THE GRIFFSTER IS 5

I'd say "Happy Monday", but that would be a load of b.s. I don't think I know anybody that actually likes Mondays.

It was a busy few days. On Wednesday night Tyler got home with Griffin and Zero, although Griff went straight to his other grandparent's house. Zero was very happy to be "home". On Thursday I had a doctor's appointment two hours away, and then we went out to dinner with some friends. From there we lost some bucks at the casino.

Friday was hang around the house and pool time with the dogs and with Griffin. The little stinker turned 5 on Wednesday and doesn't need any kind of swimming helpers anymore. He is so great in the water! Absolutely no fear of going under or anything, and he has a whole lot of fun when Grampa Kev is in there with him. While I might not be strong enough to pick him up and throw him, Grampa surely can. Poor Kev always gets a workout when Griffin is around.

Saturday was the big super hero themed 5th birthday party. Griff assigned me to be Wonder Woman, and Tyler had bought me a t-shirt with the symbol on it. It was going to be in the 80's, though, so she made me a tank top on Friday night. Good thing because it was hot out during the party. I did my nails blue with red stars per Griff's request, and I had the bat signal on one nail, which he really thought was cool. The entire mani was so  hideous I didn't even take a picture of it. But it made him smile, and that's really all that mattered.

I did make the mistake of letting Griffin go swimming in the morning. He ate lunch and went back in for a little while. Then while the grownups were getting ready for the party, this happened.

Baylee hasn't shown much interest in her new dog bed, but Griffin finds it super comfy. He slept for over an hour and was late to his own party.

It was a good party with good food and lots of great people. I think everybody went home happy.

I wanted to eat his face. And the cake. I settled for just eating cake.

Unfortunately, it looks like last week was summer. Now it's back to cloudy and much colder. It was in the 50's last night, it's about 70 right now, and the next 10 days don't look much better. 

So much for nice warm pool water. :(

Last week in nail group we were doing blue. I actually managed to wear 2 different blue mani's last week but never found a chance to post either one. So as usual, I'm late.

This is Barielle End of the Rainbow stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome and my Uber Chic UC 1-02 plate.

I had a hard time getting pics of this one. There was just a ton of glare obscuring the butterfly. I finally gave up trying and just went with this shot, which was the best of the bunch.

This one is just "okay" for me. Almost everything I've done lately is just okay for me. I need to come up with something I'm going to love, dammit!

OH, THAT'S GREEN

I am really glad I'm now off until the 22nd, but it was a busy couple of days getting ready to leave town, which we are doing in about a half hour.

First up, got my hairs did. Last Thursday I got a much needed cut and color, and Wednesday after work I got a keratin treatment. Also much needed. I haven't had that done since September. I love having that done. It makes my hair feel fantabulous for months. This time I bought a new brand that doesn't need a 3 day wait until it can get wet, so that'll be nice. I hope it still works as well as the other stuff.

From there I popped into the tanning bad for a quick 20 minute snooze. After that I was hoping to finish planting the rest of the flowers. I had to wait until Kev pulled out a shrub, so he did that while I was at work. Then I'll be doing some last minute laundry and house cleaning.

Unfortunately after getting done with dinner, my stomach was hurting, so no planting got done. And of course yesterday it was misty and rainy starting from about 11 a.m. I did manage to get a couple of things taken care of in the back garden but was then forced inside by the weather. I was pissed!

I whipped up a fresh batch of hummingbird food, washed and refilled all of the feeders. I haven't seen too many birds the past couple of days. I'm hoping they're just nesting and will be back to business as usual by the time we get back home.

Finally late in the day I decided I was just going to have to go out in the mist and get the hydrangeas planted. Kev was a big help, so we managed to get it all done. The UPS man came while we were out there and brought me my new fountain. Kev put that together so even that got set up.

Tuesday night this is what I did.

It was actually prettier in person. The green is Barielle Polished Princess, the black is my Mundo de Unas stamping polish and the design is from the DRK-D plate.

