MANICure Tuesday

This week I’m rocking Zoya’s “Pasha” on eight nails and China Glaze’s “Champagne Kisses” on my ring fingers.

Love these colors individually – not so much paired up. Ah well, it’ll be my look until Saturday night

And I did go back and add a layer of Sinful Colors’ “Green Ocean” to last week’s black manicure. Not the best picture but this combo was so pretty – definitely a keeper.

MANICure Monday

This week’s manicure is “Carly” by Zoya. This is such a pretty purple – so shiny it looks like it is glowing – love it!

MANICure Monday

So…apparently I’ve decided to join the fun and post pictures of my manicure every Monday. I did this a while ago and thanks to Mimi I’m giving this another shot.

Today I’m rocking my Valentine Week look. Hot pink on eight nails (Zoya’s ‘Katy’) and my accent nails are a pink glitter (Pure Ice’s ‘Spitfire’). Love this combo though when I bought the hot pink I envisioned as a pedicure only polish.

Next week I’ll be sure to take pics of my polish bottles as well.

Fail

So I decided to try a new fast-drying top coat to see if my love for Seche Vite is unfounded. It’s not.

Wednesday night I painted my nails – base coat them two costs of polish – and topped it all off with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.

Before we left for Thanksgiving dinner, my nails looked like this:

Unacceptable! Guess I’ll use it on my toes until it’s gone. The search for a better topcoat continues….

Just say no!

Wanna Bet?

I am not a gambling woman.  Well, okay, I will buy a lottery ticket if I’m rolling through a state where lottery tickets are sold.  Other than that?  Nah.  I work hard for my money.  Where was I?  Oh yes, the point of this post…

Two of my alma maters are playing each other for the SWAC Championship (football) on Saturday, December 8 in Birmingham and I am all kinds of excited!  So excited that I’ve decided to do a give-away that combines my love for my schools, my love for football, and my love for…nail polish of course!

So, here’s the deal – head over to the comments and tell me two things.  1)  Who do you think is going to win and 2) How many points do you think the winning team will score?  Whoever comes closest shall win a nail polish goody bag that centers around the winning team’s school colors.  So if UAPB (yes please!) wins the colors will be black/gold.  If JSU wins (nay I say!) the colors will be blue/white.  Got it?  Good.  If more than one person guesses (bets?) correctly, I’ll just run the correct entries through the random number generator.

Of course, the prize won’t be awarded until after the game, so you have until December 7 to enter.  And I’ll try to get your prize out before Valentine’s Day.  Just keeping it real…

Legal disclaimer:  Don’t trip, this is all in good fun.  Please don’t sue me over a couple of bottles of polish or any such nonsense.  This post is sponsored by moi and has nothing to do with any nail polish company, football team, or the SWAC organization.  I will only ship to the good old U.S. of A.  If your state secedes, all bets are off.  Mmkay?  Mmkay.

Bottled Awesome

This stuff right here? The bomb! Washed and conditioned LG’s hair Friday night then used this to detangle. I’m in love. I found it at Ulta for about $8. Amazon has 3/$19 – will definitely be ordering from them from here out.

Juicy, Drive ‘Em Crazy

See, what happened was…

I was bored at work last Friday. Everyone was gone and whatever work I had to pretend to do had long been accomplished.

So I decided to check out the offerings on Netflix. Scrolled over to the documentaries section and decided on two.  One was “Still Bill” and is about a musical artist I’ve always loved – Bill Withers.  If you get a chance, you should check it out.  He is one cool, cool dude.  Wait.  Where was I?  Oh yes, the other documentary was “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.”  Y’all!

Basically it’s about two dudes who lose a tremendous amount of weight and clear up all sorts of chronic and acute health problems by adopting a “juice only” diet for a number of days.

And now guess who’s going to do it?  Oh yeah, that’s right.  Your favorite blog-land nerd – moi!  I don’t need – or want – to lose hundreds of pounds.  About 10 will get me right.   So what I’ve decided to do is one meal + unlimited juice for a week.  After that I think I’m going to substitute the juice for one meal – probably breakfast.  In addition to the weight loss, I’m hoping consuming the additional nutrients will help me with my eczema – it has gotten increasingly worse over the last two years or so and I’d really like to chunk the topical steroids in the garbage.  I’m pretty sure they cannot be good for my health.

After some hints and suggestions from One From Philly (thanks again!), this is the juicer I’m going with – I’m just waiting for a 20% BB&B coupon to make its way to me.  As soon as I get the juicer, it’s a go.  I’ll let y’all know how it goes and if there are truly any benefits beyond the weight loss.

Do you juice? What’s your favorite combo? If you don’t is it something you’d consider??

If you’re interested, here’s the link to the documentary:  http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

And if you’re like my Mom and that link doesn’t work for you (O_O), here it is on hulu:  http://www.hulu.com/watch/289122/fat-sick-and-nearly-dead

Am I supposed to put some sort of disclaimer on this entry? This is my blog, no one paid me to push this movie, I’m certainly not making any money from it, and if I pass out ’cause all I’ve consumed is some celery juice, I promise not to sue.  How’d I do counselors??

