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!

I'm moving up in the world!!

Sometimes I'm amazed at how little things can make me so incredibly happy. The bright shade of blue of a fall afternoon sky, the smell of freshly baked bread, and... office supplies! I can spend absolute hours wandering through an office supply store, testing the pens, touching the various paper samples, being engrossed in the variety of notebooks and journals. Back to School sales have made me squee with excitement on more than one occasion, just at the thought of getting new pens or a brand new journal.

So I guess it's no surprise that I'm totally giddy because I made business cards for my blog. I wouldn't have, really, even though it's such a fun idea. But I am SO incredibly cheap. I mean, frugal. (Yea... that's the word. Frugal.) I can't see the point of spending good money I don't really have on business cards for something that doesn't really make me money. Except that I've had several people asking me about my blog lately, wanting my email address or my url, and I've had to drag out my sketchbook, tear out a page, and scribble my addresses in my chicken scratch, hoping they'll be able to read it once they return home. It's inconvenient, it looks shoddy, and frankly it'd be fun to have business cards.

Then it hit me: I have access to a laser printer- I could print my own business cards! Let me tell you, the squeal of glee you heard Tuesday afternoon was probably me. I went back and forth in my head on what to do, but finally decided to grab the header of my blog, add a picture of my favorite nails, and throw my various addresses onto it. I forgot to add my etsy account, but hey... I can always print more, right? :D

So now I've got a short run of business cards, I printed 5 sheets and trimmed them using my paper cutter. I'm strongly tempted to do another run with various images, just because I can and it's fun! I can't even begin to tell you how much I love these, and now I won't have to dig for scratch paper to let people know about my blog!

In other news, I made a Facebook account for Layniefingers, so feel free to add me! I know, I'm so behind the times... but I figured hey, why not?

So tell me, what do you think of the business cards? Any suggestions for future print runs?

Trails of Stardust Shimmer On the Night's Wind

Turns out I forgot to post the photos for my Stardust nails when I posted my video. So I'm sharing them today, along with a funny I couldn't resist tweeting earlier. See, I did my favorite Halloween activity yesterday- halloween clearance shopping! Costumes and makeup kits are half off, and I can't resist them!

I didn't buy much. I grabbed a bottle of the black and orange glitter polish I'd been drooling over and a set of purple false lashes with top and bottom lashes. I didn't see anything funny until this morning when I read the back of the packaging.

There in two languages is the warning, in all caps. WARNING: DO NOT SWALLOW. Not for human consumption. Is this really a problem? Have people been mistaking them for dietary supplements? I get the suggestion not to put the adhesive directly onto your eyelids. I even almost understand don't eat the glue... but don't eat the lashes??

I have no idea.

And now, the stardust nails...

Several things come to mind with these. First I'm reminded of fairies flitting through the night sky, dipping and dancing and leaving trails of sparkling fairy dust as they dance. I think of fireflies on a summer night, flashing their desperate messages of love and lust into the dark, hoping for a response from some beautiful lady firefly.

Mostly, however, I'm reminded of stardust glittering in the deep black of space, tumbling and sparkling, capturing the light of stars and reflecting it to any eyes lucky enough to see. They seem like something magical, something that will catch everyone's eye and make them start thinking fantastic thoughts.

So tell me, what do you think of when you see these nails? Do you think of fairies or witches, of moonlit nights?

As I said in my video, I can't help but wonder how these would look on different colored backgrounds- a soft baby pink, a crazy magenta, perhaps a midnight blue.

I think it could be fun with less glitter, so that the lines of glitter show more. I'd love to place individual swarovski crystals into the streaks as well! It would be almost as if the stars are falling...

 

Ahh well, I've got a kit of longer nails to play with now. This will be lots of fun to play with, I think! What do you think would be an interesting twist for these nails?

Introducing Princess Tinytips!

