Les Miserables

Tonight, my sister and I went to see Les Miserables. I have been waiting to see it for months, so I was freaking out all day waiting to get to the theater and experience it. I had heard from several friends that it was amazing, and it did not disappoint.

I don’t want to give anything away to anyone who may be waiting to see the movie, but I will say that, surprisingly, my favorite character was Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway. I’ve seen different productions of Les Mis in the past and never really connected with the character of Fantine, but Hathaway’s performance was spectacular. Though she was only present for maybe a quarter of the movie, I felt drawn to her and her story. Also, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter made an excellent pair as the Thenardiers. Their version of Master of the House was fantastic, and their overall portrayal of the characters was on par throughout the movie.

Okay, I’m done rambling. Suffice it to say, go see the movie if you haven’t! All of the acting is on par, and I was so impressed with the entire cast. There are two roles that maybe could have been cast differently, but I was still impressed with the chosen actors.

Go! See it!

Pinterest find: Sharpie® nail art

I have a slight addiction to Pinterest, but it's rare that I actually attempt to duplicate something I've seen pinned. However, I've decided to branch out a bit and try new things. A friend of mine pinned a tutorial for Sharpie® nail art, and I just had to give it a go.

It seemed pretty simple:
-Apply a base coat of your choice. Allow it to dry completely - this is very important.
-Use a sharpie marker to draw designs onto your nails. The tutorial I found is specifically for the gold and silver sharpies, but I used a regular black one and it didn't give me any issues.
-If you make a mistake, don't worry! You can take the sharpie off with rubbing alcohol and not ruin the underlying base coat.
-Allow the sharpie to dry, and apply a top coat to protect your nails.

I started off with clean, unpainted nails.

It just so happens that one of the things I got for Christmas is this amazing color of nail polish that I am in love with. It's Boy oh Boy by Jordana, and it's almost like a robin's egg blue.

Hello, gorgeous. I only wish the color showed up better, but I'm working with a cell phone camera and hence cannot be picky.

The dog in the background is Angel. She's sleeping, I promise, nothing to be alarmed about.

I applied my usual two coats, getting nail polish everywhere in the process. I cleaned up my messy fingers as best I could and waited (impatiently) for the polish to dry. I had no issues with this brand of polish - it applied easily, didn't bubble or separate, and the color is amazing.

I had the idea to try to make tiger-like stripes along the tips of my nails. In my attempt, I learned two things:
-I can't really make tiger-like stripes.
-Because I have to keep my nails so short, I don't have much room for doing an elaborate tip. It took up about 1/3 of my nail and just looked weird.

But never fear! There's that magical rubbing alcohol trick that will fix my problem!

Except not.

I don't know if it was my method of applying the alcohol (I tried a paper towel and a cotton ball), the fact that I used a regular sharpie instead of the special gold/silver ones, or just simply that my nail was being defiant. Either way, it didn't work. No issue, though. I simply painted another coat over, which didn't effect the color of the polish and covered up the weird stripes very easily.

Why yes, that is Parenthood paused in the background.

In the end, I opted for a more simple design: allover polka dots with a little bit of definition at the tips. Though my polka dotting skills may need work (you should see my left hand - seriously), the pin worked out well and applying a top coat did not effect my sharpie design.

Overall, I loved trying this out! Though waiting for the base coat to dry seemed to take forever, I'm glad I waited to ensure that I wouldn't be damaging the polish when I used the sharpie. Also, using the sharpie gave so much more control than trying to paint a design (even polka dots) using either a regular nail polish wand or even a polish pen. The best part? I get to move the original pin from my "Beauty" board over to my blossoming "Did it!" board!

Fuji's new clothes.

Meet Fuji...

I should preface this by admitting that I have a habit of naming inanimate objects and creating pseudo personalities for them. An obsession, more like it. From turkeys to plants to technological devices, if I’m around it for long enough, odds are it will end up with a name. So when I got my Macbook Pro for school, the most obvious name choice was Fuji (because he’s an apple, ha ha ha.)

