Monday, July 27, 2015

MINTY FRESH

After a damn near perfect weekend, it's actually painful to have to work. If life could be the way I want it to be, I would never have to work if the sun is out and it's over 70 degrees. Right now just thinking about the pool with water that is probs 90 right now is driving me crazy. When I went home at lunchtime I'm going to guess and say it was probably 92 degrees in my back yard. Do I want to be inside in a nice air-conditioned office? NOPE!

Lisa, Laura and two of the kids came out yesterday afternoon for some pool time and to drop off Seven. Today is Laura's birthday, and they wanted to go out of town to celebrate so of course I offered to keep her until Tuesday. As much as Seven loves the pool, she loves it even more when her kids or Laura are in it with her. She always makes sure to swim by every one of us at least once during her laps around. So cute.

I may have to do something highly unusual and go in the pool after I get home at 5 o'clock. Normally I don't see the point in going in the pool if I'm not in the sun, but poor Seven has been dying to go swimming ever since I covered it up yesterday. She keeps going partway up the stairs to try to get in. Whether I go in or not, if Kev hasn't taken her in this afternoon, I'm going to have to make the effort and uncover it for her. She loves it so much! Not only that, it will make her take a break from shoving every dog ball in my lap every 3 seconds. She has much more energy than I'm used to. Even after all of the swimming yesterday she wasn't tired at all. I think she only laid down for about 15 minutes right up until I went to bed at 12:30. She didn't stay in bed with me, either.....no clue where she slept. Within 5 minutes of me getting up at 6:15 she once again was shoving that toy in my face and then cried when I took a shower. What a baby.

I actually did my nails for the weekend. I didn't have any reason to, but I did them anyway.
China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle, Mundo de Unas White, LeaLac LLC-B stamp
This is such a pretty green, China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle. I will say that as much as I like the color, I did  not appreciate the application on this one. I had to do three coats, and the third one I did fairly thick to prevent bald spots. I hate when polishes do that. I used Mundo de Unas White and a pattern off of the LeaLac LLC-B stamping plate that I don't think I've used before.

Right now that's kind of my goal; use some designs I haven't tried before. I'm a terrible creature of habit, and I tend to lean towards the same colors and designs over and over again. That's the one flaw with stamping plates. I'll get a plate to get several designs that I want but then there are a bunch of other weird-ass ones I know I'll never use.

I even decided to do my nails again last night. Seven wasn't very helpful, which slowed me down considerably, but I did manage to get them done with nothing knocked over, spilled and no stray pieces of dog hair landing on my wet nails.

If I had a dollar for every time a piece of dog hair screwed up my nails, I could probably retire.



Friday, July 24, 2015

I LIKED THIS

It's Friday, so I'm already well into my weekend. So far so good. I did all the house cleaning Wednesday night after work, specifically so I can now be lazy all the way through Sunday. My sweetheart of a husband had done the laundry which means that's something I don't have to do that I had planned on doing.

I spent a few hours in the pool yesterday and this afternoon, and it's already calling my name for tomorrow. It's all nice and clean now, too. The new salt water system is doing a great job. Last Saturday I discovered that my favorite pool raft has a leak. I decided it was time to suck it up and spend the money on a non-inflatable. When I was searching to buy one, I came across a pool vacuum that I promptly purchased brand new on eBay for $40 cheaper. It has a rechargeable battery and doesn't need a hose, which is awesome. My other vacuum can clean the pool bottom, but it adds freezing cold water the entire time.

The new raft and the vacuum got here, and they are both amazing! Kev had done some pool cleaning with it Tuesda, and today I walked around in the pool with it and cleaned up some more. I wish I'd known about it 5 years ago when we bought the pool.

Kev also finished the new stairs for Baylee, and she approves. After a good night's sleep the other day, she was feeling much better, and she was completely back to normal on Tuesday. She went in the pool a couple of times with Kevin Wednesday afternoon, and her hips aren't bothering her at all. Success.

I'm still stumped for mani ideas, and this is one from a couple of weeks ago.
Parrot Polish Curcubeu, Mundo de Unas black, Bundle Monster BM XL03 stamp

Parrot Polish Curcubeu, Mundo de Unas black, Bundle Monster BM XL03 stamp
This gorgeous holo is Parrot Polish Curcubeu. I love, love, love this polish. It can be seen a few other posts of mine. This time I was smarter when I stamped over it. I made sure I used a more delicate design using the Bundle Monster BM XL03 plate with my Mundo de Unas black. It let me have the design but didn't diminish the joy of the holo or the thrill of the color shift since this one also happens to be a multi-chrome.

