Two months before he showed up on our doorstep, I watched this movie on Netflix: Happythankyoumoreplease

It’s one of those movies with WAY too many plot lines, but it was good. I did have a moment when I screamed at the television set, “Kids don’t just show up in your life like that!”

I am here to tell you now that yes, yes they do. And as of two weeks ago, we have full custody of an 11-year-old boy who just showed up on our doorstep in a strangely Dickensian manner.

I watched a video from Polish and Pearls the other day and was inspired to try one of my own. I did the rosebud manicure.

Here is a closeup of the rosebud:

I used the following polishes: (Continue Reading…)

Jenna Marbles made a great video about what she is awesome at and suggested that we all make that list and post it where we can see it every day.

This video is not safe for work, by the way.

I love how she finishes the video:

So make yourself a nice list and hang it somewhere you can remind yourself every day of something that you’re good at. So when that freakin’ boy is hangin’ out with Beth again, you’re startin’ to feel sad, just go to your list and go, like, “Oh, yeah! I make bangin’ grilled cheese samwiches. In your face, muthafugger! Ain’t nobody gonna bring me down!”

Man, I need to make that list for myself…

I just heard that Roger Ebert has died. This makes me sad. Here is the best speech I’ve ever seen from him.

So beautiful!

Here are my favorite quotes from Roger Ebert:

• The Quotations Page – Roger Ebert

I found this video of a cartoon by Disney called The Little House. I had seen it many times on television when I was a kid and even had the little record and story book for it.

The cartoon tells the story of the little house who originally lived in the country, but the city grew up around her.

Although the architecture and coloring is different, the houses are very similar.

Eventually, the city overtakes the neighborhood and The Little House finds herself surrounded by high rise buildings.

It very a similar story to the Up House.

In fact, in both stories, the house has been anthropomorphized as a female.

Both houses even fall into disrepair at some point in the story.

I think Up was such a powerful movie and so many of us were able to believe that the house was “Ellie” because we had seen The Little House as children. We had seen this story years and years before.

One of the first manicures I ever pinned on Pinterest was this one from normandlou:

• Lots of Dots – normandlou

I finally tried one on my own that looks awesome for spring.

Here is a close-up of one of the fingers.

For the base coat, I used On A Trip by Wet N Wild. It’s a lavender hue, even though it turned out almost blue in the photos.

For the dots, I used:

• I Need a Refresh-Mint by Wet N Wild
• OPI Flashbulb Fushia
• OPI On The Same Paige

I had a lot of fun doing this manicure and although it was twice the work of my Faux Nail Lingerie Manicure, I like it even better.

I love this video from Lancome about how to do eye makeup. For a girl like me, who LOVES makeup, but feels a little behind, videos like this are a godsend.

After I watched this video, I immediately thought that I couldn’t possibly do this without that fancy eye shadow from Lancome. The cheapest I could find it was for 38 bucks at Amazon, by the way.

• Lancome Color Design Eye Brightening All-in-one 5 Shadow & Liner Palette ~Midnight Rush~ at Amazon.com

The more I looked at the palette, however, the more I realized that I HAVE all those colors in my Sephora Makeup Kit, which ironically costs about the SAME as just one set of eyeshadow from Lancome. I can’t wait to try this out with my own eyeshadow!

A special thank you to Richard for pointing out Jenna’s Swatch in the movie 13 Going On 30. You can see it here on this YouTube video at the 5:32 mark.

Here is a screen shot of the watch.

It’s the Pink Champagne Swatch LL105. It’s not one I own, so I wouldn’t have recognized it if it hadn’t been for Richard.

I haven’t seen 13 Going On 30 either, but now that I see that there are some retro scenes, it makes me want to try it out.

Speaking of Swatches in places that I wouldn’t expect them. I saw a Maxi Swatch in the background in the British television series, My Mad Fat Diary. Khloe is sitting in front of one in Rae’s room in Season 1 Episode 3 at the 47:42 minute mark:

They’ve blocked the face, so I can’t tell which one it is, but it’s definitely a Maxi Swatch.

