A rainbow connection, I mean collection

As is clear if you know me, or becoming clear if you've read several posting in this blog, I have have a deep love for cosmetics and beauty-related products. Someone asked me recently when this love, some might say obsession, began, and I honestly couldn't remember. My age was definitely in the single digits.

One of the first beauty products I remember being obsessed with was nail polish. All those pretty shiny little bottles held some sort of magic for me. I REALLY wanted to paint my nails bright red or pink...it just looked so cool and grown up. I was so determined to paint my nails, that when my father told me I wasn't allowed to use nail polish, I decided to circumvent the ban by coloring my nails with red permanent marker. After much scrubbing, my nails still looked orange for a few days, maybe weeks, and I do believe I was issued various forms of punishment. I lost that battle....but ended up winning the war. Soon after, I was allowed to use a polish made for kids, that washed off with soap and water. Not my end goal, but it was a start. It was not too much later that I was allowed to get the real stuff. And not too much after that when I starting venturing from pinks and reds to blues and yellows.

Picky eater

I don't generally consider myself a picky eater. I'm lucky not to have any food allergies, and I'll generally game to try just about anything once. I love the cuisines of the world, and have eaten at Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indian, Afghan, Mexican, Salvadoran, Bolivian, Peruvian, Brazilian, French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Chilean, German, Lebanese, Ethiopian, and Cuban restaurants many times. (And other types of international cuisine I'm forgetting at the moment.) Most people who don't me very well wouldn't think of me as a picky eater. I've eaten frog, alligator, turtle, tripe, octopus, and snails - no problem. I'm not saying I love all those foods, but I've tried them without any fuss. That all changes when confronted with a "breakfast food 24 hours a day" restaurant. When confronted with a plate of eggs, THAT's when I balk. That's when my crazy comes out.

The thing is, generally all the things I'm picky about eating fall into the breakfast food category. Eggs being the top offender. I like eggs, and eat them at home all the time, but that all changes when eating out. I don't like them fried or poached, only scrambled, well done. I don't like eggs to be runny in any way. "So what about hard boiled?" you ask. Well, in that case, I don't like the yolk. Omelets suffer from my disdain for eggs that are runny or shiny in any way. When I do order order eggs scrambled well done, half the the time they're burned, so I can't eat them anyway. In summary: I am extremely picky about eggs, so I generally don't eat them out at all. I know, I have issues.

Feeling like a grown-up

Although every once in awhile I'll see a recent picture of myself and think, "damn, I'm OLD", most of the time I think I'm still like, 20, tops. I like watching silly teen movies and TV shows.  I read young adult fiction, I buy accessories at Claire's, I love Hello Kitty, and paint my nails funky colors. I secretly in the privacy of my home sing along with The Wanted and Carly Rae Jepsen. I will still occasionally get carded when buying alcohol, and I LOVE it. But I also have to dye my hair to hide the increasing number of greys that are popping up, find it harder to bend down, use anti-aging eye cream, and find myself saying horribly old things like "what is WRONG with kids these days?"

Nothing made me feel as grown-up as signing the mortgage paperwork for my home. There are a lot of things that make me feel old, like kids I used to baby-sit getting married and having kids of their own, or seeing 25th anniversary releases of movies or albums I loved in my teens. Making the long-term commitment to home ownership though, was the first time I remember thinking, damn, I'm an adult now. And every time I see that payment come out of my account, I'm reminded that I'm a big girl, with big girl responsibilities.

We all have little things that make us feel "grown-up" at different times of our lives. The first time I wore a pearl necklace comes to mind. Or the first time I drank a martini. The makeup geek part of me remembers feeling super grown up the first time I bought my first high-end (department store) item. Weddings can sometimes bring out the inner teenager, but having to organize a funeral is another one of those things that really make you feel an adult...sometimes too much so.

We're keeping things light here though, so I'll let you know that the thing that currently has me feeling like a grown up is my new purse.

My new purse - it came with accessories!

Now, generally, I'm not one to buy high end purses. Most of the bags I own come from discount stores or from the dude on the corner with extra colors in the back of his van. I generally balk at anything over $40. I appreciate the craftsmanship and smell of a nice genuine leather bag, but I prefer to spend my money on other things. Recently though, the huge purse I bought for travel about 4 years ago and have been carrying around almost daily for about 2 years began to literally fall apart. (It was a splurge, on sale, for about $80. I think I got my money's worth.) So I was in the market for a new one. And I happened to get an email from a shop-at-home channel telling me they had a sale on Dooney & Burke bags. Even on sale, it was more money than I've ever spent on a bag. But it was so pretty and grown up! Plus I could spread the payments out over several months. So now I have a fancy big-girl purse.