What are you up to tonight? Do you have standing plans or routines you lean into every Friday? Are you a pizza-and-movie-on-Friday-night family? Do you go out to eat?
Landon and I typically prefer to keep Friday nights for the two of us, whether that means staying in and watching a movie or grabbing a bite to eat somewhere local (image above from a recent Friday night out at Aventino in Bethesda). If at all possible, we schedule group activities, dates, outings, dinners, etc for Saturday night instead. There is something about Friday night that calls for the lowkey, the unfussy, the intimate. I was therefore startled to learn that my daughter will have one of her sports practices every Friday from 5-6:15 p.m. this fall (!) Could there be a worse time? Lol. We will of course make do but I’ll admit I was a bit crestfallen about the prospect. Then I remembered a wise tenured mom friend of mine who has children older than my own. A few years ago, she told me: “Once they get into sports, your nights are no longer your own. You have to learn to be unselfish about it.” She was so clear-eyed about this surrender; I logged it away in admiration. And so I thought of her as I inwardly flagged at our upcoming Friday night routine and told myself: “be unselfish.”
Still, I’m quietly celebrating tonight (would never let on to my daughter about this!) because it’s the final Friday of zero plans until November. I’m hoping we mix up martinis and play a round of Wingspan before making our way into the kitchen, where I play sous-chef or just sit pretty and turn the records over on the turntable every now and then while Landon prepares us dinner. My daughter will be out (on her first sleepover ever! I was so reluctant to permit her to do this but she’s heading into fourth grade and we adore her best friend and their family and feel safe with it) so we’ll probably turn on a movie with my son and eat in front of the TV with him and then tuck ourselves into bed on the early side. If the weather gods can cue a good old fashioned August thunderstorm to add to the coziness, I’d be much obliged.
What about you? Plans? Rituals? Share!
Post-Scripts.
+The best movies for family movie night.
+The best book-based movies! And, my friends over at Lit Society shared a list of book-to-screen adaptations coming out this fall. Exciting!
+Movies that feel like a chocolate chip cookie.
+Three great cocktail recipes to try: Magpie Mai Tais, THE BEST Margs, and a cocktail for a mezcal skeptics.
Shopping Break.
+J. Crew’s new tiny rollneck is a fun twist on a classic! I ordered in the red stripe. It’s reminding me of the Hampton Staud sweater a bit — I like the idea of having something that nips in at / defines the waist with all these slouchy and loose fit pants we’re wearing this fall.
+Trending among Magpies: these dark rinse jeans. I ordered too! They come in petite.
+Obsessed with this jacket.
+Absolutely stunning dress for a fall special occasion. Those pockets are everything. Would look fab with Manolos.
+The accessory you need for fall is 25% off. I ordered pairs for both myself and Mr. Magpie!
+These are basically the only shorts I run in. The fit is elite, elite, elite. Ideal leg length/inseam, has a little zippered pocket, super comfortable, and somehow flattering. Therefore I don’t feel bad about ordering them in the new black color. Use code SHOOP20.
+Ogee is now available at Sephora! I’ve been curious about this brand since I saw one of the sculpting sticks on my friend Marion’s beauty counter at her home! I ordered the sculpting blush stick in topaz and pink diamond. I’m not really a contouring gal / pro but I’m going to play around with this. The colors are gorgeous! (They also have this blush / contour / highlighting trio available!)
+Fun fall blouse from Farm Rio.
+Loving these new corded charm necklaces and connection bracelets from Aurate! Use code JENSHOOP for 20% off.
+Barbour’s Anthro capsule is gorgeous! Love the idea of this jacket over a La Ligne crewneck with jeans. And how cute is this dog sweater?
+Treated myself to this in the stripe. It was calling my name for cozy Friday nights in.
+Leave it to Ann to make camo look polished. Love. Also love their iconic shirtdress in a new fall Liberty floral. Swoon!
