Would you rather be cute, cool, or fabulous?

A book I'm into, cringe in every direction, and clay that'll blow your mind

“What should I wear under this dress? Jeans? Will that look good?”

It was Tuesday night, and I stood in the doorway of my daughter’s closet, watching her pick an outfit for the following day.

I try to encourage her creative instincts wherever possible, and letting her assemble her daily look—even if it defies color theory—means I tend to agree with whatever she selects, no questions asked. The only rule is that if she’s wearing a dress and it’s below 70 degrees, she has to wear a legging or pant of some sort underneath. This is why she was holding up a pair of jeans with a drawstring elastic waist for me to inspect.

“Oh yeah, jeans!” I said, “That would look so cool.”

“Hm,” she said. She frowned at the pants and tossed them back into the drawer. “Well, I don’t want to look cool tomorrow, I want to look cute.”

“Oh, ok.”

“Cute, cool, and fabulous.”

“Like, one word for each day of the week? Or all three together, tomorrow?”

(I needed to clarify, obviously.)

“One for each day,” she said, “First cute tomorrow, then cool, THEN fabulous.”

And so, dear reader, you can thank my pre-schooler for the inspiration behind this week’s quick-but-hopefully-fun letter: something cute, something cool, something fabulous. I had big plans for a different essay, but here’s the other thing about Tuesday night: as she declared her sartorial intentions for the week, I couldn’t breathe. I have escaped the Pre-school Virus Gods for a very long stretch, but this week, they exacted their revenge. Amidst the always perplexing combination of a runny gushing nose and headache-inducing congestion, very little writing of any kind got done, so as ever, I am thankful to my kiddo for being an endless source of amusement, and now, newsletter inspiration.

Let’s get to it.