Wit and Delight

Photo by Melissa Oholendt Originally published in June 2022 When I was twenty-four, I moved into my first apartment alone. It was a 400-square-foot studio, and the kitchen flowed into the living room, and the living room flowed into the bedroom. It was impossible to host in the “conventional” sense—friends sprawled about spaciously, conversation flowing from a large kitchen island to a dining room to a sitting room for after-dinner drinks. And yet, it was impossible not to host at all.

Joe’s cousin got married last weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, and we brought the family along for the ride. I have always wanted to visit, but had no real agenda other than to show up, eat lots of fresh seafood, and look around. We went in early June, which is not high season. The hydrangeas everyone photographs weren’t out yet. What was in bloom were cascading azaleas and climbing roses in every color. What I didn’t expect was to be genuinely shaken by how beautiful some of these places are.

Father’s Day is on Sunday, June 21! There’s still time to order the perfect gifts for the dads in your life. Here are some of my favorite Father’s Day gift ideas, reviewed and approved by verified Dad, Joe Peters. Cool without trying. Part of ALD’s Uniform collection. Cotton twill, micro logo, nothing fancy. Eight dollars. Loosens tight muscles better than anything twice the price. That jersey he keeps in the storage box deserves a wall.

Memorial Day sales are in full swing, and this week is one of the best windows of the year for purchasing the home stuff you’ve needed to update and replace. Mattresses and bedding hit their deepest discounts, patio and outdoor furniture get marked down hard because stores are clearing spring inventory, and pretty much every major furniture and decor retailer runs a sitewide event.

I did some planting last weekend for Mother’s Day. I’ve been collecting pots and vessels all spring, mostly under the influence of Willow Crossley, the British florist who treats a chipped bowl, a tin can, or a shell as seriously as a $400 urn. I love her for it. A curated assortment of the outdoor planters I found is below. Be sure to check out the link at the end of this post to browse more than 30 of my favorite outdoor planters! We have a handful of these collected over the years.

Neutrals are important colors in interior design, even if you tend to be drawn to bold colors. And there’s a lot to navigate when it comes to neutral paint color selection. I wanted to share a few of the best neutral paint colors I’ve used in our homes, why I’ve been drawn to them, and what I think they bring to a room. In the list below, I’m including four very different colors: white, cream, light pink (which visually reads as neutral), and black.

Every book I’ve loved this year has been about a woman stepping out of a performance and into something messier. Real and with consequence. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I’ve been doing the same thing. Quietly, awkwardly, mostly in my own head. These stories have been a permission slip. They’ve shown me what it looks like to walk away from the constructed self and into the unmapped country of who you actually are. Some of it is gorgeous. Some of it is brutal.

Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday, May 10, which means gifting season is upon us. And of all the gifting seasons, this one is often the most fraught. How can one gift possibly express the current a mother moves through—love, joy, fear, worry, all at once? You don’t try. You tell them. And then you pick a gift that says I know you. I think about you. The you who lives outside this role you spend 24/7 fulfilling. The you who will still be here long after the kids are out of the house.

If you’re anything like me, winter tends to do a number on you. By the time spring rolls around, I’m aching to spend more time outside (without being bundled in layers up to my eyeballs), craving more social outings, and eager to open the windows and welcome some fresh air into my home. Perhaps you, my friend, are feeling the same way. Perhaps you, too, are aching for a seasonal shift—within yourself, your relationships, your routines, and your home.

Collage by me | Outfit inspiration by Lucy Williams and Leandra Medine I planned ahead for my spring break packing list this year. I made a cup of coffee, opened my laptop with genuine confidence, and filled a cart with things that excited me—new shapes, new silhouettes, the jelly sandal trend I’d been eyeing for a year. Then I returned almost all of it. Package after package, nearly everything landing as “not me.” In my defeat, I took a pencil to paper and tried to figure out what went wrong.