OMG I'm Dead!

Quick update: Red Stick and Fandemonium were so amazingly fantastic I can barely put it into words. I have some video to put together (my camera only shoots 60 seconds at a time, bleah!) and I plan to write more when I've had time to recuperate. Unfortunately, I do need time to recuperate, because three days of con have killed me. I swear, my body is screaming, "Do you not realize that you have fibro? You can't do this sort of thing!"

So, the blog may not update for a day or two, but have no fear, I'm not going anywhere. :D

Red Stick International Animation Festival- YAY!

We're heading out to the Red Stick International Animation festival this morning, and I'm so excited I can barely stand it! We've volunteered there for the last 5 or 6 years, and I absolutely love it! It's going to be lots of fun seeing everyone again, and seeing what all is going on.

I was going to do a manicure using the red stick man from the logo, but I decided not to last night at the last minute. Maybe tonight, since we're going to the festival tomorrow and Saturday as well. Amusing trivia- the stick man's name is Gaston Baton! How cute is that?

Instead, I'm wearing Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Mme Moriarty, which is a deep blood red. And when I say blood red, I mean it. The BPAL website describes this as "The wet crimson red of arterial spray." Isn't that cool? Creepy and funky, I love it!!

Pictures to come! If you'll be at the festival tomorrow or the next day, leave me a comment, maybe we can get some coffee or something! :D

Essence Lime Up!

Ohhh, my goodness. You may or may not know this, but I am almost obsessed with lime green. I've been looking and looking for a lime green that would actually be opaque, because out of the four or fice lime green polishes I've got, not one of them is opaque! This made me INSANE!

Then comes the best advice I've gotten in ages. I just wish I could remember who gave it. One of my polish friends on Twitter suggested I check out Essence Lime Up! I am SO glad they did, because I don't know that I'd ever have picked up an essence polish, and I'd have been missing out on such amazing stuff!

This polish applied like a dream, creamy and smooth and just... I don't even know what to say. Amazing. It was opaque with one swatch over the polish I was wearing on my thumb- I couldn't resist and had to try it in the car once I'd picked it up. If you're better with polish than I am (not necessarily that difficult!) then this could be a 1 coat polish for you. For me, I need two to get fully opaque and fill in thin spots, but still... not a problem.

The only problem is that it's a creme and I'm a magpie. That's easily remedied, though. I topped it with a coat of a lovely lime green BonBons glitter polish that has no name. I bought this one ages ago, and have worn it several times. LOVE IT! It's got several sizes of glitter, and they're iridescent which is a plus! (You know me and rainbows!)

And since I'm a total glitter freak, I added a coat or two of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Embalming Fluid. Ohhh, how I love this polish. I love looking at the bottle, it's such an almost-spooky looking sheer green that looks like it should be glowing. (It does, btw- it glows in the dark, and if I had a black light I'd show you!) Then it's got the most lovely shimmery microglitter. It's an amazing topcoat, and I can't recommend enough. (This was provided by the company for evaluation, and I'm strongly considering buying a backup bottle!)

Unfortunately, there is a problem. I covered this with a coat of China Glaze Fast Forward because I don't like the feel of glitter. For some odd reason, this topcoat made the polish shrink like CRAZY, and caused the edges to peel up! I've never seen anything like it, but it was pretty frustrating. =/ At least 6-7 of my nails had peeling around the edges, and I don't think I could have done anything to prevent. I still wore it for a couple of days, but I was really a sad panda.

That said, I wore this for three manicures in a row (!!! I know!! THREE!) and only had the peeling problem once. I don't know what happened, or if it'll happen again. But I don't really care... I'll wear it again, and again and again til my bottle is empty!

I'm even tempted to get another bottle to play with, because if I had my perfect bottle, this green would be a touch deeper and bluer. I think this might be perfect with a bit of Sinful Colors Love Nails, or perhaps my Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser. We'll see, right? :D

What do you think? What color are you absolutely dying to find in a perfect, opaque polish?

Essence Lime Up! was a spontaneous post at Ulta. What can I say, I'm addicted to lime green..

