Hmm, New Feature Idea?

I'm thinking of doing a new thing on Fridays, and calling it Friday Flashback. I'll dig in my OLD picture files (old being relative, as I'm only talking 2-4 years ago), and post up a few. Many of them will look pretty crappy, since I had no talent back then, and my clean-up was pretty atrocious at times. But hey, it just shows how far I've come with all that practice, right? So, today is going to be my first Friday Flashback, and I'll share a few comparisons of dark colors.

Help Me Out Ok?

Okay, so this week I was playing around with polish, and I got to thinking, maybe those of you who read could give me advice on the best way to swatch! I mean, I know what I like to see, but what about you? I have to say, my favorite swatches are those done by Crystal over at Valentine Kisses (Like, click here to see one of her nail polish swatch posts - SO AWESOME!). She also has a couple of giveaways, so you should go enter those before they end on the 31st and next month on the 14th, I think. Anyway, thing is, I'm not sure I can DO such a great job, I'm kinda limited on how much time I have (no really, it must take her HOURS to do those!!!), and I'm not that great with the camera. So I thought I'd show you the two methods I'm most likely to use, and ask you to tell me which you like better.

I Haven't Left!

Really, I'm still around, just been super busy, what with a new puppy, The Mate getting his new wheelchair, and attempting to get more work done on the house. So for tonight, let's just look at several pictures I've taken with my phone to share with my BFF.

Dude, I'm A Slacker!

Okay, not so much really, but I have been busy as heck what with the new pup and all the other things going on. Like, The Mate is getting a new power chair, so he'll be able to go place again! This is awesome, but meant I had to do some serious moving of things so he could use it in the house as well. And I'm not anywhere close to done with the things I need to get done around here, but you didn't come here to listen to me whine about that.

And I blew up my Greader, and am starting over so I can organize, so I will have to spend some time working on that too. So if I unfollowed you, it's not personal, and I'll be back! Possibly under my other gmail address, so that I can keep things organized, and maybe be able to comment on posts sooner. See, I sometimes wind up reading posts a week or more after they are posted, and I always feel strange about commenting so late, so I kinda don't do it, and then I feel bad that I'm not commenting on all your wonderful posts! Yucky spiral that is.

Of course, I also have lots of things I'd like to do with my blogs, and not nearly enough time to do them, which kinda sucks too. And editing pictures takes me quite a while, so I need to either get better at it or take less pictures. Yeah right, less pictures. That won't happen. I'd love to reorganize my Photobucket, but that would mean going back and correcting ALL my links, and I'm not sure I have the guts to try that. Too bad there isn't a way to automate that. And while I'm mentioning ambitions, I'd like to do some videos for my blogs, so that means a whole new set of things to learn, like how to edit them, and how to take decent ones. Not to mention get over how much I hate hearing myself talk. Haha.

So anyway, here I am with my first manicure of the year, three weeks later. If you're still reading, then jump on in and take a peek at what I did. I sure liked it.

Why I...

This is a nice writing prompt that I thought I'd try out. The idea is from SarahBee at MyOwnBeeswax. The premise is to finish the following thought: "Why I...". So it didn't take me long to think about a few things I could finish it with, and that leads us to the following post. But to make it fun, I'll include some polishes I haven't shown you yet. Let's jump right on in!

I'ma Fling Some Glitter!

I'm kinda having a crap day, so I thought I'd go get those holiday manicures and show them off, because that should help lift my spirits. I mean, how can thinking about what a great holiday we had be anything BUT good? So if you'd like to peek at a couple more NOTDs with Xmas colors etc, this is the place to do it!

Last Challenge Day!

So, this is where we get to choose one day that we want to recreate. I thought this would be really hard to decide, but I liked the one I did for yesterday's post so much I decided to do that one again. In different colors. Heck yeah! And get this - I went with pink. Because I wanted to use my new pink glitter polish from The Hungry Asian called I Hate Pink. I got the glitters she was selling, and I love them so much! And then, just look how it happened to work out - just look at what today is!

Let's go see how my pink looks!

Oooh, Like, A Whole Month!

So we've come to day 30 of the challenge, a mani inspired by a tutorial. Well, one of the ones I've liked best is this one over at the Indian Makeup & Beauty Blog. This Geometric Nail Art Tutorial is reasonably simple (anybody can do it!), and gorgeous. So why don't we take a peek at how I did?

Supernatural!

No, it's not ghosts, but it is a mani inspired by the supernatural. I wanted to try to find something a little less common, so rather than go with ghosts or haunting kinds of things, I went with something that was way supernatural in the past, but is kinda known nowadays. I chose St. Elmo's Fire, and tried to make it look like it was against the night sky.

St. Elmo’s fire sometimes looks similar to lightning but it is a separate meteorological phenomenon. Although called “fire,” St. Elmo’s fire is a luminous plasma that can glow a bright blue or violet. It can also appear like an eerie fire burning at the top of tall, pointed structures like ship masts or aircraft wings. It has also been reported on leaves, grass, and tips of cattle horns during a stampede.

