Sharon and Cynthia ~ A Pre-Meeting Manicure

I had left my car in the garage, so I would have a smaller chance of nosy neighbors seeing Meg leave.  I  made a beeline to the mall.

I almost always park in one of two spots at the mall: by the Macy's (it was directly between my former job and home) or by the Lord and Taylor (it's convenient and the parking lot entrance is by lingerie).  But I was in a hurry and I needed to be on a road that would get me to Reston quickest so I parked in the lot where I drop off my kids when the go to the movies.  The movie theatre/food court was closer to the nail spa than either of the other stores.

I should have thought this out a bit better.

I forgot to mention: I did get to the mall on Wednesday to have my brows waxed and my haircut.  This is becoming my usual pre-going out routine.  I told C, the woman who generally does my brows, that she is the first step in dressing up and going out.

I also told her that I may be back on the weekend for a manicure.  I didn't want to be specific.  I still worry about Things That Can Go Wrong and I'd rather not be at predictable places at predictable times.

So here it was, two days later, and I was back.

Entry to the lot is on the second level.  There are two ways to go from there: down to the street level and into the mall, then up to the second level and down the mall to the spa.  Or I could go up to the fourth level where there was a bridge that led directly to the movie theatre.  I went up.  And in.

And into the biggest cloud of young people I have ever encountered dressed.  There's a TGIF and a food court and the movie theatre.  And a play area for little kids.  And there were a lot of people.  A lot of lot of people.  And I was disoriented and had to walk around a bit to find the escalator down.

And with all of those hundreds of people, mostly 20-somethings, no-one seemed to notice the overdressed lady looking for the escaltor.

I, as I have mentioned, people watch.  I didn't see any people watching the watcher.

Down the escalator, past a dozen or two shops, and to the spa.

I didn't have an appointment because I didn't know what time I'd be there.

C was busy and wouldn't be available for a while.  I said to the young receptionist, "I'm sure everyone is great" and went with N, the next nail lady (after a ten or so minute wait).  I told her I'd like something in the red family to match what I was wearing.  She took out four bottles of lacquer for me to look at.  That's much better than the six or seven million they have in stock.  She put a dab of each on her fingernails so I could see how they looked and I chose one.  She asked if I wanted curved or straight.  I said "my hands are in your hands" and I pointed out the thumbnail that I had split a couple of hours earlier.

N did a very nice job on my nails.  She cleaned up that broken thumbnail.  She was kind of light in the hand massage area, and she seemed distracted.  We chatted a bit, but not a lot.

I mentioned that the polish would only be on for a short time.  I mentioned this a couple of times, when she would comment on how good the colour looked.  Maybe she wasn't thinking about that.  Maybe she was distracted.  Maybe she hates crossdressers and wanted to teach me a lesson.  I'm going with distracted.

She roughed up my nails, which I don't remember from previous manicures, but there have only been a few.  She put on the undercoat, and two coats.  After she put on the undercoat she pulled out this toaster oven with UV lights inside and had me put my hands in there.  I assume this made the polish dry faster.  My hands went into the oven after each of the two coats and the topcoat.  She hadn't done the usual hand/arm massage and I figured I was supposed to ask for that.  Then she surprised me by getting out the lotion to moisturise my hand and forearm ~ after the lacquer was on!  I was shocked that it didn't chip or glob or anything.  It just stayed perfect.

Arms Akimbo ~ Click to Enlarge

I also remember being asked to take out my money before the polish because I wouldn't be able to dig into my purse afterwards.  But it was no problem!  I just reached in and the polish stayed perfect.

I was amazed.

I would be more amazed later.

One more bit of amazement: as I was leaving the nail place, I saw C, my manicurist, working on another customer.  I stood where she could see me and I waited.  She looked at me for a second... two seconds... maybe five seconds.  I just smiled.  Then she said "Oh.  My.  God." and I said "I told you I might be back for a manicure.  I'm sorry you were busy" and I left.  When she did my brows, she asked me to bring pictures of my trip out.  I think this was a bit better.

We'll have something to talk about next time.

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