Oh my goodness, y'all, I am so excited I can barely stand it. Last night was Halloween, and for years my husband's family has all gotten together to trick or treat as a group, then come back to my sister-in-law's house to eat homemade soup and visit. It's something I look forward to every year, even though we've been too old for trick-or-treating for several years now.

Tonight we arrived while the kids were out wandering through the neighborhood collecting candy. However, once they arrived home, my niece came running over to give me a huge hug, then told me she had something for me. She ran over to her little art table and dug for a few minutes, then came back clutching some papers close. I could tell what she had was important to her.

She stood next to me, then handed me the papers. "I drew these for you this morning, Aunt Laynie. They're just pictures, but I drew some nail designs in case you were interested in them."

That's right. My six-year-old niece was so excited by my sketchbook that now she has her own notebook to draw in, and she drew me pictures of nail art. Plus, she put swatches of her nail polishes! Do I even need to tell you how cute I think this is? It was so sweet I almost cried!

It didn't take long, but she went through her drawings with me. She pointed out what she thought would be good for nail art, and of course I told her I'll do my nails with it. I will, too, because it's actually pretty cute once I clean it up a bit. How many people can say they're wearing nail art designed by a six year old?

Since she's going to be appearing in the blog more often, I've decided to give her a name. I don't feel comfortable using her real name since she's only six, and I feel even weirder calling her "my six-year-old niece." It gets old, you know? So, from now on, she'll be Princess Tinytips. (Thanks EvilAngel for suggesting the base name!) She has a huge love of princesses and I'm hoping I don't have to explain the tiny tips.

If all goes as planned, I'll get to have a girls' day with my nieces where we do our nails together and talk girl talk. I may even bring my makeup kit and do their faces. Nothing too over-the-top since they're all little girls, but several of them are in the 10-12 range, so they might enjoy it a lot. I know I would, and maybe they'd be able to learn some things about makeup application. With luck, I'll have pics of lots of little nails to blog!

So I hope you'll forgive me, but I just had to share this... I think it's so sweet that she and I have this special bond. Hopefully we'll get to share all sorts of cosmetics fun and hair styling adventures, and she'll get to grow up remembering how much fun she used to have with her crazy Aunt Laynie.

I've posted my first video on YouTube! Have I lost my mind?

Holy CRAP, y'all... I've finally did it! I made the jump and I've made my first YouTube video. I have no idea how people do this so often. I was a total nervous WRECK!

But it's done, and it's up, and I just had to share with everyone! So, now you can see just how silly I am in RL, and just how much of a chatterbox I am. Oh, and I talk with my hands a lot. I didn't realize just how much til I saw this!

Be nice, y'all, and give me a thumbs up if you're so inclined. You know the rest, subscribe, comment, and don't forget to subscribe using the GFC stuff up there! Now... I've got to get some sleep. I've worn myself out with this!

A day in the life of Laynie...

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems everything you touch goes wrong, where everyone is grumpy and you just wish you could press fast forward and get the day over with? I've had all too many of those lately, but today was not one of them. In fact, it was the opposite!

It started with waking up to the alarm taking meds, then realizing that hey, I actually slept all night! Since I was still sleepy, I turned over, went back to sleep, and slept til 11am. Delicious! Considering I've been sleeping maybe an hour at a time if I'm lucky, maybe three times a night I considered this one of the most amazing, wonderful mornings I've had in a long time. I managed to snuggle with my husband almost enough!

He woke me around 11 because we needed to go get the kiddo's insulin. Long story there, but our son has type 1 diabetes and due to a weird insurance thing he was running out of insulin before we could refill it. Thankfully his general practitioner had sample bottles he could share with us, so we all hopped in the car and rode to the doctor's office, only to find that it was closed for lunch.

That was annoying! Didn't they know they were supposed to be there for us? *grin* To heck with lunch, you're totally supposed to be at my beck and call. But we decided that since it was such a gorgeous day we'd go to the nearby park and toss the frisbee around for a while. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, chilly and breezy, and perfect for just getting outside and feeling the sun a bit!