In Season 1 Episode 2 at the 35:04 mark, however, there is an anachronism. Rae is wearing an Indigo Lacquered Swatch, which only was released in the Summer of 2012. I know that’s really nit-picky, but Swatch didn’t even MAKE watches in that size back in the Nineties.

Of course, Coupling is its own anachronism. The British TV series is one of my favorite from the Nineties. Oliver’s “Naked” living room had a Maxi Swatch on its wall in Season 4 Episode 5 at the 15:49 mark:

Unfortunately, they hung the watch UPSIDE DOWN on the wall, so it looks really strange. It’s amazing to me how important that is. I can’t look at that picture without wanting to FIX the watch on the wall.

I feel a little silly documenting the glimpses of Swatches I’ve seen in movies and television, but it makes me happy somehow. It’s as if my past and my love for the watches transcended me and found itself in my favorite movies and shows, giving me validation. I’ll keep looking for them and share with you whatever I find.

My friend, Christy, linked to this entry on Pinterest:

• Blue Skies Ahead: Being a “Bucket-Filler” FHE

Its a children’s book called, “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?,” about the concept of doing good deeds for other people to make yourself feel better and happier.

You can see the book read here:

• Have You Filled a Bucket Today? – SchoolTube

It’s the perfect way to visualize why it’s so important to do good deeds. It’s the reason I pick up garbage on the side of the road when I’m out for my daily walk. It’s how I try to conduct myself every day. I have such a hard time explaining why it’s important to be nice to people, but this book is the perfect explanation.

The incredible NakedJen picked up these Loreal Nail Lingerie stickers for me at Sundance in January. I love them so much that I refuse to USE them. I have literally looked at them, planned on trying them out and deciding to “save” them for a special event at least three times. It’s not like I have a special event planned anytime soon. I just think they’re too pretty to just put on for the fun of it.

Instead, I made my own manicure, imitating the style. I used OPI’s My Very First Knockwurst for the base coat.

(Continue Reading…)

Warren Ellis gets asked why he doesn’t do “real” things to help the world because writing fiction is escapism, not actually building a better world. Here is his response:

• Warren Ellis’ Notebook

But fiction speaks to people.  Even fiction like mine acts to tell someone, somewhere, that they’re not alone.

You want tangible, social benefits to writing fiction?  There are people walking around today because other people wrote words that spoke to them.  That’ll do.

One of the portions of my vision is, “My creativity heals myself and others.” It’s my goal as a writer to HELP other people through my words. I hope that is true. Based on the response I’ve received, I think the best I’ve ever done is this piece:

• Pick Me! » When Your Best Friend Ditches You For Her Boyfriend

I wrote it back in 2004 and I STILL get comments from people saying that it helped them. I hope to write more entries just as helpful over the years. It’s my goal as a writer and it appears Warren Ellis feels the same.

Via: WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR, Warren Ellis’ Notebook: Okay. Someone asked me how I feel about writing fiction in a world…

I love floor plans and when I saw the deviantART account for Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde, I squealed with delight. Mostly, because there is the floor plan for Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment from The Big Bang Theory. Click any of these to see it full-sized.

Here is Penny’s apartment as well. How she can afford so much square footage in Pasadena on a waitress salary is beyond me.

Here they are together.

After looking at it, I realize how HUGE these apartments are. Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment is easily over 1000 square feet. The cheapest apartment I could find in Pasadena on Rent.com was $1275 for exactly 1000 square feet. I can understand how Caltech University professors can afford that, but Penny is over-stretching her budget. How does she do it?!

Not very well, apparently…

Via: Floor plan of the Ricky and Lucy Riccardo apartment – Found in Mom’s Basement

I love this animated GIF I found on I CAN DO IT.

It’s the most adorable raccoon hugging a kitty. It just makes me happy to see it repeat over and over.

This GIF is taken from this video:

In the video, it appears that the raccoon is more intent on eating the kitty than hugging it, but it’s still SUPER CUTE!

I love this image from I CAN DO IT.

It reads:

Take what you need: love, hope, faith, happiness, courage, and peace.

The next time you’re feeling down in the dumps, imagine this paper hanging on a wall just for you and tear off whatever it is you need to make it through the day. Heck, take the whole dang paper!

