Playing Catch-Up

I am SO behind. Behind on posting, WAY behind on replying to comments, and SUPER behind on reading everyone else’s blog. I keep telling myself this old comp is better than nothing, but I swear it’s slow enough to make baby Jesus cry. Today Internet Explorer crashed 3 times in a row before it would even stay up and running. Trying to do anything on it kind of puts me immediately in a bad mood because I got used to clicking on something & having it open right away, not having to wait 5 minutes … it’s only been 2 weeks but it honestly feels like so much longer.

I keep telling myself maybe they’ll finish early, maybe I won’t have to wait the full 3 weeks (if not longer …..) but I will not be happy until it’s back on my desk & everything is reloaded on it & things can go back to normal. Still, I’d rather attempt patience & fight the urge to pull my hair out in frustration than go totally AWOL & not post at all. So here we are.

Anyway, according to my poll (which finished like a week ago & I'm really quite late posting the results), the economy sucks. News flash, I know, but really, almost 1/3 of people who responded to my April poll on blogging at work were unemployed:

A lot of people seem to be under surveillance also - my sympathies LOL =) And more people than I expected are able to get away with as much as they want to.

I am still rocking Orange Marmalade on my nails (since Monday!) and I am happy to say I haven't lost a single rhinestone & aside from some very minimal tip wear it's still looking quite fantastic, no chipping. I've found a couple of things that My Nails Look Like over the past couple days. The first was a pic of a sunset in the Controller's office at work I noticed when I was printing checks. It was kind of hard to get a color-accurate pic, it was covered in glass so I was getting glare no matter what I did:

The second was the shirt I wore on Wednesday ... I don't normally really try to match my outfit with my nails, but come on, I own exactly 1 orange shirt, how could I not wear it when I wore orange polish for the first time since Halloween?

Also (drumroll here) ... I finally got my mom to wear blue nail polish! & now she is hooked LOL. She kept asking me when I was going to take a pic of her nails so I got a shot the other day. Revlon Color Beam Sheer, Bright Sky:

That's all for now, but I've still got some more catching up & a lot of stuff on my plate for upcoming posts:

• I am rapidly approaching my 100th post! I hope I'll have something cool to post for it LOL but I'll just have to see exactly where it ends up falling.
• Fresh NOTD coming this weekend, I really can't remember I've had one color on for this long but it's been a busy week, I hung out with my friend almost every night before she left out of town for a few months.
• Books! I've got I think 5 or 6 more books & reviews to post up.
• Review of the Revlon products that I received ... I won't be actually wearing the fake nails, but I'll give them some attention in addition to the false eyelashes.
• My boss gave me a sample of a Mary Kay product called Satin Hands - I have an old version of it, but the new version is a little different configuration so I will be doing a review & comparison of the old set vs. the new set.

Thanks for reading!

~Colette

NOTD: ChG Orange Marmalade

Well, the dots didn't grow on me so they had to go last night. I decided to replace that mani with China Glaze Orange Marmalade from the Summer Days collection. It was almost pretty enough to wear by itself, but I wanted just a little embellishment, but I couldn't decide on a Konad design, so I ended up adding some rhinestone flowers. I'm not sure if I'm happy I did or not =/ But the color itself rocks. Please enlarge, especially the sun pics, to see the full gold flash this has:

I've had a TON of compliments on this today. I probably have less than 10 orange polishes in my entire collection. I resolve to give orange more of a chance, since it apparently likes me more than I like it.

My friend went & got a pedicure, and she came back with the cutest nail art on her big toe. It's not even really that complicated, I think I could do this myself if I wanted to do art on my toes, or maybe use the design on my nails:

I also got a load of free Revlon products in the mail today to review:

I got both the fake nails & eyelashes, even though I only requested the lashes. Nothing against fake nails but they're just not for me, so I'm not sure who I'm going to talk into being a guinea pig. Maybe mom. Maybe not.

The lashes, are not something I would normally mess around with, but hey - who am I to turn down free stuff? Maybe I'll shock myself & fall in love with falsies. I'll probably try my hand at applying them this weekend. Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Books 23, 24, 25

Have to play some catch up ... I usually keep my book posts as works in progress to fill in gaps between nail pics, but I'm kind of falling behind. I also lost a good chunk of my personal book list (where I don't have to worry about posting any spoilers LOL) when the comp crashed, so I'm glad I do at least have my blog record of what I was reading over the past couple of months.

#23

Small Favor

Dresden Files Book 10

Jim Butcher

This book started a whole bunch of new paths for the overall mytharc of the series. I mean, it seems like there are always more questions raised than answered, but this one really left a lot of loose ends. Unfortunately, odds of them actually being resolved in the next book are next to none ... questions like the ones that got raised have a tendency to simmer in the background for a few volumes before they come to take their own place center stage.

#24

7th Heaven

Women's Murder Club Book 7

James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

I have to admit I didn't write any notes on this book right away when I finished & the only things that now jump out in my memory I can't put down here because they are HUGE HUGE spoilers! On top of that, my friend (who got me reading this series) is going out of town just as book 8 comes out & didn't even bother to finish book 7 & discuss it with me! So I'm not sure if 8 will show up on my reading list, as there are a lot of other books coming out very quickly that I'm much more interested in.

#25

Magic Bites

Kate Daniels Book 1

Ilona Andrews

A big thank you to Nixxy for recommending me this author & series. As with the first book in any series, there was a lot of world-building & foreshadowing going on, but that's great because it shows that the author has things planned. This series has a lot of unique twists on the usual urban fantasy themes. Kind of nice for a change that the vampires are not sexy predators but creepy undead puppets for the necromancers. And the ebb & flow of magic vs. tech adds a really new & different aspect to Kate's world.

I've actually already read the 2nd book in this series but I'm going to save that for another post =) I've got a fresh NOTD to post also (the dots did not grow on me) but I'd like to post up with sunshine pics so that will have to wait for tomorrow, while I cross my fingers that the rain stops long enough tomorrow for me to actuall take a few =) Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Neon Dots

So, I decided to try something a little different, and it turned out almost exactly as I imagined, but I'm not in love with it. I used Color Club's Pure Energy & Ultra Violet. I included a pic of my right hand, since this was freehand and I was pretty happy how both sides turned out:

Unless it starts growing on me & I suddenly fall in love, this will probably come off tomorrow. Although it was kind of fun to play with my dotting tool. The Ultra Violet came out kind of pink in the pics, but I am going to tag it as a purple (since it's got violet in the name). Just barely though, and it would probably lose the battle if not for the blue sheen (that did not come across very well in the pics) that pushes it a little further from fuchsia.

I also did my toes ... blue again LOL but a different blue, brighter; China Glaze Blue Sparrow (Neon). I apologize for the so-so cleanup:

Flowers are popping up all over the place in the garden, so I took a few pics while I was outside getting my sun shots:

That's all for now - thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: ChG 2Nite

More holo goodness to fall in love with. This time from China Glaze's OMG Collection, 2Nite, which is a purplish-blue holo that I might almost call periwinkle. If I haven't mentioned it lately, please click to enlarge any of the pics =):

I think I could just keep on working my way through my holos if I hadn't just made a Konad haul too. Although I suppose there's no reason I couldn't Koni the holos, it just seems like a shame to dilute the pure holo bling.

Also, started work early this morning & had the opportunity to get a pic of these crazy clouds at sunrise:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette