taking away my superpower

so we all know how attached i am to my lash extensions.  it's like they literally give me life.  i love being able to wake up and walk out the door and not feel like an old hag even if i haven't had time to put anything on my face.  and they're just so pretty.  i love them so much.

but i've had them on for a whopping THREE years straight without taking a break.  and while my lash lady is really good about giving me a nudge when she thinks maybe it's time to give my lashes a breather, it seems that my natural ones hang in there really well even with the extensions on them for a long time.

and then after we lost molly and my crying was kind of out of control, i think i somehow managed to irritate my eyes in a big way.  i was feeling some discomfort and some other gross stuff that i won't bore you with, and so i decided that maybe it was time to take a break.  not to mention, i hadn't been able to rub my eyes in three years and sometimes that just feels really good to do.  heh.

i took a quick picture before i went in to have them removed.  i was super bummed to be losing my lashes, and this picture is pretty terrible with those weird baby hairs and my age spots on full display. oh well.

the removal was kind of relaxing, like when i go in for fills.  i just laid down on the table like always, closed my eyes and let her do her thing.  and then when she was all done she put some cool wet pads on them and told me i could go ahead and rub them to my heart's content.  OMG, i can't even tell you how wonderful it felt.  it was almost on massage level.

and the "after."  i know you probably think there isn't much of a difference here, but *i* can tell.  my natural lashes were a little stubby and stick straight out and they were so sad...but i have to say, i was pretty pleased with how healthy they seemed to be despite being a little puny looking.

plus, i was a little excited at the prospect of trying out new mascaras and being able to wear eye makeup on the regular again without dreading cleaning it all off at the end of the day.  because, you see, when you have extensions you have to be really careful with what products you use (must always be oil free), and removing makeup is a long, slow process because you have to do it slowly so as not to screw up those lashes.  not to mention, i'd managed to totally fry them one time while i was baking something at a really high temperature.  i opened the oven and the heat and steam that came out of there damn near melted the things right off my face.  and now i don't have to look away every time i open that oven door.  come on...i'm looking for every possible positive aspect of taking my lashes off here.

i pulled out the stuff that the old lady recommended as being really good for regrowth and conditioning and gave it a try:

but i found that no mascara was going to help with how straight my natural lashes were.  and so i headed out to target and picked up an eyelash curler, much to the old lady's dismay.  she totally frowned upon my total vanity, telling me that curlers can be really damaging, and suggested that after a few weeks i go in for a lash lift.  apparently, that's the new lingo for "eyelash perm," which is something i'd done before.  in fact, that's how i found my lash lady in the first place.  and so i booked an appointment and then settled in for what seemed like a super long wait.

in the meantime, i ordered a tube of mascara that i'd bookmarked awhile ago in anticipation of this very occasion.  it promised that my lashes would look like extensions, and a quick video i watched on instagram seemed to fulfill that promise.

i was really excited to give it a shot, and even more stoked to find that it really did deliver.  i don't have any pictures to share, but trust me - the stuff is magical.  i actually felt like back to normal again, and i'm happy to report that it also doesn't flake off during the day and is still really easy to remove at night.  i'm totally going to stick to this stuff.

and then finally, i got to head on in for my lash lift.  my lash lady offered to throw in a tint (which looking back, probably isn't really necessary for me next time since my lashes are already pretty dark) and some stuff she called "lash botox."  it's supposed to strengthen and thicken, and of course i was all in.  the treatment is a whole relaxing experience, complete with this fantastic chair that massages you all the way down to the bottoms of your feet:

here's the quick "before" shot i took.  the old lady took some too, because they were going to use it as advertisement on the salon's social media.

the first step was the lift.  i got to lay back the whole time, just relaxing and dozing off because what else are you gonna do with your eyes shut for an hour straight?

i'm not gonna lie...i was so relaxed that i don't actually remember the sequence of events that happened after that. i think she did the lift part and then cleaned off all the perm solution and then moved on to the tint before applying the botox.  and because there was a bit of the botox stuff left over, she brushed it onto my brows to give them some extra oomph as well.

when all was said and done, the whole shebang took about an hour and a half and the old lady put together this little "before and after" picture that she posted online.  i'm so glad you can't really tell it's me unless you know, because holy cow do i look terrible aside from how fantastic my lashes turned out:

it's been about five days and i'm really loving this lash lift business.  the funny thing is that i put on mascara the other day and almost regretted it because i felt like they were damn near touching my eyelid when i was done.  but i do feel like i have pretty lashes again, and i fall into the old habits of being super careful when touching my eyes because i feel like i still have the extensions on.

all that to say, if you find that you don't want extensions for whatever reason but would love some sort of low-maintenance way of making your lashes look pretty, the lash lift/tint/botox is a really effective, affordable option.  it lasts anywhere from 4-8 weeks, and it all varies depending on each individual.  much like extensions, it lasts as long as it takes for your natural lashes to grow out.

yay for purty lashes!

ferocious lightning bolts

right after i accepted my finisher's medal from that 5K, we hopped into the car and headed straight for home to squeeze in a shower before continuing on with our packed saturday schedule.  the old lady had taken the bean to the orthodontist for the next step in her journey to braces, and by the time i got out of the shower they were back.  i had just enough time to dry my hair, throw on some clothes and head out the door.

this year, the school's annual jogathon was a little different.  i like how they try to switch it up so that the kids want to participate and have a great time doing it - the last couple of years had seen them doing fun obstacle courses, but this time they changed it.  the classes each picked out a team name that were put on class t-shirts, and they wore them to assemblies and casual dress days for school spirit.  and then they put those shirts on again for jogathon day, where they got to play field games against each other as a class.

i was kind of disappointed in how it all played out, as they really only played two games.  there was a bouncy ball relay:

and then they recruited volunteers to hold up a giant tarp for the next game, and because i'm a team player like that i stepped up to help.

