Tiny and Not-So-Tiny Delights
...and six great books--which also count as delights, of course :)
Delight is one of my core spiritual practices—I’ve written about it here and here, and especially when life’s complexity is weighing down heavily on my shoulders, I double-down on delight—I keep a running list on my phone, I force myself out the door to find it, I refocus my eyes on big and little experiences of goodness and beauty and grace right in the midst of the tangle of real, messy, painful life.
Because it’s always both, right? The heavy and the beautiful, the sacred and the profane, the dark and the delightful. It’s always both, but sometimes the heavy is all we can see. One of the ways I keep myself afloat in heavy seasons is the practice of delight-spotting, and like anything, the more you look for it, the more you find it.
Tiny and Not-So-Tiny Delights:
Summer cooking: One of the surest ways for me to settle back into life at home after a trip is by cooking, and one of the best ways for me to engage the present is to engage in seasonal cooking—it’s an exercise in being right where I am, right in this fleeting moment. That’s part of why I love cooking and especially seasonal cooking…the right-now-ness of it.
One morning last week I woke up and craved pure summertime flavors. I’m sure the kids were thrown off by the smell of barbecue first thing in the morning, but by time they rolled out of bed, there was a big pan of barbecued chicken and another of corn—the first of the season, cut off the cobs and cooked with butter and shallots, showered with green onions.
It made me feel at home in such a deep good way and also firmly located in summer flavors, and both were a gift to me that day.
A clean closet: I finally cleaned out my closet and drawers, sold and donated tons of clothes I don’t wear anymore, AND moved my sweaters to the under-bed storage. That means my closet is contains only stuff I love and only summer stuff, and my drawers are not full-to-bursting and full of stuff I don’t want but haven’t taken the time to sort through. This is one of those projects that seems like it’s going to take forever but really doesn’t—especially with a bedroom as small as ours!—and made me feel ten thousand times better.
The older I get, the more it really is true that I like having less stuff, and I’m clearer and clearer on what kinds of things work for me and what don’t—there are so many lovely things about getting older, and this is one: I know what I like, and it feels really really freeing to get rid of all the things that no longer suit this season of life.
Diet Coke in a can: When was the last time you had a perfectly cold, perfectly crispy can of Diet Coke? Confession: I’ve gotten into the habit of asking Will to pick me up a can (or two!) every time he goes to our corner store, which is very, very often. DELICIOUS.
Triscuits: I’m on a serious Triscuits kick these days—name a better cracker!
An excellent Father’s Day: Aaron is such an easy dad to celebrate on Father’s Day, and we had an excellent day together. We walked down to Bar Bruno, a really great new Mexican restaurant in Carroll Gardens. The shrimp tacos were excellent, and the boys really loved their steak tacos and burritos, too.
And then after dinner, the boys surprised Aaron with tickets to Toy Story 5, and it’s great. (Yes, of course I cried.) What a sweet night!
A really special Youth Group Bash: There is nothing like seeing other people care about your kids, and our church’s youth group does that so, so well. On the very short list of things we’re most grateful for in our life here in New York, the Good Shepherd Youth Group is way up there. Every summer, the leaders throw a bash—a meal together, some silly parents vs kids games, and the best part: the leaders give an award to each student, highlighting something special about each kid. On Saturday, we had burgers and hot dogs, the moms dominated in Pictionary (!!!) and we got to see these amazing leaders and kids in action—laughing together, sharing inside jokes, telling stories about all the experiences they’ve shared over the past year…this one’s a very big delight, actually.
Six hours with an old friend: My friend Laura was in town for a screening of her husband’s new movie—we went to the screening on Wednesday night (so fun! So ridiculous!) and she invited us to her birthday dinner on Friday night, and then on Friday afternoon, she texted and asked if I wanted to come to the hotel early for a just-us-two catch up…I basically flew into the shower, threw on a dress and ran out the door. When we finally finished dinner, Laura and I had been chatting for six hours—two hours in the cozy lobby bar and then four hours with her family and other friends around the dinner table, and I don’t ever want to forget how great it is to have those moments with old friends where the hours just fly by—what a gift!
A new favorite brand:
Remember when I predicted this Splash Black Dress was going to be my best purchase of the season? I’ve worn it just about every other day, and I get compliments every time I wear it. It washes beautifully, feels fancy enough for a night out, is easy to wear on the train or on a flight.
The aforementioned closet clean-out did allow me to identify some holes, so I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect white dress shirt and I’m pretty sure this is it: The Tate White Dress Shirt. It has the same lovely collar at the shirtdress, which I love, and it’s like a great mix of structured and cozy. I tried it on straight out of the box when it arrived and then wore it for the next three days, which is about as good an endorsement as I can offer.
Also during the great closet clean-out of June 2026, I parted ways with A LOT of jeans that were just okay—my brief flirtation with barrel leg, a couple pairs that are too cropped, some that are too wide, and all that purging left room for one classic jean: The Legend Jean in Russell is just the denim I want to wear right now—I loooooove the crease down the front, and the denim is much softer than I anticipated.
And a handful of books I’ve loved recently: (reading is 1000% one of my greatest delights)
Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzales
Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer
Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel
The Plunge by Lila Raicek
Extra Sauce by Zahra Tangorra
June Baby by Shannon Garvey
Here’s to delights, large and small, to keeping our eyes and hearts soft and open, to receiving goodness whenever and wherever we find it. Delight is the fuel that enables us to keep going on the hardest days—not frivolous in the least.
Keep a list, get out the door, be on the lookout and I will, too. XO—S