My Latest Snag: The LAFCO Peony Candle.
I just switched up our candle game to test the LAFCO Duchess Peony candle for spring/summer. I am late to the game with this brand but I love (!) that they market their candles by room — so clever and evocative. A few of my other favorite warm weather candles:
+Seda Japanese Quince (very strongly fragranced of summer fruits and florals, which I like — a little goes a long way);
+Swedish Dream Sea Salt Candle;
+Tocca Cleopatra (grapefruit) or Montauk (sea salt and cucumber) candle;
+Fresh Life candle (citrus and…sunshine? fresh air? so clean!)
You’re Sooooo Popular: The Woven Slides.
The most popular items on the blog this week:
+My go-to caftan. I wear these CONSTANTLY. And it’s on sale (at least, as of the time of writing this…but selling quickly!)
+This maternity and nursing button-down.
+The chicest caftan for a mini. (SZ Blockprints just launched a couple of children’s pieces in collaboration with J. Crew, including this adorable caftan!)
+My chic, under-$100 botanical print dress!
+My favorite dramatic bow-topped slides (on sale!!!)
+An easy-to-wear striped dress appropriate for literally any occasion.
+Mini’s toddler table (love the styling and size).
+A super chic summer bag in the punchiest yellow color.
+These floral print sneaks for minis.
+This entire roundup of Memorial Day sales has been very popular, too!
#Turbothot: A Letter to a Late Wife on Mother’s Day.
This letter from a husband to his late wife left me weeping. My favorite bit was when he sketched a specific memory:
“There was dinner one night at Rose Café and another at Gjelina. It was chilly that night after dinner, and we stopped at Salt & Straw for ice cream, and there was a guy working there from Brooklyn. It felt magical walking home with you—arms wrapped around me with your head resting on the top of my chest. Everything was happening.”
Everything was happening.
I loved the phrasing — his capture of the simultaneous nothingness and enormity of walking through life with your very best friend. It brought to mind my birthday dinner last summer, when I found Mr. Magpie reanimated after nearly year of constant stress — the way that nothing specific happened, but everything felt transformed, expansive.
But oh, the article, its heartbreak — pass the tissues.
P.S. More golden moments and looking for the little normalcies that I’ll one day miss.
Blast from the Past: Where Many Walk Alone.
We read this prayer as a family at Thanksgiving, but there’s no reason why we can’t be grateful during the dawn of summer, too:
“…That night, before the Thanksgiving dinner we’d managed to pull off in our narrow galley kitchen, its counters about a tenth the size of the ones we’d enjoyed in Chicago, Mr. Magpie offered to read the Thanksgiving prayer my father has read every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. It’s written in my mother’s loopy script, photocopied so many times it’s faintly legible. Something swelled inside. Mr. Magpie is not a Catholic; he does not attend Mass with mini and I. And so I recognized in this gesture the depth of his commitment to the three of us as a family unit, adopted religious traditions and all.
“For food in a world where many walk in hunger;
For faith in a world where many walk in fear;
For friends in a world where many walk alone;
We give you thanks, O Lord.”
I bowed my head as he started to read these lines, but mini started squawking and I looked up at her. Mr. Magpie stopped after the second line, broke off abruptly. I glanced over, wondering if he was waiting for mini to settle down before he’d proceed, and noticed instead that he was clenching and unclenching his jaw. He cleared his throat once, then again. Then took a breath, and read the last two lines.
I walked around the table, squeezed his shoulder. We sat quietly for a minute, composing ourselves…”
P.S. Another prayer that has gotten us through some bumpy times.
Post-Scripts: Le Statement Blouse.
+This voluminous buttercup-yellow blouse is on sale for 50% off!
+A great hand soap for the kitchen.
+ZOMG – this skirt gives me major Saloni vibes ($60!)
+Restocked my cocktail napkin supply with summer prints: juicy lemons (Tom Collins is my go-to cocktail — I’m a gin gal) and palm fronds.
+Lusting after this Evi Grintela dress.
+One of my favorite new additions to mini’s wardrobe. I am loving Maisonette’s new house line — also eyeing this.
