On Friday night I went out with some of my favorite fellow shoppers - Jill and Barbara - to dinner, Zona Rosa for some bargain hunting and the all-important hot chocolate at Starbucks. I love hanging out with these fun girls! We sat in Starbucks and laughed for quite a while and discussed the topic of getting ready before you leave the house.
Here's my take on this: I love to get all "done up" and hit the town on the weekend. It's super fun to get ready for a date with Ryan or a night out with some friends. Which means on Friday and/or Saturday nights I enjoy pulling out some high heels, wearing a dressier outfit and maybe even curling my hair. Then there's church, where I like to spend some time getting ready and looking my best. I have a thing about presenting ourselves well when we are going to partake of the Sacrament and recommit ourselves to being better Christians. My children do not agree with this theory, and try to get by with wrinkled white shirts (Brevan) or their hair in pony tails (the girls). Once the weekend is over, I feel that it is completely optional to get ready until the weekend hits again. Don't get me wrong - I still shower. Some of the days. Such as, if it's Youth Night at the church or if I'm sweaty from a hard workout. But the other days? Why bother?
I've come a long way in my thinking, so I'm actually quite proud of the fact that I know how to do such things as coordinate jewelry pieces and layer one of my "slinky" shirts with a pretty cardigan. But I was stunned the other night when my friends said there have only been a handful of days since they started wearing makeup (at about age 12) when they DIDN'T wear it. Regardless of whether or not they were leaving the house. I think I literally groaned out loud. Don't get me wrong, I am so impressed with these girls because they look AMAZING all the time. But that sounds like a horrible existence! It would be like that weird movie "Groundhogs Day" where every day I had to wake up and go through the same LONG, BORING routine. Does this mean I'm lazy? Or just comfortable with who I am?
Not only do I think it's ridiculously boring to spend time getting ready, but I could not care less what I look like when I leave the house. Honestly. I could spend a couple hours getting all prettied up or roll out of bed and hit the store. Doesn't matter one bit to me. And it hasn't really occurred to me until just recently that maybe I should care if I look like crap when I run into people I know. But guess what - I don't. This morning I went to the gas station for a hot chocolate after dropping off Brevan at school. My hair was in a bun, I was wearing Ryan's ugly green plaid sweats (that are entirely too big for me), a hoodie and socks. I hadn't even put on shoes. And I didn't care one bit because I was comfortable and happy. After a Monday-kind-of-getting-ready (AKA throwing on some jeans with my hoodie, brushing my teeth, and actually wearing shoes), I was out the door to Target with Logan. We spent the next few hours running errands. On the way to pick up Brevan from school, I realized that once again I didn't even consider getting ready today, even though I guess I could have this morning.
I am way past the age of looking fairly decent without trying. But still, I don't care. I am all about the comfort factor, and I couldn't be happier that I didn't have to waste a precious hour of my day being annoyed as I stood in front of the mirror.
But again, I've come a long way from the days of wearing Kara's nurse scrubs to high school (seriously, I did this! And based my future career on the fact that I could wear scrubs if I went into the medical field). When I moved to Missouri I found a store that sold nothing but sweatshirts and thought I had struck gold. I had no clue what a pedicure was (I had never even noticed that other girls painted their toenails) and hadn't worn earrings in years. I finally started realizing a few years ago that Ryan likes how I look after spending time getting ready, and this should encourage me to do it more often. So I will suffer through the girly stuff for him on the weekends. But I'm still not taking off my wedding ring, which I haven't removed in . . .get this . . .10 years. Yes, that means I haven't cleaned it besides the times I'm ready to throw out an old toothbrush and decide to give it a quick 3 second brushing while it's still on my finger. I guess I was just not cut out to be a stunning beauty like my girlfriends!
2 comments:
Ha ha ha! Loved this . . . I think we just aren't cut out to be girly girls in our family. Maybe we're too practical? . . . . Or lazy, that could be it, too.
Thanks for saying I am beautiful! In all honesty I don't think it is much hassle, and it is something I enjoy. I think it is more an to each there own thing. I don't think your lazy at all! Just to be clear though I spend very little time getting ready. I wash my hair every three or four days, and I touch up the curls but they usually hold up pretty well. When I do wash my hair it is at night so I don't have to blow dry it. I shower every morning but I don't wash my hair everyday by a long shot, now some people might find that lazy!
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