I was a smidge irked that I did a mani using black stamping polish. My order of 14 Mundo's that I purchased through a group buy came, and even with all those colors to stamp with, I drew a complete blank on what color combo to do.

I finally came up with a mani to do last night, and once again, got all finished with it, had most of my stuff put away and then realized I once again forgot to do my toes. Seriously. So I had to get out stuff all over again and then just slapped on some light purple. Done and done.

And then I went and packed a large plastic bin of nail stuff to take on the trip. Don't know if I'll feel like doing them or even have time, but God forbid I get somewhere and realize I'm forced to leave the same thing on when I don't want to.

That would be terrible!!

SHAMROCKS

Well, I give up on the glasses. Considering how cheap glasses are, maybe I'll just buy new ones. I'm over it. All my pan covers look awesome, though!

The only other exciting thing I did was laundry. So not so much a "fun" four days off, but at least I accomplished something.

Now I'm just waiting for the hubster to get home around 9. He went out with his brother last night so I'm wondering what kind of shape he'll be in. I'm guessing tired. My bet is he'll stay up long enough to watch Walking Dead and Talking Dead and then go to bed. Nice rhyming there, hey?

Not a drop of Irish in this gal, but I did do a couple of green manicures. I did this one yesterday.

I got a couple of new stamping plates, FUN 13 and 15. The images are barely big enough for my thumbs, but they are pretty good sized otherwise. I did manage to make it work on my thumbs. Nobody ever looks at those anyway.

The light green on this one is Essie Absolutely Shore. I used the shamrock design from the FUN 13 plate and stamped with Barielle Date Night.

I like the color combo of the super light green with the true green. And I do think shamrocks are cute.

That's about it for tonight. I just don't have anything worthwhile to say. My brain appears to be in lockdown for some reason.

Maybe the ammonia fumes finally got to me.

GARDENER? NOT SO MUCH.

Minor bitch today. Just a minor one. Why does it take forever to get anything done? Just trying to get workers scheduled to start things at the house is like a second job for Kevin. I feel like I'm constantly asking him to call so-and-so to find out if they ever plan on doing the work we contracted them to do.  As a matter of fact, even though the ship has long since sailed, we're still awaiting an estimate from one of the local companies that came out to check out the a/c and furnace replacement. Seriously? It's been over a month since they were there. It must be nice to be just so damn rich you can just not even bother.

Second minor bitch. Not really minor in my opinion, I guess. We're still waiting for the solution on the water issue. Over the weekend I found the very beginnings of a stain in my brand new toilet. I managed to get rid of it, but I was on the verge of either full-blown panic or a complete throw myself on the floor tantrum. And still, we wait. I'm so effing over it. You had no problem taking our damn money; just do your mother-effing job that you guaranteed you'd do.

Next up, gardening. Just kill me.  Or should I say, just watch me kill the plants. I'll finally be getting them planted, but it appears as though some of them are already failing. I swear I didn't do anything bad to them! My $40 Supertunia is fading fast. I spent some time this morning googling that shit to see what to do. I'm not sure if I learned anything or not. For regular Petunias I learned a lot about deadheading them. One would think the same method would apply to Supertunias, but everywhere I look it says they don't need it. Methinks I'm a-stopping at Shopko on my way home to buy gardening scissors. I'm gonna' deadhead that bitch; can't hurt it more than it already is, I guess.

On a brighter note, the deck has stairs, and it's awesome! Sometimes I forget and still jump off the side. There's no railings yet, but that will probs happen next week, although in my opinion, my pool needs to up first. For some reason Tinlee won't go down the one set of stairs. She's so comical. I did get her to come up that set of stairs before bed last night. I'll call that a win.

Also, my new bird bath came yesterday, and it is adorbs. It's got a solar powered fountain, so I'm excited to go home and see if it works properly. I have visions in my head of my little hummingbird friends frolicking in the fountain. Crossing my fingers on that one, although if it happens, I'm just going to have to put some kind of built in seat at the window by the kitchen sink because I'll never want to stop watching.

