Florida Chick gets reflective

I haven't had a wake-up call like this since my freshman year in college when I visited the dressing room of the Gap and realized I could no longer button a pair of size ten jeans...not a big deal to some, but since I had begun the semester as a size six...I'm sure you get the picture.
Today's wake-up call started much the same way, except is was an Old Navy dressing room, and I haven't gone up a size in a while (which is surprising since I go through a bottle of Spiced Vanilla Chai coffee creamer every three days) but it was distressing none the less.

It started about a month and a half ago when I went ahead and did what all good spa-junkie girls know they should never do... I peeled off my malibu sunset acrylic nails. It had been about a year and I needed a break, I figured it was an expense I didn't need in my life and I couldn't really find a good time to get a fill anyway...so I peeled. I followed that little ritual up by taking a bottle of nail polish remover to my toes. The paint was chipping a little anyway, so I figured what the heck, I'll leave them bare. From there I'm guessing it just kept snowballing because without even realizing it, I ended up in the Old Navy dressing room this afternoon looking at the reflection of a girl I didn't even recognize. Now I realize that many of you are already rolling your eyes, but for those of you who know me well...I know you can feel my pain.

I was trying on the first of many pairs of half-priced shorts when I looked up into the face of a girl with a greasy ponytail and bushy eyebrows. Seriously, I did a double take. When I tell you that my ponytail was greasy, I mean it looked like the Exxon Valdez had sailed across my head and left behind an oil spill...it was bad. To top it all off, my ponytail holder was stretched out so the pony hung limply in the middle of my head - not perky, not sleak and shiny, just greasy and floppy - the worst combination.

Slightly below the oil slick on my head sat two caterpillers...oh, my bad, those are my eyebrows! They were thick and prickly and I think I even had a little hair curling up right in the middle. But wait...it gets worse. As I began to panic about what I had let myself become I realized that I was also wearing a bright red summer camp t-shirt about a size and a half too big for me, a pair of black pinstriped capri pants with a bleach stain on the right leg, and flip flops...not cute, sassy, flirty flip-flops...ugly ones black, thick flip flops, ones designed for hiking - not for shopping.

It's okay, I know that not everyone will get it, and many of you are already tossing around words like "vain," and itching for the chance to remind me that beauty is only skin deep, but honestly, as a self-proclaimed spa junkie, it was bad...even if I weren't a spa girl it still would've been bad. There is a light at the end of the tunnel however, I've already plucked and tweezed those stray eyebrow hairs (what I didn't catch the wax girl will fix later this week), I scheduled a haircut for next weekend (not to mention deep conditioned right when I got home). And just to set things right and correct any wrongs that started me on this slippery slope, I'll be at the Nail Haven tomorrow getting a pedicure and a new set of acrylics, and when I get the urge to peel them off, I'll head to the Old Navy dressing room, stand in front of the mirror and remind myself that beauty may only be skin deep, but my skin deep looks much better with a pluck and a shine!

Lots of Love from the Florida Chick