Glamorous

I did something this weekend that I've never done before.

I hosted a make-up party.

No, I'm not thirteen. At the age of thirteen, I believed, deep in my heart, that the height of make-up glamor was blue eyeshadow up to my eyelids. Memorialized in my seventh grade picture with a wicked mullet and a bright purple polo top.

No, I don't have a copy to show you. My mother, in one of her more kind and magnanimous moments, actually let me burn the damn things. Really. So you have to take me at my word. It was hideous.

It was so bad that I didn't even attempt make-up for another three years, and when I did, my sisters had to beat it in to me. The result has been a love-hate relationship with the feminine art of beauty products. Mostly hate.

But I covet. I covet the pretty shades and I covet the promises for beautiful, clear skin--or at least the illusion of beautiful, clear skin.

So I started using Bare Escentuals, willfully overlooking the gross abuse of the English language for marketing purposes. And I like it. Not enough to put it on every day. I only wear make-up three days a week, when I teach and go to work. But still, it's not bad. And I don't look like I'm so clueless that the negatives must be burned. So it's a win-win.

So the last time I was in St. Louis, shopping for the perfect win-a-writing-award-reception-outfit with my personal stylist, aka my sister Leah, I stopped by the Bare Escentuals store to stock up. And I put my business card in the bin for a free make-up party.

And I 'won.' Really.

I won in August. I could bring up to twelve friends. Now, here is the sad fact of the matter. I do not have twelve friends (facebook statuses notwithstanding). The fact of the matter is that I have about four women I count as close, personal friends (relatives not included) who I try to talk to at least once a month. Only two of them live in my town. And you know what? That's all I need. I'm that kind of woman.

But I could bring twelve. So I started emailing. I cast a wide net. Sisters, mother, in-laws, friends of my sisters who I know, friends of my sisters I don't know. Really. I'm not above borrowing friends on special occasions.

This is why Napoleon lost at Waterloo. Have you ever tried to round up more than two other grown women with children? Good Lord, it's IMPOSSIBLE. Throw in football season and a sister with season tickets? Infinity is easier to define than set a date. I negotiated with the various factions of possible attendees for two months.

Last Sunday, it all came together. My sister Leah, my friend Leah H. (not to be confused with each other, although for the first time ever, I was able to yell "LEAHS" across a crowded room and get results), my friend/coworker/Grammar Goddess Mary, Lucy (who is technically my sister's Hannah's best friend, but they've been best friends for so long that Lucy has, in fact, attended family reunions and been mistaken for a relative, so I get to count her as one of my own) and me. That's five. That's all I could get.

We had a darned good time anyway.



Being that there were five of us, someone had to be the odd-woman-out. And, to quote my sister Leah, "Girl, I'm single. I'm used to it."



The final result? Loveliness. (No, I'm not just sucking up.)



I was informed that, to post any picture of Lucy, I needed express written consent from a baseball commissioner. Or was it basketball? Either way, I think this is a nice shot of her.



Lucy was sitting with Mary. I took a lot of pictures, but this is the best picture I have of both of them. I don't think the baseball commissioner would approve of any others.



This is my friend (not sister) Leah. I have more shots of her, but they involve this weird store-provided 'headband' that was closer to a garter belt, and since I'd prefer not to alienate her, we'll leave it at this.



This is the only picture of me on my camera. Lucy took lots of pictures, but I don't have them yet. Actually, I kind of like it. I look 'thoughtful.' Without looking overtly 'dumb.' A rare trick.

And you know what? I got a hostess gift! FREE STUFF! Mascara and three eyeshadows and all sorts of free goodness. Mary and the Leahs and I spent the rest of the day shopping. It was a complete and total Girls Day Out. I had a blast.

And while I was gone?



Yeah. Jake hasn't played with that toy in two years. Now Gater has it. And Jake wants it back. Jake has a lower center of gravity--but Gater has all those legs for more traction. It's a toss up.