Jen's Weekend Drafts: Sisters Reunited.

*Image via.

+SISTERS REUNITED: I was so touched by this clip of two sisters embracing after not seeing one another for a full year. It brought back a bruise-like memory of seeing my own sister for the first time after the dark days of the COVID lockdown in March 2020. We didn’t see one another for months even though she lived just across the bridge in Brooklyn. This already feels impossible to me, but it was a scary and wild time to live in New York. No one was on the street; we had been instructed to stay inside; we were well and truly cloistered. When we finally did meet up, we had planned to observe a six foot distance, but ended up clinging to one another and not letting go. A full body hug, a full body relief. There is just something about the sister embrace–you don’t have to make it pretty; you’re not worried about pinching someone or getting someone’s hair snagged. It is an animal thing, and so beautiful.

+EACH OF MY BABIES MET A DIFFERENT VERSION OF ME: I stopped and really thought about this post by MumLifeBySME: “As friends welcome their second, their third, I can’t help but think about how motherhood keeps changing us. We talk about the different versions of ourselves, how each baby meets a new one. Not better. Not worse. Just…different. None of them get the same mother. But they all get the one who shows up.”

I was so moved by this, in ways painful and sweet; I found myself on heartstrings. I felt a twinge of guilt for my eldest (she had the nervous, frantic me! the one who couldn’t stop crying about the c-section!) and then for my youngest (he had the distracted one, who often felt split in two). But then I see-sawed into thinking how lucky my girl was to have my full, round attention, and how fortunate my son was to have a calmer mother who knew the days lolling in bed with the newborn would be short-lived and who therefore leaned into them. One of my great personal achievements, that: I was so deeply aware of how soon he would be out of the bassinet and out of my room that I remember many mornings laying there with him in bed, letting him sleep on me, kissing his perfect features, memorizing him. What did this elicit from you?

+ON THE THEME OF GUILT: Another one of my favorite passages from Trespasses (did I convince you to read it?!):

“The local paper was set aside every week under Cushla’s name. The woman who served her asked her twice to spell it, calling her ‘Cursula.’ For the umpteenth time Cushla wished her parents had called her Anne or Margaret or Rose — not Mary, with its connotations of Marian shrines and rosaries — any name that didn’t mark her out so obviously as Catholic. She felt guilty for the thought, which, she realized, also marked her as a Catholic.”

Who else can relate to this compounding Catholic guilt?!

+THE ANTHRO DRESS EDIT: I know a lot of you picked up this gorgeous, La Double J-inspired dress I wore last week (seen here); Anthro is currently a gold mine for unexpected, chic dresses, almost all of which are under $200, and many of which are available in petite and tall sizing, too. My top picks below. I currently have this mixed-media dress in my cart — I just LOVE the pintuck detail and the open knit up top. Perfect for an early-fall date night paired with a statement heel (I’ve been noticing a micro-trend of shoes with gems and jewels and other trinkets on the straps; see also these from VB).

STRIPED SHIRTDRESS FOR WORK // DOEN-INSPIRED DRESS FOR A FALL COCKTAIL PARTY // EVERYDAY MINI DRESS // DATE NIGHT DRESS // FALL WEDDING GUEST DRESS

+STEPS BACKWARD: I LOVE this illustration by artist Martha Ratcliff! Reminded me of my thoughts on bad days, “we regret to inform you” letters, etc.

+A GREAT SANDAL ON SALE: My Tory Burch Kira sandal is on SUPER SALE in select colors as a part of Tory Burch’s “Private Sale,” just launched this week. Also in the super sale: chic sneakers in a great fall colorway, a petite version of my beloved Lee Radziwill bag in the yummiest butter yellow, and a great small crossbody for the fall season ahead.

TORY BURCH KIRA SANDAL

+EYEING + BUYING: I actually gasped when I saw this spectacular felted, cropped jacket launch at Veronica Beard this week. The gold button clasp! The silhouette! Love how it looks layered against a tonal turtleneck. I have gotten to know some of the girls at Veronica Beard and they told me this is a low-inventory item so I had to order it!! On its way to me now. Swooning.

VERONICA BEARD PHILIPS JACKET

BOYS NAVY SWEATSHIRT HALF ZIP* // BOYS PULL-ON JEANS (USE CODE JEN20) // CECIL AND LOU CHILDREN’S MONOGRAM HAT // ON CLOUD SNEAKERS // THE GREAT DRESS // CHUNKY KNIT THROW // GOLD EARRINGS // PHILIPS JACKET // RAG + BONE SOFIE JEANS** (20% OFF WITH JEN20) // HEART COSMETICS CASE // WESTMAN ATELIER BRONZER/BLUSH DUO // $49 HEELS

*I also picked up a handful of items for my kids this week, including this half-zip (sweatshirt material, but looks a little more polished/refined), these pull-on jeans (use code JEN20 for 20% off), some sneakers for my son, a couple of items at the Minnow sale (detailed here; not sure if the sale will still be live at time of this post’s pub!), and these joveralls for my daughter. (We’re all loving joveralls!)

**Have you tried Rag and Bone’s Sofie jeans?! OMG. The fit is divine. I have them in a few different fabrics; these feel like sweatpants. Use code JEN20 for 20% off!

+FOR A LITTLE LAUGH: This meme made me lol, especially when a friend replied: “wait, I glanced at this and thought it was going to be about post-partum hair loss — so you can tell where my head is at.” LOL.