For today I figured I would show a mani that shows my green thumb. Apparently this is the only kind of green thumb I will ever be allowed to have.

I hadn't used any of the Color Club Halo Hues in quite awhile, and I do love this one, Angel Kiss. For the green stamping I used Barielle Date Night and the Llarowe LLC-B stamp.  I really like those Barielle polishes. They have a nice formula and stamp and water marble well.

Now it's about time to head on out of here. Off to buy the gardening shears and get to cutting. 

Wish me luck.

WATERCOLORS, STAMPED AND GLITTER, OH MY!

Don't pass out; I don't have a complaint in the world today. Well, unless you count the fact that I'm at work. And that's just a necessary evil I can't seem to weasel out of.

Our weather this weekend was gorgeous!! I really wish the pool was up and ready. Of course, once it goes up, who knows how long it will take to get the water right because of the new water softener. Once I get that straightened out, then I get to wait until the water is warm enough to actually use it. Bring on the sun so my solar rings can do their job.

Since I didn't have the use of my pool this weekend, I did blow up my raft so I could catch some rays on the half-finished deck. Lordie, it was hot out there! I don't usually lay outside without the pool. Now I know why. I was sweating my damn balls off. 

I was pretty shocked I got as pink as I did in a couple of hours. Usually already have my tan on from an unlimited month at the tanning salon before I ever hit the pool, so I never burn. I also hate laying on my stomach so I was red on one side and paper white on the back side. That was ever so attractive.  So yesterday I headed back out there and forced myself to lay on my stomach for an hour. That helped considerably. I am almost matching shades of pink now.

In the evenings I took about 45 minutes to sit out in front of the house to feed the hummingbirds, too. Happily they still seem very willing to come to me to eat. I love that feeling so much!

I was still wearing that make-out mani from the other day, but last night I decided it really was time to take it off. To Julep's credit, that sucker wore like iron, not even a smidge of tip wear.

Another success here....turned out just like it looked in my head. I started off with just one coat of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. I didn't care if it was perfect or not because I knew I'd be going over it with other stuff.

The other stuff ended up being China Glaze's Lemon Fizz and Highlight of My Summer, Essie Play Date, QRS Cruiser and Barielle Pink Quartz.  I dabbed each of those on with saran wrap. I like doing that because it doesn't matter where anything goes.

After I stamped it with the DRK-A stamp, I decided that it just might need a teensie bit of glitter so I added one coat of Orly Shine on Crazy Diamond.

I should have skipped the glitter. It's fine with it, but I'm thinking I liked it better before it. That'll teach me to overthink. 

Well, truth be told, it probably won't teach me a thing.  Maybe it's the "old dog" syndrome that prevents me from being teachable.

MURPHY'S LAW, a/k/a MY LIFE IN A NUTSHELL

Ahhhh, it's just a never ending thing. I arrived home from work to find....A SHOWER!! They weren't finished, and they were still working until almost 8 p.m. That's dedication. 

We were told that it's the hardest shower installation they've ever done. I'm sure they were surprised by that. I, however, was not. They came back this morning to finish trimming out around it, and I have to say, it looks fantastic, all white and shiny and new. I'm not going to post pics yet because it still looks hideous around the base. We have to do some work with that. Well, by "we", I mean Kevin. And then I have to have the flooring dude come out to see if we should have the floor tile extend up to cover the few inches that need covering or if the subway tile would be better.

Add another couple hundred bucks to the flooring guy! I'll more than likely want to puke when I find out the total for the shower install. They originally estimated $500, but since it was so very difficult, that'll probably double. We've gotten to the point now where we don't even shiv a git. Just effing finish it.

Kev was the first one to take a shower after they left. He came out and the first thing he said was, "We have a problem." OMG. Are you joking??? He then tells me we either have hot water or cold water. No warm. Well, isn't that fantastic! Murphy's Law strikes again.  Luckily he was able to figure it out. Somehow they had managed to put the plumbing on the inside of the shower upside down. Good Lord....who does that??

