Thursday, December 29, 2011

I'm back! China Glaze stellar


So, I took a bit of an unintended hiatus. Please forgive me! For the last couple of weeks of the semester, and  I was just up to my eyeballs in stuff. It seemed like it would never end. Students needing help with their assignments, supervision work, marking, travelling, covering two sick colleagues' teaching, conference prep, having to buy all my Christmas gifts in the space of 24 hours (thank you, University finance, for paying me on December 22nd), my grandfather going into hospital for heart surgery, travelling down to my parents' house, travelling back, returning home to find the radiator had burst, having the radiator replaced on boxing day, more marking...

The upshot was that I have been sporting some seriously knackered manicures for the last few weeks. I had Butter London West End Wonderland on for the final week of the semester, but I was constantly on trains and not returning home until 8pm, so all I had to show for it was a couple of rather sorry iphone pictures. This on the other hand was my Christmas day mani - I found it squirrelled away in a forgotten stash at my parents' house, and it seemed appropriately festive, so I slapped it on with no base or top coat. It worked a treat. Three coats and it's still slightly sheer, but I quite like that effect. I do wish it had more obvious champagne glitter as well as silver, that would be super.

 I lost the bottle. Have a picture of my new watch instead. 




PS - the other news I've been digesting is that I got through to the final interview for a year's fellowship at one of the Ivies. I was so completely gung-ho about it until I actually got through to the last stage, and now the dominant sensation is terror at the thought of potentially uprooting across the pond for a year, and working around my parter, mortgage, pets, etc...but it is very flattering to get this far out of 250 applicants so I am not complaining! Still, scary, eh? I've already bought my interview suit and interview polish to match (Essie Not Just a Pretty Face, bien sur).

PPS - I won nfu.oh UK's advent calendar give away for Christmas day! So look for that polish soon, now that I have time to apply it again.

PPS - I've changed my hair colour again and now I'm having to work out what goes with copper.

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a busy month for you! :O I hope that your grandfather is okay and that the surgery went well!!! I'm sorry to hear about your radiator troubles too! Good luck with the interview! :D I hope that you can relax a bit now and get some time for yourself. Oh, and your nails look amazing. :D

fleur de lis said...

I missed you! Was getting kinda worried. Sounds like things have been very hectic. Hope your grandad is OK and your radiator woes are now sorted. And congrats on the brilliant news!

Lucy said...

Nothing you can do about having to deal with life! That's more important than blogging about polish. I'm happy your back & you'll do what's best for yourself. So sorry to hear about your Grandfather. I pray he recovers in good health. Your watch is wonderful. Love that Butter London polish. Very festive looking.

april brooks said...

This is one of my favorite polishes!

Lauren - Scrapbook Blog said...

Incredibly happy for you (but also understand all your worries about going!) as it will be an absolutely amazing experience... Good Luck indeed xxx

Grace Thomas said...

Ashesela - thank you for the well wishes, he's out of hospital now. I'm so relieved! It's been a bit of a hectic time. And thanks for the nail compliments, it's really nice to be able to indulge in a bit of polishing again.

Fleur - missed you too, haven't spoken to you in ages! Yeah, I'm OK. And thanks - although I'm not sure brilliant news should give you panic attacks?! Hopefully I'll be able to man up before the interview…

Lucy - very true. I've been trying to prioritise and take some time to relax because I was nearing the end of my tether a bit! Thank you for the watch-compliment, it was in fact a gift from my grandmother and grandfather. I spoke to her yesterday and they both seem to be bearing up well, considering.

April - isn't it a beaut?

Loz - Thank you! Well, we'll see what happens. It's nice to get through the selection process since the jobs market is a pig and I was worried my CV wasn't up to much! My referees must have been undeservedly generous, methinks!

Sinard Chao said...

I have been looking for a watch of that exact kind! What brand is your watch?

Katie said...

YIKES, talk about a busy, busy month.

I think you can wear any nail color you want, no matter what hair color you have. CLOTHES wise, blues, greens and violets look fabulous on redheads. Stay away from white (white just looks dingy for some reason); go with ivory. Pinks looks horrid on most redheads unless it's a deep, saturated pink. In other words, just look on the other side of the color wheel and you'll be fine, honey.

Hey, it's not so bad here in the states! Apparently we have more drugstore makeup selection (according to every UK beauty blogger that's been here.) The US is bigger. You can also take a 30 minute shower everyday and still have a cheaper water bill than if you took 5 minute showers in the UK. I LOVE my showers. I could never give up my 15-30 minute showers. It's SO cold and rainy where I live right now that I need that 5 minute thawing period in the shower. Knowing I couldn't have that would KILL me. I'm a shower person, not a bath person.

Grace Thomas said...

Sinard - it's a Casio, I got it from American Apparel. It's the MTP - 10932Q - 7B2. They have a lot of very similar styles if you're less of a chronic fusspot than me!

Katie - thank you for that! I don't wear pink anyway so that's OK, and most of my wardrobe is grey/black. You're right about ivory/white, although that was something I tried to stick to as a blonde too (I finally worked out that I am warm toned, so I tried to keep to those kinds of colours if I can, with a bit of emerald/navy/purple thrown in occasionally).

And the showers - ahh, that does sound amazing! Most power showers over here suck. It's just above freezing here for most of January so I've been going to bed in jumpers to save on the heating bill. And your petrol is cheaper. I just always imagined that if I upped sticks it would be a semi-permanent thing and I'd move with my OH ad settle down, rather than just popping over on my own for a year. But we'll see. Many things can happen, right? :)

Katie said...

ilexica - It is a big decision. The year over here could be seen as a trial to see if you like it here. A lot of people have this daydream in their head of America and coming here, they find out it's completely different. There's a lot of prejudice here, more than people abroad think. The US is a lot bigger than people think. I've lived in 5 states (my dad's military) and there are somethings that remained the same across all five (prejudice against people, even children, with disabilities, for one) and some that were different (Colorado = amazing mountain skyline. Wisconsin and Illinois = awful winters and summers. Texas = HEAT!!! Those are some physical traits.)

Each state is different and unique. The state I live in now I am not fond of (freezing cold in winter, humid and hot as heck in summer. Oh, and let's not start with the wind problem.) I loved Colorado and Texas. If there were a cross between Colorado and Texas, I'd be a happy camper. Temperatures that never fall below 50 with a mountain skyline and predictable weather = Happy Katie. Hawaii is not a choice because I am terrified of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tsunamis. I was an Army kid, not Navy; I can't swim! I can weather anything but those four.

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