Happy Halloween!

Here is my Halloween wreath- oh yeah. 

Moselle Happy Haunting Banner!

And my spider pumpkin.

Grilled Zucchini Y'all

So, this weekend the boyfriend was grilling steaks. I asked him to grill the zucchini too, please. Now, he had a myriad of questions to ask about how I would be preparing this zucchini as he is not a huge fan (he find it can by a tad too mushy in texture). I told him I would brush it with olive oil, then dust it with garlic salt and pepper, he will grill it, then a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese would top it off. Miraculously, he agreed to partake in the grilled zucchini. I LOVED IT! It was so yummy I think I could eat it everyday. That's all.

Enjoy!

Pretty much a book review, but not quite: An Unquiet Mind

Long had I lain thus, craving death,

When quietly the earth beneath

Gave way, and inch by inch, so great

At last had grown the crushing weight,

Into the earth I sank till I

Full six feet under ground did lie,

And sank no more,—there is no weight

Can follow here, however great.

From off my breast I felt it roll,

And as it went my tortured soul

Burst forth and fled in such a gust

That all about me swirled the dust.

-Millay, Renascence

This is an excerpt from a poem Jamison mentioned in her book; she said that it described her cyclic journey into madness. I felt these lines were very representative of her battle with moods, going from desiring death to having hypomania swirling about her in a gusty, yet invigorating way. Jamison’s journey into madness, as she puts it, and her recurring struggle with managing her intense moods, was the focus of the book. I unquestionably learned a great deal from her; not only did I acquire knowledge about manic-depressive illness (or bipolar, as it is referred to in the DSM-IV-TR), but also about my own, personal and intrinsic beliefs about the mental illness and its symptoms.

It seemed as if Jamison’s very clear intention in writing the book was education: furthering the public’s knowledge about the illness was a goal she had always worked for. This goal became more evident after her conversation with Mogens Schou, where the two related over having personal experience with the illness as their driving force in learning more about it and helping those who have manic-depressive disorder. I felt there was an underlying motivation, one of a more personal nature, which also showed itself in Jamison’s overall intent in writing the book. She mentioned numerous times her fear of ‘outing’ herself by revealing her illness to her all of her colleagues, and to the general public, for fear of having her clinical privileges rescinded, or for being termed ‘inappropriate,’ ‘unstable,’ or, ‘biased’ in her work. Throughout her life she has experienced positive and negative reactions from friends and co-workers when revealing her illness, and it seemed as if this book was another way to reveal herself, and still see that she can be taken seriously as a professional and as a person. I appreciated all reasons for her writing this book, and I am sure there are more intentions in publishing it than what I named.

I have been in the mental and behavioral health field for about four years, working with children and adolescents. Although I have contact with adults (families and parents), I usually do not obtain their psychiatric history, so I have not experienced anyone who has described a full-blown manic episode. I have completed assessments with children who I believe had hypomanic episodes; but the symptoms in children can be displayed in very different ways than in adults. I was intrigued from the very beginning, as part of me thought that there were very few people who actually has such intense manic (and depressive) episodes. Additionally, I had my own biases turned topsy turvy after reading this. I work with people who have AHCCCS (Arizona’s version of Medicaid,) so many of the people I work with on a daily basis do not have the higher education that Jamison did, and I will admit that I had a personal assumption that people with such a ferocious variety of mental illness would have difficulty functioning day to day. Although she mentions the struggle to work, among other daily life activities while in her depressive states, she generally can maintain her typical day to day life activities, and I think she does so with grace. The fact that she was able to obtain tenure in the midst of such an intense illness definitely says that my initial thought was wrong, that people with mental illness can handle and succeed in high stakes jobs that are filled with stress and crucial obligations.

