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I can’t tell if it’s the midsummer malaise (several of you pointed out last summer that the final week or two of July is the nadir of summer energy — camp fatigue, lack of motivation, intense heat!), post-vacation-of-a-lifetime blues, or just a run-of-the-mill mood, but I’ve felt bleh this week. Even trusting that everything is a flowing, I’ve been frustrated by my own alien listlessness.
Have you been feeling the same way, I wonder?
On Monday night, we watched Mother Nature unleash her fury in sheets of driving rain and gales of forceful wind. (I write that with a smirk: while birding in Aspen, our guide chastened us against foisting human narratives on the natural world after my SIL made a snarky comment about male ducks “loafing” after procreation.) It was a classic D.C. midsummer storm — the kind that never actually breaks the humidity, but rather angrily shuffles around the furniture before returning to its original, thickly hot state. The lights flickered, then went out for the rest of the night. We didn’t let the outage interrupt us: Mr. Magpie lit the stove by matchstick, we ate outside in the crepuscular post-storm light, and I read the children their bedtime stories by electric lantern. After, Mr. Magpie and I drank wine on the front stoop, talking nothing and everything into our unlit street. Photos throughout this post taken without any light the night of the storm!)
Even this reminder to unplug, to let be, did not fully perforate my haze —
I kept wanting to shake myself by the shoulders! To galvanize myself!
But I was reminded of Morgan Harper Nichols’ words:
“Let July be July.
Let August be August.
And let yourself
just be
even in
the uncertainty.
You don’t have to fix
everything.”
I couldn’t have written more nichely-specific words for my state of mind myself — !
I felt a coolness wash over me. Aha. You don’t have to fix everything.
I saw in the Monday storm my own reflection: a great movement of energy achieving no ending. No break in the heat, no pause in the mood.
So I tiptoed away from the loom, I shut the piano fallboard. I reminded myself to stop fishing by obstinate isles. Sometimes we need time to do nothing at all.
July feels ripe for it.
Post-Scripts: A Shopping Poem.
These cropped Nantucket red jeans have my attention; I can’t stop thinking about them. // La Ligne launched a collection of featherweight silk/cashmere blend knits for summer — the kind of thing you’ll buy and wonder how you got through life without before? This one’s a classic. // It “felt like” 110 degrees on Tuesday, and yet I found myself looking closely at these Toteme boots for fall. Hard to buy out of season but they are smart and polished and I know my future self will thank me. // Our favorite “lazy girl body care” brand, Hanni, just launched a new product: The Fatty, described as “lip balm for your skin.” A hydrating stick — lotion in a tube! I can’t wait to get my hands on one. A reminder, this splash salve (moisturizing balm you apply in the shower) is an Everything Shower essential for me. They offered us 15% off with JEN15. // 25% off sitewide at Mille. You need this dress. // I can’t stop blabbing about this linen tee (15% off with JEN15). I love her. Perfect level of burnout — semi-sheer and pretty sexy. Surprise yourself and try it — your husband will approve, especially layered over one of these. // Bought my son these Sambas with the red stripes – he’s going to flip out. We’re in our red era. // Speaking of my son, he’s wearing these adorable sailboat pajamas in the photo above, clinging to Mr. Magpie. He usually likes to sleep in his boxers, just like his dad, so this was a rare moment for him — and seeing him in that matching set reminded me of him in his toddler years. Matryoshka moment. // These earrings look way more expensive than they are. Going to order to try! They’re reminding me of the way Brent Neale sets her stones. (More classic jewelry for less here.)
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