Unlike the thunderous boom which follows lightning, St. Elmo’s fire can be heard “singing” on an aircraft’s radio, a frying hiss or buzzing sound running up and down the musical scale. It is often as a precursor to a lightning strike.

Sailors would regard St. Elmo’s fire with religious awe, an omen of heavenly intervention. It was named after St. Erasmus of Formiae, the patron saint of sailors. It has been recorded over the centuries, starting with the ancient Greeks, Julius Caesar, Columbus and Magellan. After Benjamin Franklin’s lightning rod, the phenomenon was seen more on land, sparking fear as the ghostly blue flames inspired stories of spirits and hauntings.

If you'd like to read more about it, and see some pictures, then just click on this sentence. Then, I'd love it if you'd check out my interpretation of St. Elmo's Fire on my nails.

Wave Your Flag!

Whoooo! We're up to day 28, and today's mani is one inspired by a flag. I've done American flags a few time, so I didn't want to go with that. I've seen plenty of British flags, and some others, and I kinda didn't want to do those. Finally I settled one one that I thought would be fun, and pretty, and that means something to me. I decided to go with the Czech Republic's flag. It's a clean and simple design. We're using some Czech commands for our dog. I have Czech ancestors in my bloodline. Seems like three is enough, right? You can click on this sentence to see info about the Czech Republic, with a picture of the flag.  So now let's see how I did this on my nails.

Almost Skipped Today's Post!

Since I'm all thinking about Jack and what's going on there, and what I can possibly do to help, I thought about passing over the challenge post, but I figured I'd go ahead and post it. I'll be reminding people until I'm blue in the face about it, and you probably don't know Jack, so you might want to see other stuff here too. But you'll have to click to see the pictures.

Not Really About Nail Polish

Okay, so you've heard me talk about The Band before. Well, if you've been reading you have. If not, then you should certainly be checking them out. Anyway, so last night one of the band members found out her son Jack has leukemia. Yeah, super serious stuff. Now it seems this is ALL, which is one of the "better" ones to have, but still, a 5 year old should NOT have to deal with this crud. So we're all teaming up to send our best wishes to him, and he's gonna KICK ASS and get healthy.

Now, I don't have any orange ribbons, so I'll have to post some orange polish for you to enjoy while I tell you more about what you might be able to do to help. Yes, YOU.

Did that bright orange polish catch your attention? Good. One of the most important things you can do to help out folks with leukemia is to join the Be A Match Registry. It won't cost you a penny during the month of January, because American Express has given a grant to cover the expenses (it normally costs $100, which may or may not be covered if there have been enough contributions). You could be a super man/woman to somebody out there if you are their match.

It may turn out that Jack doesn't need a transplant, but even if you don't happen to help him, you could help somebody else. Somebody's son or daughter. Somebody's brother, sister, or cousin. Somebody's best friend.

So, have further questions on what you'll need to do to join, or how this all works? Just check out their Frequently Asked Questions section. It's got everything you need to know.

Maybe you are ready RIGHT NOW to possibly help save a life? Then you can go here and follow the instructions to join.

Or are you one of those people who is already signed up, and just waiting for the call that asks you to help? Are you certain your information is up to date? If not, then you should head on over and make sure it is.

Perhaps you're like me, and are unable to join for some reason. I have psoriasis, and that precludes me from being able to help in this way. But take heart, there are other things you can do to get involved.

There are even several ways to donate money if that's how you prefer to do things.

Maybe you are reading all this and just not quite sure what leukemia is exactly, or how it can be treated. Well, the Band has put up a resource page that can help.

If you'd like to learn a bit more about Jack, and/or follow along, you can visit his Caring Bridge page. He's so adorable and sweet. No kid should have to go through this.

If you'd really like to send Jack a get well e-card or an email of support, just contact me, or any of the Band members for an email address. Or just leave a note at his Caring Bridge site Guest Book.

Band members have also started using the #jackonaut hash tag on twitter to send Jack messages of hope and light.

If you'd like to stick one of the cool buttons on your blog to show your support, even for just a day or so, you can grab it from the Band post. Well, that's about all I can think of for the moment. I'm going to dig up several orange polishes and wear them this week in Jack's honor - as well as all the other kids who are dealing with leukemia in their lives.

Oh, one last thing... if you're just itching to spend some money on something, here's Jack's Amazon wishlist. How about you, do you know somebody special who is going through a rough time? Maybe you can do something small to help lift their spirits.

It's Becoming A Pattern!

Well, more like I was inspired by a pattern, but who's keeping track of that kinda crap? Not me, that's for sure. So anyway, I was thinking that it would be nice to do something that I love, and I love stained glass. So I chose to be inspired by this pattern:

Seriously, how can you not think that's pretty awesome? So, let's take a peek and my take on this one!