NORDSTROM Children’s Shoes
Visit Children’s Shoes Friday & Saturday, February 18th and 19th.
Come get your toenails painted. Piggy Polish “Peticures” on Friday, February 18th
Paul Mitchell will be on hand from 12-4 PM doing updos on Saturday, February 19th.
Man, just say the words “Piggy Polish” and “updos” and I am there! So, the girls and I headed down to Nordstrom on Friday for “Peticures” and Saturday for a taste of the hair glamour that is conspicuously absent from their lives when they’re with me.
You see, while I am pretty good at most of the girly stuff associated with…well, girls…I can’t do hair. I not only lack a basic knowledge of hairstyling techniques, I’m completely unfamiliar with the tools. I’ve only used a blow dryer once in my life (during an ill-conceived, junior high, pre-dance grooming session that is still referred to as “The Dandelion Incident”) and the thought of using a curling iron leaves me clammy.
I know women who have used curling irons for decades who still manage to char their flesh on a regular basis, so, as a rank amateur, I’m a little reticent to brandish a wand of white-hot death near my daughters’ faces. Perhaps if my morning grooming ritual growing up had carried with it the ever-present possibility of grotesque, disfiguring burns or self-immolation (like applying my contact lenses with a soldering gun, or trimming my sideburns with an acetylene torch) I wouldn’t be so squeamish. But, as it stands, when they’re with me they usually have to settle for a few spritzes with a squirt bottle, a thorough brushing…and, if I’m feeling especially bold, perhaps a few barrettes.
So I went to this thing hoping to pick up a few “idées de coiffure” that I could use at home, but this probably wasn’t the place to go for practical hairstyling tips.
When it was over, Emma ended up with a remarkable recreation of the fountains of Versaille:
And Zoë’s hair was like an Escher woodcut. It seemed to turn in on itself and circle around and turn in on itself and circle around and turn in on itself and circle around…:
But even though I didn’t learn much in the way practical techniques, I studied the process carefully enough that I’m pretty confident that I could recreate the hairstyles if the girls ever get invited to a cotillion…or the Westminster Dog Show.
34 Comments
Grettir, next time I’m in town, I would LOVE to teach you some simple basics of hairstyling for elementary-aged girls (ponytails, braids (of the painfully basic persuasion), and a few other easy hairstyles).
And since both the girls have such GORGEOUS hair, I might just have to set up a playdate with them to try fancy things and give them peticures. Last time we got to do anything, we only got to jump-rope for two hours. I love and miss those girls!
p.s. I can’t believe how grown-up Emma is looking!
I’d like to bear testimony that the girls’ hair looked ab fab–I went along and took my own two little gals. Paigie ended up looking like she was headed to the Junior Prom (much to her smug delight). And Abby walked out looking lovely, but disturbingly like a young Brigitte Bardot. May this not be a sign of voluptuousness to come…
Toes! Toes, were there peticures done? We must see toes!
There is absolutely no better way top spend an afternoon than being pampered and having someone there to record it all for history! Way to go Dad!
They look so darling! May I add that, although they are “dunnup purdy” and feel grown up, they look appropriate for their ages. Hubby and I were witness to a party of ten or so gals at Main Street Disney’s “Libby Loo’s” who, after the staff there got done with them, looked as if they were all signed on as glittered backup singers for Brittney Spears and with enough make up on to make a drag queen blush.
Right you are about the “wand of white-hot death.” When I was in Jr. High we all religiously used that weapon (as well as quantities of hairspray sufficient to fill every swimming pool in southern California). My best friend actually sat naked on her curling iron one day (there is a semi-reasonable explanation, but I’m a little vague on the details). We had big, BIG hair. It WAS the Eighties, so I think it must be forgiven.
I never knew what I was doing with my hair, anyway. I grew up with very short hair (my Mother always insisted that it looked “best” on me) and I was “cute” and my older sister had long blond hair and was “pretty” and everyone said I looked like Ramona Quimby. Complexes, complexes, complexes. So when I got older and tried to grow my hair out, I never knew what in the hell I was doing. At some point I decided that I’d stop fighting my hair’s inner rage and let it do what it wanted (it tries to kill me sometimes – I promise you). The result isn’t impressive, but it takes a lot less time than, for instance, my “newscaster coiffure,” which I wore for several years in high school. This involved straightening any wave out of my hair with the aforementioned deadly curling iron and then using my lifetime’s ration of hairspray to make a hair helmet.
But you really do have a better handle on it than you claim; the girls always look gorgeous (and well-coiffed). It’s not as though it were the time when my Grandma did my younger sister’s hair while babysitting us and Janet took one look at it and said, “I’ll think I’ll wear my hat today.”
