All married off

Just got back from South Lake Tahoe, where's Joss' best friend, Eric, got married. Eric and Rachel (his new wife) had planned to marry atop a snowy hill after a romantic sleigh ride. However (as Joss and I were painfully aware on our big day too) the weather did not cooperate - not a flake of snow on the ground meant that the sleigh turned into a carriage ride, and the hill turned into a public beach down by the lake. That doesn't mean it wasn't FREEZING COLD, however. In my rush to get ready between hotel check-in at 2pm, and wedding at 3:45pm, I forgot to put socks on over my pantyhose and basically lost all feeling in both big toes for the duration of the event.















For anyone who knows anything about Joss and Eric's friendship, this was a pretty momentous occasion. Let's just say that Joss and Eric were partners in crime when it came to the ladies, for many years. There is many a cringe-worthy story to be told about their reign over the Sacramento night-club scene... and beyond... stories which I shall gladly spare you here. If you had asked me 5-6 years ago if I could imagine Eric Easter (or Double E, as we know him) as a married man, I probably would have died laughing. I'm guessing I'm not the only one. (Sorry E!) But, the lovely Rachel has captured his heart and now - even more scarily - he will be a daddy in July!!!

So, the end of an era. Joss and Eric, old married men.


















Getting ready to head up to Tahoe on Saturday morning, shortly after posting my first blog entry, also made me a acutely aware of yet another thing that has hit me since age 30 came around. PIMPLES.

Yes, aparently, those rotten things are not just reserved for your awkward teenage years. Who knew, but it is actually quite common for your skin to start changing in your 30s and the dreaded red-spotty-ones to return. As if it's not bad enough that your metabolism is slowing down to a dead-halt and your eyes are developing creeping little lines, you have to be faced with zits. This in turn has resulted in the need for more make-up to cover up these unsightly things.

So, I'm getting ready to pack my bag for Tahoe and thinking Ok, just need to throw some make-up in a little zip-lock bag. First I pull out my war-paint-strength foundation, then I grab my special under-eye concealer (a shade or two lighter plus anti-wrinke agents and with SPF 15). But oh! Musn't forget the concealer-concealerfor the zits, the pressed-powder to "set" it all in place and avoid the dreaded shiny nose syndrome, the bronzer (so as not to appear like a porcelein doll) and the blush to put back in the color you just took away by pasting an inch or two of foundation on your skin. You'd think that would be it right? Well, it was for the ziplock bag - which caused me a moment of pause. Hold on, where were the days where I could throw blush, lip-gloss and mascara in a baggie and take off?

I looked down at the bag, bulging to the brim with creamy substances and I thought, with dismay - I need something bigger... much bigger.

A moisturizer, eye-repair cream, cleansing facial wipe, eye-liner, mascara, eye-shadow trio, brow wax, lip-liner and lipstick later... I had filled an entire toiletry bag which had, in a previous and more carefree life, been sufficient for everything I would need for an entire week away. For one night away I seemed to have accumulated the need for an ENTIRE ENTOURAGE of make-up and facial care items. Did I need all this, really? What had happed to me?

The answer, of course, is that my skin now needs more than a little artificial help and this made me feel incredibly vain... like some self-absorbed celebrity-type who couldn't get out of bed in the morning without a fresh coat of mascara. Of course, I'm not that bad (I let it all "hang out" whenever I don't have to go out in public) but still, it was a pretty big realization for me. Perhaps you've been carting around all these cosmetics all your life, you think I'm being dramatic, but for someone who used to have great skin and who felt over made-up with a coat of eyeliner, this was (is!) a big deal.

Anyway, here is the result of all that... stuff. Was it worth it? The only way to know would be to see me WITHOUT the make-up, and honestly I don't think I'm posting that picture any time soon.