something sparkly this way comes… » pampering

On turning forty

bipolarbear — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:15:15 +0000

I am having a hard time reconciling the fact that Friday, May 2d, I turned 40. Where has the time gone? I’m not where I thought I’d be.

To that end, I signed up for a jewelry design class at the Westchester Arts Workshop, which is affiliated with Westchester Community College. It is a for-credit class, so it will add to my paltry and widespread transcript. Jewelry design is something I’ve always been interested in, more consistently that any other field in my life. I began at age eight in summer camp, making crude (at first) copper jewelry with Red, the scary (to everyone but me) and ancient Silver Shop teacher. She resembled quite closely the shrunken apple head dolls she made with other kids. With her permission (and that of my parents), I quickly progressed on to working in sterling silver, setting stones (in particular a large picture jasper for Nanny, my father’s jewelry-loving mother), forging a linked bracelet (which I summarily lost playing soccer), each link by hand, never fusing two links together but soldering each one individually. I was Red’s pet, and I worked in the shop a huge lot of the time I was there. Each summer I returned, for six years, to work under the wing of the ever-more wizened, sharp-minded old woman. I continued on in high school, taking Advanced Jewelry Design with Diana, the eccentric art teacher. It escapes me what I produced in high school. Damned Wellbutrin.

To celebrate my fortieth, my father and stepmother provided G and I with a weekend of decadence. A weekend at the Waldorf=Astoria (don’t ask me why they put in an equals sign instead of a hyphen), including the horrifically expensive room service (see photo to see what a $100 breakfast looks like. There are four tea bags there). An amazing dinner with them Friday night at Daniel. “Passing Strange” at the Belasco Theater Saturday night. “Walking-around money” to do with what I would. I had some plans for us in the in-between time; Bodies…The Exhibition down at the South Street Seaport with maybe an excursion to Seaport Yarn, more yarn shopping, perhaps at Purl (we didn’t get there, only Stitches East). My allergies were totally kicking my ass and G’s were as well, so we moseyed down to Battery Park after the Seaport to relax on the green. I conked out for an hour and a half while G read. An exhausting, but fun weekend.

Edited to add: This is what G gave me for my fortieth; the most amazing stop sign ever. 5/8 carat total weight in brilliant, baguette, and radiant-cut diamonds in 14k white gold. No one else is wearing one of these!

Fluff piece

bipolarbear — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:12:12 +0000

I was talking to a customer yesterday (whose boyfriend ended up buying her an aquamarine and diamond promise ring from me AND got approved for credit AND bought the Jewelry Service Plan) who is a freelance (right now) facialist and makeup artist (her makeup was perfect, natch). I told her how I wish I knew better how to put makeup on, and she said that my makeup looked great. I only had eyeliner on (Laura Mercier, Special Brown), not even mascara or shadow. She said, “No blush?” Nope, my cheeks are just naturally rosy. I told her that I do own the shu uemura eyelash curler (“Because it’s the best!” we both said in unison) and Fiber Xtension mascara, and I’d been recently been using Fiberwig mascara from Japan. “So you do know about makeup!” Yeah, but I’m not great at applying it. I think this is a skill that ought to be taught in Home Ec (do they even teach Home Ec anymore?), along with balancing your checkbook and managing your money. She gave me the following tip: When you want a more natural look for your eyelashes than even the shu uemura eyelash curler can give you, have your blowdryer at the ready when you apply one eye’s worth of mascara. Using the cool setting, blow up from underneath. This will lift and separate your lashes in a beautiful, gentle curve. I tried it this morning with delightful results! (G didn’t notice a difference when pressed; he said that he doesn’t notice my eyelashes, he’s captivated by my warm, chocolate brown eyes. Nice save!)

Downtime

bipolarbear — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:10:22 +0000

This morning I went to a strategy meeting for Councilman Bill Schmidt. I’m going to be circulating with a petition to get him on the ballot on the Libertarian line. I’m supporting him in his run for Mayor of our fair city. A Republican with a platform I can get behind. Amazing, that. The only other time I voted for a GOP candidate was in revenge for an offensive campaign run by Martin Rogowsky for County Legislator back when I lived in Harrison. Not a day went by when my mailbox wasn’t full of campaign literature from him and my phone rang nearly every day with a canned phone call from his henchpeople. I was so sick of hearing about him that I looked up his home phone number and called it around dinnertime right before the election. I spoke rather tersely to his wife, letting her know how disgusted I was by his campaign and that I was going to be doing something anathema to me; crossing party lines to vote for his competitor. Unfortunately, he won that election, albeit by a very slim margin.

