+FALL BAKING INCOMING: I am desperate to make these brown-butter pumpkin bars! What’s on your fall baking list? Please share recipes (of the promising or tried-and-true variety) in the comments. I absolutely love this cinnamon-crusted banana bread this time of year. Really into Caraway’s fun colored bakeware for this season!
+FALL IS…A fun little list poem I put out on Instagram this week. What would you add?
+FALL MOVIE LINEUP: What are we watching this fall? I was just thinking of lining up the classics and watching one each week for the next few weeks in a row. On my shortlist:
“You’ve Got Mail”
“When Harry Met Sally”
“Practical Magic” (going to see the sequel with girlfriends!!! and my neighbor’s son-in-law is in the reboot!)
“Dead Poet’s Society”
“Little Women” (the Greta Gerwig one, the old one is a Christmas watch to me for some reason)
“One Fine Day”
I also LOVE horror movies this time of year — I usually make Landon re-watch “Scream” with me on Halloween! Also feeling like I want to revisit “The Shining” and “Misery” this year from the classics list. On the newer side, we thought this year’s “Obsession” was excellent and imaginative; “Backrooms” was getting a lot of similar buzz but I was less enthralled with that one. It did make me sit on the edge of my seat though! What else?
+FOOTBALL TEAM LOYALTY: Was surprised by how many of you ordered Rhoback “game day” gear (for your men / for yourself!) but I love it! Wanted to also mention that Holderness & Bourne, which makes some of Landon’s favorite golf shirts, also has college-logo polos and other gear available.
+PANEL ON FICTION NEXT WEEKEND!: If you’re a D.C./Maryland girlie, come join me at the Carroll County Book Festival next weekend (9/19). This is the first year they are running this festival and the lineup is incredible (it includes Jodi Picoult!). I’ll be moderating a panel on fiction, secrets, and character development with three fabulous female authors. Free to attend! Fun little fall Saturday morning activity. Details here.
+HOW ALL BASEBALL SOUNDS: This one goes out to fellow wives of baseball fans / former ball players. Ha! We almost always have a game on!
+HUMANITIES CONFERENCE TITLES FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON: This is niche, but it made me LOL. This one hit a little close to home from back in my grad school days!
+FALL NEW ARRIVALS FROM FAVORITE BRANDS: It was as great week of new fall fashion arrivals —
+Alice Walk’s fall drop was even better than anticipated. This new plaid coat! The tipped cashmere getaway! I ordered the latter in the oat color. Try code MPH15 if you’re new there.
+Julia Amory’s new corduroys! Love them in every color! Use code JEN-15.
+A lot of good stuff at Tuckernuck, but I’m dialed in on this plaid wool wrap skirt and this pretty ribbed dress. Also love the new wheat color in the knotted cashmere cardi!
+Doen’s fall collection. Swoon! Obsessed with these patterned fringe pants and this plaid dress would be super pretty for fall family photos or even Thanksgiving. Also, how cool are these corded, zhushed up heaphones?!
+NEW fall colors in Donni’s poplin pants (love the oxblood) and silk striped crops! Just think how good these would look with a La Ligne knit in a coordinating colorway (use code MAGPIE10 at La Ligne). Also taking a sec to re-plug the La Ligne x BR collection — a great way to get La Ligne for less. A couple left of my top pick from this drop!
+Over at Leset, wow to this new Barb skirt in olive. I love it styled with the slim-fit tee (<<I own this in white and LOVE for fuller volume pants/skirts) but would also look great with a cashmere cardigan, unbuttoned with nothing beneath, or a cashmere tee! Their new wool pants are also insanely chic. And I keep thinking about these baggy plaid trousers. I feel like they could be super cool styled with a denim button-down and suede flat.
+This cotton canvas tote from Sezane’s new arrivals is excellent. Has a Rue de Verneuil energy but much more wallet-friendly. Love the sizes — this one reminds me in ethos of my Jenni Kayne Gem too!
+Just added one of these enamel-and-moissonite bracelets to my wrist stack! Love for fall. Also – these $200 earrings are beyond fab. Can’t believe the price! Look like $$$$$.
+Finally, new J. Crew has entered the chat. I have a feeling based on how many of you loved this Boden sweater that this new J. Crew will go fast! I love it in the cheery red but am surprising myself by contemplating that grape color? Imagine paired with a marigold silk skirt or pair of pants?! This suede bomber is also next level cool.
A few favorite finds for the weekend:
ME + EM SCARF KNIT TEE // CADETS PANTS (RESTOCKED!) // DORSEY ENAMEL BRACELET // LA LIGNE SWEATER // SEZANE TOTES // BEST COLOR OF BLUSH FOR FALL // DONNI PULL ON POPLIN PANTS // J. CREW SWEATER // HOUSE OF NOA CUSHIONED STANDING MAT (FOR KITCHEN SINK!) // DORSEY EARRINGS (SUCH A GOOD BUY FOR AROUND $200 — LOOK LIKE A MILLION BUCKS) // CARAWAY MUFFIN TIN
+BESTSELLERS: We were shopping for pants this week! These dark-rinse slim-wide jeans took the lead!
