A Chick Called Raz

Sandy's picnic quilt top

2011-06-09T17:15:00.001-04:00

Sandy's picnic quilt top, originally uploaded by razberiswrl.

Sandy's picnic quilt top

Just sharing a sew along/quilt along that excites me!!

2011-05-22T21:40:00.002-04:00

As a budding quilter and sewer in general, I am constantly reading about techniques and patterns to try out. I don't have the confidence to try much of it out on my own though. :( So, when I heard about the We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler project over at Sewn by Leila, my eyes lit up. I'm definitely all in! It's really nice to tackle a project with a group of people that are ready to support you (or suffer with you, as the case may be, LOL!), and it's a cool feeling when you are able to support others with your skillful knowledge and advice.

So, check it out and join in!

We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler

Petites Color Fever Candy Green and Black Diamond

2011-04-05T16:53:00.003-04:00

There's an unadvertised clearance happening on certain Petites and CQ polishes at Rite-Aid. They aren't marked in any way, but they are ringing up at 99 cents instead of the usual 3.99. Both Candy Green and Black Diamond are part of the clearance. I picked up a couple others, which I can't remember the names ... I'm sure I'll be showing them off here in the near future. :) To find out what other polishes are included, you can head over to this post on Nouveau Cheap!

Candy Green

These pictures were taken after 3 or 4 days of wear! I was skeptical of this brand initially ... it seemed kind of pricy for a no name type of brand and only .25 oz, ya know? But I'll do just about anything for a dollar, LOL! So, at only 99 cents, I was all about it. Since I've been having a hell of a time with staining, I used 1 coat Instant Artificials, 1 coat Barielle Camo, and 1 coat of a really pale pink creme by Sinful Colors that I can't remember the name of under 2 coats of Candy Green, topped with Seche Vite. It dried really thin and fast considering there were 6 layers. You know how polish stays squishy underneath even though it's dry on top for hours and hours? Well this didn't do that. And talk about staying power ... I wore it for another couple of days after these pics were taken. My only complaint is that under low light, Candy Green looks a tad frosty. Overall though, this one is a total WIN for the money.

Black Diamond

Overcast daylight

Ott Bulb

Lamp Light

It sure is hard to coax the holo out of this one! And of course, I had to file my nails waaaay down due to FOUR breaks at the quick. >:( *grumble grumble* Oh well. I prefer dark polish on shorter nails anyway. This is 2 coats of Black Diamond over 1 coat Nail Tek Foundation II. No top coat, and I was being impatient so I decided not to use an underwear coat (holos don't usually stain in my experience either, so I wasn't as worried). In most light, Black Diamond looks like the first picture, a charcoal polish with silver shimmer. However, when the light hits it just right, it's just a charmer! I like a *wham! pow!* polish as much as anyone else, but sometimes I just want subtlety. Black Diamond really delivers in this department. It applied smooth and even, opaque in 2 thin coats and dried really fast. I do prefer a little more shine, but top coats have a habit of killing the holographic effect, so I left it off this time. Another total WIN. This is by far my favorite "black with a little sumfin sumfin" so far (and I have several!). Go buy this!! I'll be hunting down a back up for sure.

Recently ... (pic heavy)

2011-03-29T11:02:00.006-04:00

Once again, I have neglected this space. So here are some of the things I've been playing with lately. :)

Nails:

Crackle! Maybelline Firefly from the 2011 spring collex with the white China Glaze crackle over top. I loved this.

I won the OPI FB giveaway!

And tried Cheyenne Pepper

Tried out a new Jesse's Girl polish, Glee. It's beautiful but stained the CRAP out of my nails and skin. :(

Thought I found a HTF Hard Candy polish, but it ended up just being mislabeled. :( It's not actually Zombie.

Tried out one of my 3 free Zoyas. Miley is seriously beautiful.

Made a fun franken for an awesome friend. It's called My Sour Valentine.

Quilting:

I have FINISHED my very first quilt thanks to the That Girl ... That Quilt Along!!

My dog always gets in the way when I try to take pictures of it, LOL!

I joined the 3x6 mini quilting bee block swap and completed the blocks for my hive. So fun! Here are the blocks I made:

Crafty: I've been working on test products for my upcoming etsy store grand opening! No pics of this stuff at this time ... ;)

The Jr. production of God Spell at the Landis Theater wrapped in February. Here's a pic of Miss M that is just so unbelievably fantastic in my humble opinion. :D

She wasn't cast in the current production, which is Wizard of Oz, however she will be part of the stage crew with her brothers. Fun fun! Mommy (me, lol) is auditioning for a role in Cabaret tonight. Here's to breaking legs!!

And that's about it I guess! Have a great day!

Kick ass Misa giveaway at Also Known As ...

2011-01-18T21:56:00.002-05:00

Everyone can receive up to 10 entries!! The polishes are HOT too!!

Aaaand, if I did this right, the pic should link you right to the giveaway. If not, well ... how convenient ... Kellie has put her link right on her picture! HA!

Good luck to all who enter!

Wowza! Crazy generous giveaway at Lucy & Norman!

2011-01-15T00:20:00.003-05:00

Not one, but TWO jelly rolls, PLENTY of yardage for a quilt back AND yardage for binding!!! Head on over to Lucy & Norman to check it out and enter.

A couple Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears

2011-01-14T23:33:00.003-05:00

I managed to get 6 of these for 50 cents each last week (incl Concrete shown in my last post). Here are Blue Icing and Golden Child.

Blue Icing is a frosty/pearly ice blue with holographic bar and regular glitter.

Something about this just doesn't work. I feel like the glitter should have been a separate top coat or something because after the 2nd coat dries, it looks like the glitter under from the first coat is a bumpy, festering mess. :( The color itself is actually really nice for a frosty sort of finish. There is a bare minimum of brush strokiness which is the major fault of a frost polish. Oh, this is actually 3 coats. I was hoping that maybe a 3rd thick coat AFTER the first 2 dried completely would hide the weird bumpiness, but it didn't. This bumpiness isn't like an ordinary glitter polish where top coat fixes the issue. It just really shows as a mar under the opaque finish of the polish. What the hell, it was only fitty cent.

Golden Child is exactly the same kind of polish, just gold instead of blue.

This is 2 coats (I used this one the other day, and decided to try the 3rd coat to see if it would solve the bumpy look problem with the blue). I think the visible nail line has to do with the lighting because I didn't notice it outside of these pics. I'm pretty bummed about this one because it's like the perfect freaking gold for my skin tone, but I won't end up wearing it because it's so damn bumpy and ucky looking. Blah.

Hangin' with my gnomies and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Concrete

2011-01-12T08:54:00.003-05:00

I made this little guy last night (pattern from the Doodle Stitch Along). I haven't embroidered since middle school, lol, so forgive me for looking a novice.

I pretty much love him. I can't wait to see next week's pattern!

My current mani is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Concrete. These pics are 1 coat over Nailtek II Foundation with 1 coat Seche Vite on top.

Concrete is a warm mauvey taupe creme. This mani really should have been 2 coats, but I was short on time, so 1 coat sufficed. To be completely honest, I didn't buy this polish because I liked it. I bought it because it was 50 cents after sale and coupon, lol! I'm glad I didn't pass it by though because it turns out I quite like it! I'm not crazy about the SH brush or formula, so I tend to pass by this brand a lot. Don't get me wrong, I REALLY like a wide brush, HOWEVER, the stem is also very wide, which leads to problems when swiping the brush against the bottle neck to remove excess polish. What ends up happening is that the stem doesn't make much contact with the bottle neck since it is too wide compared to the curve of the bottle opening, so as you are applying to the nail, excess polish is running down the stem of the brush. It's a real pain in the ass, lol. The formula is a little runny too, so pooling is an issue. This is also pretty slow to dry, even with a fast dry top coat. Overall, I guess it's worth the $3 retail price point (even though you can get better for less) because of the unique color. These are often discounted at drugstores though, so I can't imagine ever paying more than a buck fifty for one ... pair with a coupon, and at 50 cents, it was worth every penny! :-)

A finished (almost) quilt top! My first one!

2010-12-17T17:08:00.001-05:00

Wonky quilt for Ayden, originally uploaded by razberiswrl.

I'm going to add another row, but essentially it's finished. Now to piece the back and figure out how the hell I'm going to quilt it!!

Super sweet giveaway at Quilt Frenzy!

2010-12-16T20:20:00.002-05:00

Head over to enter to win a whole year subscription to Love of Quilting! This is a very generous prize!!!

Quilt Frenzy

Good luck!

It's Crimmah up in the house!

2010-12-15T21:20:00.004-05:00

Yeah, I call it Crimmah. Wanna start something??? :D LOLz

So, you already saw the nifty wreaths I made and the paper garland to hold our cards ... now here's the tree!

I don't know what exactly this hodge podge of homemade, purchased, and given ornaments on the cheapo fake tree says about us, but it's just how we like it. There are ornaments that my Grandma gave me every year until I was 18 (give or take a few, some broke over the years or just disappeared. You know how that goes), the ornaments my kids bring home every year, ornaments I've bought at Target for 75% off after Dec 25, lol, and some I've paid full price for because I just had to have them. There's also a couple of plastic keychains that Miss M INSISTS on putting up every year, a My Little Pony and a Nemo. *shrug* She do what she do ... Also, that weird braided thing on the wall is something my Grandma made in the early 80s. Apparently I helped, and apparently I loved the thing in said 80s, so she sent it to me, lolz. So, even though it's not my cuppa, up it goes! Every year.

My favorite things on our tree are my Space Ghost ornament (from Hallmark ... they didn't do Brak though!! *sad pout*), a couple of styrofoam birds with glitter and feathers glued on them from Michael's (we've all seen them, lol): a little pink one and a silver peacock, a little angel in a walnut boat that my godmom gave me when I was little (it's a stupid ornament, but I've always loved it, and she's dead now, sooo ...), and this bizarre ornament my oldest made in preschool that amounts to a couple of q-tips glued to foil with some glitter on it. It's so funny!

Mr. Raz would probably say his favs are the StarWars ornaments, and possibly the Sponge Bob ones. The kids each favor the ornaments they've made themselves or the ones that have their names on them, lol. Either way, they are always all up in the tree. Daily rearranging of the ornaments is a MUST for Razzy chilrents.

Our tree topper is a little special ... Mr. Raz has always had a thing for nautical stars, like, WAAAY before every douche bag in town started getting them tattooed on their shoulders (sorry if you have one tattooed on your shoulder. I ASSURE you that YOU are definitely not one of the douche bags of whom I speak ... unless you are a dude, wear tight t-shirts, kiss your muscles, spend more time on your hair than the average woman, fake tan, and have ever referred to yourself as a guido ... THEN I probably am talking about you ... I'm not even sorry. LOLz) ... Anywho, we're not religious folks, we celebrate Crimmah because it's just the tradition we were raised with, and we like giving, eating good food, and hanging with our family, so we see no need to deviate from the status quo. So, neither of us wanted an angel on the tree. I wanted a big red bow because that's what we did my whole life, and he wanted a star but I could never find one I liked, so for years we went with nothing on the top of the tree. About 4 years ago I got a nifty idea. What if we put a nautical star on the tree??? COOLIE!! Of course, I couldn't find one. Figures. So, I decided to make one. I bought a 2 sided metal barn star ornament from Kohl's (on sale with a coupon! Woot Woot!) and painted it with that cheap paint from Michael's. It was a lot trickier than I initially thought it would be. The paint kept wiping itself off if I went over an area twice, took about 894,752,934,861,039,476 coats on each side ... but it's TOTALLY AWESOME!!! And he loves it. I rock.

Oh, we also have the silly pickle ornament (read this if you don't know), and hide it on Crimmah Eve before going to bed. "Santa" always leaves a "pickle prize" under the tree that the kid who finds the pickle gets to open before mom and dad get up. Mysteriously, the prize always contains 3 small items tailored for each child's likes and a note about how great it is to share, LOL!! Listen, I am a smart lady, and I like to sleep in. That stupid pickle usually buys me an extra 30 min of shuteye on Crimmah morning. ;-)

So there ya go. Merry Crimmah, y'all!!

