*Spoiler alert* - this post contains content about personal bikini waxing. May spoil your appetitie, your day, your desire to read my blog.

The full realization that I'm going away on holidays just hit me last night so on my way home from work, I spontaneously dropped into the sweatshop at the Loblaws plaza for a pedicure + wax (no vajazzling for this girl's lady bits).

This nail place has always been a little sketch but I go there because it's one of the few in our area that does a proper brazillian (and it's on my way home from the canoe club). However, it's hitting a new low which makes me think they've already given up the lease and will be closed by the end of the month.

The place was empty of clients and only one esthetician - who I'd never met & looked about 12 - was on duty. The pimp was there, of course, guarding the cash register but no one else. That should have tipped me off but I figured 5pm on a Thursday is not peak mani-pedi time.

Anyway, you know how they usually cover the waxing table with paper sheeting? This time the girl only put down a 1'x1' square at ground zero. I thought huh? but was already standing there with no pants on and wasn't about to start questioning their cost-saving measures.
I was sceptical - anytime you ask a nail shop worker if they know how to do a brazillian they always "Oh yes" -  but she actually did a good job.

Okay, so since this was a spur-of-the-moment thing I didn't have two key pedicure items with me: my own nail colour and flip-flops for the trip home. I wasn't worried though - salons provide polish and paper sandals. I'd carry my shoes and wear the paper ones home.

Unfortunately, their nail polish carousel only had a limited colour choice. I selected a light pink but it had been thinned to the point of opacity so I had to pick something else - something I wasn't too crazy about. And when it came time to dry them, she pulled out a pair of regular flip flops!??! They were new/clean but reusable flops are so not cool for multi-use... but there I was with wet toes so there wasn't much I could do.

I paid, returned the sandals and walked barefoot to my car. It wasn't so bad but they had used rock-salt for the sidewalk throughout the winter. That, along with the staring from plaza patrons, was only mildly uncomfortable.

The really dumb thing about all this is that there are like a bajillion spas in Clarkson. Okay, three, but you'd think I'd just go there instead. But the truth is brazillians hurt - they hurt whether they cost $40 or $80 so I choose to pay $40. However, this experience has made me rethink thriftiness and when I get back from Fla, it'll be first class all the way!