01. J. CREW JEANS
02. TARGET TAFFETA BARREL PANTS (LOOK FOR LESS FOR THESE VIRAL DONNIS)
03. FRAME SLEEK STRAIGHT JEANS
05. PREQUEL FOOT RESCUE (A FALL/WINTER MUST HAVE)
06. TUCKERNUCK ANNALISE SKIRT (SOOO CHIC)
07. EVEREVE BANDANA SCARF (UNDER $60)
08. J. CREW BOYFRIEND TEE (THE FIT IS VERY SIMILAR TO LESET’S MARGO)
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This got me feeling excited for fall for the first time, despite our still very summery weather here in NY. I love summer so much, but I also really relish the emotional texture of September-December. They’re just so rich, a true tapestry of emotion. I am beginning to embrace the realization that I, as an adult, have a winter soul. I am happiest when I have some friction to rub up against.
My two fall media recs, which I revist every fall, are Over the Garden Wall (a cartoon miniseries, is on Hulu) and Slade House by David Mitchell The latter is a true ghost story. I have a habit of curling up in my corner chair and reading it on the first evening that the radiators turn on in my apartment. And Over the Garden Wall is just so wonderful- I’ve never seen anything quite like it, Yes, it’s a cartoon technically for kids, but the music is masterful and the themes are quite adult. Loss, displacement, alienation all sit beside whimsy and delight. Truly one for the whole family to enjoy.
Love! Thanks for the Over the Garden Wall rec — sounds lovely.
xx
Wow I am for sure making those pumpkin bars! Thanks for the recipe. If you’re looking to mix it up a bit with the banana bread, I just ate one of these giant muffins that I baked yesterday. So yummy!! I used dark chocolate chips as a mix in and sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top. Dark chocolate and banana are so good together! Just add hot coffee in a cute mug 🙂 https://alpineella.com/jumbo-banana-muffins/
YUM! Thanks for sharing. xx
Wish I could stop by the Carroll County festival- I’m close by but this Maryland girlie is in her Sports Mom Saturday Era… 🙂
Fall things…
We had our last day at our neighborhood pool on Labor Day, and then the next day my daughter came home bubbling about Halloween costumes that she and her bestie had brainstormed on the bus.
Summer is in the rear view mirror.
I had to pull my reflective vest out for a late evening dog walk recently. Depending on how early I get out, the sun is still up, and the local park I stroll through is still bustling with tennis players and young families on the playground, but as the season progresses my walks will become darker and more isolated and fewer people will be at the park until eventually winter sets in and my evening walks are pitch black solitude under the stars.
I’ll be sick of the dark by January but I’m looking forward to it now!
I love the micro-detail about pulling out the reflective vest! I’m always looking for those tiny flags telling me the seasons are turning. We have our very first few leaves starting to turn in the neighborhood and it made me so happy.
xx
The weather is still way too hot here to be able to lean into my favorite season but, as soon as it’s cool, I love making a long simmering stew recipe like beef burgundy. I wish I had a foolproof fall dessert recipe since I tend to either wildly succeed with my bakes or forget to add the sugar kind of thing. As for fall plans, I’m so looking forward to heading to Middlebury Vermont for parents weekend followed by Montreal. I’m desperately hoping they’ll have cold, not just cool, weather. Scream and the shining are both so good! However.. I stopped watching scary movies (for the most part) after my friend and I watched Blair Witch project when it first came out in theaters in NYC and we thought it was a real documentary! We then left the matinee to drive to her father’s house on the Cape. He wasn’t able to join for a few days and we lost electricity. I have never been so utterly terrified for so many candle lit hours in my life!!
OMG! That is positively HAUNTING! I can completely understand abandoning the genre.
Ooh, Vermont in autumn!! Divine!
xx
It’s still summer here for another few weeks. But I have big plans for sweater weather!
I want to pick apples and make butternut squash soup with fried sage leaves! Sourdough oatmeal bread alongside. Homemade breakfast sausage with sage and apple. Apple crisp for breakfast. Apple butter, Erin Jeanne McDowell’s apple butter bread (I bake in muffin tins and dip in melted butter and cinnamon sugar for cider donut vibes), huge salads with honey mustard, apples, and cheddar, smitten kitchen apple cider caramels. « Hobbit lunch » of just a hunk of cheese and good bread. Oktoberfest beer. Ribs and coleslaw. Yogi Chai each night for « teatime » with my kids (they drink apple juice cut with hot water as their tea). Buffalo chicken dip as dinner/tailgate vibes.
Nature walks to gather leaves.
My Halloween book recs are Mr. And Mrs. Witch by Gwenda Bond and Fan Service by Rosie Danan.
All of these recipes and micro-rituals sound absolutely divine. Love a hobbit lunch!
xx