+I absolutely adore these 6 oz crescent juice glasses. I use them for — duh — juice (we drink fresh-squeezed orange juice every morning and during this pregnancy, I have often craved strawberry lemonade?) but, post-pregnancy, they’re my preferred drinking glass for wine and especially little glasses of cava.
+Speaking of booze — if you or your man are a cocktail lover: Mr. Magpie has been OBSESSED with this cocktail book. We have mysterious shipments of obscure liquors arriving on the regular from Astor Wine nowadays (what is cherry heering?), and I’ll often find Mr. Magpie sitting on the couch for a good fifteen or twenty minutes, debating which cocktail to make next.
+Recently fell hard for a new-to-me label, Mira Mikati. The colors are AMAZING — I’m loving this dress in particular, on sale for 50% off!
+This skirt is lovely, relaxed, elegant — love the idea of pairing it with this scoopneck.
+Just ordered micro this circle bib and mini this apron bib from new-to-me label Louelle. Mini hasn’t worn a bib in a long while but we have also recently destroyed a few pricey pieces from her wardrobe thanks to popsicles and juicy fruit, so I thought this might be a good investment for freezer treats and the like. Note: get 20% off with code SUMMER20! On the subject of bibs, I love the prints/colors on these blue bibs for micro, too.
Fashion magpie
Love mini and micro already and excited for your journey into motherhood and adulting. I am a seasoned parent/elementary teacher/educational coach and my advice to you is to breathe before responding. It works I teach that to all of my students and it helps with reactions !!
Advice please and suggestions
My son is having his first baby in the family, with that being said big emotions are flying high. Of course I would like it to be special and sweet but this has got me stumped.
She would like to have the shower the Saturday after Thanksgiving because her friends will be in town. Help, aren’t we all sick of food? It will be a lunch and the weather will be “iffy “ living in LA , California
What should I do and what was the one moment/gift/memory that was most heart felt.
Just a reminder:
Thanksgiving was that Thursday that I will be hosting, then the shower that Saturday , followed by Hanukkah, and Christmas $$$ if you know what I mean.
You are my go to girl and I appreciate the advice in advance
Carol soon to be Grandmama
Hi Carol! I hear you! I wonder if you could do something lighter, like a tea? With tea sandwiches, scones, a fruit plate? My mom and I have thrown several of these and they aren’t horribly expensive as long as you’re willing to make the sandwiches yourself. We made watercress and cucumber, tuna salad, and egg salad, and put them on little pieces of bread/little biscuits/mini croissants or cut them out of larger pieces of bread. Super easy and something a bit different (much lighter) than wintry/holiday fare. Plus, a TEA. So fun!
Or maybe a brunch — you could have a parfait station (yogurt, fruits, toppings like granola), buy a few quiches and croissants?
I feel like these options are less expensive since you can do a lot yourself for cheap but just plate it up really prettily.
Anyway — on the moment/gift/memory that was most heartfelt: my mother-in-law gave me a couple of sweaters that she had knit for Landon when he was a baby and that she was passing down to my soon-to-be born daughter. So special. I wonder if you have any heirlooms like that to wrap up and pass along? Even your son’s baby book, if you still have it, or a framed picture of him as a son? My heart was in my throat thinking about how much it must have meant to her to have another baby wearing something she’d so painstakingly made for her own son.
Other things I have loved: every mom writing a piece of advice or a wish for the new mom on little cards. I find it sweet when these are in turn read aloud, but that might be too emotional for others! My sister also bought a hard copy of Mother Goose nursery rhymes and had guests write little notes to mini on each page. It has been so special to read her rhymes out of there alongside such thoughtful inscriptions. So moving.
xoxox
The Lafco powder room candle is amazing! The vessel itself gorgeous, but what a beautiful scent. I found the collection at a gift shop in Del Ray. I didn’t want to walk away from the display. The ski house feu de bois will be on heavy rotation come this Christmas and winter. Thank you for introducing them.
They are such pretty candles!! Thanks for the tip on the winter scent ❤️
Oh, that prayer is so simple and true. Just beautiful!
Isn’t it? Brings a tear to my eye every time…