A couple of crafty finishes and recent NOTD

2010-12-14T16:33:00.006-05:00

I finished up some yarn wreaths that I've been procrastinating on big time. The small blue one is Miss M's and is now hanging in her room, the larger gold one is for my sister in law for giftmas, and the gold on on the wall is mine! The instructions I followed are here: Yarn Wreath with Felt Flowers

Next up is a paper garland I was inspired to make after receiving an excellent holiday card (thanks Lems!!). I originally saw the idea on whip up and can't remember the original blog the instructions were on to give credit. :( Sorry. I used all 'on hand' materials; cut the squares, triangles and circles from cardstock and sewed them together with the off white cotton thread I already had on the machine. A few clear tacks, one bump on the head and some clippy doodads I had laying around, and I am ready to display all the cards we receive this year!!

As for the tips, I'm currently wearing Zoya Irene, but haven't taken pics yet. Last week I wore Finger Paints Autumn Moonlight with a no name sheer pinkish glittery top coat over.

And just for fun, here's a pic of my cat Grapefruit. He's 11 years old, and we've had him since he was about 4 mos old. He followed my sister in law home from the bus stop, or so she says, lol. She was only 12 then, and is now 23. :) Anyway, Grapefruit is my oldest baby, lol, and he gets to do whatever he wants WHENEVER he wants. What he wanted last night was to sit on the tv and annoy the piss out of Mr. Raz! HAHAHAAAA!! I present to you "Decoration Cat."

So, there was a Payday candy bar commercial on at the time I took this pic. I find it both hysterical and embarrassing that there appears to be a nutty turd as big as life on my tv. LOLOL!!! Mmm. Appetizing. Makes me want to run right out and get one.

OMG I'm so sick. :( :( :( Worst timing EVER.

2010-12-02T14:50:00.005-05:00

This was me last Saturday (well, one of them is me, lol) promoting the musical Scrooge: The Stingiest Man in Town at the city Christmas parade. I felt great.

Today? Not so much. The show opens TO-MOR-ROW. TOMORROW! And I am sick. SICK!! NO!!!! Why?!?! There's so much to be done, and I feel like ass. My head hurts, my nose is pouring snot, my throat is sore and swollen, my whole body aches, and we open TOMORROW!!!

I haven't painted my nails in 2 weeks (Lincoln Park After Dark Suede), and I just removed that chipped polish last night and filed my nails for the first time in a month yesterday. I have only sewed the things I needed for the show (6 gold bags with ribbon draw strings and a hack job of a petticoat for Miss M's costume--yes, she's in the show too!-- where I just cut the tulle and lining out of an old flower girl dress of hers, trimmed it and sewed some elastic to the waist). I have barely gotten dinner on the table this week. It's all I can do to do my hair and make up for the dress rehearsals.

This is just bad bad timing. Le sigh. Pity me.

I love when a new project is free! Paper flowers ...

2010-11-20T22:03:00.005-05:00

I've been a crafting fool today. YAY!

So, I saw the most adorable little paper flower adornments at Bee In My Bonnet some time ago, and decided to give them a try tonight. I had everything on hand!! No running to the store and spending up more of our precious money on a whim, LOL!!! I'm so bad for that. Anyway, check out Bee In My Bonnet for the instructions to make these cuties.

I used different designs instead of all the same and only 4 tiers instead of 5. I just kind of mixed and matched my prints randomly. I also haven't decided if I will add leaves or not.

Close up of one of my favorite combos

A pile of pretty. Shame the colors get so washed out with my camera.

With flash ... gives a few of the colors a little better representation.

I have decided that one of these little cuties will adorn all of our xmas packages in lieu of the standard bow. In an effort to be more environmentally conscious, I also intend to wrap with either a new, made by me pillow case or newsprint tied with ribbon. I hope it goes over well!

Quilt Along Progress

2010-11-20T19:27:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple shots of my quilt along progress (That Girl ... That Quilt Along)

Here is the mountain of scraps rendered from wonkifying my blocks.

Here are a couple of blocks laid out to show the wonky effect. It's pretty subtle, but gives the simple layout a little more interest.

Now I just need to sew the blocks into rows and the rows into the finished quilt top! The QAL layout is for 5 blocks by 8 blocks, but I'm not crazy about the long and narrow look. So, instead, I think I'll do 6x6.

I finished Miss M's blanket!!!

2010-11-20T16:54:00.003-05:00

It's SO big. It took SO long. I am SO glad I'm finished!!! I started this crocheted blanket about 3 years ago, but only had about a 6 inch wide strip done as of this summer. Apparently I'm a slow starter ... Anyway, I started working on it in earnest mid-summer and it is DONE DONE DONE! Here's the whole thing on our love seat.

I used a yarn by Bernat in a raspberry color. 11 skeins in total. I got them on clearance oh so long ago. (and yeah, the cats scratch up the furniture)

Here it is folded in 4. It nearly covers the love seat cushions.

I added a ruffle around the edge in a teal color. I wanted something that would stand up to the raspberry, but I don't especially love it. In hindsight, I think a buttery yellow would have looked nice. Or brown maybe (her comforter is bright pink and brown).

I thought it might look nice if I rolled the blanket up to take a pic like the quilters do. Yeah, not so flattering on a crocheted afghan, lol!

I didn't use any pattern. I just did rows and rows of double crochet, and then I did alternating rows of dc and slip stitching, and then switched back to just dc and then back to dc/slst. The ruffled edge was super simple too. I just slip stitched 2 rows around to lay the foundation and then the ruffle is 3 chain stitches slip stitched in every other stitch of the foundation.

I don't even know if I'm using the right terminology, LOL!!! Anyway, overall, I'm really happy with this finish. It's my first crochet project ever, so in that respect, it's damn good! Miss M knows she's getting the blanket for xmas, but the teal portion I did all in super secret, so that detail will be a surprise. I can't wait till she sees it finished!

Sweet fabric giveaway at Retromummy!

2010-11-14T22:48:00.003-05:00

Literally sweet, as in the Sweet Broderie range by Rosalie Quinlan. I'll tell you what ... if *I* win, Miss M's going to get a quilt and probably matching pillows. These fabrics are to die for for little girly girls.

Check it out and enter and Retromummy.

That Girl ... That Quilt Along progress ...

2010-11-07T00:22:00.004-04:00

So, week one was pick fabric.

Check!

Week 2 was cut the fabric.

Check!

And now we're on week 3, assembling the blocks. Here is my progress so far.

That is 80 strips sewn to 40 squares and 80 seams pressed. OY! I need a taller ironing board! Bending over it is killing my back, and I have 240 more strips to piece and press!!!

I'm a complainer, but in reality I am really enjoying myself. I'm new to sewing, and getting better and better with each cut and each seam, and more confident. I can't wait to see the finished result and ship it off to my friend's little boy!!

Oh, and here's the sewing machine I use, just for fun.

Old NOTD Essie Pretty Edgy

2010-10-21T22:52:00.004-04:00

The picture pretty much says it all. It's a really fun color, but I didn't love it on me. It probably had more to do with the weather than the polish. It just seemed ... wrong. I dunno. Anyway, can I just say how much I love Essie? I have NEVER been disappointed with this brand. It goes on super smooth regardless of the skinny brush, and dries super smooth and thin. Essie always wears like iron on me too. I wish I had more Essies!!

So, I joined a quilt along ...

2010-10-21T22:27:00.001-04:00

I'm so excited. I hope I don't screw this up, I intend for the finished product to go to my friend's little boy, hopefully by xmas. Anyway, if you want to scope it out, just click the button on my side bar. :)

Three from Color Club Rebel Debutante

2010-10-11T23:00:00.004-04:00

These pics are particularly poor. *shrug* What can I say?

So, I haven't been disappointed with any of the polishes from this collection so far. I bought the 7pc set, which of course didn't have the green or blue colors. Oh well. I wanted the neutrals more than more bright crazy colors (I have SO many of those already) anyway. These wear exceptionally well, apply nicely, yada yada.

Best Dressed List

Grainy full sun pic. It shows the color nicely though. I really think this might be super close to Chanel Khaki Rose. I do not have it to compare though. This color is like Ovaltine. Or chocolate milk with 3 drops of strawberry syrup added. It worked really well with my skin tone.

Charity Ball

This is at night under CFLs in my poorly lit kitchen. Doesn't do it justice at all. What I like about Charity Ball is that it is a ruddy brown. Other pics I've seen show it as a murky dark red, but on me it pulls more brown, and it looks REAL good.

Who Are You Wearing?

Wow. This looks kind of gross, doesn't it? I took this pic after several days of wear, and I had been picking at that middle finger. Ooops. I couldn't get an even remotely accurate color representation on this one, so I started experimenting with different colored backgrounds. The orange did the trick (that's my pimped out Kitchen Aid. Awww yeah). Who Are You Wearing? pulled really lavender on me. I didn't love it on me, but I have no complaints about application or wear.

Dinner tonight was pretty good. Here's the recipe.

2010-10-08T00:01:00.002-04:00

So, I had leftover cubed chicken (well, it wasn't leftover, I purposely cooked way too much yesterday to have enough for 2 additional meals, but anyway), and I have a huge stock of pasta right now (Barilla Picolini for only .38/box!), and we're soooooo sick of spaghetti sauce, so I thought of trying a creamy, cold pasta salad. It worked out.

1 box pasta of your choice, cooked al dente
1 bag frozen peas
cubed chicken breast, cooked
italian salad dressing, about 1/2c I guess
sour cream, about a cup I think (you could use mayo too, but I hate that nasty shit, so ...)

Mix the sour cream and italian dressing, add in the peas and chicken and pasta, stir, serve. Well, let the peas thaw ... then serve. Easy! The kids all ate it without complaint too.

My first Ruffian manicure

2010-10-07T19:31:00.006-04:00

I did an *ok* job ... Base was Maybelline Gray-T Glamour, the purple is Color Club Ms. Socialite from the Rebel Debutante collection.

Inside, low light. I had a REALLY hard time getting a clear shot. My picture taking skills are like, degenerative or something. >:(

Sun!

I would have worn this for a whole week, except it chipped BAD on day 2. :'( I cry.

So, it's super difficult to get this right, and although I really like the look, it's way too much work. LOL!

Lamest blogger award goes to ...

2010-10-06T17:22:00.008-04:00

ME! I'm so lame.

Not really. I just haven't had interwebz access at home practically all summer. And I just lost my job of 10 years due to the economy. My employer had to close the doors of the retail establishment he's owned for over 25 years. :( It's all good though, I'm sure I'll be gainfully employed relatively soon. I hope ...

So, I've painted my nails umpty times since I last posted. Here's Maybelline Sweet Clementine:

Outside, slightly overcast.

Inside under crappy lighting.

With a coat of China Glaze 5 Golden Rings (or whatever it's called, from last year's holiday line) in a little bit of sun.

Inside under crappy lighting.

The color of Sweet Clementine isn't exactly as pictured. It's closer to the indoor pics though. Very creamy and bright at the same time, but not as dark as the outdoor pics show. I liked it a lot. It was so long ago that I can't comment on the wear. *shrug* I know I added the gold glitter to give it some oomph, not to hide tipwear or anything.

The Divine Miss M had her off off off off off off Broadway debut as the most incredible Who Whoville and the entire Jungle of Nool (Seussical Jr.) has ever seen ... That's right. I said it. Here's a blurry picture.

The boys were also present for the festivities. They don't have a theatrical bone in their combined bodies, but they are very interested in the technical aspect. They participated in stage crew. I *thought* I had a pic of them ... but apparently I don't. I have no idea. ... and then I had the great idea to poke around in my mother-in-law's photobucket acct. Ha! Pics! I haz them! They're from her phone though, so they're only slightly worse than the ones I take with a real camera, lol.

