ChickLits has a brand new look 👀

Plus, a rose by any other name...

ChickLits is here with a brand new look!! What JOY! I’ve been wanting to lean into the creation of a space for women who, like me, love to read and love beautiful things and want to get their fix in a single place. Also, what’s more beautiful than a truly excellent book? It’s pretty high on the list for me.

It’s all of the same content with a little refresh to make it feel more intentional. Mostly I’m here for happy inboxes all around!

With all of the madness going on in the world right now, why not dot our lives with moments of delight?? I have the incredible Holiday Studio to thank for this gorgeousness. The colors! The subtle nod to bookplates and bindings! The vintage British seaside vibes! Oh baby.

Unrelated, but summer is here. We turned the trampoline sprinkler on and this pic of Nell with her best friend having the time of their lives encapsulates everything I want for the season! Happiness!!

• The always delightful

  Joanna Goddard
  mentioned Amy Poehler’s new podcast (is it new?), in particular the episode with Michelle Obama. Amy Poehler’s excess saliva! Michelle’s bedtime routine! Her hilarious brother! I laughed all the way home from school drop off.

• I listened to the brilliant

  Elise Loehnen
  ‘s recent solo episode twice, it was that good. About how May is a particularly challenging month for moms with the demands of end of year obligations and summer camp jigsaw puzzling and the expectations surrounding Mother’s Day. She encourages us to tap into our big creative mother energy (men and women) and I felt inspired and enlivened.

• How much fun is this fruity, spangly orange blossom phone wristlet?

• Joyce Lee
  added these Rothy clogs to her favorite things on Mother Mag

  and I immediately snatched up a pair because who is cooler than Joyce Lee? They are the best. I wear them as house shoes and they save my legs while I’m standing around prepping for dinner or working on my laptop from the kitchen island… I think I spend all of my time in the kitchen?

• The perfect summertime tote.

• A golden yellow lace mini skirt encrusted with rhinestones to be worn with an oversized tee?? Summertime!

• My love for butter yellow lives on and these dreamy minimalist sandals are high on my wishlist.

• At a holiday market that I was working back in December I randomly got a second piercing in my ear from the guy in the booth across the way. I feel like I’m still trying to figure out what works in the second hole and think a single pavé huggie might be the answer.

• Late to the Sirens game, but two episodes in and I am hooked on this weird, fun, absurd drama about an ultra rich ornithologist, her perky assistant and her messy, hilarious sister.

• Rattan. Clamshell. Table Lamp. It’s like something plucked straight from the depths of my mind! LOVE.

• The latest addition to my hair growth routine.

• Yep, yep, yep. How good is this matching terry set with names like Lobster Landline and Shellphone Booty?? Top and shorts. 🦞

The Names by Florence Knapp

As I so cleverly alluded to in the subtitle of this post (ha!), that line from Romeo + Juliet popped into my head every time I looked at the cover of The Names. After discovering that her heartthrob Romeo is a Montague, her family’s mortal enemy, Juliet wonders what’s in a name. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Florence Knapp turns this idea on its head in her astounding and absolutely devastating debut novel The Names. Can a name change everything?

The novel opens with Cora walking with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register the birth of her son. Her husband, Gordon, is a menacing, controlling presence from the start and he makes it clear that he expects her to name the baby after himself. But something in Cora rebels, wanting more for her child than to carry the weight of that.

The story unspools from there following three alternate versions based on Cora’s decision that day in the registrars office. Three stories, three names, each one hopeful and crushing and beautiful and brilliant.

Reader warning, the dark heart of this novel is the painful examination of domestic abuse. A number of scenes are hard to stomach. But there is also incredible resilience and redemption. It cracked me wide open. Brilliant.

1. Once a ballerina, always a ballerina. Love this woven updated take on a ballet flat in a dark espresso.

2. Cora’s world is hard enough. I want to see her lean into all of the cozy, comfortable things like these pretty striped pajamas.

3. A classic, perfect white button down is the answer to each iteration of Cora. This one is pricey, but with the care she takes, it will last a lifetime.

4. One of the characters is a metal worker, crafting gorgeous silver and gold jewelry. Would love a simple but beautiful piece like this link necklace.

5. The Names by Florence Knapp

6. I live in these pants and think that Maia, the daughter, would too when she’s not on call at the hospital where she works. As comfortable as scrubs but much, much better looking.

7. This wavy handmade gold ring feels like another piece Julian would create for his beloved.

8. On days when Cora needs a little extra coverage for heart-wrenching reasons, reach for this whipped SPF.

9. All of the characters could use this grounding incense to reset.

10. I’m a sucker for gardening gear and would wear these French blue overalls nonstop while I putter around.

11. The best pruning shears for trimming Cora’s rose bushes.

Hope you’re reading something good!