Introducing: Matthew McConaughey

Also in here: five Father's Day gift ideas

Hi! I literally cannot wait to tell you about Matthew McConaughey. No time for small talk – here’s the story.

matthew mcconaughey

Lucy, my first-grader, brought a snail home from the school garden a few weeks ago. As she proudly showed him off at pickup time, she announced that she had already named him, after her teacher’s favorite Hollywood actor: Matthew McConaughey. (In her class, the rule during silent reading is not to speak to anyone, even the teacher, unless 1. you are on fire 2. aliens have invaded or 3. Matthew McConaughey has entered the classroom.)

A gentle creature, Matthew McConaughey now lives in a tupperware in our backyard, after having acclimated to his new habitat under a colander for a couple of days. Primarily he eats leaves from our avocado and lemon trees and has survived the travails of being forgotten at the grandparents’ house (yes, he travels) and a near-kidnapping (false alarm, he just got lost). Matthew McConaughey has brought immense joy to our household and recently modeled for me in what has become my favorite photograph I have ever taken. 

This is going on the wall in my front room. // Kodak Portra 160 film

"Take care how you place your moccasins upon the earth, step with care, for the faces of the future generations are looking up from the earth, waiting their turn for life."
– Wilma Mankiller

today’s bouquet

• 10 things worth doing this summer. My musts are 2, 9, and 10. "Who's having fun?"

• Can’t get enough of Eva Jorgensen’s Pinterest lately – she’s at the top of the list of artists I’d like to be friends with. Other terrific pinners: my sister Mary and Rachel from Austin.

• Vintage illustrations of cake decorating. 

• Planning a sisters trip for this fall and can't imagine not bringing this puzzle

• Great reminder: There’s a real person under here 💕

• Tip for having fun in a museum: look for something in every painting, like bows!

• Three ways to get more out of your disposable camera. 

• Helpful discovery: I'm always looking for new ways to get cute photos of my kids, especially now that we have a big height difference between them. This pose worked great and it was so easy! I just laid out a pretty quilt and had them put all their heads together. Worked great on multiple cameras.

  

  Left: iPhone // Center: Instax mini // Right: 35mm film

"The more you know, the more you can create."
–Julia Child

• Raise your hand if you cried on the phone with your mentor this week. 🙋🏼‍♀️ After I gathered myself, I walked away from my screens, took my tea out to the front porch and jotted down some ideas in my favorite notebook. Deep breaths. Must keep trying.

• I'm on the lookout for some Onitsuka Tigers but am having a hard time finding them in my size. These pink sneakers might be worth snatching instead! 

• Also in my Anthro cart: this indigo checked dress, a handmade-looking sweater tee, these dazzling boots I definitely don’t need, and my favorite lemony candle for the bathroom counter.

• I've had my eye on this floral butterfly dress since the collab first launched, and it's now marked down to $119! 

• Free People always has pregnancy-friendly dresses. This white one would be pretty for a bump of any size this summer. With my third and fourth babies, I wore a lot of loose dresses with bike shorts and a support band underneath. 

• We love to see it – moms helping other moms go surfing!

• Blackberry IQ test. At the dinner table while enjoying the berries we had picked at the farm, we wondered why blackberries have tiny hairs on them. Charlie thought it was to help them taste better, Lucy suggested that the hairs keep the berries warm in the winter, and Eleanor rightly guessed that they were leftover from the flowering stage.

  

  Blackberry picking at Tanaka Farms last week. // Kodak Portra 400 film

things that came in handy this week 

1. Close up lens filters. Couldn’t have gotten my photo of Matthew McConaughey without them!

2. Mick’s scooty seat. I try not to buy too much clunky plastic baby gear, but this thing is mighty handy for my almost-six-month-old. Bonus, it was Charlie’s, extra bonus, it’s Mickey Mouse themed.

3. Box cake mix. Saved me all kinds of time and money andddd not a single kid at Eleanor’s birthday party complained.

father’s day gift ideas

• My dad's pick: Literide Crocs. Tbh, even as a former Croc hater, I’m into these for dads.

• Much cheaper and more practical than a new grill: a Lodge griddle pan for the stovetop. (I own and love this.) Bonus gift: a burger press. Bonus bonus gift: make him smash burgers.

• A puzzle featuring his hometown with a house-shaped piece for his home address. So cute?!!

• Just a cool hat.

• Choose something favorite-thing-adjacent. If he’s really into coffee, get him a mug with your face on it. Loves cycling? Maybe he’d like new sunglasses or even a great made-by-you playlist. A king-size version of his favorite candy bar is never a bad idea, either.

5 things from trader joe’s

1. Mango-orange Spindrift. > La Croix. (Except grapefruit.)

2. Sweet potatoes. My favorite cheap, nutrient dense lunch base.

3. Cheese filled fiocchetti with pink sauce (frozen). Nate’s favorite!

4. Spinach. Haven’t been feeling very green lately. Trying to though.

5. Basil. Anyone have a trick to prevent basil from wilting so quickly??

“‘The cat sat on a mat’ is not a story. ‘The cat sat on the dog’s mat’ is a story.”
–John le Carré

from the archives

• 06/05/19 - My 5 Best Tips for Photographing Your Kids

• 06/10/20 - Quiet

• 06/09/21 - Aloha, it's a short one

• 06/08/22 - An intro! Including some useless facts and my initials

last thing

• Last week’s most popular link: the platform Birks

• I can’t tell you how much it means to me when you read, click, and shop the stuff in this newsletter. THANK YOU for participating in this personal archive with me. If you like sharing stuff on your platform, will you share today’s Handpicked? And please leave a comment if you have a cool thing to tell the Handpicked readers about! 🌸

“Nothing in the universe is stationary. Not the sun and the moon. And most definitely not any part of you.”
–Amira Elghawaby