The importance of a mani/pedi

Whoa it's been a while since I've posted one of these, but here is another thing I recommend: getting mani/pedis. Especially for the ladies.

I'm awful at regularly getting them (especially on the toesies) but I do try because I always feel better whenever I go. It's like therapy in a non-retail sense. 

And this weekend, I got my inaugural manicure of the summer season and it was like heaven. My finger nails are buffed and perfectly polished in OPI's color - Feeling Hot-Hot-Hot. It's a perfect hot pink. Subtle yet loud, just like me!

I used to never get manicures and pedicures because it was "too girly" but those doubts melted away the minute I got a leg/hand massage during my first visit. I was total mush because it felt so nice. The ladies had me at "cuticle." Speaking of cuticles, I have the worst ones ever. They grow like trees and are notoriously uncomfortable to trim. But it needs to be done so rather than have me butcher them, I'll leave it to the professionals.

My first manicure was about three years ago (yes, I know, so tragic that I waited that long), same with a pedicure too. And the pedicure reminded me how ticklish I am on my feet, especially because I nearly kicked the woman in the face. Oops. Fortunately, that only happened once...or twice. Now, to curb the need to squirm and giggle, I bite on a stick or leather strap (kidding!)

And when I'm between appointments, I do try to keep up the polish on my toes. Unfortunately, it usually comes out looking like this:

Yes, that's polish on my foot. I have no idea how that happened.

I even bought some new colors for spring to keep at home for my own touch ups. I just hope my Cirque du Soleil bathroom moves for that "professional-looking polish" don't turn out like the above paint job. I'm not very talented at applying my own nail polish.

But while I love the mani/pedi, if the girl nicks me or makes me bleed, that tip disappears. Only fair.

Is anyone else a big mani/pedi fan? Do you go regularly, even in winter? A few friends have said this ritual is "recession proof" but I don't know if it's like that for everyone else.

Key Learnings, Sephora temptation and Oscar movies

I hate to say it, but I love global warming. After a painfully long January and cool February start, Saturday was by far the best day in awhile. Temps in the 50s? In February? In Chicago?

Whatever is causing it, I'll take it. I love opening up the windows to air out my apartment. I also sleep a lot better with fresh air too. And now the weather is more mild this week? Holy cow, I'm not complaining. I love it! 

So now let's close the weekend with some key learnings.

Key Learnings:

• Quitting drinking during the week is tougher than starting to drink during the week

• Before going on a wild goose hunt, always call stores ahead of time to make sure they stock the item you're searching for

• Man furs, especially man fur vests, will always draw looks from a crowd (and giggles)

• Just because it's 50, doesn't mean you should be out in shorts and leggings with T-shirts. Let's not get too crazy

• A real gentleman will carry your obnoxiously large Crate & Barrel bags for you while walking through a crowd

• Low-key Friday and Saturday nights are a nice change of pace once in awhile

• Couches have a magical healing power to help you relax and feel better if you're sick

• Scalp massages always feel nice when getting your hair done

• All salons should provide wine to customers. It makes paying much easier

• The best mimosa's are 10 percent OJ and 90 percent champagne

• It's okay to be afraid of pigeons. They do get uncomfortably close in the city

Sephora love

Although I'm watching my spending, I decided to budget a little money for a treat and headed to Sephora on Saturday. My goal was get something practical and economical, not crazy. Trust me, I would love to roll around in eyeshadow and blush shades, but I need to keep it real too. Sephora is a girl's playground. Rows of make-up with a generous return policy, it's a win-win.

My only complaint is that there is never enough staff around to help. I end up having to track people down or wait for them to finish helping another customer, which ends up taking forever. Saturday, I had to answer my own questions, which left me with two hands full of foundation and concealer tests. I now have makeup all of my jacket too thanks to the tests.

In the end, I left with two items: Smashbox Under Eye Brightener and Clinique "All About Eyes" concealer. The only one I'm not 100 percent sure about is the concealer but I look forward to playing with both!

The Oscars

The Oscars are about two weeks away and I'm back to my one-movie-every-weekend routine. This weekend, a friend and I saw Gran Torino. It was shut out from the Oscars, but it was still good. I don't know if I'll get to see the Reader or Benjamin Button before the big show, but I don't think that will change up my pool too much.

How was everyone else's weekend? What movies do you still need to see before the Oscars? Or what one do you refuse to see until it's on DVD/Netflix?

My hair makes me fake

Apparently I'm a fake. Now I'll tell you why. 

I recently ran into an acquaintance who dyed her hair from blonde to brown. After some idle chit chat, I commented to her how much I loved the new look (it was awesome). She said thank you and I asked why she opted to go dark, which was her natural color. For her, it was financial because highlights are more expensive than full color, and I agreed with her, because well, that's why I dyed my hair dark again. 

So here is the kicker.

Before she parted she said, "yeah I never liked dyeing my hair anyhow, it just makes someone so fake." I asked if she was kidding and she looked at me, dead serious and said...no. Waiting for me to reply, I laughed it off saying, "well I guess I'm fake, totally plastic."

I thought about this for a while after she and I parted ways and honestly, I thought it was kind of a bitchy comment. Just because someone dyes their hair, that doesn't make them fake. Not all of us were born with a gorgeous head of hair with flawless color and no gray. I have been dyeing my hair for, ohhhh, about 10 years. I hated my dark brown hair my entire life and opted for eight years of white-blonde highlights.

Dying my hair this very unnatural color was expensive but worth it because I wanted to be blonde, like I was as a baby (heck I didn't even have hair until I was 2).

Finally, about two years ago, I couldn't afford Chicago-priced highlights anymore so I dyed my entire head medium brown, almost my natural color. Yes, it was a big adjustment, but it was worth it and now I love my dark hair. I hate paying to get my hair done regularly but because of my premature gray, I want to dye it.

Some people are totally comfortable with a few gray strands, but not me. I would prefer to cover those up as much as possible, especially as the number of them increases each year. For me, it's a self-esteem boost and one less thing to focus on and worry about. That's not fake. I can count on one hand how many people I know who have never ONCE colored their hair. And yes, I'm jealous of them. I am not very secure with my gray hairs, yet.

Maybe I've overreacted to her comment, but as fake as I may be, at least I don't make narrow-minded comments.

How about all of you? Do you color your hair, if so, why? Covering gray is a big incentive for me!

Election Day note:

Also, tomorrow is Election Day so I hope everyone will be turning out to the polls (especially if you didn't vote early) to participate. I'm anticipating long lines at my polling station so the iPod will be charged and ready to go!

The more exciting news I have is that tomorrow night, I will be down in Grant Park for the Obama/Biden rally. This is a HUGE event for the city and something truly historic. I'm thrilled and excited to be going.

I'll be tweeting live from Grant Park (another awesome reason to follow me on Twitter) and have a full recap with pictures on Wednesday, since I won't be home until super late on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Here's hoping I can put a matching outfit together for work on Wednesday.

Rant: Another celebrity caves to the Hollywood stereotype

I always look forward to the new issue of US Weekly. Who doesn’t love unnamed sources and somewhat shady reporting sometimes? It’s the perfect balance to my other reputable magazines, such as Vanity Fair.

Anyhow, the latest US Weekly definitely caught my attention and not for the right reason. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who I loved on Party of Five, is on the cover standing like a Stepford Wife declaring that she lost 18 pounds magically in 10 weeks. Now everyone can see how thin and statuesque she is compared to her old body. The cover and story photos gloss over how amazing she looks now, perfectly styled and put together, compared to how she used to dress, which sadly is how I dress on the weekends sometimes. I guess in real life, I’m the fugly version of her too.

She says in the magazine that she did it to feel better about herself and that I believe, somewhat. Who doesn’t want to feel good about how they look? After waking up on the bathroom floor one morning after a long night out, I swore that I would change my lifestyle and since then, I have. I work out, I eat better (or honestly try to) and take care of myself. And weight loss came along with that. But I did it because when I looked in the mirror every morning, I wanted to think I was a hottie rather than be embarrassed at how I look. And if Jennifer honestly did that for the same reason, then good for her.

But there are coincidences in timing here that I can’t help but trip on. The unflattering Hawaii photos in December, her declaration to People magazine to “stop calling me fat!” and her scrutiny back of the media for their focus on self-image, yet now, a few months later she’s back in the news for this brand-new body that seems to exemplify everything she told them media to f*ck off on before.

The magazine doesn’t say what size she’s at now, but I can’t help but feel that it perpetuates the stereotype that women who wear a larger size, such as a size 12 or above are always the “before” picture in these magazines. Kirsten Johnston from Music and Lyrics and 3rd Rock from the Sun was a size 12 at her “heaviest” and because of a medical condition lost 60 pounds. To be fair, this is a different situation but the way she talked about being a size 12/14 is what upsets me. Saying that was her size at her “lowest point” where she ate whatever she wanted and drank beer all the time doesn’t show that a size 12 can still be a healthy size, even if some people have gotten there using unhealthy methods. 

I proudly declare that I wear a size 12 and I’m not unhealthy or at my “lowest” point in health. The only way I can get any lower than a size 10 would be if you cracked off part of my hip bones because I got the “hips” in the family. I am petite, curvy and “full-figured” but I am not ashamed of the size I wear, nor do I feel the need to torture and deny myself everything so I can crash diet another 18 pounds off my frame. If I feel like my overall package is healthy and fit, who the hell cares if I wear a size 12 or 6? I could actually be healthier than some of the size 6 women running around.

So when I see women who declare they wore a size 12/14 “before” they lost all this weight, it says to me that because I’m stranded on “size 12 island” that I will never achieve the Hollywood glamour that they have with the help of starving themselves and exercising 14 hours a day. Who has time for that? I want to eat!

Now this is only my opinion and I could be very wrong in my assumptions, but it’s always disappointing to me to see a woman as self-confident and secure as Jennifer cave to what the media says is healthy and beautiful. I’m not embarrassed by how I look so now it’s time to grab a drink and settle back on “size 12 island,” and watch the sun set, and clap.

I'm a petite little ball of rage

I always wanted to be a superhero but unfortunately my alter ego isn't as cool as Batman or Supergirl. My alter ego's name is Rage Girl. It's like the female Hulk, but minus the green skin, bulging muscles and no top thing.

My alter ego used to come out only when I was horribly anal retentive and OCD in high school and college, but since I graduated and moved out on my own, she only comes out on certain occasions now, like during customer service incidents or working with vendors.

It may be hard to believe but I'm overall not an "angry" person. Funny and sarcastic, yes and yes, but angry, no. I just have a tendency to overreact sometimes and "make a mountain out of a mole hill." I get hormonal - deal with it.

Since my BlogHer-Girls Gone Touristy adventures last week, I've been a bit more tired than usual as I ease back into my routine. This has lead Rage Girl to come out more than normal in a given period of time.

Recent Rage Girl appearances --

Ask before taking

Last week on the plane back from San Francisco, I zonked out pretty much right away once we were in the air. Four days of little sleep and a two-hour time difference will do that to me. The woman next to me was flying from San Fran to Chicago to New York to Oslo, Norway (good lord what an awful flight) and was already obnoxious on the plane before we took off.

After a nice little nap, I suddenly woke up, in a panic (over nothing at the time) during the flight and noticed that the new Vanity Fair magazine I tucked away in my seat pouch was gone. Panicked, I started looking for it, unsure how it vanished, when the obnoxious woman turned to me and said...

"Oh was that magazine yours?"

"Yes, where is it?"

"I thought it was there for everyone so I took it" (she takes the magazine out of her backpack)

"Well yes it's mine, how about before you steal things you f*cking ask the person first?" (Rage Girl is now talking)

"I'm sorry, you were asleep"

"Yeah well do you see me dig through your stuff and assume it's for everyone? No I didn't think so" (I take the other magazine out of my pouch while saying this and stuff it in my bag again)

Summary: She probably thinks Americans are totally crazy.

