My Latest Score: The Rhode Resort Dress.
I dedicated an entire post to this dress, but I finally snagged it in pink as a possibility for mini’s first birthday celebration. (You can get the look for less with this, which is currently marked down below $40!!!) I’m a little concerned about the length and volume of the skirt, which seem like they might dwarf my frame, but will report back! (Also, this breezy maxi dress of theirs is currently on sale…love that lipstick red color! I’d pair with my Hermes Oran sandals. You can get the look for less with this darling pair — under $80!)
You’re Sooooo Popular:
The most popular items on Le Blog this week:
+Apparently, the key to the modern kitchen.
+Move over, everything-bagel-seasoning-from-Trader-Joe’s — there’s a new cult following seasoning in town.
+Perfect with jeans on the weekend or a pencil skirt at work during the week.
+A smart solution for bathing a baby while traveling.
+Such a fun statement for travel!
+A fabulous cosmetics storage solution.
+Athleisure Cali-cool footwear.
#Turbothot: Roseanne.
On a whim, Mr. Magpie and I started watching Roseanne from its very first pilot episode via our Amazon Prime subscription. I knew who Roseanne was — and had a vague conception of her as a crass, rough-around-the-edges comedienne — but was never permitted to watch her show growing up and therefore didn’t really know anything about her.
This show is amazing. I find it pushing boundaries today, so I can only imagine what viewers thought of it when it first debuted in 1989. I’m sure that centering a sitcom on a blue collar family and their truthful struggles with finances and long hours of physical labor would have been shocking enough given that most TV series of that era were decidedly middle class, with conventional family values and schmaltzy plot lines. In the first episode, for example, Roseanne is called into a parent-teacher conference, requiring her to lose an hour of pay as she leaves work early and hustles through traffic to attend. When she arrives, the teacher breezily suggests that they reschedule, as Roseanne is a little bit late and the teacher is off to play squash with friends. Roseanne puts her foot down and insists on keeping the meeting, but the lesson lingers, hauntingly: what other seemingly straight-forward errands and responsibilities are that much more difficult when you are a blue collar laborer, paid by the hour? And what kinds of unfair assumptions do others make about you without understanding that your life is shaped in many ways by those economics? Class clashes like these take place all the time, and not without snarky commentary by Roseanne, ensuring that we attend to them.
But setting class frictions aside, the thing that startled me the most was the portrait of Roseanne as a mother. The show advances a dramatic departure from more conventional portrayals of motherhood: Roseanne is often foul-mouthed (in one of the first episodes, she refers to someone else’s mother as “a slut”), sarcastic to her children (often joking that she wishes they were dead), and physically different from the Betty Crocker paradigm of a healthful maternal figure, i.e., slim and aproned, with perfectly coiffed hair. Instead, Roseanne is overweight; she works a physical job in a factory; she drinks beer. But she is also one of the best mothers I’ve ever seen in a TV sitcom — maybe even in any film or TV venue. She is nurturing, engaged, smart, thoughtful. She ensures her children complete their homework, stand up for the right things, and feel loved — but without any of the cloying conventions to which we have likely become immune.
My favorite episode so far is the one in which her tomboy daughter gets her period and, distraught over it, insists on throwing all of her sports gear away and worries that she’ll now need to absorb the more feminine practices of her elder sister, like wearing pantyhose and painting her nails. Roseanne — whose own mother had tossed her a pamphlet on the subject and skirted further conversation altogether — sits on her daughter’s bed and tells her: “It’s not a disease. It’s something to celebrate. You’ve become a full-fledged member of the Woman Race.” Then the following ensues:
Roseanne: “Now you get to be a part of the whole cycle of things.”
Darlene: [Scoffs.]
Roseanne: “You know, the moon and the water and the seasons. It’s almost magical, Darlene, and you should be really proud today ’cause this is the beginning of a lot of really wonderful things in your life.”
Darlene: “Yeah, cramps.”
Roseanne: “Well, I’ll admit that’s one of the highlights.”
Darlene: “I think after a good night’s sleep, I’ll feel better in the morning.”
Roseanne: “I don’t know how to tell you this, but you ain’t gonna feel better for about 40 years.”
Darlene: “Name one good thing that could come out of this whole mess!”
Roseanne: “Okay, I can name three. Becky, D.J., and what’s that other kid’s name? You know the kind of bratty one?”
Darlene: Mom!
Roseanne: No, it’s not Mom. It’s… what is it?
Darlene: …Darlene.
I love this exchange. I love her positioning of her daughter’s period as a part of a powerful vision of womanhood, something that is not to be feared or hidden, but instead celebrated, both because it ties Darlene to “the Woman Race” and to the natural cycle of the universe (mystical!) and because it is the harbinger of good things to come. I’m dog-earing this conversation for the future with mini…
There are dozens of other similar exchanges and happenings that have caught my attention with their evolved, to-the-point, wise tenor, and I can only sit back and applaud the producers of this show for making space for an alternative — but no less nurturing and positive — view of motherhood.
#Shopaholic: The Unfussy Slide.
+I predict that the mule/slide will continue to reign supreme for the next few seasons — a simple and unfussy slide like this will stand up against the test of time.
+Y’all know how much I love my packing cubes. These ones come in the coolest prints! The marble set!!!!
+Guys, these gingham heels are BEYOND. They remind me of a pair that Carven had out a couple seasons ago that were all over the place. These are $130?!?!?! LOVE.
+Love these baskets, which come in great colors for a nursery or living space, and at a reasonable price!
+A monogrammed bathmat — love the font/monogram design! — in light of my personalized gear blitz.
+This is one of mini’s birthday gifts. I die over it.
+I wish I had known about these before Valentine’s Day. NEXT YEAR!!!
+This cashmere sweater is marked down in select colors. Love.
P.S. Dress like one of my favorite TV characters of all time.
LOVE the color of the Rhode Resort dress! Bookmarking it for consideration this season…
I, too, was not permitted to watch Roseanne as a child, but I’m intrigued! I love the exchange with Darlene, and it reminds me of the conversation my mom & I had when I got my period for the first time back in 1996 (!) — not the sarcasm, but the framing it as entry into a special club. Love that.
I was SO into those gingham Carven heels when they débuted … going to keep my eyes out for similar options this season!
P.S. I love Mr. Boddington! They have the cutest city prints … I have the New York one to remind me of my roots and to add a bit of whimsy 🙂
DEF worth a watch, MK! I think you’d like it!! xoxo
omg I am so happy that dress comes in pink. I have the black one and reach for it constantly!! xx
Good to know! I have a few dresses in a similar shape and legit wear them constantly. xoxo