*I always get a lot of questions about the print on the pillow above whenever they’ve made a cameo in an Instastory/post — they are from this Etsy shop, one of my favorite sources for throw pillows!
Listening to…the new Maren Morris album (not as good as her prior one, but I just love her), H.E.R., and Madeleine Peyroux.
Reading…Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Next up: this palette cleanser. (I already finished the March book club pick!)
Eating a lot of…recipes from Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables. Very impressed with this cookbook. The recipes are approachable (and, for the most part, not too involved for a weeknight meal), but I’m eating a more varied diet of vegetables rather than reaching for old stand-bys that I tend to roast and dress simply in olive oil and Maldon salt (<<such a good addition to your pantry if you don’t have it! I sprinkle it on everything from avocado toast to pan-seared steak). This week, we ate turnips with fra diavola butter, baby artichokes, porcinis…all out of the ordinary for us and such a fun departure!
Drinking a lot of…Soba tea from Harney & Sons. My sister turned me onto this and I am obsessed! It’s roasted buckwheat and, when steeped in boiling water, it tastes like delicious, toasty rice water. I can’t explain it compellingly, but it has a delicious postprandial chew to it. A sweet member of my book club brought me two of these oversized mugs in the pink color and I love drinking my evening soba tea out of them.
Ordering too many…cookies from Milk & Cookies. I wish I hadn’t discovered they were on Postmates, but I am hopelessly devoted to their sprinkle cookies and chocolate-peanut butter ones.
Watching…Billions. We’re late to the game but very into this show. Mr. Magpie is far more paced than I am when it comes to something he’s interested in, so we’ll watch one or two episodes per week even though I have the appetite to binge the entire series, like, yesterday. I find the acting quality uneven but Paul Giamatti is INCREDIBLE. We’ve also been catching up on all the Oscar nominees that we’d not seen. I hated Bohemian Rhapsody (horrible screenwriting; I feel like I knew less about the band after seeing the movie than I did before) and thoroughly enjoyed A Star Is Born. Bradley Cooper is magnetic.
Indulging in…an oat milk latte every now and then. I love the ones from Irving Farm and Blue Bottle.
Craving…fruit and red meat. I was like this with my first pregnancy, too, oddly enough; I obviously need the vitamins and iron they provide. (Incidentally, I am mildly anemic, so this makes sense to me.) I eat an apple after dinner almost every single night and a banana as a snack almost every day at 3 P.M. But all day long, I’m a fruit monster — give me all the berries, melon, and pineapple in particular. Back in Chicago, I used to force Mr. Magpie to drive me all the way across town to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant (Tank Noodle) for a mango bubble tea every weekend. I don’t have a solid bubble tea/smoothie spot on the UWS so Mr. Magpie recently went out and got all the ingredients to make one for me at home! Heaven. We’ve also been eating more steak than usual (though in small portions — we tend to double up on veg and starch and eat just a tiny serving of steak) and probably once every two or three weeks I cajole Mr. Magpie into getting a burger with me. The baby wants what he wants — and sometimes that’s a Shake Shack burger, delivered to our apartment in under 30 minutes. (<<This has happened at least a dozen times since we moved to NYC. Not mad about it, but probably should be embarrassed by it.)
Prime-ing…My most recent order: a new bottle of The Laundress Crease Release (I use this between launderings/ironings to keep our bedding looking tidy), some almond body oil (my skin is SO DRY after showering and I’ve heard great stuff about this inexpensive oil), a Mo Willems book for mini (on the recommendation of so many of you wonderful magpies mamas! — MINI LOVES IT), and a new dog toy for Tilly. I like this brand; they tend to last a lot longer than most others. (Also love the Fluff N Tuff stuffies, which tend to last longer than most as well.)
Obsessing over…Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum. This product had a ton of hype and I’d been writing about it for nearly a year (or so pointed out a reader in a comment on a recent post!), so when my last bottle of Truth Serum ran dry, I gave it a go. It is heavily (gorgeously, in my opinion) perfumed, so not for the faint of heart when it comes to scented products — but the results are crazy. My skin is smooth, clear, soft, and bright. I’ve struggled with breakouts for the past few years, and, just like that, my skin went clear. I am truly astounded. I don’t think it has the same immediate “the light switch has been flipped on” effect that my beloved Truth Serum (or the Mario Badescu Vitamin C serum — which I think is just as good as the Ole Henriksen formula, and it lasts longer) has, but using it over the course of the past few weeks has completely shocked me.