Monday Morning Randoms

• This weekend – Sunday morning to be precise – I acted a fool.  I was tired and yelled at both Smoochy and LG for not leaving me the hell alone and letting me sleep. It was not one of my finer moments in life. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tickled at the way they stayed out of my way the rest of the day.
• Saturday my child was in an ice cream eating contest.  You pay the entrance fee for a chance to be in the contest (part of a fund-raiser for the children’s hospital). Wouldn’t you know it, she was picked. I was like “LG are you trying to win?”  “No Mama. I just want to eat some ice cream. And I thought I’d let the people look at me while I’m enjoying my ice cream.”  Alrightie then….If you’re wondering, she did not win. She ate 1.5 cups of ice cream in 5 minutes. The kid that won ate 7.
• My boss’ administrative assistant is a trip. She is so…subservient acting. She jumps up when he comes in the room, takes his coat off for him, hangs up his tie, talks all breathy/sexy (I call her Marilyn Monroe), etc. I think it’s beyond crazy. So I’ve been making a concerted effort at keeping a “neutral face” whenever I see them interact.  Apparently it’s not working because a coworker asked my why I always look crazy when dealing with the admin. Oops.
• Otterbox rocks. The case I had for my phone was all kinds of torn up. I called their customer service and they sent me a new one gratis, no hassle. Color me impressed.
• My middle brother set us all up on a family text thingie – and we’ve been using it a lot.  It’s a great way to stay in touch and keep everybody updated on little happenings. I’ll give you three guesses as to who opted out yesterday because we maxed out his texts.  Yes. My youngest brother. I shall continue to pray for restoration. But really, I’m through trying to stay in touch with him.
• I’m pretty sure that castor oil is not helping me grown any eyebrows/eyelashes. But they’re all shiny and moisturized so I guess I’ll stick with the regimen.
• I bought some chinos from Target. They’re an orange-ish color. I like them. Everyone – from Smoochy to LG to a stranger at Saturday’s carnival has remarked about my “weird” pants. They’re obviously not as fashion-forward as I am
• My parents are going to South Africa for about a week.  Color me jealous. And pray for their health and safety if you pray. Please.

Look at that girl! She's got the eye of the tiger! A fiercer competitor has never been seen!!

(Mostly) Angry Blah Woman Randoms

• Thanks everyone for your suggestions regarding washing/detangling/styling LG’s hair.  I will definitely be washing it in braids from here out!
• I cannot believe R.ick S.antorum is crazy enough to think that the public is crazy enough to think he actually said “blah” people and not black people. Sir, you are definitely a contender for O_o award of 2012 – and we’re only 10 days into the year.
• I am about halfway through the Henrietta Lacks story.  I don’t know why I am continually amazed at how people in power abuse and profit off those with less power.  But I am.  Geez.
• The Steelers are out of the playoffs. Now I’ve got to find a team to root for the rest of the season.  Definitely won’t be the Saints!!!
• And I’m glad LSU got rolled last night!  Yeah, I’m not really down with the Louisiana teams…
• I came to the realization yesterday (yep, I’m a little slow) that the way I’m eating while on this fast is how I should be eating the majority of the time.  Duh!  Definitely working on incorporating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains into our diet.  Even LG said last night’s vegetable soup was tasty.
• My crockpot is working overtime.  I’ve put something in it every night for the last couple of nights and I wake up to a nice lunch/dinner for the day.
• Seriously???  Slave-centered math questions???
• I need a new soup recipe.  Anybody made anything fabulous lately?  Think I shall spend the afternoon trying to find something appealing.
• Just found out our previous governor pardoned 8 killers during his two terms in office.  The law that allows governors to do this should be repealed.  That’s all kinds of ridiculous.
• I finally made something from Pinterest.

Behold! My paper clip bookmark. You know you're impressed!

Okay, so maybe the first picture didn't impress you. But now that you see it in action, you're impressed. Right? Riiiiight.

NOTW: OPI's "How You Blue-In" I love this color! It's a little more teal IRL, but I'm finding it hard to accurately shoot these polishes...

She’s Always In My Hair

So, the other day I was tweeting about LG’s hair and how…difficult it was becoming to style.  She is extremely tender-headed and no matter how gently and slowly I work, washing and styling her hair is torture for her.  This was not the case for the first four years of her life when I could just run a comb through her hair, no tangles, easy-peasy.  Those days are gone and I’m left feeling absolutely miserable after I wash and style her hair.  Subsequent styling sessions are much easier because her hair is stretched out and pretty much tangle free.  It’s the post-wash styling that’s killing us softly.

And here, of course, is where you come in.  If you’re natural and you know it clap your hands.  Okay, the hand clapping was totally unnecessary

Anyhoo, here’s what I do with Lovegirl’s hair.  Any procedural/product suggestions?  I don’t really want to relax her hair, but I can’t stand to see her cry and flinch much longer either…

1.  Take her twists down.  Usually she has anywhere from 8 – 24 twists in.

2.  Lay her on the counter and with her head back, I wash her hair with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration shampoo.  I work downward and never scrunch her hair up.

3.  Apply conditioner.  Regular conditioning, I use Hello Hydration conditioner.  I let that sit for 3 or 4 minutes then rinse.

4.  If I’m deep conditioning, I use cholesterol or Proclaim Argan Oil deep conditioner.  I put a bag on her head and let it sit for 30 or 40 minutes then rinse.

5.  I don’t rinse all of the conditioner out of her hair.

6.  I use Kinky Curly Knot Today detangler on small sections.  Usually her parts are still visible and I use those as guides, adjusting the part a little bit so I don’t stress her hair.  I use a wide-toothed comb.

7.  After I detangle each section, I put a little coconut or olive oil on her scalp and hair, twist it up and that one’s done.

8.  Repeat #7 until her whole head’s done.

Usually this takes about 2 hours from start to finish.  The other day it took 4.  That cannot will not happen again.

The end.  Help!!!