The Nail Files - Braided Manicure

Once again, I'm finally putting my Pinterest "Nails" board to good use!! Here is this week's inspiration:

I put my own twist on it, thanks to another pin with navy and silver colors that inspired me this week in my color choice.

I really love how this turned out. It looks a lot better than I thought it would - note to self:  never try to determiner what the finished product will look like when the in-progress is a mess and a half!

Here are the colors I used:

Pure Ice - Superstar, Julep - Missy, and Finger Paints - Artist's Sapphire

As always, I'm linking up to show off my "handy" work!  :)


Come show off your mani/pedi with the rest of us.

And - HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

Weight Loss is H-A-R-D...HARD!

As a lot of you may, or may not, know, I started a weight loss journey last year. It was also an attempt to get healthy.

I lost 15 pounds. Then I stopped.

I stopped losing.

I stopped keeping track of what I was eating (food diary).

And I stopped the limited working out I was doing.

As of last week, I had gained back most of what what I'd lost. Thankfully it took a year to gain it back. And thankfully I didn't gain all of it back.

But really got me was this:

It's a little dark (ok, it's a lot dark), but just look for the outline of the red shirt. That is my...in all my fat glory!

I feel so disgusting looking at this picture. I mean, I know my pants have been tighter...I can feel it. And some that fit me last year don't anymore.

But it's amazing what 15 pounds can do to you and your self image and self esteem.

So last Monday I got back on the band wagon with Weight Watchers. Thankfully I'm wasn't all the way back at the beginning...but I was close.

Last Monday, September 15, I weighed 246.3.

This Monday, September 22, I weighed 244.8. Down 1.5!

I worked out one day last week for about 25 minutes. And I kept a better food diary than I had in a while.

The hardest part is remember to write down, or keep track on the app, of what I eat every day. But, at the same time, it keeps me accountable to what goes in my mouth and mindful of how many points I have each week.

This week I've worked out one day for about 45 minutes - mixing it up with some stationary bike then some free weights, lunges, squats, and sit up. (My bootay is giving me grief for that, too!!) I hope to get in another work out before the work-week is over, cause I can pretty much guarantee it won't happen over the weekend.


I've also been working on my fruit intake. That has helped, too. Oh, and drinking water (which I hate to do) as much as possible. I even put a glass of ice water by my bed to drink in the morning before I leave the room for coffee or anything else.

I want to go back to keeping track of things with you, my viewers, here, too. I think that will help with the accountability, too. My plan is to go with Mondays, as that is my day to weigh in. But I just wanted to go ahead and get things started tonight while it was on my mind.

So, that's where that is. Thanks for bearing with me and my ups and downs.

Until the next time...

The Nail Files - Dots on White

Look at me, trying to get back into the swing of things...again. And I actually did my nails for the first time in about two weeks, so I figured I should brag/show off.




I went perusing Pinterest the other day and came across some great inspiration. I think that's what got into me...that and I was tired of plain, boring, no-polish nails.

Here's my inspiration (link):

I realized, when I went to grab this picture and the link that I have a couple variations of this nail art, including one with a black base and brighter colors for the dots. However, the other variations have the dots towards the top of the nails. I liked this look for the dots being at the bottom.

But I didn't want pale colors, since it is September and time for all things Fall and Fall colors related.

So here's my take (not really fall colors, but still more season appropriate, I think):

Please excuse the smudge on my middle finger...I tried a new top coat and my dots may not have been completely dry. 

These are my colors:  Pure Ice - Superstar, Julep - Charlotte, Finger Paints - Sketch Me, Finger Paints - Masterpiece of Minimalism, and Julep - Beverly (ignore the white in the backgroud...it didn't get used).

Over all, I really like this. I think I could have done more dots up one of the sides on a few nails. But that would be the only change I'd make.

So what's on your nails this week/weekend? Come share with the rest of us over at The Nail Files!

Happy Friday!

Jewel Heist Letdown

A few weeks ago (not sure when, exactly) Julep released a new mystery box:

Now I realize that by ordering a mystery box I am taking my chances on what I'll get. I've ordered mystery boxes from Julep before. I also know that if you order multiple boxes, things may overlap (not an issue here, I only ordered one). The description was:  "packed with $100+ worth of mystery nail polishes and beauty must-haves..." Now I realize this says nothing about getting a glitter polish of any sort. However, based on the picture, I (and quite a few others, based on other reviews I found) was expecting at least one glitter.

Nope! Nada!

I did get a shimmer or two, but those don't really count, do they? They're not full-on glitters. And they are definitely the birthday polishes shown in the add picture.

So here is what I did get:

In the box, you can't really see what's what...the black box is the pink lip color below.

Padma, Nadia, Francis, Faye, & Lip Vernis in Peony, plus an overnight repair for hands kit.

Now, I have not done the research myself, except for Nadia, but other have stated that a lot of these items are on sale/clearance on the Julep website. Some have also said that the Lip Vernis is from two years ago. Others even got boxes with only one nail polish. While Julep looks at the original retail value of the products in the box, Zadidoll did a great breakdown (and review) of the box here (she got TWO boxes just like mine).

