The (B)Right Side of 25: 2012

Where have I been?

Long time no see!

At least… it feels like it’s been a rather long time. My last post was August 15^th! I can’t believe I went that long without even writing a draft of something to post here (although… the list. It still grows. Everything from make up to movies to old 80’s cartoons). I feel quite guilty about it, to be honest. * Poof *! There goes that plan of a daily ½ hour block of time to write. Sigh. Well, if at first you don’t succeed….

There’s been a pile of things going on here since I last posted. Perhaps not enough to make a good excuse for not blogging (alright, alright. Definitely not enough. I spent days letting my brain turn to slurpy ok?! I have a little over a week before I have to go back to school to finish the masters. I’m taking advantage of that.) BUT! There have been things. Interesting things. Things I can blog about.

Since last we spoke, er… typed… I’ve had a birthday, been sans Hubby for 10 days, and had the flu (still have the flu actually). These were the major events. I know, they still don’t seem like a lot. But they did manage to take up a CHUNK of time, due to the little things involved.

On the 12^th I celebrated my 28^th Birthday. Which is to say I celebrated it on the 11^th, because the 12^th was a Sunday and I had to work on Monday. It was wonderful. A couple of days before, my way too awesome parents bought me not one, but 2! pairs of shoes and matching purses. I am dearly in love with them and can’t wait to post there here to share. The shoes and purses that is. Not my parents. They wouldn’t appreciate that.

Back to Birthday. Saturday I went around with a friend in search of a suitable birthday outfit. Hubby had tried very, very hard to keep the whole thing on the DL (Down Low? Or is that term passé now?), with poor results. In sending out messages, he neglected to tell others that this was supposed to be a surprise thing. I was asked by 3 people about the events on Saturday. I had to inform them that I didn’t know, as Hubby was planning it and hadn’t informed me. This was met with varying responses to “Oh crap! I ruined the surprise! I didn’t know!” to glossing it over to make it not a big deal and promptly getting me off the phone. I found it pretty funny. I was still quite surprised too! And I am semi glad that I did find out, since it gave me heads up enough to get something nice to wear, get makeup and hair done, etc.

All in all, it was a blast. Friends came over that I haven’t seen in far too long. There was barbeque, drinks, chatting. No games, but me and girls spent quite a long time around the table having the ‘late night drinking talk’ that is inevitable when liquor is involved. Not the sappy one, mind you, the good kind instead. Apparently it was pretty amusing to the more sober boys who took refuge in the living room, as I was informed by Hubby later the next day. While I was nursing the Wine Flu. ;)

A few days after the Birthday Adventures, I helped Hubby pack and saw him off at the airport. He was gone for 10 days of fun, sun, playing pool and a bit of gambling in Las Vegas. I’m happy to say he had a wonderful time. He and his team made it quite high in the competition, coming in the 60s range, out of 460 teams. I was so proud! Once the boys were out of the competition, that’s when the fun began. They gambled, they drank, they bought things. Another proud point: Hubby didn’t over spend, over gamble, or over buy and still had a blast. He actually came home UNDER budget. On top of that (yes! More!) he is a wonderful, fabulous husband. He went to Sephora and MAC to purchase makeup for me, since we don’t have either of those stores here (which makes me all kinds of sad. Here that Sephora and MAC?! We need you here in Newfoundland!). I gave him a list of about 11 items hoping he’d come home with about 4, maybe 5 if I was lucky. He came home with 6 items, plus the little bonuses that Sephora gives you when you spend whatever amount. There will be more about that later. There’s actually too much to try and smash in here.

While Hubby was away, the only thing I really got to do was work and be sick. Actually, I’m still fighting the flu. It’s brutal. You seem alright at first, then it comes by and kicks you in the pants saying “NO!”

I did get to do a simple little craft on a “craft night” with a friend, watched all the episodes of Toddlers and Tiaras (what can I say, it’s trainwreck that I can’t tear my eyes away from. And the social psychologist training is just making it sooo fascinating). Picked up some pretty sweat clothes at a killer sale at Aeropostale Took Jessie, my 8 year old puppy, to the vet and found she is probably suffering from allergies. So we’ve cut out the little bit of dairy she gets. The vet also told us she’s overweight. Chubby was the word she used. So on top of giving her some meds to take care of the allergies, we’re cutting her food by a quarter. She’s dealing, but we get extra sad puppy eyes for not giving her things like egg and yogurt. anymore. Picked up Hubby Thursday night, Friday night I was over with some friends. Today is at home, suffering through this flu.

