Happy Hallowe'en!

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all having a great day. We have been very busy lately, so this is a short post. Here is a pic of me last night, as Irene Adler (The Woman from Sherlock Holmes mysteries), and I will post  more Hallowe'en pics in a couple of days.

And the mani was Nfu Oh 60, one of my favourite flakies.

I hope you have a great Hallowe'en! Feel free to leave comments about your costumes and parties, because I love to hear great ideas on themes for either.

Hugs and much love,
The Woman

A Versatile Blogger Award!

Hello everyone,

I hope you have had a great week! The lovely Tracey at http://gingerkittydesigns.blogspot.com/ has tagged me for a Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you Tracey!

If you have not seen Tracey's beautiful work, you must go to her Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/GingerKittyDesigns. Her nail polish jewelry is original and beautiful - I have ordered from her and will post pictures once Canada Post delivers them to me (they are so, so, slow... and open all of my packages too....grrrr).

Anywho, as part of this award, I am supposed to list 7 things about myself and tag 12 fellow bloggers.

Here are 7 facts about me:

1.  I have been married for 15 years to my soupsnake, erm soulmate, Phil (if you don't get the reference, you must see The Office). We met during grad school, and have been together for 18+ years. I was dating Phil at the same time as another guy, made my choice for Valentine's Day 1992, and have been happy ever since. :)

2.  I have a Ph.D., and it does not mean that I am better than anyone else. I hate it when people who collect letters after their names think that it entitles them to be arrogant, narcissistic jerks. Yes, you worked hard to get where you are, but a lot of other people make different choices and may not have had the same opportunities or desires. I am not always perfect, but I do the best that I can to be kind and respectful to others no matter who they are.

3. Phil and I are in the process of adopting a child. We tried for many years to have a child, including in vitro which was expensive - I had a miscarriage on the second attempt. We decided not to go through with it any more, particularly after my gynecologist told me to find a new husband (I refused to go back to him after that, and gave him a horrible rating on Rate My Doctor). I just couldn't take the roller coaster of emotions that went along with the whole process. So, after taking seminars and parenting classes to be approved, we are now on the waiting list for a child. We decided to go for an "older child" - 1 to 6 years - given our ages. We are excited and scared, but in a good way!

3. I love to garden. I go crazy buying plants every year. Bulbs in the fall, perennials and annuals in the summer. I think this, and my addiction to polish, reflect a love of colour.

4.  I have taken 3 different kinds of martial arts, but in all cases, not for more than two years. Phil and I have done Aikido (I got to the orange stripe belt), Tai Chi Chuan (the martial aspect of Tai Chi), and medieval swordfighting (real fighting with padding and armour - not stage fighting). I own a real sword that was made for my height and build. I am small, 5'3", and was in the class with only men for the first year. I held my own pretty well. :)

5.  I love chocolate. Any kind will do, but I particularly love good dark chocolate. There is a chocolatier here in Toronto, called Soma, with the most wonderful chocolates - filled, chocolate covered nuts, truffles, and the most amazing drinking chocolate I have ever tasted (think hot chocolate espresso...drooooooolllll). The most unusual one I have tried was a cone filled with Douglas Fir flavoured liquid....it tasted like Christmas wrapped in chocolate!

6.  My kitty Loki is diabetic and needs needles twice daily. Phil and I take turns, and she is doing really well on her insulin.

7.  My polish collection is at 352 bottles...for now! :P


For my blogger list, I tag the following lovely people (I chose them randomly from my list of faves - they have all inspired me in some way). Their blogs cover a variety of topics, and I always enjoy reading them !:

http://thenailphile.blogspot.com

http://nihrida.blogspot.com

http://beautyjudy.com

http://www.just-nice-things.co.uk

http://www.glockoma.com

http://stephscloset.com

http://drfrankenpolish.wordpress.com

http://polishorperish.blogspot.com

http://imperfectlypainted.blogspot.com/

http://ForYourNailsOnly.blogspot.com

http://sparkledbeauty.blogspot.com/

http://themprettycolors.blogspot.com

http://www.swatchandlearn.com/

You are all wonderful and deserving of this award!

I will be back with pics from my actual camera next week... I figured out how to do okay-looking macros!!! Have a great week!

Quick NOTD post

Hi everyone,

Of course I couldn't stay away! Here is my NOTD, Sally Hansen's Project Runway, which was part of a Canadian exclusive collection last year.

There are better pictures of this on other sites, but I just wanted to share the lovely green goodness. It is a deep bluish-green with golden green shimmer. I love greens, and this one is perfect - complex, beautiful, and deep, all at the same time.

I have also changed my nail shape and wanted to share. I had square nails for a couple of months, at varying lengths, and changed to squoval this week. I love change - I never keep polish on for more than three days max, change my hair colour and/or cut every 6-12 weeks, and like doing new things with outfits. Change is good!

Have a great week everyone!

Blogging break

Hello everyone,

Having just started to blog, I am already taking a break. I realize how much time I spend on twitter, reading blogs, and thinking of what I want to write about. I really need to cut back for a while. I have a lot of work that I need to get done, and noticed that I do things like cut workouts short to read emails, tweets, etc.  This is a sure sign of internet addiction for me...not that I waste hours doing this, but it does add up.  You may see occasional comments from me on other blogs, and I know I am not going cold turkey on the internet, but I do need to cut back.  My time management, and my pant size, depend on it! :)

I hope you are all well, and whether or not you miss me, I will be back (cue Arnie accent here)!

Update on last post...

Hello! Just wanted to let you know this was one of the easiest glitter removals I have had in a long time. Two swipes with Zoya Remove+ on each nail took Blue Sapphire off with no residue. :)

Have a good day!

Quick NOTD post

Hi everyone!

Just a short post today, because we are doing Thanksgiving a week early with my in-laws.  Canadian Thanksgiving is always the second Monday of October, but my husband's brother is taking this family on vacation next week.

A blurry webcam pic of Sephora Blue Sapphire (my camera is back, but we still have to download my hubby's pics of his trip to London). I have never been able to find Essie Starry Starry Night, so I have been collecting every glittery deep blue I can find. I think the blurriness shows how sparkly and distributed the glitter is in the jelly base.  Lots of compliments on this one, including from the cosmetician at the Mac counter who sold me Bad Fairy! :)

I tweeted about my hauls the other day, which I dubbed nail polish shopping day. I picked up Nars Mash and Zulu at Holt Renfrew, then hubby and I drove to see friends out of town. While we were killing time, I went to the Mac counter at the Bay in Kitchener (a city west of Toronto), and picked up Bad Fairy. I skipped the other two villains polishes (Formidable! and Mean & Green), since I have the Orly dupes (Galaxy Girl and Space Cadet). We then drove to Winners in a mall down the street. I think the American equivalent is T.J. Maxx, with designer products sold at discount prices; Winners has been in Toronto for years...I remember buying clothes at the downtown store in the 80s. Recently, I have seen some polish brands there that are not sold in beauty supply or retail stores here. So, I checked the beauty aisle, and what did I find? Nubars (Sky and Meadow Sparkles) and a lone Barielle (June Bug)! Of course, I am now going to frequent Winners, just to check on the polish section. :)

Hope you have a lovely week!