Manicure update. Among other things...

It has been exactly 2 weeks since my manicure and I'm just now getting chips.  Oh wait, just kidding, it's only been exactly ONE DAY!  I'm not impressed right now but I will admit they're small chips on the very tips of ALMOST EVERY FINGER!  This girl is not a happy camper.  I did get a very cool new nail polish though that I cannot wait to show off.

New smoothie update- I'm getting pretty good at it!  I put in a cup of almond milk, frozen strawberries, frozen mangos, frozen strawberries, and spinach and top it off with water to keep it liquified.  I eyeball all those things.  And don't be shy with the spinach, you cannot taste it and it has tons of antioxidants, vitamins A, C, E, K, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids plus a ton of other things.   Or you could just by the Yoplait Greek Yogurt smoothies.  They're single serve frozen packs and all you do is add milk.  I add spinach to that too but you can take it or leave it.

Now let's talk hair.  For the past couple days I have been using Pantene Pro-V Moisture Whip.  It's like a whipped mouse for styling.  I've heard raves about it from a few friends but I'm not going nuts over it.  It's not bad but I haven't noticed any greatness from it either.  I plan on using it for a while before I decide if really like it or not.  

I also bought some scrunchies.  Yup 90's style hair scrunchies.  My hair is getting longer and with that, heavier.  I get headaches almost everytime I throw it up now, but so far, the scrunchies are pure magic.  I don't even care how ridiculous it looks.

I'm almost done but I'm going to leave you with this, some friends are harder to have than others, and if you want to accept that, that's fine.  As for me, I'm over it.  I'm done with the one sided friends and the high maintenance ones too.  

And on that bombshell, it's time to end.  Goodnight.

Manic(ure) Monday!

It's Monday again, folks!  This is seriously the highlight of my day.  I mean, Monday's in the pharmacy are rough!  But I look forward to when I get to come home and do my nails (if I haven't already which is usually the case) and then post about my endeavors.   

Last week I got some Nutra Nail Gel Perfect.  This stuff is normally like $13.99.  Uhm, no thanks!!  But (!!!) I picked up this specific color on clearance for $3.99.   It comes in a few different colors but only four of them were on clearance and none of them were a color I'd normally pick.  (I'm partial to purple and glitter.)  I finally settled on Flame, you'll see here soon enough but it's basically a bright orange-red.  I figured that the stuff was cheap enough and would be a good mix up on the blog because I could do my manicure AND a product review at once!

This is what the package looks like.  See that bright red?!

So it's a 3 part process.  Once all your nails are prepped they way you normally would for any polish you brush on the activator.  It's that white bottle on the far right.  Now, this stuff is basically nail glue.  Seriously, check the ingredients.  Then while your nails are still wet from the activators brush on a thin layer of the color (middle bottle).  The color mixes with the activator and I'm guess that's what makes it so hard.  When you are done with the first hand, wipe the brush off on a paper towel and put it in the third bottle, take the brush from the third bottle and but it in the color.  The third bottle is just a cleaner, because we are working with pretty much nail glue, this step is crucial to keep the brush clean and soft.  Repeat those steps with the next hand then wait a few minutes.  This stuff sets up pretty quick.  Do all those same steps again for your second coat, including the activator!  And switch your brushes from color to cleaner after every hand.

And there's the finished product.  I actually really like the color too!  So far I'm impressed.  The box says "Sets rock solid in 5 minutes" and I believe it.  For the sake of testing the product, I haven't been nice to my nails since I painted them 45 minutes ago and there are no smudges or chips yet.  My only complaint is the clean-up.

I'm pretty messy when I paint my nails (see above picture) but I'm pretty good at the clean up so it works for me but because of the nail glue activator it really sticks to the skin.  I spent quite a bit of time with my nail polish remover and q-tip and got hardly anything clean.  I then decided to use the cleaner.  Yup, the same cleaner that came with it that we're using to clean the brushes.  It was kind of a DUH! moment when I thought of it.  Here I am putting these brushes in all the same stuff that's on my fingers and that cleaner cleans them COMPLETELY.  Well, my duh! moment paid off.  It cleans it up as quick as nail polish remover does with regular nail polish.  So I'd suggest using that if you get any (or all of it, like me) on your skin.

The real test starts now though.  I'm rough with my nails.  A normal manicure only lasts me a couple days before it's chipping.  This is supposed to last longer.  I'll keep you posted and let you know when I get my first chip.  

