growing up in la my mom and i would go to pink nails on palms blvd, next to vons supermarket.  sometimes my grandma would meet us too, because growing up, she lived only a few blocks away (i was very lucky…lots of grandma’s chocolate cake).  i can’t remember the first time i got a pedi but i do remember that we always ended up with the same baby pink color – barely enough to notice that there was anything on the nails.   we’d sit in office chairs and put our feet in a bucket to soak.  thinking back now, that seems totally gross, but at the time, its what we knew.

then we moved to westport and started going to town nails on the post road.  we still stuck with the baby pink colors, but instead of dunking our feet in a grocery-bag-lined bucket, we sat perched on huge massage chairs with tubs attached – LUX-UR-Y!  when friends and family (grandma specifically) came to visit from the west coast, town nails was a stop on tour – “you’re not going to believe these chairs!”

eventually i expanded my boundaries past baby pink.  while i was living in nyc after college i would sometimes go after work on a friday before shabbat – it became a way to mark the passage of time (and because i was often spending shabbat with a bunch of dirty hippies it became a final moment of cleanliness…i sure did love my dirty hippies). 

one of my favorite memories from wedding weekend was our trip to the nail salon on the saturday morning before the rehearsal dinner.  only the best of the best were in town, my CURLY friend, and my TALL friend from la, DBN and the BOBSIE TWIN cousins and of course the KING.  it was the perfect atmosphere, surrounded by the perfect people, with the perfect amount of gab…and of course, for wedding weekend i found myself turning back to the baby pink.  

i have found the most amazing nail place – walking distance from my apartment, on the drive home, GOLDEN FINGER is a little piece of heaven right here in boston.  i have become a regular, i know LILY and LILY knows me.  it’s the only manicure i’ve ever had where i can go back a week later with barely a chip.  a great color selection and only the best products.  for a while i was going with BESTIE’S other half…but now that that is over, well, my time in GOLDEN FINGER isn’t aaaaaaaaaaas relaxing (i find myself looking over my shoulder every time the door chimes…).  still, you can tell how much i love LILY because even in my discomfort, i refuse to give her up.  

today – essie bordeaux…on my fingers and toes!