I would say the biggest lesson I learned in reading this book, even before the lesson was stated explicitly, was that of suicide and my thoughts connected to its meaning. I grew up being told and thinking that suicide was a selfish way out, and that one attempted suicide because it was easier than other ways of treating or dealing with problems. I vividly recall Jamison stating that she felt she was an immense and undue burden to her family, friends, and at times colleagues and her psychiatrist. She felt that it would be better for them if she no longer had to be watched and taken care of, and not to mention that she didn’t see a purpose to live when she was experiencing her black depressions. While reading this section I had a mini-epiphany, if you will. I realized that people who are suicidal may not be thinking only of themselves, but of helping others by ridding their loved ones from the turmoil and stress they feel they are causing. Suicide may not always be a selfish act, I learned that the person may feel they are being considerate of others while ridding themselves of their own personal pain. For this reason alone I would highly recommend this book to others. I feel that there is an abundance of reasons to recommend this book, in addition to the aforementioned: advocacy to reduce stigma, education that mental illness does not mean a person is bad (sometimes they have little or no control over what we call symptoms), this book taught me to be a better friend, and probably a better person (in reacting and interacting with others), and lastly, I believe I have a renewed passion for my work and my life in general.

Initially I would say I felt that her target audience was people who were interested in manic-depressive disorder, but after completing the book I feel that her audience is of a wider birth, perhaps extending to skeptics, those with the illness, practitioners, and lay people who are looking for an honest memoir to read. I feel like this would be an interesting read to spark an interest in beginning social workers. I think she makes an excellent point, which all of us need to remember about many mental illnesses, “It is an illness that it biological in its origins, yet one that feels psychological in the experience of it.” I think that we too often forget that point and at times believe that people with such an illness are acting certain ways because they chose to, not because their body is compelling them to do so.

Another aspect of the book that I adored was her penchant for telling us that creative and different people are not crazy. I loved that her undergraduate professor told her that her Rorschach responses were creative and he praised her, instead of condemning her for having such ‘out of the box’ remarks. I agree with her in the sense that if we do find a gene that is connected to this illness and it can be tested for before birth, that people may chose not to proceed with the pregnancy, thus shrinking the potential number of such (possibly and potentially) great minds. It is a personal belief that many of society’s greatest discoveries  could have only been found by people who don’t think like ‘normal’ people. 

I am not very familiar with the disorder or being in remission from it, but I did notice a pattern. She seemed to go into remission when she was less stress (in London or Scotland), it was when she felt free and happy. I wonder if remission is related to environment and if so how we can use this to benefit treatment. Lastly, her discussion on wording, labeling, and stigma have a very direct thread to class discussion. I enjoyed her idea of calling the illness what the person who has it wants to call it. I think this adds to the  idea of empowering the person also.

I would highly recommend this book to others. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I took a lot from reading it. I am not sure that there is anything I would change about the book, I think its strengths of teaching lessons we can all benefit from learning, and whatever weaknesses it may have, are a lovely metaphor to her life, it is made better only with both present. 

Green Chili, cheese, & olive chicken

I made green chili with cheese and olive chicken tonight.

I got the recipe from this great blog, For the Love of Cooking  loaded with delish recipes. I made one small change, I used fresh green chilies and roasted them on the grill instead of using canned ones. I get my chilies from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) which provides shared of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables. Being part of the CSA has been great for me, it forces me to not only cook, but cook using produce I may not normally buy. If you feel like joining the Tucson CSA, or just perusing the website for more info, click here, Tucson CSA.

The verdict: good! I would probably add more green chili and more cheese next time, but I think that is just because I love both of those ingredients. Definitely serve this with black beans or something. I will make this again. 

Happy eating. 

Alright, it’s cake pop time. Yes, I am rather aware that I’m behind on this new (to my kitchen) trend. And this will not be a tutorial (although I will include the link to the tutorial I used),  this is more like me experience with making these treats.

I used the tutorial on Cake Pops Recipe. I used a pretty basic one, but if you feel adventurous this site has tons of different flavors and styles of cake pops.

I have made these suckers (pun intended) twice. I had a par-tay, and made them for that, but also made them a month prior to the party to get a feel for how it would go.

