Mirror image

I know this post is a bit late.  I spent the week working as much overtime as I could.  Then yesterday was my ten year reunion.  I spent most of the day with people that I hadn't seen in a long time, but it only seems like yesterday that I was in high school. 

It also made me realize just how much I've accomplished in the past ten years.  I graduated high school, when to college, got my Bachelor of Science in Chemistry.  I found a temp. job for a while, got married, bought a house.  Then I went back to school for my Master in Forensic Science, which hopefully will arrive in the mail soon, as they never give your diploma at graduation.  I lost some weight since high school and changed my hair.  I have braces now and soon those will be coming off.  Most people didn't recognize me at the reunion.  Even though I don't have my dream job yet, I'm really happy with how far I've come.  Hopefully that dream job is just around the corner now that I'm done with school.

Now what you have been waiting for!

I used Orly Preamp for the base color and I stamped the image using Konad special polish in black with the m56 plate.

I know this next image is a little blurry.  I tried a method for mirror imaging the stamp and I think it worked pretty well.  I took a little plastic bag and painted small strips of clear nail polish by Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.  I let that dry for a bit. Then I stamped the image on those clear strips and pulled the strips off.  They work much like the sticker appliques you can buy in stores.  The nice part is that since the polish is clear, you can use either side to produce the mirror image look. 

 

I really like having my hands look like mirror images, rather than exactly the same, so I'm glad I found this technique.

I found some nice deals this month

This first set is the new China Glaze Bohemian Chromillusion polish.  No Plain Jane, Unpredictable, Swanky Silk, Deviantly Daring, Want My Bawdy, Rare and Radiant.

The next set is the new Essie metallics.   Penny Talks, No Place Like Chrome, Nothing Else Metals, Good as Gold, Blue Rhapsody.

These are a couple Wet n Wild polishes: Disturbia and Through the Grapevine.

Next are a couple of Sinful shimmers: Rich in Heart and Ciao Bella!

These three Sinful colors would make a great combination.  Rainstorm, Pull Over, and Ocean Side.

These two are Envy and Fig.

These last ones are Open Seas and Savage

These last ones were random ones that I picked up.  China Glaze Blue Iguana, Nicole by OPI Khloe had a Little Lam-Lam, A Lit-Teal Bit of Love, Mer-Maid for Each Other. 

I'm hoping to have a lot of fun with these.

Until next time...
Chess

My new favorite color combination

This week I decided to try using nail polish for stamping instead of special polish or insta-dri polish.

 I started with Blue Escape  by Avon.  This is a nice cerulean blue.
















Then I stamped with A-England's Lady

of the Lake and Bundle Monster plate BM-221.

This is a close up with flash of a couple fingers so you can see the holographic glitter in Lady of the Lake.

The only real issue was that the stamping thinned the A-England polish quite a bit so it also thinned the glitter.  Even still, I feel it turned out pretty well.

My second try at gradient

I tried the gradient technique a while ago with and orange and pink.  The colors were a little too bright for even my liking.  I saw something similar to this on another blog, but I can't seem to find it anywhere now.  This is my second try.  I think I need a different sponge because it still didn't come out the way I was hoping.

I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue By! for the base color.  Then I sponged on Love Nails by Sinful Colors and Sun-Kissed by China Glaze.  The yellow was so light that I ended up sponging two more layers of the yellow, so that might have been part of the problem too.  I topped it all off with my favorite glitter top coat: Fairy Dust by China Glaze.  It's more of a jelly, so the glitter doesn't settle at the bottom like Northern Lights does.

I'm still working on the gradient.  I'm going to get a different type of sponge and see if that helps.  I'm also still working on the picture-taking.  Let me know what you all think so far!

Chess

Pink with white lace

I decided I wanted to do something lighter this week for my nails.  I like the idea of french tips, but sometimes I like to have color instead of my normal nail underneath.  So I opted for a light pink and instead of a basic white tip, I found a flowery lace looking tip to use.  

I used OPI Sweet Heart for the pink and the stamp is from Konad plate m80 using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White.  

The tip is slightly curved, and normally I have a really hard time getting them on the nail just right.  They usually end up lop-sided.  I kept thinking about the issue this past weekend before doing my nails and it finally occurred to me.  The rubber stamper is curved too!   I place the stamper so the curve of the stamper matches the curve on the plate, so when I place it on the nail, I know exactly where the image is.  Most of my nails turned out really well this time.

