Cherry Blossom Season is Here!
Quick note: I’m going to combine my March and April empties into one post at the end of April. I haven’t emptied enough products this month to be worth a full post. So stay tuned!
1. Peak Cherry Blossoms: early Monday morning, John and I headed to the Tidal Basin to enjoy the cherry blossoms. The display truly never gets old! Below is my favorite photo that I took this year.
2. Small Ulta Haul: I’ll need more micellar water soon-ish so I decided to check out Ulta’s 21 Days of Beauty and see if there was anything else I wanted to order. Indeed there was. Here’s what I got: Garnier SkinActive Micellar Cleansing Water All-in-1 Cleanser & Makeup Remover, MAC Prep + Prime Fix+ Primer and Setting Spray (on sale), Tula The Cult Classic Purifying Face Cleanser (on sale), ELF O Face Satin Lipstick in Dirty Talk, and Ulta WHIM by Ulta Beauty Celestial Shower Cap.
3. Lush Shampoo Bar: I’ve been interested in trying a shampoo bar because they’re more sustainable than packaged shampoos, so I ordered this shampoo bar and travel tin from Lush. The brand lists this particular bar as “New” on the website; it doesn’t seem to have a cutesy name like their other products. The formula is meant to stimulate the scalp and volumize hair…both things that my hair could really use. The shampoo bar has a strong cinnamon scent and it contains nettle, clove, and peppermint. I’m looking forward to seeing how I like it!
4. Portrait Puzzles: I heard about this custom puzzle company a few months back on an Office Ladies podcast where Jenna and Angela talked about how Gabe had a custom puzzle made for Erin. I thought a puzzle with a photo of our cats Cheddar and Linus would be a fun holiday gift for me and John! So I selected a photo of them, uploaded it to the site, and received a 513-piece puzzle in the mail. The puzzle wasn’t terribly expensive; including shipping, it cost just under $40. We didn’t start working on the puzzle until recently, but we’ve completed it and the final product is glorious. Look at those good boys (lol I love that they look like The Shining twins in this pic)!
5. Quinoa Butternut Squash Stew with Peanuts, Raisins, & Cilantro: I made this dish from the Mealime recipe app last week and loved it! The most time-consuming part was chopping and prepping all of the ingredients. The actual cooking was very simple and I will happily make this dish again. It’s the kind of recipe that you can vary by swapping in different ingredients. For example, you could easily use sweet potato in place of butternut squash. I think broccoli or cauliflower would work well, too, maybe in lieu of the red bell pepper. So many possibilities!
