FIRST:
Good morning from a brisk Santa Ynez where we’re slowwwwly starting to get back in the swing of things. I took the girls to school this morning and there on a wide open country road, we spotted a flock of wild turkeys. Puffed-up bronzey iridescent creatures with bare heads and bright red fleshy necks. We rolled down the windows to hear them gobble. Inch by inch as the glass slid down into the doors, the cold air seeped through making the warmth of the seat heater that much cozier. We always see turkeys this time of year but to these LA eyes, it feels new, and comedic each time. The best part is the wonder on the girls' faces, mouths agape as their sweet giggles increase in volume as they parrot their best gobbles. This year's soundtrack was a remix with newborn baby sounds, a symphony capturing this exact moment of our lives.
The baby is so fresh and new so there will be no trains, planes, or automobiles for us this Thanksgiving. This comes with a lot of family FOMO but I’m trying to focus on the JOMO. The slow, the easy, the gentle, the rare. This year we’ll be here on the farm and our close friends are coming up. Close friends include star chef, Ms. Gaby Dalkin and Thanksgiving is her thing! She’s in full control over the menu (outlined in ‘The Weekly Edit’) and suggested not doing a whole bird, opting for her turkey meatballs instead which opens up oven real estate for the real TG stars which we all know are the sides. I’m aligned!
But really, how is it time for Thanksgiving?!
Besides the Thanksgiving menu, this week we’re talking Thanksgiving weekend outfits, early Black Friday sales, the final season of one of the best shows and in the less fluffy but meaningful department: making peace with pregnancy loss.
How are you all? I hope well as we officially enter the holiday craze!
XX,
G
THE WEEKLY EDIT:
Our ‘What’s Gaby Cooking’ Thanksgiving Menu:
Turkey Meatballs
Winter Greens Salad with Pecorino Dressing
The BEST Mashed Potatoes
Spicy Garlic Green Beans
Wild Mushroom Stuffing
Corn Soufflé
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
Thanksgiving Attire:
While sous-cheffing for Gaby: my oldest coziest sweats and Freda slippers.
For TG dinner: The DÔEN Charlene dress & the Dorsey Kate necklace.
The rest of the weekend: monochrome sweats combos in grey on grey, navy on navy, and brown on brown.
Early Black Friday Shopping:
Anine Bing kicked off early access to her big sale and it's really good! Pieces worth note:
This super chic white suit (pants here) is everything! The blazer and trousers are great separates and they’re perfection together
The Quinn is one of her best selling blazers and it’s on sale in white linen and dark army green in mohair-wool
A staple oversized shirt dress is always a good idea
GAP kids & baby is 40-50% off:
I ordered the girls winter jackets: the sherpa for my five year old and the toddler peacoat for my four year old
Jenni Kayne is 25% off making it a good time to scoop up:
Her coveted cashmere sweaters
A timless cashmere overcoat
An elevated slip dresses
Lulu & Geeorgia is 25% off sitewide!
Watching: The Crown Season 6
The first four episodes of the sixth and final season of The Crown come out today - consider me excited! The remaining six come out on on 14 December 2023.
Eating: Approachable Ayurveda
My girlfriend, Stefanie Boucher, is an Ayurvedic practitioner who has been kind enough to deliver beautiful and nourishing postpartum meals to help me recover (think kitchiri, golden milk, red lentil soup, gluten-free seed bread, tumeric ghee, etc.). They are so good and just what my body needs in this tender time.
If you’re interested in Ayurveda, she’s launching a 21-day mind, body, and beauty cleanse which is a comprehensive program tailored to individual needs. The cleanse also includes a member portal offering of Ayurvedic tutorials, meditation and movement guides, nutrition advice, recipes, etc. Could be fun for the new year!
Alright, let’s get into it:
Making Peace With Pregnancy Loss
In the spirit of gratitude and giving thanks, I’ve been mulling over all that I’m thankful for, and fittingly, closing a big in-between chapter is what I keep coming back to. Closing it and all that the finality has brought and means. The chapter I’m talking about is the long, arduous, heartbreaking, exhausting mind game which at the same time is the most beautiful, transformative, fulfilling, and meaningful season of growing our family. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel once we were “done,” and perhaps some of those feelings come later (like the grandmother at drop off today who marveled at our chaos and reminded me to enjoy it all, she had five and longs for the hard days), but now that I’m on the other side, I’m simply thankful and grateful.
Building our family pushed me mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually to the brightest, and darkest, corners. Places I never could have imagined going when we naively began trying after blissfully getting married. A naivety that was so profoundly liberating. One I look back on fondly, with envy in fact. As I write this, a feeling of jealousy washes over me as I remember that version of myself, I want to be more like her again. The eternally optimistic and endlessly positive version which dimmed with loss one and again with loss two and reclaimed with birth one and again with birth two then dimmed with loss three and reclaimed with birth three but going through it changed me. Getting intimate with the fragility of life reshaped my heart, molding it like a piece of clay into something more empathetic and softer, tender and kinder, bigger and stronger, but not without a hardening that comes with the glaze when put through the kiln.
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