A special thank you to Thom Allen for sending me the link to this candy heart that says, Pick Me! posted by cuteculturechick.

I love this little video from Passion Pit:

It’s strange to imagine everything I’ve said just floating around our rooms, like subtitles. I try to be nice, but what if the mean things outnumber the nice ones?

Via: Discopop Directory: Passion Pit go romcom

On Jan 31, 2013, at 10:03 PM, a NICE FRIEND wrote:

Hey. I stumbled across your website while trying to find some information about Daybreak. My family is relocating to SLC from ANOTHER CITY this summer. I have been hellbent on moving to Sugar House to be near downtown and in a diverse area of the city. Well, the more I look, the more discouraged I get at the prices and what you get for that price. So, today I started opening the search. Daybreak looks like the kind of place my 3 kids would love. I will hate being that far away from the city but a newer house would be nice with all the amenities it has to offer. Cutting to the chase, I am in-active (hate that word!) Mormon living with a very active husband. I wonder how life would be socially? I want to meet people who enjoy a glass of wine and going out. How is it being a non-mormon in that community? I know in Sugar House it is very diverse with lots of places to go out at night. Thanks for your help!

Dear NICE FRIEND,

Thanks for emailing me about Daybreak. I still live here and I still love it dearly, but it IS different than living in Sugarhouse.

I have ZERO friends in this neighborhood, aside from my sister and her husband, who moved here because we live here and another couple who were our friends before they moved to South Jordan. In Sugarhouse, I knew the people on both sides of our house and across the street. They came to my Halloween parties, which are decidedly non-Mormon parties, and they were great acquaintances. I don’t have that here.

In all honesty, I think it was because we didn’t have children. All the families came over to introduce themselves, but when they saw that we had no children for their kids to play with, they never spoke to us again.

On the other hand, your children will be PAINFULLY lonely in Sugarhouse. There will be NO children within walking distance to play with. I had the hardest time finding kids to shovel my walk or mow my lawn. They just weren’t there and my friends with children who live in Sugarhouse have to drive them to play dates. That is not the case in Daybreak. It’s like Lord of the Flies here and most times, you will wonder where the adults are.

You might have an easier go of it because your husband is LDS. That will provide you with introductions in the neighborhood that I haven’t had. Even if you only go to church with him every other weekend or so, you will have a much larger social life in Daybreak because of that advantage.

More importantly, crime is nonexistent in Daybreak. In Sugarhouse, our bike (and yard ornaments) were stolen, a man was arrested by the police in our backyard and panhandlers KNOCKED on our door asking for money. I haven’t had any problems like that here and I LOVE Daybreak for that.

The drive downtown is arduous, however. If you or your husband are employed downtown, then you will be looking at a 45 minute commute each way. That time estimate is a hopeful one, so if there has been an accident on the freeway or if it snowed the previous night, you’ll have to leave an HOUR before work to get there on time. The same is true if either of you is employed in Provo. If, however, you work in Sandy, West Valley or anywhere else in the central valley, you’ll be just fine.

Daybreak DOES have a wine club and all the people there are very friendly. I’ve only been to a couple of the get togethers, but they were fun every time I went. You can find them here: Daybreak Wine Club. They didn’t have anything like that in Sugarhouse, or if they did, I never found it.

If you had asked me a few years ago why we were so close to our neighbors in Sugarhouse, I would have said because our houses were so close together, but I live in a part of Daybreak where our houses are JUST as close as they were in Sugarhouse. I have NO idea why things were friendlier in Sugarhouse than they are here in Daybreak.

In the end, making friends as an adult is difficult. When we were kids, we were thrown together by school and proximity and sometimes I think the sheer repetition of seeing the same faces made them precious. As adults, it’s difficult to reproduce that experience. I wish I had an answer to problem, but I really don’t.

I DO know that whether you move to Sugarhouse or Daybreak, I’m perfectly willing to meet up with you for lunch. Moving to a new state is difficult, but at least you have one friend here already.

Best,

Laura Moncur

P.S. I’m putting this on my blog for other people who are trying to decide where in the valley to move, but I’m removing your name (and origin city) so that you stay anonymous.

