My First AND Last Shellac Manicure

Anyone ever heard of Anjelah Johnson?  Anyone ever seen her stand-up comedic act based on her experience at a nail salon?  No?  Watch it here and get a great laugh out of it.  I surely did the first time I saw it .  Remember, it's all in good fun.  :)

The video is about four or five years old and I laughed my arse off the first time I saw it and I still do 'til this day.  Probably because she nails it.  Pun intended.  :)

Well on the morning of April 27th of this year I went to the nail salon to get a mani/pedi because I was once again going to be a bridesmaid.  My beautiful, smart, witty and funny life long friend was getting married and I was more than happy to be there for her.  (I heart you, Janice!)  Anywho, I went in and told the ladies what I wanted: a polish mani/pedi.  I always get polish and never ever get fake nails.  I don't even know the proper terminology for fake nails.  Acrylic, right?  To be honest without being crude or snotty, I just never cared for fake nails.  Me no like the look at all.

So imagine me politely declining a gel manicure as the technician gets to work.  On her third attempt, the girl sitting next to me chimes in and asks if I've ever had a gel manicure.  I said no and right away she busts out with, "Oh my gawd they are AWESOME!  I highly recommend you get one today especially if you are going to be in your friend's wedding."  All the while the nail tech is filing my nails away and is desperately hoping I will change my mind.  "Sure, okay I'll go ahead and try it."  Pressure I tell ya, pressure.  The real reason I did not want a gel manicure that day is because I just didn't want to pay extra for anything.  I had a busy day ahead of me and my goal was to be in and out.

An hour or so later my nails looked like this:

Six weeks later...

Why I liked the shellac manicure-

• Dry to the touch upon leaving the salon
• Pretty, glossy and durable
• Chip free in everyday, normal activity
• Looked great for about 3 weeks

Why I didn't like it enough to do it again-

• The polish felt way too thick on my nails
• Kinda looked like I had fake nails
• Not crazy about having my hands under a UV light
• I was very unsuccessful in removing it myself

After trying to get the shellac polish off myself and even peeling it off I was so frustrated.  I had not returned to the salon since the wedding because I just didn't have the time.  Really, I didn't.  I'm by myself a lot with the kiddos because the hubs works his tail off and spends lots of time at the library.  It wasn't until my hairdresser told me that I would have to return to the salon to get the polish off.  She told me that my nails would soak for an X amount of minutes and then they would slowly scrape it off.  What?!  Um, no thank you.  After hearing that I decided I would just continue to let me nails grow out and file them as they grew out.  And after reading this article from Shape magazine I realized that the salon I went to did not use CND Shellac polish.  I wish I would have read it before my shellac mani;  it explains the procedure for a true CND Shellac manicure.  Oh well live and learn.  I can see why so many gals like shellac manicures but I guess this is one area where I like it the old fashion way.

And since we're talking polish, this is one of my favorite shades this summer: Paparazzi Pleaser by L'Oreal.  I love it and wear on my toesies all the time.  Go get ya bottle or two.

Junk Drawer Organization

Happy Tuesday!  I don’t know about the rest of you but my body is glad that the Olympics are over.  Catching up on some much needed sleep is in order!  I am an Olympic geek and hard core fan.  I watched it all from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony and everything in between.  I have such respect for all the athletes and how they push their bodies to do what it is capable of doing.  They are amazeballs and they most certainly inspire me.  Not to be an Olympian.  Gawd no.  Y’all don’t wanna see that.  They just inspire me in way that says it can be done and it is possible.

Anywho I wanted to share with you all my latest organizational feat.  My kitchen junk drawer!  We all have one and we all gripe about the crap in there when we are looking for something.  We’ve had our junk drawer since we moved in ten years ago or so and right from the beginning it was full of junk.  Over the years it go so full that it would occasionally jam while trying to open or close it.  Just like my other two kitchen drawers, I had enough and it was time to get to business. 

Here is what it looked like all this time:

And here is the after:

Mucho mas better, right?  I mean look at some of the things we had in here.

We even had one of those picture key chain things.  Talk about blast from the past.  It is from our (hubby and me) high school senior trip to Six Flags Arlington back in May 1993.  Woooooweeee.  Those were some fun times.  Anywho (yes I say that a lot) these are the drawer organizers I used for this narrow and small junk drawer of mine. 

We even had a the original swatch color of our dining room and our movie tickets to "Hitch" on our anniversary date.  Cute, cheese, corny and why did we keep that?  

So here's I got down to bidness.  I bought two (2) Rubbermaid no-slip interlocking trays in white, 3”x9” at Wal-Mart.  I can’t remember the cost but they were just a couple of bucks each and they were in the kitchen aisle.  I also bought a Made Smart clear drawer organizer from The Container Store.  It is 5”x4”x2” and it was a wee bit smaller than what I wanted but it worked out perfect. 

I used the space in between the two white trays and the clear tray to store a bag of rubber bands and bag of twist tie thingies.  I don’t know why we need so many of the twist ties but my hubby likes to have extra on hand for whatever use so there they are.  Oh and I also placed my son's measuring tape that he got at Home Depot.  I use it quite a bit so I found a home for it.  He doesn't mind.  :)

And as you can see I did get rid of a lot of stuff and either threw it away or put it in a more appropriate place (like the matches).  I also put the many pens and markers that we had in a cup on the counter in the trays.  Look at where I had the pens and scissors before they went into this drawer.  

