Being Girly in DC

On my second day in DC, I met up with two of my friends from college, Jennie and Aimee, after all the conference sessions were done for the afternoon. We met up in Georgetown, primarily because I wanted to go shopping for girly things with other people who might appreciate it, something that rarely actually happens at home.

We had two stores on the agenda, Lush and Sephora. I met up with Jennie first, and we briefly perused the Paper Source store on the same street, just because we happened to be walking by. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t have much time to spend in there. We had just left to keep walking toward Lush when Aimee called to see where we were. As it happened, we were just across the street. We crossed over and I said hi to her in person for probably the first time in at least five years, though thanks the the wonders of the internet, it didn’t feel like it should be that long. (Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen Jennie in person since January 2004, when we were both bridesmaids at Ellie’s wedding. Weird.)

Anyway, then we all went to Lush, which Jennie pointed out we could start to smell about a block away. As you might be able to tell from Jennie’s Puffery blog posts, she’s a huge fan of this store, which is apparently most well known for its bath products. I was inspired to go by our friend Hilary’s post on converting more travel toiletries to solid form on her travel blog, Less Than a Shoestring, in which she mentioned Lush’s solid shampoos. Since I know I’ll have to be doing some major traveling this summer for my job, and I hate having to take stuff out of my bag at security, I thought this would be an excellent kind of thing to get. I decided on the bar they call “New,” which smells like cinnamon, and “Squeaky Green“, since you got a free tin for the bars if you bought two. I consider these to be worthwhile investments, since each bar lasts a very long time, and I’ve decided to definitely go back to having really long hair for right now. I’ve used the New bar twice since I got back, and it’s excellent, so I am very pleased with this purchase. I didn’t buy any of their bath bombs, but I admit I was tempted.

Then it was back across the street to Sephora. Just before I went on the trip, I had been discussing what it takes to look professional at work, where I am often taken for being younger than I am. Makeup kept coming up as an item many felt was a necessary evil, so I decided to just do it right. So I walked into Sephora and, when approached by a salesclerk to see if I needed any help, told her that I needed a whole set of makeup suitable for work wear. My dad’s business partner has been talking about how much she likes the Bare Minerals line, and I’m all for makeup that doesn’t feel like makeup, so that’s what I asked for. The salesperson then had a lot of fun finding stuff and putting it on me, and I admit to being surprised at what a great job she did. I ended up with the Fairly Light/Light foundation kit (a shock, I know, that I would end up being the next-to-palest shade they make), some very neutral eye shadow, some new mascara, and some new lipstick (Clinique Color Surge in the really nice shade of Pure Posh.) Jennie and Aimee said it was very interesting to watch the salesperson at work on me, and claimed that the makeup did make me look more like an adult.

After that, I had clearly spent enough money and we were hungry, so we walked back down the street looking for a place to eat dinner. We ended up going to a Thai Vietnamese place, where I had a really good tofu and vegetable dish, and we stayed there talking for so long after we paid the check that the staff started to look annoyed at us. I had a fantastic time, and now I really want to get back to DC more often! Most of the time I don’t think about it that much, but it really is nice to get to see my college friends in person, no matter how well we keep in contact electronically. Thank you for being girly with me, Jennie and Aimee!