Nails and a WHOLE LOTTA Random

Yeah, yeah - it's been another *cough* several days since I last blogged. Are you picking up on a new trend? Well, don't fret. (Surely, you were fretting.) I'm not abandoning ship altogether, just only blogging when I get the urge. The urge has become more sporadic in the last couple of months, admittedly, but this little internet space of mine means a bit too much for me to just cut it off completely.

Sidebar, who else actually learned the word "sporadic" from Alicia Silverstone back in 1995? G'wan. Admit it.

Today's blog is going to be a bit of a "life lately" word vomit, disguised as a nail polish post. Ready?

These nails were super spontaneous and weren't inspired by a single thing other than the color blue:

The bright blue, if you didn't already know by looking at it, is Pacific Blue by Sally Hansen - one of the most badass nail polish colors in the land. It's electric (boogie woogie woogie). My ring finger has 2 coats of Essie's Lapiz of Luxury topped with one coat of Green Tea by LA Colors. Green Tea is a really pretty mint-sparkle polish, but it's suuuuper sheer, so it's basically useless on its own.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I spent last week in Charleston, SC visiting my friend Simmons. Since my job allows me to work remotely, we were able to hang out for the week without either one of us taking any time off from work. We got in some great beach time at Folly Beach, and I got to meet his friends and check out downtown Charleston (which is adorable and packed with people at this time of year).

Random Folly story: A dude at one of the bars there told me I was his dream woman (specifically my freckles and nose ring), and then later actually said, "I'm a sailor and I sail out tomorrow. Can I have a kiss?" I was all, WTF? No. And does that actually work on people? He probably wasn't even a sailor. He probably just knew a guy who owned a pontoon boat. Is this seriously what the singles scene is like these days, people? FML.

On Memorial Day, I spent my day off kayaking on the Charles River, stopping by the display of 37,000 American flags in Boston Common, eating froyo from Orange Leaf, binge shopping at TJ Maxx (got two new summer dresses!), and capping things off with some Chipotle for dinner. Successful day? I dunno. Sure.

In other news completely, those five workout videos I filmed for the website I manage have now all been made live, and I've now gotten up the nerve to share them here in this blog. Watch them if you want to. Even better, give them a thumbs up or share them or leave a comment. A nice comment, not a troll comment. You can keep those.

• Intense TRX Interval for Your Core
• Perfect Upper Body Sculpt 
• Tone Your Abs & Back with One Sizzling Exercise 
• Fat Blasting Leg Workout 
• Strengthen Your Abs FAST

The pool at my apartment building opened up, so I've been spending some time out there, tryna catch a tannnn. But a sensible tan, because I've been applying sunscreen (SPF 30 or higher) like a good girl and do not intend to get a sunburn this year. Skin cancer is common as shit and in most cases preventable, so allow me to remind you: Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. SPF = BFF.

On Tuesday night I went to a Fashionably Featured party on the roof deck of the Revere Hotel in downtown Boston. It was honestly just a reason to get dressed up and wear one of the pairs of heels that are sitting in my closet, not getting enough play.

Speaking of playing in heels, I have two more reasons to get dressed up this weekend:  My good friend April has a bridal shower tomorrow on Cape Cod, and my friend Linden is getting married in Pittsfield on Sunday. I'm going to dash across the state from one to the other, so lots of driving for me in the next couple of days! Good thing I just brought my car in for an oil change the other day... and came out $300+ later with a new muffler, too. Funny how that happens, innit?

Alright that should suffice for life updates for now. I have written a large amount of my Panama blog, but haven't finished it yet. Maybe that'll be my next trick!

Hope you guys have a great weekend - PEAAAAAAAACE.

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SUP??! Nails 'n Other Things

It's been quiet around here this month... and that's primarily because I haven't felt like blogging. Simple as that, haha! Hey, it's my blog, I'll ignore it when I want to.

Normally even when I'm being neglectful of my blog, I still manage to put up a nail polish post every Friday. Well I have also become quite lax with that, as you can see. Lack of inspiration plus tired cuticles have left my nails looking like the red-headed step child of my hands. This week, however, inspiration suddenly struck, and I bounded to my nail polish box to pick out some colors. Then this happened:

.  shattered and splattered  .

Ugh. My pent-up nail polish excitement got the better of me, apparently. I spent over 2 hours cleaning up the glass shards and green polish splatter of that mess. And it was a bottle of Sinful Colors Mint Apple, to boot - one of my absolute favorite greens. #Balls.

