I had one of those days that was filled up, but not stressful.  And even though I was exhausted when I went to bed, it was great.

I spent the early part of the day helping my friend Kathleen paint children's faces for a charity fund raiser.  I've done this a few times with her and it's always a mix of fun and frustrating and energizing and tiring and amazing.  I'm by no means a great artist, and the kids through me for a loops every time they ask for the ones I think are hard (like horses).  However, I can do a wonderful all over Spider-man face.  And thanks to one boy asking for it, the additional Spider-man arm was very popular.  My hands are still a little stained red. 

You can always tell which kids are spoiled and which ones arent...and of course you get to see the good parents, the indifferent, the not even around.  I dealt mostly with good kids and parents though.  One lady made a point of telling me about how the local McDonald's has face painting every Tuesday if I want to do that.  Tons of parents said thanks and really meant it, and made sure their kids said thanks...and even gushed about some of the more simple and not-so-fancy drawings. 

There's always a few moments that stick out though.  Fore me there was the guy that said I was the best face painter he'd ever seen after I covered his son in a Spidey face and his daughter in a butterfly mask.  The other for me was that I had another brother and sister come up.  Again, Spider-man, whole face.  Then the little girl sat down and I asked what she'd like and she said, "I want to be Batman."  So I clarified, "You want a mask like Batman."  And she nodded really big, until her mom said, "Why don't we give her something more feminine, don't you want something more pretty?"  And she picked out a butterfly for her daughter, who looked sullen but didn't argue.  She was probably 3 or 4.  It really bothered me.  She's not allowed to want to have a superhero mask because she's a girl? 

But, like I said, most of the people and kids were great.  And it was fun.  I did sustain the weirdest burns ever though.  We put on sunscreen before, but I missed some spots apparently.  So I have a stripe at the base of my hairline (where i didn't rub it high enough), a ring around where my t-shirt collar was, and weird splotches on my wrists and hands.

I also have sore muscles in my back from leaning over in an awkward position all day (and a bruised bottom from the folding metal chair).  It's funny because almost every kid will be excited but as soon as you start painting their face they start to pull away from you and hand their head, forcing some leaning and twisting in awkward positions. 

From there I headed home to change and my friend Kristin picked me up (after I guzzled water and tried not to fall asleep - the sun does a number on me).  We went to meet her friend Vera, who was really cool.  The three of us got salad from a Greek restaurant nearby (that I will now frequent) and had a yummy meal before heading to an art gallery opening that one of Kristin's paintings was a part of. 

The gallery was neat.  As with any art show I liked some stuff a bunch and didn't care for other stuff.  We kept running into people that Kristin or Vera knew.  It was really small worldy.  And a bunch of us went out for drinks (and they ate) afterward. 

that was also fun.  I spent most of the time talking to Vera because she was next to me and I could actually  hear her and because we clicked.  And it was lovely.  But a combination of the sun earlier and sound overload had me ready for bed when I got home and I conked right out.  It would have been the perfect kind of sleep if someone hadn't been banging this morning at 6:30 and woke me up.  But it did compliment a day of just straightening up the house (today) perfectly.