When I checked the mail last week I was surprised/confused to find a parcel for me from Jessica. When I opened it up and read her sweet letter I found out that I’d won a giveaway she had last month.
An original drawing, little art card & two stickers! Thanks Jessica!
Friday
Friday night started awesome; I fished work half an hour early and was able to run out and get beer before the hockey game started. Sym and her friend Ali made this great sign for the living room and then went over to Ali’s to play.
Of course all the beer I bought inevitably led me into DISASTER and I want to warn you now that if you are faint of heart or easily grossed out STOP SCROLLING or at least scroll very fast until you get to the Saturday part of the post.
During the second intermission I went on a mad scramble to the store for snacks, and as I was hurrying home I injured the CRAP out of my pinky toe. Here’s the thing about my pinky toe: I break it. A lot. I’ve broken it so many times that it basically shatters now if I just look at it funny. But I didn’t break my toe on Friday night; no, I broke my toe last week. What I did to it on Friday night was WORSE.
I was in a big hurry and as I was rounding the corner into the alley I passed by this house whose garden has a lot of rocks in it. Big rocks. Like bigger than bowling balls. Just scattered around the garden and there is one RIGHT on the corner. Now, I mentioned I was hurrying, but did I mention I was wearing flip-flops? And that I was kind of drunk? Well, I was, and as I rounded that corner I just straight up SMASHED that poor broken pinky toe right into the rock.
I managed to hobble home and when I got there I looked at what I’d done and basically I skinned the whole end of my toe. But not skinned it like a skinned knee; skinned it like SKINNED ALIVE. Are you ready?
BARF. Like my feet aren’t gross enough already. And nevermind the horrible skinned part, look at what shape it is! That is not a normal toe shape.
ANYWAY. Taylor and I taped it up with a ton of gauze and I did the only thing I could do in that situation: I DRANK MORE. Which led to this:
Saturday
Yep, that’s me, desperately clinging to sleep on Saturday morning even though I’m surrounded by pestering pets and a husband who thinks we make the perfect photo opportunity.
Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and with enough coffee, toast, Advil and vitamins I was able to kick my hangover in the butt and go to the farmer’s market. I forgot to take a picture of everything I bought but we ate most of it for lunch. I felt like I needed something really healthful to finish curing me, so I made us what Sym likes to call a “Snacky Lunch” of veggies, pitas and dip.
The homous, cherry tomatoes, radishes and cucumber were from the market; the only unpictured item is some mint Oreo fudge which is basically so yummy I don’t even want to eat it because then it’ll just be gone.
Seriously though, SO GOOD. Bye, hangover!
Sym and I made a plan a few weeks ago that we’d do a craft every Saturday, but then last weekend we came up with a NEW plan that if it was sunny, we’d go to the beach. This Saturday was overcast, so it was a craft day! She has this book of like ~crafts for girls~, and for this weekend she selected a gingerbread house collage. Since I hate to keep things simple I decided it would be better if we made a 3D gingerbread house. Unfortunately we didn’t finish it before her dad picked her up, but we made a good start and we’ll keep working on it this week.
Sym painted lots of little candies, treats and gumdrop people we’re going to cut out and glue onto the house, which I made. I’m really thrilled with how well it turned out, actually.
I know. I’m amazing. This was actually pretty simple to do, and if anyone is interested in learning how to make one I could throw together a tutorial. Let me know!
Sunday
Sunday was pretty laid back; Taylor and I worked on our ongoing closet-organizing project, ran a few errands and hung out with our dogs. Hope you all had a good (injury-free!) weekend!
She really is the best.
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Ivy League
Sally Hansen Salon in Golden Nights, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Ivy League & Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Diamonds
I had a terrible day on Wednesday and to cheer myself up I decided to stock up on cheap, sale-priced nail polishes. For some reason I seemed to be preoccupied by greens and blues.
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue It, Ivy League, Green With Envy & Mint Sorbet
When I was a kid my mom would sometimes give us sweet, milky mint tea for tea parties or with our afternoon snack. Even now I always put sugar and milk in mint tea, even though it’s weird to a lot of people. I find this combination also makes for a delicious & refreshingly cool iced tea, so I thought it would make a good popsicle as well!
Sym hadn’t brushed her hair or even changed out of her pajamas when we tried these on Saturday.
