At 23 years old, I often feel like I should have more of a purpose, direction, or plan. I know that 23 is still pretty young, but it won’t last forever, and there’s still so much I want to do. I’ve touched on this theme before, but it’s weighing on my mind again.

I work full time. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it (usually). I took a break from theater to get my house in order, and it will get there, slowly but surely. But I feel like there’s so much to do in my LIFE and I don’t know when to do it all.

Here’s some of what I want to do:
- Go back to school and get some kind of degree in something!
- Get married
- Have or adopt kids
- Find a job that I love
- Move somewhere new
- Travel

I have long wanted to work in events. I love acting, but I don’t think that’s where I’m meant to make a living! I love photography, but I don’t know enough to work in that field (yet). Events (or public relations, marketing, etc) seem like the perfect place for me to use my creative AND practical sides. It just so happens that David’s sister feels the same way. In fact, she recently got a great job working events. We have talked a lot about opening our own event-planning business, and I really love the idea.

I would like to at least get my associates degree (if my past credits transfer, it wouldn’t take THAT long) in business. It seems like the program at MATC has a lot of practical courses on starting your own business. That would help both of us out.

The big time thing to me is kids. I think I want them. I’m 99.9999% sure I do. I think David is almost as sure as I am. I don’t know if I want to have my own or adopt. Either way, 30 seems like a deadline there. Sure, I could probably push it to 35 for bio kids. Could I adopt up to 40? Probably, but I don’t know that I’d want to. 30 seems like a good time. Not too old, not too young. I want to be able to keep up with a baby or two! Plus, I’m too selfish with my time right now to even have PETS, let alone kids!!

The “problem” I run into while trying to think about where my life is going and what I should be planning for, is that there are SO many things I want to do before I have kids!!

My degree should definitely be done before kids. I will obviously be married before having kids.

David and I have talked a lot about picking up and moving somewhere. Just for the heck of it! To experience a new city, to start a life together, to get out there and try something new, to go on an adventure! We’ve done a lot of casual browsing, taking “Where Should I Live” quizzes, etc. We’ve thought of Portland OR, Richmond VA, Baltimore MD, and many others. We like the feel of Milwaukee, but want something a little different. Of course, my dream is Chicago or New York, but David doesn’t like the thought of living in those places.

My current obsession is Lexington or Louisville KY. I know, I know… Kentucky??? What am I thinking? Well, my dad recently came back from a road trip where he visited some friends in Louisville. He could not stop raving about how nice of a city it is. He literally said “I want to move there!” I could barely take him seriously. I mean, it’s Kentucky! But after seeing pictures and browsing the Wikipedia and Craigslist pages, it doesn’t look that bad. They’re on a similar scale as Milwaukee. They’re not TOO far from home (Lexington is about 8 hours from Milwaukee). They are affordable and plenty of major corporations call one of those cities home. They’re safe. They have tons of art and history and culture. They both have summer festivals. And lots of theater. They look pretty good! Don’t believe me? Read their Wikipedia pages (linked above).

Ideally, we’d like to try out a new city for maybe a year or two. If we like it, we stay. If not, we move back to Milwaukee. I want to do this before we have kids for many reasons. But after we’re married. But then what does that say for the hopes of an event planning businesss?

I was thinking about going back to school in the fall. But how will that affect my debt-free goal? They say that student-loan debt is “good debt” and hopefully with a degree, I’d be able to get a job that pays more than my current one. But still. I am really against owing ANYTHING right now, and I don’t want to think about making more payments to anyone.

Also, how am I supposed to justify saving up buttloads of money for a wedding, when that money COULD be going to student loans? Argghh!

If money didn’t get in the way, I’d go back to school in the fall. At most, I’d be done in two years. At that point I’d get or be married. We’d take a kick-ass honeymoon somewhere exotic. Then we’d look for a job in the city of our choice, and move there for about two years. At this point it would be 2012 and I would be around 28. Perfect time to settle down in Milwaukee and do the kid-thing (close to family aka built-in-babysitters). Having kids seems like the ideal time to kick start a home business.

Even if I don’t start that plan for another year, to save money, or what not, I’ll be around 29 when I’m ready for settling down/kid time. That’s not too bad. I’ve thought that my life might be over once I have kids, but I don’t think that has to be the case. I’m sure my mom or David’s sister would be willing to baby sit while we went on vacation. And when they’re older, they could come along.

This is all pretty overwhelming. I like to live in the moment and be spontaneous. I don’t want to plan everything out. But I also don’t want to turn 30 and feel trapped or feel like I didn’t do anything with my young years or like my dreams of adventure can’t be achieved.

David is a big geek. And I totally love that about him. So it didn’t really come as a surprise that he was super excited to get a jury duty summons a few weeks ago. He filled out the initial info and a couple weeks ago got a potential case assignment. A BIG case. Even I jumped around and screamed with him. Sure, I’m probably not supposed to know about it, but he couldn’t help but tell. Very exciting. He’s not a juror yet, but not only does he want to be, but he wants to be the jury foreman!

I think he’d be great at it. Even though he has heard of the case before, he doesn’t know much about it, and doesn’t really have any opinions on it. So I have my fingers crossed for him. He’s sending back the questionnaire (all 19 pages of it) this week.

If he gets on, he’ll probably be gone from work for 2-3 weeks. He likes that idea! The courthouse is in the opposite direction from our house and my work, so he’d most likely take the bus or get a ride from his dad.

Which means I’ll have the car. And will only be responsible for taking myself to work. Which means I can leave about 20-30 minutes later than we usually do. Which means I can sleep later!

YES!!!! Now my fingers are extra crossed.

I get the occasional “special offer” e-mail from my credit cards. Normally I delete them, but this one caught my eye. It’s a special pre-sale for card members for some of Madonna’s future tour dates. Including Chicago. On Sunday October 26th.

I love Madonna. However, I’m weird in that I don’t love concerts. I’ve been to very few, and although I’ve enjoyed many of them, they’re just not my thing. But Madonna… well, she’s a showstopper, isn’t she? A performer, to be sure.

There are very few concerts that I would hear about and say “YES PLEASE!!!” The only ones to really pop into my head are Madonna, Aerosmith, and Bare Naked Ladies. I would like to see these people before I die. Or, actually, before they die.

So now I need to somehow justify that this is worth spending huge amounts of money on, including the tickets, and the drive to Chicago, and probably the day off work on Monday, and possibly a hotel in Chicago on Sunday night.

With credit cards to pay off, a wedding to save for, and a fiance who wants to take a golden birthday trip to Disney World next year, I’m not so sure I can justify this.

But I love you Madonna. While I may confess to liking your 80s stuff more (Immaculate Collection, anyone?) and Like A Prayer may be my favorite song, I still like almost everything that you put out, and I can’t help but dance like a freak when I hear ”Four Minutes.”

Whoa dude. I leave for Arizona on Sunday. That’s two days from now. Less, technically, since I fly out at 7:30 AM.

I have to figure out what to pack! It looks like it’s going to be in the 90s! Then again, I did survive Thailand earlier this year, so I’m sure I can survive the desert. The problem I’m having is everything I hear about Phoenix is superficial. My cousin said she felt fat when she moved there. And she’s like a size 8! I hear people are blond, thin, and LA-like. This is SO not me! Especially since my hair is now a dark brown. But hey, I’ve always been different, so I think I can handle this. It’s not like I need dudes at the bar to look at me. I will have my own dude waiting for me at home.

My cousin seems to have a bunch of fun stuff planned for me. I fly in (Midwest Express!) early Sunday morning. She and some of her friends want to take me to the zoo once I’m settled in. Sounds like fun! Monday she has to work, so I will take that day to lounge by the gorgeous pools and read a book. Monday is Cinco de Mayo!! I’m sure there have to be some big parties going on in Phoenix, so we’ll probably go out and celebrate with tequila.

Tuesday she wants to take me shopping in Scottsdale at the Fashion Square Mall. I am incredibly excited about this! They’re getting a Barney’s! Not until 2009, though. Holy crap. Visit that website. Check out their map. Scrolling over the stores gives me chills as the names pop up. Max Mara, Juicy Couture, Burberry, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Jimmy Choo… Oh my goodness. All in one place! It’s like all the 5th and Madison Avenue stores, all in a mall!! I don’t think my cousin knows what she’s in for when she releases me on this place.