Eyebrows gone bad

My love of Nordstroms is not hidden in my little blog. If I could make out with Nordstroms, I would. It's a beacon of joy and happiness in my life, where racks of purses and shoes make me smile and take all my cares away.

A few months ago I went to the Nordstroms Spa at a friend's suggestion for eyebrow waxing. I can't maintain my own eyebrows (I'm plucking deficient) so I met a woman named Amy at the Spa and now she's my "girl." Unfortunately, Nordstroms has an issue with my last name because they can never find me in the system as a client. Why? I have no idea. 

On Thursday, I called to make my post-San Fran appointment and spa attendant told me I was not in their computer system, which can't be true because I've gone there multiple times. 

When I challenged her on this, giving her multiple ways to search for me, last name, phone number, etc. she became defensive and told me that I was "wrong," which immediately brought out Rage Girl and I demanded to speak to a manager. When the attendant said no, she and I continued to argue and Rage Girl got very upset and started yelling (so embarrassing.)

The woman continued to tell me I'm wrong, which lead to me swearing and hanging up the phone in a huff. 

Summary: Now my happy place thinks I'm a raging, psychopathic b*tch.

Fortunately, I did speak with a manager, who was very apologetic about the situation and was able to resolve the situation. And now I get a free eyebrow wax and they threw in a coupon for a free meal at the Nordstroms Cafe and Coffee Bar for me too. I said thank you and apologized for Rage Girl's actions. I usually end up having to clean up her messes. This was almost as bad as the whole "belt incident" at Nordstroms too that Liz had to step in to regulate on.

So that's me, at time a petite little ball of rage. Maybe I'll develop another super human power, like flying or X-ray vision. Fingers crossed.

Anyone else have superhero powers or an alter ego?

Reader note: Thank you to everyone who commented yesterday on the Newsweek article about accepting money from your parents. I really enjoyed all of your comments and totally agree with you all. And welcome to all the new visitors that commented as well!

Beauty hurts - duh

I admit it, I'm a sissy when it comes to beauty. I'm slightly vain and I can't handle the pain that beauty sometimes entails. And no I didn't mean for that to rhyme.

I bring this up because Friday I went to Spa Nordstrom's to get an eyebrow touch up before the wedding this weekend and my Eyebrow Girl (which is what I'll refer to her as) told me I was a sissy when it comes to waxing. And sadly, she is right. Actually I'm kind of a sissy about anything beauty and pain-related.

Now in my defense, I have very sensitive skin so my skin hates the wax more than normal. When I left my appointment on Friday and met up with my friend Ryan, the first words out of his mouth were, "dude what happened to your face?" Touching. And Eyebrow Girl made this comment after tearing a particularly large piece of wax off the skin just below the eyebrow, so that is already sensitive. And I've mentioned before how bad I am at simple beauty rituals like plucking my eyebrows so waxing seems to be my only option to keep them under control. It's an abusive relationship.

But moving along, the recent waxing incident reminded me of the simple phrase that my stepmom reiterated to me when a hot cocktail dress was cutting off circulation in my chest, "beauty hurts." As a girl, I can absolutely say, yes it does.

I've suffered for beauty, especially when you live in the city where everyone is beautiful, beautifully dressed and put together. You find yourself obsessing about mani/pedi's, getting a wax touch up and making sure you don't leave the house without some kind of make up on. And now I am a follower. I've done the highlights fed through the shower cap with the crochet hook (yes it's painful), waxed, had plantar's warts removed with needles before sandal season and worn shoes that look hot while walking to the printer but hurt for about 20 minutes after.

