To New Beginnings

“No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas; this new book is newly opened, has just begun! Look, it is the first page! And it is a beautiful one!”

- C. JoyBell C

A Great Lady is Gone

Hello, world!  Hope all is well with you on this fine Friday.  Good news is that it is payday once again...bad news is that my car is in the shop and it will be a nice $589 to fix it.  Yikes!  I am a poster child for Murphy's Law. 

Lindy Boggs

Yesterday, the funeral services for former congresswoman Lindy Boggs took place inside the St. Louis Cathedral here in New Orleans.  Ms. Boggs was a forerunner in many ways.  She was the first woman elected to congress from Louisiana, she lead the rally for equal rights for women, she was a single parent of three children after her husband disappeared over Alaska in the 70's, she was ambassador to the Vatican under Bill Clinton and she was a damn fine woman...regardless of what your political persuasion.

Lindy's French Quarter House

I had the pleasure of meeting her many years ago down in the French Quarter.  I was home visiting from college, I think, and as we often did, took a short drive down into the Quarter to walk around, eat, see the sights and do some shopping in the French Market.   As we were walking down Bourbon Street who should pop out of her front door but none other than Lindy herself.

My grandmother was the first to recognize her and she proceeded to have a very long conversation with Lindy and even had their photo taken together.  She was so gracious and must have spent about 20 minutes just chatting away with my Nana and us.  It was about nothing in particular that I can remember but I just remember her being so nice and personable.  When we left, she said she was headed down the street to get some groceries from the A&P and wished us all the best.

Possible Conversation in Heaven

It was so strange to meet someone that had been an icon in my state and the entire country and also a great role model.  She was so down to earth and kept telling my grandmother that she was just a young thing compared to her.  Whenever politics would be talked in her presence, my grandmother would always tell the person about the time she became friends with Lindy!

Two great ladies that are no longer with us but most likely getting reacquainted with each other up above.

Love ya,

Kristen

Let Your Inner Beast Free!

Hello, world!  Where ya been?  Wait, I’m the one that has been incognito haven’t I?  Let me give you a quick run-down on what’s been happening in my world lately.

First, I know I haven’t mentioned this before but the company I work for is in the process of being purchased by our largest competitor and because I work in the corporate office, most likely my services will no longer be needed once the sale is completed at the end of this year.  With that said, I began the job search process about a month ago.  As you know the economy is in the toilet even though all the politicians in DC swear it is getting better.  Yeah, right!  Easy for them to say I guess, with their big salaries, paid benefits and cost of living stipend.  Maybe I should go into politic.  Wait, I have morels and character so I would suck at politics.

Anyway, I interviewed with a company two Friday’s ago and then re-interviewed last week and received an offer on Friday.  Yeah, me!  So super excited to be doing something I love again and really excited to be challenged by learning another industry.  I promise more details on that will be coming in the future but for now, that sums up what has been happening.  Now I am in the process of finishing up some lose ends here at work before my last day on Friday, August 9^th.

Happy Dance!

So, what else have I been doing lately?  Not too much.  Taterbug came home on Saturday from her week with her dad and all is right in the world now.  {Happy Dance!} Camp finishes up tomorrow and school starts on August 14.  This weekend will be filled with school shopping to finish up our last minute supplies, shoes, uniforms, etc.   Good thing tomorrow is payday!

The Bug wanted me to do something fancy with her nails because she has been growing them out all summer.  She always had beautiful nails until she started school then she began picking them to death and they became nubs. With all the swimming and other fun this summer, they really have gotten quite long and pretty.  Her grandmother on her dad’s side has beautiful nails as did my grandmother so I hope she inherited their genes.  I, on the other hand (pun intended) only have nice nails when I have acrylics!

All Types of Styles

When I was at CVS yesterday looking at new polish for her, I saw these cool nail stickers by Sally Hansen.  After reading the box and checking out all the cool colors and designs, I decided to get two to try out on the Taterbug.  I chose the zebra print and some black and white bones with pink ribbons on their skulls.  VERY CUTE!

Once we got home, I had her scrub her hands and put on her jammies.  I wasn’t sure how well these suckers would work on her hand since the nail beds are so small.  Surprisingly enough, Ol’ Sally H. thought of everything.  The packet came with 16 strips and I was thinking why not 20?  Well, each strip is two sided so it is like you got 32 and not only 16.  There were plenty of strips left to do both her nails and mine.  We even have enough to do one other person or repair any that got ruined. 

This is What You Get In a Box

You start by determining which strip size fits your nails best.  Then you file the nails and the polish them to make the stickers stick better.  I did this on her nails but not to mine and didn’t see any difference in sticking power.  If anything, mine seems to work better.  Next you peel off the clear cover off the sticker then you peel off the white back.  Then you stick the paint sticker to your nail starting from the cuticle to the end of your nail.  The trick is to try and stretch the sticker before you actually finish applying it.  It is really easy to reposition before you actually stick it so don’t worry about not having it right.  Once it is in place, you just stretch it to the very end and your nail will actually cut the sticker off.  Flip the sticker around and repeat on the same nail but on the other hand since chances are they are all the same size.  Once they are all on, you use the nail file included in the box to file any excess sticker parts still on your nail to make it smooth.  I also used the wooded stick they included to push out any bubbles or to better adhere the sticker to your nail.  The pointed end of the stick also works great to cut off excess pieces of stickers around your cuticle or fingers.

Want to know what was freaky?  As soon as you opened the package, it smelled just like you opened a bottle of polish.  It is so cool how it is actually polish on sticker that are as thin as skin.  I say it was super easy and took about 15 minutes to do a whole set of nails.  They are much faster than painting them and waiting to have one coat dry before adding a second coat.  Also, there are so many styles and colors that it would be very easy to find something fun for a quick change.

My Fat Fingers!

The package says that it will last about 2 weeks so we will see.  So far, it appears that the stickers have “cured” overnight because they are much firmer this morning than they were last night.  I was kind of scared to wash my hair this morning because I thought they would wash off in the shower but if anything, they got even firmer.

I typically don’t wear polish on my fingers because it never lasts.  I am curious as to how this holds up.  When I am ready to remove it, the box said you just wipe off with polish remover.  I will let you know how it did.

Moral of the story:  Sometime you have to let your wild side show and try something different!

Love ya,

Kristen

PS:  Today is our 1 month anniversary of blogging together.  Where are you taking me to dinner? :)