P.S. I have to admit, the girls’ updos remind me a little bit of the hairdo I invented when I played the wicked stepmother in Into the Woods. That updo, though, involved the use of a toilet paper roll that I somehow managed to build into the whole hair extravaganza (lots and lots and lots of bobby pins and hairspray); I somehow don’t imagine that Paul Mitchell “Follicular Engineers” would deign to do such a thing. If I remember correctly, the wicked stepsisters had some pretty fab updos in that show, didn’t they, Jenny and Amy?
I still can’t even braid my own hair.
I’ll teach you, Jodi! I have a “Barbie Beauty Center” giant plastic head that you can practice on.
I did learn to braid my hair (as an adult). I practiced on my brother (while he was still a long-haired sensitive pony-tail man).
BTW Kate–Yes, the stepsisters did have some fab updos in the 1991 Scera Shell production of “Into the Woods.” (Can you believe it was that long ago?!)
If I remember correctly, we had to use my Mom’s ash blond “wiglet” from 1969 to create my updo. Jenny would contort that thing into various shapes and forms each night, and then after each performance, we’d take it off and throw it at unsuspecting Shell cast members and patrons who would shriek in terror, as it resembled a large, hairy tarantula. We gave several white-haired patrons, carrying their lawnchairs back up the hill, quite a fright. Heart attacks probably.
We pretty much stayed in character 24/7 during that show–method acting, you know. And before Grettir can post a reply, I’ll do it for him: It wasn’t method acting; it was typecasting, and we’re still “in character.”
Syd is doing “Into the Woods” at Orem High. I think they’re in rehearsals now. We should all go and take a trip down memory lane (I’ll bring my wiglet).
And I my toilet paper tube…
It was a memorable show in MANY ways. Due to a “costume malfunction” I ended up briefly topless (COMPLETELY) luckily with my back to the audience. I will never forget that feeling. It quashed any doubt in my mind that career as a stripper would be a good idea. I do have a stripper name, though: Treats Galore.
Ooooo! Amy! Let’s have a Ladies’ Night Out to “Into the Woods.” When does the play open?
March 23-29, 7:30 p.m., every night but Sunday. Can I come too, even though my Into the Woods updo was un-fabulous? And speaking of Ladies’ Nights, Janae’s in town for this week. Let’s get together, yeah, yeah, yeah!
As long as we’re confessing embarrassing “Into the Woods” moments, I’ll share my own:
I was pretending to be deliriously happy about Cinderella-Mary’s very recent (as in 30 seconds ago) nuptials when, after gleefully tossing a hand-full of rose petals over my shoulder, I rammed smack-dab into a 4-foot-in-diameter papier-mache tree trunk. I “boinged” back about three feet, did a cartoon “ohhy-ohhy-ohhy” head-clearing-shake and stumbled off-stage. The fellow playing the narrator was on the floor, laughing so hard that I suspect that he, truthfully, wet his pants.
And Kate, I had dress problems too. My dress bodice= too big. My bust= too small. And they wouldn’t let me take it in because it was “a rental”! Oy!
I still like to scare unsuspecting visitors by throwing my Mom’s wiglet at them and shouting “BOO!” [heh, heh, heh]
I’d love to do a night out at the theatah. We get back from jolly ole England the night of the 22nd. Someone take the initiative and set a date. Wednesday (23rd) or Thursday (24th), anyone?
If you get back on the night of the 22nd, the only thing you’re going to be watching on the 23rd and 24th is the inside of your eyelids!
Jenny,
The tree moment was one of my absolute favorites. But if I remember correctly, you managed on that occasion (or was it another?) to become disoriented (because of the dark glasses because the stepsisters had has their eyes pecked out by birds and they were now blind â
Kate: I think that I would have cried too if I’d been engaged to Steve Diamond. (Though I thought that he was extremely suave when I was 8 years old.)
By the way: I’m SO glad that someone posted something! I thought that I was gonna have to beat the dead horse all by myself. My brain is beginning to atrophy: I need some intelligent conversation! (“So why’d you come here?” *wah wah WAW*)
Let’s see: until Grettir gives us some good readin’, what can we talk about…?
Well, I went to Egypt and have had a bad case of “The Pharaoh’s Revenge” for three weeks. The doctor said that the tests have ruled out a tapeworm.
I also picked up a big ol’ dead rat’s head (off of the playground grass) in front of Paige’s kindergarten class, and they were all scrambling to see it. (I mean, it wasn’t bloody or anything–just looked like something that had fallen off a desiccated rattlesnake diorama at the Monte L. Bean Museum of Life [?!] Science. Anyway, I think that I must have sparked some serious nightmares: the kindergarten teacher called and asked to meet with me regarding the incident.
