A magazine bonanza, smiley face note cards, and the pleasures of John Derian for Target
Plus, how relationships are getting lost in the sauce of everything else on your phone
I’m writing this by hand, sitting in the passenger seat, while my 16-year-old drives us home from lacrosse practice. 🤯 That’s right, my baby is a licensed driver now. I’m full of all the emotions, of course. I can remember the absolute elation of suddenly being able to get in the car and drive away from my parents, the accompanying sense that the world was brand new and just waiting for me to discover it. And yet, I *just* delivered that newborn and how is it possible they are letting newborns drive?!🤣 It’s a huge transition, and I’ve never been good at transitions.
Earlier this week, I read The Great Friendship Flattening (gift link), and it rang true for me that in a time of increasing cacophony and distraction, our phones aren’t helping our friendships thrive. I keep my phone on silent (so many spam calls and texts in the last few months) with notifications off except for Tim and our kids’ schools, but I’ve now added a few close friends, too.
All of my relationships live, at least in part, in my phone, where they are forced to share space with everything else that happens there. Lately, the feeling creeping up on me is that the pieces of my relationships that exist on that screen seem less and less distinguishable from all the other content I consume there. A lot happens inside my phone. It’s always trying to sell me stuff. Sometimes, it tries to scam me. It has games, videos, TV shows, movies, news, health trackers, podcasts, books, music, shopping, maps, work software, regular old internet browsing, and an app I was forced to download in order to use my doorbell…. So when my phone does its little mating calls of pings and buzzes, it could be bringing me updates from people I love, or showing me alerts I never asked for from corporations hungry for my attention. When I pull it out, content and communication appear in similar forms—notifications, social-media posts, vertical video—and they blur together.
Then, a few days later, I read Blackbird Spyplane’s essay You don’t look cool looking at your phone, which is 10000% true.
Barnes & Noble is one of my small joys, especially the magazine section and earlier today I had a chance to geek out; The World of Interiors, Home&Gardens, Maisons CoteEst and then a Christmas magazine bonanza that included Country Living Christmas Spectacular, Country Living Christmas (UK edition), Martha Stewart Holidays, Scandinavian Living Christmas Book to enjoy and then send to my mother in North Carolina.
One of my favorite childhood holiday memories is my mother stocking up on the Christmas magazines - in the time before the internet and Pinterest, those magazines were portals out of rural Vermont. My mother would rip out her favorite images and paste them into a notebook just for Christmas recipes and decorating ideas. It’s not lost on me that this Substack is a modern equivalent of my mother’s collection of notebooks.
A. Maison CoteEst has a feature titled “Citadelle Nature” which I initially thought was a feature on a single hotel. Thanks to Google Translate I realized it was actually a story on a region of upcountry southern France known as Massif Central - stunningly beautiful country and now on my wish list!
B. I spotted this Clarance House fabric in World of Interiors - I have a sofa that needs to be reupholstered - this would be a dream fabric.
C. Magazines will always have my heart, the tactile pleasure of turning the pages, the intentional quality that comes when someone chooses each photo, and also for the sense of serendipity - I never know when a particular image is going to strike a chord.
D. The defining characteristic of my childhood home was the hundreds of books it contained on every conceivable topic, time period, and place; green-bound Peterson Guides and European medieval histories next to tales of being lost at sea, along with every sort of children’s book. Although my parents are not particularly religious, the kids' section on the lowest shelves had a variety of religious tales, including the story of Noah’s Ark. I was fascinated by the imminent danger of the storm, the creative problem-solving needed to build the ark, and the ingenuity to find two of every animal. I spent hours imagining the chaos of the interior of the ark, and I asked endless questions about what it would have been like; I wanted to know what the animals ate and also what they did with all the poop (I am a very practical person!). My father was so patient with me - what I most remember is that he took every question seriously and discussed each scenario through with me. That feeling of being taken seriously and of him meeting me where I was; I try to meet my kids where they are in the same way. Later, he read me Moby Dick - more than once - and it’s no surprise that the part of that novel I remember is the descriptions of the conditions below deck.
E. This high-protein pasta was a Costco find. It got past my picky eater, and the macros will please all the protein and fiber heads out there.
F. I reordered my favorite notecards - the perfect size to say something but not be overwhelmed by having to say too much.
G. The John Derian things I had on my wish list (the large divided tin and the evil eye ornament for a friend) both sold out before 4:30am, but I was able to snag these cute tins.
H. and this tiny, pre-lit house that I think will look sweet on my mantel.
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I include a few bonus finds here each week for paid subscribers as a small token of appreciation for making this newsletter possible.
A. Gem legos!
B. A Cloud calendar!
I love John Derian and wish I had the budget to fill my house with his designs! I didn't know he was collaborating with Target until I read your post. I bought two mushroom pillows and a Christmas tree-shaped pillow.
Gem legos are 10/10 (we just put the together and boy howdy, they are so pretty! Costco had them in stock at a discount). And here are some unsolicited magazine recs for AGDS readers: Blumenhaus, The Plant, Bible of British Taste (available stateside at Plain Goods in CT), Pleasant Place, and Scenery! And while not a glossy, I think The Floral Observer would be much beloved by this audience, too. Don't sleep on Ebay searches/back issues of WOI and FMR—both timeless troves of inspiration available at a discount—and Flair, possibly the most delightful magazine ever made <3