Now I'm thinking I will go play with my nails. I'm pondering a water marble, but it's pretty warm in here so it might not want to work. If I start now, though, I have three days to get it right. 

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

OPI DS - ALWAYS A GOOD HOLO

This slump is hitting me even harder than I thought it was. I reapplied my nails last Thursday and didn't even bother to paint them until Sunday. And even then it was just a paint job, no design.

In all fairness to the slump, I did have a busy weekend. I got Razzie on Friday afternoon, and he keeps me busy because he wants to play. 

Then because it was absolutely beautiful outside, on Saturday I invited Seven and her owners for a pool day/puppy play date. They came out and we all spent the day outside visiting and playing in the pool with the dogs. 

That was so fun, we all did it again on Sunday afternoon. The amount of dog hair that was contributed to the pool was outrageous. Even though we were skimming it out all day long, it still managed to block up my salt water system and put it into a low flow error code frenzy. I was out there in the dark on Saturday night trying to determine where the problem was. I honestly didn't think it could be the dog hair because I had put in a brand new filter late in the afternoon and cleaned every portal I could find. As it turns out, I missed a spot, so at midnight I dug around in the dark and pulled out enough hair to make a puppy. Problem solved.

Solved until Sunday night when the same thing happened again. Luckily my new pool vacuum will be here sometime today, and I can't wait to try that thing out. My old vacuum has to have the hose attached and adds cold water to the pool. This new one doesn't need a hose because it has a rechargeable battery. Hopefully it will help keep things a bit cleaner.

One bad thing about all that pool time is the fact that Baylee, even with her not so great hips, decided she could go up and down those stairs to go swim. I think she went 3 or 4 times altogether, but by yesterday, her back end was giving her a lot of pain, and she could barely walk. After a day of taking it easy, pain pills, and a good night's sleep, she seems to be quite a bit better today. And as I type this, Kev is in the garage making a new stair system for her, one that won't be such a steep incline. I'm hoping that will make it easier for her and not cause her hips to get sore. I'll feel bad if she can no longer get her swim on. 

Here's the plain mani I did on Sunday night.

OPI DS Signature, Mundo de Unas black, MoYou Fashionista 04 stamp
It actually wasn't so bad. It is a holo, after all. This one is OPI DS Signature. I forget I have a few of those DS polishes. They really are gorgeous.

Then last night I was planning to take this off and actually "do" something, but instead I spent time outside watering the garden and then sat for a bit with the hummingbirds, even though the little brats wouldn't stop and eat while I held the feeder.

By the time I sat down to mess with my nails, it was after 10 p.m., so I decided I would just grab my black Mundo de Unas and stamp right over it.
OPI DS Signature, Mundo de Unas black, MoYou Fashionista 04 stamp
I chose this design from the MoYou Fashionista 04 stamping plate. It looked pretty cool with the matte black so I decided to take a pic.

And then I made the mistake of topcoating.
OPI DS Signature, Mundo de Unas black, MoYou Fashionista 04 stamp
Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly fine with a topcoat. I just wish I would have left it dull. I think it looked groovier that way, and it felt pretty groovy, too. My fear was that maybe the black would chip off if left without a topcoat.

I'm hoping that tonight I can motivate and take this off. If I could actually think of an idea for a mani, I'm sure I'd make the effort, but lately I just sit and think and don't come up with any ideas. Even when I wander the web looking for ideas, nothing is tempting me.

Hell, even choosing a color has been problematic lately. I don't know what would jumpstart my creativity, but I wish something would.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

I'LL NEVER LEARN

I can just feel myself slipping into a not wanting to do my nails slump. I'm feeling just pretty slumpish in general for reasons I won't go into. And yes, I have now deemed "slumpish" to be a word.

Hopefully I'll be feeling in a better mood when August is over. Until then, I'm seriously forcing myself to do just about anything.

This one is no exception. I once again started it way too late at night. When it was done and disliked, it was just too late to start over or try to make corrections.
Zoya Amminah, Mundo de Unas White, OPI Sheer Tint Be Magentale With Me, FUN 13 stamp
The "idea" was to do a neutral base with some stamping, and then do something sheer on top of it. It is actually exactly what I did; it just didn't look like I hoped it would.

I started with a base of Zoya Amminah, which I then stamped on with Mundo de Unas White and my Fab Ur Nails FUN 13 plate. Once that was dry, I added two coats of OPI Sheer Tint Be Magentale With Me.

I found that the OPI didn't go on very evenly, and even after two coats, I could see darker and lighter sections of pink. Maybe a third coat would have taken care of the issue, but it was just too late to try that.

