Well, without the men around the women decided to do “something”.  Okay, 2 out of the 4 ladies’ men were still in town and opted to not man camp this weekend, but they were able to be swayed to the pampering side.  I woke up early, got my hair done by the God of Hair Styling – Michael of Vibe Salon…seriously, he rocks and so does the salon.  I also want to give a shout out to Michael for being a sweetie and giving so much more than he should.   Thank you my dearest.

Then it was lunch for me at Wok Hay – which I find to be seriously lacking since they changed their formula from high-end Asian counter order service.  I will say that their crab rangoon was yummy and loaded with the crustacean meat, and the sichuan beef was good too.  However, it was lunchtime and they weren’t as packed as they were back when they were a counter-service (rather than a stuffy feeling sit down).  I got a frappucino from one of the non-closing Starbucks…fixed some financial snafu that the husband made on his man camping trip and headed onto the next part of my journey.

With time to kill until my next pampering stop – I decided to see what all the hub-bub was about and finally went to McKay’s.  First of all, I’ve never seen a place so packed with people.  It kinda looked like a convention of the unconventional: some hippie-types, some sci-fi-types, some geek-types, some redneck-types…it was a veritable melting pot of “con-going” type people.  Since I used to go to Dragon Con and I helped at Adventure Con this year, I fit in in some fashion.  While I do agree with Please Feed the Monkeys, there is a pretty pungent odor that first greets you when the doors open.  There are a lot of people there to sell their stuff waiting in line around the front door…THIS DOES NOT HELP TRAFFIC FLOW.  Once inside, there are rows upon rows of used books, CDs, DVDs and video games.  It’s a ton of stuff.  While I agree that a lot of it was of no interest to me, I did score some great finds.   I picked up “Lisey’s Story” by Stephen King on paperback, a Peter Gabriel CD and “Twilight Zone – Season 1″ from the 80s DVD box set.  I almost gave in and purchased Grease II for guilty pleasure value and Eddie Murphy’s RAW – but I didn’t.  I’d probably go again, to peruse but I still am not sure why there’s rarely an open spot in their parking lot each weekend? Perhaps it’s the economy and people’s need to sell or trade more than buy – which actually isn’t a bad thing anyway.

Next, it was to Belleza Salon & Spa.  Best waxer in town: Melinda.  Bar None.  Then it was time to meet up with Maria for Mani-Pedis at Spa Visage.  We had two fabulous cosmetologists (is that what you call them), named Melanie & Taryn – so see them for mani-pedis and tell them we sent you.  I think Maria and I would highly recommend adding on the paraffin too…delightful.  My feet and hands look like I actually give a darn.  The only thing negative was that the process lasted longer than we expected, which put us almost 1 hour late to meeting up with Overtly Trite and A at Soho Cafe in Bearden.

The conversation was just as good, if not better, than the cuisine.  I’d highly recommend the malaysian wontons (with shrimp chips – yum), and the mongolian beef.  We verbally dished about life with/without children, life in trying to have children, domestic destructions, music, movies and assorted other ramblings.  It was GREAT!  I love hanging out with the ladies.  We finished our night with our two best male friends, Ben & Jerry.

Now, I’m back at home.  I did suprisingly hear from the Jim during the day.  He sounds like he’s having a great time even though the boys decided to switch camping locations tonight from “Round Mountain” to “Balsam Mountain”.  I can’t keep up.  All I know is that I enjoyed a pampering day of Knoxville delights.