Wednesday I don’t leave until the evening, so we’ll probably hang out by the pools or wander around downtown. Or do whatever we feel like doing. The only thing that sucks is our plane doesn’t get back to Milwaukee until 11:30 PM! And I’m going to work at 8 the next morning. Sigh. At least I can sleep on the plane.

Speaking of the plane… the anxiety is starting to set in now. After spending about 40 hours on a plane to and from Thailand, I did NOT want to get on a plane for at least a year. And here I am, two and a half months later. At least it’s Midwest Express and at least I’ll be sitting next to my dad. I feel that panicked “Will I make it home safely” feeling in my stomach, though. I hate that.

Okay, I’ll just shove this in at the bottom of my post here… I spent THREE hours at Neroli last night getting my hair cut, dyed, and highlighted. It’s not a huge change on the cut, and I’m a little disappointed. It has more layers and it feels lighter and has more movement and body, but it’s not a different style. That was my choice, but I think this tells me that NEXT time, I will ask for something a little more drastic.

I loooove the color. It’s very natural, but different enough that my coworkers noticed right away. I wanted a deep, rich brown, and my stylist talked me into some soft brown highlights so it wouldn’t be harsh around my face. I just think the color is beautiful. Pictures don’t capture it too well, but here’s what I could do:

I have always been heavier, since the age of 10. I thinned out a little in high school as I grew taller, but I was never skinny. I didn’t really care. My family always ate nutritious meals that my mom cooked. She has a degree in nutrition, and is an amazing cook, although I didn’t appreciate all the foods she made back then.

I don’t know where my problem with food came from. We never had much junk food in the house, but instead of not caring for it, I inhaled it every chance I got. Sleepovers? Baby sitting? I’d eat bags of Doritos or sneak into the kitchen for another handful of cookies. So here is my history of the last few years, complete with pictures that made me do a double take.

I was neither fat nor thin in early high school. Honestly, at that age, I didn’t really care. I was just coming out of my awkward middle school years, and that was enough for me! I was about a size 10/12 and carried about 150 pounds on my 5 foot 6 inch body.

This is me before a dance in 9th grade, at age 15 (in a dress I designed and my mom helped me make, I might add!):

The summer between 10th and 11th grade, I took a great tap dance workshop at Sunset Playhouse. There ended up being only two other girls in the class. About half the time I rode my bike there and back. And the dancing was intense. I learned more that summer than I had learned in years of lessons through the Wauwatosa Recreation Department. John Cramer, artistic director at the time, taught the class, and really pushed me, even when I was the only person who showed up. We learned a kick-ass routine to the Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week.” You know how fast that song goes? Yeah, I tapped that fast. It was awesome.

So I lost some weight that summer and toned my body. I didn’t really notice it until my friends pointed it out to me. Here’s me, happy and healthy on the first day of 11th grade, probably about 140 pounds and a comfortable size 10:

Junior year, I got less exercise and lost some of that tone that I worked so hard for. I also went through my teenage depression and gained weight. It didn’t really phase me. I had other “important” things to worry about. The dress I wore to prom was a size 12, and it just barely fit. I was back up to about 150 pounds. Here is my dad and I before prom, April of 2002:

My boyfriend broke up with me a week later, but the spring weather kept me from wallowing for too long. I didn’t have an exercise routine, except for walking to to school, and when senior year rolled around, I had gained a little more. My dress for senior ball was a size 14 and I was around 160 pounds. Early 2003:

I worked on singing and acting all winter in hopes to get a role in our school’s production of “Les Miserables.” The work paid off- I got the role of Madame Thenardier! There were weeks of long rehearsals, which included lots of junk-food snacks and fast-food dinners. Plus, they made my costume big on me, to make me look more plump, and strongly hinted that I could gain weight and look more like the Broadway pictures. I never bothered to step on a scale, but a couple months after the show, I was shocked to realize that I was up around 180 pounds! Yikes:

My mom discovered the Atkins Diet, and I tried to follow it with her. The last two months of school I went to the gym and worked out for at least an hour almost every day. I felt great! By graduation I was back down to 160. I don’t know why I don’t have any pictures of my high school graduation, but I wore a super cute black dress from Express. It was a 14, but it fit comfortably.

