Hi There!

Hi – saying hello to you all, because it has been a while! I keep meaning to post and have two or three Weekend Update posts worth of links which I will put up! One day (so apologies in advance if you get NYT articles from October in December posts!).

We did our first road trip as a family, to Legoland over Thanksgiving break, which was nice and a lot funner than I thought (said by someone who does not like sitting in a car for long periods). We did a stop in Solvang on the way down to San Diego, and then a stop in LA on the way up, which is an itinerary I’d recommend to anyone in the Bay Area contemplating a similar trip (well….I might say with children over three years old who can stand some time in the car). But oh God! The food in Solvang! I could eat Danish pastries for days (all that freaking rum and marzipan)!

Anyway, I did some shopping over the weekend, but like a lot of articles are saying, Black Friday was kind of a bust. I haven’t really participated in the past few years, but this year ramped it up as there were quite a few kids items we needed to stock on – Hanna Andersson pajamas, random Madewell jeans to try at 50% off as they don’t go on sale otherwise and/or are final sale once they’re something like a measly 30% off, etc. I didn’t get any designer goodies. I think those are reduced later, anyway.

My most desired wishlist item right now are these Alaia ballet flats. However if I was going to drop this much on ballet flats I should have done it a year ago when I first wanted them and not now, I know, I know. Am still debating whether it is worth it at all to get some sort of a knockoff but the specific cut of the Alaia is just so good (not to mention quality).

I also quite like this asymmetric Gucci bag (but would probably opt for a solid leather version).

My favorite worn item right now are these Quince oversized cashmere fisherman sweaters – I recently got a cropped one because I like it so much. In total I now have 3! Two longer ones to cover my bum with leggings and a third cropped. I need to do a review later but just posting for now, and also noting that I have found what I am pretty sure is the same thing from Bloomingdales – which, if it is on sale at $120 – is cheaper (I have a Quince referral code for $20 off which brings my version to around the same price but it currently requires a $200 purchase which is irritating).

All the resurgence of 90’s fashion is confusing me and I really must just stay away. Saw this fleece in the window of a shop the other day and was very interested but upon trying it on realized I resembled Amy Poehler in Mean Girls (the “cool mom”) and put it back. It doesn’t feel like I’m getting older (well no, actually I feel aches more each day). But how do you know when to have fun with clothes and when it’s time to leave items for the young ones? In this case I decided that given I live in the Bay Area, I have enough free tech branded fleece not to need to buy any more.

Anyway. I’ve been in touch with some of you on DMs on Instagram, etc. I know that the world is a dark place right now. Often I feel as if it is unbearable. But it’s not, or rather, we do have to bear it. All of you have my greatest affection during this season and thank you as always for your thoughts and notes. I know you’re all busy! I am too. And I’ll post more!