UNACCEPTABLE - NO, REALLY....UNACCEPTABLE

What the hell is this shit! The last couple of days my feet felt weird at the end of the day, but I figured it must be something going on from the sandals I was wearing.

I got home yesterday, looked down and saw.....

CANKLES!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You don't know me really, but I'm a skinny-ass thing. As in long legs like toothpicks with ankles that coordinate quite nicely with them, thank you very much.

So yeah....feet swelled up like a pudgy baby's complete with accompanying cankles. Seriously, not a good look. Not to mention I was a little concerned as to why that would happen. After looking on the wonderful internet, apparently it isn't uncommon when it's toasty out. *insert sigh of relief*  

While I'm happy it's no biggie health-wise, I don't want cankles. I like my skinny ankles. Now after sitting here at work, I just looked down and sure enough, feet are swelling again. Guess I get to have cankles again today. I'll probs have them this weekend, too, after sitting in the car for 5 hours tomorrow. Not awesome.

I tried sitting outside last night, and damn, those wasps were cranky! And they really wanted the sugar water! They were so pesty even my birds didn't come around. I was saddy-pants.  I was sitting with the feeder in my hand, fly swatter on my lap, looking even crazier than I normally do, especially every time I jumped up, swore and smacked the front window with the swatter and then ran away. I did manage to kill two of them that way.  I don't even care that I looked redonk.  I figure it's only a matter of time before I get stung. Kev went and sprayed them again last night and said he soaked the nest.

Someone should have mentioned that fact to the critters because when I got home at lunch, guess what I saw buzzing in and out of their usual spot on the porch. Yup. The bastards are bionic or something.

Once I gave up on the bird-sitting, I watched some tv and did my nails.  I really like this one, but it's a little fall-ish. Hopefully I'll have time to take it off tonight once I get done packing for the weekend.

I used Ruby Kisses Solid Copper; first time ever, and it's really pretty! Now I remember why I bought it.  I then used my Mash black stamping polish for the first time. I always had the Konad special black before, and I'm quite happy with the Mash brand to take its place.  I went old school and used my Ninja Polish DRK-A stamp plate.

So yeah. Pretty. And it is super-duper shiny in person. That's not something I usual pay much attention to, but this sucker is glossy as all get out.

Tomorrow is work until nooner, and then I'm heading off to Illinois to stay with a friend from one of the Facebook nail groups. I've met her before, and there are a couple of others going for the weekend who I haven't met yet. I'm looking forward to it; lounging in the pool, drinks, playing with polish and probs some polish buying. Not thrilled about making the drive by myself, but no way I'm missing out on the shenanigans and tomfoolery.

Not sure if you'll see a blog post while I'm gone. I'll have my camera and my computer.....maybe we'll compose a whole party of a blog post with all of us contributing. If not, hopefully I'll at least get pics of whatever we do on nails for a post next week.

That is assuming, of course, that I don't drink one too many pina's and drown in the pool.

SMATCHY SPLOTCHY-SPLATTER

GROSS!! It was flying ant day yesterday.  I really hate flying ant day.  Some of you probably have no clue what I'm referring to, but there is usually one day/evening during the summer where flying black ants take to the sky....and they're disgusting. It kind of looked like there was a smidge of snow falling as I looked out my kitchen window. Get up today, none.

So that's why I (and some others) call it flying ant day. It makes you not want to go outside cuz' they run into you, land on you, just generally annoy you. So that meant no hummingbird time for me last night. No way in hell I was sitting out there with those creatures.

Then today I go home for lunch and bring the feeder in to refill it, and when I try to rehang it, a damn wasp wanted to "help". I backed away, feeder still in hand, but every time I'd think he left, he'd show right back up the second I tried to hang it. Kev finally came out and did it. Bastards.  So here's hoping for tonight.

Last night I remembered a shirt that I bought a couple of years ago. Totes forgot that I have it and couldn't figure out where it even was. After going through my closet one item at a time, I finally found it. I wanted to do a splatter mani to go with it.

I had done this once before for this shirt and had great luck. I used a straw and just blew the polish on. For some reason I could not get it to work last night. 

I finally gave up and just slapped the polish on using the edges of the straw.  I don't dislike it, but I'm calling this a fail because it didn't do what it was supposed to do.  I even included some shots with the shirt!