The Democrats in this city all want to destroy the city by adding even more low-income and subsidized housing to an already-overflowing plate. I didn’t spend what I spent on this house to see the city get flushed down the toilet along with the housing values and quality of life.

After the meeting at The Peekskill Coffee House (a large mocha on Bill – yum, and thanks!), I went to the salon to get my nails done. French and French, mani and pedi, as usual.

Most of this spinning was done last night, but I’m trying to ﬁll the bobbin today so I can ply it with the last, thicker-spun bobbinful from ages ago. I sent off an email to Valerie of the Wool Center at the New York State Fair, letting her know that I am still spinning, in case she’d like me to spin at The Fair again this year. I bought my Ashford Joy secondhand at The Fair last year, at Gary’s prompting (thank you, G!)

Finished the Jitterbug booties for Zeke! I’ll mail them out Monday. Now I’m going to start on three pairs from the leftover OnLine Supersocke from two sock pairs ago; one pair for Zeke, one for Michelle at work, and the third for Tracy at work.

Dishes are away, laundry’s started, groceries bought and away. Phew!

A clean house is a happy house

bipolarbear — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:24:04 +0000

Our neighbor down the street very generously gave me the phone number for her cleaning people, Marlene and Veronica. They both speak English fairly well, meaning that they appear to understand what I’m saying and that I have only a little trouble understanding them. I keep getting them mixed up, and it isn’t because they look alike, because they don’t, but the one who does the talking when they’re here is Veronica and the one who I’ve spoken to on the phone is Marlene. So I keep getting them mixed up. I’ll get it, eventually. Anyway, my floors are now clean enough for even me to feel comfortable walking about barefoot. And the surfaces! They shine!

On the ﬁrst of my two trips to Stop and Shop today (the second was for more tinned chicken and Texas Pete Hot Sauce), I noticed in the window a huge sign welcoming everyone to the Midnight Madness Harry Potter Sale that began at 12:01 am and ended 59 minutes later. So instead of waiting until the 24th for my library edition to arrive (Amazon had trouble processing my card, and neglected to email me until it was too late to get here for today), I picked up a regular hardback ﬁrst edition of Deathly Hallows. So as soon as I make my way through the last 3/4 of Phoenix and wade through Half-Blood Prince again, it’ll be ready and waiting for me.

I made a pair of silver heart and Swarovski crystal earrings for Jenn for her birthday, I think she’ll like them. I need to wrap them and the book and blow out my hair to be ready by the time we have to leave. Jack says it’ll take just over an hour to get to Hoboken barring all trafﬁc. And no, we did not pay $857.13 for him, we got him on Amazon.

More planting…here are pictures of Samson and Delilah, the Snow Fountain Cherry and Kwanzan Cherry that we had the landscapers plant for us. Samson is in the front yard, and Delilah is in the back. What I don’t like is that there is now a multitude o f yellow leaves on each tree. Shit.

Tell me that this isn’t the freakiest picture you’ve seen today: Click here for more. Thanks to Hula for the link to the Pravda site!

Got my hair done and boy does it hurt

bipolarbear — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:59:47 +0000

Ally at Salon Diva in White Plains helped Anne Marie, my stylist, blow out my hair for the vision of loveliness you see here. However, Ally has been to the Arnold Schwarzenegger School of Hairdressing and pulled on my hair so hard that my scalp is bruised. Anne Marie did a really nice job with the cut and color (something called Goldwell Illumen) (roll back my age ten years, please and thank you), she knows my hair very well after twenty-one years of loyalty. I’m vexed as to whether or not to blow it out again for Jenn’s birthday party tomorrow night. I know if I use the curling iron I can make it so Gary will like it. Straighten, then curl. My naturally curly hair. I know. It perplexes me, too.

We’re going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix tonight. I’m partway through rereading it. I bought the paperback version for the express purpose of keeping my hardback as pristine as possible. The movie starts at 9:40 in Mohegan Lake and right now it’s 9:16. Tigger is climbing all over me and the back of my chair (you weigh 19 pounds, cat) as if he were a kitten. Sweet boy.

