Facial and Food

In an effort to keep my budget under control until I finally get a job I've been doing a lot searches for free/cheap stuff to do in NYC. One site led me to a notice about Beauty Week going on in NYC and LA. Upon further investigation I saw that it was a great opportunity to get any beauty related needs taken care of at half the price in some cases.

My skin had flared again and since I knew I was filming soon (will have separate blog for those experiences!) I thought I'd take advantage of the sale and get an Anise and Cinnamon Facial at the Antoinette Boudoir New-Staligica Spa.

So I made my appt. and arrived on Monday. I was a little early so while I waited I was offered tea, water or gum. Gum? Yes, I was given 3 different flavor packs of 5 gum.

Then a lady introducing herself as Lina arrived to do my facial. And she told me that before I could have a facial I needed to have an extraction (i.e. cleansing of blackheads/pores prior to a facial so you get the full benefit). Back home, this was kind of part of the facial deal but apparently not here - of course it was an extra charge. Garr. But it was still under the original price for the facial so I said go ahead.

Admittedly, I only recently got into the facial thing because I had a friend that did them. The "extraction" part is the worst. Lina kept telling me I had sensitive skin, finally relenting at one point saying - I will let you rest. In between she would offer a list of dos and donts for my skin. Helpful, but some things she told me I had heard not to do - I guess some of that advice you have to take with a grain of salt. Or not - if you are watching your cholesterol or is it high blood pressure?!

As I was being sent out the door I was told to come back in a few weeks for a deep cleansing facial - every few weeks I was told to do this...will see what the budget looks like by then...

But my skin did look better!

I had a job interview at another temp agency in the afternoon and then before I headed home I decided to check out the "Taste of Times Square". Two blocks of booths filled with food samples, spin to win and and a variety of music performers (jazz, blues, swing/pop, belly dancing, percussion group that had people in the audience play bongos too and a lady dressed up in her best french outfit - red beret & shoes, black and white striped shirt- playing "french" music on her accordion).

The event was free but in order to sample the food you had to buy tickets. It was $1 per ticket with a suggestion to buy 5 or more.

A huge variety of restaurants were there with some offering a fancy shrimp - yes ONE shrimp for you to savor for 3 tickets! (Now that probably made sense with the typical cost of the full entree, but still...) So I decided to make a quick survey of all choices before choosing - wanting the most for my tickets! :) Along the way I stopped at some spin to win booths where I got mints and a Jersey Boys Pin. (The big prizes were tickets to shows and restaurant gift certs but alas my spin wasn't quite "on". ) And Yellow M&M was handing out plain M&M samples.

I finally settled on a meal of fresh brewed root beer from Heartland Brewery (2 tickets), 2 sliders (i.e. small burgers) from Social Bar/Grill/Lounge (2 tickets) and a slice of pizza from John's Pizzeria (1 ticket). Not exactly high class cuisine but at least it filled my tummy. :)

While eating my pizza, I observed my surroundings noticing that this event was taking place near a Scientology Center, Joey Lawrence is in "Chicago" on Broadway and I have a hard time recognizing Ashlee Simpson in a giant shoe ad now that she had her nose done.