crystal clear

so the teen and i are always on the lookout for new nail salons in our area.  there are what seems like a bajillion of them within a 5-mile radius, yet we still haven't found a single one that's a favorite.  the last new place we visited was really cool, but super pricey.  and a lot of other places either don't have a great selection of colors, have drawn blood from aggressive cuticle cutting, or just plain look janky upon entering.

while looking for a place to go with MIL before she went back to texas after new year's, we stumbled across this brand new one:

but it was a monday - the one day of the week they were closed.  and so we filed it away in our mental file cabinet to try later.

later came this week, as the teen and i had a free morning and nails that needed work.  we arrived at the nail lounge not long after they opened, and we were welcomed by friendly staffers who directed us to pick polish colors.

and this place was beyond cute.  from the fun wall color to the chairs fit for a princess to the shabby chic-ish decor, it looked like a great place to relax and enjoy some pampering.

no, seriously - look at how cute these pedicure chairs are:

i got a basic pedicure and chose a color for my nails from their extensive gel polish collection.  and then as i sat there, i noticed a display of lots and lots of shiny things.

they do something called "rockstar" gels, which is about as sparkly and glittery as you can possibly get.  there's also lots of different studs and rhinestones and even swarovski crystals to adorn your fingertips, and i completely suckered myself into choosing the latter for an accent nail.  you know, because i like sparkle.  they assured me that once the crystals were applied, they'd stay put - they even have a 7-day warranty on this.  goodness.  and the gel polish that they were using on both of us was different from any of the others we'd seen before - instead of regular nail polish bottles, it was a thicker consistency and came out of a round pot.  they used a fancy brush to apply it.  i couldn't take pictures, but it was kinda cool.  and the gel was really smooth and extra pigmented.

i was really happy with the bright pink i'd chosen for my toes.

the teen was pretty satisfied with the color she'd chosen, with a few white hearts on one nail.

as for me...well, let's just say that i really like the color.  it's perfect for valentine's day.  the crystals...uh, don't look like what i'd imagined in my head.  i've seen swarovski crystal-covered nails before, and these aren't it.

to be honest, i went back yesterday to see if they could do the bean's nails (she'd totally love those chairs, i know it) and to get these stupid things removed.  we walked in to find two women who were on the tail end of their services, two more waiting to get started, and what looked like four or five staffers who were all working on the two who were seated in the chairs.  the one who seemed to be in charge when we were there the day before came over and said "oh, do you have appointments?"

well, no.  and you would know, because you're in charge.  and you just saw us yesterday.  come on now.

she waved towards the two who were waiting and said "they have appointments, and normally we can take walk-ins but right now we can't because we're too busy.  sorry about that."

so apparently, she was more willing to turn away business rather than let us know that it might be a bit of a wait.  or maybe she could have had one of her staffers work on at least one of us while the other four finished with their current clients and took on the two with the appointments.  i don't know.  maybe there was more to the story, like more appointments on their way.  either way, she wasn't particularly friendly or apologetic about it all and didn't seem to care.  so, okay.

not to mention...this place is really expensive.  the teen damn near choked when she forked over her debit card for her services, and i definitely regret the crystal add-on that brought my total up to a number i'm not used to.

the search continues!

are you ready for this jelly?

the teen and i are always on the lookout for a new nail salon.  we'll find a good one, go there for a while, and then the shine will wear off and the hunt will be on for a new one again.  the service will go downhill, or one of us will get snipped by the overzealous snipping of the manicure scissors, or we'll just be bored by the color selection.  fickle, yes we are.

anyway, we discovered a really cool place that's really close to home.  it was kind of buried in a development that looked like it was either offices or apartments and we'd probably driven past it a zillion times and never noticed it.  but look at how pretty it is inside:

not to mention, this is only a portion of their polish choices - and they were organized neatly, too:

and then there was a sweet selection of current magazines to peruse.

plus, they offered something i hadn't seen at our usual places - something called a jelly pedicure.  they poured a packet of this stuff into the water:

the powder expanded into this fragrant, fluffy pool of happiness.  it felt fabulous, and i wanted to soak my whole body in it.

even better, when it was time to remove my feet from the cooled-off jelly water, i got a hot stone massage:

followed by a nice, long foot massage.

it was lovely.  a little pricier than a normal pedicure, but that's to be expected.  the teen, who'd opted out of the jelly (using me as a guinea pig instead), looked on with a tiny tinge of jealousy.  i'm pretty sure she'll be giving it a shot next time we go.

anybody else wanna come?

inching ever closer to that goal

yay for mani/pedi fundraisers!