So, Grettir–what’s new? Anything’s better than stool samples and dead rodents…
Proposal: Friday night, March 25, I.T.W. Comments?
Okay….I was wandering around the web, and happened upon this fab website…inhabited by lots of folks I know telling wonderful stories about things I also know (sort of). And I must say kids…do go to “Into the Woods” at OHS, T.T.’s set alone is worth the price of admission. Acting is so so (high school you know), but as usual Syd has pulled it together. (It’s not what you know, it’s who you know and if you can get them work their butts off for free for you). It was fun eavesdropping on ya all…..
The narrator of that oh so distant “Into the Woods” still recounts the tree story on a regular basis and struggles with incontinence… Good to see others have enjoyed the memory as well.
Well a big HOWDY to Mary Lynn and Bart!
If Grettir weren’t so busy being a SPY…
I think that in the meantime everyone should come to my (inane) site and make comments. I tackle important issues such as “oblate spheroids” and reasons why I’m not a crazy cat lady and ORLANDO BLOOM IS NOT A SISSY.
Come, COME to Le Monde de Kate du Fromage!!
FYI – for a little stroll down memory lane:
http://www.butlerfamilyhistory.com/gallery/marylynn
Hey, MaryLynn! I actually found pictures of two costumes I wore at one point or another in my life:
this one
and
this one
MaryLynn, you can most definitely work wonders. But somehow I always ended up in this dandelion-yellow calico that I just couln’t shake! It was like a barnacle: I think that I had dresses made out of that exact same fabric in 7th grade, 12th grade, and at some other point between then and now. It must have been in the $0.25-cent bin at the fabric store or something…
ATTENTION: THIS WEBSITE HAS BEEN CO-OPTED FOR CHATTY USE BY OLD ACQUAINTANCES.
In light of this, I don’t feel quite as bad about posting the useless drivel that is to follow, even though the more appropriate thing to do would be to start my own blog. But if Grettir’s not going to post anything new, the masses must be entertained somehow. (Speaking of which, thanks, Kate, for your entirely entertaining site.)
1) Y’all should check out Zina’s ebay listings for her son Isaac’s art. (Non-fans of Homestar Runner or Cockeyed.com may not appreciate.)
2) Jenny, my soon-to-be-4-year-old Jane would totally appreciate the dead rat head. She holds our family record for trips to the Bean Museum: 4 times in 2 weeks in December — more times than I’ve been in my life. I’ll bet Paige’s teacher wants to meet with you so she can thank you for providing a fantastic extra-curricular learning experience for the kiddies.
3) “Jolly ol’ England?” “I went to Egypt?” Well, ladies, aren’t WE the jet-setting world travelers? I’m TOTALLY jealous. But not of Pharoah’s revenge.
4) Jane quote of the day:
“Why are you so tired, mama? Because you’re pregnant?”
“Yeah. My body’s growing a little baby, and that makes my body tired.”
“Daddy should help you make that baby.”
(You’re welcome to consider this an announcement.)
Oh! and I also meant to say that the young lady featured in
this one
(which I also have been privileged once to have worn) delivered her firstborn, my newest nephew, last week on St. Patrick’s day.
Hooray! More beautiful Drinkwater babies! Congratulations, Felicitations, etc.,etc.,etc. Mary, I think that you must be one of the best all-around mothers in the world. This is going to be one lucky child!
Any word on “boy” or “girl” yet?
P.S. Are you saying that I’m posting useless drivel? “Hmmph!” *stomp, stomp, stomp*
Grettir, I BEG you…PLEASE save us with a new post!!! In the words of Squince from The Sandlot: I can’t take this no more!!!
How embarrassing, Emily. You lose your gall bladder and you lose your ability to spell. It’s Squints.. you know, like how he wears glasses? Grettir. Save us PLEASE!
woof. that IS embarrassing. Do you think Jordan will lose her ability to spell too since she’s going to be getting her gallbladder out? That’d be pretty special.
SAVE US GRETTIR!!!
I wish that I could use a missing gallbladder as an excuse for mi fadeing speling sckilz…
Wowsers! I wandered here from my brother’s new blog, and here my sister and friends have turned blog comments into off-topic entertainment! I love the theater lore.
Your daughters (Grettir) are so cute.
Another congratulations, Mary!
Bizarre that there are pictures online of my wife as a teenager – she showed me recently the site Mary linked.
Here’s a link to pictures of our new baby boy.
My signature links to a very short film I recently made.
Yes I am up very late and insane.
Where IS Grettir, anyway? He’s not answering my email! HOW ARE HE AND I SUPPOSED TO GET MARRIED IF HE DOESN’T RESPOND TO EMAIL???
The Wheat Chex box is more than half empty, so I know that he’s still alive. And eating.