Polish Removal and a Shopping Spree

After my nail disaster I painted my nails with another $1 WalMart polish L.A. Colors Color Craze NP541 Candy Sprinkles. I thought it was fun and since it was a dollar I just had to get it.

I knew I'd be redoing things pretty quickly so I didn't bother with a top coat, just one coat of my normal base and two coats of the polish. It's a jelly or gelish, whatever they call it. A semi-sheer color with glitter in it. I didn't do the normal daubing technique like I usually would with a glitter, I just brushed this one on like a normal polish. It worked fine that way, and I am pleased with the polish. It didn't last very long before chipping, but without a top coat I don't know if it's the polish that's the problem or just lack of top coats. 

Speaking of glitter polishes, they are a giant pain in the butt to remove. The polish remover can't penetrate the polish under the metal flakes, so it just doesn't come off as easily. Pinterest (the place I love) is full of pictures of people wrapping their hands in aluminum foil to remove gel and glitter polishes. I thought I might as well give it a try!

You can see how well it took the polish off my thumb and forefinger, pretty much one swipe and it was gone. 

It works great!

It feels a little weird to have alien-robot hands, and I only do one hand at a time so I can still do things. It also gets weirdly warm. I'm not sure if it's the chemicals in the polish remover or just the cotton and foil insulating things. It doesn't hurt, it's just weird. 

First, I tear five strips of aluminum foil and get five cotton balls. I apply polish remover to a cotton ball, put the remover side to my nail, then wrap the foil around it all. I've started with my thumb and I've started with my pinkie, there really doesn't seem to be a difference. I just have to keep it on long enough. I keep forgetting to time how long I leave it on, but I'd say it's between 5 and 10 minutes. 

Now, the reason I didn't post all this earlier is because Tuesday was a bit of a crazy day. 

First, I met up with my friend Tiia Lin at Ulta. Where my weakness is nail polish, Tiia's is makeup. Unlike me, however, she has actual training. I highly recommend you check out her Facebook, her blog and her videos. 

Tiia helped me pick out colors, let me hold her adorable baby, and as we were checking out she said she had a present for me! When we went out to her car she handed me a bag full of nail polish!! I love this woman!! 

L to R: Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Whirlwind White, Color Club Dark'n Stormy, Color Club Mod In Manhattan, and Nail Rock Nail Velvet Navy

In addition to those polishes Tiia gave me, I bought a bunch of my own. With the sale going on and the coupon I got 5 polishes for under $9!! It was great!! 

L to R: Essence Colour & Go 147 Miss Universe, Ulta Salon Formula Diva, Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear 481 Breezy Blue, Ulta Salon Formula Indigo-Go Girl, Pixel 233 Oh Golly Gee!!

I'm already working on a new look with my new polishes, I'll post more soon!

The other thing that kept me busy is that we welcomed a new addition to our family. 

She's still scared and spends most of her time hiding. We've seen her out to eat and drink though, so that's good. 

This little lady is named Summer, and she belongs to my middle kid Joshua. He's been working his butt off this summer, helping his dad with side work and helping me here at the house. We ask a lot of him, and he rises to the challenge. 

My husband and I decided that he's shown enough responsibility to be in charge of another life, so we agreed he could get a guinea pig. I had guinea piggies growing up, so I know what kind of challenges he's likely to face. He did a lot of research and decided that he wanted a female and a baby. He thought about adopting, but he really wants to train it and the sites he visited told him that starting with a baby is easier. 

He's doing really well so far, and going very slowly with her. He had me scoop her out of the carrying box and into her cage so that she won't associate him with anything negative. He left her completely alone for 24 hours and even then all he did was lay his hand in her cage with a treat for a few minutes. For an 11 year old kid with ADHD, this shows a remarkable amount of restraint! I am completely proud of him! 

Ogden Bucket List (A work in progress.)

My cousin Shanon just moved here to Ogden. I've been driving her around bombarding her with "You should eat here!" "You need to try this!" "This place is so cool!" and she suggested that I put it all down in a blog post. (Probably in an effort to get me to shut up and pay attention to the road while I'm driving.)

This is partially a love letter to my town and partially a list of things I want Shanon to check out. I will probably update it more than once.

Things to see:

The Ogden River Parkway. Great for a little exercise or just a little fresh air.

Historic 25th Street. Just walking it is fun, but it's good for shopping and eating as well.

Ogden Union Station. If you feel like a museum, they have a couple. I think you'll have fun just taking pictures of the trains that are outside and free to explore.

Pineview Reservoir. Technically it isn't in Ogden, but I claim it any way.



Things to do:

Alleged. It's a club but they have Geeks Who Drink every Thursday. I will happily introduce you to people who will let you join in the fun. You might even be able to convince me to go some time.

Ogden Nature Center. It's not just for little kids. Sure they'll educate you if you want, but just wandering around is peaceful and sometimes you can get pictures of the wildlife.

Ogden Mustangs Hockey. The season is over for now, but isn't it nice to know we have a team!? YAY HOCKEY!!

Peery's Egyptian Theater. Lots of different kinds of performances. They even get some of the Sundance shows!

The Zigfeld Theater. This is where I saw Spamalot and Rent. Very fun.

Sasquatch Cowboy. Woo! Improv Comedy! Woo!!

Ogden City Dog Park. To let the pups run! While you're in the area you can also look at..