So there it is. The crib notes version of where I’ve been and whats going on. I’ve done other small things, there’s definitely been some other items picked up that I’ll be sharing, other things on the list I wanted to get to (though some of them are getting to the dated stage. Post them anyway?)

By now you may have noticed the new blog look! A bestie picked this one out for me. It became my favourite as well. I just need to figure out how to tweak a few things. Like that title. The colour and font needs to change. But... my tweaking hasn’t been successful so far. Must learn MOAR! And I’d love to have some of my own pictures in there. Eventually I’m sure…

Well, it’s time to close this entry up, it’s long enough as it is!

Till next time.

P.S.: One more thing! My brother-in-law and his girlfriend found a new apartment! Very excited for them, as it’s in town and easy to visit. A bonus is that I get my sewing/art/craft room! They need a couch, and we have a spare futon. So they’ll be taking the futon, making space in the extra room for me! Yay!

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Nails, Nails, Nails!

2:46 PM | Labels: accent nail, Beauty, colour, colour wheel, nail art, Nail polish

Hello Interwebs!

I seem to have fallen behind on the blogging a little bit, but that blog topics list I mentioned last time is ever-growing. This means that, eventually, you'll have some wonderful, fabulous interesting things to read. Perhaps. It could just be wonderful, fabulous and interesting to me. Either way, it's gettin' posted!

My very next thing I wanted to share was my nail polish collection. I was inspired by a recent little trip to my local Sally's. Initially, I had just gone in to pick up some nail decorating tools (which I didn't find) but instead picked up a different, but still great, little tool - the nail colour wheel! As an extra bonus, I spotted a shade of nail polish that was on sale! Extra extra bonus, it was a shade of my new favourite colour, teal.

Now, I know at this point you are just DYING to see my little collection. Don't worry, I won't keep you waiting :)

1) Finger Paints: Art Dealer Teal-er
- This was the new shade I found. And I. Am. In. Love. I haven't used it yet, but sooooon, so very very soon. Aside from my utter love, perhaps I should give you a little review. I found this polish went on very well. It did take 3-4 coats for it to get a good opaque colour, but it was smooth and shiny.

2) Sally Hansen Extreme Wear: Ivy League
- This is also a favourite, as it is a bright and sparkly shade. It made me think of a neon green, but I think it's shine in it. It's just a healthy, bright colour. It looks lovely with accents.

3) Sally Hansen Extreme Wear: Blizzard Blue
- This colour is beautiful. Once you get enough coats on, that is. This colour goes on SUPER light, so it takes about 3 before it good solid color, unlike the Ivy League. But it is really pretty and can be wonderful for water marbling

4) Sally Hansen Extreme Wear: Hot Magenta
- What can I say? This brand has cool colours and really good prices. This colour has a huge pop and very hot pink. I love it. Also works wonderfully as an accent colour. It applies really well and, at most, I'll apply 2 coats.

5) Del Sol Colour-Changing Nail Polish: Peek-a-boo
- This is a tricky one. In the bottle, it's an unpleasant yellow, it goes on clear, and if you go out in the sun, it'll turn hot pink. Not as pink as the Hot Magenta, but still a very pretty colour. As soon as I can, I will grab a picture and post it for you to see. This goes on pretty well... but you can't really tell if it's streaky until it's dry and you go out in the sun.

6) Del Sol Colour-Changing Nail Polish: Superhero
- At first glance, this looks very similar to the Blizzard Blue. I find it's much gentler though. Out of the two Del Sol shades, this is my favourite. I love both the colour in the shade, and the colour in the sun - a lovely lilac. Although I like the colour, it still doesn't go on as well as some other shades. But I'm willing to keep it still.

7) Sally Hansen Extreme Wear: Virtual Violet
- This is very similar to the Blizzard Blue. Beautiful light colour, but needs a number of coats to get the solid colour.

8) China Glaze: Senorita Bonita
- One of my absolute favourites, this polish goes on lovely with just 2 coats. The sparkle adds a pop to the deep and vibrant colour.

9) Unknown Brand: Alexander the Grape
- A couple of polishes I've had for... well... pretty much for as long as I can remember. This is one of those. The brand name has rubbed off the bottle. This colour is pretty vampy. I'm not certain if I want to keep it. I can only think that I will use it for Halloween or possibly for accent. We'll see how it goes.

