Nails: February and March 2012

Oh right, blogging about nails and books and life. Manicure #9: China Glaze "Dance Baby"

Not the greatest picture (hi toilet!) but it was the closest I could come in terms of color accuracy. This is a medium, bubble-gum pink creme polish. I loved this polish, and strangely enough, a lot of my male students complimented it as well. Manicure #10: China Glaze "First Mate"

The absolute best navy blue creme, hands down. It is bright enough so that it is clearly blue, but dark enough to be a true navy. Flawless application and little to no staining when I removed it. Manicure #11: Valentine's Day Owl Manicure

I was inspired to do this manicure by Chalkboard Nails. I was looking for some idea for Valentine's Day and came across this idea, deemed it too difficult for me to do, and moved on. I wound up not coming up with anything I liked better and decided to give it a try. The base color was Zoya "Caitlin" which I love for the color and because it is my namesake polish. After a childhood devoid of anything personalized, I will basically buy anything with my name on it. This could have turned out better/neater, but overall I thought it was cute and appropriate for the holiday. Manicure #12: Nerd Lacquer "Entirely Unlike Tea"

This polish has beautiful rainbow micro glitter in it that is very difficult to photograph. The base is a little sheer, so I may try layering this over a similar colored creme polish next time. Manicure #12: China Glaze "Aquadelic"

Not too much to say about this polish. Another A+ creme polish from China Glaze. It is a smidge greener than my picture, but these bright colors always do wonky things to my camera. Disappointing side note: this is one of a handful of polishes that do not play nice with fast dry top coats. By day 2 or 3 the polish had darkened significantly, with the worst of it being near the tips. Ugh, hate that Manicure #13: China Glaze "Sweet Hook"

I completely forgot that I even wore this polish, so it obviously it a very important polish. Again, China Glaze creme, so it was good. It leaned a little warmer than most of my lavender polishes, which is more flattering on my warm-ish skin tone. Manicure #14: Essie "Navigate Her"

My apologies for the awful picture, but it was the only one that semi-accurately showed the color of this polish. It is a brightened pistachio, and probably the closest I've come to finding a green grape hued polish. I really loved this color. Manicure #15: Finger Paints "Grape Gumball"

Glass fleck blurple. Not terribly unique but it called to me at Sally Beauty Supply. Probably because the sales associate let me go into the back room to look at the polishes they hadn't put out yet. Manicure #16: Wet n Wild "Sugar Coat"

I was skeptical about the opacity of this polish, but I read good things online so I took the $3 risk. These super pale pinks (think OPI Bubble Bath) are always a streaky mess for me, so I've stayed away from them. This is three coats and it isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. Manicure #17: Galaxy Nails

Definitely one of my favorite manicures. This is black creme (maybe Wet n Wild?) with a neon purple no name brand polish and a yellow from Revlon sponged on top. I finished the whole thing with "Fairy Dust" by China Glaze. "Fairy Dust" is one of those polishes that instantly spruces up a manicure. I've used this over several imperfect water marbles to mask my mistakes. Manicure #18: Essie "A Crewed Interest"

Not much to say here: standard peach creme. Application was nice, but I often worry these kinds of colors make me look like an old lady. Manicure #19: China Glaze "Agro"

Love the color but it was a little on brush stroke-y side. This is a very December color to me, so wearing it in March (and North Carolina March) was causing mental discord. Manicure #20: China Glaze "Dress Me Up" with China Glaze "Medallion"

Oh hey, bathroom at work. Is that, or is that not the epitome of a public school bathroom? Anyway, I loved this manicure so much. The browned pink base of "Dress Me Up" benefited from the jazzing up the polka dots and chunky gold glitter brought. My students loved this one too, which is always the mark of a good manicure. Manicure #21: Butter London "No More Waity, Katie" over Zoya "Caitlin"

I read that this was pretty sheer, so I layered it overly the similarly colored "Caitlin". I kind of wish I hadn't, as I felt it wound up a little too dark and dismal looking. Manicure #22: Essie "Turquoise & Caicos"

This was my first non-untried polish this year. I wore this for the first time last summer and I loved it then. No change this time. It is very similar to "Aquadelic" but definitely less bright. If I had to guess, a non nail polish person probably couldn't tell the difference between the two. And at long last, that is it for February and March. And once again, just in time for April's post. The school year is winding down and I have all kinds of grand plans for how I will spend all those summer hours. I also recently passed the halfway mark for my 30 Books in 2012 goal, and it is well before the halfway mark for the year so I feel pretty optimistic. A book post is forthcoming, for real this time.

