March is, to me, a Winter Month, and so any week like the one we have just had, with above-freezing temperatures and sunny days, is a gift. As god is my witness, one day I will live where March is a Spring Month and Spring means Actual Spring, not a wildly unpredictable mix of mild days, violent snowstorms, gale force winds, and hard frosts into June, but that day is not today. Bloom where you’re planted, etcetera.
I’ve been thinking a lot about something Allison (HI ALLISON) mentioned to me, that this past week was, one year ago, the last “normal” week before the pandemic hit. This time last year, I was one hundred percent certain we would be going on our spring break trip to Mexico; I was busily preparing for that and for my son going on his Westcoast sailing trip immediately on our return. We were joking with my son about the climate fluctuations he was going to be enduring as I tried to figure out how many warm clothes we could pack in one small duffle bag.
It’s so strange to think about it; the STRESS I was feeling about packing for not one but TWO trips. I was at the parent information night for the sailing trip around this time last year, and I saw my friend Cindy (HI CINDY). As always, I dove in for a big hug and then pulled away from her, saying “Wait, are we not supposed to hug these days?” She laughed and told me not to be silly and we hugged again.
Well. Things change, roll with the punches.
A few years ago, a little day spa opened up right up the street from me, about half a kilometer away; I like to support small neighbourhood businesses, especially ones that are within a five minute walk. The prices for waxing were great and the esthetician on staff was around my age and very bossy, which is a trait I genuinely admire in an esthetician. I want someone who is not afraid to make judgements about my bikini line and who will get right in there with tweezers and a frown, if need be.
One thing you may already know about me is that, as a consumer, I am extremely loyal. I will patronize the same shops and services for years; I will purchase the same brands and am devastated time and again when things get discontinued. If I like something I will stay with it until the bitter end.
When I was, back in March 2020, preparing for my Mexico trip, I had a bikini wax booked for the day before departure. That wax, of course, was cancelled when everything was shut down, and of course I had many more important concerns than a fuzzy bikini line. But as time went by that yeti-like feeling started to get to me and I, riding high on the success of colouring my own hair, decided to give myself a bikini wax, which led to the conclusion that some things really are best left to the professionals.
So, I trundled back to the little day spa just as soon as it reopened, and my lovely bossy older esthetician was gone, replaced by a very lovely young girl. To be clear, I have been waxing my bikini line for longer than she has been alive, but I am not a reverse ageist: I love the enthusiasm and energy of youth, and I strongly believe that we are all beginners at one time and experience helps us grow. However. Three substandard waxes later along with a story about how the young esthetician had once “accidentally ripped a woman’s butthole,” and I had to concede defeat. This little day spa was no longer for me. I just couldn’t pay good money anymore to have a patchy wax, extremely irritated skin, and a day in which my clothes would stick to the unremoved wax on my inner thighs and bikini line. The last straw was when I went to use the bathroom at home and the toilet seat stuck to the leftover wax. Sorry for the indelicate imagery, but I think we all can agree I left delicacy behind years ago.
Back in the fall my friend M, who shall remain M for privacy (HI M), recommended body sugaring to me. At the time I wasn’t open to the idea as I was still committed to SUPPORTING LOCAL AND WALKING TO THE DAY SPA, but after the Toilet Seat Incident and Ripped Butthole Story, as well as shelling out for waxes I was unhappy with, I decided to give it a try.
You guys, it is life changing. Life Changing. I will never go back to waxing again. It is a little more intimate than waxing – there is no underwear involved, for example – but it is nearly painless and with almost no redness or irritation. By the end of the day, I had no redness at all, as opposed to waxing where I seem to need a full 24 hours to recover. The esthetician uses what appears to be a giant ball of slime to remove the hair, and the whole thing was over in about fifteen minutes. Plus, no traumatizing stories told while in an extremely compromising position! The sugaring location was also conveniently located down the street from one of my very dear friends, so while I wasn’t able to walk there, I got to have a ten-minute standing-on-the-front-step chat with my friend, who I haven’t seen in many many months. I call that a win all-round.
Outfit of the Week
This puffy coat is adorable, but it’s pretty much useless for the winter months here; it’s way too light for below-zero temperatures. I feel like Vancouver-based Lululemon has a very different idea about Cold Temperatures than I do. However! We have had a lovely week and so the coat came back into the rotation this week, for a nice long solo walk to the nearby nature park.
