postscript

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Happy Friday!

First, from the very bottom of my heart: thank you. The outpouring of love, messages, and gentle check-ins since we shared our pregnancy loss has been nothing short of overwhelming in the most beautiful way. This community continues to astonish me, and I am so grateful for each and every one of you.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I’ll be honest — it’s arriving with a few more feelings than usual. Birthdays have a way of doing that, don’t they? Making you sit still long enough to take stock of where you are versus where you thought you’d be. Last year I wrote a piece about 30 lessons I learned before my 30th birthday, and a whole trip around the sun later, I cannot believe how completely apropos these lessons remain — namely this one:

I’m holding onto that one tightly as I head into 31.

A quick housekeeping note: I am taking next Friday off from The Lauren Letter so Carter and I can enjoy the holiday weekend together. (But stay tuned on Instagram — you know I’ll be keeping a very close eye on any potential Travis and Taylor wedding coverage!!!).

Wishing you all a happy and safe 250th Fourth of July!

Until our next correspondence,

xx Lauren

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Wearing | Lula Kate Genevieve Dress

The compliments did not stop on this gown at a black-tie wedding I attended last weekend! There is something about a polka dot in the summer that just feels so cheerful yet chic. What I love most, though, is how genuinely friendly it is for a changing body: the waist is elasticated, the drop waist silhouette is universally flattering, and that matching scarf? Fizzy doesn’t even begin to cover it. If you’re between sizes, size down.

P.S. This dress was gifted, but all my thoughts are my own!

Eating | The Farmer’s Dog

Well, we aren’t eating it — but Charlie absolutely is, and he is thriving. He had been having some tummy troubles earlier this month, but since transitioning to his personalized plan he has been the happiest, snuggliest version of himself. I am a total convert. If you’ve been curious, you can get 60% off your first box — it’s automatically applied to your cart at checkout when you use my link. Charlie sends his regards (and his request for seconds).

P.S. Charlie’s food was gifted, but all my thoughts are my own!

Reading | June Baby by Shannon Garvey

After an absolutely glorious month spent in Elin Hilderbrand’s capable hands, I am finally turning to The Lauren Letter Book Club’s June selection, and it is such a lovely, meandering beach read. Exactly what summer ordered. My full discussion questions are coming soon, along with the final Book Club story, so if you’ve been reading along, please do chime in! I want to hear every thought.

Watching | Olivia Rodrigo’s "Stupid Song" Music Video

Olivia Rodrigo’s Drop Dead is still — still — possibly my favorite music video I’ve seen in a very long time. But this new one is giving it a serious run for its money. The juxtaposition of ballerinas with bodega cats and city parks is so unexpectedly beautiful, and so quintessentially Olivia — all femininity and grunge tangled together.

Listening | Breakfast in a Nancy Meyers Kitchen

This playlist has become my happy place. I’ve been putting it on while I tidy up, run errands around town, do basically anything that requires me to feel like the protagonist of my own life. It is the auditory equivalent of morning light through curtains.

Trying | Maison Louis Marie No. 4 Candle

My dear friend Ellie gifted this to Carter and me and I am completely, hopelessly obsessed. It smells luxurious and rich!!! My only disappointment — and I mean my only one — is that they don’t make it in a three-wick!

Champagne | FRAME Le Sleek Straight Jeans

FRAME has been on my wish list for what feels like forever, and this cult-favorite cut sits at the very top. I will be transparent with you: I cannot stand a barrel jean. I’m sorry! But this straight leg? It is the modern option that manages to feel both of-the-moment and completely classic.

Frites | Quince Bella Stretch Straight Jeans

Fifty dollars. Fifty dollars. These jeans look like designer, fit like a dream, and at that price point you can invest in a pair that actually fits — which matters especially if you’re in a season of a fluctuating size (no judgment; same). I recently picked them up in Frosted Blue and already have Twilight Blue Fray in my cart. P.S. I’m 5’3” and take the short sizing.

1. Homecourt CeCe Surface Cleaner

2. Neutral Lorna Murray Capri Hat

3. Jimmy Choo Pearl-Detailed Ballerina Shoes

4. Hill House The Charlotte Nap Dress

5. Ruggable Chrysler Border Chambray

6. Blue Stripe Florals Kindle Case

7. J.Crew Boatneck T-Shirt in Striped Heavyweight Cotton

8. Gucci GG1530O Eyeglasses

9. Tuckernuck Amalfi Tile Lace Sconset Dress

10. Jennifer Behr Primavera Maureen Earrings

Hershey & Jill

This week I want to introduce you to Hershey & Jill — the absolute dream team behind @minihersheybark. This darling human and her six-pound Maltipoo are living their most luxurious, well-traveled little life together. There is nothing — nothing — more delightful than watching a tiny dog experience the world’s finest things. During some particularly hard days recently, I have been known to disappear into a Hershey scroll session and emerge significantly more okay.

postscript

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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The Lauren Warrant is my editorial seal of approval — a series dedicated to the brands, makers, and pieces that have earned not just a place in my closet, but a permanent residence in my life. Think of it as my take on the UK Royal Warrant of Appointment: a recognition bestowed not because something is new, or trending, or sent to me in a very pretty box, but because it has proved itself, season after season, in the living of an actual life.

The second Lauren Warrant goes to LAKE Pajamas.

LAKE was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 2014 — which is exactly as charming as it sounds.

The story begins with two friends: Anne Read Lattimore and Cassandra Cannon, who met through their husbands during their college years and grew closer over shared aesthetics, motherhood firsts, and the realization that the women’s sleepwear market had a glaring gap in it.

They started with a simple silhouette, a classic stripe, and the softest fabric imaginable: 100% Peruvian Pima cotton. That was the whole idea. It turned out to be more than enough of one.

From a direct-to-consumer e-commerce beginning, LAKE has grown into something that regularly earns coverage from publications of record, revenue growth that has been year-over-year since founding, and devotees including Jennifer Garner and Jenna Bush Hager. Their Savannah headquarters, a beautifully appointed building on West Harris Street, now anchors a fulfillment center, a Broughton Street design studio, and retail storefronts in Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, Palm Beach, and Southampton.

How I Found It

In 2021, one of my best friends, Cate, gave me a set of LAKE pajamas as a honeymoon gift. Cate has impeccable taste, so her seal of approval had me instantly curious.

I put them on and immediately understood what all the fuss was about. The buttery softness of the Pima cotton. The clean, considered silhouette. The way they somehow managed to feel simultaneously like an indulgence and like the most natural thing in the world to be wearing. By the time we returned from the honeymoon, I had already begun the process of stocking my pajama drawer with exclusively LAKE (an endeavor I pursue to this day!).

I have since made pilgrimages to the Atlanta and Charleston storefronts with great enthusiasm and hopes to return time and time again!

Why I Love It So Much

Let me make the investment case first, because I know what you’re thinking.

Yes, LAKE pajamas are over $100 a set. But, sincerely, after years of wearing them I can attest that the math works out rather elegantly in your favor.

