Hi Friends. We got home from our whirlwind Christmas vacation just a few short hours ago. We went to my sister Molly's house just outside of Little Rock, AR and a super swell time was had by all. For reals. It was beyond wonderful to see that side of my family and to show off Belly and the Bug. Plus I got to meet my little niece who was named after me (I can hardly believe she's 18 months old and this was the first time I'd met her in-person). We had tons of good food and drink (a constant with my family), lots of game-playing (another constant), and overall Christmas Happiness. Top that off with no drama and it was pretty damn near perfect! Except for one thing...

Part 2: The Horror

Erika and Molly and I thought it would be fun to leave the kids with the husbands and have a "sisters afternoon" - go to a movie, get pedicures, maybe do a little shopping. Molly and I both have little kids, so these particular activities are sadly lacking from our lives on any sort of consistent basis. We saw "Up in the Air" and I loved it. I laughed. I thought I might cry at one point. I truly loved it. Then we went for pedicures. I picked out a lovely shade of almost-black-purple and was all set. As they were leading me to the chair, I asked if I could also get a brow wax (this place was a salon and they clearly offered waxing services). The woman said yes and suggested she do that first. Great! I followed her into the waxing room. I told her "not too thin, please" and put my head back on the pillow. She leaned over me. "Hmmm. Do you want a lip wax, too?" Uh, okay. Sure. Clearly there was a need. And with that, she went to work. It seemed like she was taking a lot off the eyebrows but you know what? It feels like that EVERY time I get waxed. Then she did the upper lip. Then she went back to the brows to do some tweezing. She didn't put anything on the upper lip to calm it down while she did that and I could feel the region tingling in a not-good way. Finally she put some calming oil everywhere and gave me a hand mirror. What Had She Done To My Face? No really. What the friggledy-frug did she think "not too thin, please" meant?!?! Had she gone any thinner, my brows would've been completely gone and needed to be drawn on. I was stunned, horrified, at a total loss for words. We walked out to the pedicure chairs where I freaked as quietly as possible - texting Erika in the chair next to me and trying not to cry. Erika assured me that yes, they were thin but not weird-looking. She had to say that, though. It was pretty obvious that I was on the verge of losing my shit. I could not enjoy my pedicure. It was finally all over and we left. Erika informed me that she had been cut by the cuticle scissors and the nail tech had tried to hide it by putting her foot in the water. What?! Molly came out unscathed but will not be returning to that particular establishment. UGH.

That was yesterday. Today I think the eyebrows are way too thin but no, not totally bizarre - just strange on MY face. I look forward to them growing back in. Additionally, my upper lip has decided to take 24 hours to totally break out. Yep - Dude actually asked me when we got home this evening if I was having an allergic reaction to something. And when I said that it was just further trauma from the waxing yesterday, he asked incredulously, "You got your lip waxed?! I didn't know you did that!" He looked at me like I had just told him I have a giant walrus mustache that I shave every day. This just keeps getting better and better...