these little piggies

so i'm one of those do-it-yourself types. things that many others pay for as a service are often things that i do for myself, out of habit. i might go to the hairdresser once or twice a year - only if i need a professional trim. i do my own cleaning and laundry. i use dryel instead of the cleaners. and if i had a backyard and a hose, i'd wash and detail my own car, too. consider these habits a hold over from my lean, lean, funny-money strange-change college years. another one of the tasks i do myself is my nails. i've done my own nails for as long as i remember. shoot, even when i was in high school, i went to the nail shop to let them hook up my acryclic and tips, just long enough to learn the process, and then i bought supplies and copied what i saw at the shop on myself. did a pretty good job, too, before i decided to forego wearing fake nails forever, a promise i've stuck to ever since high school.

well, in light of all this, i suppose there should be no surprise that i've never had a pedicure except the ones i've given myself. today, at lunch, i walked by a shop and decided to give it a go, just because i've heard from my friends that it's nice, and i wanted to treat myself. it was so funny - i haven't been in a nail shop in years, so i didn't even know what to do. but the ladies were nice and let me know where to sit and everything. one lady soaked my feet in the warm bubbles, and then she made my toenails all nice and neat before softening the rough spots and painting my nails with the opalescent mother-of-pearl polish i'd picked out. she did... aight. when i do it for myself, i generally do as good, if not better, than she did. but i really liked the little warm bubble spa. and it was funny rolling up my pants legs. i thought about highwaters as i made the cuffs. it's weird - she used lotion on my calves and ankles but not on my feet! duh! now my feet are all cute... and ashy! i can't wait to get home to some cocoa butter or shea butter or something. i would have appreciated a little foot massage, too. thing is, i have nothing to compare it to, so far as price or service are concerned, since this was my first pedicure, so i don't know if i came out well or badly. maybe next time i'll try another place and see if i like the experience any better. so far, the main benefits are time and convenience.

know what's really weird? this was kinda like a rite of passage. to me, a pedicure is a really grownfolks thing to do. when i told my co-worker and another woman in the elevator that i'd just gotten my first pedicure, i got approving nods of assent, encouragement to keep going, a warning that it's addictive, and it was like i'd stepped into some weird sisterhood of women who go to the shop. i doubt that i'll make a habit of this, but i reserve the right to be tended to. and now my curiosity about the experience has been satisfied. i enjoyed it just enough to do it again here and there, on a whim.

hail the sisterhood of the little piggies...