TC Summit 2015

It was on my vacation to San Francisco this past October that I really decided to quit my job.  So I guess it's kind of fitting that I dust off the blog with a post about that.

The entire trip wasn't actually a vacation, but I got in a good amount of tourist-y stuff and actually took more pictures than I did my last couple of trips.  Some of you may know that I'm a Top Contributor on Google's Help Forums, and every 2 years they host a global Summit in California where we all fly in and get together.  2013 was in San Jose, this one was right in San Francisco.

I flew in Monday the 19th and my room was at the Hilton Union Square on the 32nd floor and I had a view of downtown and in the distance the Golden Gate Bridge (not visible in this pic):

There was a welcome gala the first night at the Hotel Nikko (where some of the other TCs were staying), then Tuesday was at Fort Mason, which was a great presentation space inside but also really cool outside during breaks with a better view of the bridge as well as Alcatraz:

Lunch came from a fleet of food trucks - check out the official vid!  If you have a sharp eye you can spot me at 0:48 and 1:40:

Tuesday night's dinner was at Ruby Skye, with live music and dancers, then come Wednesday most of the TC's headed to the Googleplex, but YouTube still has separate offices and that's where my group headed.

Then later afternoon we went to Garfield Park for closing celebration:

Thursday a lot of people flew out but I planned ahead and gave myself a few extra days, so I was able to explore the city with a couple of  friends.  We headed up to Haight Ashbury, and saw a ton of cool stuff on the way, including a lot of graffiti art:

It wasn't until we were up there - way, WAY up there, seriously the hills in SF are crazy - that I asked Dan WHY we were up there.  Which was to see the Grateful Dead House:

Back down all the hills we'd just climbed, with a stop at Buena Vista Park which was really cool but another place of steep hills ... so high I realized when we got back I could see it from my hotel room!

Friday we set out for another hike, down (after first going UP again) to Fisherman's Warf.  On the way we detoured past the California Masonic Temple as well as a really cool church before we actually got down to the Warf for lunch.  

We were going to do Alcatraz but it was sold out until Sunday - so right there we started planning for the next Summit!  I also would love to see Muir Woods, and the Golden Gate Bridge close up since I only got to see it from a distance.

Saturday morning we all trekked down to the BART, then flew home again ... at least there wasn't any snow waiting for me in MN ... of course Mother Nature has since made up for that.

I definitely will be posting more here going forward.  It's one of the things I'm most looking forward to having more time for.

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Water Marble Tutorial + Giveaway!

I just finished recording and editing this, so I don't have my full range of pictures that I normally do and I may post those later, but I wanted to post right away so that you guys can enter the giveaway or contest if you want!

First, let me share the manicure with you guys, a water marble using Sally Hansen Color Foil Purple Alloy, and Sally Hansen Red Striper:

Here's the tutorial:

The June theme for Sally Hansen's I Heart Nail Art Contest is Liquid Mani, and you can enter their contest Here:  http://www.sallyhansen.com/i-heart-nail-art/contest

And as for my giveaway, the prize is a Nail Art Party in a Box like this one:

You can enter here, or on the Contest Page of my blog, or on my Facebook Fan Page!  Open through June 30th to residents of the United States over the age of 18.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to everyone  and of course thanks for reading =)

~Colette

*These products were sent to me for promotional purposes

NOTD: Basic French Manicure + Tutorial

Simple, traditional, and completely out of the ordinary for me LOL.  I might even have been known to call a basic French manicure boring.  I also don't care for how a traditional French looks when my nails are longer, but at this length, I think it was just about perfect =)  The polishes used are Formula X for Sephora White Matter & Wondrous.  Please forgive the tiny chips on my index in the outdoor shots:

Here's the tutorial:

How often do you wear a basic french?

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Work-Appropriate Water Marble + Tutorial

I know that I'm lucky, but I really can't imagine working somewhere that restricted my nails, or any of my personal style.  I mean, I can't wear WHATEVER I want, but pretty close.  And no one batted an eye - much - when I pierced my lip.  But I know some people are restricted, either in length or in color; and so this design is for them - or anyone else who'd like something on the short and neutral side.

All of the polishes I used in this water marble are Formula X for Sephora.  For my base color I used Monumental, and if I remember it was the closest I've ever come to a "mannequin hands" color for my skin tone.  For the marble I used Monumental, Evocative & Perfection - they were all very smooth in the water.

Here are a couple of the nails I think turned out best:

And here of course is the tutorial:

Hope you guys enjoyed =)  And thanks for reading!

~Colette

NOTD: Formula X for Sephora Freaky Like Freud

Next my nubbins were graced with Freaky Like Freud from the Brilliants collection of Formula X for Sephora:

Of course, something this sparkly and holographic and basically AWESOME, I had to do a polish in motion for:  

So, obviously I loved this polish, what do you think of this color?  It actually is a very pale lavender, although with all the holo sparkle it comes off silver; here's a comparison betweem it and Hubba Hubble (the actual silver from the Brilliants collection):

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Anise Cosmic Kiss

After I chopped my nails I needed sparkles to make me feel better, so I wore a succession of really beautiful polishes, the first of which was Anise Cosmic Kiss - the Anise brand is available at DSW of all places:

The inner fire and subtle holo finish of this polish didn't show up like I wanted it to in pictures, so I did a Polish in Motion for it:

Sooo pretty!  I really enjoyed having this on my tiny nubbins.  They've since grown out of course, but I'm trying to keep them on the shorter side (for me) for a couple of reasons - one of which is in an effort to minimize breaks which is so far a fail; I think I could get a break at any length I am such a clutz LOL.

I've got such a backlog, both from earlier this year & from last year, I could probably do a post a day for the next year & not be caught up.  I don't know if I can actually follow through on that, but I plan to try!  Day two:  check!

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

New Year's Naked Nails Before & After

Yeah ... I don't think I'm even going to apologize this time.  You guys know the deal.  Trying (always trying) to get back into the swing of things.  So here we go.

Right after New Year's, after soaking off my Glitter Mosaic, I did probably the biggest chop I've ever done.  Now, like with any before and after part of making the after look really good is to make the before look really really bad - so we have the acetone-dried hands, after soaking off both glitter & patches - and the break that broke the rest of the way when the patch came off:

And then for the after, neatly-trimmed, buffed & moisturized nubbins:

I did record the soak & the hack, because I really wasn't sure at the time how bad the glitter was going to be coming off.  Turns out it was pretty easy (all things considered) but if you'd like to check it out here's the vid:

I can't promise I'll be posting regularly now, but I'm going to try.  If you want me on a more regular basis, consider following me on Instagram @mysimplelittlepleasures - it's such a quick, easy interface I manage to stay moderately active on there LOL.  Even if I don't have anything new I do Throwback Thursdays and have been including 15-second speed-tutorials for the manis that I'm throwing back to.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette