A picnic and a bargain... how much fun is that?

It's been a seriously wonderful few days here. I actually managed to get 5 or 6 hours of sleep in a row yesterday, and when I woke up my husband suggested we all go on a picnic! My husband, my son and I grabbed the frisbee and the camera and hopped in the car. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some food and then headed to the local park.

I can't lie here, when I think "picnic," I often think snack foods. Gouda, crackers, popcorn, cookies... something nibbly and fun. As we walked through the store, my son grabbed the crackers, my husband wanted the ham and fresh french bread, and I wanted...

... the cookies! I have a serious sweet tooth, and when I saw these I got so excited! Unfortunately they didn't taste quite as good as they looked, but they were still pretty darn yummy! Oddly enough, both my husband and my son said they tasted coconut in the cookies! Weird people!

We sat at this cute picnic table that was right next to the play area. There was a family with a small boy, maybe 2 years old, and I really enjoyed watching him play. He was so cute!! He really enjoyed going up the slide instead of up the steps, but since there wasn't anyone else on the playground it was ok.

After we ate, the guys tossed the frisbee for a bit. I sat on the grass while they did, taking pictures and sketching, because my fibro was being a pain in the butt. Still, it was a lot of fun watching them. They really got into it, running and jumping to catch the frisbee. At one point my husband jumped, hit the ground and rolled, coming up after covered in dirt and grass bits. It scared me, I thought he'd hurt himself, but he was just chasing the frisbee.

Sheesh, boys!!

As I was watching them, I realized that hey, I had awesome sun and I was wearing my Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, so I started taking pictures of my nails. At one point I had my hand up against the bright blue sky, and my husband laughed at me. He said, "You're taking the anti-MySpace pictures!"  You know, instead of having my camera in my hand and taking a picture of myself looking up at the camera, I had the camera on my face and was taking a picture of my hand!

I thought it was funny. And on to the nail polish...

This is amazing. I've gotten so many compliments on it since I've put it on! Not only am I in love with the color, but it seems to catch the attention of lots of people when I wear it! It's a vivid sapphire blue with a gorgeous violet shimmer or microglitter in the bottle. It also seems to have a bit of duochromey goodness, shifting between blue, purple, and magenta when I tilt the bottle in my hands.

I'd picked this particular polish up at least 20 times in the shops, wanting to buy it but being too darn frugal to do it. I was just blown away at how the colors shifted in the bottle. So when I found this one in the clearance bin at WalMart for $2, you can bet your bippy I grabbed it!

It applied like a dream for me, too, except that the brush is shedding. I had to pick out three separate strands of brush while applying it, and that made me a sad panda. But not for long... how could I stay sad looking at this? Seriously!!

Once it's on the nail, it's not quite as duochromey, but it's still breathtakingly beautiful. I wish these photos captured the true look of this polish, but as usual the camera refused to play nice with the gorgeous purples and magentas. The color is primarily that stunning sapphire blue, but from some angles there's a deep purple cast with flecks of magenta peeking through. It's just sublime... absolutely sublime. I love this polish!

Gee, do you get the feeling I like this one or something? I need to open up, holding my feelings inside like this is gonna cause me a stress disorder or something! ;)

Finally, we all ended up back at the picnic table and I sat and sketched while the guys talked. It's not the most accurate sketch, but I present to you... duckie, a still life.

 

I also wandered and took some photos, but I figure those can wait. Maybe I'll start a folder on Picasa for my photography, or a flickr or something. I just wanted to share my picnic with everyone. I hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine!

My Obsessions Are Contagious!

Ok, I have to be honest tonight. I have entries planned, but haven't had a chance to make them happen yet. Everything's photo'd and cropped and tagged and ready to go, I just haven't had the time to sit and actually write the stupid posts, but I'm hoping that'll change tomorrow. I'd gone out with the family tonight to spend some time and wound up falling asleep in the car, so once my husband woke me I took myself straight to bed... where I crashed with the laptop, only to wake up to find it's cold and I'm awake.

Again.

So, I figured what better thing to do than write a blog post! *laughs* I know. Not some people's first choice of actions, but that's why I have a blog, and they don't! So, work with me on this, yes?

I wanted to thank you all. Between twitter, the blog, email... I got so many warm wishes for my anniversary, and it helped make the day even better! My husband, sweetheart that he is, took me out to our favorite little Mexican restaurant, the one where everyone there knows us and they smile when they see us come in. (I'm talking about Taco Bell, for those of you who don't know. We're not fancy!) Yes, I chose the restaurant- husband gave me the choice of going just about anywhere I wanted, and I chose the Bell. Don't judge me!

On our way out the door, I noticed there was a poster up for their kids meals. They were giving away Skelanimals watches! I got so excited, and my husband thought it was adorable, so we talked for a few minutes.  I didn't want to buy a kid's meal because we'd just eaten, but since it seemed to be a Halloween them we didn't know how much longer they'd be available. Since it was our anniversary, my husband suggested I go ask if I could buy one on its own.

So there I was, so giddy I was absolutely bouncing, standing at the counter like I'm a five-year-old who's been told Santa is right around the corner! One of the guys who works behind the counter came up to see what I needed, and I asked if they had anymore of the Skelanimals watches. He asked if I was interested in them, and I said I am! He said hang on, then came back with two. He said they were the last two left, and to keep them both.

As if that's not nice enough, a girl who also works behind the counter came up and asked what he was talking about. The guy I'd been talking with told her I was asking about the Skelanimal watches, so she went and showed him the box that was leftovers. She pulled the other two out and said, "Here! Enjoy!!"

I was absolutely GIDDY!! I thanked them warmly and we continued on our way, heading to WalMart to walk. Unfortunately, I can't afford a gym membership and sometimes I need something to hang on to when I walk, so going to WalMart works- it's inside, it's climate-controlled, there are places to sit if I need to rest, buggies to push if I need something to hold on to, and lots of things to look at while I walk!

Well, while we were walking, I saw that their Halloween goodies were now on sale for 75% off. Have I mentioned how much I like clearance items? I dig for a few minutes and come up with a gorgeous orange creme nail polish and a pair of pink false lashes with feather tips. So, so cute, and something I'd really wanted to get but not at full price, you know?

I looked at my husband who said, "Sure, happy anniversary!" He's silly as can be, but it makes me happy, you know? So I drop those into my buggy and keep walking. We wander around (on a good night we'll make 4-6 laps around the WalMart Super Center) and my husband sees a shirt that looks like it'd be my style- lime green with a pink skull on it. I tell him, "Hey, if it was like, a dollar then I'd buy it. But you know I'm cheap, baby!"

He says, "But think about it... it's halloween. I bet this is on sale too!"

I had to admit, he was probably right. So I tossed it into the cart as well and we set off in search of a price-checking machine. It was almost creepy... the shirt didn't want to scan, but when it finally did (at the second machine, of course) it turned out to be... A DOLLAR! Isn't it cute?? And it's TOTALLY me...

And so for $2.50 I got everything you've seen in the pics... how cool is that?? I love a bargain... *grin*


So, the title of the post. I know, I've been rambling, but it's 3:30am right now, cut me some slack, will ya? When I woke up, I decided to check my email and I saw where my mom had sent me an email with a title of "Platinum nail polish????" Turns out she'd read about I Do, the platinum polish Essie put out in a collaboration with Allure magazine, platinum supplier Johnson Matthey, and PGI. It's a sheer polish with platinum dust in it to make your nails shimmer like a million bucks... or $250, which is what the bottles retail for. Or you could have the elite bottle- made of pure platinum, it was valued at $55,000.

Hi mom! See, I really DO read your emails, even if I forget to reply! :D And since I've been babbling long enough to get thoroughly chilled and until it's almost time to take my morning meds, I think I'll wander off back to bed to see if I can sleep a bit before it's daylight. Remember, time "fell back" last night, so you get an extra hour of sleep!! Whee!

Buying Nail Polish On Sale- What Can You Find?

A friend of mine IMd me yesterday to tell me she'd finally found the hidden nail polish at her local Walgreens. Turns out she'd been wandering through the cosmetics department without ever thinking about finding the clearance items. That's a great way to miss out on very economical items!

For example, several months ago I was digging through the clearance section and found a little gift package of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure minis. It was very cute, but most of all it was very inexpensive. I think it was selling for $2? Something in that range, while the retail price of the package was $10. However, some of the polish minis had been swapped out. What does that mean?

It's a little easier to explain with photos, I think. Basically, someone had swapped out two bottles of polish they didn't want for two they did, leaving me with a pack of polishes I really like!

So overall, I think it worked out splendidly! I love vampy colors, and I was really wanting some gold and silver polishes. I'd like to get some more metallic colors, but hey, this was a great start, especially for only $2! I've also found Incoco dry nail polish appliques for $1, as well as several other polishes ranging from 25 cents to two-three dollars.

So remember, next time you're at Walgreens, be sure to walk around the aisle or two near cosmetics. There might be an endcap filled with clearance goodies, and there might be a color or three that you want to grab for awesome sale prices!

Tell me, lovelies, what sorts of clearance polishes have you found, and where?

Heaven Nail Lacquer is waiting for you...

I got so many questions about where, exactly, I bought my Heaven polish. I felt a little guilty, because I was waiting til I could get there and snap a few pictures to tell. What can I say, I wanted to share all the colors, not just one! So... the big secret is out. If you're looking for lots of fun colors at completely affordable prices, go to . . .

You read that right. Go to the cosmetics department at your local Albertsons grocery store and pharmacy. I bet you didn't know they had an extensive cosmetics department! The only way I knew is because I have a family member who used to manage the cosmetics department in her local Albertsons. She would bring me the most wonderful things all the time.

The interesting thing is that the Albertsons cosmetics department isn't managed by any old grocery store manager. No, they realize that cosmetics are important to women, so their departments actually are staffed by cosmeticians! So you really should stop by and look to see what's there... you might be pleasantly surprised.

Oh wait, I did that for you! Now, let me preface this by saying that just because these were found at my local store doesn't mean they'll be at all stores, but I know that this is a concept Albertsons is proud of across the board, so I bet you might have more luck than you might expect. So, your mileage may vary, keep your seatbelts on, and let's see what I found!