Monday, February 15, 2010

an ulta birthday activity

so today . . . is my birthday.

i had plans for the day, sort of, in my head. i hadn't shared my plans with the rest of my family, because i wasn't absolutely positive that i wouldn't change my mind. sometimes something sounds like a good idea to me while i am planning it, but then when it is actually time to go, my enthusiasm wanes.

but this year my birthday fell on president's day--a free day off work! so i thought i should do something out of the ordinary. my first thought was disneyland--when you live 20 minutes from the happiest place on earth, how could it not be??? and on your birthday, you can get in free! unfortunately, the rest of your family cannot. we got on the computer and checked out ticket prices, and i thought yikes! one of us will have to sell a kidney to pay for an entrance ticket, parking, food (because, of course i would want to eat all day!) and souveniers. i decided maybe we should all keep both of our kidneys and do something else . . .

so i settled on going to the beach. i love the beach, and yet i rarely go. i don't know why . . .but i didn't tell anyone that is what i wanted to do, because i wasn't sure i would still feel like it when my big day rolled around. i decided i would just spring it on them--we are so spontaneous, i knew they would jump up and down and say "yay!" (that was sarcasm--i am about the least spontaneous person i know. if i had done that, rollie and diandra would probably think i'd been abducted by aliens, and my body was now being remotely controlled by the mother ship!)

then this morning i woke up, and i felt like i had been drugged! i could not get my eyes to open. but i could tell by the amount of light shining through my closed eyelids that it was after 8:00--way after. i thought i should check the time, so i worked one eye open and looked at the clock. it was 10:50!! and i was still in bed sleeping! i rolled over to get up and felt a horrible pounding in my head, and instantly i knew i wasn't going to the beach today . . .

and it turned out to be a beautiful day!! my only consolation at having to stay indoors where it was dark, was that the beach was probably crowded anyway. it is, after all, a holiday. the beach was probably packed with obnoxious kids. at least that is what i told myself. all day. i briefly considered driving down there for dinner but instead went another direction.

we went to rubio's. i know, i know, we eat there all the time. but i had an ulterior motive--ulta is right around the corner. and they have a new "benefit brow bar" there. and on your birthday they will do your eyebrows for free. and today is my birthday.

i had spent the whole day at home, doing nothing, and i wanted to do something special. or at least out of the ordinary. so we ate dinner, and then i left rollie at rubio's with his kindle and soda, and i walked to ulta.

there was no one at the eyebrow bar. i thought that was a good sign--i wouldn't have to wait! i found the technician, who was very cute and looked like she was about 12, and we got started. the very first thing she did was clip my bangs up off my forehead.

did i mention that this eyebrow bar is at the very front of the store? right in front of the entrance?? well it is. and there was my great big forehead, visible to the world--at least the portion of the world that came through ulta's doors while i was there. i'm kind of protective of my forehead. i have bangs for a reason. and having them pulled up off my face in a public place is way outside my comfort zone. but i guess it was out of the ordinary . . .

i have had my eyebrows waxed before (and btw, with my bangs intact!) i am blessed with pretty thick eyebrows, but they tend to get out of control if i don't wrangle them into submission occasionally. usually i go to the salon where diandra gets her nails done. it is a very quick process there. they slap wax above each eyebrow and yank it off, and then they slap wax underneath the eyebrow and yank it off. they tweeze a few strays and then say, "ok, you are done." it takes about 5 minutes. and when i leave, the skin is kind of red and traumatized for a few hours. so i am not unfamiliar with the process.

but at the "benefit eyebrow bar" the experience is somewhat different. the first thing the technician said to me was, "how long has it been since you had your eyebrows done?" it has been quite a while--i've been sick, and busy, and the nail salon moved out of the mall. i think maybe she thought i had never had it done before--that's how bad it was. so she explained everything. she drew the shape she was going to create for my approval. she waxed very small sections at a time. she trimmed. she tweezed. she applied soothing, cooling gel. she brushed. it took about 30 minutes. but i have to say, when she was done my eyebrows looked awfully good. for eyebrows. of course it costs about twice as much as at the nail salon, but it is a much nicer experience.

and then she said, "now to maintain your brows, you should probably come in every three weeks." yes, well, i probably should, but that is not going to happen. not at those prices. at least not until my ship comes in . . .

and for a birthday activity, it doesn't quite compete with mickey mouse. or ocean air. but oddly, it was kind of fun and did make me feel good! which is important when it is your birthday!!and lest you all think, "well that was kind of an awful birthday!" really, it wasn't. rollie took care of me all afternoon and said we will go do something nice for my birthday next weekend, when hopefully we will both be feeling better.

maybe i will even post a birthday picture with me and my newly shaped eyebrows in it.

2 comments:

mom said...

Glad at least part of the day was a good thing.

Albert said...

well, if its any consolation disney's free birthday deal ended in 2009. it was for that year only...