1/2 OFF

But not in a good, sale on something amazing sort of way...

Yes, you counted correctly, 5 of my "2 week lasting manicure" (manicure belongs in "" too bc obviously this term should be used loosely with this poor job) have completely flopped off.

You will be proud of me. If you're not you should be. I called the place and asked them what they could do for me.  I'm non-confrontational. I was just going to eat this and chalk it up to $30 wasted, lesson learned, move on.  Nope, not this time.  6pm tomorrow I'm getting this crap fixed, fo FREE.

Paradise LOST

Yes. That is a naked index finger.

Friday, February 25: Went to Nail Paradise at McNab and Federal for a "shellac" manicure.  These manicures are told to last up to 2 weeks without chipping. 

Obviously something went wrong.

First off: One of the ladies at the counter handed me a stack of color samples to choose from for my manicure.  They were labeled "shellac", "Gell" and a few others that I can't remember.  The "shellac" sample only had about 6 colors, none of which I was fond of.  I had my heart set on purple.  So I asked what the other samples were and if they were as strong and long lasting as the "shellac." The woman assured me that they were just as good, they were just different brand names.  So, I chose a purple.

I was seated with "Jay" a male Vietnamese manicurist.  Ok.  In a lot of cases the dudes do a better job.  NOT in Jay's case.  He started off by berating me for being married and having a child at such a young age.  He, a 31 year old single male manicurist.  Enough said.  Then he proceeded to tell me about his friend's bachelor party.  I'll just tell you that it was GROSS.  Enough said.  In the process of Jay doing my nails, the color on my right thumb started to droop.  He started all over again on my thumb.  A few minutes later he has removed the color on two more of my nails and started all over. 

I didn't mention that I took my friend Melissa with me on this adventure.  She decided on a traditional mani/pedi.  She was completely finished before I was done with my manicure.  I knew the process was going to take longer than a traditional manicure, but this was ridiculous.

At the end of our experience we had been there 2 hours. 

I was extremely happy with the results of my pretty new sparkly purple nails.  I thought that if they were this pretty for 2 weeks, I might have to somehow justify going for a manicure this often.  My nails lasted through the weekend and the lovely wedding we attended.

HOWEVER! This morning somewhere between waking up, doing dishes, cleaning out the microwave, feeding the beebus, and getting dressed to head out the door, one of my fingers seems a little lighter in weight.  I look down and to my utter dismay my "2 week lasting" manicure had not chipped but come completely off... gone.  I don't know where it is.  It'll get vacuumed up soon I'm sure or batted around by a cat far under some piece of furniture. 

UGH!!!!! So, not only did I waste 2 hours of my life on Friday listening to Jay yap about how gross of a male he is, but he screwed up so bad that it took that long and now one of my polished nails is naked. 

I think I may just paint it a similar color that I have at home, to salvage the rest of my manicure for at least a few days.

I'll revert to doing my own nails from now on.  At least if I cut a cuticle I know my own tools are clean. Yeah, he cut my cuticle too.

I think CRACK might be cheaper...

I read The Pioneer Woman's Blog alot.  She is a lovely woman, for sure.  She has a home & garden section where she frequently does an Oprah-esque "favorite thing" post.  She has posted anything from tours of fabulous hotel rooms to silly gifts to give at Christmas.  Well, somewhere along the line she has mentioned Frye boots.  I had no knowledge of this glorious brand of footwear until she ruined me. 

Jane 14L Stitch Oiled Suede $289 

 I had 2 New Year's resolutions this year:
1. Don't buy anything I don't need (The pertains mostly to clothing, more on that...) 
2. Own these boots by next boot season.

So in attempts to save money, so far I have gone back to my natural hair color.

Bye, bye expensive highlight that only look lovely for a month or so before needing to be touched up.  I am so lazy that my hair does not get blow dried curly often enough to justify the $$$.

I have joined my mom's cell phone family plan. Yep, you heard me! I'm 24, married with a kid and I have re-joined the family plan. To be clear, it's the first time I've ever been on my mom's plan.  I got my first cell phone when I turned 18 and was about to drive off to college, all on my own plan and paid for with my own dinero.  BUT now I save close to $85 a month.  SMART! And of course, I pay my mom for my portion of the bill.

GROUPON!!!!
My original intent when signing up for Groupon and Living Social was to buy deals to restaurants that were different from Brad's & my usual date spots... and so that we would actually go on a date night. Recently, however, I have found some other great deals, like to the Baby Posh Garage, a kid's consignment store.  I haven't been there yet, so when I go I'll give an update.

There have been a few disappointments with a few of my deals.  I purchased one for Shula's, and it expired before I could use it.  $25 gone.  I called them twice about using it late. The first time the concierge had no idea what I was talking about and told me to call back after 5. I called back after 5 and the guy was SUPER snobby about how they would NOT honor my late Groupon. Fine. Lesson learned: don't let the freaking thing expire.

I accidentally purchased 2 Groupons to GreenStreet Cafe.  I included one of them as a Christmas gift to my friend Amy so we could go on a double date.  The fine print says only one Groupon per table per night.  We asked our server if we could use 2 since we were 2 couples and we assured her that we'd tip well.  She spoke with her manager and let us use them! It was a great dinner with splendid friends! A night out without our little kiddos. We went across the street after to a yogurt place and ate our treats as we walked around Coconut Grove. Fun night!

Time to go get my oil changed.

Post V Day Culinary Love

Or an attempt anyway.

I visited the Boca Mall's location of William Sonoma this weekend with a friend. We sampled a new Asian sauce they were cooking with in the store. Melissa purchased said sauce while I had anxiety over using my gift card on just the right item.... So I bought nothing.

I proceeded to stew about the sauces in my mind and decided the next day to visit the Galleria to purchase the Mongolian sauce for me and the Sesame sauce for Brad. I love Mongolian beef and followed the recipe on the side of the bottle, minus all the pesky vegetables. The recipe on the Sesame bottle was for chicken, but my love, loves sea food so I figured I could swap chicken for shimp.

I have a wok. I used it to make my Mongolian beef first as to not contaminate it with the shimp as I am allergic. I'm pretty sure that sentence is missing some key punctuation. I made some instant rice (skillllllz) and some rice noodle to accompany my main foods. Rice- good. Noodles-WAY over cooked. Boo. They disintegrated when I stirred them in with my beef and sauce. Lame. Over all Mongolian been, score.

Next, I added more oil to fry the shimp that I had dipped in egg white and corn starch like the recipe called for. I also decided that covering them in Panko would be a good idea. Crunch. Yum. Something more for the sauce to absorb into. Yum. Well, I would imagine it would be yummy if I enjoyed shrimp.

Hubby's analysis of the dish- good but he didn't like the crunchy Panko. Fail. I should have just stuck to the dern freaking recipe.

To be fair I did ask him to tell me if he liked stuff so that I don't waste my time repeating a dish he hates. So. Whatever.

At least he is taking his vitamins :)

Yummy easy bruchetta

Ingredients:
1 can whole tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 teaspoons olive oil (good stuff, not bertoli! Try whole foods 365 brand, I like the Spanish olive oil they also have Italian which would be appropriate for this "Italian" recipe)
3 slices sorrento fresh sliced mozzarella, diced
Alessi dipping spices (in the grinder) to taste

Mix all ingredients and top onto bagel chips