It’s hard to believe there was a time in my life when I could buy a hamburger for 28 cents, but it’s true. This photograph of the Dee Burger Clown reminded me of it all.

One strange note, The Dee Burger Clown was a two-faced beast. He had a face on both sides of his head and you would think that would have scared me as a child, but it didn’t. All of that was before clowns were scary to me.

Every once and a while, Dee’s would put their burgers on sale for 28 cents a piece. Whenever that would happen, Carol would buy a couple of bags of their burgers and put them in the freezer. Over the next few weeks, I would have free access to a hamburger whenever I wanted. All I had to do was take one out of the freezer and microwave it.

Now, they weren’t delicious by any reckoning and they were rather small (about the size of a McDonald’s kid’s burger), but that didn’t stop me. I could add a slice of cheese and a bit of mayo and they would be a great meal for Stacey and me after school while we waited for Carol and Mom to get home.

As far as I can tell, the McDonald’s hamburger is about $1 now. How does that compare to the cost of a Dee Burger Hamburger in 1982? According to the Inflation Calculator, 28 cents in 1982 is the same as 64 cents now. Even today, a hamburger for 64 cents would be an amazingly good deal. Of course, all the Dee’s Burger joints were sold to Hardee’s in the late Eighties, so it might be that those incredibly cheap hamburgers were their death knell.

A few years after that, Hardee’s closed all its restaurants in Utah. Some of the sad and vacant buildings were bought by Burger King and the rest have become Berto’s, Alberto’s and Gualberto’s all over the city. Sadly, I still miss the Hot Ham N’ Cheese sandwich that Hardee’s used to have, but mostly, I miss the happy, Dee Burger Clowns who used to be all over town, with lights shining through their bellies and swaying side to side with their ever-inflated balloons.

I read this article this morning and it kind of peeved me off.

• Tiny House Talk: Why Tiny House Communities Don’t Exist

I’ve talked about tiny houses and the problems that I have with them before. You can read those articles here:

• Pick Me! » Build Yourself A Home for $3,500
• Pick Me! » My Problem with Tiny Houses

Today’s article decided that the lack of tiny house communities wasn’t the fault of city planners. It was greedy land developers. When given a choice between building tiny houses and selling them to hippies and renting them to the rich, they choose the vacation property choice every time.

Greed… That’s why there are no tiny home communities? Umm… no.

The fact is, tiny home communities DO exist. We call them mobile home parks.

Mobile homes are tiny. They are portable. They are efficient designs that are very affordable. Why have the tiny house proponents overlooked them?

Because hippies don’t live in them, rednecks do.

Hippies are too good to park their homemade tiny homes in a mobile home park because that’s where the lower classes live. They don’t want to admit that their choice to simplify looks an awful lot like just being poor.

No tiny house communities? Not even in the mecca of tiny homes, Portland, Oregon? Not so! I counted TEN mobile home communities in the heart of Portland.

View Larger Map

Now, these might be mobile home communities that have certain restrictions on the size of the homes they allow in their park, so I checked the second mobile home on the list, Mobile Estates. I chose this one because a reviewer on Inside Pages called it, “a scumbag haven.” Of course, another reviewer said, “They have a lot of older mobile homes here. they have been here for a longtime. the park is clean. the people are nice. it is easy to find. stop by and see.” They sound like the kind of park that might be willing to have a tiny house on their property, so I looked at it up close and personal on Google Maps.

If they are willing to let a fifth wheel stay there, I’m sure they’d be ecstatic to have a DIY tiny home that looks like a little cabin. Why haven’t the hippies in Portland just JUMPED on this opportunity? Because “scumbags” live there.

Stop whining about city planners, vacation rentals and McMansions. There are tiny home communities all around you and you don’t even see them because you consider them unwashed masses. We poor folks have been living tiny for a lot longer than you hippies. You might actually LEARN something from us if you didn’t consider us beneath your notice.

I found this video on YouTube. It’s a slideshow of photographs from The Ritz.