I like the recipe, and I think I finally found out what makes these babies really pop (yes, another pun, which was again intended).  So, the tutorial says that you need to add about half a container of icing, I found I needed ¾ to 1 container of icing. I personally love cream cheese frosting so I used it the first time I made these. I (and others) found the pops to be good, but very rich. The next time I made them I used a buttercream frosting, which was exponentially better in mine and others opinions. The buttercream allowed the pops to have a lighter taste and texture which was very lovely.

I would suggest, like the tutorial, to keep the cake balls to about 1 inch in diameter, this size seemed to be great, one bite and not too big/heavy so that the cake balls fall off the candy stick.

Next, I definitely recommend chilling the cake balls in the refrigerator overnight to firm up. I never tried it without doing this, but I am also a rather anxious person who assumes that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, especially when it is remotely related to me being in the kitchen.

Another tip, do not forget to dip the sticks in melted chocolate before inserting the stick into the cake balls. I happened to forget on half the batch for the party and believe me, we have more than a handful of casualties.

I got my melting chocolate from Michaels (craft store). The regular and dark chocolate melted perfectly fine in the microwave, but the white chocolate did not. I tried to elt the white chocolate in the microwave (because it said on the package I could) but it burnt. So the next time we used a double boiler to melt it and this worked great. Sid note: With the double boiler I needed an assistant (my wonderful boyfriend) because the chocolate needed to be stirred often.

I put my cake pops in the refrigerator to cool and then I would put clear candy wrappers around the pops.

The first day or work, which includes making the cake and the balls takes about 2-3 hours (this includes baking and cooling time). The next and final day takes about 1-2 hours, depending on how many pops are made.

Good luck and enjoy!!

The Picture of Dorian Gray: Book Review

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a thought-provoking novel that vacillates between ambling, seemingly directionless conversation and a riveting narrative thread that eventually bubbles up to the surface with the intensity of a volcanic eruption. The Picture of Dorian Gray, though not much more than a century old, has already been deemed a “classic” by literature-lovers, and after reading the book, I can understand its status. Wilde’s command of the English language is almost unparalleled in recent literature. I heard about this book when I was 20, there was a local band who called themselves Dorian Gray. And, with my love of classic books, I decided it was time to snuggle up with the book. The gist of the plot is: Dorian Gray is a young man whose physical appearance is particularly handsome and innocent. A friend and aspiring artist paints a beautiful portrait of Dorian. Dorian makes a wish that he would always look like his youthful appearance in the portrait and the picture would age with time. The wish is realizes and Dorian remains the same – youthful and charming, while the portrait begins to transform itself into the image of his soul. When Dorian embraces a life of hedonism, he uses his good looks and charm to obtain whatever he desires in life. Over a period of twenty years, Dorian becomes a monster on the inside (which is reflected by the portrait of his soul) even as he remains youthful and innocent on the outside. Dorian’s hedonism is triggered by his first meeting with Lord Henry Wotton, who says to him that the only way to rid oneself of a temptation is to give in to it( because if we resist it our soul will grow sick with longing for forbidden desires). The book is like a snowball if you will, it starts out small and slow going, the deeper into the book you get, the bigger and faster the snowball gets. The beginning of the book is filled with curious ideas and sayings from the devious Lord Henry, but then the book goes onto vague descriptions of Dorian’s self indulging behaviors. Near the end I did not want to put the book down.
Side notes:::