10) Show Colours: Couldn't read the name
- As stated... I couldn't read the name on this one. It's in the teeniest, tiniest writing I've ever seen, and I'm going to need a magnifying glass to read it. Might be a problem since I haven't had one of those on hand since high school.... but again, this colour went on surprisingly well for a polish that is so old and I liked it much more than I expected! I plan on using this one.

11) Oil of Olay: Terra
- I'm not even certain how this colour made its way into my collection. It's not something that I immediately like, and when I see it on the colour wheel, I start to like it. Then I hold it up against my own nail. It just seems like such an older colour for me. This is pretty well going.

12) Unnamed bottle and unnamed shade
- Does anyone remember getting those giant boxes of make up and nail polish kits as pre-teen/teen? The ones from places like Walmart? This shade came from that. I don't know if this picture does it justice, but this red goes on really really well. It's like a bright, fresh cranberry red. I'm really enjoying it.

13) Sally Hansen Extreme Wear: Gunmetal
- This is such a cool shade. Much love for this one, though I haven't worn it often. It's just so rocker chic. Happy Nail Bliss for me.

14) Sally Hansen Extreme Wear: Celeb City
- I always see this as a much brighter, much more FABULOUS, version of Gunmetal. It goes on really well. And if I don't want something too strong, a single coat is fine.

15) Maybelline Color Show: Bold Gold
- I have a love-hate relationship with this color. On one hand, it usually only needs one coat to get a good, solid, rich color. It is actually like liquid gold. And although that picture doesn't show it well, it does have a nice shimmer. Not strong, but again, like there's liquid gold on your fingers. That being said.

It's the goopiest, most quick drying crap I've ever used. It's unlikely I'll use another colour from this brand. They have beautiful shades, but it just clumps so easily, leaves lines and so many brush strokes. It does have it's uses, and I won't toss it.... I just probably wouldn't buy it again if I can find a similar one in another brand.

16) Sally Hansen Insta-Dri: Whirlwind White
- This is a nice crisp white, takes about 2 coast, and is really really good for doing french tips. Love it. :)

17) O.P.I: Black Shatter
- You'll notice I skipped one almost black nail. This was an attempt at a double coat of the black shatter. Clearly it failed. I'll clear it off and paint an actual black polish with it. In the mean time, I'm thoroughly enjoying the Black Shatter. I haven't used it on the white as shown here, but used it plenty on the Hot Magenta, the Blue, the Ivy League. It's a go-to favourite.

So there you have it, my polish collection! Most of these are under 3 dollars (Cdn), with the exception of the Teal-er (4.99) and the O.P.I. (9.99 to buy, but I won it for free).

And as much as I complained about the gold, I actually used it this week past!

Yes, I'm holding on the phone. Holding a bottle of polish just ... wouldn't work. So phone it is. You'll notice I'm wearing the red (number 12) as a base. I'm also a big fan of the accent nail lately. So I water marbled the gold and red together (many, many, many tries. Many. It dried ridiculously fast. I was not happy). I loved the accent nail the best. I think that, the next time I do this, I'll do the gold on red on all the nails with red on gold as an accent nail. I think it would look just fantastic. I also tried to keep the polish clean, using a q-tip to clean up the cuticle and as close to the nail as possible. I also try to make sure to put down a base coat (Pro-FX Protein Enriched Base Coat and Revitalizer) as well as Sally Hansen Hard as Nails topcoat. Helps it last quit a long time. :)

That's all I have for now folks. I'm hoping to use the rest of the wheels that I have for practice for nail art. Once those are done, be sure I'll be posting them here as well.

Enjoy all things everyone!

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List Lady

12:52 PM | Labels: housework, lists, Organization, to do, writing

Hello again!

So unfortunately, Life must’ve heard my desire to book off a set amount of time and said “Ohhhh no bucko. No booking off time for YOU”! I haven’t been able to get to sit down and write for any solid timeframe. As suggested, I was aiming for a ½ hour, but bupkis on that. However, there is still some good news on that front. In waiting to be able to blog again, I’ve realized I really like the idea of blogging, and I actually missed getting to do it (I know, how do you miss something you’ve only done 4 times, really? Hahaha!). In lieu of actually posting, I’ve been keeping notes on what I want to write about. The list just keeps growing and growing, so I’ll have lots of material to work with J. Given that I did have a list, some of which were small things, I was hoping to put up multiple posts, but so far, time just simply won’t allow it.