Consider: we spend approximately a third of our lives sleeping. But the calculation doesn’t stop there, because LAKE pajamas are not just for snoozing — they are for lazy Saturday pancake mornings. They are for the friend-group vacation lounge, the kind that photograph beautifully and feel even better at ten in the morning with a cup of coffee and nowhere pressing to be. They hold up to the dryer, which is not a small thing; I have LAKE sets that have been through seasons of wash cycles and still look and feel precisely as they did on arrival. You are making an investment in a significant portion of your waking and sleeping life.

Beyond the economics: the design. LAKE has an almost preternatural ability to embrace seasonal prints without tipping into kitsch — which is an extraordinarily difficult needle to thread. This is the mark of a creative team with actual taste, and Cassandra Cannon’s background as chief creative officer shows in every single release.

Their expansion into daywear and loungewear has been particularly exciting for me. The cozy knits, the throw-and-go skirt sets — LAKE has understood that their customer doesn’t just want something to sleep in; she wants an entire ecosystem of comfortable, beautiful things to move through her softer hours in.

Carter has become a devoted LAKE man, for which I take full credit. And perhaps my greatest joy of late has been dressing my sister-in-law and nephew in matching mommy-and-me looks — because LAKE does family dressing with the same care and attention they bring to everything else, including maternity-friendly styles.

And then there is the packaging! I cannot overstate the packaging, making LAKE pajamas one of the most gift-able items in existence. P.S — they also now offering embroidery for personalization on select styles!

A Personal Note

I feel compelled to share that during one of the most devastating periods of my life, I specifically chose a brand new set of LAKE pajamas to have waiting for me on the other side of surgery. In the aftermath of our pregnancy loss, when I needed something that felt like beauty and warmth and comfort all at once — that felt like being held — I chose LAKE. Because it was what I knew would make me feel, even in those hardest hours, like I deserved softness and beauty was still available to me.

A Little Luxury

A true little luxury doesn’t require a honeymoon to Bora Bora. It’s a fresh pair of pajamas every night. It’s the deliberate choice to make the ordinary hours of your ordinary life feel beautiful and considered and worthy of care. LAKE pajamas are one of the investments that truly makes a day feel romanticized — that makes you feel, when you slip into them, genuinely cherished. Not by anyone else, necessarily, but by yourself. Which is, in many ways, the more important thing.

My LAKE Favorites

1. Pima Long-Short Set in Hydrangea — My favorite set silhouette in my favorite, classic LAKE colorway.

2. Pima Long-Long Set in Parisian Green — My second favorite set silhouette in a scrumptious green. This is actually number one on my current wishlist!

3. Pima Long Sleeve Bundle in English Rose Stripe — For gifting, bundling is the way to go! I love having the option to switch between shorts and pants depending on weather and mood. Plus, how classically gorgeous in the English Rose?

4. DreamModal® Kimono Pajama Set in Fog — The newest set in my collection! It is so ultra feminine and comfortable.

5. Pima Short Robe in Hydrangea — The perfect lightweight robe for getting ready or lounging.

6. DreamModal® Kimono Pants Bundle in Gelato Pencil Stripe — The same kimono set, but with the versatility of a matching tank.

7. Relax Pants Set in Dusty Blue — We got this set for my Mom for Christmas and it is truly so beautiful and cozy in person; pictures don’t do it justice!

8. Switch Skirt Set in Diver Blue Bengal Stripe — My first piece of “daywear” from LAKE and I am utterly in love (see me photographed in it above!).

9. Men’s Pima Sleep Bundle in Anchor Blue — Carter’s favorite selection! Perfect for gifting.

10. Pima Maternity Long-Long Set in Parisian Green — My sister-in-law and Mom’s patients rave about LAKE maternity, and this green color is especially perfect for gender surprises or neutral wear!

11. Baby Sleeper in Parisian Green — An absolute favorite baby shower gift!

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Every Tuesday, I curate ten things currently on my radar — something I’ve ordered and can’t wait to receive, something I’ve been trying and want to report back on, something my group chat hasn’t stopped talking about, or a fizzy new find I am candidly coveting. Here is last week's edit.

1. Homecourt CeCe Surface Cleaner — My Mom immediately clocked this find at Lucy’s Market last week. Apparently I am living under a rock, because, according to Beth, Courtney Cox’s new line is ALL the rage. I selected the Surface Cleaner in CeCe and y’all . . . it is expensive when compared to Windex, but THIS SCENT!!!! I look forward to my nightly kitchen wipe down now! I want to get the full CeCe kitchen, laundry, and body line next, it’s that good.

2. Neutral Lorna Murray Capri Hat — I snagged a neutral Lorna Murray hat on The Real Real this week, but this was a close second choice!

3. Jimmy Choo Pearl-Detailed Ballerina Shoes – FIFTY PERCENT OFF JIMMY CHOO! In such a classic, investment style as opposed to usual seasonal swing and miss mark downs!

4. Hill House The Charlotte Nap Dress — 20% off AND gingham? Swoon.

5. Ruggable Chrysler Border Chambray — I recently saw this styled in the runner selection and I’ve been scheming about how we could incorporate it into our house ever since.

6. Blue Stripe Florals Kindle Case — I saw SJ Bailey show off this Kindle case on her Instagram stories this week, and I immediately added to my little treat list for future bad days!

7. J.Crew Boatneck T-Shirt in Striped Heavyweight Cotton — Y’all already know I adore a lemon yellow, and this perfect weight top is 40% off right now, too!

8. Gucci GG1530O Eyeglasses — It’s about time for me to renew my eyeglasses prescription, and, after seeing this in the Lenox Gucci store last week, my Mom has convinced me these need to be my new frames!

9. Tuckernuck Amalfi Tile Lace Sconset Dress — If you can’t make it to Amalfi or Sconset this summer, this dress is the next best thing!

10. Jennifer Behr Primavera Maureen Earrings — I’m a sucker for blue and green, and these earrings are like a garnish for your perfect summer soiree look.

+ A quick note: some links in The Tuesday Ten may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you shop through them — at no extra cost to you! I only ever share things I'm genuinely trying or coveting. Your support means everything and keeps The Lauren Letter going.

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Perspective

Three years ago today

Carter’s oncologist

told us starting a family wouldn’t be easy,

and would take a long time,

but that he would live.

Eight hours ago today

the tech

held my hand and said

“I’m so sorry. I can’t find a heartbeat.”

My husband keeps holding my hand

and saying “by hook or by crook”

and I laugh

because I am so grateful for perspective

and a man who is enough everything.

Because here today, laying in bed,

eating McDonald’s french fries

and laughing at Vicki and Tamra

in my aching pain and shock

I am still living out the deepest of my

most soulful prayers.

postscript

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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please do not hesitate to save for later or pass on entirely if this is not for your heart right now.

After a season of the most effervescent joy, we recently learned our precious time with our baby girl had come to its end.

Here is how we are finding our way through.

+ Carter carried everything. He told the people who needed to know. He made sure I ate. He cared for me in the most tender, messy ways post-surgery. He held me. He watched an embarrassing amount of Housewives and Love Island with me. He quietly took the reins on a baby shower I was meant to host. He met my worst days — the ones I couldn’t get out of bed — with nothing but grace, even while carrying his own immeasurable grief.

