My Latest Snag: Alemais Jerome Dress.
This Alemais dress and it is SO fabulous. I’m planning to wear it today to my son’s birthday party! We’re having a magician come (The Great Zucchini, for fellow locals!) and are otherwise keeping it simple. I bought some magician’s top hats for the children to decorate with foam stickers and stick-on gems and found this “scratch-offs” that the kids can use to compete to win a little surprise. I’m serving “Dirt” instead of cupcakes this year — have you had it? It’s that horribly artificial but delicious once-in-awhile treat where you crumble devil’s food cake as the first layer, then add a layer of pudding mixed in with whipped topping, then complete with a shower of crumbled oreos. It looks like dirt! You decorate with gummy worms. Perfect for a four year old!
This Week’s Bestsellers.
01. LULULEMON ALIGN DRESS // 02. ON CLOUDVISTA TRAIL RUNNING SHOES // 03. AGOLDE RILEY CROPS // 04. ELTAMD FACIAL SUNSCREEN // 05. J. CREW DRESS // 06. J. CREW WOVEN BAG // 07. BOLL & BRANCH WAFFLE BED BLANKET* // 08. J. CREW DOCK SHORTS FOR BOYS // 09. EMILY HENRY’S HAPPY PLACE // 10. ZARA EMBROIDERED DRESS // 11. JENNI KAYNE COOPER CARDIGAN // 12. LONGCHAMP CROSSBODY // 13. CRAYOLA MARKER SET // 14. 9SEED CAFTAN
*20% off with code MAGPIE20.
Weekend Musings:
One of the poets interviewed in the Mary Oliver memoir-slash-poetry-reading-slash-oral-history project I wrote so much about last month said something that has echoed in my mind for weeks now. He observed that everyone he has met in his life has experienced some kind of heartbreak, and that all of us are “just walking around broken-hearted, pretending like we aren’t.” (Paraphrased.)
It probably won’t come as a surprise that I don’t love the sentiment. I would propose that anyone who has experienced heartbreak has also experienced the love, or hope, or happiness that preceded it? And so why focus on hurt as a universal condition, versus capacity for touch, connection, full-heartedness? Two sides of the same coin?
At the same time —
Wow. Let’s sit with this insight for a minute. Everyone has experienced heartbreak. Many of us are broken hearts wandering around, pretending we don’t have them. I find those words cropping up close to daily when I have an encounter with a stranger, whether pleasant or not. What worlds lie within? What pain or happiness is just beyond the surface smile at carpool pick-up, the perfunctory interaction at the grocery till, the erratic driver in the next lane, the kind gesture in the cul de sac?
It’s really made me think this week.
Another way of reminding myself: give people grace and a wide berth.
Shopping Break.
+When I finish my current tube of tinted moisturizer, I’m excited to try this Kosas one!
+Currently in my cart: these pants and this lime green dress.
+These pants are giving major La Double J vibes for under $75.
+I’m really on a fitness-buying binge! I just bought this cropped fitness tee.
+Moment of appreciation for the best lip liner ever. I rarely use lip liner, but this stuff is REALLY GOOD and I find myself reaching for it frequently. And it’s easy to apply. I got it in the cult-favorite pillow talk color!
+This cute waterfall writing desk is reasonably priced and compact. Love the raffia drawer!
+This smocked top is so CUTE. Love in the blue/chambray hue with white denim. It’s under $30!
+Have my eye on this dress from Parterre’s latest launch!
+Cute $30 oversized gauze button-down.
+This patchwork dress looks so delightful for everyday wear.
+This diaper bag is really chic. I don’t think you NEED a diaper bag per se — but I do like that this one stands up on its own and seems specifically outfitted for everything you’d need as a mama on the go.
+This funky little half-knit-half-shirting dress is having a moment. Already sold out in one colorway!
+This Pippa Holt caftan is SO GOOD. Her caftans are $$$ but spectacular.
+It’s hard to think forward to fall, but I have to say I really love this black smocked dress. Would be so chic with a flat at the first hint of chilly weather.
“Preach to broken hearts, for in every pew you are sure to find some.” – Charles Spurgeon
Thank you for sharing this — so true.
xx
Wow. The statement that “we’re all just walking around brokenhearted, pretending that we aren’t,” is powerful. I’m with you, though. I don’t know if I agree. I think we all experience our own heartbreaks and tragedies at some point in our lives, and while they do also involve love, hope, etc. after the fact, whether we walk around with that heaviness is individual. Just my two cents!
Also, an update on the Lululemon align dress for taller women: I went to my location yesterday and they didn’t have any in stock to try on. Will report back if I get one to try on!
Have a good weekend!
Agree with this nuance!!
Thank you for the on-the-ground reporting on Lululemon!!
xx
Hi, please tell me about the picture at the beginning of this post. I love her short hair!
I, too, appreciate your take on the observation. I also try to use your suggestion when I am complaining out loud about something – often there is someone else who would be happy to have my “problem” (for example, this comes up in motherhood, but also now with caring for my aging parents), and when I pause to think it through that lens, I can appreciate the related gift in the “problem” and usually drop the complaint (not always, haha, sometimes one just needs to vent/process!).
PS- The Great Zucchini entertained my son (now 18!) and pals when he turned 4 as well – Thanks for that memory ❤️
Aww!! He was hilarious!! We loved him.
I would do well to keep your re-frame in mind, too! I am thinking of something a Magpie once shared: instead of “I have to do this…”, you say, “I get to to do this.” Really changes everything for me. Especially when it comes to, for example, doing something for the children that feels like a big chore/task that is getting in the way of other things, or working out. I’m lucky to be able to do these things!
xx
Love this sentiment. As I wean off crutches following my hip surgery, my PT recommended that I still bring them with me whenever I go anywhere for a while, just to make my physical limitations known to others and to signal that I will be moving slowly and need a wider berth. To your point, how would they know what I was dealing with otherwise?
Aw Anna – thinking of you!! That’s smart, to keep the crutches close by. I wonder if there are other metaphorical ways we can do this…
xx