I stayed on Atkins for the first couple months of college, but the cost was a big deterrent. Ramen noodles and Mac & Cheese were much more budget friendly. Combine that with the late night pizzas, drinking parties, and living next to a George Webb, and the weight started creeping back on. In July of 2004, I did the Rocky Horror Show, where I met David. I was around 170 and feeling bad about it. I’m including this picture for laughs. No, that is not David, yes, I had blond hair:

David and I started dating soon after and I gained the happy relationship weight after a while. I guess that will happen when you’re dating someone who loves to cook and is damn good at it. I went to Florida with my family in the late spring of 2005, and was so embarrassed of my body. When I saw these pictures, I knew it was bad:

Yikes.

And almost three years later, I am even heavier. Ladies and gentlemen, I broke the 200 pound barrier. For the past 6 months, I have hovered around 200, the highest being 213. It makes me sick to admit this. How did I let that happen? So now I decided to make a real change. I realized I needed to devote time to this, as I would any other work. I turned down theater to make time to improve myself.

Two weeks ago, I weighed in at 204.5 on my scale at home. This morning I checked in at 194. It feels SO good to have some distance from that 200. I also hit a landmark at the YMCA. They have one of those old school doctor’s scales with the sliding weights. Since I started going to the Y near my work, about 8 months ago, I always slid the “200″ weight over first. I don’t have to anymore. I can just use the “150″ weight!! Of course, I have to move the single pound slider all the way up, but still- it is thrilling!

I am determined to keep this weight loss up. My dream weight is 140, but I will be thrilled with 150. My goal for the end of the year is 170. I know I will hit some roadblocks and will probably stall at some points, but I will come back and look at some of those early pictures of 150 and 160 for motivation. I wish it could be faster, but after all, it took five years to get to this point. Going back can’t be easy, but it will be worth it. I know I can do this!

I’m getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow. It’s been quite a while, and I feel like I want to do something different, but I’m not sure what. I really like longer hair, and I like having layers. In which case, all I’d ask for is a trim. But then I look the same! I want to do something cool, but I don’t know if it’s right for me. I’m pretty low maintenance with my hair. I like to blow-dry, brush, and go. Plus, I tend to wash my hair at night, because I hate getting up early.

Clairol’s website has this fun “try it on” studio. So I could post some crazy things I did to the picture I uploaded, but instead I’ll post these, which are actual possibilities. I’m at a loss when it comes to my own hair. My hair is weird. I have my dad’s texture, which makes it hold a curl really well, but it never really gets straight or soft and silky. Except of course right after I leave the salon. So at least tomorrow night while I’m eating dinner and continuing my house-cleaning, I’ll look fabulous!!

Here are the pictures. Go try it yourself. It’s fun! Especially some of the crazy curls and “glam” updos.

Every now and then I see a pair of shoes that takes my breath away. Today was one of those days, thanks to The Manolo.

These Roberto Cavalli shoes are drop dead gorgeous. Why couldn’t I find anything like this on my New York City trip a couple years ago? I went willing to spend about $500 on an incredible pair of shoes. But I couldn’t find anything quite right in that range.

Oh, there were Louboutins (which I would practically die for)…

And there were these beautiful Chanel platform sandals that looked like they wrapped your foot in black and gold ribbon. But these were all in the NINE HUNDRED dollar range. So instead I bought THREE pairs of shoes for about $500! I know I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t pass them up. Maroon suede Stuart Weitzman pumps, gray suede Isaac pumps, and this beautiful, but cheaper pair of Enzo Angiolini champagne satin sandals that I have yet to wear!! I’ll have to wear them this summer. They’re gorgeous, but they kind of look like “wedding shoes” so it’s been difficult to find a time to wear them.

I know I can’t buy those Cavalli shoes. Even if I got a huge tax rebate. $595 is just way too much for me right now. But my toes curled with delight when I saw them, picturing slipping them onto my feet and hitting the town. I’m definitely in shoe-love.

I have quite the motivation problem. I don’t really know where it came from. But it sucks. It’s not like I sit at home and do nothing all the time… but sometimes I do! And sometimes that really is all I want to do! I think it comes from being so heavily involved in theater for the last few years. When almost every night is involved in rehearsals or performances, I tend to want to collapse into a ball of nothingness when it’s all over. I usually don’t have a problem doing things I want to do. Just the things I need to do.

Right now, this is causing a major battle with my apartment. It is messy, and dirty, and it makes me angry. But after a long day at work, it is SO difficult to work up the motivation to deal with it.

