February 16, 2002

[General] My day at the spa.

I have been getting my nails and hair done by the same woman for over 6 years. Her name is Phyllis and she does a great job, reasonably prices her services and is flexible with her schedule. It has been a dream being her customer.

About 6 weeks ago, I got a phone call from her saying that I would have to make another arrangement for my hair and nails as she was having some medical problems which would prevent her from working for a while. This is bad news on so many levels, the least important of which is my need to find a new manicurist. She has a couple of teenagers, she is a very active, athletic person, she enjoys the money she makes. All of these things are going to be impacted. All of these things are more important than my nails.

However, be that as it may, I still need to find someplace to get my nails done. My brother-in-law is the general manager of a relatively well-known salon in the city. I never visit there, mostly because I know that he would insist on discounting the service and I don't like taking advantage of our relationship, however this is a crisis and so I call.

He gets me an appointment for the following Saturday (this is 3 weeks ago now) and it is bliss. The manicurist is skilled, she complies with my wish that she not use an electric drill, and she tacks on a quick warm creme hand massage for good measure. I leave feeling pampered, refreshed. I think that I can live with this, till Phyllis gets better. (Honestly, even though this is super-pampering, I'd still rather have Phyllis do it. First, she's really good at what she does; second, the conversation's better; third, I always get to pay full price...and that price is reasonable)

So, 3 weeks go by and I am in need of more nail attention. I make an appointment for this past Saturday. Unfortunately, the woman who was so fabulous last time is booked; I will have to make due with the person at a neighboring station.

This time, things are less than exciting. First, this person insists on using the drill. She is also much less skilled, and not a little argumentative. Finally, while trimming my nails, she clips too close to the skin, drawing blood. If you have ever had blood drawn during a manicure, well, it's not pleasant.

So, she's finally done and I go to pay and I notice that I have smeared my polish. I'm not about to go back in. I don't really ever want to see this person again. But then I am struck with a brilliant idea--I will buy a bottle of the polish and stop at Phyllis's. Maybe she could help me fix just this one nail, I hope.

So I call and she is home and she offers to help, as I knew she would. She tells me that I am not to even try to fix this nail myself--she's better with one hand than I am with two she tells me. She is right on that count.

It's really good to see her. We have a good visit, get caught up on all that's gone on these last 6 weeks, talk about her kids, her doctors, her PT, my crazy family, my new website, this journal. I was shocked at how much I had missed her. And, even though she was only fixing the one nail, I was comforted. I felt like she was going to get better. I felt like her life would turn out OK afterall. And, I felt good that I might still get to be a part of it.

On the way out the door, she pressed tons of hair coloring supplies into my hands. I guess she must have noticed all the grey that has accumulated during her convalescence. :) We'll see how that goes--my last attempt at home color was a pretty big disaster!

Nothing much else to report--tivogoddess.com is up with an "under construction" page and not much else. I'm going to work the rest of the weekend on getting some actual content up. I bought a bunch of very intimidating HTML books. I don't want to actually read them--I guess I'm hoping that what I need to know will magically jump off the pages and directly into my brain! Probably not, though. In any case, that is my only real goal for the rest of the weekend. By Wednesday, we will know how much of it I accomplished.

Posted by Lori at February 16, 2002 3:15 PM