+ Our village showed up. Flowers, casseroles, words. My mother flew in and gently helped me remember how to function.

+ I was gentle with myself. Some days, brushing my teeth was the whole of what I could do. I let texts and emails and the obligations of life go unanswered. On good days, I made it to the couch.

+ I stepped away from work. This is precisely why protections like sick leave and the PWFA exist. My colleagues have been extraordinary and human and loving and compassionate.

+ I got a facial. I went to therapy. I took walks with Taylor Swift in my ears. I ate the foods that felt like comfort. I window-shopped at places that feel like home.

+ I checked out thirteen Elin Hilderbrand novels from the library and read them everywhere — in the sun at Chastain, in pre-op, curled into the couch, basically anywhere and always. When grief felt too large to hold, I disappeared into her stories for hours.

+ I stepped away from my phone and social media. I wrote. I needlepointed. I read (see: thirteen Elin Hilderbrand novels). I listened to music, or to strangers' small talk in cafés. I tried to keep the TV off. I let the news pass me by entirely.

+ I bought myself a special pair of Lake pajamas for after surgery.

+ We got away. After my first 24 hours of post-surgery recovery, my parents sent us to our favorite resort for a few days. Some days we sat by the pool. Some days we stayed in bed and ordered room service. We healed in a place that felt tucked away and quiet.

+ I keep managing symptoms, because my body still believes — and is behaving as though — it is still carrying a viable pregnancy. My hcg levels are still so high that pregnancy tests remain positive and I am still grappling with the debilitating symptoms that have been plaguing me from the start (namely extreme nausea and vomiting). After surgery came long bleeding and pain that arrived in waves, deferred and interruptive.

+ Above all, I try — every single day — to find gratitude. If I’ve learned anything from the last five years of life’s most heartbreaking challenges (my mom’s cancer battle, my husband’s cancer battle, and, now, the loss of our baby girl), it’s that you are never a victim, and that joy is something worth fighting recklessly for.

+ We are still in pain that, at times, feels insurmountable. The other side of this valley is hard to see. So when you see us smiling, laughing, and sharing the light and fizzy and beautifully vapid corners of life — please root for us. We are fighting recklessly for this joy.

We love you more than words could ever hold, baby girl.

Wherever you are, we carry you with us — and we cannot wait to meet you, one day, on the other side of all this.

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Happy Friday and Juneteenth!

This week my Mom came to Atlanta!

We shopped, brunched at Le Bon Nosh, snagged a last-minute table at The Chastain (a not-so-small small miracle I am still celebrating!). We got massages at the St. Regis that I am still thinking about — the best I have ever had! We browsed Lucy’s. We binged The Other Bennett Sister way past our bedtime.

I’m almost 31 and I will say it: there is nothing — nothing — like time with your mom!

Until our next correspondence,

xx Lauren

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Wearing | La Ligne Colby Pant

Let me be direct with you: these are an investment, and unless you are tall-tall, they will need tailoring. That said — oh my lanta, are they worth it. I went with the white satin, and they have already become the piece I reach for when I want to feel immediately elevated without trying too hard.

Eating | Sweet Loren’s Lemon Cookie Dough

I am a lemon loyalist in the warmer months, and this gluten-free cookie dough has been making me very happy. Refreshing, bright, and — I’ll admit — I’ve eaten more than a few straight from the package!

Reading | Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand

I cannot believe I am saying this. I simply cannot. But I think Summerland may be the first Elin Hilderbrand book I give two stars (i.e., I do not recommend reading).

I am only a third of the way through, so I’ll reserve final judgment — but this is a noticeable departure from her signature voice: charming, juicy, feathery-light, and warmly coastal. This one is darker than I would prefer from my queen of the beach read. I will report back. In the meantime, I remain a devoted subject of her entire canon and choose to believe this is an outlier.

Watching | The Other Bennett Sister

Downloaded on BritBox — which, by the way, is 99 cents for your first two months through Prime, so there is genuinely no excuse — at the insistence of my Mom and I am in love!

It follows Mary Bennett: the endearingly awkward, bookish, often-overlooked fifth sister from Jane Austen’s world of Pride & Prejudice. It is charming and sweet without being saccharine. If you are an Anglophile, a literature devotee, or simply someone who loves a beautifully crafted period piece, this one is for you.

Listening | Olivia Rodrigo, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love

She warned us it would be sad in the literal title! But there is something just right about a melancholy album and a rainy Atlanta week — the two met each other perfectly, and I’ve had it on repeat!

Trying | Chanel Les Beiges Health Glow Sun-Kissed Powder

I am, by nature, a minimalist when it comes to makeup. The simpler the routine, the better — which is exactly why I fell immediately in love with the idea of a single powder brushed onto the cheeks for a natural, sun-warmed flush. `

Champagne | Alice & Olivia Lucy Mini Shirt Dress

Featured in this week’s Tuesday Ten, and I had the great fortune of seeing it in person at Neiman Marcus this week. The photos do not do it justice — it is even more darling and detailed in real life!

Frites | Avara Cameron Multi Floral Short Dress

Just barely over $100!!! A similar silhouette to the Alice & Olivia with a floral print, a tie-waist, and portrait buttons that feel like a sweet nod.

1. “Tranquility” by LJ Designs

2. La Mer Rejuvenating Night Cream

3. Loeffler Randall Leonie Crystal Mesh Ballerina Flats

4. Ruggable Orla Tan Rug

5. Alice & Olivia Lucy Belted Mini Shirtdress

6. Gucci Calfskin Floral Print Mini Dionysus Chain Wallet

7. Quince 100% Organic Cotton Boyfriend Crew Sweater in Marled Rose Pink

8. Tuckernuck Washed Indigo Tropical Punch Cotton Scarf

9. Sea NY Multi Dorothy Patchwork T-Shirt Dress

10. J.Crew ‘83 Fleece Sweatshirt with Flag Embroidery

Nan Philip

For the woman building a wardrobe of fewer, better things, Nan Philip is the account. She shops premium and contemporary designers with an East Coast classicism that never feels stiff, and her real-time styling and shopping try-ons make the whole experience feel like browsing with a very chic, very knowledgeable friend.

Every Tuesday, I curate ten things currently on my radar — something I’ve ordered and can’t wait to receive, something I’ve been trying and want to report back on, something my group chat hasn’t stopped talking about, or a fizzy new find I am candidly coveting. Here is last week's edit.

1. “Tranquility” by LJ Designs — a dear friend and burgeoning Atlanta artist, this darling accent size original is perfect for a quiet corner or cheeky social room.

2. La Mer Rejuvenating Night Cream — a candidly expensive salve that I am glad I don't need to refill yet, but I will. Instantly nourishing and I wake up with more even, brighter, sumptuous skin.

3. Loeffler Randall Leonie Crystal Mesh Ballerina Flats – a favorite of mine that is on major sale right now!!!

4. Ruggable Orla Tan Rug — I am a well known Ruggable advocate, and the Orla is such a natural basic to integrate into any space in your home, including when layering! And it’s 20% off right now!

