A little over a week ago my best friend came to visit.  I don’t see Marilyn often. She lives five hours away but we talk and text almost daily.  She has been my best friend for 58 years. Marilyn was my next door neighbour when I was growing up.

As soon as I picked Mare up at the train station I noticed a subtle difference.  She looked great.  Fresh, healthy….what was it?  She didn’t have much makeup on yet she looked alive and sparkling.  Hummmm  A side glance at her eye lashes tipped me off.  They are lovely but not Marilyn’s own.  This girl was wearing false eye lashes!  OMG…. No way!

After some girlish screaming and gushing of adulation, Marilyn shared with me that she had eye lash extensions added the week before.  She now doesn’t bother with any eye makeup, liner or mascara.  She just wakes up in the morning and looks this wonderful.  She had the procedure done at her local beauty salon.  It took 1.5 hours while they painstakingly glue individual little mink lashes onto her existing natural ones.  Sixty per eye were added in varying lengths.  Marilyn was given a choice.  She could go for the natural look or spurge a little and be dramatic.  Marilyn went for the little drama.  They were lovely.  Tiny butterfly wings on each eye.   I knew at that moment that I wanted some too.

I complain all the time in this blog about my hair.  Not only am I thin on top but I also have skimpy eye brows and barely there eye lashes.  I must pencil them in every morning.  These hairs just didn’t grow back what with the chemo and the estrogen inhibitor medication.

Marilyn and I made it a goal to find me a salon that did the extensions. We phoned around and booked a consultation to determine if my eyes were suitable.  Apparently they could work with my little sparse, stubby lashes.  We booked the actual application appointment for two days later on Thursday afternoon.

Mare and I had a wonderful week. We talked and talked. We shopped, did a winery and viewed an art gallery.  Mare went for a facial and a manicure and we indulged in  numerous meals out.   It was a holiday without going away.

Over the week I studied Marilyn and those lovely eye lashes.   They were magnificent.  She would come down to breakfast every morning with crumpled messy hair but a sparkly fresh and healthy look.  They really added a subtle beauty.

On Thursday afternoon we were just sitting down for a few minutes before heading out to my spa appointment, when Gary, my next door neighbour  dropped by.  For some reason the conversation turned to guns.  I think Mare was asking him how many he had.  Whatever…..  Gary offered us a chance to shoot one of his shotguns.

It has always been on Marilyn’s bucket list to shoot a gun.  (Who knew?).  Without further discussion the three of us headed over to Gary’s place.   Now just to be clear, I know nothing about guns.  I have never even held a gun.  They scare me and I see very little real use for them in this modern world, however, in the country farmers use them.  That is a fact of country living and who was I to judge what I don’t know or understand.

Gary set up our target; an eight inch square cardboard box which was set 25 feet away on the side of a steep hill.   He then brought out a 16 and a 12 gauge shotgun.  We had a little lesson while he unlocked the casement over the trigger area. (awww that is where the trigger is located.  I thought the gun looked odd).   I learned that a rifle shoots bullets.  A shotgun  fires shot.  (news to me)  We loaded the gun with a large shell.  Inside apparently there were many tiny lead pellets or shot.  We also learned that the more powerful the gun the smaller the gauge.  For instance Gary’s 12 gauge was a more powerful gun than his 16 gauge. Both  Marilyn and I  reached for the 16 gauge.

Marilyn went first.  She had a very determined look on her face.  She aimed and fired.

Holy crap.  It went off with a very loud bang.  Actually the word bang does not do it justice.  It was loud. Really loud.  The sound scared Marilyn and caused her to miss the target completely.

I went next.  I took my time hoping to improve on Marilyn’s performance.  Wow.. It was much heavier than you would imagine.   I spread my feet apart and braced my legs.  The butt of the gun was tucked tight into my shoulder to reduce the recoil impact.  I aimed at the target, steadied and squeezed the trigger.   Bam.  Again, I was not ready for that sound.  I think I shut my eyes. It was really, really loud.  In spite of my efforts the gun had jumped back into my shoulder.  Ouch. It hurt. Yuck.  Shooting guns is unpleasant.

There was one very small hole in the box.  It looked like one little pellet from the spray of shot had caught the cardboard.  We were unbelievably bad at shooting off a gun.  No surprise there.

Woo. What a rush.  My hands were shaking and my ears were still reverberating.  The experience was exhilarating, unpleasant and very scary.  I did not like the noise.  Gary encouraged us to try again but we both declined.  No thank you.  Not for us. Yuck to guns.

Off to the spa with an adrenalin rush equal to several shots of jagermeister.  We giggled every time we looked at each other.

I had it done.  For 1.5 hours I lay on my back with my eyes closed while the spa attendant worked above my head.  It was totally painless.  Apparently many customers fall asleep while the little lashes are glued into place.   They will last now for approximately two months but gradually they will fall out as new lashes push through.  I can also return after three or four weeks and had a mini refill.   My lashes were synthetic. This spa prefers synthetic because so many people are allergic to cat hairs and have a reaction to the mink.  (who knew?)

I’m pleased with results.  I went with the natural look as opposed to Marilyn’s slightly dramatic.  My lashes are not as long or as thick.  I don’t think most people wouldn’t even notice, but I keep catching a glimpse of myself, out of the corner of my eye when passing a mirror and I definitely think it is an improvement.

No more makeup.

What a great week.  Hee hee…. I’m just a shot-gun toting diva!

Has anyone else tried eyelash extensions?  What did you think of the results?