Wearing…My pregnancy uniform: leggings/maternity jeans (I am loving these coated ones, which multiple fellow pregnant women have stopped to ask me about!), a Gap or Ingrid & Isabel maternity tee (love this exact style — on sale!), an oversized sweater, duster, or sweatshirt (I have been wearing this super casual/oversized/balloon-sleeved one in white a lot, though the bump is making it increasingly short), and interesting footwear. (I wrote more about my minimalist approach to pregnancy style in this Q+A if you’re interested.) Honestly, I’m pretty sick of winter because I’m so rutted by maternity fashion, which I feel like I’ve been wearing forever. I did just order this as an option for Easter, when I’ll be ENORMOUS (less than a month away from my due date) and in desperate need of something fresh/new. In the meantime, my saving grace has been all of the fun hair accessories in vogue right now. So fortunate that these are trendy at the moment, as you’re never too big for a hair clip 🙂 They add a little interest to any old look — including an uber-basic combo of black leggings and a white maternity tee. I especially love my pearl hair clip, my Gucci dupe hair clip, my Lele Sadoughi headband, and my LSF scrunchies.
Buying…Starting to stock up on my hospital bag essentials (#planner) and have decided to include some new treats for myself, like new nursing jammies (I recently bought these and a fourth one of these — I’m actually already wearing these nursing nightgowns; they are sooo soft and comfortable!), a new nursing bra (thanks to all the readers for this rec!), and some fun new travel-sized cosmetics (just ordered this!) Beyond that, I am having a hard time saying no to additions to micro’s wardrobe and am trying to buckle down and buy cotton basics this go around rather than frou frou rompers and bubbles. I found some great Polarn O. Pyret pieces on sale on Amazon (like these and these), some discounted Kissy Kissy jammies, and — yes — a couple of ridiculous items for summer, like a Pixie Lily sunsuit. Also just ordered mini some new spring jammies: this, to be paired with this on Easter morning. (More Easter picks.)
Coveting…Literally everything in yesterday’s post. More likely to order given my pregnant state: the Pam Munson Isla Bahia Lady Bag (and this coordinating style for mini…!), a new pair of Hunter boots (mine finally bit the dust after over a decade of service), this timeless Sezane dress (could possibly work with a bump?), and everything from the latest La Coqueta collection for mini (but especially this and this).
Curious about…What childbirth will be like this time around (will I need a c-section again?! Will I experience matrescence differently?) and, more frivolously, cleaning up my beauty routine. Is it time to switch to a natural deodorant, for example, as my sister has? (This has gotten good reviews.) I was so intrigued by some of the comments on my recent post on great beauty buys under $50 — several of you mentioned that you’d “gone clean” in the cosmetics department and it’s been on my mind since.
Thinking about…So many of the generous and thoughtful comments in reaction to my post on getting engaged and being a huge brat about it. I loved especially this from Anna — “What a beautiful reckoning with your own past missteps. Are any of us our best selves at 24?” — and this from Joyce: “I got chills reading this! Thank you so much for sharing your story so openly. The only thing I want to say is I do not think you were pathetic, even if you acted in less than ideal ways. You were doing the best that you could in the moments that you were in. How beautiful you can look back now with the wisdom of experience.” I read both of these, along with snippets of others, aloud to Mr. Magpie over the phone. I have since found myself pondering how many of us went through a similar stage of emotional upheaval waiting for our men to propose to us. Such a peculiarly common experience — one so at odds in some ways with the fact that all of us (yes, I can safely say that) are smart, independent, driven women. Sending a lot of love to those of you currently lumbering in that tricky phase of life.
What’s new with you lately??? Eager to hear what you’ve been coveting, eating, drinking, discovering, musing about!
P.S. Parenting advice I love, a mini tech detox worth trying (have you given it a go?!), and some musings on self-care.