I was starting to get worried because there were no pictures of me, even though I had been there that night. I know this because there are pictures of a lip sync for Killing An Arab and I remember seeing that performance. It was when Dawni was in Chicago, nannying for a family and I had to go to The Ritz alone. Fortunately, I found a couple of photos of myself in the mix. At the 4:51 minute mark, you can see me.

God, I loved that outfit! I wore that long, black skirt until it fell apart, then I mended the seams by hand and wore it for years after that. I used to love to wear it on windy days and feel the air play with the fabric around my legs. Why don’t I have a long black skirt like that anymore?

I think this might also be me on the right, but I can’t be sure. Here’s a freeze frame from the 4:58 mark:

It looks like my hair and I had a black, denim skirt that I wore quite often at The Ritz (same sweater, if you notice), so I’m pretty sure it’s me.

Of course, here is the missing piece in my love for the artwork of Syd Brak at the 6:08 minute mark. The walls of The Ritz were literally plastered with his work.

The posters on the left and right are ones that I do not currently own. I don’t even know what they were named, so I feel as if I’m on a quest to find out their origins. They look like Syd Brak’s work, so I’m assuming they are his, but who knows. He did have many imitators.

Watching that video was a lovely glimpse into my past. It was nice visiting, but I would never want to go back to that time of my life. Things are so much better now than when I was 19 years old.

Wil Wheaton posted this picture of John Waters’ mugshot. I had no idea where it came from, but I loved the picture so much that I had to track it down.

According to Dreamland News, John Waters sends out Christmas cards every year.

Every year, John Waters sends a personally signed Christmas card to a select list of friends and associates. Over the years, several of these cards have found their way onto the net, so I collect them here as a special holiday greeting to you.

Pictured above is 2006′s card, a genuine mug shot from the Baltimore Police Department.

I feel a little jealous that I don’t have an awesome mugshot of myself to send to all my friends in a Christmas card.

Whatever turn your holiday takes, I hope it’s a happy one!

I absolutely LOVE my latest manicure and couldn’t WAIT to share it with you! I call it Javablue Snowflakes and it’s so Christmasy!

You can see how I did it here after the break… (Continue Reading…)

They just reran The Shiny Trinket Maneuver on The Big Bang Theory last Thanksgiving. It had been sitting on my Tivo for the last month, enticing me to watch it again. It’s one of my absolute FAVORITE Big Bang Theory episodes because of this scene:

When Amy Farrah Fowler sees the present that Sheldon had picked out for her and starts singing, “It’s a tiara! A tiara! I have a tiara! Put it on me! Put it on me! Put it on me! Put it on me! Put it on me!” I feel EXACTLY like her!

I can’t believe Amy came onto Big Bang Theory only three years ago. Geeks girls like Bernadette and Amy were EXACTLY what that show needed. She was wonderful from the very beginning.

Their first date was hilarious.

Amy and Sheldon’s First Date

When Sheldon finally asked Amy to be his girlfriend (spurred by jealousy of Stuart), I just swooned.

It was totally funny when Amy asked him to meet her mother.

I thought we almost lost her when Penny’s ex-boyfriend Zach made her say, “Hu!”

God, how I wish they could find a good girl for poor Raj.

Today is 12-12-12 and in honor of it, Swatch is releasing a limited edition Swatch called Dodecahedron Colision.

To be fair, the watch they have designed isn’t a dodecahedron (a 12 sided object), but that would be rather difficult to wear one on your wrist, now wouldn’t it?

What the watch lacks in mathematical accuracy, it makes up in colorfulness and rarity. They only made 777 of them, so getting one will be difficult and expensive. I think I’m just happy to observe it from afar.

Photos via:

• 12 12 12 Dodecahedron | SecondWatch Blog
• File:Zeroth stellation of dodecahedron.png – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have highlighted tiny houses before here:

• Pick Me! » Build Yourself A Home for $3,500

Since that post almost a year ago, I’ve been following the tiny house trends and have found myself irked. There have been many times when I’ve wanted to post a rude comment, but have stopped myself. Apparently, I’m not alone, because the tiny house bloggers have started complaining.

