Work OOTD

So I am working on New Year's Eve :( but it does not look like I would have had any other plans for morning/afternoon. Going to the movies and dinner with my family when I get off work at five! Until then...

This is my OOTD for work, the scarf is actually from Claire's and is on clearance for $4!! I tied the tassels together in the back to make this traditional scarf into an infinity!

And of course I am in love with the Fossil watch Chris got me for Christmas!!

Sally Hansen NEW! Salon Gel Polish Tutorial

Sorry about the lack of blogs, I have gone through a rough week and a half. Starting with swollen lips (who knows why, possibly an allergic reaction), followed by a severe cold that knocked me off my feet for a few days (still recovering), a cavity filling, and finally food poisoning. So much for a relaxing winter break! Of course Christmas was busy and wonderful with the family, sadly I was still feeling a little under the weather. But as 2012 comes to a close, I am feeling healthy and extremely happy and optimistic for 2013.

On to what this post is really all about: the Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish kit. I bought this kit almost a month ago when it came out and I have since purchasing done my nails twice. Twice. And I have had two chips in my nails since I started using this kit. Just with that I am sure I will convince some people to go out and purchase it. So if you got this for Christmas but haven't tried it out yet, or you need to do some returns on gifts you did not love--look into buying this instead! I bought the actual Gel Polish Kit, not the Gel Polish Strips Kit. The price difference is around $40. If you buy the Gel Polish Kit you are looking into spending around $70 (check online for coupons before you buy, I got $5 off), the Gel Polish Strips Kit is about $30 depending where you shop.

This is what the box looks like if you were to grab it off the shelf, my Target had two total in stock, so this box had been pushed around a ton and so it wasn't in the best condition when it reached my hands.

The pieces in the box shifted around before I got it, as you can see the acetone had fallen into the UV light, but nothing was really damaged.

The reason I bought the Gel Polish Kit is because you can only use the Gel Nail Strips one time, and you can only cure one finger at a time with the UV light included. The Gel Polish Kit comes with base coat, one of three colors: Shell We Dance (light pearly pink), Red My Lips (stoplight red), and Wine Not (the color I bought, a sparkly deep red), and a top coat. The kit comes with enough polish for around 10 at home manicures. To me that was totally worth it. So here we go with the tutorial!

Note: Do one hand at a time, it makes for an easier experience!

Step 1: Start with clean nails! Take of any polish you have and trim them to your desired length. I prefer my nails as short as possible because I have such long nail beds. 

Step 2: File your nails into the shape you like, using the pink side of the file provided in the kit. I like my nails rounded.

Step 3: Push back your cuticles (if you have a cuticle remover creme you can use that here too!)

Step 4: Buff your nails with the grey side of the file provided, be sure to do this well so the gel polish has a clean smooth surface to cling to!

Step 5: Open a Nail Cleanser Pad (or rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball) and wipe down each nail.

Step 6: Apply a thin coat of the gel base coat, cure in the UV light for 30 seconds (the light will automatically shut off after 30 seconds).

Step 7: Apply a thin coat of the colored gel polish, cure for 30 seconds, apply a second thin coat, cure for 30 seconds.

Step 8: Apply thin coat of gel top coat, cure 30 seconds. Afterwards be sure to wipe with nail cleanser pad (or cotton ball with rubbing alcohol). 

Step 9: Admire the Gel Manicure you just gave yourself!!!!

I am a little late posting this blog, because it has been nine days since I did this home manicure, but because of that I can show you what my nails currently look like!

Besides a couple chips on the top of the nails they are still pretty perfect! I love them!

Snack Time!

So now that I am home for winter break, I get to resume my job of making dinners for the family. I love cooking, and being home allows me to try out new recipes! First things first though, find ways for my little sister to enjoy packed lunches. I definitely know the feeling of being sick of sandwiches day after day after day, but there are ways to fix that! My sister got an at home pretzel maker! So I made her some of her favorite Auntie Anne's pretzels. The kit was really easy and straight-forward, I am sorry that I did not do a step-by step guide on how to do it, but the finished results were delicious!

You can find this kit at any grocery store of your choosing, in the baking aisle!

Notes and Lists Galore!

I love note pads. And Post-Its, but especially notepads. It is something about writing out everything I need to do to stay organized and then being able to cross things off my lists. So of course when I saw a bunch of notepads at  Marshall's and I had to get one. Which might have turned into one notepad and another package of three notepads (how could I resist! They had "S"'s on them!).

This is one of those notepads that have a magnet that will keep them closed most of the time. I plan on using this one to take on my Duty Rounds with a little pen and write down if I need to put any IR's or Work Orders in!

And this is the three-pack, I actually am taking notes on other things that I want to blog about right now! And that pen is so adorable, I love everything about these notepads.

I have started to collect these things, and my stationary collection too! When I find something I like I need a ton of it. My current stationary is hot pink with cats on it! I got six packages from the dollar spot in Target. Wonderful. So anyone out there that enjoys notepads or stationary (or knows someone who does and needs a stocking stuffer gift) go to Marshall's!

Winter Closing Bulletin Board

So it is that time of the semester again...crunch time. And I will not lie, I have neglected my blogging duties and I should have gotten this up over a week ago. So here is my Winter Closing Bulletin Board:

It is a Winter Wonderland Theme!

So I wanted die-cut the title, the "Countdown to Break!" title and the numbers on each circle. I also did the snowmen from the die-cut machine! Behind each number is a winter-themed joke, activity to do on winter break, study tip, or something to do to prepare for closing (in case my residents do not read the rest of the board!). Each snowman has an instruction for preparing for the winter closure and next to that is the timeline where the residents can look (in case they missed my other two explanations) and know what is going on for winter closing.

My tactic behind this board was that no matter what my residents could not say they had no idea they had to be out by 7 pm on December 14. I just hope that Friday at seven we will have an empty building to close!

I am so excited for this semester to be over, and to enjoy my winter break!!!