Modern decadence

I'm admiring my toes. I love a good pedicure. I never can do something that great to my toes by myself. I am never that steady with the nail polish.

About 3 weeks ago I had my first pedicure in about 18 months. It's a bit of an indulgence on my part. But I love having my feet soak, reading the trashy gossip magazines like People, catching up on celebrities. I would not recommend having the pedicure right after shaving your legs in the morning, however. They might be sensitive to the lotion they use on your legs when they rub your calves down with lotion.

For those of you who haven't had one, you sit in a chair that often has different massage settings. You let your feet soak in a big tub at the base of the chair. One at a time the pedicure professional (they are professional, they do get paid), pulls each foot out, trims the toenails, trims the cuticles. Then he or she will pull out a foot and use something that I would describe like a small cheese slicer.

Ok, I hear you all going "Eew" in the background. They don't really cut that much off your corns and callouses. Yeah, ok, so it is kind of gross, but in the end, that gross stuff is no longer on your feet. If I could do that everyday, my feet would be so much softer, and that is a nice feeling.

The cheese slicer thing really doesn't hurt. It is actually more of a tickle sensitive zone. I try to hard not to giggle and squirm, because I want the professional to do a great job. I'm always amazed at how many shavings are in the towel below my feet.

Once all that is done, he applied a scrub with a pumice-like stone, probably to remove more rough areas. Again, very hard for the tickle area. There's always some comment about being ticklish. I try to endure as best I can.

Finally, a lotion is applied all over the feet and up and down the leg with a bit of a massage. Then the water is drained because the foot bath is not needed. This time I picked out a pretty dark maroon-colored nail polish. It made me feel like autumn, since I knew it was coming. The professional put on a colorless base coat, the color and then a top coat. I don't have the patience to put all that on. And he got it done in swift, confidently placed strokes. I would have smudges all over the skin surrounding my nail. They were very darkly maroon but with a great sheen. At this point very floppy flip flops are placed carefully on the feet, so I could walk over to a fan and let them dry. I did not smudge them up and they dried beautifully.

Unfortunately, I waited until the end of summer to get a pedicure. A bit silly, because my pedicure has been hidden in my shoes all this time. I've only been able to admire my toes at home before going to bed. Fortunately, I've had a couple of warm days of summery weather to wear sandals and show my toes off to the world. Pedicures last so much longer than manicures. I feel they are a much better value.