What's even sadder about disliking this is the fact that I ended up wearing it for two whole work days. I finally made time to remove it last night. And I was shocked at how difficult that sheer tint was to remove! I probably should have wrapped my fingers with tinfoil to help move things along, but I was in the middle of a long text conversation and didn't want to be rude and end the convo.

I had to rub so hard I actually managed to pop off a thumbnail. That really did not make me any happier than I already was. I do plan on hopefully doing a reapplication this weekend, but that doesn't mean I wanted to spend time fixing just one. Lame.

After monkeying around with that forever, I barely had time to paint them. I did manage that, but I didn't get to actually do anything else other than a color. 

Boring.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

A PERFECT CORAL

I'm going to go ahead and call it even though technically the weekend isn't over. It was a damn near perfect one. The weather was gorgeous for plenty of pool time, and Kev's schedule changed so he came home Saturday afternoon instead of being gone until tonight. So we got pool time together, which doesn't actually happen very often.

One thing that's not perfect is the fact that my hummingbirds aren't being very friendly. I sat outside for an hour tonight, and even though I had a few come close, nobody stopped to eat. I guess I haven't been out there enough recently. They seem to have forgotten me. I didn't get a very good look at any of them so maybe they aren't my usual suspects. I know the male that came close didn't look familiar, at least not from the quick glimpse I got. Time for me to start making more of an effort, I guess.

Awhile back one of my nail friends thought it would be completely appropriate to post a pic of a nail polish that she knew I'd have to have. And once she did, I discovered it would be next to impossible to get it.

I'm completely obsessed with coral/peach polishes. Always have been. I've mentioned it on more than one occasion in my nail group, so Martha from Polish Makes Me Happy made sure to tag me when she posted her pic.

After I ranted about how much I wanted it, she added me to a Facebook group. From there I was hoping I would luck into somebody getting rid of one of these.  I guess it was a custom color, and I don't know that it was even available to the general public.

Someone did finally post that they had one for sale, but of course I missed out on it, and so did Martha. After that I kind of figured I'd never be lucky enough to own it.

Then two weeks ago I got a package in the mail from someone I didn't know. I didn't remember ordering anything, but it wouldn't be the first time I forgot I bought something. I open the package, and what did I find? THIS!
Carpe Noctem Immoral Coral, Mundo de Unas white, Ali Express AP-10 stamp
This is IT! Simply one of the most beautiful corals ever, Carpe Noctem Immoral Coral. That little stinker Martha somehow managed to snag one and surprise me with it. How sweet is she??

I wore this on July 2nd on its own, and then on July 3rd I stamped on it.
Carpe Noctem Immoral Coral, Mundo de Unas white, Ali Express AP-10 stamp
I know it wasn't a 4th of July holiday mani, but I just didn't want to take it off to do red, white and blue. I went with the Ali Express AP-10 plate with Mundo de Unas white to give it a little sumthin' extra. 

Not sure what I did to deserve the giftage, but to say I was tickled would be an understatement. When I got it, I swatched it immediately and then left it sitting next to me for days until using it. I didn't even want to put it away. I just kept picking it up and looking at it.

And now I'm sitting here with nails that need to be painted. If I don't get an idea in my head pretty quickly, I may end up going to work with just a color and no design. I don't really want that to happen, so I'm off to hopefully find some inspiration.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

NEWEST SQUARE HUE

Man, it does not feel like it should only be Tuesday. I'm not sure why, but these first two days of the week have just been dragging. I'm almost positive it should at least be Thursday by now.

I probably shouldn't wish the week away. On Thursday I'll pack up that grandson and grandpuppy of mine and drive about 3 hours, give them back to their rightful owners and then drive about 3 hours back home. It's going to suck. It won't be too long before they come back, though, since they'll come home for Griffin's 5th birthday party at the end of the month. 

This year's party theme per Griff is super heroes. He decided that I will be Wonder Woman. Seems appropriate, right? I was laying in bed with him the other night and we were discussing it. His mom already got me a Wonder Woman t-shirt to wear for the party. He informed me that if I don't have the WW pants, I am uninvited. Once I acted horrified, he advised that he was just kidding. The kid just cracks me up so much! 

On to nail stuff! 

I just love getting my monthly Square Hue polishes. They never fail to make me happy, and this month is no exception.
Square Hue Tune In, Mundo de Unas white, Bundle Monster BM XL11
This is Square Hue Tune In. I liked this dark fuschia pink right away in the bottle and was surprised to find that it is a matte polish. I debated leaving it dull, but I opted for topcoating it. I used Mundo de Unas white and the Bundle Monster BM XL11 plate for the stamping.