Irked, but not unbowed, I decided to press onwards with getting a nail polish post up this week and seeing my inspiration to fruition. Here's what I finally ended up with:

Two of the polishes used in today's post are brand new as of yesterday. My intention at CVS was to replace an old bottle of Essie's Turquoise & Caicos, but once I was there in front of the display Mint Candy Apple was suddenly the more appealing shade to me. And so a game-time decision was made, and the mint won out over the turquoise. (Interestingly, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Sinful Colors Mint Apple that had met such an untimely demise earlier in the week. Nothing at all. It appears these nail polish companies are just terribly un-clever when it comes to naming their light greens.)

The other new polish I picked up is Essie's Mod Square - a strawberry-bubblegum sort of hot pink, free of any shimmer or iridescence. Together, Mint Candy Apple and Mod Square look BEAUTIFUL. A perfect summer pairing.

I used 2 coats of Mint Candy Apple on my thumb, pointer and pinky nails. My middle finger has 2 coats of NYC's High Line Green, and my ring finger has 2 coats of Sinful Color's Snow Me White, topped with polka dots of Mod Square.

Besides already peeling off every single one of the above-pictured nails in record time, here are a few other things I've been up to since you last heard from me:

• Lots of gym time (though, sorry, no workout blogs... mreh)
• Checked out the opening day of the SoWa Open Market in Boston's South End neighborhood, which runs every Sunday from now till October
• Went out for tacos and mojitos on Cinco de Mayo with Kara and her boyfriend Kyle
• Dined out at some good restaurants around Cambridge (including The Friendly Toast and Firebrand Saints)
• Kayaked on The Charles River with my friends (I subsequently purchased a season pass at a great discount with a Groupon)

• Quick trip home to Pittsfield to surprise my mom for Mother's Day and visit the rest of my family
• Caught up on the Game of Thrones episodes I missed while in Panama, as well as the latest episode
• Took a 1-hour free trial boxing class at The Ring Boxing Club in Boston (SUCH a good workout - I was absolutely drenched in sweat)

.  source  .

• Attended my first Pilates & Yoga on the Hill at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown (Kara and I went on a yoga night)

I suppose I've also been eating a fair amount of ice cream sandwiches, if I'm being totally honest. And binge shopping. Whoops?

So that's what's up and what's on my nails, all in one fell swoop. I hope it was worth the wait.

What are you rocking on your nails this week?
Have you picked up any new polishes lately?
What's the most exciting thing you've done/eaten/heard/seen in the last few weeks?!

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Craft Club #5: Floral Arrangements

Goodness, I almost forgot to post a recap of Craft Club #5!!!! WHAT IN THE HELL WAS I THINKING?! *Slaps self on the wrist*..... *Immediately thinks of slap bracelets*.... *giggs*

First of all, yes - I'm back from my trip to Panama, and YES - it was AMAZEBALLS. I've still been getting back into "non-vacation mode" brain, which means I haven't even bothered blogging about any of it yet or editing pictures. I'll get to it, obviously. And when I do - I suspect you'll know about it.

Anyway, back to Craft Club. In late March, my friend Kim hosted our monthly craft seshhhh, and this time we were learning some basics about floral arrangements! Fun bonus fact: Kim was super preggers at the time, but she has since given birth to a bouncing baby boy named Benjamin. I haven't officially met him yet, but I assume he's the best.

Joined at Kim's house by Abby, Jenna, and Anna, we spent a late weekend morning/early afternoon munching on brunch foods, gabbing, and arranging beautiful flowers into glass vases.

Kim had prepped for the day by purchasing a ton of flowers -  blue and white hydrangeas, cream, yellow and pink roses, green and white mums, and hypericums for accents. She also happened to have about a million spare glass vases around her home, thanks to her wedding last summer! #Recycle.

Admittedly, we spent most of the time chatting and eating. The food spread for the day was spot-on: fruit salad, 2 different types of homemade quiche, donuts, Waldorf salad... mmm!

A couple of the tricks/tips that Kim taught us...

1. Arranging flowers in 3's (triangles) makes the overall look balanced, rather than rigidly symmetrical. For example, the pink roses in the below pic are forming a triangle (even though the one in the upper right is hiding a bit!):

2. Don't be afraid to wind/weave the stems of flowers into each other. You don't need them each to stand up beside each other like soldiers. LET THEM MINGLE!

Here are all of the finished arrangements from the day.... though I can't for the life of me remember whose is whose! Mine is the only one I know for sure - it's the top-center in this picture:

Another successful Craft Club with good food, good friends, good conversation, and good creativity! I believe the next one will involve drawing/coloring/picnicking out by the Charles River in Cambridge, and I am very much looking forward to it!

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