I don't think I have cool internet nicknames for the boys. When Mr. Raz and I are trying to talk about them when they're in the room, we refer to them as Senior Uno and El Doche (Doe- Chay), lol, so I guess that'll do. Senior Uno is on the right. He's 10. El Doche is 9. Please don't EVER ask Uno is Doche is his big brother. He gets SOOOO mad.

All 3 of my rockstars!

The Divine Miss M favors her mother with a picture. Can I have your autograph??

Mr. Raz is NOT fond of the camera. :D

I'm still working on Miss M's blanket. It's about 2/3 finished. I'm so over it, lol. Since I like to flit from thing to thing, and I ran across some really beautiful items while blog hopping, I have decided to learn to quilt. Here's the top of my first project, a table runner.

I'm pretty proud of myself. It's pretty much my first time sewing, and while my seams are crooked, and it will probably be wonky once it's all done, it's still freaking awesome.

A close up of my prints. I don't know why it's so dark. The colors are actually really bright and refreshing. They look kind of drab here. Prob caz we've had NO sun in weeks (except last Saturday, but that was then, this is now). I'd link the project I'm doing, but I'm not sure if it's allowed by the blog owner, so, umm, it's a project called City Windows Table Runner and it's at the Moda Bakeshop blog.

I guess that's it. I need to go cook dinner for the kids now. I don't feel like it, but they need to eat, right??

FIN

I suck at blogging ... here's what I've been up to.

2010-08-01T21:59:00.011-04:00

Sooo ... why do I save all this stuff up and post a bunch and then disappear for weeks again, rinse repeat? I dunno. I'm so particular I guess that it takes me what I feel is TOO LONG to put a post together. I need to work on being short and sweet, LOL!

Let's see ... we had some vacation ... well, the kids did. I worked the whole time I was kid free while the kids were with their Nan and Titi at Yogi Bear Campground. Didn't do a DAMN thing. *pout* At least I was there for the watermelon eating contest!

Mr. Cool and Collected

Mr. I Wouldn't Smile Nice for a Pic for Mom to Save My Life ...
Seriously, this is the best I could do ... tried to catch him off guard, otherwise, got goofy faces, LOL!

The Divine Miss M and her summer hair troubles ... LOL!
Camping happens.

We had a plague of sorts ...

This is a cicada fresh out of its skin hanging RIGHT on the top of my front door. The wings were almost fluorescent (dude, I spelled that right on the first try! WIN!) green. That's Funky Colors in Bourbon St ...

A turtle was rescued:

Gives Box Turtle new meaning, eh?? Hahahaaaa!

He's CLEARLY pissed, but has no idea how lucky he is. If the neighbor girl, aka THE DEVIL, had found this critter first, she would have taken care of it to death. Instead, it just had to endure about 8 hours in my Amazon box and then I took it a mile down the road to the creek (where it prob came from, and shoulda freakin STAYED! Damn turtle and his damn wandering ...) when Mr. Raz got home with the car.

I've been on a crafting kick. I'm determined to finish Miss M's blanket. She's been salivating over the thought of a massive blankie for a full year ... yeah, I started it THAT long ago.

It's coming along. :)

My drive for sustainable living on the CHEAP has found me reclaiming fabrics around the house for use with later projects. I tore up my kids' baby bedding (kept the quilts intact, ripped up bumpers and sheets and crib skirts), then I went on a scavenger hunt to find the sewing machine I got for xmas 8 years ago. No really. It was a scavenger hunt. Someone switched it from it's original box on me. >:( NOT cool. Anyway, this is my first official thing I sewed ever:

It's a sandwich bag!

For ... silly bands??? (do YOU have sandwiches at the ready on your desk JIC there's a photo op? Thought not ... ;) )

Looks pretty good, right? Look closer ...

Whoopsie!

There's nothing in the rules that says velcro has to be affixed completely ... right??

Orrr that you have to stick to the edges ... (OPI Green-Wich Village btw)

You know, straight lines are ... soooo overrated.

Look, it looks GREAT in the first pic, k? Stop laughing at me!!

Some good cooking has been happening around here.

I made Lemon Curd A La Rachael Ray . Be sure to read my review on the recipe page! This shit is GOOOOOOOD, y'all. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. For real. My fav thing to eat it on so far has been ritz crackers. OMG, yum.

Last night I had a craving for something I never ever liked when I actually lived in the south ... Homemade biscuits with sausage gravy. I'm not a biscuit person for the most part, but these were a HUGE hit. Fluffy Biscuits on AllRecipes.com I did a modified drop biscuit at the advice of my mom. I HATE rolling out doughs. It ALWAYS ends in disaster for me, so I avoid it at all times. So, I WAS going to just drop dipper fulls onto the parchment and let the biscuits assume whatever shape they wanted to, but mom said to use less liquid than the recipe called for and liberally flour my hands and shape the biscuits the same way you shape a hamburger patty. It worked nicely (thanks mom!). I should have taken a pic, but I didn't. Anyway, if you like tender biscuits with a mild flavor, these are excellent. As for the sausage gravy, well, I don't need no stinkin' recipe for that! But you might, so here's what I did:

Sausage Gravy by raz

1lb roll sausage
3 or 4 tb all purpose flour
Milk, 2-3 c
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook sausage in large skillet (I like to use my cast iron) until nice and browned. When it's nice and done, remove the sausage from the pan and get rid of all but 3 or 4 tb of the grease.

Lower heat to medium and dump 3 or 4 tb flour in. Wisk it like hell. You want a paste that isn't wet enough to slide around in the pan, but isn't so dry that it can't be worked with the wisk. Add more flour if necessary. You are making a roux ... the point of a white roux is to cook the flour as LONG as possible without it turning brown. If it's bubbling hard, cut the heat back further. Try to get at least 3 full minutes of cook time, but if it starts turning brown, pour the milk in QUICK!

Start by pouring 2c milk in. Wisk the hell out of it until it comes to a full boil (you may need to crank the heat a bit, but no higher than med-hi, K?), this is as thick as this mixture will ever get. It will probably be too thick for gravy, which is fine. Just add more milk until you get your desired thickness. If you put too much milk in, you're pretty much screwed to a life of runny gravy, so go slow ... 1/2 c at a time. :)

Add salt and pepper to taste then add sausage back in. Serve over split biscuits! Mmmm ... Looks like a pile of vomit, but tastes like 500 pounds. Hoooo-boy! That's how we do!

Nail polish: Of course I've been doing my nails, but not taking a whole lot of pics. I'm wearing OPI Green-wich Village right now, and I love it. I have a bit of an experiment going on ... I'll post about that soon. I've also worn BB Couture Sex on the Beach (a blog giveaway prize!!! SQUEE!), which was INCREDIBLE, but my pictures SUCKED, so I want to swatch it again ... what's that? You want to see it anyway? Ok ... just one. I want to do this right so Kim from Overall Beauty will like me, LOL! No one likes someone who takes shitty pics, right? ;)

See?? I told you, bad pics. BAAAAD pics. Does it help to know that this was after 7 days of wear though?

The end!

Sweet giveaway at Painted Lady Fingers!!

2010-07-24T12:14:00.002-04:00

Does this picture make you want to drool??

Yesssh?? Then head on over to Painted Lady Fingers for your chance to win 12 polishes and 1 treatment item from Diamond Cosmetics!

Painted Lady Fingers ( <--- Click it!)

Tough girl FAIL, bug WIN

2010-07-11T13:40:00.003-04:00

Soooo, this morning when I arrived to work, I was greeted by a MASSIVE BUG. It was laying on it's back all dead looking by the cash register, so I grabbed a container and an excessive amount of paper towels to brush it into the container with. As soon as I touched it with the paper, it SPRANG to life and came right for me. I swear. Right for me.

So, maybe it was just running for it's life, but still. It was about the size of a quarter, like a hybrid beetle/roach thing. Big clicky exoskeleton and ... just ugh.

Anyway, I put on one hell of a display. Screamed ... all the mall walkers were looking at me. LOL!! Then I tried to just put the container down on top of it to trap it (that's my method when there's no one around to kill things for me), but it was in a corner, and the rounded edges of the container wouldn't get it. A customer came in to get their glasses, and I said "Picking up? OK, you're just going to have to wait a minute ... I'm having a stand off with a bug, and I'm not taking my eyes off it till it's taken care of ..." (because, you know, if you take your eyes off it for even a fraction of a second, it'll be all up in your pants leg or in your hair ... THAT display would be memorable and a half for any witness)

They looked at me like I was completely stupid and perhaps crazy, but the dude got it into the container (after examining it extensively *eyeroll* I don't care WHAT it is, strangerman, I just want it GONE, preferably DEAD!), and because it wouldn't be prudent to allow him into our lab to get to the back door, and he CLEARLY didn't intend to kill it for me, he handed off the container and I ran shrieking to the back door with it and flung it outside.

It was an event. I'm good at making an ass of myself.

Orly Rage

2010-07-05T23:02:00.004-04:00

This is just a super fast swatch of Orly Rage, but I have worn it as a full mani ...

Orly Rage is a rose gold with silver metallic fleck polish from their Foil FX line which also featured a silver and a gold.

Outside, full sun

Indoors, natural light

Sooo ... I'm a little bummed about this one because the color just seems too bland for something called RAGE (Killing in the NAME of ...). I really wanted the copper/rose aspect to show through the most, like a brand new penny, but it's nothing close. As you can see in full sun, it's rather pinkish, but very pale and almost silver leaning. While, inside it looks like a pale gold. Other than the blandness of the color, I have very little to complain about. The formula is nice and thin, goes on evenly, and dries quickly. Shown is 2 coats with no base or top. It's got lots of oomph as far as the effect goes, very sparkly and eye catching. It does dry to a satiny finish though. It wears pretty nicely, I can get 3 or 4 days out of it with minimal chipping if I use a top coat and good base.

So there ya go.

The rest of the Blush minis, skittle style.

2010-07-05T22:59:00.004-04:00

I REALLY ought to work on my cuticle care and overall hand care ... I'm increasingly embarrassed over the shape of my hands. Blah. :(

Anyway ... here are the other 5 colors in the jelly Blush set I posted about a few days ago. From thumb to pinky they are: Stayin' Alive, Can U Dig It?, Pychadelic [sic], Hustle, and Boogie.

Indoors, natural light

Outside, bright sun

OK, so, overall? I guess I got my money's worth ($3.99) ... Blah. The red is nice, the green is just ok, the rest pretty much suck. The formula on these was just as bad as the first one I swatched. Got super glumpy and thick right away, streaky, etc. The purple was the most disappointing polish of the bunch. Look how boring!! It was more sheer than the yellow and green too! I used 4 coats for the purple and 3 for the rest.

These are definitely going into Miss M's collection ... DNW for myself.

Some Claire's bargains = NIGHTMARE!!! (pic heavy)

2010-07-05T22:50:00.007-04:00

Sooooo, Miss M and I got the head's up that Claire's would be having their 10 for 10 clearance sale over the last weekend. Since she had a birthday giftcard burning a hole in my wallet (not a mistake, lol. Her gc, my wallet), we were in there bright and early Thursday morning when the sale was set to start. We hit the proverbial "jack-pop." She got about a gabuhjazillion pairs of earrings to play with once her ears heal from piercing, a neon orange "pearl" necklace (she insists it's her birthstone, just orange. Don't ask me! LOL), tons of crap with "Awwwww, kitties!!!" on it, lots of "lickstick" and of course mommy made a bee line for the polish ...

So, I thought I had scored BIG when I saw this set:

Cute, right?!? A set of 7 mini creme brights for a dollar?!? Weeeeelll ... maybe not such a hot deal ... When I applied the first one, I noticed an odd smell. Is that Elmer's Glue?!? But I stayed the course and continued with my skittles ... As the first coats dried, I noticed that even though they applied opaque and creamy, they dried sheer and had sparse glitter. OK. Whatever. It could be interesting. So I carried on. Three coats later, and still smelling glue, I wondered if maybe these are peel off polishes.

