Day Three – She’s Carib·BEING
Yeah I meant we, because I’m taking you on this adventure with me.
Today I dared to venture out of my cozy little tourist location by the beach to the capital of the island’s Dutch side, St. Philipsburg. It’s like their commercial district and where everybody goes to shop. Now that I think about it, we probably got our outdoor mall idea from them! You know the US is not original. IJS.
I wasn’t going to shop though. I needed my nails done…BAD.
For thee first time in life I put on press on nails. My youngest son made fun of me something awful, but I needed a quick fix because of a schedule that didn’t allot time for nails before I left. Plus finding a good nail tech in Cleveland that you don’t have to book months in advance is so hard right now.
Despite him making fun of me, they were cute, and I got a lot of compliments, but it’s time for them to come off. I figured it would be cool to get them done here – you know, fully immerse myself in the experience.
So I set out on this, hmmm, what should I call it? Let’s just say it was a mission gone wrong. HOT MESS is an understatement.
The car’s navigation isn’t on the screen (cus Hardy’s played me with this rental), and the GPS I usually use is practically useless because it’s not picking up the locations here. That means foreign GPS system, on foreign roads, in a foreign place, with my foreign self.
I’m trying to watch the GPS, keep up with their 50 km, survive the mountainous speed bumps that come out of nowhere while recording and trying to be cute. Epic fail is a kind way of putting it. LOL!
Imagine eating a banana while driving and trying to record, hitting a speed bump that makes you feel like you just got whiplash, which causes the camera to flip, dropping the camera remote, and all while driving to a random destination because I had no specific nail shop name. That was me. I know. I know. OMG!!! Team too much.
You may be asking yourself, “Why Monique?!” Welp, when I asked the woman at that airport where I can get my nails done, she said, “Philipsburg, Philipsburg. There are a lot. You find it no problem.” Yeah, well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I couldn’t figure out Philipsburg. The streets were too narrow. There were no obvious signs of nails shops, and I was sweating profusely even though the AC was on.
I eventually stopped, backing up traffic, to ask a woman where the nail shop was. At this time God intervened and I got a message from one of the locals I’ve met that gave me the name of a shop. The GPS picked it up, and said I’d be there in 7 mins!
I made it to the nail salon and waited for about an hour and then got my mani pedi. I was cool with the wait because for once in my life I have nowhere to be and nothing to do.
A couple of things I want to point out about this experience:
- They used Jergen’s lotion in my pedicure water. I mean literally 10 pumps of Jergen lotion. :-/
- They attempted to use a tool that resembles a sander. I politely or maybe not so politely (out of pure fear) declined.
- I paid $55!!! That includes gel and her having a heck of a time removing those press ons. It is double that at home. (Maybe it’s because they use Jergen’s) LOL!
- It was a Chinese shop, but they only spoke Spanish. I found this to be intriguing.
The woman servicing me was nice. It was a good experience overall, although I didn’t get the effect I was going for with the nails because the orange was too bright. The pink is giving me life though!
I guess I hadn’t had enough and continued this venture to Simpson Bay for some dinner. At this point I had settled down a bit, gave up on recording while driving, and relaxed – just a little.
I ate at Palapa Lounge. It was beautiful. Palm trees and blue and green uplighting greeted me as I was taken to my seat. My night ended with a very long conversation with a local that owns a tourism and taxi service who is going to teach me all about the island!
All in all…mission accomplished. I did it. When you push yourself beyond your perceived limits you’d be surprised what you can do. I’m here for it all- the smooth moments and the bumpy roads (literally). I am going to enjoy the whole shabang, kit, and caboodle!
Check out our reel on IG to see some pics and videos.