Today, I went to get my nails done and was accidentally trendy again.

Let me back up. A couple of months ago, I went to get my nails done and after much back and forth with my nail lady that included admiring her nails somewhere in there, she said one of the workers at the salon could do my nails the same way. So, she did, and it turned out to be the whole cat eye trend that’s going around. (I thought I took a picture but did not, so link to another site with a bunch of pics, I must do.) Anyway, mine were red and black (see #17 on the linked post as those are closest to what I had) and it was very cool. So cool that I kept showing my nails to my friends and family at every chance I got. I think I even asked my mom to FaceTime me so I could show her my nails.

Part of the reason this was a big deal is I can’t remember the last time I got a design on my nails. Oh wait, yes I can. The last time I got a design on my nails was in 2022 when my daughter graduated from college. As an homage to her senior thesis, I got a little nod to Sailor Moon done. I also don’t have pictures of those because I suck at taking pictures of things.

Anyway! The point is that I got these black and red cat eye nails and was absolutely delighted at the fact that I was accidentally trendy. Not only that, but they were…cute? And fun? It was all a very new thing since, you know, I usually just pick an on theme color for the month.

Slice of Life is a writing challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

My plan was to do the same when I got my nails done today. I was just going to pick a solid shade of green, but then my nail lady (at a different salon–there are two I frequent depending on my mood and how much I feel like driving one town over) suggested I pick a cat eye shade. Okay, actually she told me to pick a cat eye shade. So I picked a green one I liked because I still wanted to be on theme. But then as she was doing all the work to my nails, I asked her to show me the solid greens. But then I remembered that the cat eye was fun last time so decided to live a little.

I got the cat eye. They are green. But then she also did a little wave effect on them, and they are VERY delightful. So delightful, in fact, that I can’t stop looking at them.

This was a great lesson/reminder for me (both times). I tend to do/buy things that are functional. A solid color for a manicure is fine. But sometimes it’s nice to do nice things just because they look nice. Sometimes it’s nice to spend a little extra because something is pretty to look at. Sometimes it’s nice to do something just because it’s a little bright spot of joy.