Here's the red, blue, orange, purple and pink.

Inside, low artificial light

Outside, full sun

The next pics have the yellow and green on index and middle, but thumb, ring and pinkie have my other finds; Emerald City, Fire and Magic. I'll comment on those three later.

Inside, low artificial light

Outside, full sun

OK, speaking JUST about the 7 polish set, they *are* cute, but definitely weird. They would never have built full opacity. I was relatively certain by the feel of the finish that they were peel off paints. Sooo, I started peeling!

OMG!!!! WTF?!?!?! That shit STAINED!!! BAD!!!

Thank goodness, the stains have since faded (remover and acetone didn't touch it, but each time I applied another polish and removed, they got a little lighter. You know when you get gum stuck to your face after blowing a big bubble, and the only thing that can get it off is a larger wad of chewed gum, the bond between the bits of gum is stronger than the bond between skin and gum? I think it was like that concept), and I'm now just a little bit yellowed, but DAMN! That was the worst dollar I ever spent!!! I'm not passing these on, I'm throwing them OUT! BOOOO Hiiissssssss ...

Onto the other 3 ...

OK, this will be short and sweet because I don't have a lot to say about any of them, lol. Let's see the full sun picture again.

Emerald City (thumb): Foil/metallic style with bits of silver and green. Similar in concept to the Orly Foil FX line, but no comparison formula-wise. Thick, goopy application. Good coverage though (pictured is one coat) and it evened out fine. It's a nice color, just not my type. For a buck though, it's a win.

Fire (ring): Neon pinkish orangish red. Pretty sheer. 3 coats shown. Nice smooth application. My pic is no where NEAR coloraccurate, it's a neon. It's just not possible for a $50 camera to do, LOL!!! If you're used to looking at pictures of nail polish though, I'm sure you can see that one stripe of neony goodness on my ring finger and imagine this one stopping traffic. I want to wear this one as a full mani soon.

Magic (pinkie): Sigh. I don't really have anything *bad* to say about this polish, but I don't have anything *good* to say either. I know a lot of people really like this one, and some people even have it on their lemming list, so I feel bad for not loving it, but ... It's a darkish blurple jelly with golden shimmer. It's a fine color, but it's just ... not my thing, I guess. Here's a pointless close up indoors:

The end!

Miss M's birthday money nails ...

2010-07-05T22:43:00.003-04:00

MEOW!!!!

Betcha can't guess how long these bad boys stayed on ... LOL!!! Oh well, it was good fun for the 80 cents she spent on them (thanks to mama and her bargaining ways!!). And how jealous are we of all those silly bands??? Very.

All grown up, my brave girl

2010-06-29T11:28:00.003-04:00

Last night, The Divine Miss M was treated to dinner by her Nan as a belated birthday treat, and it just so happened that she chose a restaurant in the mall ... I also work in the mall, so I joined them when I got finished up. After our ice cream, we headed over to Claire's to see if they had anything good to spend her birthday gift card on. M immediately headed for the clip on earrings, because, at 7 years old, she had not yet worked up the nerve to have her ears pierced.

When I saw the price for the clip ons, I was appalled. $12 for 3 pair of crappy plastic 'lost in 5 minutes' clip on earrings is crazy! I couldn't, in good faith, let my poor daughter get hosed for that! Soooo, I said "Hey, I bet you can get your ears pierced for the same price as the bunch of clip on earrings you want! You could spend your bday money on that instead ..." She looked at me with eyes that showed the wheels churning in her head. "But it's going to hurt!" she said. "It's only a quick pinch, baby. I bet it hurts less than when I snag a tangle combing your hair," I replied. She said "Nah, " and shook her head.

THEN, Nanny came in the store (she had been at Hallmark). When she heard that I had suggested M get her ears pierced, she shrieked "M, baby, if you get your ears pierced tonight, I'll buy you any pair of earrings you want ..." I then said "I bet they have your birthstone ..."

I think we convinced her!

Click to enlarge to see her pretty purple tourmaline earrings! They didn't have pearl, her true birthstone, tourmaline is the alternate I guess. Once they heal enough to switch out the earrings, I'll get her pearls.

She didn't cry at all. The first ear, she had tears well up in her eyes, but I think it was more nerves than pain. The 2nd ear was easy peasy because she knew exactly what to expect. Within 2 minutes, she was skipping through the mall singing "It doesn't even hurt one bit!" That's my girl ...

iNOTD: Blush Funkadelic (ETA better pics)

2010-06-27T16:17:00.006-04:00

As if I have an iPhone ... HA! No, these pics are instead coming from the worlds SHITTIEST phone, the Motorola W490. Oh well. I'm sure you understand.

So, I have this teeny little set by the brand Blush that I picked up last summer at Ross for 3 bucks that I LOVE. Great colors, all jellies, great formula, great price ... So when I saw ANOTHER Blush set at Ross with similar, but slightly different jelly colors and slightly bigger bottles for 3.99, I was ON it! I did not HESITATE to spend my coffee money to obtain these pretties. LOL!!

So, first up, a sideways bottle pic. YAY! (FTR, I took these at work, which is also where I completed this mani, LOL, so, that's why you can see the random things like my tote and a industrial blow dryer for glasses, lolol!!)

From top to bottom, you see Boogie, a boring in the bottle dusty mauvey pink. There's always a meh in collections, right? Next is Stayin' Alive, a BRIGHT orangy red. You'll just have to trust me that it's super bright because it looks pink in the pic. Funkadelic is next, a bright but dusty aqua turquoise teal jelly. Could you DIE?! I could. After that is Can U dig it?, bright spring green. YAAAYYY!!! Next is Pychedelic [sic] which is a hot sunshine yellow jelly. Last is Hustle, a dusty medium-dark purple. The only one I couldn't care less about is Boogie. The rest are exciting! :)

Ugh, I hate that I'm posting such terrible pictures, but I'd rather post something than nothing at all. Here goes ... First pics, then review.

Funkadelic under fluorescent light ... 3 coats with Borghese Presto top coat.

Outside, overcast light.

SUN!!!! I got SUN!!!! ;)

OK, so it's photographing a little on the light side and slightly dustier, but overall, the color in the pics is pretty good. The first one is the best in terms of color. It's slightly neonish, so I'm not sure I would get better results with my real camera ... but I'll certainly give it a shot. At the very least, they won't be blurry, lol.

I had high hopes for Funkadelic based on my previous experience with the Blush brand of polish, which of course means that I was disappointed. :'( I LOVE the color, but this formula SUCKS! It was SO gluey and stringy, it felt like I was using decades old white out on my tips or hot glue or something. Coverage was pretty bad, these pics are all 3 THICK coats, I had no choice. I had to lay it on thick or deal with a huge, impossible mess. Even after 3 coats, it's still sheer in spots, but Presto did a decent job of evening it out. The worst part? Bubbles. I can see them down there ... lurking ... just waiting till I go to sleep tonight to rise to the surface and make my nails look STUPID!!! EEEK!!! As if they don't look doofy enough all filed waaaay down to make the 3 nubs (left pinky, right thumb and middle) look like they belong ...

*grumble grumble* Now my excitement for the other colors has turned to dread. I'll do a skittle swatch to see if any of them are salvageable, and if not, The Divine Miss M will love playing with them. Le sigh.

The End

ETA: Decent-ish pics

This was in my bathroom ... a little too blue.

This one was taken in the living room under regular, indirect CFL lighting. The white CFL washed the color out BIG time, but this is pretty close. It's just a tad more 'vivid' IRL.

Dollar Tree find: Maybelline Boot Leg

2010-06-17T02:01:00.005-04:00

I'm kind of embarrassed to show these pictures because I've had this polish on since Saturday (so, as of today, 5 days), and it still looked pretty good this morning ... however, throughout the day, I got a ton of chips on my picture hand, lol! So I took some cruddy right hand pics tonight. *shrug*

So, this is one of the colors polish addicts have been scouring their dollar stores for, and I was lucky enough to find it last week! Woot!

True color was hard to capture on this one, at least under artificial light (I think it's just the nature of the purpley blue though, I haven't seen any color accurate pics elsewhere ...). Imagine a deep dusty blue with a vibrant purple flash loaded with silver shimmer ...

This one shows the purple off a little, aaand shows off my crooked middle finger. It was an owwie break. I'm working through it.

Can you tell I chew my thumbnail a little as a nervous habit? LOL

Ugh, hands are icky. Handwashing dishes + allergic to most lotions = dryyyyyy LOL! But let's talk about the polish. I used this over 2 coats of Essie Fill the Gap (don't want any stains! My niece's wedding is SATURDAY and she expects her bridesmaids to have sheer tips. Her auntie will comply even though it hurts ...), and topped it off with Seche Vite. So, what you see is 2 coats base, 2 coats color and 1 coat top. Boot Cut was THICK, but relatively easy to control. I had some glumpiness issues on the 2nd coat, and it was tricky wrapping my tips, but I managed. This wasn't going to dry all that well on it's own. You know how you can just TELL? Yeah. It was like that. However, after I added a thick coat of SV, it dried hard as a rock. Killer! All of these pics were taken on the FIFTH day of wear, and my 'hard on my nails' days are Sunday through Tuesday, so they took a beating. I am happy happy happy with the performance of this mani. I will definitely be scooping up a few more from this line (they had some bronzes I would have liked to have, just didn't have the muneez at the moment, so I'm going to go in with crossed fingers that the ones I wanted are still there tomorrow afternoon) if I can!

Anyway. It's 2:30 in the morning ... I just got finished baking The Divine Miss M's cupcakes because she was born this day at 6:54 PM 7 long years ago. *sheds tear* Tomorrow I'll have to devote a post to her to show you what I scored for the little lady off of FreeCycle tonight and what I found on my camera several weeks ago when I came home from work one night. It's so stinkin' cute, I guarantee you'll squee!

Night!

DOOOOOD!!!! KILLER giveaway at Painted Lady Fingers!!

2010-06-16T13:50:00.002-04:00

Wish me luck! And good luck to you if you enter! This is probably the most ass kicking giveaway I've run across in a while. I don't often feel compelled to enter, much less do the blog entry part, so please check it out!!

Painted Lady Fingers

I've lost yet ANOTHER glass file, China Glaze Lemon Fizz, SH Insta-Dri opinions and Guess What I Found?!?!

2010-06-15T22:58:00.007-04:00

And I can't justify spending the money on another. I SWEAR it was either in my purse, work tote, or on the coffee table. WHERE could it have gone?!? This is the 3rd one I've lost too. They may be better for my nails, but they are pricey to replace. Now where did I put my emery files???

Onto a not so recent NOTD, China Glaze Lemon Fizz!! I have no idea how long ago I took these pictures. Probably late February because I know it was before I went to Chicago/Indy in March ... Aaaannnyway ... These pictures also represent the first time I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri quick dry top coat, which I'm not all too happy with, but more on that later.

I simply LOVE Lemon Fizz from China Glaze's Up Up & Away collection! The color is a super creamy and rich pale yellow that reminds me of lemon icebox pie and Georgia in the summertime (I live in NJ now, but grew up outside of Atlanta, Ga ... I tend to reminisce). If I recall correctly, this was 2 coats with a base and a top. It *may* have been 3, but I rarely have patience for more than 2 coats, and it dried super thin, so I don't think it was. I was satisfied with the coverage, which was a pleasant surprise considering yellows tend to be quite difficult to work with. Dry time was excellent with the SH Insta-Dri, but ...

WTF is THIS SHIT?!?! I'm sure you noticed it in the first set of pics, the weird bumpiness, but the close ups are horrific! I always paint at night and then take pics the next day (or several days later), and this time was no exception. I was SO upset when I woke up to this crap. There was cracking on every single one of my nails, and they only got worse as the day went by. I was afraid it was the polish, but after consulting with the MUA nail board, apparently SHID is known for cracking on some people. It's a body chem thing I guess. I have since found that if I use SHID with dark colors, I'm ok because you can't see the cracks, but it straight up ruins light colored manis. Bummer caz it dries polish super duper fast!

