Warm weather is here (for a few days, anyway), and that means sandals. And when the sandals some out, so do the painted toenails.

I'm particularly enamored (enameled?) this year with the OPI shade Lincoln Park After Dark (part of the Deliciously Dark collection), which I found at the little place down the road where I get my hair cut.

I just love painted toenails. They make me feel sophisticated, pulled-together, like I've got it all going on. Even on days when closed-toe shoes are necessary, it's nice to know that inside, the toes look fabulous. It's the same for a girl, I suppose, as wearing a matching bra & panties set... it just makes you feel girly. I never thought I had the talent for it, until a friend of mine gave me her 'secret' about 12 years ago: just slop the stuff on. Don't worry about coloring in the lines, and the more coats the better. Take a hot shower the next morning, and after you've been in for a few minutes, scrub, scrub, scrub your toes with the wash cloth. The polish that got on your skin comes right off, and you're left with beautifully painted nails.

For years, I thought there was some kind of magic to it. But no. I've also wanted to try the French-manicure look that many women are sporting on their feet today, but just can't bring myself to have a pedicure (which has nothing to do with not wanting people to touch my feet). I've been told I have nice feet, and nicely shaped toes in particular, but there are leg issues that I won't go into. I was THRILLED this weekend when I found press-on toenails, painted to look like the French-manicure. I got 7 out of the 10 toes done and they looked stunning, but then ran into a glue problem (and, for a few minutes, the possibility that the index finger and thumb on my left hand might be permanently fused together) that proved too much to overcome, so I gave up and removed what I'd already gotten on.

They're only $4.99 a set. Maybe I'll try again.

Girl Scout Cookies Thin Mints are the work of the devil...

THANKS TWYLA!

I've been tagged by TWYLA to list 7 songs that I'm into right now. I played around on YouTube enough that I actually figured out how to link the videos here, too (go me!).

In no particular order...

The Fray - How to Save a Life

Dave Matthews Band - American Baby

Dave Matthews Band - Say Goodbye

Dave Navarro - Rexall

Rocco DeLuca & the Burden - Colorful

Liz Phair - Extraordinary

The Subways - Rock & Roll Queen

Is that seven? I think that's seven.

I'm supposed to now tag seven people to complete this, but I'm not sure I know seven people with blogs. If you read this, consider yourself tagged.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

I was off work last week and had planned to blog, blog, blog, but then suddenly the week was over. My house is not much cleaner now than it was before last week, nor is my son any closer to being toilet trained. Today, I had to return to work and endure the endless "HOW WAS YOUR VACATION?!? DID YOU GO ANYWHERE?!?" inquiries.

Ugh.

The BEAUTIFUL, SLEEK 30GB iPod has been out of the box and in use for about 2 weeks now, and it's fabulous. It was inevitable. I don't know why I even pretended like there was a chance I'd return it.

The EYEBROW, I'm sorry to say, is not regenerating as quickly as I'd like it to. It's definitely starting to come back, but I wish it would hurry up. Although I've become a master at filling in the missing portion with an eyebrow pencil, I'm tired of being so paranoid about it that I carry said eyebrow pencil around in my pocket, ready to re-apply at any time. Honestly, it's a little exhausting.

I've been in my head too much lately... way too much. My husband and I have been fighting horribly. I don't know what's wrong with us. We've lost our mojo, and I'm starting to wonder if it's ever going to come back. I hate that thought, but there you have it. I'm trying to convince him that the opinion of an objective third party (read: marriage counseling) would be beneficial, but I've not won that argument yet. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

FAVE PHOTO FRIDAY

The Love family, circa 1923

My paternal grandparents were missionaries in the Cameroons in West Africa from 1911 to sometime in the 1950's. My two uncles (my dad's two older brothers) were both born there. My dad was born in Toledo, OH, but lived in Africa until he was about 7 or 8. This is one of the passport photos taken of the family during that time. My dad is the littlest one, in the sailor suit. He was 3 when this picture was taken.

I love this picture.

Can it get any worse?

There's been an... incident.

I decided to stop on the way home from work the other night to have my eyebrows waxed. I'm not adept at plucking them, not to mention that it's very tedious. I have no problem paying someone $10 + tip to apply hot wax to my skin and rip it off with a piece of fabric. All in the name of beauty.

BUT... and this has never happened before... I should've been wary when the girl that usually does them isn't there. I should've been even more wary when it took the girl that did end up doing much, much longer than it normally takes. Sure enough, when she handed me the mirror to take a look, I saw the BIG, GAPING HOLE IN MY LEFT EYEBROW. There's eyebrow, then no eyebrow, then a little bit of eyebrow at the end.

"Ummm... the right one looks great, but I think we've got a problem with the left one," I said.

"Yeah," she responded, nervously. "There was a little problem there."

"A little problem?"

"You don't have to pay for it..."

"Honey, paying for it is the least of my worries right now. What concerns me is walking around with half an eyebrow until this grows out."

"I think you'd be okay using an eyebrow pencil. And it should grow back in really quickly. I'm really sorry."

"An eyebrow pencil? I am missing PART OF MY EYEBROW because you were careless with the wax, and all you have to say is you think I'll be okay with using and eyebrow pencil?"

"I'm really sorry..."

I walked out. Until this grows back (thank GOD they grow back QUICKLY), I'm walking around with an eyebrow pencil in my pocket. I was in the bathroom probably a dozen times today at work checking it, and spent the rest of the time at my desk, worried that the rim of my glasses would rub the eyebrow pencil off.

Jesus...