of course, it was during one of the hottest days of the freaking year.  blech.  running around trying to get everything done was slightly on the miserable side, with the sun blazing down on us and the temperature hovering over 100.  but it all came together and ended up being a really fun afternoon.

i'd done a trader joe's run for a fun variety of dips and chips and their yummy sparkling pink lemonade, ordered some balloons, and hit up the dollar store (my BFF when it comes to parties and things like this) for a bunch of disposable things for serving and eating.  then i threw together the ingredients for my favorite chocolate cake to make some mini cupcakes.  it's an easy recipe, and i was able to turn out about six dozen of these in no time.

they look pretty good, right?  except that when i went to taste-test one, it hit me like a ton of bricks:  i'd forgotten to put sugar in the batter.  UGH.  i was moving too fast and trying to do too many things all at once, and it backfired on me in a big way.

so i mixed up a second round of batter, making sure to slow down and get every step right.  and this time, i got it right.  just to make sure, i tried one out of the first pan i pulled out of the oven, and it was much yummier.  phew.

the next morning, i frosted them - because i couldn't decide whether to go mint chocolate or peanut butter chocolate, i went with both.  well, of course.

after a whirlwind of a morning - including taking the bean to hip-hop class, getting the goody bags put together, making a list for the hub to pick up last-minute stuff at costco, and then packing everything up - we finally made it to pasadena.  we'd dropped off a bunch of stuff the day before at bellacures, which helped out a lot, and although i was sweating my ass off in my kate spade dress (courtesy of rent the runway, who'd timed a free rental offer perfectly), we got everything set up just in time.

it was such a busy afternoon, between trying to make sure the food stayed out of the sun and trying to carve out time to socialize with everyone who came.  i'm so sad that i didn't get to take too many pictures.  oh, well.

a handful of friends who couldn't make it had bought tickets for our "opportunity drawing" (since apparently, it's illegal to do a "raffle"), so i sat the teen down with my list to manage those tickets and get them in the bowls for the prizes.

there were displays from gigi hill and stella & dot there (the latter was provided by my friend roxygirl, who's a far better stylist than i ever was).  they were donating a portion of sales to us as well, and we were really appreciative of their efforts.

we actually had so many friends present at one point that a few of them had to wait a little while for a nail technician to become available for their mani/pedi services.  but we all had a great time chatting and munching that it was okay.

mini cee was bummed to see that the bean wasn't present, but she settled for having her tootsies worked on.  

we'd brought champagne, but because i am lame, i had to call for backup in opening one of the bottles. luckily my buddy tater was willing to help.

the time went by pretty quickly, and about a half hour before we wrapped it up, we did the drawings for the prizes.  we asked the little girls who came with their moms to pull a ticket out of each bowl, and the teen got to announce the last one.  the photo shoot from my friend courtney was the most popular item, with a crapload of tickets to pick from.  

after we packed everything back up into the car and got ready to drag our tired asses home, i remembered to get the teen to snap a quick picture of me in my kate spade dress.  when it arrived in the mail the day before and i tried it on, i realized how...patriotic it looked.  probably better suited for a fourth of july party or something, but it was comfy and it had pockets - two winning qualities for a dress to run around in.

and all of the planning and work was totally worth it.  we had a great turnout, and along with the tickets we'd sold pre-party, we managed to raise close to $600!  

we're so grateful to everyone for their support.  there's definitely a bright light at the end of this fundraising tunnel at last, with our goal now just $600ish away.  i'd call that a smashing success, wouldn't you?

calling all local party people!

the teen and i have been fundraising since mid-may for our upcoming avon 2-day walk for breast cancer now, and we're just about halfway to our goal.  we've sent out e-mails, blasted out a link to our page via twitter and facebook, and lots of our friends and family have responded with generous donations to our cause.  i've also managed to fulfill a good number of cookie orders, with a handful of pending ones coming up within the next few weeks.

but we've still got a long way to go.  and now we have something else that we're working on to help us raise more money - a mani/pedi party at bellacures nail salon in pasadena.

after trading a handful of e-mails with the bellacures management staff, the teen and i headed out after dropping off the bean at school to check out the space.  i've been to the beverly hills location once before (yikes, that was in 2007??) and this one is just as nice.  it's in a cool-looking brick building in old town pasadena's mills alley.

the shop is a great size - modern and sleek, with pretty chandeliers that caught the teen's eye the moment she walked in.

the shop's manager was super friendly and answered all of our questions as she explained how they typically do private parties.  there's lots of super comfy chairs, and most of the layout can be easily rearranged to suit whatever's required for the event.