And last but not least ... GUESS WHAT I FOUND (at Dollar Tree)???

Maybelline Boot Cut! Awwwww yeaaaaahhhh!! I'll post pics tomorrow. :)

So there you have it.

The end ...

Crappy cell pics of OPI Lazy Daisy/Dazy Pink

2010-05-24T12:07:00.002-04:00

Sooo ... I have all these pics of polishes at home waiting to be displayed here, but I am a TERRIBLE blogger, so I make no promises. I have been absent for a few reasons, the main one being sloth. I also have long periods of the blahhhhs, one of which I have been in for the last month and a half or so. :( Anyway, in late March, ALL of my nails broke off, and then I just stopped caring for them altogether. A couple of weeks ago, I decided enough was enough and stopped chewing on them and started painting with light colors to keep them from staining (my niece's wedding is coming up, and she requests us all to have a french mani or light/sheer color). I still haven't gotten back into my moisturizing and cuticle care routines, so I'm very much rough around the edges, but I figured if I was painting, I may as well snap some pictures and throw them up here.

Which brings me to my NOTD! I found OPI Lazy Daisy (or Dazy, I can't remember what's on the label, and the internet hasn't been much help) Pink at Ross a couple months ago for 3.99. It wasn't a color I would normally wear, but I thought, at the very least, my daughter would like it. Annnd, it was only 3.99!! I couldn't not. Turns out it's pretty rare these days, as it was part of a limited edition set in 2004 or 2005! Yay for rares!!!

Sooo, I snapped a couple pics on my terrible cell phone a few minutes ago, and here they are:

Picture 2 is the best. LDP is an opaque light pink with a pearl finish with a little frost. Frosts usually suck, but this isn't too bad. I think this would be a universally flattering color, and I kind of wish I was still ghostly pale to see what it looks like against super white skin. I have a bit of a driving tan (lol) on my hands and arms, and it looks REALLY nice against my sun kissed skin. I'm betting it would look equally nice with my pale winter skin, like pink on ice.

LDP has the tell tale black type on the bottom label, which means it is NOT b3f, but I didn't get any of the usual application benefits of chemically polish. It was pretty streaky (I did 2 coats, wished I had time to do 3), sloooow drying even with a quick dry top coat (I watched tv in bed for over an hour after painting/before falling asleep and still had sheet marks in the morning), has a few bubbles, and is still really dentable the next day. :( Oh well. Thems the breaks. I love the color.

March: In like a leprechaun, out like a lamb.

2010-03-01T00:16:00.004-05:00

I have 2 full plastic shoeboxes of untried polish in my stash, so I have decided that my March polish activity will be "In like a leprechaun, and out like a lamb." All manis up to St. Patty's Day will be green (I have 14 untried greens!), and all after will be light, baby, soft, lamby colors (not exclusively white though).

I have already done my first green mani, and will get that up tomorrow night. I can't get the pics uploaded and posted tonight. It's already after 12, and I'm taking a big risk typing this up with still squishy nails, lol.

*yawn* Ok, nights.

That was totally AWESOMEEEEE!!!!

2010-02-21T22:09:00.004-05:00

Duuuuude ... USA ROCKS!!

Congratulations to the USA Olympic Hockey Team for beating the SNOT out of our friendly neighbors to the north.

In. Your. FACE!!!! WOOOOOO!!! (I have a beer hat on and my chest painted, red white an blue at this very moment, I'm a TRUE 'Mercan, LOL!)

Ok, not really. I don't own a beer hat, nor is my chest painted. I'm a lady, and there are children in this house, that would be inappropriate. I do think that this victory was "tremendously tremendous" (to quote the announcer guy, commentator, whatever he's called) though, considering that all the best damn players in the NHL are playing for Canada (not faulting them, lol, they are Canadian after all!).

Keep up the good work, guys!

Random NOTD: OPI At Your Quebec and Call

2010-02-21T22:04:00.007-05:00

I had this saved as a draft from forever ago. I have since given this away to a close friend and transplant in the US from Canada. :) I figured if I took the pics, I may as well show them off, right?

I never did care for this color. I snagged it as a 75% off deal a couple years ago, and tried to like it. I wore it probably 5 times and could never convince myself that I liked it. It's got a much better home now. Can't give it much of a review, this notd is from February if I recall correctly. I'm pretty sure I remember it being thin/pretty sheer and needing 3 coats.

All of these pictures were taken under a white bulb (The package said daylight bulb, but it's super white and bright! I dunno ... it gives pretty good pictures). Hope you like.

Old NOTD: Sally Hansen Peach Daquiri

2010-02-21T22:01:00.003-05:00

Yet another saved draft I remembered I had, WOOT!

I found SH Peach Daquiri in a twin pack thingy at Dollar Tree. When I started applying, I didn't realize that it was going to be totally sheer, so I'm kind of embarrassed of my super stained nails in these pics. I'll have to try this color again now that I am stain free because it's SO freaking pretty. Just super sheer. It's actually a really clean peach color ... my stains are what lend the yellowy look. I think this was 4 or 5 coats pictured. I love the glass fleck shimmer and how NON STREAKY it is for a sheer. That's nearly impossible to come by. I don't actually mind sheers and VNL as long as there are no streaks.

Overall, this is a big fat WIN for 50 cents! I also got Peach Daquiri's pink sister that day, I think it's either called Strawberry Daquiri or Margarita. I'll have to dig that one out to wear soon.

Zoya Loredana = FAIL for me, plus a giveaway!

2010-02-21T21:34:00.003-05:00

Sooo ... I have had this since Christmas, and just got around to try it. I was super excited because I love gunmetal colors. I must have done something terribly wrong because, LOOK!!

The thumb nail was salvageable for a pic, but here's what the rest of my nails looked like when I pulled them out of my rubber gloves (what can I say, I had dishes to do!) after TWO HOURS of dry time. WHAT THE .... ?!?!? #&^%^@

I admit that I was in a hurry when I painted, and *may* have laid it on a bit thick to avoid application issues, but damn! It was a mess. I'll have to try this again when I have a ton of time because I really like the look of it.

Also, check out this sweet giveaway!

Concrete and Nailpolish is having their first follower giveaway, so head on over and enter! I LOVE that bag. Too cute. The rest of the prize is pretty nifty too!

Sally Hansen Hollywood Scarlet

2010-02-21T21:25:00.003-05:00

Hollywood Scarlet is part of the old Sally Hansen Salon line. I picked it up on the cheap at Walgreens when they were clearancing everything out. I love it when a cheapy turns out so nice! Just look at these ...

Preeeetty, no? I would call this a rich wine shade. Yum. The formula on these is EXCELLENT. Nice and thin, yet not runny. Super easy to control. I believe I did 3 coats here, but it may have been only 2. I can't remember. I wore this nearly 2 weeks ago. My one complaint about it is that it chipped within a day. :( I hadn't done anything spectacular either ... just put some clothes on and went for a drive. Oh well.

Claire's Claire's Claire's!!!

2010-02-10T20:32:00.006-05:00

I have a couple NOTDs for you ... both from Claire's. First up, my first ever Skittle mani! I bought a cute little set of minis on clearance a week or so ago. It contained 7 little bottles of pastels and brights with monkeys on them. I thought they were no names until I noticed that each of them had different words with the monkey pictures.

Sweet: a bright pastel lemon creme
Superstar: a bright pastel lime creme
2 cute 4 words: bright pastel blue creme
Whatev: purple shimmer
Smile: dark red leaning pink shimmer
Not Monkeying Around: lightish orange creme
Play: bright pastel pink creme

I'm wearing from Thumb to Pinkie: Not Monkeying Around, 2 cute 4 words, Sweet, Whatev, and Superstar. Aren't they awesome?! They are all jellyish too, which makes them even more fun. All required 3 coats except for Sweet (yellow) which took 4.

I gave The Divine Miss M (that's my 6 year old daughter) a skittle mani with these colors. After seeing mine, I had no choice, lol! It wasn't a request, it was a demand!

The only thing different is that she's wearing Smile on her thumb. Neither of us chose Play, so that one isn't swatched. It's just your basic pink.

Here she is holding a couple of the bottles:

The next NOTD comes from my intrigue with the whole Chanel Jade craze. According to many other nail bloggers, Claire's Dreamcatcher is a near dupe, soooo ... for $4 I had to see what was up.

I don't have this one in natural light as the weather hasn't exactly cooperated. We've had just a little snow here in NJ over the last week ... you know, nothing real big, just about 2 feet! LOL! But anyway, the color shown is pretty accurate. It's maybe a little darker in real life. Here's a close up of the color:

I like the color, a minty/jade green with a subtle shimmer, but it's really nothing all that special in my opinion. Application on this one was trrrriiiiicckkkyyyy!!! Glumpy as all hell, thick and didn't spread on the nail very well (I wonder if a little thinner would help this??). I had to keep dipping the brush back into the polish several times per nail. It took me 3 coats to achieve some semblance of even coverage. It was a super slow drier as well. I let it dry (with a thick coat of SV) for over an hour before going to sleep, and I woke up with sheet marks. :( Anyway, based on pics I've seen of Chanel Jade, Dreamcatcher is VERY close. I wouldn't call it a dupe, as Dreamcatcher leans a bit more green while Jade is bluer, but it would satisfy a craving if you just haaad to have it.

Last but not least, here are a few pictures of our winter "wonderland" (which I would refer to as a nightmare, lol):

And a little kitty torture (don't worry, he was only out there for a minute or so) ...

Hope everyone has a good night!!

Great giveaways!

2010-02-09T16:46:00.002-05:00

Two bloggers are currently giving away ADORABLE handmade necklaces from marymaryhandmade on Etsy. Check out her incredible work and then head over to Steals, Deals & Heels for your chance to win the cute little sloth necklace. Then stop by Jaebumfangirl to enter to win the equally adorable teacup friends necklace!

VS How Sweet!, no name minty green and Avon Peach Passion

2010-02-07T21:50:00.004-05:00

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Here's what mine looked like ...

EEP!!!

I have a few NOTD's for you, as I've been painting, but not been able to spare enough time to put a posting together in a while.

First up, Avon Peach Passion!

Indoors

Outdoors, overcast :(

I really love Peach Passion. My pics are really subdued compared to the real color. Every light source I could find just washed this color out. The natural light pic is the most color accurate, but IRL Peach Passion is much brighter and pinker. Shown here is 2 coats over Essie Fill the Gap with SV topcoat. The formula applied well, nice and thin, albeit a little runny. With 2 coats, there was some obvious (to me) VNL, but I liked it that way. A third coat would have made this one completely opaque. My problem with the Avon polishes I've used so far is that they chip terribly. This mani lasted 2 days before it began flaking at the corners of my nails. *cry*

Next is a no name minty green from a Simple Pleasures set I picked up at Ross recently (I swatched an amazing jelly blue from the same set a week or so ago).

I didn't waste too much effort photographing this one because it was an absolute NIGHTMARE. Streaky, glumpy, the brush kept wiping the nail bare on the second stroke ... UGH! AWFUL. In this low light indoor pic it looks almost lime-ish, but it was definitely more minty. Either way, it doesn't matter. It SUCKED. I removed it immediately.

Finally, here is How Sweet! from the Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush line.

Another disappointment. *grumble* Shown is 3 coats over Essie FTG with SV topcoat in sunlight. The formula was thick and streaky and impossible. The color is REALLY pretty, a little cooler and crisper (think bubble gum or pepto bismol) than in the picture. Too bad the formula is BAAAAAD. It also chipped super fast. That weird spot on the tip of my ring finger happened in my sleep, and it was totally dry when I went to bed. FAIL. Ugh. I'm hesitant to try the 4 other colors I got from this line now. :( Oh, and the fat round cap combined with the stumpy brush made it very hard to handle as well.