Ingredients:
• 2 peppermint tea bags
• ¹⁄₈ cup sugar
• ¹⁄₄ cup non-fat milk
• 1 cup boiling water (not pictured)
In a heat-proof mug, pour boiling water over teabags and steep for 5 to ten minutes. Remove bags and discard. Stir in sugar until fully dissolved, and allow to cool. Add milk, pour into popsicle molds, and freeze!
*note: this recipe only made seven popsicles.
Lucy the pug came for a visit this afternoon and I captured these stunning images of her beauty.
She’s such a lady. I tried to get pictures with Georgie but she was too excited for me to catch her.
I’m not having a good time right now, mom-wise. In fact, I’m filled with a white-hot burning rage and anger right now. I kind of feel like this:
Last week Sym brought a notice home about an older student, a 7th grade girl being groped on the street outside the school. Outside the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. That is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Yesterday evening Sym and her friend were playing on the front steps. And some man, some creep, was OGLING THEM. They are eight and nine years old! THAT IS GROSS AND SICK AND WRONG.
Tonight Sym’s dad and I are going to sit down with her and talk to her about what to do and how to protect herself if creeps perve on her. SHE’S A LITTLE KID AND I HAVE TO TALK TO HER ABOUT THIS? Pardon my language but that is FUCKED UP AND STUPID.
So here’s my request: how about instead of me having to teach my daughter how to not get raped, we start teaching our kids not to rape, not to sexually assault and harass, not to be gross creeps that perve on little kids? And maybe the adults of the world could also take some time to think about not doing those things either. Because that’d be really great.
I wanted a quick and easy dinner last night since I had an important (and ultimately horrifying) hockey game to watch. It was pretty hot out as well so I didn’t want a lot of oven action or heavy side dishes, so I decided on grilled salmon & salad.
I sprinkled the salmon (wild sockeye) with pepper and alderwood smoked salt before putting it on the grill.
Smoky! I ground it with a mortar & pestle before using.
While the salmon was cooking I made the salad out of all the vegetables:
• green leaf lettuce
• carrots
• celery
• French Breakfast radishes
• assorted cherry tomatoes
• sweet yellow peppers
• cucumber
I don’t like most salad dressings, so I just added a little lemon juice and it was done at the same time as the salmon!
Yesterday I took all the daycare kids, plus Sym and Georgie, for an impromptu picnic on the lawn of a nearby hotel; we were meeting one of the daycare moms there so that she didn’t have to spend 20 minutes in traffic going the two blocks from her work to my house.
I wish I could post pictures of the kids because they were being very very cute, but you’ll have to make due with me and my own cuties.
idk when she got so grown up. Also, her sunglasses kill me.
Even though I tied her leash to the stroller, Georgie was still happy to be there.
Sym took this picture of me, working at my job. Pretty sweet.
I have two 2-year-old girls in my daycare, and today one of them arrived with pink polished fingers and toes. The other one was SUPER jealous, so I offered (with her parents’ permission) to paint her nails as well.
B’s nails on the left were done by her mom; M’s nails on the right were done by me.
I completely forgot I made a header for these posts!
These nails were a real challenge! I read a bunch of different tutorials and tried a few different techniques, most of which were a total bust. I ended up taking all the polish off and starting over three times. The end result is so worth it, though, they’re so pretty!
pink gradient nails
MAC x Hello Kitty in Something About Pink, Sally Hansen Maximum Growth in Delightful Dawn, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Diamonds, Ever bi Lena Holographic Glitter
To get the gradient effect:
1. apply 2 coats of dark/bright polish to the top ⅓ of the nail
2. apply 1 or 2 coats of medium sheer polish to the top ⅔ of the nail
3. apply 1 coat of light sheer shimmer to the entire nail
4. apply 1 or 2 coats of glitter to the entire nail (optional)
5. apply 1 coat of top coat
It’s basically eight coats of polish, so I was careful to keep the coats all very thin so my nails wouldn’t be gloopy and gross.
The holographic glitter is one of the cheap ones I got at the dollar store the other month, all of which suck and are way too thick and take a million years to dry. Except this one! This one goes on thin, dries fast, and deposits a decent amount of multi-sized glitter with each brushstroke. This is like, my HOLY GRAIL of glitter polish, and to think I’ve had it all this time!
Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Diamonds is also a really excellent polish colour; it’s super sheer and just adds a hint of shimmer, which makes it perfect to help blend together the different shades in the gradient without obscuring the colours.