5. Alice & Olivia Lucy Belted Mini Shirtdress — Is this dress not a dream? It makes me want to read poetry in a garden or grab champagne et frites with my girlfriends stat!!!

6. Gucci Calfskin Floral Print Mini Dionysus Chain Wallet — Moment of honesty: I am actually not typically a fan of Gucci’s Dionysus motif (I actually just sent my green version away to The Real Real for listing!!!). BUT this edition is done so tastefully and delicately, I can’t help but fall for it.

7. Quince 100% Organic Cotton Boyfriend Crew Sweater in Marled Rose Pink — Talk about a color crush! I ordered this and I love it even more in person. Pro tip: I size down one in this silhouette and you still get a slouchy (but not sloppy) look.

8. Tuckernuck Washed Indigo Tropical Punch Cotton Scarf — I love styling with a scarf, and this sweet, affordable option from my favorite premium storefront is in my favorite colorway: blue & soft white!

9. Sea NY Multi Dorothy Patchwork T-Shirt Dress — A sweet, sentimental Fourth of July option. It reminds me of my Grandma’s quilts (positive!!!!).

10. J.Crew ‘83 Fleece Sweatshirt with Flag Embroidery — Patriotic perfection. It’s on sale, too (yesterday I bestowed upon Carter my personal gospel: never buy J.Crew full price; they always have a sale going on or one around the corner).

+ A quick note: some links in The Tuesday Ten may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you shop through them — at no extra cost to you! I only ever share things I'm genuinely trying or coveting. Your support means everything and keeps The Lauren Letter going.

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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America’s Game

I don’t watch baseball

but my father has been cheering for

the Chicago White Sox

since 1976.

A team the pope’s prayers cannot even save

(except for that one time in ‘05).

He shows up willingly

against all credible judgment

April after April

to get absolutely obliterated.

And then does it all again, 12 months later.

He says at least he gets some sunshine

and that next season will be our year.

I don’t watch baseball

but did you know in baseball if you get a hit

3 times out of 10

you’re in the hall of fame?

I don’t watch baseball

but I think the closest thing to magic on earth

is human resilience.

I don’t watch baseball

but I think I could use

to believe in that game.

postscript

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Happy Friday!

It’s finally June, and with it comes one of my most cherished seasonal rituals: the annual Elin Hilderbrand immersion. I’m already on my third Elin novel of the month. As someone who has never been a devoted summer girl — give me a crisp autumn morning or a cozy January evening over Atlanta humidity any day — I discovered long ago that saving these sun-soaked, salt-aired stories for June and July is the most effective cure I know.

Which brings me to something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: the power of a small, reliable treat. Finding those little anchors — the things that gently usher you through a harder week or a heavier season — is an art form. I’d genuinely love to know yours.

Until our next correspondence,

xx Lauren

P.S. — I announced June’s Book Club pick, and it felt almost too perfect: it’s June Baby from ’s imprint . Buzzy, beloved, and as a June baby myself, utterly apropos!

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Wearing | Aerie Alumni Set

It started with the butter yellow, and I simply could not stop there. I ordered every color they offer. This set has become my summer uniform. And the price point? Unbeatable!

Eating | Louis Sherry Truffles

An indulgence — what feels more genuinely luxurious than artisanal chocolate in a beautiful tin? I have turned the ritual of selecting my nightly truffle into something I look forward to with sincerity.

Reading | Elin Hilderbrand Novels

You’ll notice a theme for the next several weeks! So far this June: Silver Girl, Golden Girl, and I am presently deep in the pages of Beautiful Day.

Watching | Love Island USA

Carter and I are fully, completely, unironically obsessed. We are one week in and already pulling each other “for a chat” around the house. It is mindless and joyful and exactly what a summer evening calls for. It is genuinely not too late to join us — pour something cold and catch up this weekend.

Listening | Quiet Days

I’ve been making a conscious effort lately to choose music over background television, especially as I carve out more intentional reading time. Quiet Days is my current go-to — a carefully curated (by moi!) instrumental playlist that creates the most lovely ambient mood without demanding your attention.

Trying | Oura Ring 5

I succumbed! The new Oura 5 is remarkably thinner than previous models and the data it surfaces has been genuinely illuminating. I’m in a season of prioritizing rest and routine, and having something that quietly tracks and reflects that back to me has been a surprisingly meaningful support.

Champagne | Launer Keychain

My very first Launer piece, ordered to celebrate the new car, and I am completely besotted. There is something so satisfying about a genuine luxury house that does the small things as beautifully as the grand ones.

Frites | Personalized Embroidered Keychain

I have been seeing these charming embroidered charms absolutely everywhere — Pinterest, Substack, the feeds of people with excellent taste — and the best kept secret is that you can get a perfectly customized version for under $20. An impeccable little finishing touch for your keys or your bag.

1. Launer Key Chain

2. Aerie Alumni Mockneck Sweatshirt & Shorts

3. Sam Edelman Michaela Jelly Mary Jane Flat

4. Mélisse The Blossom Knot Bag in Vintage Brocade

5. Lake Pima Ruffle Pants Set in Lapis Bicolor Tidal Stripe

6. M.Gemi The Una Ballerina in Pink Nappa

7. J.Crew Rollneck Cardigan with Lobster

8. Roxanne Assoulin Cloud Cylinder Cord Necklace

9. Jenni Kayne Olio Demi Pant + Ivory & Taupe Stripe Chloe Cardigan

10. Oura Ring 5

The Hedges Inn — East Hampton

From the same discerning hoteliers behind The Colony in Palm Beach comes East Hampton’s most charming seasonal escape, set inside a beautifully preserved historic home. Whether you’re actively plotting a trip or simply want your feed to feel like a mood board for the summer you deserve, follow along.

Your Appointments for June

sprinkles on everything! / press a chilled wine glass against sunburnt cheeks / girls nights / starry-eyed / cherry red / leave your phone at home / get on a bicycle / ice cream after dinner / and maybe before, too / going gingham / mamma mia / no face makeup / read elin hildebrand / subs with the good mustard and crunchy chips / kisses on cheeks / spritz – hugo, and aperol, and limoncello, oh my! / strawberries with a little sugar / yacht rock / marshmallows and gooey chocolate / dip your head all the way under / arugula salad with lemon and parmesan / protein free poetry / tell me happy birthday (it’s june 27) / i’ll have a slice of dark chocolate cake / and a glass of champagne, too, please.

postscript

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Every Tuesday, I curate ten things currently on my radar — something I’ve ordered and can’t wait to receive, something I’ve been trying and want to report back on, something my group chat hasn’t stopped talking about, or a fizzy new find I am candidly coveting.

1. Launer Key Chain — My first ever Launer piece! I ordered her when I got my new car last month, and she just arrived. The quality is insane.

2. Aerie Alumni Mockneck Sweatshirt & Shorts — The absolute perfect weight throw and go set for summer. I bought in every single color after seeing ’s recommendation :) The best part — the entire set is under $55!

3. Sam Edelman Michaela Jelly Mary Jane Flat — At the resort I was at this past weekend, all the chic girls were wearing a variation of these.