Nails: January 2012

Here I am, ready to get the ball rolling on this resolution and talk about nails. I don't know whether these posts are going to be weekly, monthly, per manicure or some combination of those. But seeing as it is the last day of the month, I'll just do a round up of all my January manicures.

Manicure #1: Nerd Lacquer "Don't Blink" This was a surprise Christmas gift from Taylor and I loveloveloved this polish. It's a gorgeous dove grey with small silver and black glitter and larger hexagonal silver glitter. The black glitter really makes this polish and gives it a great speckled effect. Right after I took this picture, I broke half the nails on my right hand while trying to open a stuck sliding door. Ouch.

Manicure #2: Essie "Very Cranberry" with Finger Paints "Twisted" on top

My first manicure on my newly short nails. "Very Cranberry" was another surprise polish from Taylor. I know that red is probably the most common color for nail polish, but it is the color I have the least of. This polish leans a little pink and has a definite sheen to it. I wouldn't say it's a full on shimmer but there is definitely something that keeps it from being a creme. The shimmer is very, very subtle. I purchased "Twisted" the same day this picture was taken, so I had to throw it on top to see how it looked. "Twisted" is a top coat with blue, red, purple, orange and green pieces of iridescent flake glitter in it. I love flake glitter and it didn't disappoint over this mid-tone red. I am looking forward to trying it over some darker shades.

Manicure #3: Nerd Lacquer "Cold and Calculating"

Shock and surprise, another polish from Taylor. A deep purple with silver glitter and larger hex pieces. I don't love this one as much as "Don't Blink" but I still really liked it. For some reason, I had a hard time getting the glitter pieces in this polish to lay completely flat, which made the finish rough even with a top coat.

Manicure #4: Zoya "Yara"

Yep. Taylor polish. I swear, I buy 96% of my own polishes, but I got a bunch for Christmas and felt compelled to wear them one right after another. I wish I had taken more pictures of this polish, because it's much prettier than this photograph would leave you to believe. "Yara" is an olive green that is loaded with gold shimmer. The shimmer really glows when the sun hits it, but unfortunately this picture was taken indoors, near my desk and in a rush.

Manicure #5: MAC "Blue India"

I bought this polish! I picked this up at a CCO in Charlotte over the summer. It was limited edition from MAC's Liberty of London collection and I had admired swatches of it online when it was released. I never purchase MAC polishes at full price because they are kind of expensive and the formula is not that great. This was also a little difficult to capture in a photo. It is a deep greyed blue that tends to photograph too bright or too dark.

Manicure #6: China Glaze "Sunset Sail"

This was a manicure fail. I should probably mention that I am trying to work through all my untried polishes this year as well. As I was looking though my stash, I pulled "Sunset Sail" thinking that I had never used it. Wrong. As soon as I finished my manicure, I realized that I wore this back in September and I hated it. This polish looks fine at first, but the longer I had it on, the more and more I felt like an old lady. The color goes from peach to dirty band-aid in like, 15 minutes. I'm sure this looks lovely on other people, but not me.

Manicure #7: China Glaze "VII"

"VII" is a pretty straightforward raisin colored creme. It was nothing spectacular, but It applied nicely and I probably could have gotten away with one coat. I always feel like an actual grown up when I wear colors like this, which is simultaneously nice and no fun.

Manicure #7: Essie "Fair Game"

I wasn't a huge fan of this polish, but I liked it more than I thought I would. Does that make sense? I was talked into buying this polish nearly a year ago, although I wasn't totally sold on it. I pulled it out for a manicure and then looked at a dozen streaky, frosty swatches of it online. Fortunately, it had enough shimmer to keep it from looking like a complete 1980's frost nightmare. I think it would probably look better on shorter nails, so I don't know how often I'll be reaching for this one.

Manicure #8: Orly "Androgynie"

This polish was somewhat of a letdown, though I still like how it looks. The bottle looks amazing, but that amazingness doesn't translate to the nail quite as well as I would have hoped. The main issue is that the black base is sheer enough to require several coats, but opaque enough to completely cover the glitter in previous coats. Next time, I'll use this over a black base to maximize the glitter. Okay folks, there you have it. All my manicures for the month of January, including the one I am currently wearing. Hopefully I can get it together and make an collective January book post sometime this week.

