This blog is really like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. Hell, half the time I sit down, I don’t know what I’m going to get 🙂 I do make some money off the blog still, but it’s largely a passion project for me, so…no real editorial calendar.

That said, today I want to talk about the Lilly Pulitzer Splash Into Summer promo. I wish this were sponsored, but this is just some retail therapy I engaged in the other day.

Nobody warned me that just after Mother’s Day might be just as hard, and I had a really tough time this week. I went to the Met to try to distract myself, and was hit with an onslaught of memories of times there with my parents. I peeled myself off of the bench in the corner of the Chippendale (furniture, not dancer) exhibit where I was bawling, and decided to walk around the corner to somewhere I knew just walking in would make me smile: Lilly. I also had to buy a gift for my baby cousin’s SEVENTH birthday, so decided kiddie Lilly would be a good gift. (Side note: loooongtime readers might remember when I went up to Rhode Island with my mom — it was when my cousin was adopting sweet Lexi!)

Since I was there…I figured I might as well try on a few things. They’re leaning real heavy into rompers this season — something I was initially excited about. But many of the rompers, like this one, are designed to look like a dress. Which is great and all…unless you actually are built like a woman and have any curves. I do, in fact, have curves, so none of those rompers worked for me.

Gianni Romper: I did like this one, and ended up getting it. It actually runs big! I’m a D-cup and I found that I didn’t fill out the top (this has literally never happened) of the medium (until I changed the way I tied it), but I also definitely could have sized down.

Martina Maxi Dress: Last summer, the dress that I was wearing on the day my mom died somehow unofficially became my mourning dress? It was a really loose maxi that wasn’t flattering at all, but was super comfortable, and that was all I cared about. My friends have campaigned for me to replace it, so I’ve been looking for a good candidate. I tried on this one and looked in the mirror and thought my boobs looked extra big and was super confused. AH HA! There is padding. I took off my bra ( <– best bra ever) and realized I could get away with no bra! Again, D. That rarely happens, and I relish when it does.

With these two pieces + the gift, I was about $60 short of the next gift, the beach roll above…so I added a few more things…

Sugarfina x Lilly gummies: My best friend and I have this really weird tradition of every time we fly somewhere (and we travel together a lot!), once we land and meet up (because we are both too anxious of flyers to sit next to each other) at the end of the jetbridge, one of us turns to the other with a Sugarfina gummy and says “Welcome to ___, may I offer you a champagne gummy?” So…I was really just planning ahead for travel here.

iPhone Glitter Cover: Lilly. Glitter. Phone. Cover. Need I say more? I don’t remember exactly when I bought my old phone cover, but it was reminded me too much of this dark winter.

Notebook: My best friend has banished me from buying any more notebooks. (To be fair, she is the one who helped me organize my apartment, so she is maybe the only one who can say that to me.) But, she wasn’t with me, so… well, we all know how I feel about a good notebook.

Pencil Cup: I just got a new desk, so I’m on the prowl for fun desk accessories and this absolutely fit the bill. I think this means I am now headed down a gold desk accessory path, and I’m not mad.

So! For all of that, I got the beach blanket above, the coozies and the paddleball. As a sometimes-marketer myself, I knew they had me right where they wanted me, and I went straight for it.

I don’t know, y’all, regular therapy is cheaper…