My Latest Snag: Hill’s First Birthday Gift.
Hill turns one at the end of the month, and I feel twenty-two ways about it. How can we be here already? And yet — I absolutely cannot imagine my life before him. Alongside a couple of other smaller gifts, we bought him this Baghera ride-on car toy in the silk-gray color, which is ill-advised on so many levels (another big toy in a small apartment! his sister will go green with envy! sure to cause many injuries! etc.), but also thrillingly perfect and extravagant for a boy who has hardly any toys of his own (second child problems) and who will have just weathered a very bizarre and shut-in-like conclusion to the first year of his life. Beyond that: Mr. Magpie, always the pragmatist and voice of reason talking me down from my grandiose, maximalist plans, is over-the-top opulent in exactly two situations in life: when on vacation and when celebrating his children’s birthdays. On vacation in Aspen, he stopped into a Ralph Lauren store and bought two cashmere sweaters on a lark — highly suspect behavior from a man who will usually wait until his clothing has holes in it to contemplate purchasing something new, and at which point, he will look helplessly at me as he rifles through his closet: “Jen, I have no clothes left.” In Spain, he ordered a bottle of cava and extra rounds of tapas at 11 p.m., shrugging off my comment that we probably wouldn’t finish any of it because we were so tired — this, from a man who will finish the last dregs of wine from the glass sitting on my desk hours after I’ve gone to bed so it won’t go to waste. You get the drift: vacation Mr. Magpie is like a modern day Louis XIV.
And so, for Hill’s first birthday, under Mr. Magpie’s counsel, a Baghera it will be.
P.S. More great gifts for children.
You’re Sooooo Popular: The M.Z. Wallace Metro Tote.
The most popular items on the blog this past week:
+The MZ Wallace tote, newly (rarely!) discounted!
+Gorgeous statement earrings (30% off).
+TBBC jammies — currently an extra 50% off with code PINKPRICEPARTY.
+Cutest tunic top / coverup, on sale.
+As elegant as you can make a changing pad cover.
+Sweet personalized cardigan for a little one.
+A classic shirtdress will never let you down.
+Still swooning over this $25 floral maxi.
+For your next Prime order: ultra-soft and inexpensive facial cotton, delightfully spicy crackers, and Hanky Panky dupes.
#Turbothot: Windows Open Season.
We have been closing in on the brief and delicious sliver of a season where we live with windows open. It’s cool enough for comfortable sleep at night and warm enough for deep swills of fresh air during the day, and — in the tiniest of ways — our apartment feels as though it has a bit of the outside in it. I love the rattle of the blinds in the window-frame, dancing as the breeze drifts in. I love the taste of the air as I wash glasses at the kitchen sink late at night, diffusing the leftover pungency of aromatics diced on the cutting board for dinner. I love the impression of carelessness, of ease, of the unplugged.
A small nothing that has been making me happy these past few days, as I look out on the world with quiet eyes.
Post-Scripts.
+My pearl cardigan is available again, now in ultra-chic black! (My ivory one sold out.)
+Lusting after this La Double J.
+This sweet chambray ruffle midi dress is an extra 40% off with code TAKE40SALE.
+This dramatic necklace is so fun for summer.
+Maisonette’s house brand makes wonderful sweatshirts for little boys — currently 50% off! — and really cute swimwear.
+Have always wanted bamboo flatware for a summer table. Maybe this summer is THE summer. For the cost of a meal out on the town that we will likely not be able to enjoy, I could buy a couple of sets and enjoy all summer long…
+Love the layette brand 1212 (so, so soft), and this lemon print is really cute for summer jammies.
+This luggage rack with the blue toile straps (available on the white frame) is so chic! Never knew I needed a luggage rack…
+I keep seeing people talk about this “mermaid serum.” Intrigued…has anyone tried it?
+Didn’t realize that most of Hannah Andersson is 50% off, plus free shipping — perfect time to snag their classic jammies.
+I think I need these striped trousers!
+These earrings are so pretty (and reasonably priced).
+This ethereal white dress (featured in a post earlier this week) is 40% off now!