My Year of Nails and Books and Other Things

I'm back. I could rattle off an endless list of reasons why I haven't touched this blog in over 8 months, but no one wants to hear all the ways in which life has backhanded me in 2011. But hey, remember that car I posted about back in May? Well it finally got towed! Anyway, I made some "New Year's Resolution" type things that lend themselves to blogging. First, I wanted to take a picture of every manicure I do this year. I figure this blog is as good a place as any to post those pictures and talk about nail polish. Second, I want to read 30 books this year. I know, I know, I know. Everyone always wants to read 50 books, but I have a job and I'm in school again(I know, how did that happen?) and I don't know that 50 is realistic. I'd rather read more than I planned than fall short. I will discuss all my important and scholarly feelings about what I read. Be forewarned, there will probably be a lot of "Young Adult Fiction" here, as I am an 8th grade teacher and like to read what my students like to read. I'm like the cool mom from Mean Girls. Third, I planned to get my act together and floss regularly. I don't plan to document that here. You're welcome.

Parking Wars

We've been living in our apartment for nearly 4 months without complaint. Our complex is broken up into roughly fifteen three floor buildings which are split by a breezeway, as seen in the picture above. We have an upstairs apartment with only one shared wall, and either that wall is very thick or we have very quiet neighbors. The trash is removed in a timely fashion, the people in the office are nice, and everything works the way it should. Everything, that is, except the parking. When we moved in we were told that there is ample parking, but as a courtesy we should park one car in the row of maybe 10 spots immediately in front of our building and the other across the lot, in order to give everyone in our building one close spot. Seeing as my car was still in New Jersey until about 2 weeks ago, this wasn't a big deal. Steven regularly had 2 or 3 close spots to choose from at night and all was well.

And then we noticed the clunker. Well, I first noticed it when we moved in. It's hard not to. The clunker is at least 20 years old, possibly older, and is completely filled with stuff. Strollers (yes, I'm pretty sure there are more than one), papers, a bucket with a nasty sponge, and who knows what else. It's like someone decided to use an old car as mobile storage unit/garbage heap. So it's a complete eyesore, which is bad enough, but it is permanently parked in one of the close spots. It has literally not moved once in 4 months. While this irked me, we still had at least two close spots to choose from, so it wasn't a huge deal.

Fast forward to the day our new neighbors moved in downstairs. I don't want to make sweeping generalizations about them, but they are from a state known for toothlessness and widespread obesity (here's a hint, it's "west" of a certain mid-Atlantic state) and one of their cars has a beauty school bumper sticker and a steering wheel cover that says "Goddess" in a repulsive font. Within days of moving in, they had visitors knock at their door, loudly, after midnight which caused the dog in the apartment across from us to bark, which caused the offending visitors to be louder. Their late night callers seemed to stop after the first few days but now we have a new problem. They apparently missed the memo about courtesy parking and park both of their vehicles in spots in front of the building every night. And if that isn't inconsiderate enough, Miss West Virginia Beauty School Goddess parked her car IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TWO PRIME SPACES last night! Taking up a total of three prime spaces! I was truly incredulous. What is wrong with these people? Have they set out to ruin my life? Sure the other row of parking is still relatively close to the building BUT WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PARK THERE! WE DESERVE A PRIME SPOT! CAPITAL LETTERS ARE THE ONLY WAY TO TEXTUALLY DESCRIBE MY RAGE!

Now I'm mad whenever I go outside. Our quiet neighbors have guests over who park on the good side. RAAAAAGE. The West Virginia people haven't left the apartment all day and are still parked side by side right in front of the building. EYE TWITCH. The clunker sits unmoved, full of baby accoutrements with an inspection sticker that expired in 2008. EYE TWITCHING HAND SHAKING RAAAAGE.