• Tiny House Talk: Tiny Houses Aren’t Right For Everyone: And They Shouldn’t Be
• The Tiny Life: A Case Against Tiny Houses

Most of the rude comments are NOTHING like what I would say. They liken the tiny house builders to the sort of recluses who write manifestos. They complain about composting toilets or showering in confined quarters. They assume that the tiny house people want to outlaw all of the McMansions and force everyone to live in 200 square feet.

My complaints about the tiny house movement are more nebulous and, at times, feel more petty than those. (Continue Reading…)

Here is a shimmery manicure that is great for a Christmas party or any wintery day.

You can see how I did it after the break… (Continue Reading…)

I was feeling in the Christmas mood, so I did a Christmasy manicure called, Christmas Camping. You can see it here:

Click to read how I did this manicure and for more photos: (Continue Reading…)

I was reading Neato Coolville today when I saw a blast from the past: a K-Mart price sticker.

It brought back so many memories for me. In 1985, I got a job at the new K-Mart in West Valley on 5600 West. We were the first K-Mart in the city to have scanners, but that didn’t mean that we didn’t need to put prices on EVERY SINGLE item in the store. I know it sounds weird, but back then, even though we had a scanner to ring in the prices for us like every store in the U.S. does now (except Hobby Lobby, WTF?!), we still needed to stick prices on every piece of merchandise in the store.

Mostly because the prices weren’t logged into the computer correctly…

I LOVE K-Mart. That job I got when I was in in my junior year of high school ended up paying for my college. I stayed there for SEVEN years and spent seven Christmas seasons and Black Fridays at the checkouts. Even the Christmas I was a pharmacy tech, I ended up working the checkouts because they were always so busy during that time.

That’s why I NEVER go to Black Friday sales. I worked SEVEN Black Fridays. I’ve seen women get into fist fights over blankets. BLANKETS! I listened to that same 45 minutes of Christmas music over and over for two months. I manned the Blue Light Special, braving the throng of people rushing at me. That’s why I cringe at the people camping outside for two days before Black Friday. That’s why I avoid stores during the next month. That’s why I do almost all of my Christmas shopping online.

Yet, I still felt a beautiful twinge of nostalgia when I saw that price sticker. YES! That was what my teen years looked like. That little number in the upper right hand corner was the Key Number. That particular product was Key 1, so it was general merchandise. There was a time in my life, when I had all the Key Numbers memorized and I would have been able to tell you whether something was from the Garden Shop or Sporting Goods, just based on that little number in the red square.

Here is a picture of my K-Mart right before it opened up in 1985:

Our store opened the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving, so our Grand Opening beat the Black Friday sales by a week. It was phenomenal. I had never before seen people with SO many things in their carts. I just remember people with TWO carts FULL of clothes and toys. I had lived a pretty humble life, so the idea of going to K-Mart and filling up two shopping carts full of things to buy was completely foreign to me.

I spent most of my time working at K-Mart at these checkouts:

I wasn’t smart enough to take these photos. Our human resource director, Sally, took these photos and put them in a photo album for us to look at when we were feeling nostalgic. Of course, when she moved to another store, the new human resource director basically threw the book away. I dragged it out of the garbage, however, and saved my favorites (some Halloween photos and these two). I feel as if Sally took those photos for me, personally.

My Christmases at K-Mart were miserable 70 hour work weeks with no respite from the scanner and go-backs, but they financed my college degree. It was a lot of back-breaking work, but also a lot of fun memories. I love K-Mart. Maybe I should go there just once this holiday for old times sake.

I love this animated GIF of a soldier on the way to war, imagining himself back to the banks of a snowy river.

Throughout my life, I have imagined myself away from many unpleasant situations. When I was a little kid, I saw a movie called, Tribes. In this movie, a hippie has been recruited into the Marines. He endures the hardship of boot camp by imagining himself away to his hippie girlfriend and the memory of kissing her under a lush and beautiful tree.

You can see an example of this at the 5:30 minute mark here. The recruits are being asked to hold buckets full of sand aloft. Adrian is able to hold them longer than anyone else because he has imagined himself away.

