Weekend Vibes: Navigating Storms as a Mother.

*I took photo above last weekend, while visiting the Swan House in Atlanta. Can you even!?

My Latest Snags.

I’m now looking squarely forward to holiday gatherings. This week, I snagged this $118 tartan top, this cherry red ALC, this tartan skirt, and this silver lurex turtleneck.

More festive finds here.

This Week’s Bestsellers.

I’m proud of us this week, team. This roundup of bestsellers is absolutely incredible and I want it all. It also all somehow goes together perfectly?! CHIC! Y’all led me to order this Alex Mill cardigan. I had thought it would be a perfect casual Thanksgiving day outfit and now I see it will also work perfectly with tartans / Christmas, too.

01. ZARA FOIL CARDIGAN // 02. SEA CARDIGAN // 03. BROOKS BROTHERS TAFFETA SKIRT // 04. DOEN MULE (VELVET! COMES IN OTHER COLORS!) // 05. J. CREW TAFFETA TARTAN DRESS // 06. ALEX MILL CARDIGAN // 07. J. CREW TURTLENECK* // 08. STORY ORCHESTRA NUTCRACKER BOOK // 09. ALPHABET TRACING PAD // 10. KIDKITS SENSORY KIT** 11. J. CREW FAUX LEATHER JACKET // 12. BLONDO WATERPROOF BOOTS // 13. TRUE & CO BRALETTE*** // 14. HANNI HYDRATION DUO // 15. VINYL MONOGRAM DECAL (FOR LUGGAGE, ETC) // 16. PORTABLE CHARGER // 17. JENNI KAYNE EVERYDAY SWEATER (25% OFF!!!)

*Sheer – you need a tank beneath.

**This is a Thanksgiving theme one but there are lots of Christmas/holiday themed options to consider as surprises for your children or gifts! 10% off all purchases with code MAGPIE10.

***This is my most-worn bra. I honestly never wear anything else. Smoothing, comfortable, flattering, works with lots of necklines/styles. Target has a diffusion line version that many Magpies have reported to be identical to “the real thing” and it’s about half the price.

Weekend Musing: Navigating Storms as a Mother.

“Never let your storm get your children wet.” Saw this on Instagram and had one of those drop-everything-and-stand-stock-still-while-I-digest-this moments, rapidly rattling through an audit of my recent moments of frustration and impatience as a mother. This morning, my children embroiled themselves in a standard weekday-morning spat (“stop LOOKING at me, Hill” and “Mama, Emory said I have a stink face”). I try my hardest not to involve myself in these run-of-the-mill sibling stand-offs, instead offering high-level suggestions: “Why don’t you leave the room / change seats / find something else to do / tune him out / tell her how you feel / etc.” This scenario pressurizes itself when I know the clock is ticking and we need to be out the door by 7:40, and yet there they are, splayed around the dining room table, fighting and not touching their oatmeal. I intercepted today, taking my son out of the room to talk him down and reassure him, and when I returned, my daughter was livid. “Why does he get all the attention?” she demanded. A fat tear rolled down her cheek.

What I wanted to say was: You are older, and these arguments are absurd, and why can you not simply ignore him!? What I hoped was that she would quickly eat her oatmeal and get into her uniform. What I desired was to state, baldly, that I am tired of refereeing these pointless, recursive contretemps, and that my involvement that day had nothing to do with giving one or the other more attention and everything to do with just getting on with it. But what I remembered was: “Never let your storm get your children wet.” It’s not that I was stepping into the day with an axe to grind, but that I was more focused in that moment on what would be comfortable and convenient for me. I was elbowing her raincloud out in pursuit of my own sunlight. We had a productive conversation afterward. We talked about what would make the mornings easier for her, and what attention she wanted. I was a little startled when she maturely asked whether she could sit downstairs and have her hair tied back now, and go up to brush her teeth after Hill was done, so that she could have more time to cool off without him around. (Typically, we do everything in sync: children eat, then children go upstairs to brush, then children come down for hair to be done, etc).

I am leery of parenting slogans that insinuate that mothers must assume sainthood status by putting aside our very natural swings of emotions in order to properly fulfill the role. I also rarely take kindly to a phrase that begins with “never do this…” (I am a rule-follower by nature, but something makes my skin crawl when I’m on the receiving end of that kind of blanket instruction.) So perhaps the phrase needs some massaging. But I have to say, I’ve been finding it a handy rubric. Am I doing this because I’m lost in my own storm? Are my private stresses/frustrations spilling over into my role as a parent? I know I’ll never be able to totally unthread my own concerns and anxieties from the way I lead my life as a wife, parent, sister, friend, writer, but I can at least see when I’m permitting them to over-color my actions.

What do you think?

Post-Scripts.

+Another great Alex Mill cardigan. Endlessly versatile.

+Obsessed with the silhouette of these coated jeans. Imagined with a metallic mule like these (40% off with code BFCM23).

+If I’ve not mentioned it recently…this dry shampoo is one of my top three favorite beauty discoveries this year. Enables me to get an extra day between washes.

+This is our exact tree topper. We bought ours at the ABC Home store in Manhattan a few years ago! It’s paper mache so easy to set atop the tree without it tilting.

+Love this pearl hair claw.

+Petite Plume sent my family some holiday pajamas, and I was beyond thrilled — I have bought so many pairs of their jammies over the years for my littles. I selected these for myself and these for my children. I was so torn, though — I almost got them these skiiers instead because we are taking them skiing for the first time this holiday season and I figured a ski motif would have a longer “season” than the more explicit holiday ones. Such great patterns! All are 20% off right now with code BLACKFRIDAY.

+Merit is running a 20% off sitewide sale with code PRIVATE20. I love so many of their items, but especially their complexion stick and angled brush, which I use daily.

+So tempted by these green velvet Guccis.

+Oo la la, a perfect ribbed, cherry red turtleneck for under $30.

+Love these under-$50 bow earrings.

+Your mother / sisters need these terrycloth headbands. I use when washing face / applying mask. Slightly ridiculous but functional.

+If you waited to the last minute to order a Thanksgiving dress…expedite the shipment of this Zimmermann to yourself. (More Thanksgiving ideas here.)

+Proper Table is offering 20% off sitewide with code FF20. If you’ve been a Magpie for awhile, you know we use their acrylic placemats daily. Great for kids — can be wiped clean — but have more upscale designs than you’d anticipate.

+Just ordered these fill-in-the-blank thank you notes for holiday gifts for my children. Will be so nice to have less oversight over this process!

+Sporty and Rich just launched a limited edition line of Sambas with Adidas. Really good colors!

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