Spider Dream

Alright, dream blog again. About a month ago I had a dream that the boyfriend and I were asleep on the couch. I wake up to find a large spider creeping down on a skinny little string of spide-y silk, just creeping from the pull string of the ceiling fan. The spider is this oversized, Cyclopes-like creature as it has only one bulging eye, with black and white striped furry legs. Pete (the boyfriend) woke up after hearing my shrill scream, as I’m not a fan of spiders (in real life or in my dreams). Pete then grabs the spider, rushes to the kitchen, where he washes it and then runs over to me, coddling the creature in between his closed palms, and I’m backed into a corner. He then outstretches his arms as if he has some lovely parcel to present to me, but unfortunately the parcel is still the spider, all curled up in Pete’s hands as he bestows it to me. As he does this I yell, “NO! You are crossing my boundaries!” And then the dream abruptly ends.
I could do my own dream interpretation, but it’s been too long, so I will let the internet do the interpreting on this one. First off,
Spider: According to Dreammoods.com, to see a spider in your dream, indicates that you are feeling like an outsider in some situation. Or perhaps you want to keep your distance and stay away from an alluring and tempting situation. The spider is also symbolic of feminine power or an overbearing mother figure in your life. Alternatively, a spider refers to a powerful force protecting you against your self-destructive behavior. If you kill a spider in your dream, then it symbolizes misfortune and bad luck. To see a spider spinning a web in your dream, signifies that you will be rewarded for your hard work. You will be promoted in your job or recognized for your achievement in a difficult task. Spiders are also a symbol of creativity due to the intricate webs they spin. On a negative note, spiders may indicate a feeling of being entangled or trapped in a sticky or clingy relationship. It represents some ensnaring and controlling force. You feel that someone or some situation is sucking the life right out of you. Alternatively, if a spider is spinning a web in your dream, then it could be a metaphor for the world wide web and global communication. To see a spider climbing up a wall in your dream, denotes that your desires will be soon be realized.
Wash: According to Dreammoods.com, To dream that you are washing yourself, indicates that you are proud of your social life and personal endeavors. You may even receive some recognition and prestige. Alternatively, the dream represents the cleansing away of unhappy experiences or neglected emotions in your life. You are ready to make a fresh new start. To dream that you are washing your hands, suggests that there is a worrisome issue that you need to work through. Alternatively, the dream suggests that you are not taking responsibility for some matter. You need to let go of old emotions and past relationships. It is time to get the negativity out of your system.
Coddle: There was no real interpretation for coddle, but the definition according to Encarta dictionary, to coddle is to treat somebody in an excessively protective and indulgent way, which is exactly what I felt Pete was doing to that silly spider.
Present: And lastly, according to Dreammoods.com, to dream that you receive a gift, indicates that you are being rewarded and recognized for your generosity and giving nature. You are held in high esteem by those around you. If someone gives you an inappropriate gift, then it suggests that you are the subject of unwelcome attention from someone. If you dream that you give someone an inappropriate gift, then it suggests that your true nature will eventually be exposed. To open a gift and find something disgusting inside, symbolizes disappointments or unexpected failures.
What I can gather from the above info, is this:
I’m a feminist that feels like an outsider at times. I saw a string of a spider silk, not a whole web, so that can related to creativity and feeling trapped, but not fully since there was not a full-blown web, so possibly I was feeling like I wanted to be more creative than I was being at the time. Pete washing the spider could mean that Pete was giving me his blessing for a new start to something and he was helping me push the negativity away (how supportive is this ‘dream boyfriend’?!). The fact that he coddled his ‘blessing’ to me for a new start, shows that he really is supportive, and is willing to protect me during this cleansing of bad and the bringing in of the new awesomeness (whatever that may be, haven’t figured that part out yet). Lastly, how Pete presents me with the spider, that part is more confusing. I am receiving a gift (to him it is an awesome gift for me), which means that I am being rewarded or essentially I am appreciated by those around me. But the fact that I thought the gift was disgusting represents failures. Perhaps the disconnect is in the perception, I feel like I will fail at this new start, but Pete, consistent as he is in the dream, is still showing me his appreciation and how much he recognizes my strengths. I’m not sure what this new beginning is yet, maybe this was a premonition dream and I have something new and fun to come, or perhaps I’m just not very observant and the negativity has already been pushed aside and my fresh beginning has begun without my realizing it. I’ll keep you updated!

Pinwheels!

