Crackle Nail Polish

So I used the new China Glaze Crackle Nail Polish (picture above).  I'll let you all be the judge and jury - above is the final result. 

Does Absence Make the Heart Grow Fonder?

So, a little bit ago, my good friend Jeannine wrote a piece that she requested be posted as a guest-post.  Jeannine is an avid blog reader and commenter.  Also, often times throughout the day, I will email her being like 'uhh, what should I blog about'.  One day, she had an opinion on the expression 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'.  I thought it was quite blog-worthy because it fit the theme of this blog pretty nicely.  Here is her piece: I have made some small edits:


Absence does NOT make the heart grow fonder - because absence makes me think of all the random 'Omg! I just have to tell ___ about this!" moments; all the things you used to do together and whatever.

It doesnt make you go 'awww, I miss them!'  Well, it does for a second.  But then it makes you go 'that f****** a******!  Why is s/he so shady??  We totally could be sharing in this funny little moment right now.  But because they are a total f*****, we are not. 

I hate this about them, and this, and this.   And they never did this.  And why do all this stupid, weird, shady stuff.   What is that supposed to mean?  You suck.  I hate you.

Absence makes the heart grow to hate you.

Editor's sidenote:  Needless to say, Jeannine is a little more emotional and dirty-mouthed than I am.  

I think she had a good point, however, about the moments you think of something that makes you think of someone who is not there, and how he or she would totally appreciate the moment.  In somewhat recent history, there was a period of time when Jeannine and I were not speaking, and one of our mutual friends said something, ahem, lovably ridiculous.  I was rather frustrated I couldn't contact her on this matter to laugh at said situation.  It made me also wonder if there are times when some others out there had perhaps, saw something, thought of me, but couldn't/didn't say anything to me for one reason or another.

What are your thoughts?  Does absence make the heart grow fonder, or angrier, as Jeannine suggests?  

Book Club.

So I have been chosen by my new blog network to review a book.  (Well, quite a few bloggers have also been chosen.  Regardless, I like to think I'm special.)

The book is 'What Happened to Goodbye' by Sarah Dessen.  I have heard the author's name before but never read anything by her.  I believe she's typically a teen author.  However, I often times enjoy teen books more than adult lit because the characters typically have more depth and the story line is usually slightly less formulaic.  Or, perhaps, in my life - I read the most when I was a teen, and I could relate to the other angsty teen characters, whereas now, when I read, I rarely find a character to which I truly relate.

I think the central theme of the book is starting over.  Recently, a good friend of mine and I had a discussion about starting over and new beginnings - I shall have a lot to say about this in a later blog post.

My blog network, of course, has some specific guidelines on the review.  They stated that we, the reviewers, must make sure it's a good quality book report - we cannot just say we did or didn't like it, we have to say why.  This makes me nervous.  I cannot remember the last time I wrote a 'book report'.  (Does reviewing a book on amazon.com, or better yet, THIS BLOG, count?).  Anyhow - hopefully I can find my high school AP English notes quickly.

Review of said book to come.

Some Thoughts on Oprah

Ok, so as we all know - it seems to be the (temporary) end of the Oprah Winfrey Show.  I have had some mixed feelings on this woman over the past couple years.  I've felt the ego has, in a way, grown out of control and I also feel that she's made some questionable endorsements over the years (cough, The Secret, cough) that some people have blindly followed.  That, and, well, the whole tangent of the fact that some people just blindly follow and do (or buy) anything she tells them to because, well, she's Oprah (the book club, the favorite things, etc etc.).  

Anyhow.  Now, I do believe Oprah is good at heart, but as I said, sometimes she's a bit much.  However, I was thinking the other day - would it be possible to be Oprah Winfrey - to have Oprah's celebrity status, to have so many people worshiping oneself, to have so many blindly following one's suggestions - is it possible to have less of an ego than our dear Oprah does?  Would it be possible to be grounded?  Is Oprah relatively down-to-earth, given the circumstances?  

Really Slow News Day.

So, according to Cosmopolitan magazine, white nailpolish is the new thing for Spring/Summer.  It's supposedly popular amongst the goth peeps (as opposed to black nails we knew a couple years ago).

Your thoughts?

I personally really don't see anything too goth or rebellious about it.  I may take it for a test drive soon.  You?