Ft. Buenaventura. Totally cool that it's an old (reconstructed...) fort in the middle of the city. When you're there it feels like a forest in the middle of nowhere.


Places to eat: 
Slackwater*

Lucky Slice Pizza This one is my favorite because they have awesome gluten free pizza too!

Kneaders*

Dragon Restaurant

Tona Sushi (I can't remember if you like sushi and sashimi, but they have other good foods there.)

Sonora Grill. I make Eric take me here on dates!

Sweet Pop'n Cafe. Okay, they only have different awesome sweets and popcorns but hey, you eat it! I'm addicted to their Kettle Corn.

*Places that I have not personally eaten at because of stupid Celiac Disease. I recommend them because they have been recommended to me. Or, like Slackwater, it's just an awesome place. 

Shopping!!

Only in Ogden. This is where you can go to get local things to send to your out of state friends to make them jealous that you live her now and they don't!

The Queen Bee. Chocolate. They have other stuff, but chocolate.

Things Shanon might not actually like but I have to write them down anyway because they are awesome: 

Sandtrap. Karaoke with Jackson the Karaoke Dude on Wednesdays. Very fun crowd. I've also been told the food there is pretty darn tasty.

Utah Bloggers Meetup

I've been wanting to get moving on this blog again but for some reason I've just been lacking in motivation. I have no idea what my problem is, but I get all kinds of ideas late at night. Then the next morning I stare at a blank page until I finally give up and head over to Pinterest.

Saturday I got a brilliant shot of inspiration!

I met a few of the coolest ladies in this state. I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Utah Bloggers Meetup hosted by my dear friend Mikki. I felt like a total impostor since my blog has a grand total of 6 followers and I hadn't updated in more than a month (we won't do the math to see how long it'd been before that.)

I went because I wanted to get some tips and tricks to hopefully get my blog to be more successful. Life had other plans. I didn't get a single tip.

Something much better happened.

I made new friends!

Photo courtesy of Mikaela Platter.

Every one of the bloggers was amazing, and completely sweet. They accepted my pathetic handmade "business" card and handed me their adorable ones. They let me hold their babies (I'm looking at you Victoria!) and chatted with me all afternoon. As much as I can use the help with this blog, the friendships that are starting to sprout will be much more valuable.

If you look close you'll see the little lip just starting to pout. Poor little cutie just wanted to eat and there I was stealing cuddles. Photo courtesy of Kristin Brandt.

Mikki planned this whole thing, and she did an amazing job. Seriously, I don't know how she does it! Everything she touches just turns amazing!

We met at Grounds for Coffee at 25th Street. It was the perfect place! I didn't know it, but they have a second story area with more tables and quite a bit of privacy. The best thing about this particular Grounds for Coffee is their baker, Jenny. She makes delicious gluten free desserts! I'm drooling just remembering the astounding chocolate mousse cake I had. They didn't have my favorite, the cheesecake, but the mousse cake quickly made me forget my disappointment. I washed it down with a fresh raspberry lemonade. Yes, you can go to Grounds for Coffee and never even have coffee!

Now, I have a confession. I am a sucker for swag. It's sick. Mikki, with her magic, arranged for us to get some pretty awesome gift bags. They were filled with great stuff! Sweet Pop'n Cafe gave us kettle corn, amazing kettle popped corn with just the right amount of sweet and salt. Mmmmm, I'm hungry again just thinking of it. Green the Earth added samples, I got some face firming lotion which I'm looking forward to trying. Silver Firs Farm gave us the most lush lip balm I've ever tried. I tried thinking of other descriptive words but "lush" is the one that keeps coming to mind.  Grounds for Coffee Riverdale, Rovali's Ristorante Italiano, Timeless Yoga, and Treehouse Museum all contributed valuable coupons for free stuff. By far the best swag came from Indie Ogden: stickers, a drink kooszie, and a super soft t-shirt! Oh yeah, and a fuzzy, stick-on moustache, because.... Well, of course a fuzzy, stick-on moustache!

There was one other thing in these bulging gift bags. A t-shirt from FamilyShare.com. Now the thing about this t-shirt is that it's part of a contest. I'm supposed to refashion it, blog about it, and then possibly win a prize. My head is already bubbling with ideas, so stay tuned to see what I make of it.

The Bloggers Meetup was a raging success and I am thrilled that I was a part of it. I look forward to picking up skills from the new friends I made and hopefully making this blog a much better place!

If you're curious about the bloggers I met then head over to the Indie Ogden review of the meetup. Mikki compiled a whole list of the blogs who's writers came. Hours of good reading all listed out for you!

Sick Day

I'm still sick.  Running a fever and everything.  Since I feel like crud I'm staying on vacation from Dressember.  I spent most of today sitting on my couch folding laundry and wearing the same sweats and grimy T-shirt I was wearing yesterday.  I will admit that I am getting pretty rank.  Hopefully I will get a shower before bed tonight, otherwise Eric might just kick me out of the bedroom.

Since I don't have a Dressember picture to post for you guys I thought I'd give you a little list of my favorite time wasting websites.

The Daily What, a site with lots of bite sized fun things.
Etiquette Hell, daily stories of massive etiquette faux-pas.
Very Demotivational, funny "anti-motivational" posters.
Learn From My Fail, funny stories of other people's mistakes.

There are tons more but I'm going to save them for a rainy day.