WWTKW: Week 17 Edition

Good morning, Kitschies!  It's Wednesday again which means it's time for We Want to Know Wednesday.  Today's questions come from Alicia aka Queso and I'm linking up through Mamarazzi.  Join me!



1. If you could be on any game show, what would it be?
2. If you could chose to be any one age forever, what age would it be?
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
4. What would I find in your fridge right now?
5. If you were a piece of furniture, what would you be and why?

1. If you could be on any game show, what would it be?

I don't remember what I answered last time, but this time I'm going to say something athletic like Survivor or The Amazing Race.  I could totally see myself on Survivor, kicking all kinds of arse!

2. If you could chose to be any one age forever, what age would it be?

I don't want to be one age forever - they've all had their good and bad parts, but nothing that makes me go "Hey!  I wanna be *this* forever!" 

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?

Let's see...30 minutes ago was 7:00 AM.  I was helping the hubs get Mason together and out the door for the day.  Usually it's me getting out the door for the day but I'm taking the morning off, so Mr Nate and I are lounging around, eating pancakes and drinking coffee.  Well, he's drinking juice, but you get the idea.

4. What would I find in your fridge right now?

Lots of stuff...and I'm proud to say that it's not as much processed stuff as it usually is.  The hubs and I are trying to eat more whole foods and stay away from the junky (read: tastes soooo good) food.  Oh...and quite a bit of leftovers. 

5. If you were a piece of furniture, what would you be and why?

I'd be the bench seat in my kitchen.  It's not the most comfortable, but I love being in the kitchen...especially when friends are over.  It's just a good meeting place.  Besides, I'd always get to smell good food and I'd be handy because I could store useful stuffs in my underneath cabinets!

Those were fun questions, Queso!!  Check out other great WWtKW on Queso's or Mamarazzi's blog.

Have a great day!  See y'all tomorrow - I'll have a great chicken enchilada recipe to share.

And It Goes Splat

Good Monday morning, Kitschies!  *yawn*  It's Monday again...already.  And I'm at work...sorta working.  The docs are gone for 3 days and I'm pacing myself on the work I have to do.  Nothing exciting - just working on EMR forms - but definitely not enough to keep me occupied for 3 days.  But sssshhhhhh!  Don't tel them that!

Saturday, the bestie and I went to see some Duke City Derby.  Holy crap that was awesome!  We haven't been out like that in soooo long AND the matches were so much fun!  So much so that I want to do it - I want to be one of those Roller Derby girls!  So. much.  But...I have a crappy knee and I really think all it would take is one good fall and I'd be out for the count.  Like, on the surgery table out.  I have a good brace, one that would probably keep me from injuring my knee more, but that brace was fitted when I weighed at least 50 pounds less.  GAWD I wanna do this but I don't see myself losing 50 pounds so I guess it's going to have to be one of those "when I was younger" dreams.

Anyway...I was going through my polish pix on Saturday and this mani screamed Roller Derby to me, so I'm sharing it with you today.

In early June, I saw this tutorial on The PolishAholic and I *had* to try it!  This was my first attempt at a splatter mani (my second attempt can be seen HERE) and though there were some spots I didn't like, I do like the overall result.

I started off with 2 coats of Zoya Raven.  If you click on the pic to make it bigger you can see there's a really pretty hidden sparkle in Raven.  It's more apparent in the bottle, but I'm not really complaining.  I did this mani in late June - I didn't think my nails grew fast but if this was only about 6 weeks ago, my nails have grown quite a bit! 

Then I splattered ChG Spontaneous (purple) and SH Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away (blue, duh) over Raven.  Love it!

It took a little practice but by the end, I had it down!  The pinkie finger looks kinda like a blue blob with some purple dribbled over it.  LOL

Here's my camera-shy right hand.  I really, really liked this mani.  The colors were great together!  But I can't take credit for the pairing: The PolishAholic posted her blue, black and purple splatter mani - that's the post that inspired me to try a splatter mani in the first place!

I want to thank everybody who voted for me in the Styled On DIY nail art contest.  Judging is today and they'll announce the winner on Wednesday...cross your fingers for me!

Enjoy your Monday!  I have some good recipes coming up soon, so be sure to keep an eye out for those yummies!

Listening to: Gone Forever by Three Days Grace
Mood: It's Monday

Flashback Friday: Nate

Good morning, Kitschies!!  This is my first Flashback Friday in a LONG time and the first time linking up with Lauren from Heya, Sparky!  My dear Tia has turned over the reins to Ms Lauren's most capable hands.  Check out Lauren's blog if you have a moment - good stuff!!

So...without further delay...

