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.

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.

HERE'S ANOTHER THREE

It's been a good last few days. I took Tinlee to her boyfriend's house on Friday and Sunday, and I'll take her one more time on Tuesday. It's a three hour drive to get there, so it is time consuming, but the drive isn't too bad.

I've enjoyed spending time with the owner of Copper, who is the father of Tinlee's last litter. They also have Copper's daddy, who is 14 and one of Copper's sons, who is 2 and gorgeous, just like Copper. Mary, the owner, is really fun to talk to. Her husband, John, is a cutie, too. I brought them some banana cake that I made last night. When I went inside to use the restroom before making the drive back home, he had already finished his piece. It's fun to bake when somebody appreciates it.

Saturday was spent taking pictures of the neighborhood birds. It was bird-crazy at my house for some reason. I even had a female Hairy Woodpecker on the feeder. I've never seen one on my feeder before. I also had some Cowbirds and a whole lot of Goldfinches. I also took a whole lot of pics of hummingbirds. Adjusting to using my new camera is proving to be challenging. It's so much bigger and clunkier that I just can't get to it as quickly as my old point and shoot. I hope I get better with it as the summer progresses.

Sunday for the first time I had a Rose Breasted Grosbeak on the feeder, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera because I had the wrong lens on it at the time.

This first mani is from March!!

The yellow is Milani Yellow Whiz, and the scrollwork is done with Mundo de Unas White and the Uber Chic 6-01 stamping plate.

This orange thing is what I had on Friday. The base is Essie Peach Side Babe, and it's stamped with MdU Orange and the Uber Chic 7-03 plate.

I like this green one more now that I look at it again. I used Glitter Gal No Worries and MdU Green. The design is from the Cooi 035 stamping plate that I got from Ali Express a few weeks ago. 

I really recommend wandering over there and getting these Cooi plates. I'm super happy with them and if they come out with more full coverage designs, I'll for sure buy them. I bought all of the ones they currently make. They also had some plates with smaller designs, but I didn't get those. I tend to only buy full coverage designs.

Truth be told, I really should just stop buying for awhile. I have so many plates now that it makes it even harder to decide on a design. Of course, I say that right after buying the latest Uber Chic 3 set.

I suck at not buying.

SPRING IS SPRINGING

Why does it have to be Sunday already. I'm not ready for Monday and work. Adulting can be so hard.

It was a pretty darn good weekend, though. Friday night we went to a St. Patrick's Day party. Yesterday the girls came over with Seven to watch American Idol and then left Seven her overnight. So lots of fun with good peeps and a great dog.

For the party I didn't feel like doing green again so I decided to just do a saran wrap smoosh.

I used Glitter Gal White Pointer for my base. When that was dry I put dots of the white in random spots on my nails and did the same with dots of China Glaze More to Explore and OPI DS Sapphire. Then I laid saran wrap gently on top of the wet blobs and tapped lightly to spread the colors.

I was pleased with how it turned out. Of course, that was two days ago so I got bored with it. With Seven here I didn't really want to spend much time changing them up, so I just did a quick stamping job on top of it.

I just got the new 8 series from Uber Chic so I used a design from the UC 8-02 plate and Mundo de Unas white. I wasn't sure how well it was going to show up on top of the white nails, but it turned out pretty cute.

It's at least cute enough to get me through tomorrow. Maybe by tomorrow night I'll think of what I want to do next.

The only thing I know for sure is next is placing another Uber Chic order. The 7 series were out of stock when I got this latest batch so I think I'm just going to have to get them, too.