Taurus

It's birthday month for the Mr. so I am looking left and right for THE MOST AMAZING GIFT.  Every time an occasion comes around I can't help but look at Taurus themed things.  Most of them are awful but there are some good horoscope gifts out there, especially vintage ones like this MANLY chalice.

Just kidding

Have you noticed that a lot of the people you like in your life are the same star sign?  It seems like most of my friends are Virgo's or Taurus'.

If there's one thing a Taurus male likes, it's fancy nails on a Libra lady!  When V saw these the other day he said, "Wow, those are crazy....(long pause)  good."

Easter party nails

We went on a nice hike called the Old Salmon Falls loop in El Dorado Hills on Friday.  Part of the trail is on Folsom Lake.  I'd been years before and it's a nice swimming spot in the summer without too many heehaws screaming on their inner tubes.  

We were hungry and it was rush hour when we finished our walk so we hung around El Dorado Hills and went to a pizza bar for happy hour.  We were the youngest people there, I think.  There was a buff guy wearing shorts with shaved legs, a man in a business suit who was playing Draw Something when he walked in, a lady with heels so high she limped in her grand entrance and almost tripped, and a weird double date of 45-year-olds who wouldn't stop talking about their divorces right next to us.  

If you want to check it out for yourself, you should, not only for the people watching but because you can eat pizza on a couch and get 3$ glasses of wine.  If you can believe it, the restaurant is called Sauce'd and the apostrophe in their logo is a FLAME!  Yelp reviews are pretty bad.

Glitterific

It's Friday! Party time!  We are going to Vallejo to go thrifting, wander around the waterfront and possibly have a beverage at My Office.  What a great name for a bar.  They have a ping pong table, a bright blue drink called adios motherf*$&r, and a patio with lawn darts (safe?).  The last time we went a dude was selling pirated adult videos.

I am going to dazzle the locals with these beautiful nails.  Two kinds of glitter polish.  POW!

Manicures

I've been a little more than obsessive with doing my nails since I first started wearing nail polish in grade 8.  I got an A+ that year in English class during a debate about the pros of painting your nails.  I can't remember what my reasons were at the time but they're probably the same as they are now.  It saves money, it makes me feel fancy, and it keeps me busy while Gossip Girl is on Monday nights (or some equally trashy show where I don't need to pay attention.) I watched part of last Monday's episode and was lost since I'd missed the previous six episodes.  What the heck is going on?  Blair might be ditching the Prince to get back together with Chuck?  So excited!

Hmm, what colour should I paint my nails?

Pinterest has some good nail painting inspiration.  And this website has some great tutorials.  It's also where I read about Seche Vite, a fast drying top coat.  It sets your manicure to a hard finish in ten minutes!  It's about 4$ a bottle and it's available at many online stores including amazon.  I'm curious to try it.

Yesterday evening I painted my nails using tape to section off the tips for a variation on French tips.  It worked out pretty well.  I added some gold glitter bits to make it extra fancy.  Hopefully this manicure will last long enough to see how my wedding ring looks with it (still waiting...).  For the past two months every time I paint my nails I consider how the colour will look with my elusive wedding ring.  Maybe this is the manicure that will do it!

I still need to clean up the edges a little.

Nailpolish roundup

These little stainless steel manicure stamp plates have me very interested.  I have a few in my amazon shopping cart but am still deciding if I'm ready to go for it.

After you paint your nails one colour you put a layer of a different colour onto the round plate, scrape off the extra and roll a stamping tool over the remaining nail polish left in the design on the plate.  You then roll the stamp onto your nail and the nail polish design is deposited on top of your nail.  As a lady who has spent way too much time trying to draw flowers, stripes, and uneven nail tips only to have them look like a glob of nail polish fell on my nail, I really want to try these.

This video tutorial shows how it's done.  If I plan a nail painting party and consider it a party expense then I'll feel less guilty about buying the plates.  Also they're only about 5$ per plate for YEARS OF ENDLESS FUN.  Do you price out your purchases like that too?  Who wants in on the nail polish party?