Activities
endorphins make you happy, baby! and ps: the clothes have gotten goooodddd
This week, I’m back with a more traditional letter that I have been noodling on for awhile. If you are just here for the clothes, you can shop all the pieces here!
Do you do…activities? Lately, I have been thinking about them a lot. Which ones, who does them, what type of routine they bring into our lives and whether it is good or bad, and, of course, what to wear for them (more on this later).
A couple of months ago I overheard a woman with kids my age discussing her children’s Saturday lineup of appointments, lessons, and other activities and I was… pretty surprised. Are 3-year-olds really taking golf AND gymnastics lessons? Did they choose to do those things? Are they having fun? And of course, are you (the parent) spending your whole weekend shuttling from one activity to the next?
Obviously, as my kids get older they will get into activities. Maybe sports, music, other extracurriculars, whatever. And of course, the interests they develop will expand into after school and (gasp!) weekend time, and I will be involved in the transportation logistics, the spectating of the activities (and the purchasing of things for the activities, and prepping of things for the activities, and…holy crap got a little off track there — *insert face melting emoji*).
But right now, my kids are too little (perhaps the 3-year-old is almost starting to have some things he wants to do, but man is he fickle!) to have activities or hobbies that they are interested in. And so, they don’t do anything. We enjoy weekends where there are no activities that we shuttle them to (except for birthday parties, we do shuttle them to A LOT of birthday parties). We do a lot of things as a family. We enjoy having not a ton of plans. We go on a lot of walks. We go on runs with the kids in the jogging stroller. We go to the library, the playground, and the woods. Now that it’s summertime, we go to the pool and spend the whole morning there. I like it. I really like it. I’m not ready to change from deciding how we spend our weekend family time to having to carefully dissect pieces of time from a schedule of activities and lessons and classes.
It’s funny though, because my husband has this intense concern that surfaces from time to time that he doesn’t have enough hobbies.
The first time he brought it up, I looked at him, confused. “Hobbies?” I asked, not totally understand what he was talking about. He explained that he needed more hobbies, (the synonym for hobbies, I learned, is activities) that he could do on his own, or with friends. At the time, I didn’t really totally understand his desire for hobbies. My initial reaction was resentment because I felt like his desire to do hobbies (all of which happen to be things like playing 18 holes of golf or road-biking for 40+ miles that take a long-ass time) was really a way for him to say that he didn’t want to hang out as a family.
Over time though, I have come around and I understand what he’s talking about. It’s more than just what you do to relax, in your downtime, or for exercise. It’s nice to have something else you are interested in, learning how to do, or working on! It’s relaxing but interesting. It’s alone time that isn’t just scrolling through your phone.
It all clicked for me when a couple of weeks ago, I signed up for a tennis clinic at the health club we joined for the summer. I played a lot of tennis growing up, but hadn’t picked up a racquet in…years. I came home feeling INVIGORATED. I totally get it now. When I was playing, I couldn’t stop smiling. I ran around. I played like a maniac. I didn’t know a single person. None of it mattered. I had fun! I didn’t think about work or kids or friends or food or laundry or anything. I didn’t multi-task. I came home happy and energized and excited to dive into the dinner and night-time routine with my kids. It felt freaking great to leave my house for a bit and not have it be to run an errand or go grocery shopping. So yeah, I get activities.
But there is this tension between wanting to do and learn new things, finding the time to fit them in and with just wanting some unscheduled downtime (alone and as a family!). Sometimes the juggling of all the things, the scheduling coordination, the wondering about whether a tradeoff is worth it, the ensuring that something will fit in with the meals, snacks, naps, bedtime, etc., wondering whether I am spending enough time on work, with my kids, with friends, is so freaking exhausting! The juggle is hard!
So, I am cautiously embracing activities. Tonight, I’ll go to tennis again. I signed my son up for swimming lessons this summer, and I think we will continue them in the fall. And in the meantime, I am into the clothes. I played a lot of tennis growing up and man have the wardrobe options changed! When I played, I got all my gear from a traditional athletic brands — Nike, Adidas, maybe the occasional piece from Lacoste. As tennis, golf, pickleball and other sports have risen (or returned) in popularity, new brands are emerging and existing brands are introducing new activewear categories and collections. There are only so many athletic dresses one can purchase before actually being required to do an activity that requires the donning of said athletic dress. I’m highlighting some of my favorite pieces and brands below - because, if the thinking about activities is stressful, the scheduling of them requires mental math, then at least the shopping can be fun! Enjoy!
The best of summer-time athleisure
1: Vuori Skirt / 2: Old Navy Skirt / 3: Pleated Tennis Skirt / 4: Blue Piped Dress / 5: Blue half-zip athletic dress / 6: Addison Bay Skirt / 7: White Dress / 8: Cross-Back Dress / 9: Vuori Shorts / 10: Bike Shorts / 11: Socks / 12: Boxy T /13: Alo Tennis Dress / 14: On Sneakers / 15: Vuori Dress / 16: Kule Sweatshirt / 17: Addison Bay Skirt
1: Vuori Skirt - The new tennis collection from Vuori might be the pieces that convince me its time to try this much-loved brand. I love the color of this skirt, and I like the high-rise.
2: Old Navy Skirt - Old navy does athletic wear incredibly well for the price. Love this!
3: Pleated Tennis Skirt - Tuckernuck also crushes the cute athletic wear. Love this pleated tennis skirt!
4: Blue Piped Dress - Looks so flattering and would work for sports and also just out and about!
5: Blue half-zip athletic dress - J.Crew is entering the game too, and this dress is really excellent.
6: Addison Bay Skirt - I haven’t tried Addison Bay yet, but am drooling over MANY of their pieces. This skirt looks awesome.
7: White Dress - This dress is so classic; I love the green collar. Looks like this would be awesome for golfers or tennis players (or pickleballers, or spectators!). Worth noting that this does not have built-in shorts!
8: Cross-Back Dress - Love the back of this dress, and OV dresses have a cult following!
9: Vuori Shorts - You can probably tell that I’m very into the skirts and dresses, but I think shorts are still great to have, and I like the cut of these - nice and roomy on the thigh!
10: Bike Shorts - What to wear to exercise, but also when it’s too hot for leggings (or, the entire months of July & August if you’re in New England). I love the gingham.
11: Socks - Ankle socks are all the rage right now, and extra practical for #sports.
12: Boxy T - I am very into a slightly cropped, oversized, boxy t shirt to exercise in these days. I like that it offsets a tighter pair of bike shorts, leggings or short skirt, and bonus that its really easy to move in!
13: Alo Tennis Dress - This is one of the tighter/shorted pieces in this roundup, but if you are into it, I think Alo has some of the best performance fabric around!
14: On Sneakers - huge range of great colors in this style and they are very comfy!
15: Vuori Dress - I love the back of this dress.
16: Kule Sweatshirt - A cool vintage-inspired sweatshirt to wear to workout, or to just lounge.
17: Addison Bay Skirt - Another Addison Bay piece that I am loving!
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