Friends! Teo and I got home last night from coastal Maine for my cousin Anna’s wedding — a life-affirming, sun-soaked event. It’s highly possible that Maine has never looked as beautiful as it did this weekend: glassy water, stately pines, and spacious skies. It was as if blue and green had a roll call and every shade showed up. There were many wedding guests who’d never been to Maine and who declared that they want to move there, wooed by the weekend’s dramatic beauty. These declarations amused the Mainers. “Come back in February,” my uncle Brian quipped.
My cousin Anna married Jack, a British bloke she met at a bar while studying abroad nine or so years ago. (Teen Vogue, Anna’s still waiting for her call about how to meet the love of your life while studying abroad!) Jack is warm, funny, and a fierce Liverpool F.C. fan, which my soccer-obsessed immediate family particularly appreciates, even though most of us are Arsenal fans through and through. My mom and Jack are known to text back and forth during big Premier League days, bantering about their respective teams. Anna and Jack live in London, and I’ve been lucky enough to visit them on my own thrice over the past several years. Each time, I’ve been moved by how much they prioritize my visit, escorting me around London and taking genuine interest in the goings-on of my life. I aspire to be that sort of host — and relative.
As for the wedding events, the rehearsal dinner was at Tinder Hearth, an indoor-outdoor pizza restaurant at a farmhouse with a thriving garden, wood-burning brick oven, and soft serve stand. The Tinder Hearth pizzas are always changing, but my favorite pie this time around was one with goat cheese, zucchini, and honey. Deeeelightful. And nobody looked happier than the little kids prancing around the field, eating cheese pizza and ice cream.
At the wedding itself, Anna wore an ethereal ensemble with a corset-esque top, silky skirt, and a long, gauzy veil that floated in the wind. It doesn’t take much to make me tear up, but for what it’s worth, I got weepy when I saw Anna walk down the aisle with her mom on one side and dad on the other. During the ceremony, I harmonized on two songs with my uncle Marcus and cousin Levi, which brought me a lot of joy, especially since I haven’t performed in a long time. (Levi posted a clip of one of the songs on TikTok if you’d like to see.) I also got to write out the menus and draw corresponding doodles for the dinner tables. Thank you, Anna and Jack, for letting me participate. Weddings are my favorite thing. Except for birthdays. Birthdays are my favorite thing, too.
Outside of the official wedding festivities, my family did what my family does best: play music, play sports, go for walks, and talk about our feelings. I loved it all.
I start a new full-time job next month (more on that soon!), and I’m looking forward to routine, stability, and the creativity that can emerge when my head isn’t in ten million places at once. Here is my gentle, timeline-free creative to-do list:
Design menus for little things like making dinner for a couple friends. Collect the menus somewhere.
Pick up your guitar. Just pick it up! You’ll probably start playing it, and then you’re playing it and remembering that you love to play it and who knows what’ll happen from there.
Get back on my card-drawing game. (I already bought myself a new set of blank cards and envelopes to kickstart the process.)
Reconnect with your old friend, the Voice Memos app. Transfer melodies and lyrics from your head to your phone so you don’t forget them.
Try setting a poem to music like you did back in high school.
Make recipes from your cookbook collection. Some recipes I’m eyeing…
Whole poached chicken with ginger-spring onion dressing and rice from Recipes for a Lifetime of Beautiful Cooking by Danielle Alvarez & Libby Travers
Conchiglie with raw tomato sauce from the RSFP book Pasta by Christopher Boswell
Prosciutto-wrapped cod with garlicky spinach from Keeping It Simple by Yasmin Fahr
Chilled roast tomato soup from Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many by Jeremy Lee
Lemony chicken and pine nut pies from Kismet by Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson
I like the idea of keeping a running list of creative ventures to reference when I need inspiration. Creating something from nothing is magic, whether that’s a relationship, a song, or a pot of soup.
That’s all for today. More soon!
x Phoebe
Waaaaiiit small world! I went to high school in Nashville with Levi!
Oh, Phoebe, your Dish missives always delight and inspire! Thank you for your beautiful sketching of our wedding weekend. What a joy it was ... in all ways. Thank you for your contribution to the musical offerings and your elegant menu. And thank you for reminding me that it's always a good idea to pick up the guitar and to use Voice Memo to preserve creative ideas that otherwise get lost in Life distractions. I can't wait to hear about your new job! XOX