Coffee, Makeup & High Heels

When I was a child, I associated coffee drinking and wearing makeup and high heels with being a grownup. I used to love watching my mother put makeup on in front of the bathroom mirror. I would sit on the toilet and just watch with fascination as she applied eye liner and lipstick and eyeshadow. She would use such care and she always looked so beautiful. I would say to myself, "One day, that will be me."

Having grown up in a Cuban family, coffee has always been like a major food group, but as a kid, I hated the taste. The smell of it, however, I've always enjoyed- but I just could not drink the stuff back then. My grandmother would always offer me some, but I would always insist that it looked and tasted like "dirty water."

Now, I drink coffee almost daily.

I love shoes. I got my love of shoes and bags from my mom. When I turned 15, I was finally allowed to wear high heels and wear makeup. In Hispanic culture, a girl's 15th birthday is like a major turning point in her life. It's a sort of right of passage. She is not a girl; not yet a woman (to quote Britney Spears for a moment). I got to wear a beautiful white gown and had a huge party in my honor. I was presented to society as a young woman for the first time at 15.

Recently, I was rushing around the city, running errands before a party, and as I was walking to my car, with Starbucks coffee in hand, heels and makeup in place, I started smiling after having gotten a glimpse of my reflection in the drivers' side window. I grew up a while ago, and never really noticed the transition.

It just sort of snuck up on me after high school. ;)