Nails 101

A random fact about me is I hate it when my nails looks bad. That doesn't mean that I get my nails done professionally at a salon every week, but I do like to paint my own nails at least once a week. I just feel icky when my nails don't look clean and pretty. Picking my nails is a nervous habit of mine that I do when my nail polish is in the process of coming off and if my nails look good, I'm less likely to pick at them for fear of ruining them. I like trying new colors & patterns on my nails although I do have my favorite go-to colors (Fiji and Bikini So Teeny, both by Essie).

My French No-Chip Manicure

I recently got a no-chip manicure at my favorite nail salon Spa O. A no-chip manicure is when shellac nail polish is used so that your nails stay flawless for 10-14 days. Shellac is some sort of a gel substance that makes the coats of polish thick so that they're almost impossible to ruin. I loved getting my nails done with the shellac polish because they stayed nice for 2 weeks, instead of chipping the day after I had them done like when I apply regular polish. A down side of getting no-chip is that it's super expensive. For a no-chip French manicure it was $50. It's not terrible, but that's 1/3 of my paycheck for a week! Also, you have to get the polish specially removed by the salon and it's sort of inconvenient to have to go in for that. As much as I would love to get no-chip every two weeks, I don't have that kind of money at my at disposal!

Pink & Purple Peacock Nails

After my splurge on a French no-chip manicure, I decided to do my nails at home. My mom brought me home a package of fake nails from Impress Press-On Manicure that she got as "swag" at a convention she went to so I decided to try them out rather than paint my nails. The design on them was a pink & purple peacock pattern, not my first choice of design but they were free so whatever! The instructions were simple enough: peel the backing of the "nail" off and apply it. Surprisingly, the peacock patterned nails looked really cool and semi-artsy. The only issue is that they were soooooo long. I couldn't use my fingers to do anything because my nails got in the way. I found a nail clipper to shorten them so that I could use my fingers, but then I ran into another problem. The nails fell off within two hours. I was sitting in a movie with my mom about 45 minutes after I had applied the nails and I'm not sure if it was the butter in the popcorn that lubed them up and made them slip off, but they did. And two of them ended up in my popcorn, which was gross! Definitely not as long-lasting as my no-chip manicure had been, but I'd be willing to try them again because they were easy and cute.


Any color suggestions for my the next time I get my nails done?! I'm always open to new suggestions :)

Mac or PC?

I used to be a PC user back in the day. In 2006, my dad bought me a Sony Vaio laptop so I would stop asking for another dog. Of course, I didn't stop asking for another dog, but it did make me ease up about the subject. I loved my Vaio until all my friends started getting Mac computers before going into high school. I would love to tell you that I didn't succumb to peer pressure and stayed with my once beloved Vaio, but I'd be lying. As my 8th grade graduation present my parents bought me my first Mac laptop. (I paid for half of it with my own money, but they paid for the other half.) I was ecstatic and have been a huge Mac lover ever since. I mean what teenager doesn't love their Apple Products?

Now I'm a sophomore in college and have a MacBook Pro. I love it. And it's really necessary for me to have a computer I can easily use & navigate in school because so much of my work is papers, research and online textbooks. As much as I do love my Mac, I run into problems with it every now and again just like everyone else. So I love Macs, but I also hate them because I have little patience and can't stand when my computer acts up a lot. At school second semester, my Microsoft Word wouldn't allow me to send documents or print them, which pretty much screwed me over because I couldn't hand in anything to my professors. To this day I still can't figure out how it got fixed. I took my computer to the Apple Store just outside of campus (my cousin drove me there with her car) and they fixed it within the hour like it was no biggie.

Crowded Apple Store

The men & women who work at Mac are freakin' genius'. Honestly. They know every Apple product like the back of their hand. Even when I have a problem that is so random and odd that I'm sure they won't be able to figure it out, they do. They're like computer Jedi's or something. I'm in complete awe of their knowledge and capabilities regarding iPhones, computers, laptops and iPods. I only wish I knew a fourth of what they do so I could figure out how to fix my computer when I run into minor issues.

Since I've been home from school for the summer, my computer has been acting up (UGH). I get absolutely no internet service in my room, even when I'm plugged into Ethernet (which I don't know what that is, but it should 100% make my computer get a connection according to my dad). Even when I go into my parents room to try and go online, my computer takes forever to load, pauses every 3 seconds when I'm watching Netflix and I constantly have to deal with the spinning wheel of doom (the color wheel).

I finally made an appointment at the Genius bar for today at 12:45. My dad and I made our way to Deer Park to the Apple Store and at 1 o'clock a Genius Bar expert was ready to assist us. His name was Ryan and I may or may not have the biggest crush on him. The store was completely
mobbed, like always, but Ryan took his time helping us. Not only was he super smart, but really cute and nice (although the nice may have just been b/c he's in customer service, but whatever).

Once we got talking about the issues going on with my computer I also remembered that my computer won't back up, my iPhoto will never open and my computer gets so hot it burns my legs when it's on my lap. My dad could not believe I had failed to mention these problems to him before, but oh well. I have a pretty crappy short term memory. In the end I had to leave my computer at the store so they could replace the fan (which it turns out was completely broken) and run a test to see why my computer is acting up with wifi and opening programs. So for now I'm using my mom and brother's computers (whichever one isn't using theirs at the time) and hoping that they fix my computer ASAP.

That's my quick blog about Mac computers and my love/hate relationship with them. Are you a Mac or PC user?!