Happy March! Even though we’ve had a VERY mild winter in DC, I’m still looking forward to the official arrival of spring. I didn’t empty as many products in February as I did in January, but I still have a bunch of items to discuss. Take a peek:
Quick note: today is the eighth anniversary of this blog! I’m pretty impressed with myself for keeping it going for so long!
1. Reformation Gavin Dress: last week, I went to Brooklyn for an event for John’s work. I decided to rent this emerald green dress from Rent the Runway, and I ended up absolutely loving it! Unfortunately I didn’t get great photos of myself while wearing it, so this is what you get. 🙂 So many people complimented me on the color…so I will now forever drape myself in emerald. I had never tried Reformation before, but I would definitely rent something from them in the future.
1. Great Falls: last Saturday afternoon was gorgeous, so we did a hike to Great Falls from Riverbend Park. It was 55 degrees at the end of January…thanks, climate change? We typically prefer to hike in the morning when it’s quieter, but decided to wait until it warmed up. So, there were a lot of people out and about due to the beautiful weather. Despite all the people we enjoyed the hike, which was a little over 3.5 miles round trip. This view of the falls is 100% worth it:
I’m kicking off my first empties post of 2023 with a boatload of products! I used up so many things in January, and I had a few makeup items to declutter as well. My photos are unfortunately not the best quality this month because it was overcast when I needed to take pics.
I haven’t really had much to post about lately, but I’m jumping back in with a few things I’ve been excited about.
1. The Menu: okayyyy…we watched this movie on HBO Max last weekend knowing nothing about it beforehand. Like, I didn’t even know the film’s genre. And what a fun surprise it was! I absolutely loved it. I won’t give any spoilers since I think this movie is best enjoyed cold, much like icy host Elsa (played impeccably by Hong Chau). My main critique of the film is that with such a stacked cast, some of the talent feels slightly wasted: Judith Light, Janet McTeer, and John Leguizamo in particular. However, the top-billed performers (Ray Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Nicholas Hoult) do not disappoint. I highly recommend this movie!
Happy 2023! I hope you had a fantastic New Year’s Eve, whether you went out and celebrated or hunkered down at home. After a November without many empties, I finished up so many products in December!
Let’s get right into them.
1. The Cavalier Hotel: though we’re not big holiday people, we like to do holiday getaways when possible. Due to the pandemic we hadn’t done one since December 2019, so this year we booked several nights at The Cavalier, a historic hotel in Virginia Beach. It’s a beautiful property that’s super festive during the holidays. We mostly hung out at the hotel because it was very cold and windy during our stay, though we visited the Virginia Aquarium one morning. It’s always fun to see sharks and sea turtles…plus two Komodo dragons!
The Cavalier and associated Marriott across the street have great dining options, so we didn’t eat anywhere else. The hotel also has a spa and a distillery. We didn’t take advantage of either, but I did buy some things from their gift shops. We enjoyed our stay so much that we already booked another trip there! We’re looking forward to experiencing Virginia Beach and more of the Cavalier in warmer weather.
1. Survivor 43: I’ve discussed my new obsession with this long-running reality show before. Season 43 ended this week, and boy, were the last couple episodes of this season wild. I won’t spoil anything here, but I really enjoyed this season. It won’t go down as an all-time best season, but there was some incredible game play and strong players to root for. Slight brag…I met three of the final five at a Survivor podcast and afterparty last month!! Kudos to the casting department; they’ve really stepped it up in the last several years (and the increased diversity has impacted the show for the better). In the near future, I’ll be listening to lots of podcasts and reading many articles analyzing how this season went down.
1. Pearl: Ti West secretly filmed Pearl along with his horror film X, which I enjoyed. I really liked this film as well! Mia Goth is remarkable as Pearl, demonstrating incredible skill in a one-take, five-plus-minute-long monologue. Her credits rictus is astonishing as well. I’m excited for the third installment in this trilogy, MaXXXine.
Happy December! I feel like I always say this, but this year has flown by…it’s wild that 2023 is right around the corner. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My family finally got together for to celebrate the holiday for the first time since the pandemic began, so our reunion was way overdue.
I emptied SO MANY beauty products last month! Many of them are minis due to my recent travels:
