Lovefool

I love Valentine's Day

The ceremony of it, the slightly humiliating hope for surcees and chocolate. Even the most clear-eyed among us might indulge in something pink and unnecessary.

I know all the arguments against it, and I agree with many of them. And yet February arrives and restraint swiftly exits stage left. Consider this a small allowance for the pleasure of the thing itself.

I don’t require a defense of it, or a takedown, or a think piece about why it’s fake or capitalist or embarrassing. I like it. The excess, the artifice, the temporary softness. This is not about romance so much as it is about the pleasure of leaning into something slightly ridiculous.

Indulge me!

for the girls

1. I am raising an equal opportunist, so cats abound. She’ll lose her noodle over this sweater.

2. Each family member received one singular, identical piece of mail from camp last year. It read: “Stop sending letters.” Here’s hoping for better epistolary luck this year.

3. A variation on a theme: cat bookmark. (Buxton Books carries them, if you’re in Charleston.)

4. Sk8r girl slip-ons (love the hearts, too)

5. Honestly, buy them nothing. Kids want boxes and long sticks. But if you do buy something, buy a niche container to hold their collections, hobbies, or money. I’ll slap some letter stickers on this and it’ll become a spy kit or trove of her archaeological finds.

6. Girls are simple. They just want puppies and chocolate.

7. These children’s Rothy’s are giving Alessandro Michele.

(I’m shopping through the lens of having a girl, but all of this feels delightfully kid-agnostic and worth looking at the other colorways.)

for the girlies

8. My new carpool look. Is it a jacket? Is it pajamas?

9. I hired a professional organizer (a story for another time), and it inspired me to give the closet under the stairs a facelift. This cordless sconce with gathered shade is on its way to spark joy while restocking toilet paper.

10. Let your husband believe this red top is a gift for him.

11. Very very very into organza

12. Just replaced all the dinky wood plate holders propping up small artwork around my house with these sturdy architectural brass stands.

13. I declared a new resolution after publishing my resolutions post, and it is to organize my recipes in a way that is accessible, does not require using my phone, and frees me from paying ongoing subscriptions to access archived recipes. I ordered this recipe binder, these binder dividers, and these editable templates, and I am going analog.

14. Spring Break is booked and I have dreams of defrosting. Sandals for the occasion.

For the men, if you feel so inclined (and you shouldn’t). If you’re looking for an anthropological justification for buying them nothing, watch this. I’m not even making a collage:

15. My friend Mary Nelson has been bragging about being “bricked up” after buying this little gadget. (LOL.) Romance isn’t dead, people.

16. Tickets to The Charleston Show. Save the consumerism for March 19th.

17. My husband’s favorite sweaters are on sale.

xoxoxo