Important Life Happenings

That title is kind of a joke, except - I really did get my nails done at the fanciest nail salon I've ever been to (or will most likely ever visit again).

Let me explain. My friend and coworker Natalie gets her nails done once a month, and she always gets really cool, fancy stuff done, like cute pink Valentine's Day owls done in February, or little American flags for the 4th of July.

For my birthday present to myself, I wanted to go with her and get some fancy nails done too. But in February, I had bitten my nails down too far for it to be worth it. So I postponed for a month and used my best willpower to not bite my nails.

March 22 was the big day. I met Natalie on Grand Street in Chinatown to go to Vanity Projects nail salon, which doesn't even have an official sign. It just has this awesome sign next to the stairwell entrance: 

When we went in, we were offered a choice of still water, Perrier, or espresso while we waited. Did I mention this place was fancy?

Then, I met my manicurist, Mimi, who hails from Japan and has lived in NYC for about two years. She painted on the awesome cat nail design I've been admiring on my Pinterest board for a while now. 

Painting the cat's eyes

Meanwhile, Natalie (who I never actually got a picture of!) was getting the super fancy nails of her dreams done. She decided to go with an Alice in Wonderland theme for March, and almost every nail had a different picture on it. 

Also, as you can see, her manicurist's nails are RIDICULOUS. This girl (Yumi, I think, also from Japan) has fake nails that are like...5 inches long? Maybe longer? And she's had them for at least a month! Natalie and I have no idea how she does it. 

CRAZY

Anyway, my nails were done in about 80 minutes. And I love them. I wish I could stop them from growing out. 

I had to leave before Natalie's nails were completely finished (hers took 3 hours!!) but this is what they ended up looking like: 

Pretty cool, right? 

And I'm not even going to tell you how much my nails cost because it is embarrassingly expensive. Once in a lifetime, I tell ya! 

In the meantime, I have to make sure as many people as possible "oooh" and "aaah" over them.