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Business Cards for Layniefingers

Aaaaack, I am such a goober! I went adventuring with my husband today, taking photos of all the exciting holiday gift sets out that include nail polishes at my local WalMart. It was lots of fun, and people didn't think I was weird at all, from what I could tell. A couple of people asked why I was taking pictures, so I explained that I have a nail polish blog and was taking pictures of things to show my readers. They seemed excited by this.

Well, unfortunately, we lost track of time and we wound up being out so long that there wasn't time to run me home tonight before husband had to go teach. "No big deal," I told him. "My blog post for the day is up. I'm fine, time-wise. I'll just work on replacing images in the blog."

Right. Have I mentioned that fibromyalgia makes you stupid sometimes? Yea. I got here and saw the date, and said, "Wait a minute, that's not right..." I went to my blog and realized... EEEK! NO POST!

But fear not, readers, I have pictures!! I've been kicking around ideas for business cards ever since I printed that first set. I've doodled several possibilities, and I'm not sure which one(s) I like best. So I'm going to do a poll and get y'all's opinions!!

First up is the original design I made. I like it, but I'd left off the Etsy link, so I've added it back in and changed the font a bit. I actually like this one a lot. It's fun, it's funky, it's got a lot of character, and I think the energy matches the energy of the blog.

Then I started feeling rainbowlicious! I know, I know, it's entirely too bright, but seriously, isn't this cute? I can't help it, I am absolutely addicted to rainbows. I'm just not sure about how I feel about it. It's cute, though.

Then I went for hand-drawn feel. Unfortunately, these are all using brushes and fonts I've downloaded, but they combine so cutely! The problem is, I don't know if this card suits my blog. Ahhh, decisions, decisions!

So, next I added some fun hand-drawn embellishments using brushes I'd downloaded. Aren't they adorable? I thought about coloring them, but it's just too fiddly for me. There's also the question- does this work with my blog?

Finally, I added a block of text describing my blog. You may need to enlarge the image to read it. The text definitely fits the blog, but the card as a whole? I have no idea... This is hard work!

Finally, I decided to use the brushes I'd made of my own drawings along with the photo of one of my earliest nail art attempts. It's cute, but I feel like it's missing something. Again, I just don't KNOW!!



So, those of you who have an opinion, how about sharing it with me? Which card do you think I should make, and why? Which card fits the theme of my blog and my personality best? Or do you think none of them work, and I should let YOU make a card for me? At this point, I'm open to just about anything, as long as it involves having someone else make a decision! =P

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!

Happy Anniversary to me!

Seventeen years ago today, I married my best friend. We sort of eloped... we were planning a larger wedding, but things kept getting more and more crazy and out of hand, and one day we looked at each other and just sort of said, "Hey, you wanna?" The biggest problem we had was finding a justice of the peace to marry us, because it was the night of the big game- two local high school rivals were playing the end-of-season football game, and no-one would skip the game to marry us!

Since then, we've had a bit of a tradition of not actually remembering our anniversary. It started with our first anniversary when our best friends (who had stood in our wedding) knocked on our door to wish us happy anniversary. We had no idea it was a special day, and it clearly set the tone for the next few years. Since then, we've remembered three or four times, but the rest passed without our knowledge. And that's ok with us, because we feel like we show our love every day, and we try to make every day as special as we can. One day of romance is useless if the rest of the year has none!

In the past seventeen years we've moved several times for school and for work, we've been to weddings and funerals and watched our son grow from an infant to almost a man. We've bought cars and sold them, gotten college degrees, and seen a lot of life. We've dealt with health crisis after crisis, and yet through it all we're still best friends.

Looking back on the past 18 years together, I realize that he can still take my breath away when I see him unexpectedly. He's still the first one I want to share good news with, and the one I want to hold me when I'm afraid or sad. I'm looking forward to the next 18 years together to see what this big amazing world is going to come up with, and I'm so happy that he'll be by my side to watch it happen.

I love you, hon... thanks for being my best friend!