Yoga tights WITHOUT legwarmers AND hiking boots, not winter boots! Don’t get too excited, the winter boots are still very much in use, just not for a 7 kilometer walk.
I was feeling kind of lonely and then I was joined by this sweet little lady!
Pandemic Reading
Rainn Wilson has led this incredibly interesting life, and he has fascinating spiritual beliefs, and yet this book is so dull and boring. I don’t know how such an interesting life journey could result in such an uninteresting memoir, but here we are.
Another disappointment. This fell really flat for me. I found the characters to be one-dimensional and the storyline was just a bit too contrived and cliched for me.
Have a beautiful week, everyone, and as we come into the anniversary of the lockdown, take care of yourselves. Be kind. xo
You’d have to move farther south than where I live for March to be full-on spring. Here it’s a kind of no-man’s land that doesn’t really feel like winter or spring, or rather both, depending on the day. But we’re in for some warm weather later this week– I won’t say how warm to avoid making you cry.
It must be almost cherry blossom time for you though!
Yay for {almost} springy weather for you.
I’m dying about the waxing….well, the ‘ripping a butthole’ part really. HOW DO YOU SHARE THAT WITH A CLIENT?
I’ve not had a waxing since last year and our places ARE open, I just didn’t feel the need lately. Interesting about the sugaring.
I read the Rainn Wilson book too and thought it fell short. He’s a funny and unusual character, but the book was meh.
There are things you say to make conversation, and things you don’t say, and ripping someone’s butthole is not something anyone needs to know.
I am very intrigued by the idea of sugaring. You make me laugh my butt off at ‘Sorry for the indelicate imagery, but I think we all can agree I left delicacy behind years ago.’ Bah, ha ha. Too funny. The girl telling you a ripping a butthole story, what in the world? Waxing is sort of a necessary evil to me, so if there is a better alternative I need to investigate.
It is hard to believe it has been a year, while at the same time IT’S BEEN A YEAR. I do remember the missed sailing trip and Mexico trips. Ugh. I had just returned from the mom’s weekend at Ed’s fraternity. He was planning to spend spring break on a mission trip. But, instead he came home a few days after I did.
The weather here has been unseasonably warm and I am so excited to be rotating in different coats. I can’t wait to get the hats and gloves and boots out of the mudroom. Taking up so much space.
Bummed that the Rainn Wilson book was so disappointing.
My friend just said that March is a dare to see how many different pieces of outerwear can be fit into one mudroom!
It’s soooo close to Spring here, I can almost smell it! I can’t wait. I’ll let you know when a house goes on the market nearby. 😉
I’ve never waxed anything – sounds too painful to me. I generally will Nair the area and hope for the best while using a razor for legs and underarms.
Around this time last year, I was getting excited for a concert that was eventually re-scheduled to April this year. So far, there hasn’t been any announcement of another re-scheduling/canceling. I’m thinking I need to call the ticket company and try to get a refund – because even, if by some miracle I were to be vaccinated by then, I still wouldn’t feel comfortable with it.
*packs bags, moves to your neighbourhood*
OMG TOILET SEAT RIPPED BUTTHOLE. I don’t actually feel like you left delicacy behind years ago, which is why it is SO enjoyable when you let it rip, pardon the pun. I got my eyebrows waxed for the first time before my wedding (BAD idea, my mom pushed me into it, huge regrets), and she told me not to look up because if my eyelashes got caught in the wax she’d have to rip them out too – she also told me she’d just been to the eye doctor and he told her she couldn’t see well up close OR far away, JUST WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR FROM SOMEONE POURING HOT WAX ON YOUR FACE.
We had outdoor bar night for the first time in weeks last night and it was quite pleasant. I think March is a spring-ish month here. We know it will get cold and snow at least once more, but it doesn’t feel like it will take.
SO disappointing about the Rainn Wilson book. Funny how some people can write about a boring life and make it hilarious and some people can write about an exciting life and make it seem tedious in the extreme. Ghost writers exist for a reason.
NO NO NO DO NOT TELL ME THAT, WAX LADY. I mean, there are some things you should just never say to a client. Once my hair stylist said that she “was wearing her old glasses and could hardly see” I mean, what. No. Don’t tell me that.