+Don’t sleep on Alice Walk tees! SO SOFT — sort of a swingy, stretchy material in dreamy pima cotton.
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Friday night is for staying in! I love when all the kids are home ( they are 18,16,14) so often now they are out with friends. We love to order takeout sushi or pizza and relax at home with a bottle of wine and a movie. Bonus if the kids will hang out with us after eating!
Love – sounds like an ideal Friday night to me!
Our Friday ritual has changed throughout the years due to the ages and stages of our son. The lower school Friday night at the local Italian restaurant, with other families we knew in the neighborhood coming as they could, changed to dinner with my mother and sister after they moved to be closer to us. The covid years seemed to have no structure really and those merged into the beginning of intensive high school sports Fridays. Our cleaning lady has always come on Friday mornings as well so we head into the weekend with a sparkling home! I’m now at this weird stage of my own life where my favorite night of the week is Sunday evening! Especially when my son heads back to university, it’s the time when we try new recipes heavily featuring ingredients my otherwise not very picky son dislikes, such as mushrooms. It’s just a lovely time to reconnect and gear up for the week ahead.
I love this perspective on how the rituals/traditions shift — and also how the feeling of the week does, too. I’ve felt that about Mondays in the past few years. They used to be “get up and grind” kind of days — sprinting to get everything back in order — and now I consider them “gentle starts” and try to keep my to-dos to a minimum or at least manageable.
Interesting food for thought, how our perceptions of the week shift as we move through seasons of life. Love the sound of your Sunday evenings!!
xx
I love this discussion! Our Friday night ritual starts after bedtime (8 p.m.). While I am tucking the kids in, my husband is making me a cocktail and ordering takeout from our favorite local tex-mex restaurant…we do this so regularly in fact, that the staff knows my husband by name (and our order for that matter). They treat us like family, loading us up with extras. While my husband is out to pick up our order, I take a quick shower/do my face routine and slip into a pair of pretty pajamas. We usually watch a movie or another episode of whatever tv show we are powering through. Sometimes I wonder if we will transition this routine to a family night- watching old favorites such as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. It never dawned on me that we might have practice on Fridays- I thought Fridays were only for high school sports! This is wild!
Well THIS Friday ritual sounds divine! I love that you order from the same spot every week! So charming. What are you watching tonight?
xx
We will be watching the latest episode of Silo (apple TV). The chokehold this show has on us right now…counting the minutes!
Oo never even heard of it! I am so slow on the TV show recs!!
The bandana socks are so fun! I’m here to say I love socks, and have a great collection that take up real estate in my dresser. I’m never sure (or maybe confident is the better word) of how to style them with cool mom outfits. Would welcome some ideas for fall!
Hi! Honestly, the easiest way for me to style a bold sock is with an Adidas Samba or the M. Gemi sneaker — something about their low-profile silhouette displays just enough sock that you don’t need to have super-cropped pants or anything. I find they look really cool with a statement sock, too. That’s been my “on-ramp” to cool sock styling…will continue to play around and share more notes this fall!
xx
Alternate idea! I don’t know how comfy you would be with your mom and dad or a sibling doing the Friday practice, but when my two brothers were on two different soccer teams my aunt and her wife quietly joined the rotation of adults taking them to practice, and that was just as nice and special if not more so than them showing up for the games! Plus sometimes a soft serve cone with a favorite adult on the way back from practice is just the thing as they get ready to “soil the nest.” Just mentioning since even a few nights of this to look forward to may make the stretch to November easier.
Our Friday ritual is to go to the playground for an hour (it clears out pretty fast on Fridays) and then home for bath/dinner/movie. Friday is the night I’m most likely to let them stay up! Plus it lends itself to a lazier Saturday morning.
I love this idea…and you just reminded me that I have several mom friends with daughters on the same team and that maybe we could sometimes take turns with this! Love. Sometimes even this many years into motherhood I just assume I have to do it all, but it’s not the case!!
Love a Friday evening playground visit!!
xx