Aaand, that's all I have to say about that! Check back soon because you will LOOOVE my next NOTD!!

The snow cometh ...

2010-02-05T14:38:00.002-05:00

HAHA!!! They are calling for about TWO FEET of snow here, and this is after we already had about 18 inches the week before Christmas (plus the couple of times since that we've gotten 2-4 inches). I haven't seen this frequency or quantity of snow fall in New Jersey at ALL in the 11 years that I've lived here (well, except that one time when I was preggo with my 2nd--I think, might have been my 3rd--where we got about 2 feet, but that was only ONE instance). How exciting.

Anyway, I've been slacking on my task of keeping my home well stocked with items we use every day. You know ... bread and milk?? And WHAT does everyone do when a snow storm is coming?!? Run to the store for bread and milk!! HA! Awesome!! So, off Mr. Raz and I went, to the store of doooooooommmmmmm-uh! *queue doomie sounding music*

Mannnnnn ... what a MESS. They were out of the bread I like (at least I was able to find suitable HFCS free alternatives) and the deli counter line was 30 people deep! It took well over an hour to purchase: 1 pack of kaiser rolls, 4 loaves of bread (no, I'm not crazy, 1 whole grain for me, 2 white wheat for the kids and Mr. Raz, and since Mr. Raz was present, he had to have a loaf of pumpernickel rye that will prob end up going half eaten and get stale), 4 packages of assorted deli items, 1 can of cocoa mix, and 2 boxes of crackers. That was IT. AND!!! ANDDDDDD!!!! There was a guy 2 people ahead of me in the self check line that was trying to SCAN his bananas. SCAN!!! Honestly, in this day and age, if you don't know how to work the self check, go to a line with a human! And no, you don't have to have ever worked as a cashier to know how to use one of those things ... I never have. (/high falutin' rant)

We also ran to our obscenely named warehouse club (BJ's, teehee) ... store for milk, water, juice pouches (damn school v-day party, and they need everything by Monday, and I don't expect to be able to get to a store between now and Monday morning) and pizzas. It was busier than I'd ever seen it! Not unbearable though. We were in and out of there in about 20 min. Not that anyone cares, but I figured if I was going to say I needed milk at the beginning of the post and then have it look like I didn't actually get it ... yeah, soooo ....

Anywhooo ... grocery store = ridiculous mess. Oy.

And the most fun is that I have to work from 6 till 9 tonight. Ugh. DNW. AND, our brand new $1000 bed that is supposed to be delivered TOMORROW will have to be postponed to the end of next week. BOOO!!! My neck hurts so damn BAD! I NEEEED this beeedddddd!!! *grumble grumble*

I hate when I ramble like this because I never know when or how to end, soooo ...

THE END!

~raz

A couple of things ...

2010-02-04T19:43:00.002-05:00

OK, for all 13 of my followers, only 7 of whom I don't actually know, lol:

1) I have place a Swagbucks referral banner to the right over here --->
Swagbucks.com is a completely free rewards site in which you do your web searching through their site (powered by google), and earn points that can be redeemed for prizes. I usually redeem for Amazon.com gift cards. If you sign up for swagbucks through my banner, I will receive extra points every time you do. While I am not ASKING anyone to sign up under me, I won't say no if you do, lol.

2) Since I have been posting nail polish reviews on a regular basis, I figured I may as well have one of those disclosure thingies. You can also find that to the right --->
I just want to make clear that I've never gotten any products for free, and I don't expect that to change any time soon, but, you know, just in case and all that ...

3) I've been itching to do a giveaway, and I've been itching to get more readers (there's nothing slow and steady about my game, lol!). I know I've only been a contender for a month now ... I'm thinking about a small giveaway once I get to 50 followers. Just a heads up!!

~ raz

OMG, I could drop an assload of cash!!

2010-02-02T22:12:00.003-05:00

I want one of everything from here:

100% Pure

Everything, EVERY. SINGLE. THING they sell looks AMAZING. It's all organic and made from fruit pigments and other cool natural stuff. Ugh, so expensive though. I'll have to save my pennies to try a few things ...

Two HOT Giveaways!!

2010-02-01T15:29:00.002-05:00

You MUST enter to win these!!!

First:

Visit Painted Lady Fingers for up to SIX chances to win the ENTIRE Rebel Debutante Collection! Awesome.

Second:

Visit Getcha Nails Did to win a unique prize! A one DOZEN polish rose bouquet!! CUTE and FANTASTIC!

Good luck to you all ... but I hope *I* win!! : p

The Game On Diet Sucks

2010-01-31T23:08:00.001-05:00

That is all ...

Game On

Snows Froze the Toes

2010-01-31T13:36:00.003-05:00

So, my day started ordinarily enough ... me slapping my phone until the alarm went off every 10 minutes for an hour, then rolling out of bed and heading to the bathroom to shower and get ready for work. That's when it got interesting. I turned the shower knobs and nothing came out!! EEK!! WTF?!? Nothing came out of the sink faucet or the kitchen or the downstairs bathroom either.

It was then that I realized that we neglected to leave the water dripping throughout the house (it snowed yesterday, about 5 inches and temps were in the teens). Nooooo!!! Our pipes were frozen solid!!

Thus began the frenzy to alert my coworker and my boss that all was not well in the Casa de Raz. Boss ended up being in Pennsylvania helping a friend move, and of course coworker doesn't have a key to the store, so I had to scurry to find a place to shower and get to the mall to open my store. The only place to go is my sister-in-law's, and of course she was a church. Oy. What fun. I ended up getting in at 11:30 (supposed to be here by 11), and the mall is threatening to fine the store $500 for opening late. *eyeroll* I told them to suck it, I've never opened late EVER in the last 10 years!! Anyway ...

Mr. Raz got the water running, the point of freezation was in the garage (I have to LOL because firefox isn't underlining the word freezation ... tell me that's not a real word?!), and was remedied with a space heater and a blow dryer. Whew!

Sooo, here I am, stuck at work on a snow day, and my family is all having a blast sledding. Somehow, even though I am inside and wearing my snow boots (Raz has proclaimed this a casual day at this optical retail chain ... I dare you to contradict me), my toes are freezing cold. *cry*

Awesome No Name Blue!!

2010-01-30T00:33:00.003-05:00

Soooo ... I was surfing Ross the other day looking for something special, and I FOUND IT! I found it in a set of 7 no name polishes with peace sign stickers on them by Simple Pleasures for $4.99. Isn't that a brand of fake Bath and Body Works crap that Walmart sells?!? Anyway, 7 polishes, 5 pastels that appear creme, 1 silver glitter, and THIS:

OK, the pics do it no justice. The indoor shots are close to being color accurate. Imagine that Crayola has decided to make nail polish, and this is a blue crayon for your nails. It is straight up B. L. U. E. BLUE. It's also a jelly. Love. I have named it Peace Be With Blue! The closest match I have found on nailgal is China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway or Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, but they are both cremes while this is a jelly

For a no name generic product, this polish really performed well. The brush was straight up ass in a can (hello? Ratty mop?!?), but the formula made up for that. As long as I was careful, it went only where I wanted it to go. There's a leeettle VNL after 2 coats, but I prefer to have the VNL with a jelly. Peace Be With Blue! has held up well too. After 48 hours, I have a couple of teeny chips on my left thumb and that's IT. ZERO tip wear. I've been doing lots of cleaning too, dishes without gloves, etc, etc. Woot!! We have a winner! I can't wait to try out the other colors in this collection because they remind me of all the pricier collections showing up right now from Orly, China Glaze, etc. I hope they are as nice Peace Be With Blue ...

Oh, and just so you know, I get a little nutso around the full moon. Observe:

My husband thought he was gonna be funny and take a bunch of bad pics of me. Pffft. I like my blue tips peaking out from my crazy. ;)

NOTD: Avon Nocturnal

2010-01-30T00:22:00.003-05:00

I bought this before I saw a comparison between Nocturnal and OPI You Don't Know Jaques. Turns out they are dupes! Cool. Saved me a little cash because I had intended to get YDKJ one of these days.

Le sigh. I wanted to love this one, and I do ... kind of. I love it on other hands. On me though, yeah, lobster claw. Look how RED!!

Nocturnal went on nice and smooth. It was nearly opaque in 1 coat! Dried nice and fast with a coat of SV. I love cremes, and this one is just so nice to look at. I wish it looked good on me. I do have a complaint about the wear though. If you enlarge the 2nd pic, you can see tiny chips on my index and middle. The most strenuous thing I had done since my mani at that point was sleep, apply clothes and maybe some make up. So why the premature chippage?!? By the end of my work day, they looked like hell. I followed my normal routine of 1 coat Essie Fill The Gap, 2 coats Nocturnal and 1 coat Seche Vite, so I don't know.

NOTD: Love My Nails Chrome Envy

2010-01-30T00:09:00.003-05:00

I picked this up at Walmart several months ago ...

What to say about this polish?? Well, I think I got exactly what I paid for. The formula is iffy (kind of runny, but controllable). The brush held onto a lot more polish than it showed, so that gave me a little trouble, and the polish was wiping off when I took a second swipe at an area. I was able to smooth all that out on the 2nd coat though. It bubbled like crazy the moment I applied SV, that sucked, and it kept that denty quality where any bump will leave a mar hours, even days later. I removed it the next day.

The COLOR, on the other hand, is pretty neat. The outdoor shot is closer to the true color, which is somewhere between sage and mint green. It wasn't too brush strokey, so the chrome finish was very even. It had that "can't keep my eyes off of my nails" quality too, lol.

Overall, for the price, it's a decent polish. These retail for what? $1.28 I think?

NOTD: Zoya Yummy + CND Copper Shimmer

2010-01-27T13:40:00.004-05:00

I really like this color, but it is an example of why it's hard to rely on the *big* bloggers' swatches for color representation. I bought this based on a couple of swatches I saw on a particular blog, and the color I have looks NOTHING like theirs. The pictures I've seen elsewhere show an almost turquoise cream. In reality, it's a dusty medium to light blue cream. My pics are a little dark ... the weather was nasty for days and days and days while I wore this.

As far as formula and application are concerned, Zoya got Yummy RIGHT! It is highly pigmented and smooooth to apply. Pictured is 2 coats Yummy over 1 coat Essie FTG with a coat of SV on top. I wore this mani from Thursday to Sunday with nary a chip ... I had a little nick out of my thumbnail, and that was it. Tip wear was also minimal.

Here's a picture that I HAVE ALTERED to try to show the actual polish color better. I adjusted the brightness and contrast. This is pretty coloraccurate, but please keep in mind that it's altered.

So, Sunday night I didn't have time to redo my mani, but I wanted something different so I slapped on a layer of CND Copper Shimmer.

This didn't photograph well at all, it was really pretty though. It reminded me in a way of SH Opulent Cloud. Not that the color was similar at all, but it had the same sort of look. I bet adding a couple of drops of blue to a medium grey polish and then layering with Copper Shimmer would give a very close result!

Swatch-O-Mania part 2!

2010-01-22T11:58:00.008-05:00

I did the last 12 swatches a little differently ... 4 at a time. I was so over painting by this point, and they are collections, so it seemed right to show them side by side on the nail.

Avon's Mirror Shine collection (I am missing one color, a light pink, I didn't want it, lol)

From Index to Pinky: Peach Ice, Blaze, Polish, and Glisten

Avon Mirror Shine is a line of 5 metallic foils/chromes (I didn't buy the 5th color, Pink Ice). These babies apply great! The foils are usually thin, and these are no different. As long as you take care not to have too much polish on the brush, they are very easy to control. The great thing about foils/chromes in general, as well, is that they dry super fast and rarely need more than one coat! They also remove nice and clean. Wear is generally poor for this type of polish because it has a tendency to rub off, but I'm sure a good top coat would take care of that. I prefer not to use a top coat with these though because some of the coolness of finish is lost with the clear coat.