So much of my view of life was from this movie. I love this scene where Adrian is calm after all their work, talking to one of the other draftees at the 8:46 mark.

“It’s all what you make it. Took me a long time to realize that yesterday can’t be changed and tomorrow really can’t be controlled with any certainty. I just kinda shoot for the minute. It’s all where your head’s at, man. That’s all that counts.”

When Sidney asks how he held up the buckets for so long, he explains it at the 9:52 mark:

“You just gotta put yourself in the right frame of mind.”

Once he teaches Sidney, then he, too, is able to hold up the buckets just as well as Adrian.

Even my views on drugs came from this movie. When Adrian sees one of the recruits, Quinn, taking a “downer,” they have a nice little talk about drugs that fit my views exactly. You can see it at the 0:56 mark:

“I’m hip to it. For two years, I couldn’t leave the house without downers. It’s really a drag tryin’ to face that every day. It’s insane. You know what happened then, Quinn? I started doing uppers to counteract the downers and function at a normal level, which is really just where I was at to begin with.”

I think I only saw this movie once as a kid, but it made such an impact on me that I can still remember him imagining himself away. I’ve used that technique MANY times over the years to get myself through hard times. The next time you’re trying to achieve something hard, try imagining yourself away and see if that helps you as much as it has helped me over the years.

You can see the whole movie here:

Animated GIF via: Vintage Photos Enter Spooky Afterlife as Animated GIFs by Underwire at Wired.com

Thank you to all the military people out there serving our country. I am incredibly grateful to you for your sacrifice.

Here are some touching videos of soldiers being welcomed home. This first one is a beagle welcoming home his owner. I thought, “She must do that to everyone who comes in the house,” until I heard her crying barks. Daisy really did miss her!

In 2005, when he came home from Afghanistan, Gracie could hardly contain herself. If you click on the ads, all proceeds go to Alexandria Animal Shelter.

This is the most touching one of all. The soldier’s son is having his birthday party when Darth Vader shows up. When he defeats him, he pulls off the helmet to find his father. At the 40 second mark, the little boy screams, “Daddy!” and there’s not a dry eye in the house.

If there is a veteran in your life, thank them for their service.

I have been wearing this manicure for the last few days and I have been quite happy with it. I call it: Shannon’s Violet Velvet Attitude Manicure.

More photos and how I did it after the break… (Continue Reading…)

I was shopping at Target, when I found this 14 piece nail polish set from e.l.f. I have NO need for more nail polish, but it was so cheap (only 10 bucks!) and I liked so many of the colors that I bought it. I am so glad I did, because I ADORE this set!

You can find it online here:

• e.l.f. Nail Polish Cube – 14 pc : Target
• e.l.f. Nail Cube 14 piece Holiday Set

All the colors are VERY pigmented, and I put only ONE coat on my nails for these photos. They were as buttery as Essie polish and covered without streaking as well as OPI polish does. Best of all, the entire set cost less than two bottles of Essie or OPI (as cheap as one bottle of OPI if you don’t know the good places to shop).

This set would make a great Christmas present to anyone who needs the basics. There are a bunch of wonderful neutrals in it and the colored polishes are perfect. Every woman needs a good red, a good neutral and a good edgy color. This set has a great selection of all three, so if you think it might be a good present, IT WILL!

I have only two complaints about the entire set. Firstly, the lids are asymmetrical, so it’s difficult to get them back on the way they were when I bought them. I hate how they will be sideways on the bottle and I’ve never figured out how to get them back on properly. Secondly, the glitter polishes aren’t quite glittery enough for me, but if you’re conservative with your glitter, you’ll love them.

My absolute favorite in the group is Glamor Girl. It’s a creamy neutral, but when you catch it in the right light, there is a pop of glittery gold that makes it stunningly glamorous.

Glamor Girl is just one of 14 beautiful colors in that set and I can’t believe how much I love them ALL! You can see the rest of the swatches after the break… (Continue Reading…)

After the failure of Pick Me! » The Leave Well Enough Alone Manicure, I took it all off and tried a new one. I started again with two coats of Ulta’s Army of 1.