This look is fairly neutral which is useful in a more conservative setting.

This is a macro of my thumb so you can see the design a little better.  I just wish it weren't so blurry looking. I'm still practicing with the camera.

Let me know what you think!

Patriotic nails

This is the manicure I did to celebrate the 4th of July. 

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Blue It, China Glaze in China Rouge and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White for the base colors.  Then I used my stamping plates to add designs.  I used the Konad special polish in white for most of the them, and the special polish in blue for the middle finger.  From Thumb to pinky I used BM05, BM14, Konad m3, BM21, and BM20.

Sadly, the stripped one was too small for most of my fingers, so I had to change things a bit.  I even had to try to fill in the lines on my smallest finger at the edges.  Despite this, I rather like how my nails turned out.  I had a number of complements on this during the week.

In other news, there weren't any fireworks for the 4th of July, due to the Waldo Canon fire and the high risk of fire all around the city.  By the 4th, the fire had been contained along the city limits, and was mostly contained elsewhere.  Many of the cities residents were able to return to their evacuated homes.  I was quite pleased in how the city and county responded to the threat.  Only two people died, and only about 350 houses were completely lost.  The firefighters saved many houses during that frightful night and my husband said that most of the firefighters will have a hard time buying their own drinks for a long time.

So regardless of not having any fireworks, this whole city was celebrating in many other ways. 

Nail blogging

Lately I've been following a number of blogs that are all about nail polish.  I've always loved painting my nails and the many different colors out there.  I decided to try my hand at taking pictures of what I do and posting them up here for people to see.

I tend to do my nails for the week, so I won't be posting as often as some people do.  I also have acrylic nails as mine are so thin that I barely have nails without a little artificial help.  I've found that the wear on my nails is much smaller throughout the week.  Only a little bit of color comes off around the edge of the free nail.

So without further ado, here are the two pictures I took inside tonight.

The base color is China Glaze Pink Plumeria.  It dries a little matte and I decided to add the Icing polish called Rave Royalty to the top.  Then I finished it off with a clear top coat by Sally Hansen.

I would have taken pictures in the daylight if things hadn't been so crazy here.  I live in Colorado Springs and we had evacuated our house due to the Waldo Canon Fire that apparently has hit national news.  Thankfully, we were far enough away from the fire Tuesday night that our house was not affected, but that night was pretty scary.  We managed to get most of our stuff set back up, a little rearranging that we had thought about doing before, and some cleaning/organizing since everything was torn apart.  Consequently, I ran out of day light.  If I get a chance tomorrow before starting a new set of polish, I'll take pictures to post later.

I hope you like what I've managed to eek out so far,

Chess

If Barbie were anatomically correct

I read a small article today about this.  I get so tired of the PC anymore.  Some people think that Barbie perpetuates an unattainable stereotype and body image for women.  Maybe I'm weird but I've never had an issue with Barbie and how she looks.  I grew up playing with Barbie, as well as some of the "boys" toys.

I didn't start having body issues until I wanted to wear what other people wear, and I was "too fat"  or "too short"  or "too whatever."  Trying to find many things in my size, off the rack, has been hard since I hit puberty.  Try finding a bra my size (34 F) at your regular clothing store.  Try finding pants that make you look right.  Long legs with a short torso makes me look like I go from boobs to pants with nothing in between.  Try finding anything for a woman who actually has curves in the hips, or maybe the belly.

I don't think Barbie is the issue here.  I think it is the fashion designers.  I'm glad some places have banned models who are too thin.  I'm sad that the women who modeled in the various Dove campaigns caught so much flack for not being sticks.   I'm happy that some places are reducing the amount of airbrushing allowed in ads.


When I look in the mirror, I don't think "wow, I'm never going to look like Barbie."  That has never been a thought, nor will it ever be.  I look at myself in the mirror and think, "I'm never going to get back into a size 9.  I'm never going to look like a Victoria's Secret model.  I'm never going to be able to buy a bra at Target/ Walmart/wherever without surgery.

I think we need to re-evaluate a few thing.

I can't wait for summer....

The days are getting a little warmer, but I can't wait until I can go out at any time without a coat on.  The few days that are warm enough like that, are just a tease.  Maybe I should have been born somewhere else.

