Girlie Girl

I can be extraordinarily lazy when it comes to girl stuff. This wasn’t always the case – my mom is one of those women who does not leave the house unless she is perfectly dressed, made up and accessorized, which meant that I was raised to not leave the house unless I was perfectly dressed, made up and accessorized. My mom and I had different ideas about how I should dress and look, but in my way I was very well put together. Then I got to college and after a couple of weeks of showing up to class all dressed up, I realized everyone else was in jeans and sweats. The realization that I could knock a bunch of time off my morning routine and sleep later hit like a lightning bolt, and the less fancy Hillary was born. Wearing makeup and my contacts became more of a going out occurrence. Of course, I went out a lot in college, so really I just shifted to being well groomed at night, I guess. In a baby doll dress, black tights and Doc Martens kind of way. Usually with a lot of black eyeliner.

Anyway, I generally take a more minimalist approach these days. I’m perfectly presentable, but I got into the habit of skimping on the details. Now I find that as I’m getting in shape and losing weight, I’m becoming more interested clothes and makeup again. This weekend I reconnected with my girlie side in a big way. On Saturday I made my semi-annual trip to get my hair cut and highlighted. As a bonus, I now have so much grey hair that I have to have dye added in between the highlights. Stupid grey hair. It’s nice to go to the salon to get fussed over. Expensive, but totally worth it – curly hair is tricky to cut, and I’m picky about who does my color. Plus I really like my hair stylist. She’s fun.

After the salon I headed over to Nordstrom where I bought what may be the most beautiful pair of pumps I have ever owned. As I was trying them on, complete strangers commented on how great they are. Even John, who wouldn’t care if I strapped actual shoe boxes to my feet instead of shoes, recognized how gorgeous these shoes are. Don’t you just love them? Thank you, Michael Kors.

Then I went and made the girl at the Smashbox counter’s day by getting color correcting primer (I’m so tired of the red undertone from my rosacea), foundation, a foundation brush, eyeliner, eye shadow and lip gloss.

It was an enjoyable and satisfying day and I’m looking forward to doing it again. I’m not saying that I’ll completely abandon my minimalist side, but I’m going to have fun embracing my girlie side too.