I had seen something on Pinterest about making my own glitter polish, so I decided to try it. Here is a link to the tutorial:

• Lexy Levin – DIY: GLITTER POLISH

I bought an inexpensive bottle of clear polish and some glitter.

The two kinds of glitter are different in size, because I wanted the polish to be REALLY glittery.

I dumped out 1/4 of the bottle and kept adding glitter until it was full. The bottle looks like this now.

The result was a REALLY glittery polish. This is ONE coat of the polish.

Unfortunately, the polish is really thick and difficult to apply evenly. Look at how much it pops up on the nail.

In the end, I’ve decided to leave glitter polish crafting to the professionals. They do so much better than I do.

This manicure didn’t last me very long because the stenciling at the tips wore away quickly, but while it was here, it sure was pretty, very much like the changing leaves in Fall.

I started with two coats of Essie’s Mink Muffs.

Then I used the Bundle Monster Stamping Plate #BM217 and the Konad Special Polish in Green.

I was going for an autumnal sort of feel with the leaves and the brown.

I particularly like how good the two colors look together.

The stamping wasn’t quite as clean as I would have liked, but it turned out good enough.

Whenever I’m feeling down, it’s always a pick me up to do my nails. When they turn out as well as this manicure, it makes me even happier.

For years, I have looked for a nice, chocolatey creme polish to replace my aging Revlon Java Bean polish that I loved so much. I didn’t want any glitter, even though I’m a fan of glitter. I didn’t want any metallic, even though I’m a adoring fan of metallics. All I wanted was a creamy chocolate brown for my nails.

I’ve finally found it with Essie’s Mink Muffs polish.

Although not exactly the same hue as Revlon’s Java Bean, it is very close and looks very good with my skin tone.

It takes two coats to fully cover the nail without streaking.

I’ve been pretty happy with this color and how it looks as a base for stenciling.

Tune in tomorrow for the Fall Foliage Manicure that uses this polish as a base.

Don’t forget to vote, America.

• DFTVA

Every time you just blow off voting, the bad guys win. Don’t let the bad guys win.

Here’s a message from the Greatest Generation about voting:

This manicure is an example of “Leave Well Enough Alone.” I started out with a base of two coats of Ulta’s Army of 1 nail polish.

Then I added two coats of Beetle by Hard Candy.

After that, I added one coat of the second step of Revlon’s Moon Candy Orbit.

Even though it was only one coat of that polish, the pretty mylar pieces made the manicure feel thick and lumpy.

I hated the result so much that I took the polish off within a half hour of it drying.

I had no idea that the FEEL of a manicure is so important. The jagged and lumpy mylar pieces were gorgeous, but they made this manicure feel scratchy and unpleasant. I should have left well enough alone…

I absolutely adore the look of this manicure. I started out with a base of two coats of Ulta’s Army of 1 nail polish.

Then I added two coats of Beetle by Hard Candy.

This manicure looks so good. I love how Ulta’s Army of 1 is a great base coat for Beetle.

The camera can’t fully capture the iridescent hue of Beetle and how it reflects green, yellow and purple depending on the angle of the light. Gorgeous!

How I wish I had left well enough alone with this manicure, because what I did next completely RUINED it. Tune in tomorrow to see what happened.

I got a bottle of Ulta’s Army of 1 nail polish in a free makeup kit that I received because I spent a certain amount of money at the store.

I’ve never been particularly impressed with Ulta products, but I ADORE this polish.

I’ve never even been a big fan of creme polishes, but this one goes on so smooth and buttery without streaking.

I also love to use it as a base for more sheer colors. Tune in tomorrow for an example of that.

Seeing this box of crayons on Pinterest brought back SO many memories for me.

In third grade, I had Mrs. Ellison’s class. She suggested that we get fluorescent Crayons and my mom brought some home from Gibson’s, where she worked. I was the only kid in the class who’s parents bought her those very special crayons. When another little girl stole them from me, Mrs. Ellison knew they were mine and I got them back. It was the first time a teacher believed me over another child and I felt vindicated.

Why is it that this old box of crayons spawned that memory, but when I see the newer boxes of fluorescent crayons, I never think about that day my beloved and special crayons were stolen?