My first thing that I wanted to blog about was actually quite simple and related to the little list: How many of us have a to-do list? Hell, how many blogs are there about a to-do list? Dozens, hundreds, thousands even! Despite that… here’s another one ;)

A long time ago, I was a notoriously unorganized person in my home life. Or rather… unorganized in an organized fashion. Books strewn about the book case, make up and jewelry tossed in drawers, mail was roughly sorted and stacked in the ‘filing room’, things needed were jotted down and pinned up on a nearby corkboard or stuck to the fridge. I was the happiest of all happy clutterbugs. The thing of it was, this worked for me. For YEARS. Everything had a place that I knew and could easily access. Then, as I grew out of my teens and early 20s, I became more concerned about organization. Everything had a bit more organization to it. Lately, even that hasn’t been cutting it any more. I have been bitten by an organization bug. The renovation stimulated in me the need to (to play into the internet memes) organize ALL the things!

And so it started. First the living room got an organization overhaul, then the porch and kitchen. The biggest job was the bathroom. Hubby and I had so many products. 2 hours later, I’ve organized and claimed 2 drawers and Hubby has one of his own (hey, as a girl, I lay claim to more product space!). Wednesday we took an hour to rearrange and organize Hubby’s computer room. There is so much more space now.

All this drive to organize started to seep into other, less …. intensive organization methods. As mentioned, I kept lists before. Short, noted lists of things we needed, things we wanted. Occasionally there was a list headed with ‘To do for XX Date MUST GET DONE!”, which was usually underlined with extra exclamation points to ensure the reader (me) knew of it’s utter importance. In an adventure in the local Chapters, I stumbled across an “All Out Of” list for groceries.-->

This was a heaven-sent gift! Grocery lists were the devil for me. I scribbled down what it looked like we needed and what I thought we needed and headed out. But, like many, extras were picked up of something that hadn't been on the list, or something that Hubby had seen, but I had missed. I was careful to include everything, look over what I had, and then make the list, but still missed some things. We're not talking major meals here. Just smaller items, that I thought about later the week and it would have been more convenient to pick it up on original grocery day. This “All Out Of” list has EVERTHING. It’s great. I love it.

Then I got a little notebook. Nothing fancy, just a small book to carry with me for ideas about stories, or songs I wanted to learn. I’d jot it down as I was on the go so I wouldn’t forget later. This was also something that I loved. I found another little list maker for websites last week. It was only about 5$ so I picked it up. I don’t venture far on the web, but there have been a few fashion and makeup sites of interest, as well as crafts and DIY websites that I would like to keep reminders of.

Then I started to think. There has to be a nice, official “To Do” and “Wish List” and “Need List” out there somewhere, right? Half the reason I use the notebook and the Grocery List is that they were bought for that sole purpose and that they are exactly where I need them. Notebook in purse, grocery list on fridge. It also means that there would be less scraps of paper floating around and tossed each time I did a big sweep of a room.

Don’t get me wrong, I do my standard chores of housekeeping throughout the day. But I’m craving the official-ness of the list. Yes, even for the Wish and Need list (like, new makeup brushes would be on the wish list, new blinds for the kitchen would be on the need list). Why? Because that’s where all of the things to do would be kept. Always. It would be organization of the lists that organize. I could even put blogging on the list! And perhaps book off that block of time!

Man, that organization bug has an awful hard bite.

What about you guys? Has the organization bug bitten you yet?

P.S. Chapters has to do and to get lists that I've found, but yet to pick up! -->

And many, many others!

P.P.S I'm searching for a new template. Expect change.

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Tidbits of Insight

9:59 AM | Labels: art, authors, insight, Musings, time, writing

Hello again Interwebs.

I recently read something of interest. A writer was explaining the utter difficulty of writing. I was surprised and intrigued by this. I had always had the impression that professional authors simply sat down and wrote out their genius with relative ease. Ok, maybe they had a block or two, but the rigid all consuming block of “I saw this all so clearly earlier today, and now I just want to do anything but this”? Never. I thought this seeming inability to write was one of those things that simply defined me as a non-writer, and I resigned, deciding it was better to stick to reading books instead of writing books.

But then I found this article. Here it was, about an accomplished writer who struggled with sitting down and putting words to paper. Or to computer. Whatever. The point being that I could relate to the writer. I could understand. She spoke of setting a time and timeframe to get her work done – 2 hours a day, where work entailed sitting in front of the computer with no internet, no phone calls, and no distractions. It didn’t matter if she wrote a book in that time, a sentence, two words or nothing at all, just so long as she was there. Once the time was up, you stopped. No matter where you were in the process. This made complete sense. It was a small revelation.