It may be lame, but I'm a rules girl at heart and I've also been raised to fear seeming discourteous. You are supposed to park in one spot, not two. You are supposed to get your car inspected. You aren't supposed to park it in a spot and presumably not move it for 3 years. When your guests are being loud outside your apartment at midnight (on a weeknight!) you shush them because they are being rude. While I realize that we could have it much, much worse in terms of terrible neighbors (growing up, we once had a neighbor who threatened to run my mother over with a bike and left erotic pictures of herself in the front seat of her car) I still feel that they are cramping our style. The only good thing that has come out of this, is that Steven and I have gotten so annoyed about the parking that Steven talked to the people in the office about the clunker and now it will (hopefully) be towed. I'm assuming the office people check to make sure it doesn't belong to someone who currently lives here, but I don't actually know. Who cares? Not me! I think I want to set off fireworks when it finally happens.

Triumphant Return

Fret not, my 1-4 loyal blog readers, I haven't abandoned Caitlin in Carolina. I've actually been working for the last week or so, and gainful employment is not conducive to frequent blog posts apparently. Unfortunately, the job was only temporary and is just about over, save for a day or two of work in the future. Fortunately, it was the most frustratingly boring job I have ever had so I don't mind not having to do it anymore. Unfortunately, it was also the highest paying job I've ever had. See how my feelings yo-yo back and forth?

After not writing for well over a week, I find myself forgetting about things that happened that I ordinarily would have mentioned. I plan to write about things, think "Meh", and file them away under "Things to Forget." Basically, I'm bad at blogging. I also hate the word "blog" and the verb "blogging."

Aside from working on a mind numbing database, I went on a picnic with Steven a little over a week ago. I like the olden timey romanticism of picnics but I'm always slightly uneasy when actually doing it. Probably much like riding a penny farthing. You know, or not. This picnic has been in the works since September due to Groupon rescheduling issues followed by winter followed by our own scheduling issues, so it was exciting to finally be able to go.







I suppose the only other note worthy occurrence has been our acquisition of a washer and dryer. However, no one wants to really hear about that, so I leave you with these pictures of Josie wearing some magnets as a necklace.

Unpopular Opinions

Folks, today I am going to be blogging about toilet paper. Please feel free to leave at any point, because I am about to voice my controversial opinion about the over/under debate that rages on. If you had told me as a child that I would one day have a strong opinion about the orientation of a toilet paper roll, well, I'd believe you because I was kind of a dorky kid. Logic would dictate that this is an utterly inconsequential issue, but nearly everyone has an opinion. Some (i.e. me and nearly everyone else I know) verge on maniacal in ours.

I am a strong proponent of the under orientation. I know that I'm in the minority, but I don't care. I'm right, here is why:

Issue #1: Premature tearing
This is arguably the biggest reason why over makes no sense to me. Toilet paper, by nature, is incredibly flimsy. Even if you spring for a cushy brand of 2 ply, that paper needs to be ultra soft in order to flush. Whenever I have used an over oriented roll, I have taken the first sheet and pulled gently to get the 2 or 3 more squares that I require. Every single time, the first square -maybe the first 2 squares if I'm lucky- have torn off due to these flimsy sheets not being able to pull the whole roll around. Every time! This never happens when the roll is under.

Issue #1a: Ease of tearing
The under orientation allows you to quickly and easily tug the roll up and to the side, tearing the paper with the under roll providing counterbalance. Basic momentum, people.

Issue #2: Placement of the new start of the roll
When toilet paper is in the over orientation, it takes nearly half the roll before the new starting point dangles over. This is where all toiler paper diagrams (including the one above) are inaccurate and is something that is never considered when the over people are arguing their point. When the roll is new, the starting point is always at the very top of the roll, unless you make a concerted effort to turn the roll. The vast majority of people can't be bothered to turn toilet paper tearing into the 2 hand job required for letting the paper dangle. This positioning makes no sense and only serves to exacerbate the issue of premature tearing. The paper naturally wants to fall away from the roll in the under orientation. It's gravity!


Unless you are in a hotel where the first sheet folded into a triangle serves as proof that the bathroom has been cleaned, is there even a point to having the roll start in front? Unless you are making those daily triangles, it certainly doesn't look as nice. It just makes it easier for small pets to bat at and ultimately unravel the roll.

Refutations for arguments made by over people:

Statement: "If the paper is printed, it looks better when hung over the top"
Response: You are really buying printed toilet paper? Really? What print do you feel so strongly about that you want to rub it against your nether regions?

Statement: "The paper may touch the wall"
Response: Unless you leave an absurd amount hanging, no it won't. Also, this is your home we are talking about. How filthy are your walls that toilet paper brushing against them is cause for concern?