Friday morning they'll be out to install the air conditioning. I wonder what will go wrong with that.

In the meantime, having Griffin around has been fun. Kev has been taking a beating! Of course, he could always say no when Griff wants to jump on his belly. And I do mean "jump". He runs around him, jumps up and keeps right on moving.

I get the better end of the deal. He wanted me to cuddle when I got home from work.

Tinlee makes out pretty good, too.

He was sitting on my lap watching tv when he grabbed my hand and asked me to show him my nails. So adorable when he said, "Oooo, those are really cute!" Quite the character.

This isn't the mani I was wearing at the time. Who knows, maybe he would have hated this one and called 'em ugly. lol

I'm not sure if I had any kind of a reason for this one. It was back in March so maybe it was a half-assed St. Patrick's Day thing. The light green is Julep Shenae, and the Ninja Polish DRK-C stamp was done with Barielle Date Night.

Unimpressed.

I'm trying to think of something to do with them tonight. Probably something in a sad, gloomy color because Tyler, Bob and Griffin are heading back to Illinois tomorrow.

I hate when that happens.

PUPPIES? MAYBE!!

I'm about to take on a very exciting thing. At least I think it's exciting. After a couple of years thinking about it, we have finally decided to go forward and breed Tinlee, my Golden Retriever.

Man, there is a lot to consider and lots of preparation for this. I've called all over hell and back trying to see where to get her clearances and how much each one costs. Crazy pain in the ass trying to figure it all out. 

Finally through a FB friend I got the solution. She pointed me to a place in Madison, Wisconsin, and they can actually do all of the necessary tests in one place, and the cost is about half of what I would have paid if I went to three different places to do them. It's the only place that can do them all. It'll suck having to drive 5 hours, but it will be worth it in the long run.

I'll be relieved when that's done. God forbid something comes back that prevents breeding. I also am going to be very sad if I find out that she has something that could turn into a problem as she gets older. Obvi Tinlee being healthy is the most important thing, and I would never breed her if she doesn't have good clearances.  

I'm excited about the prospect of maybe having pupsters running around here, but it's pretty scary when I read about all of the things that could go wrong. I guess we shall see and hope that everything works out the way I want it to. Cross your fingers for us!

I have so many mani's stored up that just need posts written. It's redonk. 

I haven't really had much of a plan for anything I've done lately. I'm still not feeling super inspired by any particular design options. This one I just did because I like the colors. Reason enough, I guess!

The lighter one here is Barielle Ocean Breeze. I used Essie Trophy Wife with my Llarowe LeaLac LLC-A plate. I don't think I've used that particular design before....kinda funky. I'm  not sure what it's supposed to be, if anything.  

All in all, successful, and very pretty colors.  I like the Barielle polishes. I've only bought them a couple of times.  The first time I snagged them when they were on Hautelook.  I LOVE Hautelook and check it every day to see what they have.

I think the first thing I bought from them was polish. Since then I've bought a ton of stuff. I've gotten clothes for myself, clothes for my daughter, shoes for myself and the cutest clothes for Griffin I've ever seen.  I'm mad crazy for Go Couture stuff. I got a top for Tyler for Christmas I was just praying would be too small so I could keep it, but the damn thing fit her.  Dammit.

The stuff I got for Griff was clothes I never could have afforded if I hadn't gotten them there. I'm not paying friggin' $50 for a damn shirt for a 3 year old. I can't believe people actually do that in the first place, but I sure as hell don't have that kind of money.  On Hautelook I was able to afford them because I can afford $12, which is what I paid.

Tyler freaked out when she saw the one shirt. I don't remember the brand, but it was a white long sleeved shirt with a couple of buttons and the bottom half has a New York City scene in shades of grey. It's spectacular. She just told me again yesterday that she hopes it fits him forever. Um, not likely, but unless he gets a major growth spurt it should fit for awhile.

