Top 14 Polishes of '14

Whoops, it's been nearly a year since I posted.  Oh well.  Not that much has changed.  Dex has a new job where he doesn't have to work graves anymore-so that's awesome.  Everything else is the same.

So this is silly, but this has been the year of the nail polish obsession.  It was riduculous how much I loved nail polish this year.  Dex had to put me on a polish budget to keep me in check.  Anyway, I wanted to share my picks of the top polishes from this year.  These all were released during 2014, so most are still available (except for the indies).  Here are, in no particular order, the top 14 of '14:

Zoya Ling

I love this blue.  It is nearly a 1 coater polish with vivid color that is bright, but not quite neon.  It's stunning on pale skin and is the perfect ocean blue shade.

OPI Kermit Me to Speak

This is a lovely gold-lavender duochrome.  The color shift is amazing!  Because it changes colors, it's just a little wild, but the gold makes it office appropriate.

Zoya Sansa

This is a dark purple with a gold fleck and it is stunning.  It looks like royalty on your nails.

Superchic Nail Lacquer You Don't Know Jack About My Beans

Picture Source

This one is a artichoke green with holographic glitter and a very strong copper shimmer throughout it.  It is wild and very unique.  I love all the dimension in this one.

OPI Green on the Runway

This color is supposedly inspired by Sprite, but I don't see it.  It is a reddish-brown, emerald duochrome.  It's super metallic and vivid.  The color shift is astounding on this one.

OPI Christmas Gone Plaid

This is a forest green.  It almost looks black, but is noticibly green in all lighting.  I love this winter color!

Hare Polish the Hill Abduction

This one is probably my favorite of the year, but it's also the hardest to get your hands on. (Sorry!)  It's based on an alien abduction and has holographic green, metallic blue, and matte lime green glitters in a greyish teal base.  It's very strange and yet breathtaking-just like aliens maybe?

China Glaze Boundary of Memory

Picture Source

This one is a stunning opaque glitter that is black, silver, and dark brown.  It sounds weird but looks stunning as an accent nail.

OPI I Sao Paulo Over There

This one is a 1-coater subtle taupe that is simple and classy with any outfit.

Zoya Yuna

Stony grey with a gold shimmer, Yuna is a one-of-a-kind color combo.  When I wore this, I couldn't stop staring at my nails.  It's such a unique and elegant color.

Hare Polish When the Melting Clock Strikes Midnight

This one is brand new because it was released for New Year's Eve (and yes, it is what I'm rocking tonight).  It is subtle because it is in a white base with blue, maroon, and gold flakes in it.  It looks like granite or marble on your nails.

Pipe Dream Polish Empyrean

I had a small medical procedure this year.  They didn't put me under for it so I wore this to distract me from the pain.  It did the job.  This stunner is so complex that you could study it for hours and not see all the colors in it.

Zoya Rocha

Is it red or is it orange?  I'm not sure, but Rocha is a fiery color that got me a lot of compliments. 

OPI Live Love Carnival

This is a pink-leaning coral that just screams summer.  It's bright and playful.

There you go.  All the pictures came from the companies' websites unless otherwise noted.  Any other nail polish addicts out there?

Websites:

Zoya

OPI

China Glaze

Superchic Nail Lacquer

Pipe Dream Polish

Hare Polish

Book Club Friday (a day late)

Linking up for the first time to Blonde...Undercover Blonde's Book Club Friday.  I check out the recommendations every week, but I haven't had the guts to post until now.  It's Saturday, but better late than never, right?!

Being crippled has given me lots of reading time.  I think that is the one and only good thing about not being able to walk.  (Okay, one of two things-having the hubby come to my rescue and carry me down the stairs is super romantic-like fairy tale romantic)

This week, I finished Stolen by Lucy Christopher.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:  "Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from the Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback.  Ty, her captor, is no stereotype.  He is young, fit, and completely gorgeous.  This new life in the wilderness has taken years of planning.  He loves only her, wants only her.  Under the force of the hot Australian sun, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?"

I'd give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars.  It was good, not super great.  The book got a little slow in the middle.  I kept wanting to know what was going on at Gemma's home.  Was her family still looking for her?  I also wanted to learn more about Ty-he's an intriguing character.  You hate him, and then like and pity him, and then hate him again.  It was a bit exhausting   I couldn't decide if I liked him, sympathized with him, or if I thought he was a creeper.  My confusion for Ty actually is what made me keep reading when the rest of the book got slow.

All in all, it's an okay read.  It's pretty long and the writing style (a letter to Ty) gets rather irritating at times, but the premise is interesting and the setting is breathtaking.  I enjoyed it, but I won't be reading it again.

What did you read this week?

Updates

Not sure what to say.  I haven't updated this blog in ages.  I've been focusing on my craft blog instead.  It has grown a lot-I am a regular designer for two different websites and a guest designer for two others.

Dex is in his last semester of school and has already had some companies express their interest in hiring him once he graduates.  Things are looking up.