I declare my sissiness for beauty pain proudly. Friends who wax more than me, tease me about this because I sound like such a "newbie" and say, "well if your feet hurt, wear the comfortable shoes!" They are right and this pain is brought solely upon myself but it's nice to be all made up sometimes and have that newly "cleaned up" feeling. So I just bring the aloe lotion for my eyebrows, slap on some Band-Aids for the feet and take a deep breath to get into the dress, all in my fabulously highlighted hair.

Tidbit Monday: A Potpourri post - make up, more stripping and rock bands

My mind is kind of scattered today as I continue working to establish a wireless network with my Apple Airport Express at home. It's supposed to be easy to connect, but it's apparently not easy enough for me because I can't get it to work. Grr!

Anyhow, enjoy today's random sampling.

Make-up Brushes - Help!

Apparently my eyebrows are like a rain forest, as I have managed to break my fourth Sephora make-up brush since December. How? I have no idea. For $5, I wasn't expecting greatness, but somehow breaking four in less than six months seems a little crazy. No, I'm not brushing my eyebrows aggressively, but for some reason the top of the brush keeps snapping off like a twig. And those little bristles scatter like leaves, making them horrible to find and pick up.

I cannot bring myself to go back to Sephora and buy another one (mostly because I know it won't last) so if you all have recommendations of good, affordable eyebrow brushes and shapers, I would appreciate it. My eyebrows would too.

Meet my rock band

Because of my awful, tone-deaf voice, I will not be joining a band in the foreseeable future. But I was playing around online the other day and found a fun Web site that will let me generate my own band name based on my real name.

The Grammy for Best New Artist is definitely not in my future, but in my head, I can play Guitar Hero and Rock Band now with a purpose. So I proudly introduce to you all my band.....

Your Band Name is:

The Plastic Housewives

I think that's pretty appropriate. Let's rock!

Strip club follow-up

Sadly no pictures are available just yet, but Meg did ask for the story behind the "I don't want to burn you" comment so I have provided it below.

At the strip club (which gave us a front-row seat near a pole- score!), one of the other bachelorettes there was insanely drunk and smoking like a chimney. When "Hot Joe" (the best stripper) came over to her to make some money, he proceeded to straddle her and pull her on top of him.

Because of her level of intoxication, the cigarette went with the woman onto the stripper and she screamed out "I don't want to burn you" (with the cigarette) while he removed $1 bills from her cleavage and bra strap.

That was nice of her to try and save the stripper from a cigarette burn on his perfectly-toned pectoral. But I doubt that would have been the first time something like that happened.

Plucking - the final frontier?

I'm a late bloomer in the simple, torturous things that many women my age have been doing for years – including eyebrow plucking. While I prefer the Brooke Shields, circa 1970s eyebrows (easier maintenance), a few weeks ago I opted to take Liz's referral for an eyebrow wax at Nordstroms and “womanscaped” my brows. In the city, I guess $20 for a 5 minute wax is reasonable, but to me, that seems a bit extreme...until now.

Today while enjoying President's Day off of work, I dug out my compact tweezers and tried to pluck my eyebrows, so that I could hold off going back in to Nordstroms Spa for another few weeks. Unfortunately, the tweezers and the eyebrow stubs won. Referring back to old, previously ignored Instyle issues on this topic, I began to try plucking my eyebrows, however, the little bugger hairs were putting up a fight. One, two, three pulls and nothing although considerably more pain than when my "girl" does it. After about 20 minutes of wresting, curse words and two sets of lighting, I gave up and put the tweezers in the medicine cabinet. You won today eyebrows, but you will not win the war. And yes, I'm calling Nordstroms tomorrow for "brow touch up."

On an unrelated note, I watched the movie Becoming Jane today, and could not help but vary between being confused at the dialogue and swooning over the romance of 19th Century love. I have never read Austen, although Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet is one of my favorite movies, but it has to be the looks between the main characters, so young and in love that makes me swoon. Between the looks and the overture music that heightens the emotion, you can’t help but fall in love yourself. Maybe that contributes to my unrealistic expectations of relationships, but it’s fun, even though I usually have zero idea what they’re saying.