For myself, I was looking at the designer dresses just for funsies the one day and got myself a $900 Halston maxi dress for $79.  That's right....Halston....$79. It's yellow and flowy and gorg, and I can't wait to wear it in Cancun.  

Anywho, bottom line is if you haven't perused Hautelook, you should.  They add new sales every day at 11 a.m. Sometimes I'll go for weeks and not see anything I want, but it's worth looking. They have clothes, shoes, jewelry, household stuff, beauty items, menswear....tons-o-stuff!  Another great thing they've added in the last few months is that most of their stuff can be returned to Nordstrom Rack instead of mailing, and their return policy is 90 days. Nice!!

Wow....rambled on today.  Guess I'm in a chatty mood.  Poor Kev....he might be happy he's leaving in the morning. 

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".

ENOUGH WITH THE DAMN RHINESTONES!

Late again, but did some more work on the bathroom today. When I woke up today, I could hardly move. Sweet jeebus, it sucks being old. It sucks even worse to feel old. Which I do.

I had already warned Kev that he would have to do the stripping step on everything else in the bathroom because my friggin' shoulder is so messed up I don't have the strength to scrub hard enough. Then today I decided I would at least pull the drawers and do those and some trim. Once he does the cleaning part on the vanity and medicine cabinet, I'll take over with the staining. I'll be SO glad when it's done. Then I get to refinish my hideous blue (puke) vanity top and the area surrounding my tub. I'll be so happy to have that butt-ugly blue gone.

I was bound and determined to do a mani tonight. It's one I've been planning to do for the last week or so but just didn't have the time.  I'm pretty sure I'll leave this one on for a couple of days so you'll probs get rehash mani's for at least a day or two. Of course, for a lot of you, they aren't rehashes because you've more than likely never seen them before. :)

I'm liking this, but it was kind of a pain in the ass to do and took way too much time. The light peach is Salon Perfect Bellini, and the darker coral is Barielle Berry Go Round. For the white I just grabbed my Sinful Colors. I love peaches and corals, so I'm a fan of this one. At the last minute I decided to add some rhinestones, just because I have so many to use. One of these days I'm just going to do my nails in solid rhinestones....bling the shit outta' these nails just for funsies.

And now I'm actually too tired to even think of anything to say. Oddly enough, that does happen to me sometimes. Honestly.

Thank God for short work weeks. I still need a nap.

THIS IS SOOOO NOT ME

Golly gee, I was so happy to wake up to my ulcer acting up in full force this morning. Thanks a heap. I did manage to still get my hairs cut and then went to the local appliance store because for some odd reason, my mom wanted me to go look at the refrigerator she's thinking of buying. She's an odd duck, that one. I thought she only ever asked my opinion on living room carpeting, once when I was 10 and once about 6 years ago. Because that woman keeps everything. Forever. Seriously, her current fridge is 29 years old and the only reason she's buying a new one is because the door needs a new part in order to keep it closed.  Who keeps carpeting for 35 years and a refrigerator for 29? Craziness. I have to say I would kill for that fridge she's gonna' buy. Not that it would even fit in my house. After I saw it I called her and told her that I want it so she should just buy me a new house to fit it. 

She disagreed.

I was supposed to go to dinner with my cousin tonight who is up visiting from Savannah, but eating is not happenin'  with this stomach right now. So screwed that up. She is going to come over to visit in a little while so at least I'll get to see her.

I decided to be a little ambitious with the nails last night. I wanted to do more than the accent nail fully covered, but I kept getting interrupted and I didn't have time to do them all. This one is way out of the norm for me.

When wandering eBay one night, apparently I felt like shopping and decided that I must own glequins!! In a whole bunch of colors, no less. WTF?? 

I wish the color and sparkle of this showed better, and of course it was cloudy today so I couldn't even take a shot in the sun. The polish is Barielle Ocean Breeze. The sequins are a shimmery sheer-ish aqua blue. And yes, "sheer-ish" is a word. Google that shit. You'll see that I just made it up.

