Well THAT was a long hiatus!

I walked away from blogging almost 3 years ago, but I'm ready to slowly step back into it.  I'm sure all 4 of you are pretty excited about that!

All kidding aside - I started getting into nail polish, and subsequently blogging, because of the death of my mother.  I had lost my father 24 years prior, so my mother was the anchor left in our family.  When she passed, that tie was severed and left me feeling...nothing. Everything.  Alone. Unpurposed. Unfocused.  Lost. 

I had no family of my own and very strained relationships with my siblings.  My perspective changed in the blink of an eye, and I needed something - anything - that would give me a routine.  Something to focus on, even briefly, that was so removed from my usual and familiar existence that it would give me some respite from dealing with the task of reorganizing my life to include no more family.  Well, at least the biological kind. 

And slowly I did that.  And I stopped blogging. But I took a turn somewhere, or more accurately, a lot of wrong turns that have put me somewhere I don't want to be anymore.  I'm working on fixing that.  But I'm not in the same headspace I was 6 years ago when my mother died.  And I'm coming back to blogging not for the distraction; I just miss it.  I still have a LOT of polish that needs to be shared. And purged.  Seriously, if I changed my polish every day, I could go years - yes, YEARS - without wearing the same shade twice. 

But I think I might want to add...more to my blog this time.  Some random posts. Like this one.  Just pieces of reality - my reality - put to paper (so to speak) to calm the inevitable turmoil that builds up.  I'm working on ideas and deciding on a structure for this new incarnation.  Hell, maybe even a name change.  Or just a rebooted 2.0 version.

Lots of choices to make, but I'm kind of excited to make them.  And even through the rain, thunder & lightning that is going on as I write this, I'm smiling. Why? Because I see some clear skies and sunshine in the future. Oh, and some swamp-ass temperatures too.  This is late-August Chicago after all.

See you all soon! 😘
Liz

40 GREAT NAIL ART IDEAS - TEAL

Week 2 of the challenge, and it's a color prompt.  This challenge is a bit unique from other challenges I've done, and it's mostly why I chose to join.  It alternates week by week between nail art and color-specific manicures.  And to prevent a whole lot of the same manicures showing up on the color weeks, there are specific patterns we are assigned that we have to incorporate into the design.  This week, my pattern is waterfall.

40 GREAT NAIL ART IDEAS - HOBBIES

Week #1

PUZZLE BOOKS

I've signed up for a new challenge!  Yay!  This is week one and the theme (as my post title shows) is hobbies.  I don't know why I struggled with this one...I think because I knew my stamper is, well, shit.  I have another one coming in the mail and **hope** it will be here soon.

There were so many I could have chosen, but ultimately decided puzzle books.  In colder weather - like we have suddenly gotten here in Chicago - I like to curl up and either read a book or do these.  Word puzzles and mazes in a book, with a good old No. 7 pencil.  Kinda old school, but when I was growing up these kinds of books were just EVERYWHERE.  Working on them makes me a little nostalgic.

NOTD for 8/4/2015: Cupcake Polish

I've got another polish here from the gift I received from my friend Natalie (find her <<HERE>> on Instagram), and this one is definitely a change from my last NOTD!  It's Cupcake Polish Leaf Me Alone. 

It's pretty cloudy today, so the holo didn't really come out to play too much, but still.  Look at that color!  Gorgeous grassy green.

NOTD for 8/3/2015: KBShimmer

Hello again!  This is a NOTD, but it isn't today's unfortunately.  I've been a bit lazy - this year - with blogging, and I figured that since I just took this mani off, maybe I should get this post published.  Sigh...


I haven't really bought any crellies lately; my shimmer obsession has kicked into overdrive, and that is the target of my polish buying.  But I had this one on my wishlist, and my friend Natalie at Over the Top Coat (but you'll have better luck finding her on Instagram at @vashtiaa) sent me an AWESOME random gift package with a LOT of pretties in it, and this KBShimmer was in there.


I LOVE it!  It's a really good nude shade for my skin tone, and the glitter keeps it from giving me mannequin hands.  The Crows Toes I used for the accent was another of the gifts from Natalie, and it matched the glitter really, really well.

NOTD for 7/12/2015: Pahlish. And please don't hate me...

Yes, I am still alive.  Over 7 months since my last blog post.  Yikes!!  I realized I have too many pretties and not enough people to share them with, so I'm going to try this blogging thing again.  But it will be shorty posts.  I promise.

So here's my NOTD for today.  It isn't exactly what I was shooting for; I wanted some clean lines using striping tape, but the humidity here all summer has been so high.  It feels like it's raining every day, and my nails just wouldn't dry.  So I improvised a bit with an almost steady hand and a dotting tool.

NOTD for 11/30/2014: Alchemy Lacquers Allspice

Sunshine has been so scarce here lately, so I had to rush to try to get photos when the sun finally decided to peek through the clouds today.  This beauty is Alchemy Lacquers Allspice.  Oh. My. Gosh!!  I just got this in the mail on Friday, and I just had to put it on.  We've already had snow here three times, and I'm fighting against winter tooth and nail.  For me, this is a perfect fall polish.

Two coats with topcoat