{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings

 January 2023

Highs of the Month:

• The warmest January of my life that I can ever remember. I'm pretty sure as a whole this month was even warmer than any of the winters that I lived in Charlotte, NC! It was heavenly. There were many 60–70-degree days!! 
• Scoring my personal best (yet) on a 9-hole round of golf with my friend Stephanie on one of the warm days. 
• Getting my dress for my best friend Ciera's wedding in the Lilly Pulitzer sale. It fits perfectly and it might be one of my top favorite dresses that I've ever owned! I know I'll be wearing it lots this year besides just the wedding. 

Lows of the Month:

• My boyfriend Ryan lost his sweet five-year-old dog Arrow to a brain tumor on January 12th. He got Arrow's awful tumor diagnosis in October, and was hoping to have six more months with her, but even that got cut short. Arrow's passing was incredibly sad, and it has been a tough month following. 
• This year in Junior League, I am chairing the Corporate and Individual Giving Committee, which was in charge of our 2023 Annual Giving Week (January 21st-28th). While Giving Week did end up being a success, there was more stress than I expected with planning and executing all of the events and moderating the online donation portal. (Also, probably not the best timing to be planning everything with Annual Giving Week for JL, and then planning my best friend Ciera's bachelorette party trip for only a few weeks later! Lots of planning in January.)
• Honestly... the month of January as a whole is just kind of a low in general? 😂 Even though we were so lucky to have such mild weather this January, the whole month in general is kind of meh. Spring and summer feel so far away, the joy of the holidays has come and gone, and it's just a long month. Probably will always be my least favorite month of the year if I'm being honest. 

January Weekend Recaps:

• 6th-8th - Ryan and I were supposed to go up to Charlottesville this weekend, but he started feeling sick on Friday night. Luckily for him it was just a bad cold, but we made the right choice to postpone the travel plans! I was able to make it to a workout class Friday night and another Monday morning. Ryan's cousin was throwing a 10th birthday party for her dog Leo on Saturday afternoon. Originally, I was supposed to be out of town, but since we postponed our Charlottesville trip, I was able to attend Leo's birthday party! My first time at a dog birthday but it was lots of fun. I dropped off some food for Ryan on Saturday evening and got takeout. Other than church on Sunday, I can't remember too well what else I did.
• 13th-15th - Ryan's sweet dog Arrow crossed the rainbow bridge on Thursday, January 12th. It was such a tough time, but I wanted us to try to make the best of the weekend. I spent a lot of time in Norfolk this weekend! On Friday evening, I met a few friends for an early Happy Hour at the bar at Saltine restaurant in Norfolk. (Shout-out to Saltine from this old blog post!) Afterwards, I met another couple of friends for dinner and ice cream at some other Norfolk spots. It was good to have girl time to end a tough week. On Saturday, Ryan and I went on a little spontaneous date to the Chrysler Art Museum in Norfolk, and then we split an appetizer at an Irish pub in downtown Norfolk. Ryan had some extended family in town from out-of-state, so we spent Saturday evening with them. On Sunday, we went to church... and I can't remember now what I did after church. 
• 20th-22nd - On Friday night, I baked a cheesecake to take to our dinner plans the following evening. On Saturday night, my friend Sierra and her husband Ryan had us over for dinner at their new house! Sierra is a friend of mine from Charlottesville, and it's been great to welcome her and her husband to Hampton Roads in the past year. (My cheesecake also came out well!) On Sunday I went to church and then had two Junior League events: a candle-making class that was a fundraiser for JL, and a tour of a local non-profit facility that JL will be volunteering with in the coming years.
• 27th-29th - On Friday, I ran errands after work and then had a quiet night at home. On Saturday, Junior League had one of its big fundraisers for the year. It was a fun event called Brunched that was held in the middle of the day at beautiful local event venue. There were lots of yummy brunch foods and mimosas, and there was also a silent auction and wine raffle. Ryan, his mom and his cousin also came out to support the event which meant so much to me! I was so tired after the event, so I just had a chill afternoon and evening at home. On Sunday, I went to church, Ryan and I met up for a walk at a local park after, and in the evening, I went to my friend Sierra's house. Our mutual friend Megan from Charlottesville was in the Hampton Roads area for the weekend, so the three of us had a little charcuterie and dessert evening to see Megan and catch up!

January Purchases:

• The month started with the first Lilly Pulitzer Sunshine Sale of the year! I only made a few purchases in this sale, but I'm still excited about all of them. I was finally able to grab some Lilly ornaments for Christmas- very excited to use these later this year!
• I also purchased another Luxletic skort. I live in these for casual wear in the summertime, and for tennis and golf. 
• My final Lilly Pulitzer sale purchase might end up being one of my favorite buys of the year. I got the most beautiful dress that I'll be wearing to my best friend Ciera's wedding in March!! 
• Last year I tried a sample size moisturizer from a new-to-me skincare brand, Ole Henriksen. In the past I haven't been very picky with moisturizers, but I fell in love with this one! My skin looked so great while using it, and it smells like a delicious orange creamsicle. I bought some full-sized ones this month and also got some sample sizes of other Ole Henriksen products to try.
• I had a Target gift card from Christmas and I used it for a few fun pink items this month!! The pink shorts I got aren't online yet, but I also got this gorgeous pink blouse (and it comes in many colors!). 
• My hair stylist's sister has a polymer clay earring business and she sells them at the hair salon. I picked up a fun pair of Valentine's earrings! 
• Finally, the most fun nail wraps for the Valentine's weekend bachelorette trip that I'm going on this weekend. 

January Blog Posts:

• LILLY PULITZER SUNSHINE SALE: What I Bought
• The Best Books I Read in 2022
• My 2023 Word of the Year

     God Bless,

     -Annaliese