My workplace recently went thru RIFs, more officially known as a reduction in force. I wanted to help cheer my co-workers up, and was digging on this pinwheel garland (courtesy of Hoosier Homemade).

Using the tutorials below I was able to make this picture an an office reality.

http://hoosierhomemade.com/pinwheel-garland-how-to-tutorial/

http://createstudio.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-make-pinwheel.html

I bought my materials at Michaels:
• Scrapbook paper
• Twine
• Stick glue
• Mini clothespins
• Mini brads
I also needed scissors and patience, as this was slightly more tedious and time consuming than I initially expected (but totally worth it!).

I glued paper together so it was double sided...

then cut the 12x12 paper into 4x4 squares.

Then folded and cut them as directed in the tutorials.

Using these adorable brads, I clasped the corners to the middle to make the pinwheels.

The almost final product... all they need is to be strung with mini clothespins!

And here is the garland, I added personalized notes and hung them on people's doors....think it went well!

On being a 50's housewife.....

Recently I have been drawn to the fifties, cooking, aprons, baking, and other such nonsense. I have never been a great, or even good cook at that, but when my mother dearest mentioned wanting an apron and I began browsing, I was met with an onslaught of adorable and vintage inspired aprons. I knew immediately I must possess one. But, I was not sure I deserved such an apron, especially when I thought back to the fifties when the women who wore such garments were household masterminds. Their house (at least in my imagination and on the tele) were immaculate, their cooking superb, their husbands happy, and their children were well mannered and well groomed, all the while wearing a splendid pair of heels, and of course, a coordinating apron. So, with that in mind, I set out a few tests to see if I was a worth candidate for such a charming apron. Since I am neither a wife nor a mother (to humans, to dogs I am a mother) I figured my trials should revolve around the kitchen, cooking and baking to be exact, because as I mentioned before, neither of these are my strong suits. I decided I would attempt three recipes: the first was a pasta dish where I actually had to chop vegetable (fresh from the farmer’s market) and I had to peel and cook fresh garlic, for the first time ever. My next task was to make a quiche; my quiche of choice was a green chile, mushroom, onion, and blue cheese quiche. And last was my mission to bake something other than just a cake out of a box; so I made cake pops! All of the dishes were successful, and I will later be posting the recipes and how the actual experience of cooking went for me, because now my main focus is the prize of the apron! So I began browsing for my apron...

There was this adorable cupcake inspired one from Flirty Aprons

Or this black and white gingham with red accents, which is a very classic option, from Vintage Aprons

And my last choice was a white and teal, slightly krafty style apron, from Anthropolgie

I decided on the last one, not because it was the cutest, because they were pretty much tied in my book, but because of convenience. I went down to the store and took it home instead of waiting to have one shipped! I was just that excited.

That got me thinking about other inspiration from that era, and how I can incorporate the awesomeness of vintage style, home and fashion, into my daily life. Here are a few pictures of what I would like to be like as a mom and wife, perhaps not quite so naughty, or perhaps that naughty, one never knows….

I mean, that picture up there is just so frigging adorable.

I loved the idea of this picture,

My modernized version of this would be me, in a retro-inspired kitchen with appliances from
Big Chill
My ideal kitchen would look something like this

or this, sans the red paint,

And I could be wearing something this stunning

With my hair up like this

Or for a more modern version, without the poof....

Ahhh, it seems like a dream to have that kind of kitchen, to look that elegant while cooking, and to maintain such a high standard of flawlessness without turning into a wretched, wicked Stepford wife...

Book Review: Anthropology of an American Girl

Let us begin with the NPR book review, and then we can end with my version of a book review.

