Thursday, June 30, 2016

ANOTHER BUNCH

I'm not sure where time goes. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is July 1st already. 

Retirement is a beautiful thing. I did work three days last week to fill in, and even though it was only about 15 hours total, I was not a fan of it. Getting up early to get ready for actual work was not something I enjoyed. I did enjoy seeing the bossman and doing some typing, but I got over it pretty quickly. 

Other than that, my days have been spent laying in the pool, cleaning, gardening, sitting with hummingbirds and getting ready for puppies. Tinlee is due in two weeks, so we are pretty excited about that. 

As absent as I've been on here, once the puppies arrive, I'll probably be even more missing in action. As I was sitting in the pool today, thinking about how lucky I've been to have so much time to be that lazy, it dawned on me that once the puppies are here, my days of lounging from 11 to 3 in the pool are probably over. I'm sure I'll sneak some pool time in, but it sure won't be like it has been the last two weeks. I remember with the last litter I was sad that I couldn't go sit with the hummingbirds as much, so I'm sure I'm going to run into the same issues this time around. 

Puppy breath trumps the pool and the hummers, though, so it's totally worth it.

For now, here's some mani's I've had on over the past month or so. I'll list everything I used, but other than that, they are what they are.
Cult The Roxy, Cult Breakwater, Bundle Monster + Lucy's Stash BM XL-209
Cult The Roxy stamped with Cult Breakwater using Bundle Monster + Lucy's Stash BM XL-209 stamping plate.
Sinful Colors Endless Blue, Julep Tali, Uber Chic 10-01
Sinful Colors Endless Blue stamped with Julep Tali. The design is from the new Uber Chic 10-01 plate.
Zoya Kendal, MdU Violet, Cooi 035
The light purple is Zoya Kendal, and I used the Cooi 035 stamping plate with Mundo de Unas Violet.
Fresh Paint Matte in the USA, Mundo de Unas Turquoise, Ali Express XY-J13
The light blue is Fresh Paint Matte in the USA, stamped with Mundo de Unas Turquoise and a plate I got from Ali Express, XY-J13.

I do have more manicures sitting around just waiting to be shown, so hopefully I'll actually post them at some point. When I look back at a couple of them, I'm rethinking even showing them. They were ugly when I did them; they've gotten uglier to me over time.

I hope your summer is going as good as mine is!!





Friday, June 17, 2016

THREE TO SEE HERE

Nothing too much happening around here for the past week. I did finally get two days in the pool last weekend, but so far this week the weather has not cooperated. Luckily the forecast for at least the next couple of days is great.

Right now I have Seven. She has been here since about 4 o'clock and will be here until early evening tomorrow. She is dying to go in the pool. I had to make sure to lay a raft on the stairs so she wouldn't go flying in without permission. It's a good thing I did that because right after supper we went outside, and the minute I turned my back she was partway up the steps. Little stinker loves the pool so she is going to be one happy little girl tomorrow.

It's hard to do nails when she's here. She spends most of her time depositing toys in my lap. I figured since I'll probably not get to doing anything with them for at least a day or two, I'd show a few in this post.
Fresh Paint Passion Fruit, Mundo de Unas Tutti, Uber Chic 10-3 stamp
This very bright pink is Fresh Paint Passion Fruit. I stamped on it with Mundo de Unas Tutti using my brand spanking new Uber Chic 10-03 stamping plate. I used one of my clear stampers to do this one, and it didn't pic up the design very well, unfortunately. It was way too late for a do-over. I actually was painting these around 2 a.m. the other night and told myself that I'd wait to stamp until the next day. 

Then for whatever reason, I totally forgot what I had just told myself  and just kept right on going and did the stamping, too. By the time I got done it was almost 3 a.m., and I decided I simply did not care enough to worry about trying to improve them.

This next one is from several weeks ago.
Zoya Kelly, MdU Light Gray, Cooi 030
I used Zoya Kelly for the dark gray base and stamped with MdU Light Gray and the Ali Express Cooi 030 stamping plate. I really want them to make more of these Cooi full image plates. They are really nice!
Julep Lindsey, Julep Marisa, Uber Chic 5-03
My monthly Julep polishes came last week, and I loved all three that I received. This pretty coral is Julep Lindsey, and I decided I would stamp with a navy blue since the shirt I was wearing to bebop around town had coral and navy in it. I don't own a navy stamping polish, so I used Julep Marisa with my Uber Chic 5-03 plate. I have found that Julep polishes stamp very well indeed, and I loved the combination of the coral with the blue.