turns out that we were basically forming a wall between the second and third graders that they were to toss hundreds of balls over.  each team got a bucketful of them, and their job was to chuck as many of them over that wall as they could - the team who had the least number of balls at the end of the round won.  and it was madness.

and there was another member of the audience overhead...a drone, which i assumed was taking pictures and videos.

after some deliberation, the "game masters" declared the third graders the winners of round one.  which meant there was a round two.  yaaaaaaay.

despite the large number of balls in a pile on our side, the second graders took the second round, resulting in a tie.  that's when i realized that the game was totally rigged.  is this another piece of that "every kid gets a trophy" mentality?  oy vey.  although i suppose the bouncy ball relay had to be legit.  in any case, they're going to announce the winners at an assembly tomorrow.

when it was over, the hub bought a ride wristband for the bean to go and hang out with her friends while i went off to work my shift in the booth assigned to our class.  my job?  well, here's a hint:

after all that running around, the bean decided to spend a couple of her tickets on a treat.

and when my shift was over, i headed right over to the nachos booth to grab a tray.  too bad for me, though - they'd run out of cheese.  i was so sad.  but instead, i picked up a giant pretzel that was warm and chewy and salty and perfect.

as i snacked on it, i wandered around and checked out the rest of the extravaganza.  i'd been hearing about this lularoe clothing company for the last couple of months, but had never seen it out in the wild.

looked like a bunch of leggings and simple dresses and tops made from knit material that i have piles and piles of at home.  i didn't bother to look closer, but i also hear that the prices are a bit high on the pieces, and it's an MLM to boot.  nope nope nope.

the bean played a bunch of fun carnival-style games, including this one:

and went home with two bags full of prizes.  no goldfish this time, thank goodness.  she knew better.

i dropped her off at her art workshop, and then headed home to relax a bit and found that the dog had already beat me to it.

the art workshop she was at was a special "star wars"-themed one, and along with a cool drawing of C3PO, she came home with these cute little handmade figurines that she'd made.

believe it or not, the day still had one more activity in store for her...and her daddy.  they put on their western-y best:

and with tickets in hand (okay, that's my hand, but photo op):

they do-si-do'd their way out the door and on to their own date night.

with nothing but time to myself, i headed out for a little pampering:

and a target run, where i picked up dinner, a drink AND dessert.

i'm calling my entire saturday one big ass WIN.

i'll take my forty lashes. or more.

many many moons ago, before the bean was even a twinkle in my eye, i had the most fabulous beauty-related indulgence:  eyelash extensions.

i love me some full, thick lashes.  and while i haven't had them in ages, i often think about getting them again.  it's so awesome to wake up in the morning looking purty without even the tiniest smidge of makeup on.  vanity at its finest, yes?  oh, yes.  and between me and the teen (who is also rather obsessed with her eyelashes), we've tried just about every mascara out on the market.  we have our favorites, but nothing has come close to those fantastic extensions.

so when i came across a groupon deal for something new - semi-permanent mascara - i was intrigued enough to scoop it up.  it wasn't very expensive, and the deal included the initial treatment (which supposedly lasts for two weeks), a touch-up, and removal.  i figured it'd be fun to try out, and after hanging onto the groupon for a few weeks, i finally sucked it up and made an appointment to have it done.

the salon is called "her eyes" and it's in a small strip mall in nearby azusa.

inside, i was greeted warmly by the lady sitting at the front desk - turns out she's the owner.  she explained the process to me and gave me a quick rundown on the pros and cons as gleaned from past and present clients.  basically, it's applied just like regular mascara.  it takes about a day to fully dry, and once it's dry it stays put until a lash specialist uses a special solution to remove it.  she said that the semi-permanent stuff is relatively new to the market, being just a couple of years old, and that people either love it to death or hate it with a passion.  over time, the stuff hardens - which is what the haters don't like.  interesting, yes?

maybe not.  but for lash-obsessed folks like me...hell yes!  bring it on!

i was introduced to my specialist, who led me into one of the treatment rooms.

she asked me a few basic questions, like what kind of mascara i used and how i liked my lashes to look on a day-to-day basis.  then she explained the process to me again and then applied a pad soaked in under-eye treatment over my bottom lashes, using medical-grade tape to hold it in place.  she told me that she'd start me off with two coats for the first go-round, and then increase it to three or four during my maintenance appointment.

as she was finishing the second coat, she asked me if i curled my lashes (um, duh).  like, my eyes look droopy and tired when i don't.  and i probably should've thought to ask about this first, but when she said i couldn't use a curler once the stuff was applied, she added that she could do an lash perm next time.

well, hell.  i really wish she'd have offered this to me before it was too late.  i'd gladly have stayed the extra time to do the perm and ensure my fabulousness for the next two weeks.  bah!  oh, well.  it only took about ten minutes and then it was all done.

what's that you say?  a before and after, you want to see?  well now, of course i can provide that.  i made her take pictures for me.  heh.

so it's now been almost a week since i had this done, and i'm not gonna lie - i kind of wish i'd have just gone for the extensions instead of this stuff.  these lashes are so freaking rock hard, i'm afraid i'm gonna poke one of the bean's eyes out if i try to give her butterfly kisses.  and despite my extreme caution when i went to sleep that night, laying flat on my back and not rolling to the side or onto my front once all night long, the lashes seem to have gotten a little tangled up together and clumpy-ish looking.  the teen assures me that they look great and not to worry, and when i look in the mirror i suppose it really isn't all that bad.  i'm always my own worst critic.

but before i left the salon that day, i made sure to tell them to work in that eyelash perm for the next appointment.  no way in hell do i want to walk around town with these uncurled lashes for another two weeks.

ah, vanity.