Over the weekend, Kiddo wanted to go get a mani/pedi, so as part of her b-day present, I obliged. If you live where I live, and you don't because I'd know, there's only one place to go to "git yer nails did". Many people feel the same as the place opened at 11 on Sunday, we arrived at 11:01 and there was already a huge line.
At noon, I was rapidly losing any semblance of patience, so I told Kiddo that if she wasn't in a chair by 12:30 that we would just have to come back on Thursday as I'll be leaving work early and she has no school. She looked less than thrilled but agreed, as if she had a choice. Fortunately for her, before the clock struck quarter after, she had made her way over to a pedi chair.
I was contemplating if I was going to have anything done at all. I used to be pretty vigilant about going to get my nails done every other week when I had the acrylics but they were killing my nails (which are messed up to begin with) so I quit acrylics and basically quit "pampering" myself with pedicures. Don't get me wrong, I take care of my slappers and kickers at home, I'd probably get kicked out of bed if I didn't. Now, my line of thought goes something like this: "I could just get my feet done and not spend too much more time in here watching "The Dog Whisperer" (HACK!), or I could go all out and just spend a buttload of money." Well, it was the second and damn if it wasn't a marathon of that show.
The nail salon is pretty interesting. On the acrylic side, we have the Vietnamese and on the mani/pedi side, we have the Cubans. Occasionally, a V crosses into C territory, but never vise versa. Kiddo got a member of the Cuban foot mafia while I got a newer girl, V, who was super nice. Now, at 14, Kiddo doesn't need the spa pedi and fortunately, the CM (Cuban mafia) didn't give her one because it's an extra 10 bucks or something like that. I, on the other hand, am paying, and therefore I get all the pampering I want.
Mmmmmm, spa pedicure. Ok, after Cindy (my mani/pedi-ist) turned the water on and went somewhere, I had to flag down one of the CM to mention that my little tub was about to overflow. Oh Dios Mio! Here comes Cindy. So she gets the routine questions out of the way (what color, round or square) and then I get to sink into my massage chair. Or at least until Kiddo sends me text messages from 4 chairs down where the CM is harassing her about why she doesn't speak Spanish. My child till the end responds with "Why don't you speak English?" God I love that kid.
Cindy breaks my relaxation concentration once she gets to the part where she massages my legs for a moment. "Your skin is so soft! Do you wax?" I reply that I don't, I just shave in the shower and she is just flat out amazed. She lets me relax back into my chair but I still find it amusing. Here is the part where I would typically insert that most folks of color would have soft skin because of the daily process of putting on lotion to avoid being ashy but the woman that was right before me was black also and apparently her skin wasn't so soft.
After my feet have been beautified, we head over to make an attempt at making my hands match. Cindy, the great saleswoman, asks me if I want to get my eyebrows done also. At first I tell her no, but then I start thinking to myself that they must look horrible if she asked, so I buckle. Hey, vacation is in a mere 4 days. If I spent 5 weeks working out to look good, I might as well go all the way.
It was a completely girly morning/afternoon topped off with disgustingly greasy food from McDonald's but sometimes, that's just the price you have to pay for mom/daughter bonding.