I've been trying to update my warmer weather wardrobe for work.  This weekend I was out and about, and decided to look for some summery shoes.  Try finding something nice in a closed toe!  I love the look of the wedges that are ever so popular, but every single flippin' one of them had at least a peep toe.  I can't wear those to work.  So if anyone has any ideas, let me know.  Otherwise, I'll be on the hunt for a while.

In other areas of my life, I've been working on my yoga more, and some of my bellydance.  There is a workshop coming up this Saturday that I'm planning to go to.  It's all about makeup and hair for the tribal bellydancer.  I won't complain about learning a few tricks.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to do yoga almost every day, though so far, I haven't been able to create the consistency. Part of that is I'm pretty lazy when my husband is home, and the other part is that I get sucked in to WoW and don't get off the computer until it's past bed time, sometimes.  I'm trying to lose weight, like about 90% of the women out there, and it's coming off very slowly.  It's nice to see that scale change every week or two weeks, in a downward way.  So far, yoga is the only thing that actually makes me lose weight, rather than sitting on the plateau of doom.

And now, I'm headed off to actually go do some yoga before bed.  Let me try this consistency thing this week.

Lots of things going through my head

I just want to get this all down, especially before I get my shower this morning.  I've been doing a lot of thinking, a lot of reading, a lot of learning and am now trying to figure things out again.

I read that Volkswagen is working on a hybrid Jetta for 2012 or so.  I'm super excited about that, as I'm going to need a new car soonish and I want another Jetta.  And I've been working hard on going more green here and there, and a hybrid car would be awesome.  So now I need to save up money so I can put a huge down payment down, to reduce my monthly payments.

We discovered that the new dental plan may cover my braces after all.  So I need to contact the orthodontist's office and see what they have to say about this new company.  We owe only about $2400, and the insurance would be a lifetime max of $1500.  Which means we would possibly only owe $900.  That would help immensely.  The Dr. is still working on my teeth, and I've seen a lot of progress, but I'm getting anxious to be done, so I can start working on whitening my teeth some.

I was originally going to quit the program I'm in, because they were never able to get a lab for the tox program.  However, I spoke with the department head and he suggested I speak to one of the instructors who also works at the Coroner's office about getting and independent study set up with him.  So that will allow me to continue on, to get my masters, and to keep those student loans from coming due yet.  The department head said that some of the students that have done that have been hired on there, too.  So it may be a foot in the door for me.

I've also been thinking about doing a yoga teacher training course, but with this change in the way I'm doing my school stuff, that may get put on the back burner for a while.  Plus, I really need to get back into shape.  I hate looking at myself in the mirror anymore, so I'm trying to figure out what to do.  I've been speaking with a few people, and I'm changing the way I think.  I thought 20 minutes of exercise each day was enough.  I've been taking to some women in my class, and they mostly say that they exercise for closer to an hour a day.  And these are women that are thinner, so they must be doing something right.

I'm beginning to see that my parent really made things difficult for me.  The portions my mom would put on my plate probably could feed two adults, not one kid.  And they never do anything except sit at home and watch tv.  So I grew up hating exercise and eating a lot.  My mom blamed it on the soda I drank, which probably didn't help a lot, but they would have at least one a day, so I thought it was ok to drink it, too.

Now I'm trying to fix this.  My braces have actually helped me get to a point where my portions aren't so large, because of the initial weirdness and occasional pain in my mouth.  I had a period where I didn't eat a lot, so not eating much feels more normal now.  Now I just need to push myself and do more yoga, work on the stationary bike more, and go running some when it gets warmer.  The cold weather kills my lungs.  Some people suggested I get a bandana and put it around my like a mask and that should help.  But because I don't like the cold, I think I'll stay inside for the winter and try the running thing when it gets warmer and I want to be outside more.

Classes will be out soon, so that will give me time to work on the exercise thing.  Classes don't start back up until about mid January.  And with classes, I'll be able to pay off these few debts we've obtained lately, like my braces, the bed, and the new washer and dryer.  Deferring my student loans a year or so should help us catch up because I'm going to be full time all year, and my husband just recently got a raise.  I also went online at the suggestion of my brother-in-law and found that currently, INGdirect has a savings account with about a 1% interest rate.  So I'm thinking of creating a savings account with them to try to make my money grow faster for that down payment on my future car.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff I've been thinking about, and now a lot of writing.  Best to go get a shower now I think.