Life as Betsy

From the pit of your stomach

Getting tired and hurting for something to write about today . . .

In other news - I did my first root touch up and dye job today. A classmate of mine wanted to bleach her roots and then take her fading pink hair to a new level of magenta. I’ll have to take a picture of it tomorrow. It looks awesome.

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Was I ever that small??

After three little girl birthday parties today and plenty of tiny little fingernails that needed painting, I am a self-proclaimed master of the manicure. I met the next generation’s Liz Harper today too . . . her name is Emma. She has adorable freckles and she felt the need to tell me that she was born in 1999. I suddenly felt very, very old.

But really, my heart went out to a seven year old named Ellen with bright red hair and warm toned skin and milk chocolate brown eyes. She was sweet and quiet and content . . . She chose a deep purple nail polish with a purple glitter to go over it. I cannot recall ever being that small, but I know one day I was.

It feels, at times, that I have always been 5’7". I pretty much have been since I was 13 years old. . . .

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Like a Glove

I am realizing what a rare opportunity it is that I have right now, to solely be going to school. To not have to worry about much else but getting my nail polish on flawlessly and mastering a 45 degree haircut. Fellow students as young as 18 have children to consider, babysitters to remember and jobs, either full time or part time, to work around. It really is pretty damn cool that I am getting to do this. I love it so much. I don’t complain about pedicures, or even squirm at the thought of them. On the contrary, both a student I gave a french pedicure to and the school’s owner who saw the finished product were very impressed with my first shot at french tips.

I do feel that my hair is lacking a bit of pizazz and I am currently trying to decide between highlights and going a whole new color. I was told yesterday that I look like Debra Messing and for some reason, her hair color is kind of popping out at me. What do you think?

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Definitely not hating this

I got both a pedicure and a facial today. Man, cosmetology school is hard.

In all seriousness, I am loving school. When I parked and walked in this morning, my fellow classmate Shane said "Another day in paradise." I am sure he was being sarcastic, but I was thinking "Yeah, it is." It really is. Yes, I am learning more each day and yes, I am a student model for classmates learning other various things ( like facials and pedicures). But they are my models too.

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We don’t talk about the little things that we do without

So after a really critical look at our budget tonight and making some cuts and sacrifices for a number of months, we have found a way that will allow for me to go to school full time and bang out my entire cosmetology education in about 7 and a half months. I am so excited at this prospect, because I am absolutely loving school and the idea of getting to be there as if it were my job . . . heaven!!!

I start full time tomorrow. Woo hoo!

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Change of Pace

I guest blogged over at Sarah’s blog today . . .  you can read my entry here.

But I am resilient as always. And I am already working on a way to get this done, perhaps even faster than originally planned. It is merely a pot hole in the road.

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That inner glow

Time is precious these days with a schedule like mine, so I figured it was time to utilize and maximize the time I have in the mornings before work. That means getting my ass out of bed and getting to the gym to workout in the mornings.

It seems like each week, I am meeting or encouraging others to look into and start WW themselves, because it is one of the few weightloss lifestyle plans out there that work. So the more people who know that I am doing this, the more compelled I feel to keep with it, to keep getting results and to be a strong ear, shoulder, cornerstone for them to turn to in a moment of crisis.

I knew there weren’t any more excuses to why I wasn’t getting up in the mornings before 8 am to workout. So I forced myself up and dressed at on the treadmill by 7:15 for a brisk 2 mile walk before showering and work. It was harder for me to get up and moving and it certainly was a bit intimidating to be walking next to a neighbor who is training to run marathons on the treadmill next to me. But I walked around beaming inside today knowing that I had done it. Who knows if I will get up and do it again tomorrow or not (though I hope I do), but at least tonight, I can snuggle up on the sofa with Mike and not be sweaty.

I am loving school. There is something so fulfilling about going to school to learn and feeling like I am playing. I gave two manicures tonight, one to a fellow student (who works out at Total Family Fitness - the gym Mike’s dad owns) and one to a client who is originally from Vancouver, B.C. I am liking how I am getting to meet so many new people in our city. I touched up the polish for a sophomore from River right before closing too (Hi Elizabeth!). I don’t drive home tired and dreading the following day. I am looking forward to it.

Practice makes perfect and I want to perfect everything I learn. Anyone interested in being a manicure model??