Statement: "You have to reach so much further to get the paper when it's under"
Response: Bitch are you crazy? Unless your over oriented roll is nearly gone (see above) it's a matter of reaching up or down. Try not to strain yourself.

Statement: "When the roll is under, I pull too hard and unravel a ridiculous amount of toilet paper"
Response: Try to not pull the door off its hinges on the way out, Flex.

I think that is probably enough hot debating for now. Especially when I'm writing this post alone and only working myself into a lather (though I know when Taylor reads this, she will be furious). I am fortunate that Steven truly doesn't care either way, and we don't have a contentious domestic partnership where each one constantly tries to undermine the other by switching the roll. What I'm basically getting at is this: don't come to my house and try to re-orient my roll. And don't expect me to not judge you if you are an over person. The end.

Film Festival - Days 1 & 2

So, as the title of this post suggests, Steven and I wound up attending the River Run Film Festival as we planned. Not only did we go to the two films that we had pre-ordered tickets for, we also saw two additional films on Sunday. And we're seeing one tonight! And on Saturday! Can you tell that I've enjoyed having the film festival in town?

Saturday began in a nearly disastrous fashion. We had planned to see the Animated Shorts in the morning and Meek's Cutoff at night. I stuck the tickets on the refrigerator so that we wouldn't forget them. Animated Shorts at 12:00pm and Meek's Cutoff at 8:30pm. Except that my brain reversed the times a bit. Before we went to bed on Friday, Steven asked what time the Animated Shorts were playing. I said 12:30. We proceeded to sleep late and take our sweet time getting ready. As I leisurely walked to the refrigerator to get the tickets - can't forget those, what a disaster THAT would be! - I realized the mistake I had made. Poor Steven had to rush to get dressed and leave the house with wet hair. When we got to the venue we realized that we couldn't park there and were redirected to the nearby YWCA lot. At this point, I was feeling extremely guilty and was fairly certain that we wouldn't make it to the show on time. And then the magical school bus of hope and wonder appeared, chartered specifically to take patrons directly to the theater. We were saved!

The Animated Shorts were in a tiny, tiny theater and we unfortunately had to sit pretty close to the front. Overall, the shorts were enjoyable and a good mix of funny, sweet, irreverent and melancholy. Here are two of my favorites:





And then there was Esterhazy. Long, depressing, terrible sound, and the only film that has been able to make animated bunnies ugly. Did I mention long? In comparison with the other shorts which ranged from 1 minute to 12 minutes, Esterhazy was 25 unbearable minutes of an unappealing clay bunny's search to find a fat wife set to the backdrop of the Berlin Wall in 1989 Germany. Terrible. Later that night we were able to arrive to see Meek's Cutoff in much less of a hurry. One of the actors from the film was in the audience and did a question and answer session afterward. I would say more about the film, but you didn't really come here to read me review movies that you probably won't see, right? Right.

So Saturday was our day with concrete plans. Although I almost always enjoy them, weekends packed full of plans mentally exhaust me. I am especially bad about locking into plans far in advance. I usually wind up spending the days or weeks leading up to the event in a state of dread. Even if it's something I want to do! What is wrong with me? Anyway, the fates aligned and Steven and I found ourselves at the film festival again on Sunday. I had been trying to win tickets to see a film -any film- through the Facebook pages of various sponsors. Not surprisingly, I didn't win. You see, the only thing I have ever won in my 24 years is a jelly bean counting competition at my local library when I was about 7. I won a frisbee and a box of crayons, in case you were wondering. Long story short, I won 2 tickets to see The Wonder Year through Twitter, doubling my life win tally.

The weather was much better on Sunday, and I was able to appreciate the cool movie area of the UNCSA campus where the films were being shown.




The Wonder Year was a pleasant surprise. Steven and I probably never would have seen it on our own, but I'm really glad we got the tickets. The film's director and 9th Wonder were in attendance and answered a lot of questions afterward. I really love the fact that so many people involved with the films have been to the screenings. Gives audience members that warm "I'm somewhere special" feeling.


After having an absurdly early dinner, we headed back downtown to the free, outdoor screening of Best in Show. We expected it to be much more crowded, seeing as it was free and the weather was nice, but we were able to pick a nice spot on the grass.




Here are Steven and I before the show, trying (and failing) to look at the same place in the same picture:





So there it is; our busy weekend consolidated into one smallish blog post.