4. Mélisse The Blossom Knot Bag in Vintage Brocade — A pink brocade evening bag that looks like it was discovered in a French atelier! I’m so excited by this.

5. Lake Pima Ruffle Pants Set in Lapis Bicolor Tidal Stripe — Red and blue stripes on white Pima cotton: makes me want a hot dog real bad!

6. M.Gemi The Una Ballerina in Pink Nappa — M.Gemi sent these to me as #pr (transparency!) and I love the idea of mixing in a pale pink in as a neutral to my summer wardrobe.

7. J.Crew Rollneck Cardigan with Lobster — A lobster on a rollneck!!! In ivory and navy!!! In the summer!!!! It’s CUTE. Let’s go to Nantucket!

8. Roxanne Assoulin Cloud Cylinder Cord Necklace — This is the kind of thing that interesting girls are wearing this summer. I just decided.

9. Jenni Kayne Olio Demi Pant + Ivory & Taupe Stripe Chloe Cardigan — I’ve been coveting this cardigan since Meghan Markle wore it in her As Ever series (still so depressed it was not renewed!), and I fell in love with these pants when I saw them in-person last week at JK’s Buckhead Village storefront.

10. Oura Ring 5 — I caved and bought the newest generation of this wearable health tracker — it’s so thin, and I've also ordered a jacket to make it look like a real piece of fine jewelry. Using this inexpensive stack for styling for now.

+ A quick note: some links in The Tuesday Ten may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you shop through them — at no extra cost to you! I only ever share things I'm genuinely trying or coveting. Your support means everything and keeps The Lauren Letter going.

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Happy Friday!

This Memorial Day weekend looked a little different from the sun-soaked, pool-side fantasy I’d been curating in my head! It was rainy and slow, but it was relaxing nonethlesss — lots of reading and quiet time at home with the family.

Ironically, before the holiday, I shared something on my Instagram stories that felt a little vulnerable: I have some summertime sadness! Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had this shadowy feeling creep in around this time of year: where the world is glittering and golden and everyone seems to be thriving, and something in you just . . . doesn’t quite catch the light.

The response was overwhelming. So many of you felt it too!

And here’s the thing I want you to know: you are not imagining it, and you are not alone. Researchers first documented summer-pattern seasonal depression as far back as 1987, when a team at the NIH identified a group of people experiencing recurrent depressive episodes specifically during the summer months — and studies suggest that up to 30% of people begin experiencing seasonal depression symptoms in early spring through summer!

So if you’re out here feeling a little off-key while everyone else seems to be living their best rosé-in-the-sun life: give yourself grace.

Until our next correspondence,

xx Lauren

P.S. I published the very first ever The Lauren Letter Book Club post! Join in the fun by voting for our June selection below — starting this month, one subscriber will win a copy of the Book Club selection each month, too!

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Wearing | Frank & Eileen Patrick Popover

My favorite throw-and-go of the summer. I have in three different colors!

Eating | Wishbone Kitchen Corn & Tomato Salad

Easy, light, and so fresh — everything a summer salad should be. Just don't forget the fresh basil like me!

Reading | Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

A completely captivating reimagining of Cinderella told from the "evil" stepmother's point of view — and I tore through it over the course of the long weekend!

Also finished over the holiday: How to Read a Book — a perfectly snackable, multigenerational tale of redemption, human flaws, and the beauty that can be found amidst it all.

Watching | Project Hail Mary

The perfect watch for a friend group, a date night, or a family movie evening. Fair warning: there will be as many tears as there are laughs!

Listening | Florescence, Maisie Peters

Maisie Peters is one of my favorite singer-songwriters alive, and her new album is incredible. Beyond her singles (don’t even get me started on “Audrey Hepburn” — possibly the most beautiful love song written), I’ve had “Old Fashioned,” “Questions,” and “Girl’s Just Flying” on repeat!

Trying | Pura Car

Following an overnight mushroom raviolo situation in my brand-new car that I will not be elaborating on further, I am now trying the Pura Car smart fragrance diffuser. The deciding factor? They carry NEST New York's Grapefruit — my ultimate summer signature scent — as a partner fragrance. It's subtle, it's lovely, and it is the furthest thing from stomach-churning Uber air freshener scent. Sold.

Champagne | Weezie Beach Chair Cover

Monogrammable, impeccably made, and designed specifically for a beach chair — the length is exactly right. Weezie's quality is genuinely unmatched, and this is the piece you buy once and use forever.

Frites | Amazon Beach Chair Cover

Inexpensive, cheerful, and comes with its own little bag — very cute. It's designed to fit both a pool chair and a beach chair, which sounds like a win until you realize that flexibility means it may drag a bit in the sand. Versatile and economical, but not without some compromise.

TIBL*

*Things I’ve Bought Lately

• Frank & Eileen Aspen Set

• Maude Club Alfie Sleeveless Swing Top

• Maeve Gingham Midi Skirt

• AYR The Tate White Oxford

• AYR The Half Day

• AYR The Practice Tee

• Le Ligne Colby Satin Pant

• Donni The Taffeta Drawstring Cargo Pant

• Quince 100% Organic Cotton Striped Crew Sweater

• Quince 100% European Linen High Waisted Shorts

• Quince 100% Organic Cotton Fisherman Boxy Cropped Cardigan

• Castañer Espadrille Wedges

Mae Davis Interiors

Based in the gorgeous Mountain Brook, Alabama, this studio shares glimpses of their luxury projects and installs where not a single detail is missed. It is a true testament to what expertise looks like in practice. Follow for the inspiration. Stay for the eye candy.

My Rating: ★★★★★

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke is the kind of novel that announces exactly what it is from page one — sharp, unsettling, and not particularly interested in letting you off the hook — and somehow still manages to gut you by the end. I am a fantastically frugal reader who never buys books.

Buy this book.

Reader beware — spoilers are ahead!

The Book

When I first read the premise, I braced for something flat — a tidy pan on tradwives, every reader closing the cover feeling correct about her politics and clean about her judgment.

That is not what this is.

Burke gives her narrator Natalie Heller Mills — a Christian tradwife influencer with millions of followers — enough room to be observant, funny, and alarmingly, more often than I was prepared for, correct. She is not a cartoon villain. She is something more dangerous: a woman who is very, very good at reading a room.

Natalie has the brand deals, the nannies, the young producer Shannon documenting her supposedly effortless life. She is, by every metric the internet has invented, winning. Then she wakes up in 1855 — no phone, four children in homespun clothing calling her Mama, and a man who looks like a harder, older version of her husband ordering her inside.

The novel alternates between the disoriented 1855 present and the backstory of how the empire was built and how it came apart: a useless charming husband, a senator father-in-law with deeply sinister fine print, and Shannon — who eventually goes on television to expose Natalie not just as a fraud but as someone who assaulted her. The twist, when it arrives, is earned and devastating: Natalie and Caleb built the pioneer world themselves. After the scandal destroyed everything, they stripped the ranch of all modernity and raised their youngest children in a fabricated nineteenth-century homestead — and over the years, Natalie’s mind fractured until she genuinely forgot she had built her own prison.

