It wasn't a perfect weekend last weekend, but certainly not terrible. I at least got a couple hours in the "cool" (as Griffin calls it) on Friday and on Sunday. Other than that I didn't really accomplish a thing. If I was smart, I would have spent the weekend trying to catch up on sleep, but that didn't happen.
I was very excited to find out that my first nail tutorial is in the August issue of Les Nouvelles Esthetiques & Spa magazine. Since that wasn't supposed to happen until September, it was a pretty huge surprise. I haven't received my actual issue yet, but you can see the article here: Les Nouvelle Esthetiques & Spa Magazine
They did change a couple of things since I had written it directed toward people wanting to do their nails at home. They hadn't made it clear that I was supposed to be gearing it toward professional nail techs for how they can do things on their clients' nails. I find that pretty amusing that I'm telling techs what to do. Redonk.
They also added a line about a "smooth brush being impertive", which is not my line.....and it's also not me that incorrectly spelled "imperative" as "impertive". They're supposed to be fixing that for the online version of the mag, but we'll see.
Still pretty cool. I also hit 800 followers on Instagram. That is seriously crazy!! I still don't understand that whole system very well, but people are finding me one way or another, I guess.
As much as it killed me to take off my tribal mani last night, 2 full days was enough for me. It also almost killed me to do my nails last night. For some reason my stomach, which has been behaving very nicely, was awful all day. Finally at about 10:30 I decided to suck it up and do a quick mani.
After that shocking yellow of the tribal, I decided to go with a soft color. Of course, it also happens to be a perfect "smatch" for the shirt I'm wearing today.
I went with Sinful Colors Orange Cream. I used Sally Hansen White Out to stamp with and my DRK-C plate. I really should have gone with a white stamping polish because this is more subtle than I wanted, but I didn't want to take the time to re-do anything.
I'm feeling uninspired lately....like I've run out of ideas. The ones I think about doing are always time-consuming and not something I want to attempt on a weeknight. I guess when you do nails as often as I tend to do, getting in a slump isn't too surprising.
Warning here; there's a pic of a snake coming up. Leave the blog now if you get freaked out by them.
Last year we had about 8 garter snakes living under the pool. It was insane!! And they were big!! The biggest one that I figure was the mom was probs 2 feet long. I didn't mind seeing just the one; she spent all of her time either under the pool or along the edge, and she'd hightail it back under if she saw us. Even the dogs never noticed. But when the 7 or 8 smaller ones showed up, I have to say I got not quite so thrilled. I won't torture you with the pics of them.
So I've been keeping my eyes peeled this summer to see if they'd come back. I know nothing about snakes so I don't know if they return year after year. I haven't seen any garter snakes. One day when I got out of the pool, though, I saw this small brown snake. I'd never seen one like it, and it didn't slither away quickly like the garters, but fast enough that I couldn't get a picture. It was about 7 inches, I'd say.
I kept watching for it but hadn't seen it for a few weeks. Last weekend Kev wanted me to pick up the salt machine for the pool so he could mow, and there it was, just lounging under the machine. It went under the pool so of course I had to walk around the edge to see if I could find it. I saw part of it's body along the other side so I took a stick and pulled (actually, more like tossed) it out from under and it landed on the step on the side of the house. Went and grabbed my camera and snapped some picks and a video of it. Then it went under the stairs, and I was so worried it would go into the yard and get run over by the mower that I poked around with the stick until I found it and carried it back to the pool so it could hide.
Success. Ever since then I've been looking under the machine 3 or 4 times a day, and it's been there every time. It's a Northern Red-Bellied snake, and they normally aren't seen because they're shy and hide under things. They never bite, even in self-defense, not that I planned on giving it a chance.
Yesterday in the morning before work and at lunchtime, he was there, all comfy in his little spot. When I got home after work he was about 2 feet from the machine. Dead. No clue why. For some reason I'm extraordinarily and oddly sad about it. I really was enjoying the little guy. It's the first one like it I've seen in the 12 years I've lived there, so who knows if I'll ever see another.
I kept the pic small so it's less freaky for you snake haters. He looks bigger in this pic than he actually was. On his underside he's red...really cool.
As much as it killed me to take off my tribal mani last night, 2 full days was enough for me. It also almost killed me to do my nails last night. For some reason my stomach, which has been behaving very nicely, was awful all day. Finally at about 10:30 I decided to suck it up and do a quick mani.
I went with Sinful Colors Orange Cream. I used Sally Hansen White Out to stamp with and my DRK-C plate. I really should have gone with a white stamping polish because this is more subtle than I wanted, but I didn't want to take the time to re-do anything.
I'm feeling uninspired lately....like I've run out of ideas. The ones I think about doing are always time-consuming and not something I want to attempt on a weeknight. I guess when you do nails as often as I tend to do, getting in a slump isn't too surprising.
Warning here; there's a pic of a snake coming up. Leave the blog now if you get freaked out by them.
Last year we had about 8 garter snakes living under the pool. It was insane!! And they were big!! The biggest one that I figure was the mom was probs 2 feet long. I didn't mind seeing just the one; she spent all of her time either under the pool or along the edge, and she'd hightail it back under if she saw us. Even the dogs never noticed. But when the 7 or 8 smaller ones showed up, I have to say I got not quite so thrilled. I won't torture you with the pics of them.
So I've been keeping my eyes peeled this summer to see if they'd come back. I know nothing about snakes so I don't know if they return year after year. I haven't seen any garter snakes. One day when I got out of the pool, though, I saw this small brown snake. I'd never seen one like it, and it didn't slither away quickly like the garters, but fast enough that I couldn't get a picture. It was about 7 inches, I'd say.
I kept watching for it but hadn't seen it for a few weeks. Last weekend Kev wanted me to pick up the salt machine for the pool so he could mow, and there it was, just lounging under the machine. It went under the pool so of course I had to walk around the edge to see if I could find it. I saw part of it's body along the other side so I took a stick and pulled (actually, more like tossed) it out from under and it landed on the step on the side of the house. Went and grabbed my camera and snapped some picks and a video of it. Then it went under the stairs, and I was so worried it would go into the yard and get run over by the mower that I poked around with the stick until I found it and carried it back to the pool so it could hide.
Success. Ever since then I've been looking under the machine 3 or 4 times a day, and it's been there every time. It's a Northern Red-Bellied snake, and they normally aren't seen because they're shy and hide under things. They never bite, even in self-defense, not that I planned on giving it a chance.
Yesterday in the morning before work and at lunchtime, he was there, all comfy in his little spot. When I got home after work he was about 2 feet from the machine. Dead. No clue why. For some reason I'm extraordinarily and oddly sad about it. I really was enjoying the little guy. It's the first one like it I've seen in the 12 years I've lived there, so who knows if I'll ever see another.
So there's my "snake adventure". I honestly feel terrible that he's dead. I wish I knew what killed him.
If you want me to post pics of last year's menagerie of garters, let me know! I'm more than happy to share! Those pics are mostly taken while I'm standing safely in the pool looking over the edge.
Even I'm not that brave.
Even I'm not that brave.
You drove the poor little shy snake crazy exposing him and caused him to commit suicide.... Shame on you! Lol!!!Just joking! Sorry you are feeling sad. Just remember if there is one you see there are a dozen more near by that you don't see! BEWARE!
ReplyDeleteAww, snake suicide? That's terrible! lol
DeleteI really don't think there are any more. One of the reasons I like him was in reading about them, I learned they don't bite, even in self defense.
Perhaps you can honor him with a like coloured mani? :)
ReplyDelete