I did a basecoat of white using NYC French White. Then I just added little splotches of Color Club Blue Ming, Julep Susie, Sinful Colors Island Coral, Sinful Colors Poudre and 10 Professional The Little Black Dress.

I like every one of these colors in general. For my toes I just used the Blue Ming. I had no desire to splatter my tootsies.

So I guess I will call this a semi-fail instead of a fail. But only because it still looks good with the shirt even if it didn't get splattered and splotchy like I wanted.

Whatever. I'm kind of thinking I don't much care right now. I'm already pondering what to do next.

SQUIGGLICIOUS

My birdies let me down last night.  One of the baby boys flew up, hung around for a bit and then left without eating. After that I only had my own chow hound little girl stop for a bite. And that was it. Disappointing.

I wasn't really out there for very long...damn skeeters were on the attack last night. It was so warm and humid, and there wasn't any breeze to keep them away.  No wasps around, though! Not quite sure where they were, but methinks they should stay there.

It did mean that I had time to take off that purdy water marble. When I took it off, I really had no idea of what I wanted to do. That is called "piss poor planning".  I must have pondered a plan for an hour and then stared at my polishes and my stamping plates for another hour before I realized I'd better make a damn decision before it was too late to do anything at all. And that, my friends, is called "shit or get off the pot".  

Since I'm wearing a brown/cream/rust kind of hideous shirt, I figured I'd just stick with colors that aren't really smatchy but still work.

 

I don't think I've used my OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh before, but I like it.  It made for a nice color to stamp on with Julep Olivia which is a really great chocolatey brown.  This is also one of my fave stamps on the LeaLac LLC-A plate. I used it awhile back with white over lavender. I keep wanting to use it again and then think, "oh, save it for another time."  Save it for what? I have no idea. For some reason I make myself not use things I like. That's weird, even for me.

So that's that. My toes are Van Gogh. I've never stamped on my toes. I probs should do that sometime. Of course, half the time I get my nails all done and then realize I've completely forgotten to do my toes. I hate doing them; big ol' PITA, if you ask me. There were actually a few weeks where it wasn't quite warm enough to wear sandals to work, and I was more than happy to just let my piggies be bare inside a pair of flats.  Gotta' wear sandals while the wearin' is good, though, so I guess I have to try to remember to paint them.

Don't know what I'm doing tonight. I'm uninspired at the moment and feeling a bit slumpish. Yes, slumpish is a word, or if it's not, it should be. I think that I should be able to add words to the dictionary anytime I want to. 

Wonder who I have to see about doing that.

WEEKEND WATER MARBLE....OR WATER MARBLE WEEKEND

It's been 4 days since I did a post?? That is turrible!! I feel bad (kinda), but it was hot and sunny all weekend. You know what that means; pool time for me! Friday I hit that pool as soon as I got out of work at noon. I did manage to clean the house when I was done poolin' it, but then it was supper time. And after supper, it was hummingbird time. I've still been trying to get an hour out there every night just hoping to get some good stuff.

And I did get a couple of fun things. I won't bother you with them in here, but you can always see them on my Facebook page. Maybe I'll upload all of them to Youtube.  

So that's basically where my time has gone for the past 3 days. A few hours each day in the pool and taking videos. It's transferring those videos to my laptop and then editing them that takes forever so by the time I'm done, it's too late for nails. And I can't give up pool time. I'm trying to maintain this tan until we go to Cancun September 14th....ain't gonna' see me lobster red like some people get.  If I can keep what I've got, I won't have to go to the tanning bed.

Last night I finally did manage a mani, though.  It's always best to water marble on a weekend. Leaves plenty of time for mistakes and/or re-do's. I have had really good luck with mine lately. They've gone really fast. It used to be I needed hours to do a marble. Now I find that some of the striping tape or gradient stuff takes up more time for me. I guess at this point I've done enough marbling that I don't find them to be difficult any more. It's kinda' nice! They are much more fun to do when they play nice.

This all started because I wanted a color to smatch my shirt for today.  It's a barely peach/cream shirt; it's the exact color of the lightest color in this marble. I don't know why I've been feeling so smatchy lately.

The lightest shade is Julep Sally; the middle coral is Julep Teri and China Glaze Life Preserver is my darkest shade.

