lately, i've become fixated on all the lines on my face, primarily because this house actually gets natural light and in the bathroom mirror i can see my face clearly for the first time since i was 21. i'm obsessed with the lines. the squint line, the laugh line, the forehead "what?" lines. i used to hate people who talked about this like it was an actual travesty and so i realize this is obnoxious and i apologize, but it's still true. cut to:

on sunday, i went with my mom to a "ladies' tea" in my hometown, thrown for and by a women's charity group that my mom isn't linked to at all, save for the fact that one of her friends had invited her to go. her friend was suddenly unable to go and my mother volunteered to set up our table's decorations and tea set (it truly was as weird as it sounds). my grandma, aunt and i all rallied and went to this tea, to help my mom fill up the three empty seats at the tea table that was now her responsibility. when we finally rolled in, we discovered there was a silent auction, a raffle and a guest speaker. the guest speaker was a woman named kathryn joosten, who plays karen mcclusky on desperate housewives. i know who she is because i have, on occasion, watched that show. i've thought she was just fine and having heard her speak at the tea, i think she's funny and interesting. however, i probably could have done without having my mom corner her, tell her i'm her biggest fan and force me to take a picture with her. (if you ever have the time, read all my blog posts and count the number of times my very own mother has thrown me under the bus and into an extremely uncomfortable encounter with a stranger at crazy events i've attended just because she asked me to.)

annnyway, to the point: kathryn joosten gave me advice about something, prefaced by "when you get to college, you'll..." and of course, i didn't even hear the end of it because i was SO PLEASED that she thought i was young enough that i hadn't even been to college. despite how awkward the entire thing was, and how desperately i wanted to attack my mother, this woman thought i was still 17. this is good news on the wrinkle front. totally awesome.