Happy V Day: Roses, Red Lips, and Resilience

Yoo Hoo Darling, I’ll admit it—I was tempted to tell everyone I’d been in the Alps perfecting my yodel, but the truth is, I spent the last month at a meditation retreat in the Bronx. Yes, the Bronx. Because sometimes, even I am obliged to pause the drama and focus on the Dharma. Om shanti, darling.

Now, it’s Valentine’s Day, and I’m back in DC with $55, no date, and a  worsening dairy allergy. Tragic, I know. But like  girls around the world, reinvention is in my DNA. So here’s the plan:

First stop: the National Botanical Garden. No need to actually buy flowers when the peonies there are practically couture. A dozen IG shares later, I had made my point…flower power is free if you know where to get it. 

Next, I flitted over to the Aveda Institute in Arlington for a $35 facial. Student technicians may be in training, but they understand the universal plight of not having quite enough to splurge. Thanks for the samples, dolls.

For bubbles, I popped open my emergency bottle of TÖST, a non alcoholic option that costs $6.73. If it’s good enough for the Ivy in B’more it is good enough for me.
Back at the DollHouse, I bathed in LushUSA ($8) and slid on my sweatshirt, a pink  confection from a Canadian reseller on Etsy. I carefully painted my lips Kabuki red with Geisha stage lip lacquer by Shiseido.  Divine, and absolutely impossible to find in the US.
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With nowhere particular to be, I decided to stage a mini concert for anyone else alone (not lonely) in the DMV.  If you can’t do, prepare to. It's getting hectic out there. Best to be shellacked for the show down, darling.