JEWELLERY

This Georgian ring A lab-grown stone in a proper Georgian-style cut-down setting, 14k gold. For the Jessica McCormack fans, without the eye-watering price tag. I’ve purchased from this seller a number of times so can attest to the quality!

This tennis bracelet Same Georgian button-back setting, this time strung into a full tennis bracelet. I love the varied stone sizes. It’s a need not a want.

This pendant An old-mine cut, elongated cushion shape, prong set. Truly beautiful and something you’d keep forever.

This pear-cut pendant & necklace A pear-cut stone on a blackened gold Georgian cain. Most pendants from my favourite Etsy jewellers are sold separately to the chain. This one isn’t, which makes it a great price!

This east-west ring An east-west set cushion cut in blackened gold. It does give engagement ring vibes (it’s “inspired” by the Jessica McCormack engagement ring Tom Holland proposed to Zendaya with) but I’d style it sized down as a pinky ring.. Nothing chicer than wearing a single, sizeable stone on your pinky!

This vintage watch A vintage medium Cartier Panthère. I love my small but this is.. insane?? Truly can’t believe it’s still up for sale at a price like that..

This pendant necklace Wood and serpentine, an unexpected pairing that reads really beautifully. Picturing wearing this summer with shirting or a scoop neck tank.

ARCHIVAL FASHION

This polka dot skirt S/S 2000 Prada, burgundy silk, pleated. I have thought about this skirt no fewer than four times since finding it. Pleated Prada from the early 2000’s has lived rent free in my mind since my fashion school days.

This flower print skirt S/S 2001 Prada, flared, the kind of print that makes an outfit. SATC fans will know it from an iconic Carrie outfit. I love the yellow but I’m just not that girl and would get far more wear out of the black (in my size, too!! Rude not to..?!)

The lips print skirt Utterly iconic 2010 Prada. It’s a collectors item.

The runway boots “Are you wearing the… the CHANEL Boots..? Yeah I am.” THE F/W 2005 Chanel thigh-highs. Famously mentioned (and worn!) in The Devil Wears Prada. A piece of fashion history, no?

HOME

This jewellery box Solid burl wood, velvet-lined, with a lock and key. So beautiful and I know you need somewhere for all of your jewellery to live..

This jewellery organiser If a box isn’t your thing. An organiser, perhaps!? Velvet, with dedicated spots for precious pieces.

This jewellery tray For those who seek simplicity. A simple velvet tray for the pieces you reach for everyday. Elegant and understated enough to sit out on a dresser rather than hidden away in a drawer. So many beautiful rich hues to choose from!

These armchairs A set of two vintage velvet green singles with fringe trim. I don’t have room for them, nor do they suit my home in it’s current state. I want them anyway..

This cushion cover Sea blue velvet with a chartreuse fringe — the exact kind of unexpected colour pairing I claimed I only save for accessories. Every time I inject colour into our home, I end up regretting it and feeling overstimulated.. But small impermanent pieces like cushions and vases are the way to trial colour in interiors..

These wall sconces A pair of mid-century Italian glass sconces, circa 1970. If we didn’t already have bedside sconces, they’d already be mine.

PLAYFUL ADDITIONS

This flower brooch A handmade silk dahlia pin, elegant enough to make elevated essentials feel like an intentional outfit. Bring back the broach, I say!!

This beaded tote Handmade from wood beads with a cotton or satin lining, entirely too charming for its own good.

This mini bag A simple silk bag. Great option if you love the The Row’s Cecily Bag but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg.

These silk pants They’re listed as pyjamas but let’s be real, I’m tempted to wear them during the day and out of the house. Is this spring summer the summer I finally start wearing colour? What’s happening to me.. !?

This silk robe Major Dries vibes and what I want to wear to flounce around the house on a Sunday..

So, that’s this week’s tentative damage report. Now please tell me, which pieces should we pull the trigger on..

Those close to me often make light of my penchant for black and white and neutrals, but I actually truly, genuinely love colour.. It just doesn’t seem to make its way to my wardrobe, as I’ve learnt over the years that wearing a high contrast and predominately neutral palette is what makes me feel most myself. More on that soon!

Maybe that’s why I opt for louder, bold hues and a “good time” when it comes to accessories. I’m also a sucker for beauty packaging and will absolutely be swayed by artful primary and secondary packaging (also, more on this soon…)!

A good chunk of what’s in here was gifted, either through work or from loved ones for special occasions. That being said, I’ve always valued elevating the everyday — so am happy to splurge if it’s something special and I know I’ll get ample use of.

As I was writing this, I was thinking about my eldest daughter, Mila, who already loves going through my bag.. So much so I’ve had to start keeping them up out of reach rather than plonked down on the floor of my walk in robe. She’s also a magpie when it comes to sparkly things! She tried to wear one of my necklaces to preschool a few weeks ago. I was sure I had a few years still before the wardrobe theft started..

Anyway. Here’s what’s in my bag..