I know I've said it before, but if you want a good subscription box, I'm still pushing Square Hue as a great option. They have actually come out with a second option for their service now. Instead of getting the three polish box, you can opt for the two polish box instead. The two polish box is $10.99 plus shipping, and you can alternate between boxes if you feel like you want more polish on any given month.

I was very lucky when I signed up. It was almost two years ago, and I got in at a time when they gave me a permanent discount and free shipping, so for me, it's only $14.99 a month. Can't beat that.

I'll cross my fingers that my price stays there for a very long time, but to be honest, even if the price goes up, I'll keep getting it. While I am still a Julep Maven, I find myself skipping their boxes the majority of the time. I do love their polish, but their pricing is high, especially considering the size of their bottles. If I didn't have the ability to skip months I don't like, I'd be canceling them.

The other nice thing about the subscription polishes? It's fun to have guaranteed polish to look forward to every month. Somehow I feel less guilty when those arrive as opposed to when I walk out of a store with some.

Not sure why.

Monday, July 6, 2015

RAINBOWIE GRADIENT

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was hectic, just as I had expected. Extra dogs, extra people....things still aren't back to normal. Tyler went back home but left Griffin and Zero here, and I'll be driving to meet up with my son-in-law on Thursday to give him back his son and his dog. 

I felt bad for Zero the past few nights. Even though none of my dogs have ever had a fear of fireworks or thunderstorms, sweet little Zero does. Luckily it isn't too intense of a fear, but he was definitely anxious when the booms were going off around the neighborhood. The holiday is over, and I'm hoping everyone used up the rest of their fireworks last night.

Over the past year or so I've seen lots of these rainbow type gradients on the interwebs, and I finally got around to doing one myself.
Cult El Porto, Kleancolor Tangerine Burst, Neon Green, Neon Purple, Neon Yellow, KB Shimmer Lei It Again and In Yacht Water, Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond, rainbow gradient
I did a white base with Cult El Porto, and the gradients were done with Kleancolor Tangerine Burst, Neon Green, Neon Purple, Neon Yellow and KB Shimmer Lei It Again and In Yacht Water. I added just one thin coat of Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond for a smidge of sparkles before ending with my usual Seche Vite topcoat.

Actually, I did this one last Sunday night and on Monday morning before work I decided to re-do my ring finger and pinkie. The blue I used on Sunday was a darker neon, and since the other fingers kind of had a light/dark contrast happening, I knew it would drive me insane if I didn't change that blue. It was the right decision. I can't stand anything unbalanced.

Now I'm off to either take a nap, do some sweepstakes or do my nails. We just finished supper, and I'm paying the price for eating too much. My stomach is not happy with me at all. 

I probably wouldn't be so tired if it weren't for Zero. That dog is too happy for my own good. He doesn't wag his tail; he wags the entire back half of his body, and that tail is deadly. In the bedroom no matter where he wags, it hits something.  Several times during the night he apparently got happy and whacked that thing on the bathroom door. Loudly. And woke me up every time.

He is super cute, though, so it's worth losing a little bit of sleep to have him here.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

I WAS IN A HURRY

Just a fast post to go along with this mani that I did really fast on Sunday before going to the birthday party.

But first, just one bitch about the weather. It was 46 degrees this morning, and it might drop into the 30's tonight. Come on! 

It is supposed to get warm again over the next few days, though, so that's good. Tonight my friends are dropping Seven off so I can puppysit until Friday evening. Tyler, Griffin and Zero will be coming home tomorrow evening. My house will once again be a zoo.

I'm itching to get out of here today because I need to grab some groceries for the kids on my way home, and then I need to hurry up and get the entire house cleaned before they drop off the dog. If I wait to do that tomorrow, I have a feeling Seven won't be much help. I'm also really hoping that it's nice enough for the pool tomorrow, and I want all of the fun housework done just in case it is.

On Sunday I knew I had only a short period of time to lay in the pool before going to the party. What hadn't occurred to me was the fact that I also needed to do my nails since they had been naked since Saturday. How I forgot to do them is beyond me, but I did. So I threw this on super fast.
Color Club Feathered Hair Out to There, Mundo de Unas Light Gray, Bundle Monster BM XL-01 stamp
The light pink is Color Club Feathered Hair Out to There, and the gray is Mundo de Unas Light Gray. The diamond pattern is from the Bundle Monster BM XL-01 stamping plate.

For whatever reason, I really just did not care much for this. I can't even explain why. Pink is good; gray with pink is good; diamonds are most certainly good. It just didn't do it for me.

Since I highly doubt I'll be posting again until next week, I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a safe 4th of July holiday.