So there ya' go. I might not be posting much, but at least I'm throwing a few here for you to see just so you know I'm not completely ignoring my nails.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

STAMPING TIMES THREE

What a fun afternoon we had here today. I've had Razzie since Tuesday. He's going back home tomorrow. I figured while he's here he should have some sibling fun. Seven's owners aren't available this week due to some long work hours, but I was super happy that Major was able to come over. He hasn't been here in a long time, and it was awesome to see him.

Out of my seven pups, he's the only one that takes after his daddy at all. He's very dark red, and his coat has lots of curls and is more wiry than his sisters and brother. He does have the same super sweet disposition that the whole family has, though. 

It didn't take too long for him and Razzie to get into some rough-housing. Lots of bright, white teeth flashing and snorting with tails wagging the entire time. So cute!! Tinlee doesn't pay too much attention to the pups anymore when they come to visit. Now that she's pregnant, that's just as well because I don't really want her to engage in any rough play right now.

After Majorleft, Razzie ate his supper, and Tinlee's, and has been passed out ever since. Poor guy is tuckered!!

The other night I decided I'd do something triple-stamped. 
Nicole by OPI Back to Reality....TV, Mdu Black, Pink, Velvet, Uber Chic 5-01, triple stamp
My purple base for this is OPI Back to Reality....TV. It's a great medium purple. On top of that I used my Uber Chic 5-01 plate and stamped first with MdU Black. After the black I restamped with MdU Pink and then one more time with MdU Velvet.

I've had this on for a couple of days and still don't know if I like it or hate it. It kind of looks like an oddly colored camouflage to me.

Since Kev is home to help occupy Razzie, I'm hoping that I'll be able to take this off tonight and soak off these damn nails that have only been on for 16 days. I somehow managed to knock my right index nail loose when I was monkeying around in the garden last night.

Only getting 16 days of wear is really annoying me. I've almost always gotten at least three weeks of wear time, more if I switch to dark colors to hide my cuticles. I'd kill to have a new set made.

I'm not going to hold my breath on that, though. It's been well over a year since Custom Nail Solutions had full pink sets available. I wish some other company would start up something similar. At this point I'd absolutely jump on a new bandwagon.

Sad.


Monday, June 6, 2016

GRADIENT PLUS VINYLS

I cannot stress enough how much I love not having to go to work. I would love it even more if the stupid weather would cooperate with what I want to do. My pool is up and sparkling blue, and while that pretty water isn't warm enough for me to actually go in it, it's warm enough that I would happily lay on top of it on my raft.

Too bad the weather has either been rainy or simply not warm enough. For the first time ever, I paid for an unlimited package at the tanning salon in June. Normally I do that in May, get my base and never look back. After watching it rain off and on for the past four days and not get above 65 degrees, I'm starting to wonder if I'll even need a tan. I've worn shorts outside once.

I did manage to get a lot done last week in spite of the weather, though. I painted the computer room and ran around town buying flowers to plant in the garden. I had one day last week where it was actually nice enough to plant, so I'm glad I got that done. I was a lot pissed that my go-to flower place didn't have the big potted supertunias this year. I've gotten one the last couple of years that I put on the deck under my kitchen window because they are in huge pots and really full of flowers and look gorgeous all summer. So I'm trying to decide what to get instead.

I was very happy that this year they had some Foxglove, though. Last year nobody in town had any! I bought the last four that they had, and I bought two Bellflowers to go along with them so now I have another section of perennials that hopefully will survive over the winter. I also bought purple, red and white Salvia again even though I hate them, but Hummers supposedly like them and they grow like crazy by my garage. I bought two colors of Snapdragons because they also usually flourish next to the Salvia, but what they had was terribly root-bound. They didn't look too great when I planted them. I hope that being free of their pots will revive them.

I haven't spent too much time doing my nails. Right now I'm just super annoyed with them. My nail beds have changed some, and my nails don't seem to be fitting as well as before. I'd love to do new impressions and get a new set, but the company still isn't selling solid pink sets, only the French tip, and I definitely do not want those. I painted them last night and after being on for less than two weeks, they are already looking like crap at the cuticle because they aren't fitting properly. Irritating to look at; irritating to polish.

I played with another of my vinyls from Ali Express a few weeks back.
Glitter Gal Serpent Black, ILNP Birefringence, ILNP Masquerade, gradient, nail vinyls
I started off by doing a solid black using Glitter Gal Serpent Black. After I placed the vinyls, I did a gradient with ILNP Birefringence and Masquerade.

I loved how this came out. I'm a fan of gradients in general, and I was very pleased with how these polishes from ILNP sponged on.

Now I suppose I should make myself some actual food for supper. Then again, it actually stopped raining a few minutes ago. Maybe I'll throw on a sweatshirt and go sit with the hummingbirds instead.

Having a hummer sit on my finger sounds like much more fun than cooking for one.