Don't Ask Me to Make A Decision

Outside of work, I am a very indecisive person. I once spent 45 minutes at Nordstroms (the happiest place on earth) trying to decide if I wanted pink or purple Uggs. In the end, my father became angry and told me to decide or he would for me - so I went with the pink ones - and then went back and got the purple ones on super sale :) When out with friends, I'll often provide options of what to do and when they cannot decide, I often find myself unable to decide either. I tell them it's "ladies choice," but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

The reason I'm indecisive is that I'm a product of habit. Ask anyone who knows me. I get up about the same time, I put my clothes and make up on in the same order, I usually prepare the same lunch during the week and the same dinner at home. And I come from a very brand loyal household. I don't have to decide between what brand is best because I buy what my parents buy and I have bought for the last few years. Advertisers would be smart to hook my family because we'll never leave you! I love Yoplait, I only brush with Sensodyne (thanks to my root canal) and use Reach toothbrushes. Tide is the only detergent in my apartment and Jif is the only peanut butter for me. That's not to say I'm against trying something new, but it's hard to commit when you have that connection to something that you've used for years because I tell everyone I know about it and how much I love it!

For example, I was amazed when I recently switched from Clinique to Mario Badescu skin care. Clinique was with me through high school, college and my early- to mid-20s. I relied on it to keep my skin in good shape and my rosacea under control. But then, fate intervened and now Mario is my new man. Now I can't live without Mario, especially the Azulene Skin Calming cream, which feels very good on my rosacea cheeks. Case in point my mini-scene at Nordstroms this weekend when the counter had the audacity to not have my Keratoplast Cleansing Lotion. I hope they learned something that day. Don't keep me from my brands, you'll get an earful, just like this guy at Nordstroms did.

Facebook - the new frontier

I never thought it would happen but I am now on Facebook. Of course it's for work reasons (wink wink) but I have to admit, it was like a whole new world opening up! I found people I went to high school and college with who I lost touch with over time and all the cool icons and groups. I am now a proud member of "Addicted to the Colbert Report" and "Wisconsin Football fan," courtesy of my brother, who also couldn't help but mention that I swore I would never join Facebook, yet here I am. It's awesome, check it out and don't be afriad to "friend" me.

Liz, Anne and I went to 1154 Lill on Armitage last night for a "spring makeover event." The last few free events that I had at Lill were a lot of fun, good wine and appetizers and of course I'm surrounded by purses, my favorite thing ever! I did not make a bag last night but Liz did, selecting the new Drea style with a lovely combination of black, soft purple and champagne colors. Very exciting. They even had free makeup consultations and make-up/brow waxing from Beauty on Call. Liz and Anne won a free brow wax, which was Anne's first ever! She was very brave. The Trader Joe's hummus was amazing (must go over there to find it!) Looking forward to the next VIP event, especially with the nice SWAG we got.

Blowing through nap time

Even at my late-20 something age, I still enjoy it when my dad worries about me. Tonight, in the midst of terrible thunderstorms in Chicago, Wisconsin and Indiana, he called while I was waiting for a 145 or 146 in the rain to make sure I was okay. Apparently there were tornado sightings between Chicago and Wisconsin and south of the city as well. Of course I didn't this out until I was home and saw the radar online...and I'm glad I didn't.

Now that it's back to work and Liz's office coffee cup crisis is getting better (and an opportunity ripe for the black coffee cup market) so it's business as usual. I'm back to pondering deep thoughts, such as "how do I properly use this eye makeup brush on my crease properly," and "do my newly shorn eyebrows work for my face shape? Or do I now have a more perplexed look on my face?" Deep thoughts.

Before I go back to my issue of Us Weekly and watch LSU hopefully crush Ohio State (suck it Buckeyes!), I say that one of my New Years resolutions this year is to get back on blogging track, to my readers (however many of them are our there), I promise to do better.

Now back to Britney's recent meltdown and how I can be as skinny as the stars, without the food delivered to my home and the oodles of money to work out with a trainer for hours a day and not worry about working....