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.