I haven't decided if I'm going to take this off tonight or not. I really do love it. It's also gorgeous out, and if it's not raining this evening, I'm going to want some hummingbird time. Last week I was getting pretty chilly sitting out there, and I much prefer it when it's still warm. I think last night our temps didn't drop below around 72, so that is hot, especially when I consider that a week or so ago, my heat was kicking on in the morning.

So I may just leave this for another day.  Can't help it....I really love peaches and corals. Love 'em. Seriously. I love this marble. Admit it. It's pretty. 

Not as pretty as a marble my friend did with the entire Halo Hues collection, but I never liked her anyway.

WELL, THAT DIDN'T WORK - A-HOLES

You know how they say if some catastrophe ended life as we know it cockroaches would be the only thing to survive? I'm going to adamantly disagree.  

Because the very last thing to survive will be those mother-effing wasps living under my front porch. I'm pissed at them, and if I could safely catch them and torture them by pulling off every body appendage before finally squashing them, I would. I mean, seriously, what the hell does it take to kill these little bastards?

Last night I went out to try and catch some hummingbird fun before the storm hit, and I was only able to be there for 5 minutes because I guess the wasps have now decided to not stay in their own space on the porch.  For the past couple of weeks they've stuck to the opposite side of where I put the camera, but last night they started heading over to where I was sitting. Thanks. I love my birdies, but I'm not going to get attacked by wasps for them.

I had looked on the interwebs last week to see what else you can use to kill them, and they said soapy water.  Hmmm....I own soapy water. I mentioned it to Kev, and then I got out the bucket and the dish soap. Wow....were they pissed!! We went from usually 2 or 3 flying around the boards of the porch to 15-16 flying around the boards, and they were not happy campers. Tough shit.

Unfortunately, they were alive enough to be flying around. So 3 buckets of hot soapy water later, we had a whole mess of very angry wasps flying around the porch; I'm assuming they were mad because some of the nest got wet and the porch was wet so they couldn't go home. Didn't kill 'em, but I think it tortured 'em a little. When I went home for lunch today I saw a couple of dead ones, but there are still some buzzing around.  If they prevent me from my outside time again today, I'm going to be very disappointed (aka super pissed). Kev is gone back to work, so there will be no attempts at spraying them this weekend. Even though he's been able to get part of the nest sprayed, where it's located he can't really spray it as well as he needs to. I'm not sure where to go from here, but I ain't happy. They're so cranky this time of year, and yellow jackets will just come up and sting for no damn reason.

I guess it worked out okay that I couldn't be outside. Once I took off that dark polish from yesterday, I really had to do a soak-off of my nails. I had enough outgrowth that the blurple had snuck under the nails at the cuticle, and I couldn't get it outta' there.

I'm smatchy again today, not so much directly on my fingers, but my toes are the right color. The thing is, my shirt is kind of mustard yellow, but it has purple and green beading on it. Clever me thought it would be super duper to paint my nails green and then stamp with the purple. Great in theory; didn't really translate on the nail. The purple is an odd shade. In fact, of my 3 drawers of purple polish, I only had ONE that matched. Even I was shocked.

The perfect smatchy green is Sinful Colors In the Limelight and the purple is Sinful Colors Shock and Awe used with my Ninja Polish DRK-C stamp.  I was not aware that the purple over the green would end up more blue. Dammit. It's really a disappointment because Shock and Awe is really a great color. I have it on my toes, and they are just a-glowin' purple.

So that's that for today's VOTD and the mani. Be prepared for more bitching tomorrow if those wasps ruin my fun.

SMATCHES BUT NOT A FAN

Do you ever have "heavy sigh" days? Cuz' that's what I'm having today. Not for any particular reason, it just seems like at least 3 times an hour I give out the big ol' "I'm just sick of life" sigh.  I think I just want to go home. lol

My little feathered friends were disappointing last night. I had a couple of them come and eat, but nobody perched, and they didn't get all crazy and playful like I was hoping. Maybe they weren't liking the heat. I'll try again tonight although if heat was the issue, tonight won't work very well because it's hotter than yesterday.

Lest you get confused, I am not complaining about the weather. Bring on the 90 degree weather!! It feels delightful! It is probs why I keep sighing though; because I'm not outside in it or laying in the pool.