we've decided to ask for a $20 donation at the door, and then attendees can choose from their extensive menu.  we're going to bring in snacks and drinks, provide some fun swag bags for everyone, and if we can finagle some fun stuff from surrounding businesses, there'll also be a raffle/silent auction-type thingy.  oh, and the best part?  bellacures is donating 10% of all services for the duration of the shindig  to avon on our behalf!

our date is set for saturday, august 11th from 4 to 7pm.  if you're local and are interested in joining us, drop me an e-mail and i'll make sure to add you to the evite that i'm putting together.  we're happily accepting donations for the raffle and swag bags too, so if you've got a business that you'd like to promote, let me know!

oh, man.  i sure hope this goes well.  what am i getting myself into??

sugar-free sweet tooth satisfaction

okay, so maybe the dabbling in nail art is getting a little out of control.  heh.  i find myself watching countless youtube videos featuring tutorials for all sorts of cute designs on a regular basis nowadays.

and when i came across an easy-looking one that showed how to do cupcake-esque nails - well, you know i had to give it a shot.  my love for cupcakes is pretty legendary, and besides, i liked this girl's make-up.  yup.

so when the bean dropped off for her nap, i busted out the necessary elements:

from left to right, just for reference:

* sally hansen base coat
* sinful colors in "snow me white" and "pink forever" - i found this at target under the pricier essie and OPI polishes, with a nice variety of colors for just $1.99 a bottle
* love & beauty in "mustard" - this is from forever 21
* essie "action" and "lapis of luxury"
* zoya "kendal"
* seche vite top coat

like in the video, i painted each nail a different color.  because i knew i was going to do the upper half in white, i didn't have to be super careful about achieving total perfection.

because i'm right-handed, i tend to do that hand first to get it over with.  a fun little challenge, one might say.  i attempted the stripes of white polish to create the bottom scalloped edge, but i wasn't exactly successful.  not wanting to start over, i just went with it and figured nobody would point and laugh.  except maybe you, now that you can see where i was trying to go with it.

the last part was pretty easy.  i dabbed drops of polish onto a piece of paper (actually, the kids' H&M catalog, since the coupon inside had expired already) and took out my dotting tool to finish off my calorie-free sweet treats.

while they're definitely not as good as the original, i think they're pretty cute.  and again, i received the stamp of approval from both the teen and the bean.  one of the moms at the bean's gymnastics class noticed them, too, and pointed them out to her daughter.

"mommy, where did she get those done?" i heard her ask.

maybe i've found a new fundraising tool!

a two-fer

i'm totally cramming two pinteractivities in this post, because they were super fun and i don't really want to pick just one for this week.  and because i can.  so there.

first up:  a replacement for that peeps wreath i took down a couple of weeks ago.  our front door has been naked since then, and well, i felt sorry for it.  one of you suggested doing one using those little umbrellas you usually get in fruity cocktails, and that was actually something i had pinned a while ago.  i took a trip to party city to pick up a box of the mini parasols - $5 for 144 of those things! - and with the bean's help, got to work.

as you can tell, she was mucho fascinated by the idea of these things, and after i warned her that the ends were pointy and sharp, she was good to go.  she took her job very seriously.

this was about 2.5 minutes after she'd woken up from her nap, so please don't judge me for the state of her hair.

it really didn't take very long to put this together, and in about 10 minutes we were done.

the method i'd used to hang the last wreath kinda sucked - i used a length of tulle from a roll i've had for ages and wound it around a wreath hanger in a somewhat complicated way.  but the clump of material jammed at the top made it a little difficult to open and close the front door for the first few days.  so this time, i waited until i had a chance to get out and pick up some flathead thumbtacks.  i found a nice wide ribbon and plucked a hammer from the hub's toolbox.  scary, huh?

i pounded the thumbtacks into the ribbon at the top of the door, realized the wreath wasn't centered, and had to pry them off and start over.  sheesh.  i never get shit done right the first time.  but i managed to accomplish my goal the second time around.

the bean was very proud of the wreath that she had helped make.  so maybe it's more summer-y than spring-y.  whatever.

so the other day, i showed you what my current manicure looks like.  but before that, i'd tried some different nail art that i liked a lot and was as easy to do as the tutorial promised.  here's the lineup of products:

i really love these new colors from essie.  the pink is "lights" and the orange, "action."

i used the orange as my base color.

then i took a makeup wedge and painted stripes on it using both colors.

dab, bounce, dab, bounce, and repeat a few more times.  a quick swipe of that magical seche vite topcoat, and we have this:

ombre nails!  at first, i compared them to a sunset.  or a tequila sunrise.  and then one of my twirlies said my nail polish was making her crave a big stick popsicle.  haha!  that's exactly what they look like.

my current obsession with nail polish is contagious.  i leave you with this:

fabulousness has no age limits, people.