I went to Anthropologie to buy a gift for Jenn and found this great little book, Small Graces; The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life. From the inside flap: “Small Graces is a journey into the sacred moments that illuminate our everyday lives…Through the exploration of simple acts, Small Graces reminds us to chart a course each day that nourishes the soul, honors the body, and engages the mind.” I think she’ll like it. I think I’ve actually given it to somebody else before, just can’t remember who. If I had thought ahead, I could have gotten it on Amazon for about $5 less, with free shipping, but I didn’t. As it is, the book cost an additional $3 for parking at The Wastechester Mall on top of the price of the book. I should have just parked at work across the street like everyone else does. Le sigh.

UPDATE: Order of the Phoenix was really good. Dolores Umbridge frighteningly reminded both of us of Mary Foster! I’m trying to get over the deletion of so many details from the book, but it’s hard. I’ll just finish reading Phoenix, then reread Half-Blood Prince in order to have prepared for Deathly Hallows, arriving tomorrow by UPS. The Wiki page has a plot summary of DH; I can’t allow myself to read it before I actually read the book. I’ll just have to wait.

The travelling sock…

bipolarbear — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 05:51:26 +0000

…took a ride to Lawn Guyland today, the home of the famous Where’s George billtrap (Bills that go to Long Island never ever leave. Much like some people). We got there hours after everyone else, but still had time to visit and have some potato salad and to cement the notion that Brett is an ass. He said something about Barack Obama being from another planet. Craig asked if I still had that Obama bumper sticker on my car, I said yes, it’s been there for four years. Brett said something rude about Obama and his sister and how it was going to keep him from being President (I didn’t quite get the words but his tone was implicit), Craig put his hand down between us and said “Okay you two, that’s enough!” WTF? Brett then couldn’t keep his mouth shut, but I, being the only sober one there, kept my wits about me and put it down to him having no home training. He was obviously trying to goad me; I’m glad that I didn’t rise to the bait.

Went to Beach Nail Salon ﬁrst thing this morning (so I’m a little out of order) and got ﬁlls done and a French manicure, then MAC‘s Sailor Boy on my toenails. I *like* the bright blue, but Karen and Carol made fun of it. What the hell do they know? I really need to keep using Dr. N.V. Perricone’s Hand & Body Lipid Replenishment (Phosphatidyl-E) cream. It is the absolute best moisturizer I have ever used, and it better be, for the price. It simply transforms my skin from dry and rough to smooth and supple. My dad gave me a nice fat gift certiﬁcate to Sephora for Chanukah again this year so I spent some of it on a tube of this stuff. It’s addictive. Doesn’t smell great, but better than I remember when I ﬁrst started using it. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to it. I highly recommend it to everyone. Pop in to a Sephora and ask for a sample. It feels great!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Shopping…

bipolarbear — Fri, 11 May 2007 04:44:51 +0000

We bought the grill. Oh. My. Dear. It is going to be huge. It’s being delivered in about a week, I think next Friday. It is gorgeous, and going to last for a very long time. This is the last year that they’re making them in the US/Canada, next year they’re going to be made overseas (China?). It comes with a cover, and a pull-out tray for the propane tank (“My name’s Hank Hill and I sell propane.”) and a warming tray. Plus it has like 600 square inches of cooking space. G’s so excited. He bought a reel lawnmower (also called a prison mower) and cut the grass. When we came home I noticed and was so impressed! We need to get a weed whacker for the dandelions and stuff. I think some Liquid Weed-B-Gon too.

I got my nails done Tuesday, too. At apparently the only nail salon in Peekskill. Srsly, in Harrison, you couldn’t swing a dead Republican without hitting a nail salon. Here, only one. I felt so pampered. They did my nails a little too thick, and a little too square, but I’ll ﬁx that easy enough. Got my toes done too, in a color to match my flip-flops. Exactly. “Whore Pink,” I think my mom calls it. Yeah, that’s right. Got my eyebrows done too, but “Nancy” screwed up a little bit and I have tiny marks on my eyelids. Ow. I think the wax was too hot. She didn’t blow on it. Have to train them up a tiny bit.

We installed another a/c unit in G’s ofﬁce. We’ve got it running in the bedroom (the bedroom is down to 68˚, the rest of the upstairs is at a balmy 78˚) and he wants to lock the cats out for the night. I think it’s going to be a howling nightmare when they want to get in to be with us. He says they’ll be ﬁne, and we’ll install a cat door in the bedroom door tomorrow. We’ll see.