Here's my fave video so far of my hummers :)  Watch how close my girl gets to my face. She always takes the time to check me out....makes me a little nervous how close she gets sometimes.

 

I decided to do a smatchy sponge gradient last night. I think I'm getting better at them, but I do not like this one so much.  It really does go with my shirt, though.

I'm a little shocked at how much better this looks in person. None of my pics did it justice at all. I went for my fave blurple of all time,

OPI Roadhouse Blues and then moved to Sinful Colors Shock and Awe and some unnamed Color Club. 

In person the SC Shock and Awe is really pretty, and that Color Club is much brighter than it shows here.  I know this because I'm holding my hand up next to the picture to compare it. So yeah....truth.

No post tomorrow. I was supposed to post this after work and then do my nails, but I fell asleep cuz' my tummers hurt. I didn't even go sit outside with the birdies.  Booooo

FREEHAND FRENCHIFIED

The hummingbirds have officially taken over my life. It's all I can think about. If I could just sit out there holding that food dish all day, I would.  I really just wanted to stay home this morning. Before I left for work I could hear a whole lot of chirping. When I looked at the garage feeders, I had at least 7 or 8 of them playing. I didn't even know we had that many!! They were really causing a scene; fun stuff to watch.

The last couple of nights have been unreal. They really seem to be getting used to me. I set up my camera and chair last night and started the recording. I always get it set up, sit down, hold the feeder for a second and then go back and check to see if I like how the camera angle is.  Last night I set it up, sat in the chair, picked up the feeder and in 2 seconds had a  female eating. She must have been waiting! So when she flew off, then I went and changed the angle to where I wanted it.

And it was perfect! I now have 4 that will come and eat from me. I have that first female; she's not as pretty, but she will sit on my finger and she eats like a horse.  I've had a full-grown male eat from me twice. Then I have my gorgeous, nosy female. She is so pretty! Her whole front is just smooth, perfect white. But she makes me nervous. She'll feed like the others, and she perched on my finger for the first time last night. 

But she looks at me. A lot. They are all very curious and will look at me as they eat, but she is just super nosy and bold. She will take a break from eating and hover at eye level with me, which would be all fine and dandy. But she then flies in close to my face. Like so close I have to squint or close my eyes because I'm afraid she's going to run into me with that damn beak. Then she'll go back to eating. So much fun!

I also had a strange looking one come in last night. Looks like my pretty girl but has just a very tiny spot of bright fuschia/red. I thought maybe she had gotten into something. Come to find out, it's a baby boy just starting to get his big boy colors. First time I'd seen him.

It was out of control last night. My stupid camera shut off so I missed out on some of the best stuff.  But they decided they would do their usual crazy playing that they always do in the evenings. They dive bomb and run into each other and are just all over the place. That's what normally happens at the feeder when it's attached to the picture window. 

Well, last night "I" was the picture window. They were zipping so close and so fast all around me that I was actually a bit scared. I thought for sure I was going to get crashed into. I stuck it out, though, because I knew the video was going to be amazeballs.

Yeah, right. I went to go in, grabbed the camera, and sure enough, the frigging thing only recorded 15 1/2 minutes. Weird amount, but that's where it seems to shut off every time. I did get my nosy girl flying up to my face, though. And I still have time to video some craziness, hopefully tonight.

So if you're my friend on Facebook, go check out the vids....the title of that good one is "Miss Nosy Pants", and they are all on my timeline. In fact, even if you're not my FB friend, you might still be able to see them. I think everything I have is public. It's worth a look! Honest!! Just look for me, Diane Moran Graham.

Of course all of this hummingbird tomfoolery is taking up all of my nail time. By the time I finished editing videos last night, I didn't even touch my nails until 12:15. Yikers. Not a good thing! Because I not only had to do them, I had to remove the mani I had on my left hand that I had done during the day for Nail It magazine. I did manage to get 'em done, but my poor toenails are still bare. Which sucks because it's warm enough for sandals, and now I can't wear them. lol

This isn't exciting, but the shirt I have on is red/grey striped. So there ya' go. It smatches.  This red is Julep Rose, and then I just quickly freehanded a little tip with China Glaze Concrete Catwalk. It certainly isn't the best French mani I've ever done, but I didn't have time to use striping tape to make it perfect. It's not like anybody I see is going to critique my lines. And if they do, they might get punched. Unless they can do better, they had better just shut it.