Of course I couldn't just have an accent nail; that is also so not me. It was still only 1:00 a.m. so I decided to do the stripe near the tips.  I had some fun with this and will probably play with them again at some point, but lordie it was time-consuming!

Bedtime: 2:00 a.m. Me: jackass.

"THANKFUL THURSDAY"

Fine. I confess. I ain't no artist. But that doesn't mean I can't do watercolors. Lordie, that was a weak-ass start. I apologize (hanging head in shame)

I have dubbed today "Thankful Thursday", not for any particular reason other than I'm feeling pretty peachy today. I'm sitting here pondering the fact that I have to have an ultrasound on my gallbladder tomorrow...at 7:40 a.m., no less. Bastards.  Then I need to have an EGD on the 24th because of my little stint in the emergency room a few weeks ago. AND to top that off, even though I had a cortisone shot in my right shoulder two months ago, I can once again barely move that arm. Pretty inconvenient since I'm right-handed. I don't think they'll give me another shot this soon and figure if I go in, they're going to want to do some stupid ass testing only to find out it's some stupid ass thing like bursitis or some shit they can't do anything for. So eff that noise. I'll just wait it out until I can have another shot. VOTD!!!!!!!!!!

Now....back to the "thankful" part. With all of that nonsense happening, I (just like you, probably) constantly hear/read/see so many horrible things that happen to everyday peeps. Just huge problems; depression, pain, deaths, chronic debilitating illnesses or just a general lack of supportive, loving people in their lives.  In 53 years of life, of course I have gone through several of these things myself. I'm sure at the time I felt like the only one in the world that felt the way I felt. But I wasn't. 

No matter what has gone on in my life, even the shitty stuff has gotten me to the place I am now. I'm feeling blessed to have a damn near perfect husband, one who loves me so much more than I ever knew I could be loved. Just for kicksters I decided to keep track of how many times a day he tells me....I believe the average is something like 7 times a day. Redonk, right? I love him with the very soul of my being and still can't believe how lucky I am to have him. He is completely supportive of everything about me, is completely without anger and truly is one of the nicest guys  you'd ever have the pleasure of meeting.

I'm blessed to have two of the most gorgeous daughters a mom could ever want, and they have both found themselves ah-mazing men to spend their lives with. Our closeness is unparalleled; they are not just my daughters, they are my best friends. I think they'll keep me, and I them. They have given me three spectacular, healthy, loving grandchildren who I am lucky enough to be young enough and healthy enough to enjoy.

I have a job I sometimes hate, but I know that I am extremely lucky to even have a job when so many others do not, and when it comes right down to it, it really is the job of my dreams. In lieu of being famous, of course.

I may have some stupid health issues, and I may wish we had the kind of money that would make us more comfortable and able to help others with, but corny as it sounds, my life is rich with love.

So though I may seem snarky, sarcastic and even more than a little bitchy, on the inside I'm basically a bowl of mush. I'm that person you see standing in the greeting card aisle crying as I read the cards, the one who cries at commercials on tv, the one who cries huge, gasping buckets of tears for the pets of people I've never actually met....in fact, I probably shed a few tears at least a few times a week.  And that is me happy!! lol

So that is Thankful Thursday, by Diane Graham. 

Enough cheese. Now I'm hungry.

What? You came to see my nails? Sorry.....gawd, you're so demanding!!

Months ago I had done a watercolor-type mani where I just put dots of color on my nails and then smooshed them around with a brush dipped in acetone. This time I decided to do it using a sponge to dab on the colors. Then I just let my topcoat kind of smear them together. I rather like this. Maybe I won't do my nails tonight and just keep this!

