Lupe and Rue have been the lucky recipients of some sweet gifts. First up, Rue:
Uncle Brian is a musician. A good one. While recently on tour in Europe, he picked up this little number for his youngest niece. For Rue, it was love at first sight. The thought of separation was too painful to bear.
We are the “You can’t wear that until we’ve washed it. You don’t know where it’s been. It could be covered in chemicals. Cleanliness above happiness!” kind of parents. The dress arrived late on Monday, and we were washing laundry at six on Tuesday morning.
Guess we showed her who’s boss.
If you look closely, you can actually make it out in the washing machine.
Rue has never done this for anything–not a treasured stuffed toy, not a security blanket, nothing. But it was totally worth the wait:
It’s eliciting fond memories of every grown woman whose path we cross. Today, an employee at Trader Joe’s stopped us in the aisle and fawned over Rue’s very unique dress. She then said to her, “You know, I had a really special dress that I just loved when I was your age.”
Apparently, it’s not just a dress. It’s a pathway to childhood memories. And I think Rue will look back on her own childhood and think of this dress and her uncle.
This was a Christmas gift from Aunt Mimi. She can probably hear it at her house, fifteen miles away. At the very least, her dog can.
Needless to say, the girls anticipate her gifts with delight. Nacho Man and I stock up on ear plugs and painkillers. And plot revenge. Seeing that Lupe got something special for her birthday, Mimi decided to help her stock it:
Mimi looked at me and cringed when Lupe opened the package.
“It’s this new polish by OPI, called ‘Shatter,'” she explained. “You paint it over the nail polish and it creates a crackled effect.”
We don’t need a product for that, Mimi. We’ve got that look down.
Sheesh.
We decided to try it out after Rue had gone to bed, which, as Rue knows, is when all the fun happens in this house.
After-school work in hand modeling? College is only seven years away.
Once your fingernail paint is completely dry, apply the Shatter. It doesn’t take much, and you want to use a light touch. It goes on black, then crackles over the fingernail polish, creating this effect:
Whoa. Pretty intense.
Lupe asked me if I’d be interested.
I only did it to make her happy.
Thank you, Mimi. We’re going to get some orange nail polish so we can be tigers.
The Adventures of Pho Girl and Nacho Man 
Perhaps you didn’t look at that definition of “Aunt” or “Uncle” in the dictionary: it clearly states in the job descripition that one must find the most obnoxious gifts as possible and present them in a manner in which the children will ask constantly about them even if you try to hide them.
And I still remember a time when all of the fun started when Lupe went to bed!
I need to get me some of that Shatter stuff. Thanks for helping me keep up with what the young ‘uns are up to these days 🙂