The personal-care ups-and-downs of this past weekend
After barely going anywhere for the past two years, my packing skills were a little rusty.
I headed up to Maryland last Thursday for a whirlwind weekend. The itinerary included meeting a client IRL for the first time and a full roster of bar-mitzvah-related events, including Friday night dinner, Saturday morning service, Saturday evening party and Sunday brunch—and I forgot how labor intensive it is to pack for such a jam-packed schedule. The clothes, five pairs of shoes, three bags and two jackets weren’t the issue, but the personal-care packing proved to be another story. I decided to ignore some of my pre-pandemic rules, which resulted in mixed results.
The upsides
Before Times, I was vehemently against bringing my blowdryer and flat iron when I traveled. Maybe because I wasn’t going to be gone long enough to require a wash, or maybe because I just didn’t care—but there were obviously going to be photos involved this weekend. I even brought travel-sizes of my beloved SEEN shampoo, conditioner and Blow-Out Creme (rather than bringing samples or relying on hotel-provided products) and I’ll admit that having “good” hair made the weekend even better.
Packing the full-size Unite Texturiza Texturizing Spray made the $30 fee for checking my bag 100% worth it.
I pretty much packed my entire makeup drawer and brush collection (since I’m usually the back-up makeup artist when someone doesn’t like the handiwork of the professional makeup artist). Combined with the fact that I was staying in a hotel alone for the first time in forever, I was able to do my makeup without rushing and do a little experimenting. (At the end of it all, it turns out that Victoria Beckham Beauty’s Lid Lustre, an eyeliner pencil and mascara are truly the only eye products you need for a sparkly, celebratory, evening-worthy eye.)
I literally wore every single piece of clothing I packed (save for one pair of underwear), so I get a gold star for efficiency (but there’s a reason so keep reading).
Before I get to my packing pitfalls, it’s important to mention that I was supposed to head home on Sunday afternoon. Well, my flight was cancelled (perhaps you saw something about this on the news)—and JetBlue automatically booked me on a flight home TODAY, which was so not happening. (*In late-breaking news, the flight I was supposed to be on right now was delayed, so I could theoretically still be in D.C.) Instead, my dear cousin got me on a flight (rather, flights) that took me from D.C. to LaGuardia at the crack of dawn yesterday and then back to West Palm Beach last night. (On the bright side, I treated myself to a night at the Watergate Hotel, complete with several cocktails in the swanky bar, a long, hot bath, a fluffy robe and room service.)
The downsides
I thought that day-by-day AM/PM pill/supplement organizer was the best thing ever when I got it, but I made the HUGE mistake of not packing extra meds. (That will never happen again.) It was stressful enough that I didn’t have my tamoxifen, but even worse when I didn’t have an Atavan for when I was standing in line at the airport for THREE hours after my flight was cancelled, and even worse than that when I didn’t have a sleeping pill.
I used the last of my face moisturizer when getting ready Saturday afternoon. In my defense, those hefty, opaque glass Retrouvé bottles make it hard to know exactly how much is left.
I finished both my Westman Atelier and Victoria Beckham Beauty lip glosses—what are the chances?
I failed to pack lip balm.
I didn’t bring the prescription-based seborrheic dermatitis shampoo that I use every other day because I thought I had it all planned out. By the time I got home, I felt at least four burgeoning hot spots on my scalp—apparently I’m like a dog now. (At least I know it works and that I have to use it, no matter how inconvenient it is to leave it for for 10 minutes.)
After all this, I’m headed back to N.Y. on Friday to take my son and two of his camp friends to two bar mitzvahs. Since I’m basically serving as a driver and bellhop, I’ll be taking the backpack route this trip, which means a Ziploc of product samples, a hat, and the bare makeup essentials (i.e., tinted moisturizer and mascara). And you better believe I’ll be bookmarking this post for reference next time I take a more elaborate trip that involves more than dropping kids off and picking them up from parties. Let’s just hope the three boys and I don’t run into the same issues coming home this weekend!