First I did a basecoat with China Glaze Cheek to Cheek. It's funny. I got this when I bought a lot of 102 CG polishes on eBay...for $100. I went through and kept what I liked and then resold the rest. It worked out great, but this bottle of Cheek to Cheek wasn't selling so I finally just decided to keep it. Now I love it!! It's kind of a sheer pink-tone, but it has a really cool shimmer to it. You can get a look of it here:  We Actually Saw Sunshine Today

Then I just randomly dabbed on CG Lemon Fizz, Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet, OPI You're Such a Budapest, Barielle Pink Quartz and Julep Jessica. I put on my topcoat before they could dry completely so that they'd blend.  The blend went better on some nails than others, but overall I think it turned out good. That ring finger could have used some work, but of course it was late and I was kind of over it.

I believe this post has been long enough to bore you, so I'll wrap it up.  Things are looking up, peeps....it's almost Friday!!  

I'm outtie!! See you tomorrow!

GO CHRIS - HAPPY NEWS!

The very first thing I saw this morning when I got up was a notification on my phone that our friend Chris had left a comment on the Polish Sickness Facebook page. What a great way to start the day!! She is out of ICU and is definitely on the mend. Thanks for all the prayers. I'm pretty sure it was all the red manicures that did it, though. ;)
 

Nail polish shopping was a complete disappointment today. Not even one!! Clothes shopping was a success, and I did have fun buying a few things for Griffin. He has kept us laughing almost non-stop, and he really is such a good kid. "Out of the mouths of babes" definitely applies in this household. 

Another past manicure tonight. I do love me some marbled nails. I try to choose colors to put together that might not be an obvious choice, so this one is a bit different. I would do marbled nails damn near every day; I have to convince myself to NOT do them. To me, they are just one of the coolest things to have on my nails.

For this one I also used more colors than normal.  Most of the time I use 3 or 4; I decided to get wild and cray-cray on this one.  I just loved all of these colors together....Fingerpaints Hue Are You, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint (best light mint polish ever), Barielle Ocean Breeze, Essie Spinning Again and Wet n Wild Wet Cement. I was afraid using 5 might make it murky, but all of these worked really well. 

Tomorrow night will probs be another blast from the fairly recent past, but I'm hoping I'll still manage to chat it up a bit here. 

Until tomorrow.....have a great Sunday night!

 

So here I am, doing something I said I would "never" do. Apparently I lied. After debating back and forth in my brain, and with some encouragement and a lot of help from Essie at iHeartprettypolish.com, I decided to give it a shot.

A bit about me! Yay! I'm 53, married with 2 grown daughters and 3 grandkids. I'm sure I'll mention more about them as I go forward with this new venture. I work full-time as a legal secretary and live in a very small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Exciting so far, right?

For as long as I can remember, I've had a fascination with long, gorgeous nails. Unfortunately, I was not blessed with whatever gene that is that provides them. My natural nails are crap, and that's putting it mildly. For years I did the store-bought full glue on nails. I went to salons and got gels for a bit. My last salon did fiberglass nails, which I really liked. So when I went, I checked out what products were being used and watched intently to see how they were done. Once I felt confident, I went on my beloved eBay and found all of her professional products and learned to do them myself. These I did with much success for quite a few years. I never, ever polished my nails. They were just french white. Always. I didn't really own any nail polish, but I had one random Essie that I had won, "Carry On", and for some odd reason last April I decided I would try it. In my head I had decided long ago that I couldn't wear dark polish. I threw that polish on and after staring at it for a day, I actually kind of loved it! Then oddly enough, out of the blue my daughter called that same night and said I just "had" to get the China Glaze Hunger Games collection. What? Me? Buy nail polish?? What a strange concept! I had bought all 12 before the end of the night and waited impatiently for them to arrive from Sally Beauty.

I will finish this little story in my next post. This story is wayyyy too long to put as my very first entry. In the meantime, I will post one of my most recent water marbles, a little pastel I did for spring, which we are still waiting for up here in the U.P.

For this I used OPI My Vampire is Buff (best neutral EVA) along with Orly Gumdrop, Barielle Peach Popsicle, CG Pink-Ie Promise, QRS Cruiser, SC Candy Coated. I love how this one turned out. The marble is a bit more subtle.

And that's that! My first entry. I hope you'll wander back over here to see what's next!