In yet another inequity of the sexes, I am attempting to pack for this weekend. We are heading up to Seattle for Kevin’s old high school buddy’s wedding. (For those of you who attended my wedding, the groom-to-be was Kev’s best man – the one with the cane.)

I have, at this point, three bags, four pairs of shoes, seven outfits and a whole bag of makeup and accessories all for a measly two days. Kevin has one tux bag and a little overnight case. I’m still up trying to locate the lipstick that matches my dress; Kevin is lying in bed dreaming of sugar plums. It just isn’t fair.

For me to be “pretty” I need undergarmets, stockings, heels, dresses, earings, necklaces, braclets, nail/toe polish, makeup, perfume and a hair style. Kevin requires undergarments, deoderant, and a tux. How does that work exactly??? I mean, men can wear a ubiquitious dark suit to just about every major function in life. Graduation, weddings, funerals, church, work presentations, business trips, interviews, formal dinners…. all can be attended using the same piece of clothing. For me, however, the sad reality is not only do I need a different outfit, but each of those outfits requires a different pair of shoes. Why, I ask you, why!

It’s true that a little black dress will take you far but it sure won’t work at a wedding. (Unless, of course, the man of your dreams is marrying someone else. Shudder.) In a moment of weakness, I pulled mine out of the closet this afternoon and spent 45 minutes trying (unsuccessfully) to find some way to accessories it so it could do a summer wedding. No dice. And so I did the next best thing…. I went shopping. Only problem is, all the fall lines are in stores right now so my options were black, brown, navy or maroon. Again, not saying “summer wedding”. And so I returned home, defeated, and am now relegated to the meager contents of my (four) closest(s). All the while, Kevin played with his new router bits my dad got him for his birthday.

I’m too tired to do anything more. The thought of going through my shoe collection makes me break out in a cold sweat. Instead, I’m going to go join my slumbering husband. While he’s dreaming of sugar plum, I’ll be having nightmares about being ridiculed for wearing white shoes after labor day. It just ain’t fair, I tell ya.

Today I’m hiding from all forms of media. No TV, radio or newpaper for me. I guess it just hasn’t been long enough for me to forget what happened last year. I definately don’t need a refresher course. All I have to do is close my eyes and I can put myself back a year and vividily see, hear and feel everything. I don’t need “never before seen ground zero footage that was too graphic to show before”. Maybe in five years or even ten I’ll need to be reminded what the towers looked like as they burned and fell. Maybe by then I’ll have forgotten the people, grey and covered in ash, limiping through the rubble with broken shoes and bewildered eyes. One of our local stations started broadcasting a “special” at 4:30am this morning and I’m sure they’ll be running something all day long.

I can remember just fine on my own, thank you very much.

Today I suffered.

Our little civic needed an oil change and Kevin insisted that I take it in. Yes, that’s right, he pulled the old “I’m working and you’re doing nothing” line on me. I correctly pointed out that he didn’t work on weekends to which he only began shaking his fists at the sky and muttering “why me, why me.” I couldn’t believe he didn’t like my weekend suggestion either so this morning I drove over to the mechanic shop and dropped the civic off. Then I was stranded for a whole hour without my car. Luckily, the mechanic we use is situated in the Hollywood district so I was able to grab a cup of coffee and a danish, hit a used book store, browse some antique stores, and buy some fabric for a dress I may (someday) get around to making. Before I knew it, the hour had flown by and I had to go pick up the car. I didn’t even get a chance to relax and read my book. I’m telling you, I suffer.

Tomorrow, Kevin wants me to go on a Costco run. He says it’s too hard for him to go on his lunch break because it’s so crowded and it takes him 20 minutes to get there. The things I do for love!

So this weekend I learned a very important lesson that I’m going to pass on to all of you. Very simply, do not try to wax your own eyebrows. I know, this is a shock, but just trust me on this one, ok?

