My Latest Snag: The Frances Valentine Caftan.
You may have seen this on Instagram already, but I finally settled on a coming-home outfit for micro’s birth: this Frances Valentine caftan, which I’ve been eyeing for north of a year. It is roomy and forgiving and I absolutely love the embroidery and the mid-blue color. (And my slides are Loeffler Randall — you can score a pair in a different colorway for $75 here!)
You’re Sooooo Popular: The Grace Kelly-Esque Shirtdress.
The most popular items on the blog this week:
+This elegant white shirt-dress.
+These chic Polly Plumes. PSA: Yoox has a ton of Polly Plume slides and mules discounted and marked down an extra 20% off right now, too!
+Can you tell I’m into ric rac trim these days?! This dress….!
+The best white tee ($30!)
+A great striped basic for summer (40% off). Love this layered under joveralls, paired with white shorts/jeans, and especially accompanied by an olive green anorak.
+The perfect striped duster for cool summer nights at the beach.
+Speaking of easy beach style: this oversized linen striped blouse ($35!). I like the idea of throwing it on over a swimsuit or pairing with white skinnies. And while we’re on the topic: another great H&M deal.
+On-trend heart earrings for under $30. God bless you, Etsy.
#Turbothot: On Conviction.
I have always been drawn to people of conviction, Mr. Magpie being high on that list. I have often found myself thinking that I’d much prefer the company of someone with a point of view than I would a willow in the wind. And yet, on occasion, I wonder how my loved ones would paint me in this regard. Mr. Magpie has told me many times that I have a gift for accommodating multiple perspectives and for making others feel at home in voicing their opinions, however at odds they might be with my own. His portrait flatters, but I also find myself glancing uneasily at the blurred boundary between civility and spinelessness. In fact, I wrote not long ago that I often feel “I don’t know enough to have an opinion on something,” adding that “the only thing worse than a blowhard is a waffling poltroon.”
I have been chewing on this the last few weeks. When I read back many of my blog posts, I see in myself a woman who is not easily convinced — who tends to drift in the gray areas, who is better at sketching the landscape than she is at dialing in on the finer points of a particular matter, who will often think, of pressing contemporary issues: “I’m just glad I’m not in a position to legislate around this.” As I age, I find the list of absolutes in life grows shorter and shorter. When I turned thirty-four, I wrote that “It’s as if I went from being far-sighted to near-sighted; I didn’t know what I didn’t know in my 20s, and now I know what I don’t know — and so my conviction in the shape of things has shifted, shrunk, concentrated in on only the small world around me, the narrow sphere in which I know that 1+1=2. The mathematics beyond skew.”
What are the ethics of this mentality? Am I sheltering myself? Elapsing into solipsism?
On the other hand: maybe it’s OK to keep only a very brief list of convictions, a string of a precious few unimpeachable truths I carry carefully with me through life. Maybe I don’t need to stand with resolve in all things; maybe open-mindedness is a gift.
What are your thoughts?
Blast from the Past: On Aging Gracefully.
An excerpt from the post in which Mr. Magpie decided to buzz his head:
““Oh!” I said, forcing a smile onto my face, pretending I wasn’t crying, “Oh, you look so handsome.” And he did. Truly. Somehow he’d lost five years in the shearing of his hair. He looked athletic, strong. I noticed in a way I hadn’t in years the hazel of his eyes, the breadth of his smile, and the squaring of his chin. But there was something about his searching eyes, anxious for my reaction, that gutted me. And there was something else — something about his mild heroism (yes, heroism!) in accommodating the effects of age that wrung my heart. He had been agonizing over whether or not he was ready to accept that he has become a 36-year-old father-to-two (almost!) and wife-to-one with thinning hair and an aging body, and, all on his own, he set out to accept — celebrate! — that transition head-on as the calendar year turned.”
May I greet my own aging with similar poise…
Post-Scripts: Cateyes and Easter Sales.
+Loving these cateye shades in both colorways. The olive green have a Prada vibe to them…
+Now is a great time to stock up on Easter goodies for next year. I love these egg-shaped melamine plates for the little ones, these bunny jammies, and so many items from Williams-Sonoma’s Easter collection, but especially these crackers (which we had on our Easter table this year!) and these drinking glasses.
+100% need this tweed shift dress with its darling sleeve detail! LOVE!
+World Market is one of my favorite sources for hand towels. Just added these to my cart, but these would be lovely in a more feminine powder room.
+Adore these bow earrings (on sale!)
+This white eyelet jumpsuit!!!
+Has anyone used Swedish dischloths before?! Read the reviews…!!!! I am very intrigued.
+Jonathan Adler has a new diffusion line for Amazon called Now House. Lots of cool (decently-priced) finds in his signature aesthetic: these lacquer boxes, this media cabinet, this club chair.
+Already looking for a silver frame to add to my bedside table that will showcase micro as a newborn. Love this scalloped-edged one.
+Absolutely gorgeous paper plates.
+Somehow, these cashmere joggers are marked down to only $65 in the navy. Run!