I've been a bad Mom.  Really.  No, not like I-beat-my-kid kind of bad mom, just a busy blogger who's been posting pics of my pretty fingers and my yummy recipes and NOT my beautiful little boy.  Today it's all about Mr Nate.

I have a question for you.  How do you go from this:

to this:

In what seems like the blink of an eye?

Nathaniel Edward made us a family on Sunday, July 16, 2006, after 17+ hours of labor.  Once he joined us, our lives were never the same and we're so thankful for that!  He was greeted home by his Grandma and Beba a few days after he was born.

Then Nate turned one and OMGosh he LOVED his cake!

This is what a 1-year-old sugar coma looks like!  That pic is one of my ultimate favorite pics of Nate, and it probably always will be.  He was so purple - I was afraid he'd be stained that way, but he washed up just fine.

This is Beba (my Dad) at the park for Nate's first birthday party.  Also one of my favorite pics!  Nate couldn't say Grandpa and my mom was pushing my Dad's belly like the Pillsbury Doughboy and saying Beeeebaaaa...Nate picked it up and and now, instead of Grandpa, it's Beba.

This may not be a good pic of Nate (he was hot and tired), but it's a good one of my Mom.  She doesn't allow pictures very often but if it's with one of her grandsons, she usually allows the exception.  Nate loves to ride around with Grandma in her power chair!  And if she's using her cane...watch out!  It's not usually hers for long.

Oh, look at those little blond curls!!  This is Nate at *almost* 2.  I miss his curly hair and chubby pink cheeks.

3rd birthday = Big Wheels!!  He still rides his Big Wheels (even though half the time he just picks it up or drags it behind him), but now his little brother has his eye on it.  LOL  And Wendi was right: 3 was MUCH worse than 2.

Where has my little baby gone?!  Nate was a horrible 3-year-old and we started to see the light at the end of the terrible toddler age after he turned 4.  Grandma and Beba got Nate a T-ball set for his 4th birthday.  We went to the park with Nate's cousins for a little baseball action.  That boy loves to swing a bat!  Or a stick.  Or anything he can get his hands on.

And now look at him!  He's 5 and he's so super handsome and such a great kid.  Super smart, constantly on the go.  AND he starts Kindergarten in just over a week!  How is that even possible?!  I'm so excited for him and a little sad for me because that means he's not my baby anymore.  He'll always be my little boy, but he's no longer my baby.  *tear*

We love you Natey, very, very much!  Happy belated birthday, big boy!!!

So, there ya go.  That's how you go from being a cute little blob of a baby to being a big, bad 5-year-old in a blink of an eye!

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Good afternoon, Kitschies!!  It's Thursday...and that means we're ONE day closer to the weekend.  WOOT!  And a good weekend it's shaping up to be!  The fam and I are planning on taking a morning hike along dormant volcanoes Saturday morning and then the bestie and I are going to check out some roller derby Saturday night!!  If we had more money, we'd crawl downtown, but seeing as we're both pretty much next to broke, we'll be lucky if we hit up Lenny's for some dessert afterward.  LOL  Either way, I don't really care because she and I haven't been out like this in a LONG time!

Anyway...I have a cute mani/pedi combo to share with you today!  I wore this back in early June and I've been itching to try it again. 

For my mani, I started with a base of Tip Toe nail polish in Lime Slush.  It's a pretty lime creme, but was a pain in the butt to work with!  It was a little on the thick side and it left some bald spots.  But after I spruced it up a bit with some flowers, it was all worth it.

For the flowers, I used SH White On for the petals and Zoya Tanzy for the centers.  There are a couple leaves thrown in there, too, and for that, I used ChG Jolly Holly.

I like how Tanzy was a little less opaque so you could see the center of the flower petals coming together.  What I don't like is my green leaves streaked a little with application of my top coat (which was probably ChG Fast Forward).

I thought this mani was really cute, but since Lime Slush was so thick, it chipped and cracked pretty fast.  No matter - it was cute while it lasted.

And I'm not one to play matchy-matchy, but I thought the little flowers would look cute as a pedi, so I grabbed my pedi tools and went to work!

This is Zoya Dannii, a gorgeous purple shimmer? duochrome? from Zoya's Intimate Spring 2011 collection.  I love so many colors from this collection, but this is and Gemma are the only beauties to have joined my stash (so far).  To be honest, I think I like how the toes came out more than I did the fingers!  I changed up the flowers *just* a little for the pedi.  Instead of using Tanzy for the center, this time I used Hard Candy Lava and green acrylic paint for the flowers. 