I’ve never been a make-up person. On very rare occations, I may use some lipstick or even a coat of mascara but that is pretty much the limit of my beauty routine. In high school, the extent of my experimentation was electric blue eyeliner which so traumatized me that I didn’t touch anything else for the remainer of my high school years. It wasn’t until college that I realized what I was missing.

My roommate freshman year could have been a professional makeup artist. She would wake up two hours before me ever day just to do her hair and put on her face. She used moisturizer, concealer, liners, blushes, sprays and lotions. However, at the end of the process, she didn’t look like she was wearing any makeup. I knew that she had freckles and dry skin but to the rest of the world she presented as beautifully smooth face. For me, the extra two hours of sleep was worth much more than a flawless face so while she dabbed in the wee hours of the morning, I slept. I did, however, pick up a few tips from living with her which have helped me later on down the road. Eyebrows, however, were a totally different story.

I didn’t get my eyebrows “shaped” until my wedding day. Yup, up until three years ago, my eyebrows were natural and it didn’t bother me one bit. However, after getting them done for my wedding and being told over and over and over again how nice it looked, I decided to add it to my routine. No big deal since the bottom floor of my office building had a hair salon so I could just pop in during lunch or before I went home when they needed a little help. Having quit the world of the working folk, I’ve faced a small problem. I’m too lazy and too cheap to have someone wax my brows. As luck would have it, the answer to my brow problem struck me as I was walking through the cosmetic section of my grocery store.

An at-home waxing kit.

Here, I decided, is the answer to my prayers. Now I can have the beautiful eyebrows on my own time and at a fraction of the cost. The application looked easy enough – smear on, rip off. No problem! So the other day, I gave it a go.

It’s a lot harder than it looks. The goop is totally uncontrollable so you never know what’ll go and what will be left behind. Making each side match is, unfortunately, totally beyond my hand/eye coordination. And the pain! Ack!

Thankfully, my old college roomie turned me on to a wonderful product called an eyebrow pencil so at least the holes are covered. Besides, I have gone out with my newly mangled brows and haven’t noticed any gasps or oogling so I suppose it isn’t that bad. So take it from me, leave your brows to the professionals. It’s worth it in the long run!

I hate sudden change. I’m one of those people who gets very upset when something I’m used to undergoes a massive renovation without my knowledge. Probably the best example of this phenomenon I can think of is haircuts. I’ll have a friend who, for as long as I’ve know her, has had long hair. Then one day I see her and, whamo, she’ll have short hair. I’ve been given no warning and am completely thrown. It’ll take me days to adjust.

Same thing with web pages. Right when I get to know and feel comfortable with a web page, they’ll go and change it on you. Different colors, layouts, the whole enchilada all overnight.

Now, having said that, I should warn you that we’re looking at some serious changes here at chrissierocks.com. I’m talking major overhaul. Since changing ISP providers, the sky is the limit so we’ve been working on moving to a new publishing system. I don’t want to shock you so I’ll give you a sneak peak.

As you can tell, it’s still in progress as the heading is goofy and the links don’t work but I just didn’t want you checking in one day and feeling totally lost and confused. That’s just the kind of considerate friend I am.

Oh yes, and if someone could speak to the Safeway management about their constant re-arranging of their canned goods without any warning, I’d appreciate that too.

There’s a bumpy road ahead, just to warn you all. Kevin and I have had no end of frustration with our current ISP. They have managed to somehow screw up our guestbook, archives, and cgi-bin so we’ve decided to take the plunge and move our site. Yes, we’re leaving the world of “free” for “monthly payment”. It’s a big step but worth it in the long run (hopefully). So while we play around with our new settings, there may be momentary black outs and periods of just plain craziness and for this, we apologize. But, in an ideal world, the final result will be a guest page you can actually sign, archives that actually exists, and lots of other goodies!

‘Cause lets face it, you get what you pay for. Any-who, just thought I’d warn you. Beware of technical difficulties. The good news is, my phone line still works so if you need a Chrissie update, you may just have to do it the old fashion way and pick up the phone. I know, I know, that’s very passe but hey, sometimes life is tough!