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I’ve been sitting with that for weeks, turning it over, trying to work out how to write about it without either flattening it into something tidy or letting it swallow me whole again. So I’m just going to tell it as it happened, and let it be as messy as it actually was.

Greta was our eighth embryo transfer. We started trying for a sibling for Mila when she was just eighteen months old. She didn’t become a big sister until she was four.

In between sat two and a half years of heartbreak I still don’t have adequate language for. The kind that reshapes you quietly, without asking permission. So when the positive test finally came, in May last year, confirmed on Mother’s Day of all days, Lucy and I held it so carefully. We didn’t say it out loud, not really, not in the way you’d expect two people to celebrate news they’d spent years praying for. We’d learned the hard way not to count anything before it was safely, truly ours.

For a while, it seemed like maybe this time it would be. The early bloodwork was in our favour. The genetic testing came back all clear. We found out we were having a girl, a sister for Mila, and I remember tucking her into bed one night not long after, crying quietly as her small hand rested on my belly. “Are they happy tears, Mumma?” she asked. I told her they were. I told her all of my dreams were coming true. I have always pictured a house full of girls.

Then came an ordinary appointment that stopped being ordinary within about ninety seconds. A quick look at the baby on a non-diagnostic machine, just for fun, and the screen showed something that made my stomach drop before my brain had even caught up. I knew, on some instinctive level, that what I was looking at wasn’t right.

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However, one sunny Winter’s day when we escaped the hospital, I found myself strolling through Collingwood Yards going to get a coffee and lunch at Stefanino’s and thought to myself - wow, this is bliss. This is it.. And they are the moment’s I keep striving for when I feel a bone deep level of exhaustion.

Lucy and I joke that there’s nothing quite like a post-hospital-stay state of euphoria. When Greta first got home we jokingly asked one another if there were any possibility that were in fact experiencing a shared manic episode. Some days it still feels like that — too good to be true, waiting for the other shoe to drop..

All this to say, my recommendations this month may very well be shadowed by a state of exhaustion and forced solitude but alas! Here they are, From My Drafts…

1. V-neck Sweater, 2. Silver hoops, 3. Tote bag, 4. Silver carafe, 5. Baby duvet cover, 6. Coffee table book, 7. Pram suit, 8. Skin tint.

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This tote. It really is the perfect size for everything. I had the medium in sand but the large is very necessary with the two girls, now. I got the midnight brown but also really love the eucalyptus colour-way. I’m a sucker for a duck egg blue..

This skin tint. I’ve tried lots and this one is really, really good. Genuinely feels like nothing on the skin but evens out complexion and blurs without being too matte (or too shiny..)!

This moisturiser. Look beyond the cult-brand cool girl hype, and you’ll find that it’s a very good product. I haven’t tried much from the brand (yes, I’ve been living under a rock..) but I got this as well and it doesn’t annoy me like most lip balms do..

This woolen pram suit. Is there anything cuter than a baby wrapped up in wool? Perfect for frosty morning coffee runs and long winter walks. You would have also seen this baby duvet all over my instagram feed lately, too. It comes with us everywhere in the cooler months.

This baby duvet cover. They honestly have so many amazing sheet sets, for babies, kids, and adult size bedding, too. A brand based out of CPH. Impossibly understated and effortlessly cool, of course.. but at such a fair price. The girls have quite a few sets of their linen. They get better, and softer, with every wash.

This novel. I know it’s against the rules to recommend something you haven’t finished, but I’m about half the way through (I started it in January, though in my defence.. I’ve been a bit busy!!). I started following the author on social media. I think she came up on my TikTok late last year.. You’ll be as addicted to her eclectic, British-author-aesthetic as I am. Every time I put my boring black socks on I wonder if I should opt for a signature red like she has, instead.

This face mask. I really don’t have much of a skincare routine at the moment. I’m honestly too exhausted and I’d rather spend 15 minutes sitting down to write if I can, rather than lathering serum upon serum. So I’ll let the tech do all the heavy lifting, for now..

These earrings. Nothing makes me feel put together like a simple silver hoop. I can be wearing the sloppiest outfit to run out the door, and I throw on my glasses, a silver hoop and an unexpected, slightly dressy shoe or boot and feel a million bucks.

This pair of shoes. So easy, affordable and perfect parent-running-around-all-day clogs. True to size. Go for either the black or greige suede. They also come in pony hair if you’re feeling snazzy!

This vacuum. Hear me out. A vacuum Lauren, really!? And the answer is an unequivocal, yes! Earlier this month, the robovac really lit up my DMs and it appears that there are many of you who, like me, are too exhausted and too time poor to lift a finger around the house these days. We (and by we I mean Lucy!) splurged and got a good one.. I’ve heard that’s the way to do it if you’re going to buy one, buy a decent one. Anyway, we looooove ours.

For unlimited links and all my favourite finds, follow me on ShopMy!

With love, Lauren

Greta is back in hospital.

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With love, Lauren

From My Drafts is a deeply personal project with the sole intent of supporting my family during a period of prolonged paediatric illness.

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