All in all, I am a little disappointed in my box. Technically the colors are considered Jewel Tones (Googled "Jewel Tones" to make sure), the advertisements for this box led a lot of people to think they would get at least one glitter polish of some sort. And while I may use the green (Francis) for nail art, I will probably only get any use out of Padma (purple). The lip gloss is too light for me. And as helpful as I'm sure the hand repair kit would be, I can pretty much guarantee I won't use it (I am horribly inconsistent when it comes to these things).

My question to you...did you order the Jewel Heist Mystery Box? What did you get? And do you like it?

Oh well....

It's Thursday, y'all! The weekend is right around the corner! WOOHOO!!

The Nail Files

I have not been ambitious to try anything new on my nails lately, regarding nail art and getting all crazy with the colors. Even my 4th of July mani was seriously lacking:  Red, White, and Blue...but one color on each nail. Blah....

However, I redeemed myself (in my eyes) with my pedicure (which could by why I didn't go crazy on my finger nails...I'd already gone crazy on the toes):

I don't remember the names of the colors, but the red and blue are both by Finger Paints. The white is a one of my nail art polishes. And the "Stars" are stickers I've had FOREVER and decided to use instead of attempting actual stars.

And this week, I tried a new polish I've had for a bit: 

It's part of the Carrie Underwood Collection for Nicole by OPI. This one is called Southern Charm. What you're seeing is two coats. It's a little thin, but may look better with something over top. I'm definitely not a fan of it solo. I'll have to play around with it some more before I figure out if I like enough or not.

Well, that's all for this week. Once again, I'm joining in with the fun of



Come show off your nails with the rest of us!

Happy Friday!

Changes in the S&S home...carport

This change has been a long time coming!

When I moved to California over 5 years ago, I was in this little love:

 (minus the plethora of scratches you see on doors...those came thanks to inconsiderate neighbors in my first apartment here in CA)

This is Baby. Yes, I know, kind of a dumb name for a car. But it's what I started calling her in Florida and it kind of stuck. She (oh, yes, my car was a she...and a very temperamental one in her old age) is a 2000 Chevy Malibu who's been with me since 2002 and 43,000 miles.

This year she turned 14 and 217,000 + miles. And she started being more temperamental than usual. While she did have an engine that was only 4 years old, that wasn't helping the rest of her old parts. And, with a heavy heart and a few tears (hey...12 years and 174,000 miles is a lot of memories), I said good-bye to her two weeks ago.

Here is the new addition to our family:

Meet The TARDIS! She (because if you know your Doctor Who you know The TARDIS is a lady) is a brand new Nissan Versa Note. She's a little sporty and a little responsible all rolled into one cute package. She's pretty roomy inside (Mr S and his 6'1" frame can sit in the back seat with the front seat all the way back and have a quarter of an inch between his knees and the back of the front seat) despite how small she is.

She's going to be the main car Mr S drives, but I have her until I've master driving The Black (as I call the car Mr S brought into this relationship). The Black is manual, or stick shift, and I'm still working on getting that under my belt. So I have The TARDIS, for now. But ultimately she will be my husbands for his commute to and from work.

*Side note:  The Black will be renamed...eventually. Probably once it's mine and I can figure out if it's a boy car or a girl car. I'm leaning towards male...but no idea yet. I've not spent enough time behind the wheel.

**Side note #2:  You may think I'm crazy naming cars and calling them by a specific gender. But I'm not. So there!  :)

And that, my friends, is the latest in the land of S&S

***Side note #3:  Mr S and I actually do have the same first initials.

The Nail Files - Marble Mani

I have been wanting to try the marble technique for quite some time. Well, the other night afforded me the opportunity while Mr S went out with friends from high school.

The basic idea is dropping colors into a glass of water. They don't break through the top layer on the water (well, some do, but that's okay too), but the color spreads out to fill the surface area (I used a plastic cup). Drop a varying amount of the colors. Then run a toothpick lightly through to swirl. Once swirled to your liking, dip your finger in the colors. Try not to break through the water (if you can. I don't know that it's a big deal if you do other than more water than necessary gets on your nail and may get under the polish). Clean the excess off around the nail. To clean out the water, simply swirl the toothpick around and it will pick up all the color and you can start again. This is one of many links out there with a little more detail and pictures.

Here are the colors I used:

The three mini's are Essie:  Under Where?, In The Cabana, and First Timer. Wet & Wild's French White Creme. And Orly's Shine On You Crazy Diamond (in place of a top coat).

Here's the messy look...and I do mean messy!!

Thankfully it's easy to clean off the nails:

 Left

Right

I think the marbling look came out a little better on the left hand, but I'd had a little more practice by then. You can't really see it, but the Orly is a holo, small glitter that added a nice touch in the right light.

This was, surprisingly, easy to do. And I could see myself doing this some other time. It also stuck around for more than one day, which was nice. I think it started noticeably peeling on day 3. I'm okay with that!

As usual, I'm joining with the rest of the gang at:



Come show off your fingers with the rest of us!

Happy Friday!