Happy Friday!
Yesterday, I caught myself happy in the middle of an ordinary day for the first time in a while.
I want to be honest: I have felt immense happiness in these past few weeks, but if I’m truthful with myself, most of it has been engineered. Luxury hotels. Grand purchases. Champagne and late nights. All lovely things, but I recognize now that I was reaching for them, using them as a kind of scaffolding to hold happiness up.
But yesterday, it was just office coffee, a conversation with a colleague about public securities filings — hardly the stuff of poetry — and a small, unbidden smile on my lips. A quiet kind of peace. A steady kind of energy. And then, simply, the thought fluttered into my mind, unprompted and unearned by any grand gesture at all: I am happy.
I’ve been meditating for a year and a half now, and I credit the practice entirely with giving me the presence to notice happiness this gentle — the kind that doesn’t announce itself, that you could easily miss if you weren’t paying attention.
Wishing you all the most normal of joys this weekend, and peace in your own presence.
Until our next correspondence,
xx Lauren
The Lauren Letter will always be free. But if this space has become something you look forward to—a small ritual in your week, a source of inspiration, a reminder to approach life with more intention—you now have the option to support it.
Wearing | Few Moda Caara Paloma Linen Pant in Butter
I received so many compliments on these this week. They read casual, but I dressed them up for the office and they held their own beautifully. I love Few Moda as a brand, and this particular shade of butter yellow is just perfect.
Eating | A Peach of a Party Casseroles
I was gifted a few of these casseroles weeks ago and finally dug them out of the freezer. Absolutely delicious — worth every bit of refrigerator real estate. The Chicken & Wild Rice was especially scrumptious!
Reading | Dolly All The Time by Annabel Monaghan
I just cracked open this month's Lauren Letter Book Club pick! Join us in reading along and jump into the discussion.
Watching | Elle
Carter and I popped this Legally Blonde prequel on, and it is truly fizzy, eye-candy fun. There's a fair amount of heavy-handed callbacks (or is it call-forwards, given it's a prequel?) that can make it feel a touch unoriginal at moments — but we've both enjoyed it as easy watching, and it's a genuine joy to see our heroine's reputation for open-mindedness and belief in the best in people spring to life.
Listening | Caamp
This band came on shuffle at work and I fell for it immediately. It feels like sitting around a campfire. My favorites are "By and By" and "26."
Trying | Brow Lami and Stain & Last Lift and Tint
I went to Tanaz at By the Blade to try out my first ever brow lamination and stain & lash lift and tint and instantly felt so put together — today I literally just used a lash curler for an extra boost before walking out the door, nothing more. Excited to report back on how it holds up over time!
Champagne | LoveShackFancy Chessie Blooming Floral Maxi Dress
No one does whimsical, feminine dressing quite like LoveShackFancy!
Frites | American Heiress Maeve Appliqué Chiffon Midi Dress in Marigold Yellow
A brand that’s new to me, and it’s a beautiful one — one self-proclaimed in love with the classic muses of art and culture. This pink-and-yellow piece is stunning, and at under $120, it's a remarkably accessible way into an elevated look.
1. Dorsey Kate Riviere Necklace
2. Maison Louis Marie No. 04 Bois de Balincourt Soy Candle
3. Leset Barb Wide Leg Pant & Crew Cardigan
5. Coco McCall Coco Cutie Cardigan
6. Ray-Ban RB4457D Plastic Pillow Sunglasses
7. English Factory Tan & Brown Swiss Dot Tillie Maxi Dress
8. Sugar Paper Gratitude Journal
9. On Cloudtilt
Elizabeth White Cook
The founder of Domino Media Group, an Atlanta-based PR and brand strategy firm focused on lifestyle-driven businesses, Elizabeth has now traded agency life for a different kind of hunt: scouring estate sales, online auctions, and the hidden corners of the internet for pieces with real history to them. It is exactly the kind of patient, discerning treasure-hunting I aspire to bring to my own home, and she shares all of it — design inspiration, insider finds, and a genuinely well-trained eye for mixing old with new — with her community on Instagram and in her own weekly Substack.
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.