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Frey the cosmetologist student

Remember the first time Harry Potter decended off the Hogwarts Express and joined his housemates in Griffindor and felt for the first time that he belonged. All those talents and strange things about him suddenly clicked and made sense and he was home. I felt that way tonight. Maybe I’ve never not felt like I belonged before, but suddenly, a lot of things clicked and made sense.

I brought my three drawer cabinet tonight and was given my kit. My entire kit. Sheers and razors and curlers and flat iron and various water bottles and a hair dryer and manicure kit. Lots of combs and hair brushes and capes and my one "lab coat". Its all there, a lot of which I have marked as mine. I only put "Frey"; maybe a part of me hopes that my classmates and clients start calling me Frey, like the vampire slayer.

Okay, maybe not. I think I’d have to work at a pretty posh salon in Portland or even Seattle to have a nickname like that.

All in all, it was a pretty quiet evening for me, though it was pretty chaotic at the school. My instructor is the mother of my first serious boyfriend in high school, but she hasn’t recognized me yet (don’t worry, there’s no bad blood there or anything). It’s just kind of funny in a life comes full circle kind of thing, since when I was with her son, she cut, colored and straightened my hair for me all the time. And now, she’ll be teaching me how to do it all myself.

My cold is mild and not much more than annoying, though it’s keeping me feeling not hungry. I even got home tonight and hit the treadmill for my usual workout. I have found a really good, comfortable groove that encourages me to workout so I get to see the results.

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God only know’s when I’ll see you again

We sat there this morning, munching on bagels and sipping on coffee as we caught each other up on our lives. It’s only been three weeks since we last all saw each other, but it is amazing how much can happen. Car wrecks, surprise trips and announcing the sex of a new niece or nephew. I look at these girls and I marvel at how far we’ve come and still how much further we have yet to go in life.

It reminds me of the weekend brunches on "Sex and the City", where Carrie and Samantha and Charlotte and Miranda all get together. But to try to fit the three of us into their character molds . . . well, I’d probably be mostly Samantha with a dash of Carrie. You’d have to ask the others who they feel they’d be. But the older we get, the more "adult" our lives become. Kind of crazy to think in a few years, we’ll be thirty. In less time than that, we’ll be attending our 10 year high school reunion.

I have such wonderful friends. Not just Kate and Aja, but Sarah and Vanessa and Lizzie and Jessa too. It scares me a little to think of how much can change in the next year and a half. I worry that I will "get out" next October and feel like I’ve lost some ground. Really, true friendships aren’t about gaining, losing or maintaining ground. You find that common ground with someone and no matter what happens, that common ground stays right where you left it. Break ups, make ups, jumping oceans or giving birth, it changes you but enhances the friendships - if they are true.

I know that there will be Friday evenings with wine and Sunday morning brunches to keep us close. Just don’t lose my number, kay?

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Snap is not his color.

In my hurry to hit the road and make my way home to Mike on Sunday, I managed to leave my makeup bag at my brother’s loft. And then failed to even notice until this morning, as I was searching for it in my suitcase. I knew that it could only be one of two places and either place (Andrew’s or Anne’s) meant that I will eventually be getting it back, but it still put me in somewhat of a bad mood. I am pretty good at remembering things, not forgetting them and leaving them behind.

After speaking with my brother (in which he teased me by saying "I asked if you had everything and you said yes you did." and I responded "Were you planning on keeping it? Snap is not really your color.") and he agreeing to mail it back to me, I still have to get by without it. You’d think that would be fairly easy, since I have a huge makeup collection, thanks to many gratis gifts from working at Lancome. But that bag had all of my daily makeup, not to mention my best brushes and all my mascara and eye liner.

So off to Target I went tonight to buy a tube of cheap mascara to get me through until my bag returns. I haven’t purchased anything CoverGirl since 2002, not because I don’t like CoverGirl, but because I was around Lancome and Lauder and MAC (actually, MAC’s mascara is shit. Don’t use it.). I hate to sound like a snob, but seriously, there are certain products where you do get what you pay for. Mascara is definitely one of them. I know some of you may scoff at spending $23.50 for a tube of mascara . . . but I totally think its worth it.

Its going to be a very interesting week . . . I’m hoping it arrives by Friday, but am not holding my breath. At least it happened this week and not next.

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