I just now realized that my hummingbirds are probs going to like this red. I've been wearing red shirts to help draw them in, so I should be mobbed tonight between the feeder, the shirt and the nails.

I'm okay with that. 

OH, DIS IS MORE PURDY THAN YESTERDAY!

It's summer!! WooHoo!! I'm obsessed with Weatherbug and the Weather Channel on my phone; I check them  at least once a day, and right now it looks like it's going to be summer for at least the next ten days.  It's 85 on my deck right now, and it's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow and Sunday. Who knows; maybe the pool water will get above 74 degrees.  I went right in today....it's not like I actually need to be able to feel my lower extremities, right?

I'm actually kind of concerned....I think my fave raft might have a leak which will not please me. At all. It's such a nice one because it's adjustable so I can raise and lower the back to right where I like it. My last one lasted a couple of  years. That one is actually still useable but the ropes to adjust it broke and there's a slow leak. In other words, that's Kevin's raft. Or Tyler's if she's home. Not mine.

Mine is the nice new one, so I'm really hoping maybe I just didn't push the plug all the way in.  I'm certainly not going to buy another one this late in the year.

So I did do my nails last night. At some point over the next few days I need to re-do that orange/white/taped gradient because Nail It Magazine wants me to do a tutorial on it. I really hate when I have to do the same thing so close to the last time, but I guess I'll just do one hand and not leave it on.

Here's what I did last night.....gotta' love a holo!

Don't worry....I made it home safely, all the while staring at my nails.  I only took pics while at the stoplight. Kinda' sad that I was actually hoping to get stopped at a stoplight. Why do they have to look so damn good in a car?

I didn't have a friggin' clue what I wanted to do last night, but as I wandered Pinterest I saw somebody's navy blue with some holo dots over it.  I didn't want navy, and I didn't want dots.  So I went for the dark green of Square Hue Patty's Pint and used my Color Club Halo Hue Angel Kiss with my DRK-C stamping plate. 

So there's my photos for the day. Now I'm thinking about going to stalk the hummingbirds.  Unless the wasp nest under the front deck is being too feisty at this time of day. I'm askeered of wasps. They hurt like a bitch if they getcha!

I guess the question is; do I love the hummers more or hate the wasps more....

SIMPLY PURDY

Gawd, I'm so lazy!! I just can't seem to motivate to do much with anything other than the hummingbirds. I'm so determined to feed those little buggers, and with the weather we've been having, I'm afraid they're going to head for Costa Rica sooner than usual.  If you don't see me for a couple of days during the weekend,  you can just assume I'm in the pool or parked in front of the picture window.

I was lazy last night, too, but I forced myself to do my nails. I didn't even start until 10:30, so obvi I wasn't going to do anything too labor intensive. I do like what I did, though. 

I don't think I've ever used this Essie, Angora Cardi, before, but yikers! It is a really fantabulous color! And China Glaze Admire is a stamp champ. I don't remember what collection that's from, but I have the green one like it and that one stamps great, too. The stamp is from my Ninja Polish DRK-C plate. I've wanted to use this design for awhile but have been holding off for I don't know what.

Not sure if I'll do a mani tonight, but at least if I don't, I'll be wearing something I like.

It's gorgeous outside......hummingbirds look out!

IN A HUMMINGBIRD AND MARBLE MOOD

My hummingbird obsession continues, but it was too cold last night to sit outside to try and feed 'em. Warm weather will be here for the next week so I'm planning on spending a lot of time sitting on my folding chair in the front yard planted in front of the picture window. Anyone driving by my house must think I'm either a) grounded, b) in a time out, or c) crazy.  I'll let them come to their own conclusions. It's not like I actually know any of those people.

I went through some of my pics from earlier this season and thought I'd throw in a pic of my male and one of the females.  The pics are taken from my recliner right through the picture window. Not bad!

I did actually force myself to do nails last night even though I fell asleep after work. Thankfully this went fast with no do-overs.

I did 2 coats of Loreal Tea and Crumpets first. I was actually going to use it in the marble, but it wouldn't spread and was stopping the others from spreading. One bad apple....

So I gave up and decided to just marble with two colors, Loreal Brownie Points and American Apparel Mouse. It's kind of a gloomy marble, but it matched my mood.