The problem is that we started off on the wrong foot. We live in the upper flat of a duplex where David and his family lived for many years. For the last handful of years, David’s dad lived in the upper, and his mom in the lower (they were all but divorced, but he stayed close to help with her medical needs.) Long story short, his dad decided to buy a foreclosed house/duplex down the street. He offered us his old apartment for a nice rental discount, providing we take care of basic house stuff.

So that’s where my living situation came from. We have a beautiful three bedroom duplex with a kitchen, dining room, and living room! It’s way more space than we needed. The house that David’s dad bought needed a lot of work, so although he moved in, he was working on renovating much of the house, including the foundation. So he didn’t need and didn’t have room for all of his stuff. So we moved it all into the front bedroom at our place.

We had moved in during a show (Grand Hotel) and during the hottest weekend of the year! There wasn’t much time for cleaning the place between David’s dad moving out and us moving in. Then, we stupidly decided to have a cast party/housewarming party ONE WEEK after we moved in. This was dumb. DUMB! We tried to get unpacked, but it just wasn’t going to happen. We put non-essential boxes and junk in the front bedroom and closed the door. We bought a ton of booze and food, and threw the party.

It was a great party, everyone had fun. But we were just never motivated then to go through the boxes and junk that had been shoved behind that bedroom door. Worse- we added to it! We never got the chance to really deep clean the apartment. Instead, it has felt like we’ve been living in a little bit of limbo. We plan to stay here for a long time, so this spring I am trying to really make it ours.

That means deep cleaning. And unpacking. And organizing. And uncluttering. And decorating. I’d love to be painting by June. That’s our goal. We are not in any major plays right now, so it should be attainable.

Last night I started deep cleaning the kitchen. I am using these spring cleaning checklists as a guide. I work better with a list. I didn’t get much done yesterday, due to a lack of sleep Sunday night. I started washing down the walls. I got one section done, and I washed out one set of cupboards that were not being used. We threw out excess serving utensils (we don’t need two ladles!) and moved our Tupperware containers from the pantry to the cabinets.

I hope to finish washing all the walls I can get to tonight. I don’t know if I’m just not cleaning hard enough, but there seems to be some stains on the walls that are NOT coming off. I hope that’s okay, and we can just paint over it.

I’d also like to finish organizing and cleaning the pantry. It’s nice to have, but we haven’t made the best use of it. Now that we have an extra shelf cleared from the Tupperware, we can spread out our pots and pans to make them more easily accessible. Also, we have many cabinets in there that aren’t being used because they need to be washed. I haven’t done this yet because… there are spider webs! And spider webs usually mean spiders. GROSS!

I’m really bad at organizing. I’m fine with washing dishes, cleaning walls, dusting window blinds, etc. But when it comes to putting things away, I’m at a loss. I like to be organized, but I have too much STUFF. I am trying to be objective and throw things away that I don’t need. This is difficult for me because of theater. You never know when something might come in handy. I could throw out this weird skirt, but what if I could use it for a costume down the road? Or what if that old cell phone could be used as a prop?

I am going to ask myself, “Can I easily buy something similar if I DO need it at some point?” If the answer is yes, I will toss it. If the answer is no, I’ll have a big bin of “theater stuff” for things like costumes and props that can be stored in the attic, NOT laying around my dining room.

I’ve been trying to embark on a cleaning and organizing mission like this for quite some time. I grew up in an orderly home, and I am determined to achieve that for myself!

Twelve days into my diet, and I’m sticking to it! Wednesday will be the official end of my two-week Phase One. I’m so proud of myself! I really followed it closely. I had tiny bits of carbs (mostly sushi-roll related) a couple of times, but it probably was the equivalent of a tiny handful.

The biggest accomplishment, is I haven’t had any booze. I’m not a heavy drinker by any standard, but I do like to kick back with a micro-brew or a fruity fun drink when I hit the weekend. I was able to avoid going out to bars with friends, mostly because I was too busy.

I think I will continue following Phase One until I leave for Arizona (ON SUNDAY!!!!) so that I can allow myself a little leeway while I’m on vacation. I don’t plan on giving up the diet, but I will allow myself a couple small splurges. After all, it’s a vacation!

