spruced by marlene

So I’m sitting here wearing woolen socks, asking myself: how did this happen? It can’t possibly be fall already, can it? I was on Majorca only three weeks ago. Fine, four weeks ago. In 33 degree weather! And now it’s dark outside at 7pm, I fired up the heating for the first time last night and in the supermarket the crates of strawberrys have been replaced with gingerbread. I actually like fall. The morning cold that still dissolves in the sunshine. The bite in the air and the hazy light. The bone-tiredness that creeps into your body when you’re drinking tea in the evening, as though you’re a grizzly before going into hibernation. I like fall, I really do. It just comes too early.

I’m not ready. How not ready? So not that I’m showing you my favourite summer dress. Which is basically a big white silk shirt, light like a breeze and easy like, well, like a summer’s day. It’s from Manning Cartell, a great brand founded in Sydney by the three sisters Cheryl, Vanessa und Gabrielle Manning. Of course, in Australia summer is only just beginning. I don’t even want to think about it.

Of course, I don’t just love James because he makes beautiful handbags. But it might make me love him a little bit more. Every time he designs something, it’s inevitably my favourite new thing. And now – be still my heart! – he has made the Nora shopper in a lovely full-grain leather. The bag waited for me when I returned from my summer holiday. Suddenly the idea of fall doesn’t seem so bad. James has designed The Nora in black, burgundy and grey. You can find, buy and fall in love with the whole Nora collection, including five colours in suede, here.

When Steffi and I started planning to go on holiday to Majorca together, we made no plans of what to do once we were actually there. Except this one: do what we felt like every morning. And if we felt like going to the same beach for the third day running, we’d do exactly that. Until one morning Steffi said: Hadn’t we at one point thought about doing a spa day, with all the frills? We had. One phone call later we had an appointment at the Hotel Portixol in Palma, four days later we pulled up to a blinding white building by the harbour.

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While on holiday I read in the paper that the holiday feeling lasts for one week after you’ve returned home. However, the blues of no longer being on holiday lasts for four weeks. I immediately put the paper to the side and jumped in the pool once more.

I’ve been back in Berlin for a week now and, kids, don’t believe everything you read in the papers. I could be grumpy because my desk is as full as it was before the holiday. I could’ve spontaneously capitulated at the state of my inbox. Could’ve found that the daily I-should-have-done-that-yesterday-lists are stupid. But Majorca has had an effect on me. The calm that comes with sitting in front of a small house in the middle of nowhere, watching the shadows grow longer every evening, is lingering. Suitcase still unpacked? Who cares! 50 new e-mails? How fun! Letter from the tax office? Ahahaha! I might be crazy, but I’m going to try to hold on to that one-week-feeling for as many weeks as I can.

Before I boarded the plane back home, Steffi said to me: wear a white t-shirt every day to show off your tan! I’m wearing black right now, as all the white stuff is of course still in the suitcase, but I did get a very nice tan for having such pale skin, and I still have it now. A few days before I went to Majorca, I was sent a product from Berlin beauty store Belle Rebelle, which promised to do exactly that: prolong your tan even when you can’t prolong the holiday. „V6.8 tan prolong” is from a skincare series by Sepai with a name that makes me think of motorsports rather than beauty – „tune it”.

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My mama first wore this blouse on Formentera the summer before I was born 35 years ago. I discovered it in her closet when I was a teenager and, probably without asking her permission, decided that I was going to keep it. The cheesecloth is frayed to the point of disintegrating and I love running my fingers over the fabric, the places where it’s almost see-through from wear, a piece of our shared history. What’s still perfect after all these years is the crochet neckline that my mama made herself. Of the things I inherited from her, unfortunately a talent for sewing wasn’t one of them. But maybe that makes me appreciate what she can do a little bit more.

My favourite thing about this picture is what you can’t see – the photographer. James flew to Majorca as a surprise for the last three days of my holiday there, very sneakily arranged together with Steffi and her husband (who should all consider careers as secret agents!). I wish I could’ve seen my face when he suddenly stood there at the airport in front of me. Instead I’ll try to remember this face right here from this holiday. The one that looks happy.