I'm sorry I've been remiss about posting daily. I guess doing my nails every day during the summer isn't as easy as doing them every day in the winter. Between pool time, work and now hummingbird shenanigans, I just haven't been very motivated to do nails. I hope I can get myself back in the groove soon. I really hate that I'm wearing mani's for 2 or 3 days now.

I'm not even going to promise much over the next few days. I have to enjoy the weather while it gets warm. It's been such a shit summer that I need to soak up every little bit of it I can.

Don't give up on me, though!!

TOO MUCH GOOD STUFF!

I fully intended to get a jump start for the week and maybe do several mani's over the weekend, but I had more fun doing what I did.  For one thing, I actually got 3 days in the pool!! I didn't think Sunday was going to be a good pool day, but it turned out to be fantabulous. I feel like I've sufficiently replenished my tan for now. Of course I'm still hoping it's good next weekend, too.

After all that fun I had with the hummingbirds the other day, I got it in my head that I should just go outside with a chair and hold the feeder to see if they would come to me and drink.

And they DID!! It was seriously the coolest thing ever. I took the feeder, braced my elbows on my knees and held it up. Then I sat like a statue while Kev stood on the porch with the video camera.

I wasn't moving my head, but I could hear them whizzing by me while they were wondering why the feeder wasn't in the window. And then finally a little female got brave and stopped to eat. I could actually feel a breeze from her wings. She would eat and then hover and look right at me. Several times she flew in close to my face, shoulder and head, checking me out. At one point I had one flying near me and her hovering, and they got so close I actually had to close my eyes and kind of flinched because they were making me nervous. lol

I wasn't happy when I had to stop to go in and make supper. Kev had some work to do in the yard so after supper I decided I would try to find a way to set up the camera to video while I sat some more. I placed the camera and sat down. Once again, shortly after I sat down that same little female came in to eat and actually perched on the right side while she ate. They are so gorgeous and delicate close up. I just stared with a smile on my face.

Just as I was considering going inside, I heard this loud hum, and a male boldly came right in to the front hole of the feeder and started eating. He went from the front to each side. When he left I couldn't wait to go grab the camera to see if the video was good.

It wasn't.  The focus was horrible, and the camera had shut off. It seems like it was because my battery was low. At least that's what I'm assuming because I had to charge it shortly after I went inside. I could have cried. Who knows if I'll ever get such perfection again.

I tried again last night but couldn't stay out there because the mosquitos were feasting on me.  I'm going to try again after work. One way or another I'm going to get video that actually shows the good stuff.

Also got my Nail It magazine in the mail, and look who made it to the section where they are featuring french-type manicures. I even made it to the Table of Contents! I'm pretty happy about it.

After all my birdwatching last night, I got a late start on my manicure. It smatches my shirt, but other than that, it's not very exciting.

I used Sinful Colors Cool Grey for the lighter of the two and Sinful Colors Smokin' to stamp with. The stamp is from my Ninja Polish DRK-C plate.

So there you have it; a thrilling pool/bird/magazine weekend with a manicure thrown in just for good measure.

Hopefully I'll manage to get some videos tonight, and if I do, I'll make sure to get a screen shot from the vid to post here. I'd love to have some cute hummingbird pics to post.

So wish me luck!

SQUARE HUE FOR AUGUST - PIC HEAVY

Great start to the weekend yesterday with 3 hours in the pool, and for once Kev was home to join me.  It's not often I have somebody actually in the pool when I am. Of course, that means I can't blast the Bose and sing, but I can live with that.

After that we grilled some dinner and settled in to catch up on some tv, and then the hummingbirds started being fun to watch in the front window. And OMG, they were amazeballs!! Rather than taking turns at the feeder, there were a couple that were kind of playing....it's really cool. I was trying to get video but not having much luck.

Then I decided I would step out on the front porch with camera in hand. As I snuck out the door, there were 2 about 4 feet to my left that flitted off. I settled in leaning on the house directly across from the feeder and waited.

For like 10 seconds. Then the real fun started. One flew in and started eating, and then another joined her. All of a sudden I had 4 of them playing, darting and hovering. I've never had 4 at the same time before so when I came back in the house, I was absolutely giddy and posted it on Facebook as fast as I could.