Book Club Discussions

• The Twist

  • didn’t see it coming and found a poetic justice in the psychotic break — though she’d been half-expecting Doug to have stowed Natalie in 1855 to clean up his mess, which is very royal family x Diana conspiracy (and I, of course, adore).

  • also suspected modern exile at Doug’s hand and felt the reveal came twenty or thirty pages too late. I, too, felt the ending was a titch too rushed and tidy, breaking from the cadence of the rest of the novel.

  • had sensed something was off from the moment Natalie arrived in 1855 with no memory of how she got there — no stones to touch à la Outlander — and suspected a mental institution reveal. When the truth landed, she was still in awe of how thoroughly Natalie had treated her own children as props.

  • My favorite related thread: I asked what it says about Natalie — and about all of us — that her first theory upon waking in 1855 is that she’s being filmed. Surveillance felt more plausible to her than anything supernatural. had the answer: it was Natalie’s mother who told her to always pretend she was being watched, and her belief that God was always watching primed her perfectly to live in front of a camera. The performance didn’t start with Instagram. It started in the Church.

• The Shannon Of It All

  • Shannon’s television interview, the assault allegation, what Natalie’s narration can and cannot name — was our most divided conversation.

  • wasn’t ready to let Shannon fully off the hook, noting that Shannon cosplayed as underprivileged and innocent and asking the pointed question: how did Natalie not have her sign an NDA?

  • read Shannon’s testimony as possibly shaped and amplified by her team — and since Natalie blacks out frequently and her narration can’t name what she did, Paige suspects something even more damning may be buried under the psychotic break.

  • I believe this is a larger allegory of what social media is: we only see the parts of the stories the creator wants us to see. Unsavory or undesired facts can be neatly hidden away from the phone’s camera — even from the creator’s own consciousness, it appears.

• The Grocery Bagger Irony

  • An irony I keep returning to: early in the novel, Natalie is ashamed her sister became a grocery bagger — she sees it as the ultimate failure, the life that proves you didn’t try hard enough, didn’t want it badly enough, didn’t perform well enough. By the end, Natalie’s own daughter Mary is a grocery bagger, as a direct result of the childhood Natalie engineered for her. The thing she feared most, she manufactured herself. Burke doesn’t underline it; she just tosses it out there. But it landed like a stone on a smooth lake to me.

• The Indictment

  • When I asked who the book was really indicting, the conversation went somewhere more interesting than I expected. Because the honest answer isn’t just Natalie, and it isn’t just the audience that made her — it’s the false war we’ve been fighting for decades between the tradwife and the working woman, as though these are opposing tribes rather than two expressions of the same impossible pressure.

  • put it perfectly: the tradwife/angry woman Venn diagram is more of a circle than the characters think. Both are unhappy, unfulfilled, overwhelmed, trying to meet expectations that were never designed to be met. Both are, in her words, key offenders of girl-on-girl crime. The women in Natalie’s Harvard cohort who rolled their eyes at domesticity weren’t free — they were just performing a different kind of correctness. Natalie, performing the opposite, wasn’t free either. Neither camp is the enemy. Both are exhausted. Both are watching the other and wondering if they chose wrong. Veer too far toward either extreme, said, and you’ll literally lose your mind.

  • Burke never states this thesis outright. She just builds two timelines, populates them with women making impossible choices, and lets you arrive there yourself.

Want to participate in the book club discussion? It’s never too late! Keep the conversation going in The Lauren Letter Book Club May Note below!

On Reading This as Someone Who Lives Online

There is an undercurrent to reading Yesteryear as an online creator that I didn’t anticipate, and I think it’s worth naming. It’s the discomfort of looking into one of those mirrors that flips your reflection around. Still you — but something is wrong, and you can’t quite shake it.

Natalie is not a character I recognize in myself. But the mechanics of what she built — the careful curation, the gap between the woman on screen and the woman off it, the way the audience becomes both your product and your captor — those I can recognize acutely in the influencer space. What this book asks, with a very sharp knife, is what happens when the performance outlasts the performer’s belief in it. When you’ve posted so many mornings that you can no longer tell if you love them, or if you’ve just loved how they looked in the light.

That question doesn’t belong only to tradwives!!!

If You Liked Yesteryear, May I Recommend:

Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

If Yesteryear cracked something open about the distance between the life we sell and the life we live, this walks directly into that fissure. Same nerve, different form.

June Book Club: Cast Your Vote!

• Famesick by Lena Dunham A memoir tracing Dunham’s rise from Girls to the present, asking the question she spent a decade trying to answer: what has the cost of fulfilling her dreams really been, and was it worth it?

• Into the Blue by Emma Brodie A decade-spanning love story set against the world of improvisational theater, following two people whose connection refuses to resolve itself neatly across years of bad timing and longing. A Reese’s Book Club pick.

• June Baby by Shannon Garvey A debut novel set on Block Island, following Ruth — sent to the island at seventeen after her mother’s death — who must now reckon, years later, with the first love and life she left behind there. Beach book with more depth than romance, salt air, and gorgeous prose.

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Father’s Day is Sunday, June 21! Whether you’re shopping for the dad who raised you, the one who just became one, or the man who showed up without the title, there’s something here worth giving.

Dad

• Onward Reserve Coastal Seersucker Swim Trunk

  • Carter loves Onward Reserve swim trunks, including these seersucker ones which come in a ton of colors!

• Onward Reserve Waffle House All Star Special Tee

  • Another sure hit with dad.

• Hudson Sutler Hunter Green Waxed Canvas Heritage Commuter Duffel

• Weezie Men’s Signature Robe

• Gucci Men’s Horsebit 1953 Loafer

  • For a very special father, these are lifelong investments he will wear for years to come!

• Tecovas Men’s Ostrich Belt

  • A fun take on a men’s staple.

• Vuroi Ponto Performance Short 7”

  • Carter swears by how soft these shorts are!

• Polo Ralph Lauren Pebbled Leather Shave Kit Pouch

• Sid Mashburn Card Holder Cognac Glazed Alligator

• Smithey No. 12 Skillet

• Sonos Play

  • Perfect additional to a Sonos home suite of easily connectable devices.

• Peter Millar Two-Pack Performance Sock

  • My Dad swears by these socks as his favorite he has ever owned!

Dad-to-Be

• Mabe The Monarch Baby Carrier - Charles Herringbone

  • The iconic baby carrier in a masculine colorway.

• LAKE Men’s Pima Sleep Bundle in Navy Gulf Stripe

  • Perfect for hospital stays and newborn cuddles.

• Weezie Grand Groom Trunk

  • Great for keepsakes for your newborn.

• Ember Mug 2

  • A must-have for on-call fatherhood.

• Lululemon New Parent Backpack 22L

• Framebridge Lacquered Mahogany Octagonal Frame

• Owlet Dream Sock

  • Because what’s a better gift than peace of mind?

• Breville ® Barista Express ® Espresso Machine

• Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 16GB

  • Backlight reading for when your partner is hitting the hay early :)

New Dad

• Caden Lane Matching Swim Set

  • Men’s Swim Trunks

  • Boy’s Swim Trunks

  • Girl’s One Piece

• Bombas Men’s Premium Weight T-Shirt

  • Carter got this tee as PR (yes, Carter!), and he has fallen in love! It’s perfect for throw and go while still feeling polished.