And on that bombshell, it's time to end. Goodnight!!!

(I know, I'm ripping off Top Gear [UK, of course] but that show is so good.  Even if you're not totally in to cars, I suggest it.  My grammie even watches it.) 

New Year's Resolutions

January 1st is the perfect day for resolutions.  I know it's cliche but it makes me feel like its a fresh start.  It's the very first day of a very new year.  I feel like my slate has been wiped clean, I've closed the book on 2012 and opened up a new one titled 2013.  The pages are blank right now but everyday a little bit more is written in there.  Annnnd now it sounds like I'm writing a high scool graduation speech.  Okay, let's talk about those resolutions now!

Here are mine:

-Move out of the apartments

-Get a dog

-Take a class for yoga or Pilates or Zumba or kickboxing

-Save up a few Benjamin's for a Mini Cooper

-Moisturize more often.

-Keep up with my diet.  I'm down 30 pounds so far but I want to lose 50-60 more.

-Be more badass

-Buy a pair of Ray Bans

-Buy a Coach bag

-Play a game of Monopoly all the way to the end

And here are some resolutions that some of my friends came up with:

-Ariel says she'd like to eat more unhealthy food and exercise less (yes, you read that right)

-Cam wants to lose 30 pounds by next week

-Aunt Laurie, more realistically, wants to lose 30 pounds by August

-Tug and Beki just want to live until 2014

-This isn't official but we think Wendy probably wants to lay off the White Russians

Whether or not you make resolutions, I hope 2013 is all you hope or wish for.  And to those of you who did make resolutions, I wish you the best of luck.  I plan on keeping you all updated if/when I cross something off on my list.

Manic(ure) Monday!!

It's that time of the week again!! And this week you're getting a double dose of Manic!!!

Let's get down to business.  (I can't say or type that without thinking about Mulan.). Manicure #1 is on myself.

Happy New Year!!!  I just did a simple manicure with Silver and Wet 'n Wild Party of Five Glitters.  I really like the glitter but you have to kind of place it.  It's not a simple brush on and you're done kind of thing.  But overall this look is simple but keeps up with the NYE festivities.

Manicure #2 was done as a joke but since its Monday, I HAD to share!

Yes, those are man hands.  And he wanted racing stripes on his fingers.

I hope everyone has a fantastic New Years Eve!!  I'm sitting at home with my hubs and a friend and we're sipping on champagne and beer and watching movies.  This is seriously the best kind of night.  

Best wishes to you all and welcome 2013!!!

Stay tuned.

I know it has been a few days since my last post but hang in there friends.  I have a few tricks up my sleeve and I'm just about positive you'll be a little impressed with at least one of them. 

As you've noticed, I have a theme for my Monday posts, Manic(ure) Monday, but I want at least one or two more dedicated theme days.  It'll help me with blog topics and give you all something to look forward to.  If you have any ideas for me please let me know.  Here's what I have come up with so far- Tipsy Tuesday, Wasted Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday, F'd up Friday, Shit-faced Saturday, and of course Sunday Funday.   None of those are set in stone yet though.

For now though, I just want to say thank you so much for reading my blog.  Or at least for hitting the refresh button on your Internet machine so my view count goes up.  YOU ROCK!  

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4732807/?claim=442qz2nqqjd">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Manicure Wednesday?

Woah, hey there!!!   How has the internet been treating you?  I found more funny cat pictures but I'll save them for a rainy day.

I realized today that I forgot about Manic(ure) Monday!  I am soo deeply sorry... Jk, I'm not sorry.  

So to play catch up, it's now Manic(ure) Wednesday.  Deal with it.

This weeks look was inspired by the Christmas tree.  It didn't quite turn out how I had pictured it but I still got a lot of compliments.

I started with the green which is called Happy Ending by Sinful Colors then made colored dots as my "ornaments".  I then put on a coat of glitter because all Christmas trees have glitter, at least mine does, then I used my Sally Hansen nail art pen in Pearly White to make my "lights".  

There ya have it folks!  

I got a few new nail polishes that I'm pretty stoked to try out including a Sally Hansen Gem Crush called Be-Jeweled.  It's basically a purple super glitter.  I have good ideas for that one. 

Now, on to regularly scheduled programming- how was everyone's Christmas?  Mine was pretty fantastic.  I got to spend time with almost all of my family and that's what is really important.  I have a fantastic family that I married into and they kind of spoiled me this year.  Some items I got- a new blender (like the magic bullet ones that do single serve in a to-go cup), a Vera Bradley bag and matching coin purse, and an iPad!! (and I happen to be writing to you today from it!)