Of course I had to go back out to see if it would happen again. This time I only had 2, but they saw me and started flying away. Or so I thought. What they actually did was come right over to where I was standing, with one hovering maybe 3 feet to my right and the other directly behind my right shoulder off maybe 4 feet.

Obviously I didn't want to move because they'd leave, but I managed to turn the camera and even though I couldn't see the viewfinder, I was able to catch the one closest to me as she hovered and checked me out.

I know they are pretty much fearless and will look at me without leaving, but damn!! My battery then needed charging, but I can't wait to try again tonight to get some more. I love those little buggers.

Onto the nails. I had bought this little sponge holder thingie on eBay from China to use for gradients and decided to try it out with my August Square Hue polishes. As I've said before, gradients are not my forte, but this little $1.00 tool made it super easy. I hope it wasn't just the polishes that made it work so well. Square Hue polishes are fantabulous, and I always look forward to getting them. 

I started off by doing a coat of white using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in White Out. The colors are all Square Hue; yellow is Bikini Beach; the orange is Scorched Summer and the red is Surf Gypsy. The red also has a little bit of sparkle to it, but I did one coat of Orly Shine on Crazy Diamond just to add a bit more.

I really like how this turned out even though I decided to just do one hand. It was too late to do my right hand, and I think I'll probs do something else tomorrow night to start off the week.

You wouldn't expect me to wear this all the way to Monday, would you??  

SNAKESKIN (no, not real)

Today is my 15th anniversary of marrying the best hubster ever. He's a keeper, obviously.  Tonight I won't be doing my nails, as we're having some friends over to grill out some meat.

 

In the meantime, I scrolled through some of my older pics and found one that somehow seemed appropriate given the fact that I still can't get that poor stupid little snake out of my head. Weird.

 

The picture isn't the greatest. When I look back at my older photos, I see that I really did need a new camera even though I didn't think so at the time. You should have seen this shot "before" I "fixed" it. Yikers!

It's kind of funny when I look at this. I took it last July right in the midst of all of the garter snake shenanigans that were going on at my house. In fact, a day or so before I used this nail foil, I had found a snake shed under my pool stairs. It was really long! 

 

Somebody jokingly said I should use it to do a manicure. I was horrified at the thought of putting real snakeskin on my nails. I did a quick search on the interwebs and discovered that people were really doing that!! And they were paying a couple of hundred bucks to have it done. Freaks.  I'll stick with the foil.

 

I wish all of my foils worked like this one. Since it's not metallic, topcoat didn't have an effect on the finish. Even the bossman commented on these, and he never says anything about my nails.

 

So these are my tribute to my deceased little buddy.

 

At this point I'm actually wishing some garter snakes would show up just so I'd have something to stalk while I'm in the pool. It's so boring just laying there.  

 

Thankfully I still have my precious hummingbirds to watch. They've been complete piggies about drinking up their sugar water. When I got up at 6:30 this morning, there was still food in the feeder; I figured it was enough to last until I get home tonight. When I left for work at 8:30, the damn thing was empty!! Criminey! I know they're super active in the morning, but geez! It's so fun to watch them, especially in the morning. There's 3 or 4 of them flitting around, and it's like they're playing. So effing cute.

 

So that's gonna' be it for today. I'm stuck with the same mani from yesterday, which doesn't thrill me, but I guess dinner with friends should come first.

 

Sometimes real life sure can get in the way of my addiction.

PRETTY PLEASED. :)

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.

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.

TRIBAL TUTORIAL

Not a perfect 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.

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.

Now onto the mani. The most time-consuming mani eva! I actually tried doing just my thumb on Saturday night. Decided I could do it so I painted my left hand yellow and went to bed. The next morning I did a couple of more steps on my left hand and painted my right hand yellow.

Always topcoat. Somehow while I was in the pool I managed to screw up all of the nails on my right hand because I hadn't topcoated.  That meant I had to start over completely. Dammit.

It isn't a difficult mani, per se; but it sure took a lot of time. Doing my right hand was terrible! I sure wish I was ambidextrous. Or at least an ambi-turner. (some of you will get that).

So here it is! I don't know if I'll ever do another one, but I like this. And just for the record, I saw this mani somewhere else but don't know who to give credit to because there was no blog link.