• Stanley 40oz Quencher

• Paige Tate & Co Our Big Book of Sports

• Hatch Restore 3

• Vuori Sunday Performance Jogger

• Bits & Bows Dad & Lad Baseball Caps

  • This is simply too precious!

• Jack Black Skin Saviors Set

  • Because self-care isn’t just for moms!

• Chris Loves Julia Arched First Year Frame

  • Perfect for in the office!

Grandpa

• Mark & Graham Wood Watch Box

• Masterclass Subscription

  • Perfect for the intellectually curious Grandfather with a little more time on his hands!

• Peter Millar Odeon Sneaker

  • Beloved by my Dad, brother, and Carter!

• Old Dogs by Sally Muir

• Coravin System

• L.L. Bean Men’s Organic Cotton Waffle Sweater, Cardigan

• Mark & Graham Gentlemen’s Handkerchiefs

• Mark & Graham Manhattan Leather Wine Chiller

• Oh My Mahjong Heritage Starter Kit

  • His own set for his den!

Father Figure

• Polo Ralph Lauren Home Woodland Pine Candle

• August Morgan Cocktail Napkins

• Match South Playing Card Set with Putting Green Grass

• Salisbury Kentucky Julep Cup

  • Perfectly customizable for your favorite derby-fan father figure.

• Brackish Bear Cufflink & Studs Set

• Mark & Graham Celebration Silver Etched Coasters

• Mark & Graham Silver Memo Tray

  • Free personalization included!

• Mark & Graham Leather Wine Dossier

• Match South Vice Tees

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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What Punishments of God Are Not Gifts?

I’ve been thinking this week about Stephen Colbert and a quote he shared that brought Anderson Cooper to tears.

“What punishments of God are not gifts?”

Today is three years since Carter was diagnosed with cancer. And I maintain with conviction in my bones it is the worst thing to ever happen to us.

And it also was the best.

Because what punishments of God are not gifts?

I have glimpsed what peaks behind the veil — but I also get to pull the curtain back (for now).

Oh, how few are that lucky.

To now knowingly bring my face toward laughter, and sunshine, and tears.

To feel more deeply, and to love more freely, and to laugh it all off with a tipple of good humor.

A better friend, a better daughter, a better wife.

I wish it upon no one.

But I am so grateful.

Because what punishments of God are not gifts?

postscript

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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The Lauren Warrant is my editorial seal of approval — a series dedicated to the brands, makers, and pieces that have earned not just a place in my closet, but a permanent residence in my life. Think of it as my take on the UK Royal Warrant of Appointment: a recognition bestowed not because something is new, or trending, or sent to me in a very pretty box, but because it has proved itself, season after season, in the living of an actual life.

Each Warrant will, in time, lean product-specific. But some honors are so foundational that the product cannot be separated from the house. This is one of those. The inaugural Lauren Warrant goes, without a single hesitation, to Tuckernuck.

It began above a garage in Georgetown.

In June 2012, three women sat down with a shared conviction: that somewhere between the combat boots crowding every retailer and the fusty old standbys of their mothers’ closets, there was an entirely underserved woman. She wanted classics. She wanted color. She wanted to look like herself on a Tuesday in September and at a wedding in May and on the first day of a new job and at a buzzy brunch with her girlfriends. She wanted, in short, Tuckernuck — even if she didn’t yet have a word for it.

Sisters Jocelyn Gailliot and Maddy Grayson, who grew up in D.C. and attended National Cathedral School, launched the company alongside Grayson’s college friend September Votta. The name came from summers in Nantucket — a tiny island just off its coast, tucked away, unhurried, full of light. It was an apt metaphor for what they were building: something apart from the noise. By 2016, they had their first brick-and-mortar in Georgetown, and what started as a small e-commerce boutique has since grown into a nine-figure empire — with a gleaming new flagship on the corner of Wisconsin and N Street, a second outpost on the Upper East Side, and a team of nearly 150 people.

How I Found It

I discovered Tuckernuck in 2020, right after graduating law school, when I was ready to stop chasing trends and start building a wardrobe I actually wanted to live in.

The very first piece I bought from them is the dress I got engaged in. A strong start, if you ask me!

Since then, Tuckernuck has taken over the majority of real estate in my closet — and a bit beyond! I wore it as a bridesmaid in my brother’s wedding. On first days of new jobs. On vacations that became memories. Tuckernucking has become a fully-fledged verb in my household. My dad lovingly calls my mom and me the Tuckernuckers when we get particularly deep into a shopping session.

When I first started sharing online as a tastemaker and received my first PR package from Tuckernuck, I knew that I had made it!

Why I Love It So Much

Let me count the ways — though I warn you, this could take a while!

Tuckernuck is, at its core, a lifestyle brand in the truest sense of that much-abused phrase. They understand that you have a full, joyful, spontaneous life, and they want to dress every part of it. The world Tuckernuck imagines is effervescent, romanticized, well-traveled and genuinely, warmly fun — and that world, frankly, sounds a lot like mine.

Their clothes are easily packable, always a statement even in a classic silhouette, as comfortable building a capsule wardrobe as making a single spectacular entrance. From day to office, footwear to accessories, home to formal — the breadth is remarkable without ever feeling scattered. They even publish a seasonal “Find the Fun” list centered around travel, culture, curiosity, and connection, because they understand that what you wear is inseparable from how you live.

My Tuckernuck Staples

These are the silhouettes that have earned their permanent residency in my closet.

1. The Jackie Tweed Dress — The dress that started a thousand think-pieces and, more importantly, a thousand great outfits. Structured, polished, and somehow both timeless and of-the-moment. It fits true to size.

2. The Callahan Shirt Dress — My most-worn Tuckernuck piece, full stop. It goes everywhere, does everything, and makes getting dressed feel effortless. True-ish to size; if in between, size down.

3. The Royal Shirt Dress — A close runner-up to the Callahan for sheer versatility. The kind of dress that works harder than you do. True to size.

4. The Parker Classic Tee — The foundational tee everyone needs. Size down if between sizes.

5. The Adair Boyfriend Shirt — True to size for an intentionally oversized look; size down for something slightly less slouchy.

6. The Riley Cardigan — Size up for the perfect layering piece. Don’t forget to add your monogram!

7. The September Pant — A polished trouser that feels like athleisure. True to size.

8. The Brynn Skirt — This skirt is meant for twirling. True to size.

9. The Teagan Popover — A wardrobe workhorse with a touch of fizz that stays at the front of my closet during every season of the year and life. True to size.

10. The Esme Dress — Elegant, effortless, and endlessly flattering for all your formalwear occasions. Another true-to-size.

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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For well over a decade years, I drove a Honda CRV my parents bought in the summer of 2014. Cloth seats. A CD player as the primary entertainment system. Utterly, charmingly, reliably unglamorous — and honestly? Perfect for me. I have never been a car person. I will never be a car person. If you hand me a choice between spending money on a car versus something beautiful in my closet or a new stamp in my passport, it is not even a question! Plus, I’ve never met a curb I didn’t want to hit.