Well, they were looking up, until last Saturday.  I tripped and tore ALL the major tendons in my left foot.  It hurts...a lot.  It hurts more than any pain I've ever felt before.  Actually, THIS site can explain it better.  (Warning-the link cusses a bit.  Another warning-the link is highly addictive; get ready to waste lots of time)  I currently feel like a 6.  Before my doc gave me painkillers, I felt like an 8 or 9.  Sorry to rant.  I'm just so tired of being tough.  I hate not knowing anything either.  I will be meeting with an orthopedic surgeon on Monday.  Hopefully then I will find out if I need surgery and also how long I will be on crutches.

As I said before, I'm sorry.  I just wanted to rant for a bit.  This really really really sucks.  At least I've got Dex.  He is so patient and supportive.  That boy has been so selfless this week.  He is so sweet and understanding too.  I am the luckiest wife ever.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  Here's a pic of our mini tree.

Wishing you and your family a safe and fun-filled holiday season.

Upstanding Citizens by Day, Zombie Killers by Night

It's finally summer break!  School ended last Friday, and I'm so excited to relax.  Dex has some free range time at Impact Guns, and ladies shoot for free on Tuesdays, so we hit the shooting range to kick off the summer fun.

Sportsman's Warehouse sells these hilarious zombie targets, so I begged Dex to buy some.

Dex started off practicing his trigger control, so he used a regular target (the party pooper).  He needed a target that allowed him to easily see his groupings. 

I, however went straight to zombie slaying.  Everyone knows zombies are only killed by head shots (which makes no sense considering that zombies don't use their brains, but whatever).

I was super proud of my shooting.  I'm actually getting really accurate with Dex's pistol.

Eventually, even Dex got in on the zombie action.  He's much better at finishing off the undead than I am.

We're completely ready for the impending zombie apocalypse.

If you haven't heard, I'm the new Saturday poster at Free Digital Stamps.  Hop on over and see the freebies.  If you find any that I missed, let me know.

Thought for the Day

Spring is in the Air

(Completely off topic-Anyone else thrown off my Blogger's new design?  I am still trying to figure it out.)

It's been beautiful weather lately.  Dex and I decided to visit Thanksgiving Point to see the flowers blooming and soak up some Vitamin D.

It was absolutely stunning there.

It was great to spend the day soaking up the sun and the view.

The sights were stunning.  There were dozens of kinds of tulips that I had never seen before.  There were giant ones, multi colored ones, black ones, and my favorite, these gem colored textured ones.

There was an Italian garden, a secret garden built like the book, and even a grove with bronze statues of Christ.

A great way to spend a Saturday.

Emergency Preparedness

Friday was faculty meeting at WPJH. During the meeting, the administration informed us that there will be a state-wide earthquake drill on Tuesday. (Yes, every school in the state will have a drill on Tuesday. The state legislature has finally realized that we live along a fault line and it might be a good idea to train teachers on how to handle this not so unimaginable emergency.) After some earthquake evacuation training, the administration asked the teachers to examine their classrooms for any earthquake dangers and create a plan for the worst case scenario.

This is the ceiling in my room.

Honestly, you can't even see the worst of it. There's three rows of those metal hanging lights, a maze of ventilation pipes (for chemical spills), skylight windows, and the janitors store building supplies in that gap in the drywall in the ceiling. (P.S. That's just the ceiling. I've got cupboards lining the walls full of rocks and chemicals. There's a radioactive storage bin behind my desk, glassware throughout the room, and I'm on the top floor of the school.) Forget worst case scenario-realistically, I think it's safe to say that everyone in my classroom during a earthquake is doomed to die.

So I called Dex to let him know that I've learned how my life will end-in a bloodbath earthquake at school. How does he respond? By buying me this:

That's a plastic hard hat that he found at the dollar store. Sometimes, my husband is too sarcastic for his own good. He wants me to wear it during the drill on Tuesday. Think I should?

Some of you have asked what my students do in class. So I thought that I'd share. Here's my 8th graders Rube Goldberg Machine designs. They had to design a machine that could do a simple task.

This is a gravity powered salad maker.

This one is a specialized toilet flusher.

Here's a water cycle mural. It hangs above my desk.

Last one. Here's my 7th grade students. Well their highly creative self portraits at least.

Sometimes, I suspect that I would've made a better art teacher... At the very least, I think it would be safer.

Happy Holidays (three months late)!

Ok, I confess, I love everything about Christmas. And even though I haven't updated since last summer, when I looked through my pictures, I knew that I couldn't skip a Christmas post. So here you go!

Here's our adorable mini tree.

I'd never gone to see the lights on temple square until Dex and I were dating and we went with my singles ward. When Dexter found out that I'd never been, he made it a goal to take me each year. We did fairly good until this year. I'm at school until usually after 6:00 or 7:00 at night and Dex had night classes and a crazy work schedule, so we ended up not going down to SLC. Instead we went to Christmas Village in Ogden on Christmas Eve:

Honestly, I think that I prefer Christmas Village to Temple Square. It's less crowded and has such a fun, small-town atmosphere with the little houses to visit. Guess I'll always be an Ogden girl.

Christmas morning was fun. Dex was extremely excited. So was Cali, our spoiled rotten cat. Dex and I pooled our gift money and splurged on a new TV for our apartment. Cali got a feather toy which she promptly insisted we play with her using it.

Here's Dexter; he's super excited that it's Christmas.

This is who I spent most of Christmas Day with:

Seriously, have you ever seen prettier ladies than these two? I think this is my favorite Christmas picture of all.