Later that same night (Best laid plans reprise)

This blog post has been a long time in coming.  I've been sitting on this one for a while for no good reason other than laziness and just not feeling myself...  Rewind if you will to my previous blog post.  Shannyn and I had plans to get makeovers, do a little shopping and then catch a movie.  For a variety of reasons, we pulled the plug on the girl aspects of that adventure but still carried on in guy mode.

Although I had a very nice time with Shannyn (as always), I was dying to get home.  I had the house to myself for another day or so and wanted to maximize that time.  I had the bug to play with makeup!  Other than lipstick, I've not had makeup on for at least a decade, probably more like 13 years.

Why so long?  In a nut shell I gave up the dressing after some counseling, then got married and stayed away from the dressing for maybe 3-4 years and have been slowly rebuilding the stash.  And now I had the makeup basics and time to myself.  It was time to see if I remembered what I learned at a Mary Kay party back in 2003 with my Tri-Ess group in Iowa.

It's like 10pm at this point.  My intention was, put on some makeup and go for a drive.  I got dressed in something that I was prepared to step out of the car wearing.  It ended up being a tank top, maxi dress, cardigan and flat sandals.  The cardigan was so no needed due to the 85 degree temperature, but I just wanted something to cover my arms.

I didn't bother with much foundation as I have no clue if the color I have is even right for me.  I did the basics of mascara, eye shadow, blush, and lipstick.  I took like I dunno 15 minutes.  I had no intention of perfection, just to shift my looks more in the feminine direction.  When I was done and took it all in there were two things that jumped out to me: 1) hey that's not bad for just going for it; and 2) holy smokes, I look a lot like my sister!

At some point during the dressing and makeup I decided that I was going to drive to a Walmart and get out of the car and walk to the door.  I was not prepared to go inside, but I needed to push myself out of the car and feel the air around me!

I drove to a Walmart like three Walmarts away from my house - gotta be careful you know.  I drive into the parking lot and there is a pack of four teenage boys on skateboards or on foot (I don't remember).  I drove right past them without making eye contact.  I went past the door and parked on the far side of the lot away from any cars.  I got out and walked to the sidewalk.  While doing so a middle aged couple walk out and to their car.  We are far enough away that I didn't think of thing of it.  Oh shoot, how is my posture?  Adjust it a bit.  So I get like three feet from the door and decide I'm not going in - as planned.  I stopped and looked in my purse.  Pretending that I had forgotten something, I turned back to my car.  About half way to the car I see the group of four teenagers are heading back to my side of the lot.  I made it to the car and was rolling well before they got there.

As I'm pulling out of the lot, I was immediately struck with the notion that this is not enough.  I want more.  It's 11:45 at this point, what could I possibly do?  There was a nail salon near by that I wanted to get a pedicure (with color!) earlier in the week for the outing with Shannyn so I drove by to check it out.  I parked the car to regroup.  It turns out there is a pub style bar in that same strip mall.  I thought for about two minutes of just going in and having a quick drink and then heading home.  I didn't.  I've never been in there and would have preferred to have the lay of the land first.  Dangit, should I have just gone for it??  I played it safe.

On the way home I drove the parking lot of my local Walmart with the thought of a repeat walk but there were a group of six guys sitting outside the front door so I drove past them with a smile on my face and went home.
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It's been three months since that night.  I've dressed only a few times since.  Mainly that is because the schedules were all different with the kids being home on summer vacation and partially that since having done makeup and full outfit with accessories, the idea of partial dressing just doesn't seem good enough any more.  When I look at non-makeup pics from even just one year ago, they strike me as being incomplete.  There is one funny mistake I made that night with my makeup, I didn't put any eyeliner on my lower eye lids.

As things have settled back into the fall schedule, the schedule is not the same as before.  My guaranteed Tuesday 2 hour block has vanished.  New opportunities are about to present themselves and I very much looking forward to having at least 1.5-2 hour window so I can accessorize and at least do lipstick.  I so desperately want to get way better at eye shadow & mascara so I can have really pretty eyes.   I do not know when I'll have my next day alone for that.

Sorry/Not-Sorry (#sns) this blog post is so long - but now we are all caught up!  I welcome almost any feedback on the blog.  If not here with direct blog comments, consider heading back over to Flickr and write something there.  Thank you for reading my blog!  Hugs, Tanya