But even the most committed non-car-person eventually has to have the conversation with herself, and I realized I would rather have it before my hand was forced.

So here is exactly why I chose the 2026 Volkswagen Atlas 2.0T SE — with a major shoutout to my Dad for flying in to help me finalize the deal!

It’s CUTE. Yes, that’s the first reason.

This was the first filter, it was a completely legitimate filter, and I stand behind it entirely. About a year and a half ago, I started noticing the same car on the road over and over again — thinking that’s really cute, and then leaning forward to squint at the emblem. Atlas. Every. Single. Time! The car kept finding me before I was even actively looking! That is not a coincidence, that is a sign!

It’s (relatively) affordable!

I am a grown-up! I work hard! A meaningful step up from a base Honda felt both appropriate and long overdue. But — and I cannot stress this enough — I am still deeply, fundamentally not a car person, which means I had zero interest in premium gas, luxury-brand maintenance bills, or the general financial lifestyle that comes with a prestige badge. We are also firmly, happily, ideologically anti-lease in this household (during this stage of life, at least). We wanted to put the cash down, own it outright, and redirect our attention to literally anything else for the next ten-plus years. The Atlas made that possible, and I am delighted!

The base models are so elevated for what you pay.

Without jumping an additional $10–20K (which, I’ll be transparent, would have gotten me my dream bucket seats and a power liftgate — for the next decade!), the SE arrives with wood trim and leather seats, a huge digital display, ventilated and heated seats, a heated steering wheel, and genuinely so much more. For what you spend, it overdelivers in the best possible way. The “starting point” here is already so lovely and feels luxurious.

Three rows that actually, comfortably work.

Non-negotiable, and here’s why: we are in the beautiful, hopeful season of growing our family, and I wanted a car that could carry us through that chapter with room to spare. The Atlas seats seven — which was proven on its literal maiden voyage last weekend, when it fit fully grown adult men front to back on a 45-minute drive to a birthday party without a single complaint. The second row reclines! Drop the third row and you have a genuinely impressive amount of cargo space! This is a real car for real life, and it shows. (Quick note: if three rows aren’t on your list, the Tiguan is equally charming and absolutely worth considering.)

My best friend has one!

Genuinely, this deserves to be higher on the list. There is no more credible product review in existence than watching someone you love and trust actually live with something — and she is obsessed with hers. That matters enormously to me!

It’s exceptionally safe.

This one crept up in importance the more I sat with it — and now it might be the thing I feel best about. The 2026 Atlas earned a five-star overall safety rating from NHTSA, and the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ — the institute’s highest honor — with “Good” ratings across all three crash tests. Beyond the credentials, a close friend was in a major collision in her Volkswagen and walked away completely unscathed. I have thought about that more than once, and it meant something when it came time to decide.

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Happy Friday!

Let the record show: I am thirty years old, a married woman, and a licensed member of the Georgia Bar — and I still called my dad to fly in and hold my hand at the dealership!

Cars have never been my obsession. Honestly? I will take a beautiful lamp or a really good shoe over horsepower every single time. But after thirteen years of loving my cloth-interiored, CD-ROM-playing Honda, the writing was on the wall. We started looking — and found our way to Jim Ellis Volkswagen Chamblee, where the experience was so genuinely lovely that I can’t recommend them enough!

The result: a 2026 Volkswagen Atlas, and me, absolutely vibrating with new-car energy and nerves on the drive home! I am wildly spoiled and I know it. I also know I will be accustomed to a life featuring these bells & whistles in about a week and a half.

Curbs, you have been warned!

Until our next correspondence,

xx Lauren

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

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Wearing | Donni The Silk Taffeta Cargo Pant

Yes, they are criminally expensive. And yes, I bought them anyway, because they’re that freaking good. I will wear these on repeat all summer, and I am already eyeing the brown gingham for that tricky late-summer-into-fall transitional window. Some purchases are an investment in joy. This is one of them!

P.S. A lot of sizes are out of stock, but add your name to the waitlist — my size became available within 48 hours!

Eating | Whole Foods Family Meal

Did you know in Whole Foods’ prepared foods section, you can snag a family dinner featuring a protein, vegetable, and starch for under $30? Roughly four servings are included, and all you do is pop in the oven at around 375 for 25-35 minutes. So easy, so delicious, and cheaper than Uber Eats!

Reading | What Can Pope Leo Teach Us About Being Good Managers of People?

I’ll admit this one veers inside baseball for my day job — but Jeff Nowak is one of the preeminent voices on FMLA and ADA, and this piece surprised me. Whether you manage a team, work within one, or simply interact with humans on a regular basis (so: everyone), there are genuinely lovely takeaways here.

Watching | Chloe Rose Litras’s Bicester Village Vlog

For my English readers: you are so deeply lucky. Bicester Village — a designer outlet in Oxfordshire carrying Barbour, Aquazzura, Céline, Mulberry, Self-Portrait, Ralph Lauren, Max Mara, Zimmermann, Manolo Blahnik, and so many more, all at a discount — is the kind of thing that I did not know existed outside of a dream. Until I can get myself across the pond, I will be living vicariously through Chloe Rose’s shopping vlogs from there!

Listening | Danny Pellegrino — The Valley Recaps

If you have been watching the last few weeks of The Valley absolutely incensed at the way Danny treats his literal beauty pageant queen of a wife, you need Danny Pellegrino’s recaps in your life immediately. A rallying cry for sanity. A comfort. Danny P’s summary of Mia’s situation last week — “five under 5’5” ” — had me in tears.

Trying | Mister Car Wash Membership

Classic new car behavior. Sixteen dollars for the first month, thirty-two after that, for unlimited washes — and there is a location right on my way home from work! My goal is once a week, minimum. The Atlas will be pristine. I will become a car person yet!!!

Champagne | Ballard Designs Beauclaire Planter

No one does outdoor design like Ballard Designs — and I was genuinely, pleasantly surprised by the sticker price on this one.

Frites | Target × Studio McGee Outdoor Trellis Planter Box

Sixty dollars. An injection of francophile taste into any outdoor space without a single apology to your budget.

TIBL*

*Things I’ve Bought Lately

• Frank & Eileen Aspen Set

• Maude Club Alfie Sleeveless Swing Top

• Maeve Gingham Midi Skirt

• AYR The Tate White Oxford

• AYR The Half Day

• AYR The Practice Tee

• Le Ligne Colby Satin Pant

• Donni The Taffeta Drawstring Cargo Pant

• Quince 100% Organic Cotton Striped Crew Sweater

• Quince 100% European Linen High Waisted Shorts

• Quince 100% Organic Cotton Fisherman Boxy Cropped Cardigan

• Castañer Espadrille Wedges

Autumn Arissa Designs

For the home project that wants to feel lived-in and elevated all at once — Autumn is your person. She gets vendors in quickly, brings real vision to the work, and is, frankly, sunshine to collaborate with. If you are sitting on a project you keep putting off, this is your sign! We are working on a runner install this summer once she returns from maternity leave, and I am so excited!