The next set is something special ... at least I think so.

I was in Ross the other day, just scoping it out when I ran across a set of 7 minis by Blush. I'm pretty sure Blush is just a kiddie type brand, as I have seen other sets of polish and lipgloss and fruity lotions and whatnot. All the other polish sets were just blah, but this one SCREAMED at me. I've also thrown in Cover Girl Candy Corn because there were 7 polishes in the set and 8 nails in the pics, lol, and Candy Corn really seemed to fit in. Check them out ...

How fantastic are these?!?! SQUEEEE!!! I LOVE THEM!!! Neon Jellies!!! None had names, so ... yeah, call them what you wish. ALL applied great. They started to dry right away too. In the first set of 4, both the purple and blue are 2 coats. Green and orange are 3 coats. In the 2nd set of 4, purple, red and Candy Corn (a creme, not jelly, not neon) are 2 coats and the weird yellowy greeny brown is 3 or 4 coats. That shade was the only disappointment because it looks super cool in the bottle, but kind of uck on the nail ... well, MY nail (it reminds me of some diapers I've changed during the kids' infant days, eww, lol). I bet it would look amazing on tan or brown skin though. I'll be getting a ton of use out of them over the summer for sure.

The best part about this set is that it was only 2.99!!! Well, Candy Corn I snatched up from Walgreen's for 1.89 or something like that on clearance ... The worst part is that they are minis and my Ross only had one set. :( I want a back up ... or 4.

Whatcha think??

Swatch-O-Mania Part 1

2010-01-21T13:54:00.019-05:00

Man, I took a picture of all my unswatched polishes yesterday, and was FREAKED OUT. I looked like this:

Soooo ... I took THREE HOURS today, and swatched TWENTY FOUR polishes!

Here's the list:

Claire's Green Matte
Maybelline Berry Persistent
Claire's Ocean Breeze
Cover Girl Luxe Lilac
Sally Hansen Salon Shrimply Divine
Spa Ritual Free Spirit
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Crushed
Sally Hansen Salon Mangoes Loco
Color Club Lazer Pink
Color Club Amp'd Up
Color Club Power Play
Color Club Limelight
Avon Mirror Shine Peach Ice
Avon Mirror Shine Blaze
Avon Mirror Shine Polish
Avon Mirror Shine Glisten
Blush no name lime
Blush no name dark purple
Blush no name orange
Blush no name blue
Blush no name magenta/purple
Blush no name snot yellow
Blush no name red
Cover Girl Candy Corn

Claire's Green Matte

This is NICE. ONE COAT is all you see here. Green Matte will probably be a go to for me if I'm in a hurry. Easy application, smooth, not too thick, wasn't drying on me too fast. No complaints whatsoever.

Maybelline Berry Persistent

OK, this was photographing a couple shades lighter and a little on the orange side ... It's definitely a darker burgundy leaning red. This belonged to my mother-in-law I believe, as it's not a shade that I would *ever* buy. It's been chilling in the bathroom forever though (MIL lives with us), so I scooped it up, lol. Anyway, I was surprised to find out that I actually really like this color!! I didn't have any trouble with application ... it started to dry right away, and it could be a one coater as well! 2 fingers in these pics have 2 coats and 2 only have 1 coat. Can you tell which ones???

Claire's Ocean Breeze

What a mess. I don't like it. First off, none of the other colors come through! It's just that top layer of blue. Second, well, as far as application is concerned, I think the pictures speak for themselves. Uck. And WHAT the hell do you do when it starts separating?!? Look how nasty it looks in the bottle there. I'm over it. Layered polishes = FAIL.

Cover Girl Luxe Lilac

Preeeeeetty ... I really like this one despite being apprehensive about it. It was super easy to apply, nice thin formula, opaque in 2 coats. I have no complaints whatsoever. I really like that it has an almost jelly appearance. The color of Luxe Lilac is similar to Zoya Zara (no where NEAR dupes though), so might be a nice alternative if you can't get Zoya.

Sally Hansen Shrimply Divine

OK, here's another one that wouldn't photograph well. It's not this light. Much much brighter and a little darker, actually. Another polish that went on like a dream, perfect in 2 coats. These are on clearance all over the place right now. I plan on scooping up every color I can find. Very very nice.

Spa Ritual Free Spirit

It looks so pretty, right? Too bad it was a huge pain to apply. This polish is supposed to be a sheer, but the first coat goes on SO streaky, it'd be impossible to actually wear as a sheer. Pictured is 3 coats, and it could have used one more to be completely even/opaque. I wore this once before, and it held up REALLY well. I don't think it's worth the premium price tag though. I picked this up at Marshall's for $3 on clearance though, so I'm happy. I'd pick this brand up again on sale like that, but won't be paying full price.

Sally Hansen Crushed

Look how dry my fingers are getting in these pics, LOL! Since I was swatching like a maniac, I didn't moisturize in between polish removal, so from here on out, you'll see scaly skin, lol.

Here's another color I was pleasantly surprised with. A medium reddish orange shimmer, the pic is a little lighter and redder than the true shade. Nice formula, easy to apply, opaque in 2 coats. I have had trouble with dry time with this brand in the past though, and I didn't actually wear it long enough for it to dry ...

Sally Hansen Salon Mangoes Loco

I'm pretty sure this is another one that photographed much lighter than it looks in reality. This is 2 coats, and there's still a little VNL. When I wear this as a NOTD, I will add a third coat. I have no formula complaints at all. Nice and thin, easy to control, etc, etc.

OK, I'm going to finish up with the Color Club Neons I picked up at Five Below last week. I don't know WHY I'm even bothering to post these because they came out TERRIBLE in the pics. Colors aren't even CLOSE to what they really look like. Oh well. I painted the nails, and took the pics, so you're gonna look at them!

Color Club Lazer Pink

This is SO much brighter IRL. It's a cool, shocking pink. I can't remember if this is 2 or 3 coats. I had minor application issues, but nothing upsetting. Poshnail has a slightly better representation of this color (and Power Play).

Color Club Power Play

I. LOVE. THIS. COLOR. Like I said, the pics are WAY off. It's darker, brighter, awesomer ... Great application. Love it. Check out the Poshnail link above, her pics are way better.

Color Club Amp'd Up

Yet again, came out way too light in the pics. Amp'd up is an awesome, BRIGHT reddish orange. Here's a better pic: NAILGAL

Color Club Limelight

Do I need to say it? Yeah, color not accurate. It's SO bright IRL. Hawt. Here's a good pic at Nailgal. (and OMG, fingers so dry and scaly!!)

Hope you enjoyed! It'll prob take me another day or 2 to get the rest up ... stay tuned!

My new favorite polish brand! Plus a little haul ...

2010-01-20T19:43:00.007-05:00

So I took a survey several weeks ago over at the Creative Nail Designs site with the promise that I would receive a sample of their new polish line Colour Effects (survey is now closed, this was prob over a month ago). So I took the survey, and then forgot ALL about it. Last night when I got home from work, a little package was waiting for me on the kitchen table. You know I ripped it open as fast as I could ...

Inside were 2 bottles of polish! WOOT! CND Indian Rhubarb and Copper Shimmer. You know I started removing the polish I had on right away ... LOL!

First pics, then my thoughts.

Indian Rhubarb

Full Sun

Indoors, Daylight

OK, so, Indian Rhubarb is a RICH medium red creme (all the CND Colours are cremes, if you want shimmer or glitter or pearl finish, that's when you turn to the Effects). Other bloggers are calling these polishes true one coaters, but I needed two for full opacity and no streaks. If there was a such thing as a 1.5 coater, that'd be this. The formula was a little on the thick side, but handled quite well. It did start to thicken on the brush toward the middle of the second coat, but it didn't cause me anything other than minor irritation. Indian Rhubarb was quick drying and had a great glossy finish, but as usual, I was up late and had to get to bed so I put a thick layer of Seche Vite on top, and went to bed 10 min later. Woke up to the perfect mani. No dents, no sheet marks ... just perfection. The proof is in the pictures. It looks great. I can't even believe my pics came out so nice! HOT!

Oh, the brush seemed huge, but was ok, and the bottle is GREAT to hold. There's a flat side and a curved side, and the curved side fit perfectly in the crook of my thumb and index finger, which is where I always hold the bottle while I'm working. Love.

Onto the Effects!

CND Indian Rhubarb Colour with Copper Shimmer Effect

Full Sun

Indoors, Daylight

Pretty cool, huh? Copper Shimmer does just what the name implies. It transformed a beautiful, rich red into a beautiful, rich, coppery, shimmery red. LOL. Enough adjectives for ya?? Copper Shimmer performed exactly as Indian Rhubarb did. Went on smooth, started to dry pretty fast

(but I was in a hurry again, so I added another layer of SV), etc, etc. The cool thing was that it evened itself out on the nail. I *thought* it would be a little streaky (in fact, I have seen some pictures in which the effects DO look streaky, but I think the difference is that I like to lay it on thick, while others prefer super thin coats) as I was applying this layer, but once I finished the following nail, the previous one had lost all signs of streakage. Coolness.

Man oh man, I want to go CRAZY buying up different colors and effects! My lemmings are definitely Green Scene, Anchor Blue, Asphalt, Guava and Girly Pink for cremes and all the shimmers and glitters from the effects line (I don't care for pearl finish). Alas, I am on a self imposed no buy as of TODAY (well, tomorrow because I got some stuff today, but it was cheap!) for at least 2 months. I have twice as many unswatched colors as I do swatched (22 OPIs, 9 Zoyas, 8 Goldies, half a dozen or so SHs, 7 Sunful, etc, etc ...), so ... yeah ... I can't wait to try Copper Shimmer over polishes I already own though! That should be fun.

If you want to get some of the CND polish line for yourself, the only (reputable) place I was able to find it online was at Trans Design, Inc. They are 4.50/ea for the colors and 5.50/ea for the effects. Careful though ... that site will SUCK YOU IN and make you want to spend hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS of dollars!!! Well, it makes ME want to anyway ...

Oh, and here's a little teaser pic of some recent haulage ...

That's a Color Club pack of neon minis I picked up at Five Below last week and in the background, a set of 7 mini polishes by Blush. I got them at Ross for 2.99 today, and fully expect them to suck, but the colors are KEY-OOOOT! The one that looks gold (2nd from left) is actually a really unique green! I can't wait.

Fantastic nail polish giveaway!

2010-01-19T19:09:00.002-05:00

Visit Babbling Brooke to enter! You must be a follower, and once you become one, there are 3 ways to gain additional entries. Make sure you read the rules!

Sing it with me! I've got a golden tiiiicket ...

2010-01-13T19:07:00.002-05:00

I've got a golden chance to make my wayyyy

And with a golden ticket it's a gol-den DAYYYYY!!!!

Best day ever yesterday (admittedly, every day something awesome happens is a best day ever, but still) ... My cousin called and asked me to go see West Side Story with him in NYC Friday night!!!! SQUEEEEE!!!!! I am so excited, I can barely contain myself! It gets better though! Not only are we going to the show, but we're catching the train in the MORNING and spending the WHOLE DAY in the city!!! I love it! SOOO excited!!! See all the exclamation points?!? That means I am EXCITED! WHEEEE!!!!!

Now, what color should I wear on my nails??? OMG, this is a big decision. I MUST have purrrr-fect nails for my Broadway debut! (look, I'm going to be there, it's my debut dammit!)

Yeah, so it's been what? Not even 2 weeks ...

2010-01-12T17:13:00.003-05:00

And I'm already starting to slack. In my defense a) I'm REALLY busy 3 days a week, b) already ran out of things to say (how embarrassing) and c) engaging in a new challenge with some girlfriends that is requiring LOTS of brain power that, frankly, I don't have to give, LOL.

Ooh. Maybe I could talk about that!

No, the challenge ... not the lack of brain power!

OK, I'll do it tomorrow when I don't have a ton of shit to do. Check.

