I know, I’ve been missing in action on this blog. I have not really been in a mood to talk, kinda. But I will share my latest manicures with you, cause, they’re pretty great. This is going to be a long post to catch up, so get ready to dig in!
Between my best friend having a miscarriage, dealing with the ongoing struggles of my mom being homeless (she’s at least in a shelter at the moment), losing my engagement ring after having it 14 years, and work stuff… I have just been in a funk. Oh, and I also turned 35 in there, which was nice that my dad was in town from South Carolina to visit on a work trip, but also sucked because I wanted to do something really fun and ended up just having friends over to craft because of the stupid ass Super Bowl being in the Bay Area and EVERYTHING being booked for that or doing football related thing that weekend.
Yes, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m going to complain a bit. It’s my blog. I’m entitled. Hang in there for the manicure pictures! So, what’s been going on?
Work
As you may have noticed, the last time I posted here was about the session I was speaking at, Managing Blogger Expectations: Conversions vs. Impressions, at Affiliate Summit West 2016. I had a great time speaking with Mindy, Carolyn, & Christen. I think we rocked it, and our feedback was generally good. This was my 9th time speaking at Affiliate Summit, and I believe my 15th Summit attending. I’m sadly not attending Affiliate Summit East 2016 this year as I have other travel in my sights for this year and next year, but you can register and go and learn great stuff without me!
I look so unaffected but I swear, I was saying good stuff!
Pixel
In case you’ve never had one, it’s a LOT of work with a puppy! A pug puppy even more so because they’re smart but stubborn. We’ve been going to training classes at PetSmart since November – 1st for her beginner class and now we’re taking her Intermediate class for the second time. Luckily, PetSmart allows you to retake classes you’ve already paid for however many times you feel like your dog needs it. She picked up a lot of stuff but didn’t pass the final exam, which is basically sitting and staying while we leave the training area, walk all the way around it (she can see us because half the little wall is plexiglass), and come back in. We didn’t even get to the door :/ She’s finally much better at the potty training, though she does have accidents in the evenings sometimes, but now our daily battle with her involves the bathroom – she wants to pull the toilet paper off the roll, which was an easy fix with some elastic around the roll, and wants to eat the cat poop in her litter box. Which is not an easy fix. Lorenza told me to put sea salt in the cat’s food to make her poop less appetizing to Pixel, but Muse is being picky and seems more interested in Pixel’s food instead of her own, so that hasn’t seemed to work yet.
Pixel was in heat in January, so we were ready to have her spayed after her first heat but financially it had to wait. She just got spayed last week and we’re lucky we didn’t wait longer – she had a uterine infection that could have turned into pyometra, which would have been life threatening and involved a $2500 surgery, but they caught it early enough that it just requires antibiotics for longer than a usual spay. She also got her microchip and tested negative for heartworm, so we’ll be putting her on the heartworm meds soon. On Easter I finally got around to using the fabric I bought a couple years ago to make a bed for Winston and made a bed cover for Pixel. Basically, a huge pillow case. She has a habit of tearing up her beds and pulling the stuffing out, so the cover is stopping her from doing that! Phew! And it’s way cuter than the hot pink & gray bed that’s inside.
Travel
Aside from traveling to Las Vegas back in January, I’ll be returning to South Carolina in May to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday with him! Originally I was going to take Pixel with me… 10 hours or travel with her hyperactive ass in a carrier that I was not exactly looking forward to, but her 1st birthday is the same day as my dad’s and I didn’t want to leave her. Now that I’ve researched the calming medication more, booked my flight, and thought about the risks, I’ve decided to board her though. I know she’ll get love from Lorenza & the staff!
In June, I’ll be going to Arizona for the 1st time. I’ve been to PHX on layovers a few times, but it’s never been my destination. I’m not looking forward to the heat, but I trust that my co-workers will keep me air conditioned to remain calm! We’re having our first retreat for work, so it should be fun and productive. It’ll be nice to have meetings with my co-workers while not also juggling the madness of a conference. Since we work remote, it’ll be a nice bonding experience to just hang out, as I know one of the days that’s what we’re doing at least for half the day.
I’m also saving up for a big birthday trip next year, but it’s not for my birthday. My friend Liz is turning 40 and originally she was getting folks together to go on a cruise, but with the Princess Half Marathon happening at Walt Disney World the week after she was going to do the cruise, she changed her plans and now it’s a big group trip to Walt Disney World. I’ve never been, and since her birthday is a couple of weeks after mine in February, I’m going to save up and make it my birthday gift to myself! I’m super excited.
Crafts
I’ve been doing assorted things since January, some for myself and some as commissioned. I’ve added everything to the galleries on my Handmade Gifts page, so take a look! I want to do more posts about the crafts and coloring… I’ll get there eventually! I also totally re-shot the photos of all my wine charms and redid my Etsy and Storenvy stores. That was an undertaking to be sure, and I’m still working on updating all the images in my galleries here!
Manicures
I went on a jag of getting my nails done at a salon again starting during the holidays. I was rather proud of the fact that starting with getting a manicure when we were in Oregon for Christmas, I got 3 manicures in 3 different states! I’d flown into Las Vegas a few days early and stayed with my co-worker Ginette, and we went and got our nails done. So Oregon, Nevada, and then home in California. Fun fact: I’ve also gone to salons for manicures in South Carolina (while visiting my dad) and Florida (just before my 1st Affiliate Summit in Miami 2007 with my co-worker)!
Aside from a quick coat of polish, I haven’t done much. That changed for St. Patrick’s Day, when I busted out my Bundle Monster plates and the new clear jelly stamper to do some green & gold Celtic things. Just when I think I have this stamping thing down, I screw up. You can see that the knot is on point… the beer glass, not so much (click to enlarge). I don’t remember the polish colors but they’re both Sally Hansen.
Next came Easter and I decided to skip the stamping and work with the stencils I’d cut of rubber duckies last year for Jennie’s Rubber Ducky Baby Sprinkle as peeps and do a nice pastel mani with those. The base is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in I Lilac You and the yellow is OPI Good Grief! from the Peanuts Collection. There were some missteps, but overall it turned out really well.
Lastly, and currently, I picked up a cute mint polish, L.A. Colors Color Craze Fresh, from Dollar Tree on a whim and also grabbed essie luxeffects tassel shaker on clearance at Walgreens, so I thought I’d put them together and it’s worked out well! The essie top coat is really dense with the glitter so it applied very evenly and it’s kind of a turquoise jewelry feel.
As you can see, I’m still working on getting just the right lighting for my pictures. With the weather being unpredictable lately, I can’t always go outside for the best light, so our “daylight LED” light in the bathroom seems like the best option for now.
That’s It!
There’s probably more, but then this post is already too long, so I’ll try to just post more often, eh? 🙂
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