Nails and Family

Oddly enough I have taken a liking to nailpolish recently. I have gone years without painting my nails more than the occassional time or two. I know one reason I got back into it is because I finally found the perfect time to do it! I hated how you had to sit still and basically do nothing for at least 30 minutes after you did your nails or else they would inevitably smudge on something--especially with a 2 year old! So when is the perfect time for me to paint my nails? In my car, sitting in the driveway, before I go to work. Why? Because my drive to work is 30 minutes and I can aim the air vents right onto my nails and they are completely dry when I get there! Yay! And if I need to, I can do a second coat before I leave work so that they are done when I get home.

I have a pinned a few ideas for nail designs that I like and tried them out. Here is one called Newsprint Nails where you basically transfer ink from a newspaper onto your nails. Simple but cute!

  instructions here.

It was quite easy, but the best way I found was to dip the actual strip of newspaper into rubbing alcohol then press it firmly onto your nail for about 5 seconds, then gently peel it off. The ink rubs off if you don't use top coat.

Top coat is another reason why I hated painting my nails--it never worked! My color would start chipping the next day. I decided to buy one of each brand of top coat and return them if they didn't work until I found one that works! The brand I bought most recently is Maybelline Color Show and I am thoroughly impressed. My polish is on day 4 now and there is minimal chipping around the edges! I may have found a winner.

This next polish is the Sally Hansen Crackle polish in black. I did it over a frosty pale pink base. I didn't used to like the crackled look, but now it's growing on me! Especially when I think of all of the neat color combinations you can do.

I mentioned to hubby that I wanted some nailpolish for my upcoming birthday and I do believe he bought me HUGE collection of them! I'll know in a couple of weeks...

This past week my Uncle Del from California has been in town. He is my dad's older brother so they have gotten together several times to catch up. Yesterday the three of us met my dad, Uncle Del, my grandma, my brother Eric and his wife Teri at Old Chicago and had a great dinner together. Of course I had to get pics of everyone there!

 (The tall one is my pops)

This is a neat pic of my grandma and Brad together. The last pic I have of them like this is when Brad was just about a month old! He is her ONLY great grandchild! She told me that Brad needs a little sister, and I told her he might get one when he is old enough to help change diapers--HA!

In other news, I noticed recently that my paychecks have been a bit higher than expected but I never really looked into it--turns out that we just started getting paid time and half for getting called in!! I take a pretty good amount of call but now that I know this I will be taking a lot more! God has really blessed me with my career and the opportunities that I am offered!

Nick got our pool all cleaned up last week and we have already taken a couple of dips in it! It's the only way to beat the Oklahoma heat. I usually lay out for about 15 minutes to get nice and sweaty, then jump in the cold water and cool off. Brad was a little iffy about it at first (the water is still pretty chilly) but after a few minutes he loved it and was splashing all around in his floaty toy!  I know he will really enjoy it this summer.

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend! Don't do anything stupid, and remember the reason for Memorial Day.