"the prize"

This is the prize.

Umm, it's kind of a long story how I came to have this very nice nail care set in my possession. Well not too long; I suppose I'll tell you.

I was cruising through Arizona Mills mall a couple weeks ago, munching on a very yummy slice of pumpkin bread I'd just bought at Starbucks, when I was bombarded by an apparently Israeli girl (appeared to be and had an accent and an Israeli-sounding name and she told me that's where she was from - so no, I'm not racial-profiling here) from a mall kiosk and her opening line was, "Are those your real nails??" I can't believe I fell for the line, with my average-looking, perpetually short, unpolished nails. But for some reason the flattery worked and I allowed her to give me her little demo. The whole time I was thinking, "I'm not going to buy anything. I'm not going to buy anything. Well, maybe if they have something that's really cheap I will." All the while she was buffing a nail of mine with this truly awesome nail-buffer until it practically glowed, and put all of my other nails to shame. She kept talking about how that shine wouldn't wash off, and she even demonstrated by rubbing some nailpolish remover on it to reveal that it was indeed still shiny. Duh, as if I don't understand the concept of buffing to a shine. Still, her sales pitch was very convincing, and she put on some of the cutical oil, and let me smell & try the lotion, and it just all seemed so very nice and lovely and desirable, not even considering the supposed benefits of the 21 minerals of the Dead Sea, which I couldn't care less about.

And then it came.

"You can have this whole set, the buffer, the cuticle oil, and the amazing healing lotion, for only $60."

Uh... excuse me? I immediately refused.

So she came back with, "Well since it's early and you're my first customer and I really want to make this sale, I'll give you TWO sets for $60; keep one for yourself and give one as a gift!"

Me: Still too much. I'm on a spending diet and I'm not finished with my Christmas shopping.

Finally she offered to sell me a set for the low low price of $30, and since I had been sufficiently weakened by negotiations at that point and my one very pretty fingernail was still gleaming at me, I gave in.

Once I got home, I felt so guilty about wasting $30 (even though I really did like the products) that I immediately began trying to think of who I could give it away to, in order to justify the expense. There are no adult women on my list this year who I didn't already have a gift for, and so, racking my brain, the idea of the Great Happy Life Prize Quiz was born!

In the meantime, I looked up online to see how much it goes for and it's $40. And the Israeli girl tried to sell it to me for $60. The nerve. Well I sure showed her, only paying $30, right?

Kate, I hope you like it!!

P.S. On an unrelated note: for those of you who will be receiving our Christmas card in the next couple days, I am aware of the typo and I apologize. How embarrassing. I noticed it right after I got home from the post office. And I really pride myself on good proofreading! Aargh.