 I have plans to make some smoothies and then blog about my experiences.  Tonight was my first try and I failed miserably.  Too much Almond Milk.  Way too much.  I'll figure it out...

So that's all I have for tonight.  I just busted out the electric blanket (LOVE!!!) and now I'm going to play some Angry Birds.  

Goodnight!!

Christmas Eve!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  

Jokes on you!!!

While you are all sitting there watching the NORAD Santa tracker like a hawk, I was making magic.

BEHOLD-
Aaron and I as Christmas Elves!!!!  Calm yo selves!  I know it's an amazing spectacle but you can only watch it so many times before it gets creepy.  I like creepy though so get on with your bad selves!!!  

Merry Christmas my fine internet creeps friends.

Ramblings of a crazy lady.

What's up party people?!?!  Aahh, sweet Friday, we meet again.  And it's a four day weekend for me!  HOLLA!!!  Obviously, I'm pretty pumped up right about now.  Our Christmas celebrations start on Sunday with the "big family" dinner and then continue through Christmas day.  A full three days of festivities!  My will power to stick to my diet is going in to over-drive starting, NOW!  I just bought so much chocolate.  Ghiradelli Chocolate to be exact, and that stuff is hard to stay away from!!

I just want to take a quick second to give a shout out to Amazon.com and their one month free trial of Prime.  If you love online shopping and free TWO DAY shipping, sign yourself up!!!  And if you want to upgrade to next day shipping it's only $3.99!!!  WHAT?!?!   The downside is that it cost's $79 a year.  I suppose if you do a lot of online shopping the savings in shipping can add up pretty quick though.  They also offer other perks but honestly, I don't care about none of that.  Just gimme my free shipping!!!

I just finished reading The Help.  It was... ok.  I didn't think it lived up to the hype.  I am still definitely going to watch the movie though because Emma Stone is one of my two favorite Emma's EVER!  (Emma Watson is the other, duh.)

Speaking of Emma Watson, I suppose I should read Perks of Being a Wallflower soon.  

I am all over the place tonight, sorry about that.  Actually, no.  I'm not.  It's truly the excitement of the holidays that is showing right now.  I feel like that Miley Cyrus song "Can't be Tamed".  Damnit, don't stop reading now that I talked about Miley, it most likely won't happen again.  

And now, to end let's watch the latest Jenna Marbles video together.  

So festive and awkward.  Love it.

Cat pictures always win.

I unfortunately do not have anything new to talk about with you all so I figured I'd show some funny cat pictures. I know if I were a regular reader, I wouldn't be even the least bit upset about this.

There you have it folks, welcome to the internet.

p.s. I found all of these pictures using google image search.  Don't sue me for not citing my sources.

Manic(ure) Monday

Welcome to my weekly installment of Manic(ure) Monday.  During tonight's program I will showcase my most recent manicure and give a quick overview as to how I accomplished it.  In last week's post I promised I would get a little fancier, and I did.  Just keep in mind that this week's "fancy" is all my own.  I didn't have a friend here to help me out. 

And there it is!  I used Sinful Colors again, as usual.  The coral type color is called Hazard and the blue is Savage.   I wouldn't normally pair these two colors together but it turned out awesome.  Quick instructions to get this look:  First I did a coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty base and top coat.  Then I did two coats of color.  Once the was dry it was time for the dots.  Do you remember a few manicure posts back with the confetti nails?  Well I used that same stick to make my dots.  If you don't remember or didn't read it (shame, shame) I took a wooden cuticle pusher with the pointed end on one side and ran that end back and forth real quick on the lid to my nail polish bin to flatten it out a tiny bit.  Then I dropped a little bit of color on a piece of plastic and dipped the pusher into it to make my dots.  My idea here was to start out thick at the bottom by the cuticle and space it out as I got to the tip.  If you're going to try this, let your dots overlap at the bottom and remember, the more polish you use and the more pressure you use, the bigger the dot.  Lastly, I finished with another coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty.

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!  No, I know it's not top notch but I liked the way it turned out.  The colors look great together and it's a fun design idea.

Now it's time for me to cuddle up with my blanket and watch Ink Master.  I hate that I just admitted that but it's pretty addicting.  It's on Hulu, you all should check it out.