I have a whole filing structure full of writings and crafts and art to do or in various stages of being done. I love doing those things. But my most productive time, when I have complete works of paintings and drawings, are when I’m attending those 6 or 8 week free-lance art classes. Yes, I go to learn and to improve. It was the only thought I had when signing up. Go. Be exposed to other artists, learn from them, and get better at doing something you love.

What I later realized was that I valued those 2 solid, dedicated hours of doing nothing, talking about nothing, and seeing nothing but art. And it was up to me what I did with that. I didn’t have to finish a masterpiece; I had bought myself a time block solely for the purpose of arting. This was pretty much what this author in the article was talking about. The only thing I didn’t get right away was why stop? Why stop the creative juices from flowing? The more I thought about my classes, the more I started to see. It was the same. I had to stop because I had run out of time. And until I was back at it again, I had the thought of how I might tinker with it again in the back of my mind. If anything, creative juices were steeping, like an unending pot of tea.

It was like a more substantial “Stars! They’re just like us!” moment. A professional writer, dealing with the same issues I did. She may not be Stephen King, Tolkein, Hardy, Rowling or any of the Biggies I pretend I might be one day in my most content fantasies, but she is PUBLISHED and WORKING as a writer, which has always been a dream.

I’m hoping to be able to work something like this out. She had also explained that she had done up a mock contract with a friend about committing to this 2 hours a day plan… I’m just not certain any of my friends would be able to commit to that!

None the less, though it seems like an immense task (even now, my mind is telling me “You can’t put away a block of time like that! What about house chores? What about other plans? What about making meals? What about when you’re just too tired?”) But it all boils down to simply being able to make yourself stick to it, and managing your time outside of work. Before you know it, it’ll be habit. I think I’ll start tomorrow.

If I’m not mistaken, this article was out of an O Magazine I found at my mothers camper this weekend. If I can find it again, I’ll link it.

Surprising, the tidbits of insight you can find when you least expect it.

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Renovations and Beauty Supplies

10:03 AM | Labels: Beauty, blog, renovations

Hello Interwebs!

After a rather long hiatus, I have finally returned to the blogosphere. I could regale you with entertaining anecdotes about what’s been happening since months and months ago, but that would either take up far to much webspace, or have to be so concise as to be in bullet form and really quite uninteresting. Suffice to say that life just simply got in the way. More recently, we’ve just finished some small reno's to the house. Instead of a dark cave in which to hide ourselves, we have a light, bright, and modern colored kitchen and living room. It took a month and a half, but it was worth it. There are still some small things to work out, but the simple relief of actually having somewhere to cook again and to sit and relax with friends is divine, wonderful, and all those other good things. You never realize how much you miss these things until you can’t access them

Now that I have my living room back, it also means I have some space and time to do some other things. Crafty things, artsy things, beauty things, and write-ey things. While I haven’t been doing a whole lot of most of those, just yesterday I signed up for something called Loose Button.

For those not in the know, Loose Button is a company that sends you seasonal samples of the newest hot beauty supplies, 4 times a year. I’ve been meaning to replace my old beauty supplies for some time, as well as try out some new ones. Sadly, it’s just so darn expensive to do that! I was disgruntled about it to say the least. Wanting to try a new product, and not willing to spend the 50$ on it, in case you don’t even LIKE it, may just be among my top ten disliked feelings.

So, while stumbling through the Interwebs with a friend, she shows me an online website where you can join up as a member, pay 30$ a season and get these samples. I was pleased as punch! Now I eagerly look forward to my installment of “luxe” items to try out. As an added bonus, I’ll get something extra for signing up before today’s date. If it turns out to be something I like, I may sign up for the yearly subscription (and save 20 bucks a year to boot).

While I have no intentions of this becoming solely a beauty blog, I look forward to sharing my supplied with you and getting some feedback on what you like. Have no fear; this will still be an exploration of self type blog that has no direction. ;)

In keeping with my main topic for this entry though, have any of you found any other neat beauty blogs or sites that provide samples for subscription?

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The (B)Right Side of 25

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Where have I been?

Nails, Nails, Nails!

List Lady

Tidbits of Insight

Renovations and Beauty Supplies