscilla,” and “Anatomy of a Fall” in the past week or so), with a brief pit stop to watch “The Worst Person in the World,” as suggested by a Magpie reader in response to my empassioned review of “Past Lives.” We’re halfway through it at the time of writing this (Mr. Magpie and I frequently watch movies over the course of two nights), and I was messaging a girlfriend (film aficionado) about it, and she said: “Those quiet type of indie flicks are my fave. Such a nice counter to all the mainstream junk that gets green lit.”

What You Loved This Week.

+The Scent Enclave: Absolutely fascinating rabbit hole of perfume suggestions and seasonal scent preferences happening in the comments section here. I told my husband I felt like I’d stumbled into a Reddit thread! I talked about it briefly in this post, but there is a quiet consensus that Le Labo’s The Noir 29 (shorthanded as TN29 by those in the know) is the scent to wear in the winter. I mentioned this on Instagram and a Magpie said: “Nooo! That’s my secret!!!”

+Films: Exceptionally rich and insightful comments on this year’s Oscar nominees. I loved Aoife’s read on “Past Lives”: “All of these characters orbit her through the motif of fated love, however she is moving through the world and multiple lives so these other characters almost function to explain her living out of these lives — consciously and unconsciously, decisively and indecisively — in all the ways we as the audience do this in our own lives.” And Iris had this to say on the movie’s polarizing pace: “The complaint that the movie was slow or dragging was something that my husband (who is Japanese) and I both really appreciated. The restraint felt very reflective of our cultures, especially the choices that Nora and Hae Sung end up making in the end. Extra love for the movie for just feeling seen in its story.” Jump into the chat here!

+Shopping: So many of us bought this award-winning $18 caffeine eye cream (I’m using it, too, and I really love the quick-absorbing consistency and even the small tube it comes in — perfect for dotting out just the right amount) and my denim dress from Aligne (runs big!)

A full list of bestsellers below…