American Idol Update

So, I don't have much of an update.  I stopped watching.  However, I do find it a little insane that hometown girl Haley Reinhart made it this far - especially because hometown local boy Lee DeWyze won last year.  That, and if I remember correctly - the other two finalists aren't better than her.  Could the northwest suburbs have back-to-back idols?  Do you think Haley is good enough to be the American Idol?  Does being the American Idol mean anything any more?  Did it ever?  Have our last three or four winners had any real commercial success?   Is the show going to live another season?  Should they keep the same judges?

Your thoughts?  

Update on My Life & this Blog

(Editor's sidenote:  are they maybe one in the same?  Sigh.  Tear.)

So my blog has been accepted to a blogging network.  (www.BlogHer.com).  I feel like I just got accepted into a secret sorority.  Or my toddler just got accepted to some elite prep pre-school.  Anyhow.  Immense pride on my end.  Or something like that.

Anyhow, I love this so far because it is getting my blog some extra exposure.  BlogHer is an all female blog network.  A lot of the other blogs I am linked with seem to be pretty amusing - it looks like I better up my game.  The fact that I have not blogged much over the past week certainly isn't helping my case.  Sigh. I shall come up with some new material.

What is Normal?

I am not usually a 'quote' person.  But this one grabbed me.  The grammar error in this bothers me.  But otherwise.  There's a good point at heart.  

Snoopy Mother's Day!!

Natalie Portman

Is it just me, or does Natalie Portman seem, well, PERFECT?  Oscar winning actress.  Beautiful.  Harvard education.  Humanitarian.  Great relationship with her parents.  Vegetarian.  Never gets in trouble for drug use or drunken stupidity like a lot of her peers.  I feel like whenever I see or hear any review of her, it's simply singing her praises for her brilliance.

I want to know her dirty secret (or two).  I am sure she has one.   If anyone knows something bad about Natalie Portman, please send it my way.  Thanks.

What other celebrities seem perfect?

Simple, Direct Branding

I like it.  It's clutter free.  We need more of that in daily life. 

Update on My Haircut

(Editor's sidenote:  Because you care.  You do, really....)

So, as I said in an earlier post, I had scheduled a haircut/highlight for this past Sunday.   A coworker had recommended the salon (which shall remain nameless).  She told me the name of her girl; her girl was out of my price range.  I spoke to the receptionist and requested a girl in a lower price bracket.  I described my hair - she made a recommendation.  Let's call said girl 'Sarah'.  The receptionist penciled me in with Sarah on Sunday for a cut & partial for around $105.

Saturday rolls around.  I see a missed call on my phone from an unknown number.  Thinking perhaps it's Mr. Right or someone telling me I'd won a contest (or more likely a local alderman candidate asking for my vote), I curiously listened to the voicemail.

"Hi Jaime, I'm calling from XXXX Hair Place to confirm your appointment tomorrow at 1 with Jenny for a partial and haircut.  Please let me know immediately if you cannot make it."

Well, I, too, noticed a brief discrepancy.  I called to ask about it.  Jenny?  I thought I had Sarah?  Granted, I don't know the first thing about either.  Maybe Jenny is better?

"Oh, yeah.  We had a scheduling conflict, so we moved you to Jenny because it worked better for us.  She's great.  She's the same price."

I got in the shower a little confused.  Granted, I was going in cold either way, and, perhaps, as suggested earlier, Jenny would be a better fit for me.  However, something about the situation rubbed me the wrong way.  They moved me?  Without asking me?  Had they called me up and asked me, I wouldn't be as lukewarm about it.   What if Sarah was MY hair girl that I was attached to?  Granted, they probably had some notes that stated I was a new client and didn't have a specific request - but STILL.  I was getting in the mindset to be styled by Sarah.  I had started to do some background research on her.  I was spending over $100 at their salon - maybe that wasn't a big deal to them, but it was to me.  I deserved better treatment for that money - not as just some afterthought getting shuffled into the one opening that works for them.  Nobody puts Jaime in the corner!

Anyhow.  I called back shortly after and canceled.  They didn't ask why, and I didn't feel like getting into it.  If my business wasn't important to them, I wasn't about to yell at them and tell them that it should be.  So now I'm back to square one - looking for an affordable, decent hair girl in Chicago.

Am I being oversensitive?  Is this a common practice?  Anyone have a hair recommendation in Chicago?  Your thoughts?