The June Edit
high summer, pregnant af, & nesting szn
The June Moodboard: Summer Whites
My moodboard this month is a love letter to summer whites, rattan, and simplistic dressing. Inspo is a crisp glass of Sancerre (even though I can’t have that just yet:) The third trimester has turned me into a creature of very specific wants. Specifically, the simplicity of natural fibers, the ease of a great bag, the fantasy of sitting somewhere near water with nothing too urgent or pending. If you click the collage, it will take you to my curated monthly ShopMy. Check it out!
Bookshelf Styling
I’ve been knee-deep in nursery planning lately ~obviously~ and one thing I keep coming back to, both for our own space and for clients, is the bookshelf. Done right, it’s one of the most beautiful and functional things in a room. Done wrong, it’s just clutter.
I got this antique-ish Ethan Allen bookshelf from Facebook Marketplace for $100. Working right now to figure out how to anchor it and how to style. One thing our house really lacks right now is bookshelves, and for a magazine, book, and trinket collector, that needs to be remedied ASAP. Starting with this nursery bookshelf.
What I’m Reading
“Yesteryear” by Claire Clairo Burke
Speaking of books, I just finished Yesteryear last month; the book everyone reads after they read “Strangers” by Belle Burden. Both of these books are slated to become films, this one with Anne Hathaway at the helm. The writing is genuinely good, and I respect the twist. But the whole thing felt like a hand slap to anyone who’s ever chosen a more traditional way of living, and I found myself bristling at it in a way I didn’t entirely expect.
Here’s where I land: I believe deeply in a woman’s right to live exactly the life she wants. And that means I believe equally in the woman who chooses something traditional and the woman who doesn’t. What I don’t love is when one choice gets held up as enlightened and the other gets written as a cautionary tale. It’s well-crafted. I’d recommend it. It just left a bad taste in my mouth, which, sometimes, means a book is doing something worth sitting with.
Next on The Docket: “The Calamity Club” by Kathryn Stockett
So this book is a mammoth. 656 pages in total—I don’t know whyyyy authors do this because 1. It’s intimidating to the reader, and 2. Typically, you can edit down the story to 400 or less pages. I find this to be painfully true of books hitting the 600+ page mark.
However, I am really excited about this book. Kathryn Stockett, if you remember, wrote the book-turned-award-winning-movie The Help. And if you also remember, Stockett — a white southern woman from Mississippi — wrote of the deep struggles, roles, and interpersonal connections within the Black community where her book was set: Jackson, MS. While the novel was at first applauded and even rewarded, as it sank in, people began to question whether these were Stockett’s stories to tell at all.
After the huge response and criticism that followed her debut, I just know this one will again create an interesting discourse. The novel is set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, during the Great Depression and follows an orphan named Meg and a struggling spinster named Birdie. This one feels like it will dive deep into female friendships and the roles of women at the time.
Follow me on GoodReads if you haven’t already!
Chic Diaper Bags
Form over function, utilitarian over style. Do you have to pick? I think sadly, yes, you do. Especially for something like a diaper bag. Juggling a baby, a stroller, and a bag is a lot, you need it to work for you and your routine and stature. Here’s what I’m considering:
The Sezane Justine Basket Bag ($355) — the rattan-with-embroidered-flowers option. French, effortless, not remotely practical, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
The Call It By Your Name Tote ($250) — hand-embroidered in Paris with a six-week creation time. The kind of bag you tell people about.
The Minicoton Basket No.02 (S69.90) — actually designed for parents. The handles clip onto a stroller, the interior is water-resistant, and at that price, I wouldn’t cry if it got covered in milk.
The Tide Hill Hydrangea Tote ($118) — Charlie gave this to me for our anniversary yesterday and I felt so seen. He found it completely on his own: hydrangeas embroidered across canvas, Oxford-stripe lining, brass clasp. Might need to buy dividers for this one.
Welp, that’s June from me. I hope wherever you are, there’s a little white linen and a glass of something cold involved.
xx,
Caro