Sweet Valley High #84 – The Stolen Diary – “Todd Wilkins has decided that he and Elizabeth Wakefield should start dating other people. At her twin sister Jessica’s urging, Elizabeth accepts a date with handsome Kris Lynch, a cartoonist for The Oracle. After a few dates with Kris, Elizabeth is more certain than ever that she’d rather be with Todd, and Todd is realizing that he made a mistake-he still loves Elizabeth, too. Elizabeth tells Kris she can’t go out with him anymore, and that’s when the trouble begins. Rumors about Elizabeth spread throughout Sweet Valley High. It’s up to Jessica to find out who’s behind the gossip before it’s too late.”

Sweet Valley High #90 – Don’t Go Home With John – “John Pfeifer, handsome sports editor for The Oracle, is suddenly showing a lot of interest in popular Sweet Valley High junior Lila Fowler. Lila’s never dated a guy like John before serious, intense, and super smart and she’s definitely interested. When John finally asks her out, Lila can hardly wait for their first date. But the evening turns sour when John tries to take things too far. Though Lila manages to get away without getting hurt, she’s too embarrassed to tell anyone what happened. When John crashes Lila’s long-planned costume party, Lila blurts out the whole story to her guests. Now all of Sweet Valley High knows about Lila’s dangerous date, and everyone has an opinion about who’s responsible. The school has become a jury. Will they find John guilty? Or Lila?”

Sweet Valley High #91 – In Love With A Prince – “When Elizabeth Wakefield announces that her long-time pen pal, Prince Arthur of Santa Dora, is coming to Sweet Valley for a visit, everyone’s excited about meeting him-except for Dana Larson, lead singer of Sweet Valley’s favorite band, the Droids. Dana thinks the only place for royalty is in the history books-until she actually gets to know Prince Arthur, and the sparks begin to fly! Soon Dana and the Prince have fallen in love. Then Arthur suddenly asks Dana to marry him, and she faces the most serious decision of her life. Dana knows she’s too young to get married to anyone, much less the Prince of Santa Dora. But if she says no, she might lose him forever.”

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light (mini) – This has been a tried-and true-staple in my makeup bag for many years now. It’s the kind of powder that gives a velvet sheen to the skin and makes you look like you’re glowing from within (which is great because I’m certainly not glowing from within lately, I’ll tell you that much). I’m so pale that I’m also able to use this shade as a sort of bronzing highlighter by layering the product, which makes this a must-have product for me to keep in my makeup bag at all times. And you best believe I had a backup ready to go once I finished this mini.

Johnson’s Extra Sensitive Facial Cleansing Wipes – My friend from work was on the hunt for these wipes earlier in the year when they seemed to be out of stock everywhere. I managed to find her a 3-pack kit at one of the fancy Foodland stores in the CBD, and figured I would pick myself up a packet to try out. I really liked these, they’re gentle on the skin and leave a nice sort of creamy residue on the skin. I know face wipes are not ideal, but some nights you’re too tired to do a full skincare routine and you just gotta do what you gotta do to get your makeup off. I like these enough to want to purchase them again in the future – if I can find them in stock!

Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs, and Rosewater – This has been a staple in my daily routine for a while now. I use it every morning after I get out of the shower and at night after cleansing to refresh my skin before applying the rest of my skincare. It is refreshing, works well on my sensitive skin, and has a beautiful light rose fragrance that I still have not gotten sick of even after all these years. I had another bottle lined up and ready to use once I finished this.

Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant – You’ll probably start to notice a pattern in my empties throughout the year, which is a lot of staple or holy grail items. I know myself well enough by now to know what I love to use, and I tend to repurchase them over and over. This is one of the products that has been in my routine for the longest, and it’s something I never go without. My partner also uses this daily to clean his skin, and his skin has never looked better.

I had grand plans at the beginning of 2022. I intended on making it so much better than the previous couple of years, both of which seemed to fly by in a pandemic daze. And it really was an okay sort of year. We moved into our new house, we spent a lot of down time relaxing, and we even managed an interstate trip without either of us catching Covid. But then, of course, we both managed to catch it one random weekend a month or so later, and I developed a back injury which has restricted my ability to move around normally. So if I’ve learnt anything from the past few years it’s that I’m probably not going to tick everything off this list. There is always going to be something that comes up along the way. I don’t want to set lofty goals for the year, I think at this point I’d be happy with a few big ticket items and a lot of time spent doing the things I enjoy.

Here’s what I’m hoping to achieve in 2023:

▷ Make efforts to cure my burnout
▷ Go to the Singapore Grand Prix
▷ Work on rehabilitating my back
▷ Finish setting up / decorating the new house
▷ Spend less of my free time on social media
▷ Rediscover my creativity
▷ Get a puppy (?)
▷ Spend more time at the beach
▷ Read at least 50 books