Sasha Says Giveaway!!

2010-01-09T12:34:00.002-05:00

Sasha is the owner of Manicure Mommas, the nail block to which I contribute. She also has her personal blog, Sasha Says AND a blog dedicated to giveaways! Sasha Says Giveaway's current prize is a Stila tinted moisturizer. Fancy!

What are you waiting for?!? Go enter!!

The killer soup I made last night ...

2010-01-08T14:19:00.003-05:00

This soup was inspired by the dinner I didn't make and the meat choice of my other half. The dinner I *didn't* make was ham and bean soup. I bought a ham a couple weeks ago (before the holidays, duh, THAT was my mistake!), and never got around to boiling the bone and soaking the beans. So the night before last I said to Mr. Raz "What would you prefer for dinner tomorrow? Beef, pork, chicken or italian sausage?" He chose beef. It was due to be super cold, so I wanted to make a stew type of meal (and all I had in the freezer was 3 packs of stew meat and 1/2 of a london broil which isn't enough for all of us unless I slice it and mix in something else to stretch), but all I could think of is my old standby curry beef stew, which Mr. Raz really doesn't care for (but eats like a champ, love ya babe!). In order to not disappoint the chooser of the meat, I scoured the cabinets for ideas until I found the pack of dry beans I had bought with the intention of making ham and bean soup. I thought "What if I put bean soup and vegetable beef soup TOGETHER??" And that's where Beef and Bean Vegetable Soup was born.

I'm going to estimate for this because when I cook, I don't measure ... Feel free to adjust for your needs!

Ingredients:

1 bag 16 bean mix (dry beans, mine were Goya brand I believe)
6 cups water
1lb small cubes of beef (or big, if you like big. I'm a fan of stretching the meat ... having 10 small pieces feels like more than 2 big pieces)
3 tsp Better Than Bouillon beef stock paste
2 large ribs celery, chopped
several handfuls baby cut carrots, rough chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp herbs de provence
1-2 tsp salt (add a little at first then add to taste toward the end of cooking process)
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper (or, you know, until you get tired of twisting the grinder!)

Directions:

1) pick through beans to remove any uckies, then soak either over night in cold water OR cover with water, bring to a boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat and let soak for 1 hour. Drain and rinse.

2) While beans are soaking, chop veggies, sear meat, saute veggies until just softened.

3) To large pot, add beans, 6c water, ... oh hell, just add everything and stir. Simmer over med heat until it's done! Stir frequently and check bean tenderness often. Add more water if you need it (mine got a little thick), 1/2c at a time. Taste to see if the seasoning needs adjusting about an hour before serving.

This is a forgiving and flexible recipe. I was puttering around the house all day, so I cooked it on the stove. I started it around 2:30 probably and it was done by 5. An hour of the cooking process I had it on the lowest heat setting because I had to get the kids from school. If I wanted to make this on a day I was out of the house, I would soak the beans overnight and then toss everything in the crock pot on low all day. Serve with a nice crusty loaf.

The kids all had 2nds and so did we! There were no leftovers! That's crazy for something like beans.

I wish I had taken a picture too. It was so pretty with all the different colors. Next time I will. I'll make this time and time again during cold weather.

Let me know what you think if you make it!

I got lots of cheap polish today, WOOT! And LAUNDRY ...

2010-01-07T22:58:00.005-05:00

I did so much damn laundry today ... ugh. Prob 8 loads or more. I have 8 more to do from the looks of the pile in there. Booo.

So, I did exactly what I said I'd do after dropping everyone off at work and school this morning. I spent 2.5 glorious hours bee-bopping around town stopping at different drugstores looking for clearance polish. I ended up with 8 bottles. 2 Borghese, 1 Cover Girl, 1 Rimmel, 1 Sinful and 3 Milani.

Here is Borghese Cannoli Cream:

Yeah, it's pretty boring, a nude/bisque cream, but I LIKE it! It's so posh looking. The formula and application were awesome too. This is the first Borghese polish I have tried, and I'm already hooked. The brush is enormous and fat compared to other polish brushes. I like this because I have big hands, thus larger nails. It did make for a little extra sloppiness around the edges, but I'm sure I'll adapt quickly. Pictured is 3 coats over Orly Bonder and Essie Fill the Gap with 1 coat Seche Vite on top. If you like sheers, this was pretty even on the first coat. It was totally even after the 2nd coat, but I did a 3rd because I don't care for visible nail line. With 3 coats, there is barely any. The best part about this polish was the price tag! I got it for 2.19 at Walgreens on clearance.

(Wednes)Day of Sloth

2010-01-06T22:35:00.002-05:00

Hoooo-WEEE! I did jack shit today!! I get SO tired working 30 hours in 3 days that by the time Wednesdays come around, I sleep on the couch almost all damn day while the kids are at school. It's nice, but then comes the regret once I realize that a whole day is wasted. Oh well.

Tomorrow ... Christmas goes away for 11 months! WOOT! (and shhh ... don't tell my other half ... I'm gonna go clearance nail polish shopping after I drop everyone off in the morning!)

12:10 am and nothing to write about :(

2010-01-06T00:10:00.000-05:00

But I did just post new nail pics at Manicure Mommas!

Teaser:

Oh, and I have a background! Woots! Now I need a banner ...

Here's a couple fun pics of my cat:

Now I'm going to bed ...

My Nail Obsession and Toxic Relationships

2010-01-04T23:40:00.000-05:00

I blog semi regularly elsewhere ...

Manicure Mommas

I will be posting some pics up tomorrow night sometime of my most recent mani, Essie Berry Hard. It's amazing. I'm in love.

The reason I am so obsessed with my nails is that I was a hard core nail biter from very early childhood (I have memories of getting in trouble for it as early as 4-5 years old) until I was 24 years old. One day I just stopped. There was a cause, I believe, for this habit, and the day I stopped was the day I said NO to a toxic relationship and it's effects on me. Very liberating. Now that I no longer allow this person's toxicity control me, I no longer have the subconscious need to take control in other ways.

Over the past couple of months, I had been allowing this person's toxicity to affect me again. My hands have paid. I have been picking and chewing more than I have in 6 years. Today, this person tried to suck me into her cycle again, and I took a stand once more. I felt bad being so blunt, but it also felt good ... in a way.

Take heed. Do not let the negativity of others bore into you. Only you can allow another to control you.

I rented Julie & Julia last night

2010-01-03T16:09:00.000-05:00

And it was positively adorable. You should see it.

It got me wondering about the Julie though, and why Julia Child might have "hated" her project, so I thought I'd check out the original blog. My google skillz have never been all that, erm, good, so when I typed in Julie Julia Blog, I got a lot of hits to articles bashing Julie Powell. I was confused to say the least. The movie was, well, as I said, positively adorable! Meryl Streep was a DEAD ringer for the Julia I knew and loved as a child watching her show on PBS (anyone else grow up watching Julia and Yan and Justin Wilson and The Frugal Gourmet {aside aside: who turned out to be some sort of sexual deviant, LOL! Takes all kinds ...} like I did?), and while the Julie character was certainly self absorbed to the point of aggravation in the movie, she was certainly quite likable. So why all the bad press for this woman?

Then I started reading the blog. Now, I'm not a writer by any stretch, but I can certainly see why people would be offput by her project. Well, not the project itself, but the unceremonious ... or, maybe irreverant way she records her journey. Oh, yeah, and the poor writing. It's as if the details she chooses to reflect upon are the ones that are beside the point. And, really, who doesn't know what it means for a sauce to coat the spoon or beat something until it ribbons off the wisk?!? Certainly not anyone who has spent a childhood watching afternoon cooking shows on PBS or even a couple of days watching The Food Network (Alton Brown, if you're reading this, I heart you.).

As for Julia Child and her "hatred" of the Julie/Julia Project, I couldn't summarize Sara Moulton's words any better than THIS AUTHOR ALREADY HAS. (by the way, Sara, if you're reading, I really adore you too.)

And I guess that's all I really feel like saying about that. Oh, if you want to read the Julie/Julia Project, you can do so here:

http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html

These are a few of my favorite things ...

2010-01-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

EEP!! This post will say that I wrote it on the 3rd, but it is currently 11:58 PM, so I'm calling this one day 2.

Tori Amos. I die.

Give my regards to:

Please. It's what I want ...

My sweet Ti-Tat. Grapefruit. I like making LOLz out of him too.

My kids. What fun!

Hunting the elusive

at

.com with my best friends.

Opening Day, New Years Day!

2010-01-01T22:51:00.000-05:00

Here's to nothing folks! (ha, what folks??)

Because I err on the side of meticulous with regard to clarity and truth in advertising, here's my opening statement. You can think of it as a faq, that is assuming people asked me questions, much less frequently. HA!

I am not a blogger. I have always liked the idea of recording one's own history in little blips and blabs through journaling, but have never been able to commit to such a habit. This is probably my 45837459347534987th attempt since early girlhood at having a diary of sorts. I'm going to view this as a project, like pretend I'm involved with the blogging 365 crowd or something. If I can jot something down once a day, that would be dope. If I can do it every other day, I'd be proud. If I write once a week, I will consider myself a success.

Who am I? I'm a mess. That's who I am. I usually start with the whole "I'm 30, I have 3 kids" bit, but that's not who I AM. I am a person who thinks about pointless stuff too much. A person who loves nail polish and musical theater. I'm loud. I am easily amused. I am socially liberal to a fault. I am an atheist who loves to analyze religion. I love books and all sorts of music and educational programming and NPR and science, and cluttery things that make me smile, and pop culture stuff (particularly 80s and 90s). I love bargains. Man, I LOVE bargains, and coupons and all that crap. Getting stuff my family needs for cheap or better yet, free? That gets me high. Not even a joke. I love my kitty cat. He's the best. I love sweets. My blood runs thick with sucrose. I love to laugh, and I love people who make me laugh. I love having friends, although I'm not so good at the whole social thing. I've got both a superiority AND an inferiority complex. Figure THAT out. I love my "significant other." We have 3 kids and have been together 11 years in Feb, but haven't gotten around to the making it official part (tentative for August 2011). He's fantastic. The only person I have ever trusted fully in my life. He makes me laugh more than anyone else ever has. He's awesome. And he always gives me my way ... eventually (*evil grin*). I love my kids. They rock, they're well behaved, they're good looking ... what else could a mommy want? Oh, yeah, they like the same kind of music I do. Roxxors!! No arguing over radio stations in the car! I love the interwebz. I love that I can play all these silly mindless clicky games on facebook. I love that I can meet (and have met) people I would NEVER have met without it. I love that I have the best group of girlfriends ever thanks to the internet. I guess, to sum it all up, I must be the girl who has it all.

What will I write about? Whatever the hell I please! This blog will have no focus. It is about ME. It's about what I like, what I want, what I don't like, shit that pisses me off, my kids, my rants, my raves and everything in between. I like to take pictures of trivial things and important ones alike. Expect to see some of each.

What does Razberiswrl mean? Is that, like, your favorite ice cream flavor or something? Umm ... no. It's my very own kre8tiv spelling for the words raspberry and swirl. Raspberry Swirl is the title of one of my favorite songs by my favorite artist, Tori Amos. Observe:

So, way back in, what? 1998 I think ... anyway, way back then when all you could really use to get online was AOL (omg! remember that shit?!?), the screen name/email address you chose had to be shorter than 14 characters or something like that. I picked razberiswrl and the rest is history. I feel like a Matrix loving nerd or something having an internet alias and all ... one of these days a background check is going to list that as an AKA or something, and then I'll be embarrassed. Even on forums where real names are used, people still call me Raz. It's cool though, because Raz is not an alternate personality, Raz is just an extension of me, my virtual extension.

Soooo, I guess I don't have anything else to talk about, and it's getting dangerously close to midnight (I want the first post to be on 1/1/10!), so I'll wrap it up, my dear imaginary audience.

Smell ya later ...