The Tester Drawer

Taking M to the doc today, to check on his shoulder. I think the doc is going to tell him that he's healing up right quick, and everything looks good. I also think he might give him some therapy things to do, which is great, and which M will like. He's all about healing and getting better.

Zozo finally has her second top tooth coming in. It started poking through this past weekend, and is coming in quite nicely now. She'll go from being an asymmetrical grinner to having what looks like a little gap between her two top teeth. I could be wrong...maybe it'll scoot over as it comes in, but if it stays on its current trajectory she'll look like Madonna by the end.

I tried a new color on my nails last night. "Elegance" by OPI, which is part of their designer series where every color contains sparkles. Can't decide if I like it. It's very pretty, but I can't help feeling like I'm about 12 with it on. Just a tad too bubble-gum pink for me, I think. The official description from OPI is "vivid pink with a sprinkling of sequins."

I was trying to find something new, as I've worn out Red-Y To Help for the year, I think. This is the opposite direction, and will probably become a staple for summer toes, but not so much on the hands. Ach. Live and learn.

When I was a little girl, I would come into my aunt's day spa and play. Which, looking back, probably annoyed the hell out of the employees, but I like to think I was adorable and precocious and therefore my presence was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Anyway, besides composing poems about facials and massages for my aunt (who still has one), I ran up and down the hallway (quietly, as I knew that clients were being tended to), down the street to the awesome deli where my predilection for ham and swiss sandwiches and Like Cola was born (most people I know don't even remember Like Cola, so I'll show one here to try to refresh you), and to Ellis Pharmacy for candy and comics and baseball cards. When I wasn't doing all that, I played in the tester drawer.

The tester drawer in a day spa is every little girl's heaven. I was fortunate to be allowed access to one (that's what happens when your aunt owns the joint and dotes on you). The tester drawer was the drawer with all the sample make-up products. Little pots of eye color and blush, tubes of lipstick, and the softest make-up brushes in the world. It was like an artist's toolbox. Not much ended up on my face, tomboy that I was, but instead on my hands, the smooth rocks from the landscaped bed out front, pieces of paper. Just about anything I could brush eyeshadow on, I did.

The estheticians and make-up artists used forms for their clients to outline what make-up products they recommended. There was a place to write down all the colors, but better yet, there was a woman's face printed on the page where they could use make-up to show the exact location of proper make-up application. I would pay money to see one of my pages from then, because I'm pretty sure it would be hysterically funny.

You have to remember that this was in the late 70s/early 80s, so the make-up colors were bright and nearly all had sparkles.

So, this is what I think about today when I look down and see my sparkly pink fingernails. Makes me want to go up front and play with the testers.