I *meant* to use Hard Candy Lava as the centers for my mani, too, but *somebody* (read Nate or Mason) moved the bottle and I had no choice but change oranges.  LOL

So, my question to you is this: do you match your mani and pedi?  Do you match colors or patterns?  Do you do your toes?  If you do your toes, why don't you share them with us?  I know of one, *maybe* two fellow bloggers who share their pedis.  Why are blogger so anti-pedi?

One more thing, if you have a free minute or two, please check out this post HERE to help a fellow blogger out.  Thanks!

Need Your Help

Morning, Kitschies!!

I don't usually do this, but I'm asking for YOUR help.

I entered a DIY nail art contest and I need your vote!  All you need to do is log in to your FB account (I know you have one) and then click the link HERE then click the big green button that says VOTE!

Here's my entry.

I originally showed this mani off in THIS post.

Please let me know if you voted by leaving a comment here or on my FB page.  Who knows...I *may* just decide to pull a name from a hat and give away a little somethin!

There are lots of great nail art entered - please vote for others, too!

Thanks so much!  You guys are the bestest!!!

WWtKW: Full of WIN Edition

Good morning, Kitschies!  It's Wednesday (even though I thought all morning it was Thursday - bummer), so that must mean it's time for We Want to Know Wednesday.  With your hosts: Mamarazzi and Alicia aka Queso.

Join me, won't you?



This week's questions come from the very lovely and extremely talented Mamarazzi, and they are FULL of WIN!!!

1.  If you could spend a day with a blogger, who you haven't met in real life, who would you choose?
2.  What website do you check first when you go online?
3.  What is something you are saving money for right now?
4.  What is your go-to silly face when a silly face is needed? {post a pic of it and be entered to win a prize from Mamarazzi!}
5.  How do you relieve stress?

1.  If you could spend a day with a blogger, who you haven't met in real life, who would you choose?

That's a hard one...and I definitely can't pick just one.  Other than the obvious (Mamarazzi), I would love to spend the day with:
Nailstah - We were *supposed* to meet when I was in LA but she didn't check her email so we missed each other.  I think Miss Annie and I would have a blast together - we have similar personalities.

Emily at Wife, Check. Mom, Check.  Now What?  - We both have young kid(s) around the same age and I think they would get along pretty well, which would give us time to gab.

There's more, but it's pretty busy at the clinic right now and that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

2.  What website do you check first when you go online?

It's a toss-up.  Facebook and Blogger.  I check them both, but neither one of them get top billing over the other.

3.  What is something you are saving money for right now?

Saving money?  What's that?  LOL  You kinda gotta *have* money to *save* money and right now, we don't.

4.  What is your go-to silly face when a silly face is needed? {post a pic of it and be entered to win a prize from Mamarazzi!}

You get a crappy cell phone pic since I'm at work right now...

Nice, right?  I know you're jealous you can't all look this good.

5.  How do you relieve stress?

Well, naturally, I paint my nails!  LOL  I'd love to say that I sew to relieve stress but all that usually does is increase it.  Oh!  And I like to read.  Give me a good book and I could sit there for HOURS, lost in another world.

Fun, right?  Have some fun and link up with us!  You KNOW you want to.

Happy Wednesday!

LONG Overdue

Good morning, Kitschies!!  I hope you're not melting away in to a little puddle in all this heat!  It hasn't been *so* hot here the last few days, but it's still hot.  Hurry up Fall!!!

I have a post for you today that's LONG overdue.  Waaaaay back in April, as you may remember, Zoya kicked off their annual exchange program.  The bestie and I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered a lot of polish.  A lot.  Good thing they were 50% off!!

This is what the bestie got, starting at the top left.  Robyn, Indigo, Julienne, Sloane, and Jacy.  On the bottom, starting on the left: Kelly, Delilah, Isla and Paige.

She picked out some gorgeous colors!!  She got two more but they were on back order, so they didn't get pictured with their other sisters. 

I had a harder time deciding because I already had quite a few Zoya polishes...it was difficult to decide which colors to add to my ever expanding collection.

I ended up with a lot of reds, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  And I can't *really* tell which red is which, so I'm going to tell you the two I know for sure: Diem (nude) and Gemma (green).  The other reds are (I think): Divincia, Nidihi, Blair and Quinn.

I adore all the reds I got...and I especially love Gemma.  And I'm counting Quinn as a red because she shows up much more red in the picture - she's really a berry creme.

We both ordered a few colors that were on back order...and they got to us pretty soon after the large lot, but not soon enough for them to be pictured all together.

Here are the triplet that were separated at birth: Dannii and Raven were ordered by both of us.  Now this is where I must've lost my mind when I was labeling the pic because that's not Quinn...that's Drew.  *hides head*  I don't know what I was thinking.  Anyway...


There's our Zoya haul from the polish exchange back in April.  What colors did you pick up?