The Curated Weekend | Making Room for a Little Beauty

For most of the summer, our kitchen table seemed to double as a home office.

Laptops, chargers, water bottles, papers, and whatever the kids happened to be working on seemed to land there. Before long, there wasn’t much table left.

And I loved it.

Because it meant they were home.

This weekend, with everyone gone and the house suddenly quiet again, I walked past that now-empty table and decided it needed something.

Not more stuff. Just something beautiful.

So I went to Trader Joe’s and came home with a simple bunch of yellow calla lilies.

Last week I wrote that maybe not every space needs filling. One reader repeated that line back to me, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

Maybe the point isn’t to fill the space at all. Maybe it’s to become a little more thoughtful about what we invite back in.

And apparently, this week, I’m inviting in flowers, a really good book, something nourishing on the stove-and a little more room to notice what’s around me.

Welcome to The Curated Weekend. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and settle in.

Around the House | Flowers, Greenery & Things I’ve Collected

Once I started with the calla lilies, I kept going.

A few of the other arrangements around the house had long since dried out, so along with the callas, I brought home fresh eucalyptus, stargazer lilies, a couple of orchids, and a small succulent.

Nothing elaborate. Nothing particularly expensive.

What I love most is what happens once I get everything home.

I rarely leave a plant in the container it came in. The succulent went into one of my blue-and-white cachepots, while the stargazer lilies ended up loosely arranged in a glass pitcher. I keep Spanish moss and river stones on hand for just this reason. They’re an easy way to finish off a plant once I’ve tucked it into one of my secondhand vessels.

It’s such a simple thing, but somehow a simple store-bought plant suddenly feels a little more special.

More personal. More collected. More at home.

In fact, every vessel I’m using here was found secondhand—picked up over time at charity shops and thrift stores simply because I loved it.

My blue-and-white chinoiserie porcelain pieces are a perfect example.

I’ve never really set out to “collect” blue-and-white chinoiserie porcelain. I simply bring home a piece whenever I find a shape and pattern I love—and somewhere along the way, a collection appeared.

I think that’s part of the fun of shopping secondhand. You never quite know what you’ll find, and there’s no rush to finish anything. The collection grows slowly, and every piece has its own little story.

Some hold plants. Some hold flowers. Some don’t hold anything at all.

And apparently, my collection of vessels isn’t finished yet.

While in Carmel this week, I stopped into one of my favorite charity shops, Yellow Brick Road, and spotted an avocado-green Italian bowl with the most beautiful curvy handles.

Of course, it came home with me.

I have such an affinity for the colors of the ’70s, and avocado green has always felt strangely comforting to me. I’m already imagining the bowl filled with oranges on the kitchen counter or, when the time comes, a few orange – real or velvet – pumpkins for fall.

Though, for the record, I have no plans to replace my cream Berber rug with avocado-green shag.

Maybe that’s how the best homes—and wardrobes—come together: not all at once, but slowly, with things we find, keep, use and love.

For me this week, it was fresh eucalyptus, a few orchids, a small vase of yellow calla lilies-and, apparently, one avocado-green bowl.

And that was enough.

What I’m Reading | A Pair of Aces

After a long walk Saturday morning, I came home, started the laundry, and settled into my black wicker chair with the book I’m reading for my upcoming book club.

Several hours later, I was still there, reading A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, a Reese’s Book Club pick, and I haven’t been able to put it down.

Set in 1930s New York, the historical novel brings together two real women from very different worlds: Eunice Carter, Manhattan’s first Black female prosecutor, and Polly Adler, one of New York’s most infamous madams. Their paths converge as Carter works to bring down mob boss Lucky Luciano.

What fascinated me almost as much as the novel itself was discovering more about these two women.

Before I’d even finished the book, I’d added two more titles to my reading list: Eunice Hunton Carter: A Lifelong Fight for Social Justice and Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age.

At this rate, I’ll finish A Pair of Aces in a record four days.

From My Kitchen | Feel Good Veggie (and Chicken) Soup

After weeks of dinners for four, eating out, cooking everyone’s favorites, and enjoying all that comes with having the kids home, I found myself wanting to make something simple and nourishing.

I made this Detox Chicken and Kale Soup from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen– full of vegetables, warm broth (I added some rotisserie chicken) – just what I was craving after a wonderfully indulgent few weeks.

It’s the kind of soup that feels more farmers market than fall to me, which is perfect because summer is still very much alive here.

Even better, make a big pot, and there’s lunch waiting in the refrigerator for you the next day.

Look Up

On one of my walks in Carmel this week, I happened to look up and spotted these three little birdhouses tucked high into a tree.

I probably would have walked right past them if I’d been looking at my phone.

It made me think about how much we miss when our minds-and our hands-are always occupied.

Maybe clearing a little space isn’t only about our homes.

Sometimes it’s about clearing enough space in our heads to notice what’s already around us.

This Week’s Reflection

I’ve been thinking a lot about space these past couple of weeks.

First, the space left behind when the kids went back to their own lives. Then the empty kitchen table. An afternoon with nowhere I needed to be. A walk without my phone in my hand.

And I’m beginning to think a reset doesn’t have to mean a big project or reinvention.

Sometimes it’s clearing the table and adding a few flowers.

Making a pot of soup.

Reading the book instead of finding another project around the house.

Walking without a destination.

Looking up.

Maybe making room isn’t about leaving everything empty.

Maybe it’s about becoming a little more thoughtful about what we invite back in-and leaving enough room to notice the beauty that was already there.

This week, that feels like plenty.

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Until next weekend,