I Did Not Proofread This. And That's Significant.

I am traveling in an airplane for the first time on Sunday. By myself. I'm freaking out a little. Flying isn't scary, but being by myself is! And I've heard horrible things about Atlanta.

Other than watching Mad Men obsessively, watching grav3yardgirl on YouTube, and working from 5am to 10:30am, here's what I've done...

In the light

In the shadow

SCUFFED PURPLE

Base: Essie, Play Date

Scuff: OPI, Birthday Babe

Paint the base color over the entire nail, two coats. Paint the scuff color over the entire nail, one to two coats. Take a q-tip with some polish remover and create the scuff marks. Paint top coat.

The silver is hard to see in the photos. I tried both in the light and in the shadow and settled with posting these two photos. I don't like purple (Play Date) as a base color, but the technique is really cool! I have some other ideas for it using different colors. I notices a finger print in the scuff color (oops) before I used the polish remover... Maybe you see where this is going? You will in a few weeks! (If it works.)

I hope to get my nails done by a professional before I leave! I never get my nails done, and I'm pretty excited!

Why am I flying? I've been working on this job opportunity, and it's a pretty big deal. I was sooo excited about it all summer, but I'm getting really nervous and second guessing myself now. I'll have to keep this job for 4-6 years. That's scary! What if I hate it? I was thinking about other things I could do, but I know I would be in the same situation if I pursued them: second guessing.

I love my part time job! I'm working at Michael's as a replenishment associate, so all I do is run around stocking products and looking at pretty things! I don't have to deal with customers much, and I rarely have to talk to other associates! Why is this such a great thing for me?

Lots of things seem to be changing for me. And I've been sick. I'm not even going to proofread this...

Flower Department

First day of work when pretty well. The replenishment team seems to be the place to be! I stocked the paint aisle, Christmas frame end cap, and some candles. I also daydreamed about frolicking through the flower department. One day..

New JOB

First day at my new job tomorrow! 5 am to 10:30 am. I think I'll like getting the work over with early. I'll just have to go to bed at 9; no big deal. The big deal is that I am suppose to wear a black shirt - no t-shirts. All I have are mens black t-shirts for sleeping... So I went to TJ Max to get some nicer black shirts, and the prices were much higher than I remembered! :(( I spent $43 on two shirts and a tank top! AT TJ MAX! Minimum wage isn't going to cut it. But my shirts are cute!

Cheetah Girls

Last week, we had chicken pot pie cupcakes, and my little sisters ate two. This week, we have the exact same chicken pot pie cupcakes (I froze half of the batch), and they hardly ate one... Are all kids like this?

I've been trying to hold off until the end of the week to post my nails, but I'm super excited about these! I was going to do an Oregon Ducks theme, since they're playing Stanford Thursday, but I decided to do these instead...

CHEETAH GIRLZ! Or is it leopard print?

Base: Sally Hansen, Gilty Pleasure

Brown: Essie, Mink Muffs

Black: Revlon, Stiletto

Paint nails the base color. Dot the nails with brown using the polish brush- make the dots imperfect. Using a fine paintbrush, line the dots with black and make random lines and circles between dots.

I've seen this nail art a couple of times on the web and realized I had the right color pallet to do them myself! My nails were surprisingly easy; the nails on my dominant hand looked just as good! I'll have to do my duck nails another time.

Fingers for Dinner

Everytime I come home from vacation, there is evidence of trespassing in my room. This time, it was a small pair of dirty socks and a stash of Halloween candy! I have no control! Fingers for dinner!!

We actually had a rotisserie chicken, green beans, mac 'n' cheese, and crescent rolls for dinner. I told my mom that I was going to get a chicken for dinner and use the rest to make broth for soup on Wednesday. She though it was the craziest thing. We usually put our chicken in other recipes. I had a plain rotisserie chicken at a friends house - that's where I got the idea. I made a gravy out of the broth: 3 tbsp butter, 4 tbsp flour, 2 c broth, and about a quarter cup gruyere. I would add more next time, but that was all the gruyere we had left in the fridge...

I forgot to post about my nails! Here's another pic...

Nails! I "painted the moons" as my grandmother says.

Moons: OPI, Birthday Babe

Tips: SinfulColors, Hazard

Use hole reinforcers from the office supply store to make the moons. I have some weird plastic reinforcers, but I think the normal ones would work better. 

Lady NO! That's Diesel!

I just got home from a trip to the beach. My car is stalling randomly, so I took my grandmother's 2013 VW Passat TDI. Oh man! What a step up that was from my 2003 VW Jetta - manual transmission, busted headliner, stalling randomly. Don't get me wrong, Jade (my car) is pretty sweet when she wants to be, but she rarely wants to be lately. Anyway, my trip was made the first time I fueled up. The whole way to the gas station, I was giggling and saying "Lady No! That's diesel!!" I fueled up before I left the beach and drove about 250 miles (4 hours) on 5.344 gallons of fuel! There are so many fancy specs that come with this car. So fun! But I still think it's weird that the car starts moving on a flat surface when I take my foot off the break... Gotta love that manual transmission!

I MADE A SKIRT!

There's my skirt!

Pattern: Simplicity 2215

It has pockets! The pattern calls for an invisible zipper, but I used a "fashion" zipper (so said the packaging). The pattern also called for one of those invisible clasp things. I had buttons, so I rigged up a button loop. 

I actually made TWO skirts!

Here they are with their visible zippers and button clasps. Sewing on a zipper is quite the task! I would definitely get kicked out of fashion school for these! I'm very proud of them.

Here's the button loop...

And a diagram.

Dinner was amazing! We had Asian Chicken Stir-Fry with egg rolls. The egg rolls were from the Chinese restaurant down the road, so that was one less thing to worry about while cooking chicken in the skillet for the first time! Oh yeah, she used a wok, but I don't have a wok. The skillet worked fine, but my chicken was tough. I think that was due to the chef's lack of experience! From the words of Alanis Morissette, "you live, you learn." I also used some frozen veggies. They would have been crispier if I had used fresh veggies. The recipe also called for lard or peanut oil. I made do with coconut oil (side note below).

It sounds like I'm praising a dish I hardly made, but it's all in the sauce! That sauce was yummy! Yummy enough to overlook tough chicken and veggies that weren't as crispy as the could have been.

Coconut Oil: I use it all the time in my hair. Rub it in your hair about 30 min to an hour before you shower, focusing on the ends. Rinse well, and you will have amazingly soft, silky hair! I also put it on dry skin, lips, and nails. I pretty much bath in the stuff! It works.