While my husband is pretty good with the frisbee, my son and I are... well... not. We spent more time chasing after it and yelling, "Oops, SORRY!!!" But no one got hit in the face, so I consider it a successful venture. I also observed a tiny spider for a while that seemed convinced he was going to be a tough guy and chase me off. He was no larger in diameter than my pink nail (including his outstretched legs), but he would lift those front two legs and look at me like, "C'mon, b**ch, whatcha got?" I managed to set my arachnophobia aside for a while to watch him wander and pose.

After an hour or so of frisbee we stopped back at the GP's office, picked up the insulin, then went to WalMart to pick up my meds. I know, I know, WalMart is evil. If I had more money I'd shop someplace else, but I really can't afford to. One day... one day. We also spent some time walking, and I made a quick run through cosmetics. My local WalMart now has the new Hard Candy display, although they didn't seem to have the tattoos out. Shame, those may be my favorite part. They're so cute...

Then we loaded into the car and headed for Baton Rouge, because while we were tossing the frisbee, it broke! Well, they were headed for Dick's Sporting Goods which just happens to be next door to Ulta! They were kind enough to drop me off there, so while they looked at all the sporting goods, I wandered through Ulta and found something I've been hunting for months- lime green opaque creme polish! I've got several lime green polishes, but not one actually looks opaque on the nail. But thanks to a Twitter friend, I got the suggestion to try Essence's Lime Up! OMG, y'all... it is SO PERFECT. One coat and it's creamy and opaque and smooth as can be. And not only is it the perfect lime green, it's only 99 cents!

I know. I couldn't pass it up. My husband fussed, but it was only a buck. And hey, it's my first Essence polish! (But definitely not my last!) He spoils me. We then spent the rest of the evening at the bookstore, where I read about blogging and fashion dolls and makeup and... yea. It was delicious, and now I'm about to curl up in bed with my best friend once again. Instead of wishing I could fast forward through the day, I wish I could press record so I could run through it again and again. This was one of those perfect fall days that I'll look back on when I'm old and grey, thinking what a wonderful life I've had.

And so this isn't a picture-free post, I'll share my poor pathetic manicure. Once again, I was doodling on my nails. I wound up with three fingers of each hand the same Sinful Colors blue (Love Nails), an unnamed Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear on my left ring finger and my right pinky finger that's almost identical to Love Nails, a sheer lime green Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear on my left pinky finger topped with a hot pink unnamed Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear with a scalloped edge, and a purple unnamed Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear on my right ring finger topped with that sheer green. My right ring finger was damn close to Zoya's Adina, btw... just a touch darker purple, with the same green flash from certain angles.

I used my decorative edged scissors to make nail stencils and had to test one, so I tested it over the green. Then I added some rhinestones in multiple sizes, just for the fun of it. I'll definitely end up making a tutorial for this technique, it's simple and fun!

I hope you've had a great day as well, and that your weekend is even better. I've got some surprises coming up soon, so come back soon. I can't wait to share the goodies I've got up my sleeve!

A sketch from last night...

Hi everyone! Good news, my doctor has been absolutely fabulous and given me 2 sample packets of sleeping medicine to help me both get to sleep and stay asleep. Last night I did... I wound up going to bed around 9:30 and sleeping through, mostly. I woke up twice, but was able to go back to sleep and that was such a wonderful experience. I woke up this morning feeling happier than I have in weeks, and managed to take my mom to the doctor and actually be useful there.

It was a very good day. To share this, I decided to post a quick sketch I drew the other night. This was a 3am, spur-of-the-moment sketch, and I am so, so content with it. I had no idea I could do this!

It's just pencil and blending stump, but I think this is the first time I've managed to draw a face with expression, a nose that looks like a nose. It feels good!

Also, have a fishie. She's cute and sweet. ♥