It will be HOT, so I’m sure I’ll have some ice cream at some point. I might be limited on what my breakfast options are (and I doubt I can get my usual egg muffin and V- so I will try to stick with fruit at the very least. I resisted chocolate cake at work today, I’m sure I can resist croissants. I will probably be eating out a lot. I will try to stick with South Beach foods, like salads and drinks like iced tea. I know we’ll be going outat least once, so I will allow myself a beer or a fruity drink or three. I just have to be aware and know in advance that I will not order carb-loaded, greasy food from a drive-thru at 3 in the morning.

I am undecided about the Midwest Airline’s chocolate chip cookies. I think I will give in, but only to one. Each way, that is.

Then, when I come back, if I fell off the wagon a little too much, I will go back on strict Phase One for another week, before venturing into Phase Two.

I am officially down 10 pounds according to my scale at home in the morning!!! It has been months since I’ve seen a number like this. And… I am right on the cusp of a breakthrough according to the (probably more correct) scale at the YMCA. In fact, when I go to workout tomorrow at lunch, I might break a barrier. I told myself if I could get below this number, I’d reveal my weight, out here, on the internet, so I can write about my weight loss in real pounds and numbers. I think I’ll do it. Tomorrow!

I am sorry I’ve turned into a diet-crazed person. I’m sure I talk about it to David way too often. But Phase One is such a drastic kick-start, that I just can’t help it. Once my weight loss slows down in Phase Two, I promise I won’t be so obsessed.

The one thing I really do hope is that I will be able to see my weight loss. I can’t tell any difference now. I hope that when I do manage to hit certain weight milestones, I will be able to see it when I look in the mirror. I don’t want to lose 30 pounds and still see my same fat body in the mirror. I hope that my eyes tell me the truth when it’s there to see. I imagine that, when I can fit comfortably into a size 10 or 12, my eyes will be forced to see the difference, but from what David says, my eyes deceive me (he tells me all the time how beautiful I am- my body included, and I just don’t see it).

I’ve never been a hugely confident person, but I noticed that as my weight grew, my confidence waned. I’ve been banking on feeling more confident and outgoing and more like my old self once I lost the weight. I’ve read horror stories about how people’s emotional state of mind doesn’t change when they get what they think they wanted, whether it be a smaller waistline or bigger boobs. I’m hoping I’m not in the same boat though, because I really am happy with most other areas of my life. I just want to lose the excess weight and feel more confident about who I am. I think I’ll be okay because I really am doing this for myself!

The scale was not lower this morning. I directly attribute that to eating nuts. I overate cashews last night. I ate a huge handful. They’re so addictive, though! You’re allowed 15 on the South Beach Diet. 15? That’s such a measly little number. So I ate a lot more. And I didn’t feel too happy about it afterwards. From now on, when I buy cashews, I must immediately put them into “individual serving” bags. It’s just way too tempting when they’re all in one big bag. Towards the end I was like, well, I guess I should just finish them off.

I don’t know why I felt the need to snack on them after dinner. Funny how I just complained about not having any exciting dinner ideas left. Fortunately, David is amazing. He made dinner. And he described it as, “his favorite way [he's] ever made chicken.” I think I might have to agree.

He bought chicken breasts and butterflied them, and laid them on the grill, cut side down. When that side was done cooking, he flipped them and smeared pesto all over the cooked side and laid a tomato slice over the top of it. He let it cook the rest of the way and, right at the end, sprinkled shredded mozzarella cheese over the whole thing and let it melt.

Oh my goodness, it was SO good! I’m on a diet! It almost seems unfair to eat food this delicious.

I had a great workout after work yesterday. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and some weight machines. David was nice enough to start dinner even before I got home. He even did the dishes!! I was thrilled!! I didn’t have the energy to do much else in terms of cleaning after dinner. So I showered and we watched some Scrubs and played Phase 10. It was nice. The past couple of nights we just sat next to each other and did our own thing on our separate computers. It was fun to connect and play a game. Having the porch door open and hearing the trees rustling outside was a nice bonus.

I’m getting very excited about my Arizona trip. I still feel squeemish about using up so many vacation days so early in the year. But Thailand was worth it, and I’m sure Phoenix will be too. I thought about getting a massage there, but it’s just too expensive. Instead, I’m going to treat myself to a mani/pedi here at home before I leave. It’s been a long time, and my hands and feet are wishing for it!