A Beguiling Book Debuts For The Second Time
by JESSA CRISPIN

May 26, 2010
Bloated. Self-indulgent. Clichéd. These are the common traps of self-published books, those that never make it into the hands of a gimlet-eyed editor, someone willing to sacrifice pretty prose for the sake of the overall work. In 2003, Hilary Thayer Hamann published her novel Anthropology of an American Girl through her own press. It became something of a sleeper success, and seven years later, it is now being reprinted by the Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau. Clocking in at 624 pages and covering a few years in the life of teenager Eveline Auerbach in closeup detail, it suffers from all of the problems that can befall the self-published.
And yet there is something so beguiling, so charming about the book. At first you might reject it like a sugary pop song, but you will find yourself singing along a few days later. Anthropology is so very, very long, and yet it continues to beckon after you think you've finished with it. It becomes ensnared in that Twilight-esque trap of having every male character inexplicably and compulsively in love with its heroine, and yet her reveries on teenage love and lust are so authentic, you don't lose your patience.
It's Eveline's voice — equal parts pretentious and poetic, bratty and poignant, wise and naive — that saves the book. It captures exactly the thought processes of an introspective teenage girl. Her worldview is sharp and dead-on. On seeing her absent father at graduation: "It depressed me somewhat to be faced with my DNA like that." On femininity: "Girls are truly game as soldiers, with the brave things they do to their bodies and the harsh conditions they are able to tolerate." On being a teenage girl: "When you're fourteen, pretty much everything puts you in a difficult predicament."
Evie doesn't do much — she joins drama club, she falls in love, she outgrows high school friends — but her dry wit and keen sense of observation make her a fine companion. Likewise, Anthropology isn't a masterpiece, but it is addictive reading. Hamann inhabits the skin of a teenage girl so accurately, so effortlessly, it's a bit of a relief she has found her way into the book world. (Six-hundred-page epics about the inner lives of teenage girls are not generally considered marketable, unless there's a vampire involved.) If Hamann can accomplish this on her own, it'll be amazing to see what she can do with a little help.

Ok, now it’s my turn. With that kind of intriguing and subtly seductive review, what budding, new book club wouldn’t choose this book as their inaugural selection? Well, the book club I am in did chose this as our first read, and we were sorely disappointed.
The first three sentences of the NPR review nailed this book: bloated, self-indulgent, and clichéd are all adjectives that describe this book precisely. The book is a long-winded, verbose piece of work. Some of the ladies in the book club weren’t even sure if the book had an editor. Yes, the protagonist uses flowery speech and paragraphs loaded with metaphors. And yes, Eveline’s voice, her voice is bratty, ego-centric, and most definitely pretentious. She has very few, if any redeeming qualities, yet every male in the book falls madly for her, it’s utterly inexplicable. That is the one part of this book that is similar to Twilight, as Bella also has limited endearing qualities, yet two amazing guys fall deeply in love with her, reasons unknown. Evie’s principal issue is that the man she is head over heels for has left, I guess that is also a commonality with Bella. I get it, as a teenage girl, or young twenty-something, love lost is a major gloom cloud looming over your world. Evie becomes excessively mournful, somber, and self-loathing.

As for the length of the book, the NPR review states that the pages beckon you despite its wordiness. I disagree. It was a struggle for me to get through this book. I do not see a need for it to exceed 400 pages.

I will switch gears and end on the positives. Evie does experience a broken heart, and I think that is something we can all relate to. I remember having thoughts that I couldn’t imagine my life without this person or that person (the difference between Evie and myself is that I moved on and she remains stagnant in her miserable funk). So the book does have a few aspects that one can relate to.
The best part of the book for me involved the funeral that took place. I have attached below an excerpt that was moving to me, I believe this is where Hamann is poetic and introspective and provocative, and I am somewhat saddened that the book in its entirety wasn’t this moving and romantic. This was the most thought provoking portion of the book, and I am content knowing that at least some part of this book was worth reading. **Spoiler alert: See below for an excerpt from the funeral, if you haven’t read the book and plan on reading it this will reveal part of the story.**

Hamann, Hilary Thayer. Anthropology of an American Girl. Constable & Robinson Limited, 2011.