So anyways, Fuji and I have spent a lot of time together these past several months. I finally decided that he is such an important part of my life that he should be protected, and thus decided to ask for an outfit for him for Christmas. They definitely pulled through, and Fuji is stylin’ now.

He ended up scoring a new hard case, a silicone keyboard cover, silicone plugs for his outlets, and a new messenger bag. Everything is so insanely pink, I love it!

I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful Christmas, and I wish the best for you and your families in the rest of 2012!

Christmas Eve

            I hope everyone out there in the blogosphere is having a wonderful Christmas Eve. In my head, Christmas Eve should be a relaxing, slightly uneventful day full of hot chocolate (or hot coffee, depending on the person), lazing around the house, and a never-ending supply of Christmas movies. Christmas Eve should be the calm before the storm – Christmas day is always pretty hectic (albeit wonderful), and I think we all deserve a day to prepare ourselves and that’s why Christmas Eve exists.

At least, that’s how it would be in my perfect world.

I do not live in a perfect world.

I live in a world where I work retail, and Christmas Eve is one of the busiest days of the year.

            I don’t want to sound ungrateful. I am happy to have a job, and for the most part I actually enjoy my job and the company I work for. Today, however, I have learned that I do not like my job on Christmas Eve. It’s not so much that the store is incredibly busy as everyone is rushing to do last minute shopping. It’s more along the lines of everyone is in a hurry and unfortunately this tends to make tempers short and attitudes sour. I honestly don’t understand it.

            I know that this time of year can be stressful, and I have experienced my own fair share of that stress, but I can’t comprehend taking my own stress out on an innocent bystander who is just trying to do their job. I hate how as we get closer and closer to the holidays, people’s attitudes get nastier and nastier. It makes me sad. With that being said, tomorrow is Christmas, which happens to be my all-time favorite day of the year. Call me cliché, but Christmas holds a magic that I can’t describe, and I love to soak it in.

I am looking forward to Christmas morning with my siblings, doing our at home celebration before visiting extended family.

I’m looking forward to being in the kitchen with my sister making breakfast, and that first cup of Christmas coffee that tastes somehow better than it does every other day of the year.

I’m looking forward to the looks on my nieces’ and nephews’ faces when they open their presents.

Overall, I am just looking forward to spending Christmas with my family and sharing in that magic that Christmas brings.

I hope you all do the same.

Dear Melynda,

The point of this post: Once a week, I'll be dedicating a post to my friend and fellow blogger Melynda, who writes over at Despite All Logic. Go check her out - she's hilarious and pretty awesome.

Dear Melynda,

So I'm up at Angelica's this morning, minding my own business (aka passed out on the couch) when suddenly, I find myself under attack.

A wild Raia appeared out of nowhere, apparently deciding that it was time for me to wake up. Now, Raia has a very... let's say special way of waking people up. It involves jumping on you, walking up and down for awhile, and randomly assaulting you. Don't believe me? I have proof.

Raia, why are you trying to eat my hand?

Oh, good! She's laying down. I'll finally have some peace.

Spoke too soon. Hey, Raia, please stop trying to eat me. Please?

Are you comfy down there, Raia? Well, that's great. Please stop stepping on me, it hurts.

So that was my morning. Lovely, yes? Seriously, you should spend the night on Angelica's couch some time to become acquainted with Raia's morning ritual of harassment. No, really. You totally should.

I'll leave you with this:

<3,

Me. (and Raia.)

Enter: blog.

Have you ever had a moment when something happens and the only real reaction possible is,

"Wait, what?"

This happens to me far more often than I would think could be normal. Seriously. I've decided that I need an outlet for when those moments happen, and also to have some place where I can vent, muse, and in general just write about whatever I feel like writing about.

Enter: blog.

I can't promise that what I have to say will always be lighthearted and humorous. I can't promise that what I have to say will be easily understood. I will try my best not to offend, but I can't even promise that. What I can promise is that what I have to say will be honest. It will be a little part of me that I feel like sharing with you.

Here goes nothing!