Classy.  I know.  But alas I have my junk drawer organized (with a lot less junk) and I am proud of myself.  A little ashamed too.  Gahlee, what took me so long?

Wow, I finally have three drawers in my kitchen organized.  Here’s a little recap: my utensil drawer, my large utensil drawer and finally my junk drawer. 

Next is the pantry and I can’t wait to get ‘er done.  I think I’m a little too excited actually.  Oh and yes that Hello Kitty cup is gone and off the counter.  The hubby is relieved about that little detail!

{Texas Proud} Ft. Worth Stockyards

Hola.  Not long ago I told you all that we went and spent some time in the DFW area (okay it was really Arlington and Ft. Worth) to attend our very first Texas Rangers game.  That was a blast even though they lost and lost again after that game and the next game and the next.  The losing streak went on for a few games.  Whoops.

Anywho, our plan was to head back home the next day but first we made a stop at the Ft. Worth Stockyards.  Another first for us on our little road trip.  Dayum, we are born and bred native Texans and we had never been to a Rangers game or the stockyards?  Tsk, tsk.

Right away we noticed the Cowtown Cattlepen Maze that was featured on The Amazing Race.  We are huge fans of the show so my boy was excited to do the maze and of course my hubby joined in on the sweaty fun.

It cost $5 a person to do the maze but there is a free viewing tower for those that choose not to partake like moi.  My tot and I stood in the shaded viewing tower with an ice cold water.  :)

It took them about 15 minutes or so to complete the race.  The hubs did not expect it to be as challenging as it was (he was just ready to get out of the sun).  Our boy thought it was the neatest thing ever.  You know, to do a maze with your body instead of a pencil and an activity sheet.  He enjoyed getting lost and coming to dead ends even though he wanted to finish it as soon as possible to prove he and his dad were fast.  He was so cute running alongside his dad.  :)

After the maze we HAD to go say hi to the cows.  Yep, 'cause my daughter thinks they are awesome and she wants us to have a big house so a cow can live with us.  True story. (Yes, I know they aren't cows but that's what my baby girl calls them so the title stands just for her)

She totally had a conversation with each one.  Asking them what they were doing, did they want water, are they tired, etc.  It was too friggin cute I tell ya.  Oh you see the sign on the above picture?  Here's a closer look.

Um, I kinda didn't notice the sign because I was not paying attention because I was snapping away at my tot having a convo with her cows.  Obviously it was all good, nothing happened and a cowboy hat wearing sheriff did not scold us while chewing on some hay.  Hey I'm Texan therefore I can totally stereotype.  teehee.

After the cow visit we saw these ponies that made me a little sad.  I wasn't sure but it looked like they were hungry.  Their pretty little heads kept peaking out and their eyes were begging for something.  Aww.

After feeling sorry for the ponies we decided to go eat 'cause we were hangry! Wow that is bad segway into the next part of this post.  Whoopsie.  We took about an hour long break at Risky's bbq restaurant and it was pretty darn good.  Great customer service too.  Sorry I have no pics of their nicely air conditioend restaurant or their yummy food.  Mama needed a break to chillax a while.  I recommend you making a pit stop there if you are ever in the area.

On to some more random photos of our day.

Check out the longhorn crossing sign.  Only in Texas.

A poster of Mr. George Strait himself at a cowboy hat shop.  The man is a legend here.  Great music, great man.

Ah and I just love this quote by Teddy Roosevelt.  And lucky for me that I have the best of both worlds.  Being Tex-Mex that is, no way no how do I know anything about hard cowboy work.  But my beloved grandpa does and he was awesome when he did it back in 'ol Mexico.

We had about 30 minutes to spare before the infamous cattle drive so we treated the kids to some candy binging over at The Candy Barrel.  Oh my goodness.  The kids were in heaven.  I have been to candy stores before but this place  was over the top!

They even had some old school candy! But check out the price on the Pop Rocks. $2 for lil bag.  Eeesh.  But your bottom dollar the hubs and I grabbed a couple of bags. Memories of the 3rd grade. :)

Candy cigarettes, anyone?

Oh jeez I could go on with the candy photos but this is getting to be one looooong post.  On to the cattle drive, people!  Okay so we already knew about the steers walking down the street just like how they did way long ago but we did not know it would be over in a New York minute.  Nonetheless, it was pretty neat to see the beautiful animals and their very respectful longhorns.  And I've never been so close so I admit that I was a bit timid as they walked passed us just inches away.

And just like that it was over.  My son gave us quite the laugh when he stood up and said, "That's it!  We waited to see that.  What's the big deal?"  Haha.  Yes, it was short and sweet but oh well when in Rome or whatever.  But in case you are wondering there was a guide there to see the span of a longhorn. All the kids were standing in front of it stretching out their arms to compare.

Oh and there was a Cowboy Church.  Of course.

There ye have it.  Sorry for the long post but sometimes you just gotta tell the story in pictures.  See y'all laters!