Summer Wreath

My neighbor has a wreath on her door, and I got jealous. So, of course I wanted to make one of my own instead of buying one. My inspiration was found thru other wonderful bloggers:

I then went to my local craft store, and got ribbon, a green 12 inch styrofoam wreath, tissue paper, floral wire, and pins (to secure ribbon to wreath).

I chose a baby blue ribbon and a sheer lime for an overlay (5 yards will suffice). I wrapped the blue around the wreath using a dab of glue and a pin to secure the ribbon, and then went over the blue ribbon with the sheer lime ribbon, my results looked like this:

Then I made my tissue poms, with the help of the almighty Martha Stewart.


Martha Stewart Pom Poms


I used the napkin holder version, but instead of putting my flowers on napkins they adorned my lovely wreath.

Then I added a vibrant yellow ribbon as a hanger and finally dressed my front door with this rather energetic wreath.

Enjoy!

Summer inspired nails

So I have gotten two manicures in my whole life. The first time I think was for prom, and the other time was for a wedding. I hated them both. But I do enjoy a pedicure every now and then. In the between time I will usually do my own nails, and am often bored with the mundane nude, red, or pink nail colors. I like to make my nails interesting, as interesting as I can with my limited ability to paint nails without painting my whole hand. I did this diagonal design once before and got a lot of compliments and questions about how I achieved such a look. *Side note story* Once high school I did my eye shadow a little funky, I put a pastel pink on the outer corners and a pastel yellow on the inner corner of the eyelid. A girl on my track team asked how I did it, and I answered, "I put one color over here (pointing the outside of my eye), and the other color over here (pointing to the inside of my eye)." She later became one of my best friends and told me that was a rather rude way to tell her about my eye shadow, so I am dedicating this "how to" to Shonda.
1) Inspiration. I found mine in summer flowers and I have been drawn to purple and green together recently, so that is where my inspiration came from.
2) I got all my supplies ready. I needed the base color, a bright green, my top color, which was a chrome purple (you remember when chrome nail polish was cool in 2001?), and I also decided to add sparkles to my nails b/c I love glitter. You will also need a top coat, and I need Q-tips and nail polish remover for my mess-ups. You will also need tape which is not pictured.
3) I paint my base coat. Wait until completely dried before moving on to the next step.
4) Put tape on nails in a diagonal direction, and then paint next color on top of base coat, using the tape to keep the edges straight.
5) My next step was to wait until the chrome purple was dried and then to apply the glitter coat, if you aren't applying a glitter coat (or something similar) then you can skip this step.
6)Wait until all polish is dried and remove tape slowly.
7)You should apply a top coat after you remove the tape.
8) Lastly, clean up your nails and fingers by dipping your Q-tip in nail polish remover and touching up as necessary.
ENJOY! You should (or could, hopefully) have beautiful nails!

Book club, what?!?!

As a founding father of a newborn book club, I felt it was necessary to have a name, and/or have a logo of some sort for this wondrous new organization. This craving for a name and logo of some sort came this morning, well afternoon actually, whilst showering. Another odd thing about this desire was that I felt that it should be related to Snuffleupagus. For those of you not familiar with Snuffleupagus, Urban Dictoionary defines him by the following statement:

Debuting in 1971 on Sesame Street, Snuffleupagus was a woolly mammoth-like creature with long eyelashes. At first adults mistakenly believed he was Big Bird's imaginary friend because Snuffy shuffled off (presumably because he suddenly remembered he might have left the oven on) every time Big Bird left the scene to gather witnesses. In 1985 Big Bird finally proved that his shaggy friend was not a figment of his imagination.

During a sudsy lather, I coined a possible name for our book club: Snuggle up with us book club. Do you get it? Snuffleupagus sounds remarkably close to Snuggle up with us! And, who doesn’t want to snuggle up with a book, or their book club peers for that matter? We did state that social drinking would be a significant part of our book club, so we could easily wind up snuggling with each other in addition to our books. So, ladies, please feel free to come up with other potential names or emblems to represent our awesome new league of book readers.