Day 157: 3 Mirror-free Mishaps

The story of my week.
(image found here)

Last week was one of those times when I had a bit too much going on.  I spent my weekend, Monday & Tuesday in Las Vegas, at the biggest professional conference (for sociologists) of the year.  While there, I gave a talk about my research, lost $80 at the slot machines, and promptly caught a major head cold.  Quickly gone were my voice and sense of smell.  :(

I flew back to Los Angeles early Wednesday morning and went straight to UCLA to squeak and cough through two 2-hour lectures for the courses I'm teaching.  On Thursday morning I drugged myself with antihistamines just in time to be interviewed on camera by the UCLA Office of Media Relations for a PR piece about this project (how cool!).  (Of course, I can't actually watch the interview, but I was told it went quite well.)   Finally, that same night, I flew to up to San Francisco to spend the weekend with Michael (my fiancé), who I hadn't seen in 3 long and lonely weeks.

And so, it shouldn't have surprised me that this was a week full of mirror-free mishaps.  I'm usually quite mindful.  Really.  I do my best to floss after poppy-seeded meals, wipe my nose after every sneeze, and zip all my zippers.  Not so this week!  In addition to knowingly dressing a bit haphazardly - which nobody commented on - I was caught on 3 separate occasions with some major mirror-free mishaps.  Here they are.  Please don't think less of me!

Oh poor Li-Lo... At least when I do crap like
this it doesn't get much further than my own blog!

1) On Tuesday I was in a hurry to get ready, and scampered off to the conference in a state of ditzy disarray.  I left my Las Vegas hotel room with my suit jacket tucked into my pants.  Okay, Okay.  I know this could have been MUCH worse (see the Lindsay Lohan pic to the right - it made me feel better!), but it was still really humbling.    I was rescued from utter professional humiliation by my dear friend Liz, who sadly spent way too much time of her own busy weekend trying to get me to stop and smell the roses, despite my disappearing sense of smell (and sanity!). So sorry for all the added stress, Liz.. and THANK YOU for the rescue.

2) Last night (Saturday), I was having a romantic moment with Michael.  At least I thought I was.  I caught him gazing at me with a smile on his face.  I leaned in for a snuggle, but he put both hands on my shoulders and continued to gaze.... but with what I soon recognized as more of a smirk.

NOT the look I was going for...

"Your eyebrows are crooked!"  He announced.
"What??!" I squeaked.
I'd had no idea.  Really.  I thought things were under control; every few days since the start of this project I've kind of brushed a finger over my eyebrows, expecting to know by feel if things were getting out of hand.  (Besides, full brows are "in" this season, no?)  But crooked.... uffda!  How embarrassing!
"Do you want me to try to help you with that?" he offered, clearly preparing for an eyebrow-intervention.
I declined awkwardly, remembering Michael's slight tendency towards uni-brow-over-tweezing.  Hopefully I'll find time in the next few days to enlist the help of a professional, or a trusted friend with great brows!  Any volunteers??

3) Finally, adding insult to injury, my evening with Michael grew even less romantic when he pointed out that I "might want to trim that nose hair" from my right nostril.  Egads!  Nose hair??  Where???  I ducked away and rubbed my nose with the back of my hand.  I didn't feel anything suspect, but by this point I was trusting my own senses less and less.  I turned back, nostrils on display.  "Oh!" Michael exclaimed, "it's gone now.  It must have just been a booger."  Ugh. Great.

Given the craziness of my week, it's entirely possible that these "mishaps" would have happened regardless of whether or not I could look in the mirror.  But I doubt it. I'm just thankful that the only people who saw them were part of my inner-circle of close friends and loved ones.  (Unless, of course, nobody else bothered to tell me!!!)

When's the last time YOU left the house with a "mishap?"  

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