Happy Sunday! First off: we are back, and feel guilty about publishing late this week after trying to navigate Spring Break (especially, after bragging on Linked In how we has managed to get an edition out at least once a week this past year).

For those new here: this is The Skinny, a free weekly newsletter designed to entertain and save you time—everyone’s most valued resource—by serving up our signature, curated lifestyle news.

Today’s Sunday Skinny should take 3 minutes to breeze through, and is crafted to help enhance the week’s end with ideas and inspiration (+ a quick poll as we are now in the heart of ‘Sporting Event Season’):

What we’re covering: 

• Meet the Dumpster Slayer, upcycling ideas for Earth Month & all about reusable totes

• Pass the nostalgia: reflections on 4/20 (+ a hot deal on THC melts)

• A spring skiing swan song

• Pantry raid: French Onion Mac ’n’ Cheese 

• Plus: tanning oils, ‘noctourism’ & a hack for furniture dupe shopping

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Go green

‘The future of fashion’: upcycling & circularity

The Skinny: Idea for a rainy day: upcycling your clothes. We’ve talked about how to restyle your old t-shirts with modern cuts, but in honor of Earth Month we present to you: the Dumpster Slayer. She is the upcycling queen and not only that, does it all from the inside of her van. Behold these sunny upcycled jeans in collaboration with Poshmark—or an adorable boho Mexicali Flares and Crop Top set, which you can purchase now to slay your Cinco de Mayo fit. On our list: making an upcycled sweatshirt like these from Champion, and with further inspo from this mom on IG who is crushing her own designs. Jill is also planning to “funkify” her jeans (making them into bell bottoms using batiks) with help from this Vail seamstress. 

We also can’t discuss anything eco without dipping into our bag of bags to talk about totes—and the massive impact of textiles as polluters. But fortunately, plenty of start-ups are on the case, from circular textile innovation to chemistry-led technology that separates cotton and poly fibers for recyclability. According to Adam Baruchowitz, chief recycling officer of Return to Vendor, making truly circular apparel and accessories is “what the future of fashion looks like.”  

Back to the reusable totes: many argue that fabric totes are worse than plastic, footprint-wise, and that reusable plastic bags are preferable (or, even better, a bag like this limited edition Anybag x RTV collab, made out of 100% recycled fishing nets and 100% recyclable). However, there is really no easy answer, according to this reusable-bags-and-the-environment explainer. Our personal POV is never to obtain, or manufacture, a white or light-colored cotton tote. You’ll ruin any style cred with a stained bag, and that is exactly what it will become, quickly. At that point, its resource-wasting fate becomes clear: either it will need to be washed excessively OR be tossed. Overall, the key to tote bags is using them as many times as humanly possible (read: THOUSANDS of times). In the meanwhile, NYT’s Wirecutter can’t get enough of this particular tote, and Bon Appetit has a tidy list of the best reusable grocery totes.

Higher education

A 4/20 retrospective

The Skinny: Gather round the campfire kids, and pass the nostalgia! We know 4/20 has come and gone this year, but when you’re smoking, do time/dates really matter anyway? So, wayyyyy before dispensaries were as common as Starbucks, college students have been blazing trails—literally. Back in the day, Boulder’s Norlin Quad (not to be confused with the Fountain Court outside the UMC, where Nicole used to man the hot dog stand) and Ann Arbor’s Diag weren’t just leafy greenspaces—they were ground zero for grassroots cannabis protests.

The University of Michigan’s Hash Bash lit up in 1972 ( two months after weed was briefly decriminalized in Ann Arbor), and the annual smoke-out has been rolling ever since — part protest, part party, part time capsule. Over in Colorado, CU Boulder students turned Norlin Quad into a hazy tradition of civil disobedience, well before Colorado became the cool kid of cannabis reform.

Now? It’s 2025, weed is legal in 24 states, dispensaries have loyalty programs, and our moms “might” have a favorite edible.

We’ve come a long way from homemade gravity bongs, pipes made from carrots, hit towels and sus sage-scented dorm rooms. And while today's weed culture is sleek, dosed, and often organic, we want to salute the stoners who walked so today’s microdosing moms and CBD-curious dads could run.

In honor of the trailblazers, we are also sharing luxury hotels with CBD offerings, a roundup of healthy stoner snacks, and Add to Cart: Mary & Jane microdosing edibles. Aside from having the cutest name, these deliver “mood magic” in the form of melts—allowing you to control doses and stay functional (and in addition to THC, they contain plant-based ingredients like kanna, magnesium and reishi). Order now for 20% off with code THESKINNY. 

Pantry raid

Sunday cooking: French onion mac ‘n’ cheese

The Skinny: After languishing away our Sunday morning, we realized that we have given zero thoughts about dinner this week—and that we have even fewer ingredients. Decided to roll with this French Onion Macaroni and Cheese. Perfect weekend supper—cheesy, gooey (yet refined). Stay tuned for the result!

One more run

Spring skiing swan song

The Skinny: Nicole had penned an item about spring skiing—after spending an epic two days at  Killington over spring break—but Jill shut that sh–t right down. Skiing is done in Vail and Telluride, so she is beach-bound. However, just pointing out that The Beast stayed open until JULY last year (yep, you heard that right, straight from the locals). Last week not only did it actually snow, but with the best snowmaking on the Ice Coast, we enjoyed top conditions (at least in the morning) with fluffy bumps in the Canyon and unbeatable groomed cruisers. That being said…stay tuned next April for our spring skiing report. 

We will also be publishing a Postcard from Vermont guide in an upcoming edition, but if you’re headed to Killington this spring or summer, we highly recommend you checking out the Mountain Inn. A rustic Vermont personality (with chic rooms + renovated baths) combined with an in-house distillery—and the luxury of convenience—makes this a dream for us at The Skinny. Drifting under the stars in the 92-degree pool, local maple bourbon in hand, is pure Green Mountain magic. 

PS: If you’d like to join in the conversation about Killington’s billion dollar renovation, see Nicole’s popular Linked In post on the subject.

Last Licks

This week’s newsfeed

• Hotels, after dark: “Noctourism,” in which you explore your destination in the wee hours, is on the rise. 

• Thanks to our Aspen correspondent Tina, who is the undisputed queen of chic interiors designed with creative vintage/upcycled finds, we present this hack to find dupes of expensive furniture online. 

• Long live the Italian passeggiata: we’ve written about this before, but just two minutes of walking after dinner can lower blood sugar. 

• What’s in our beach bags? One of these top tanning oils (with SPF), for the best-smelling, glowiest & most sunkissed look. 

• Last week’s most clicked report: Jennifer Aniston’s low-impact sculpting workout & cottage cheese cookie dough.

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