 

And here's what I used:  China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, Kleancolor Pastel Teal, American Apparel Hassid, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure White Out, Sinful Colors Island Coral along with striping tape to make that initial "V", a tiny brush for filling in and a dotting tool to make lines.

I'll be wearing this until at least Wednesday. Way too much work to take it off.

Put it this way; this was so much work and took so  long that I don't even want to do my nails.

THAT'S THE WAY, UH-HUH, UH-HUH, I LIKE IT. (uh-huh, uh-huh)

I stayed awake after work! Yay me! Sad that I'm so excited about something so ridic. But it meant I had lots of time to play with my nails and catch up on some tv. I figure in about 2 weeks I'll be caught up on the tv watching. 

So I guess I have no VOTD today because I'm just not in a complaining kinda mood.  That'll change if I don't get to lay in the pool this weekend, just so you know.

I forgot how much I hate taking off textured polish. It's not as bad as glitter, but it's still kind of a pain in the ass. I had it on my damn toes, too. For the record, the whole pedicure thing was a complete waste of time and effort since I haven't worn sandals all week. 

Anywhosers, once I got that all off, I was ready to actual do what I tried last night. 

I am liking this a lot, although I will say it looks much better in person.  Something about the way the light hits this when I take pictures makes it look different than in does in real life.

My white base coat for this is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure White Out. After I put a coat of Seche Vite and let it dry, I taped off my  nails using striping tape.  Then I took a small sponge-type eye shadow applicator and dabbed on the lighter peach, which is Barielle Peach Popsicle. I used the opposite side of my sponge applicator and put China Glaze Life Preserver on the tips. I played with them a little bit to make the colors blend a bit, and when they were dry I threw on 2 more coats of Seche Vite. 

I think it's purdy.  Since I have no plans for the weekend I will probs leave it on for a couple of days. 

For the record, "I have no plans" actually means, "My ass better be laying in that pool or there will be hell to pay".

UH-OH, THE QUEEN HAS HER CRANKY PANTS ON TODAY!

Today I make up for all of the VOTD's that I haven't posted.

This fatigue nonsense is driving me cray-cray. I just don't get it. I went back to bed for another hour again this morning, which I just hate! 

And where is summer?? This is the crappiest summer we've had in a few years. It didn't start until June, and except for the one week where it was 90, it has barely been in the 70's since then. I need pool weather, dammit! Global warming, my ass.

AND I'm super pissed about a group nail board over on Pinterest. A long time ago I was invited to pin on the Re-Pin Nail Exchange board, so every day when I post my daily mani, I would pin it to that board. A couple of weeks ago the board disappeared from my account. It has done that before when there's a Pinterest glitch. So I go searching for it and find it. I notice that I can no longer pin to it so I send the owner an email. No response. I figure it's no biggie; I'll still follow it because it has a TON of nail ideas. Um....hit follow, and it informs me that the owner blocked me. WTF?

So now I fire off another email and again receive no response. I go to the rules link and see that I've never broken one. It also leads me to "Inspirationail" on Facebook. So I go over there and post, asking why I'm blocked. Still no answer. I look through their albums and see a couple of my manicures. I commented on one of them, and of course didn't get any kind of answer.

I'm pissed. I don't appreciate getting booted without a reason given. A-holes.

I'm also not happy that I fell asleep after supper last night. I had a plan for a mani but figured I'd test it out on just one finger. So I only removed the polish from my thumb nail. I tried what I wanted to do, but since it involved striping tape, it was taking way too long to do last night. Thankfully I had only cleaned off my thumb so I re-did the pixiedust on my nail and am stuck with this for another day.

In the meantime, I'll just post a pic of what CNS had contacted me to do last Friday. Luckily they only requested one since I wouldn't have had time last weekend to do a bunch.

So here's the wedding marble they wanted. I can't even tell you what polishes I used because I did it so fast. lol

I wasn't sure how this would turn out. I have notoriously bad luck whenever I try to use gold or silver in a marble....something about the texture of those colors, I guess.

I'm pretty happy with it. If I would have had more time, I probs would have re-done the ring finger. It has kind of a murky section that I'm not a fan of, but it is what it is.

I sure do hope tonight I can do something to my nails. Three days with the same thing on my nails is really going to be pushing it for me. 

If I'm stuck with it again, that can be tomorrow's VOTD.