Never Let a (Straight?) Man Do Your Nails

I LOVE having my nails done. Acrylics, to be more specific. They make my sausage fingers look slimmer, and I like having at least SOME part of my body look slim!
I've been going to this place at the mall called California Nails for a couple of years, now. They do a fantastic job - I love them there! I used to go to one at South Towne, but stopped going to that one after the gal that was doing my nail fill not only did a crappy job, but explained WHY she did a crappy job - "Man, I was up all night partying!" Um, okay, thanks. So I started going to one at Fashion Place Mall, and they are WONDERFUL. I've had almost all the girls there work on my nails, and they're all fantastic. I don't care that they all chatter in Thai or Cantonese or Chinese or Japanese or whatever it is they speak; I've even learned their accent so I can tell what they're saying, rather than saying 'I'm sorry, can you repeat that?' all the time.
Well, last Thursday I went to get a fill, and the only available nail tech was the one guy that works there. I'd never had him do my nails before, and I thought - what the heck, if he works here, he's probably just as good as the gals! So I sat down at his station, and he went to work. At this point, I have only one word to describe my experience:
OUCH.
The man totally butchered my cuticles (and if there are any boys reading this, it HURTS to have your cuticles filed), and filed my nails all wonky, so they look like chipped and curved eagle talons. He kept asking me how I liked them, and I smiled through my tears of pain and said 'they look great!' just so I could hurry and get out of there. To try and distract myself from the pain, I studied the guy a little: Tight black t-shirt, beaded necklace, spiky black hair, and - a ring on his left ring finger. Huh. The first several observations led me to believe that he was gay (I don't mean to label people, but this has just been my experience with gay guys); but a wedding ring? Guess he could be married... Then I examined the ring a little more closely. It was bigger and prettier than any WOMAN'S ring I'd ever seen! It even had probably a 3/4 karat diamond in the center, slightly raised. WOW. Yeah, that took my mind off the pain for a bit.
In all, it took the man 12 minutes to do my nails. I'm used to the gals taking about 35-45 minutes (and a little more care with my cuticles) for a fill; but this guy had me in and out in 15 minutes. He rushed me right through and did a crummy job; needless to say, I was disappointed. Next time I go in, I'm asking for one of the gals, and I'm starting over with a brand-new set of lovely nails that make my hands look like they have slim, feminine fingers and not wonky eagle talons.

On a different note, I might have a Coke tomorrow! Thanks for all of you who gave me feedback on my soda-pop goal. When I think about it, I was probably just asking for your permission to actually have a Coke; but when it comes down to it, I think that it's all in my head. If I have the self-discipline to seriously limit my food calories, I have the discipline to limit my beverage calories, no matter the source. I could probably have a Coke twice a week and be fine. It's just been so long (8 or 9 weeks) since I've had a soda, I have to work up to it. I hate to think of myself as a big fat failure because I didn't hold to one of my goals for the year. But maybe a bigger and better goal would be to not deny myself, but to have the strength to control the amount of what I allow myself to have. That goes for food, beverages, money, time-off work... life in general. So this is my new "I AM":

I am in control of my life.


:)

Breakthrough... and a Breakdown?

I work downtown. Right smack dab in the middle of Downtown SLC. I love it. It's not metropolitan yet, but it'll get there. There's fun places to eat, interesting book stores to visit on my lunch break, and in the Summer, there are live concerts by local bands every Friday at noon. I like it downtown, and my dream is to live in an urban-style loft downtown someday.
At the moment, though, I live in Sandy. My commute to work totals 25-30 minutes - on a GOOD day. And anyone who knows me, knows that I get some seriously mad road rage a lot of the time.
Well, today was NOT a good commute day. I-15 was a parking lot from where I got on (merging from I-215) to where I got off (3300 South) - and beyond. Apparently two major accidents halted the flow of traffic. Now, I work at 9:30, so I'm usually on the road after most people are already at work. But today, whoever was commuting after 9:00 was stuck on the freeway, including yours truly. So, already being 20 minutes late for work, I got off the freeway at 3300 South and got on State Street, which was also jammed with commuters - and then proceeded to hit most of the lights red instead of green. So today's commute took me an hour. Can you imagine my road rage? Well guess what?

I DIDN'T HAVE ANY.

None. No road rage. A little frustration, sure. But otherwise - I was perfectly at ease on my way to work. Can you believe it? The queen of road rage was content during a heinous commute. Be proud of me.

On a completely different note (and a possible breakdown), I still haven't had any soda for almost two months. I thought that I would drop at least 5 pounds immediately, but I haven't. Weight loss has been very slow - steady, but very slow. Mostly because I'm controlling (or trying to) my calorie intake, drinking more water (2-4 liters a day), and exercising like mad. Giving up soda has not done much for me - I don't get headaches, I haven't lost weight from it, and I haven't noticed a difference in my lung capacity (meaning, soda doesn't cut my wind) but I still crave the carbonation a little. Okay, a lot. After many nutrition-based conversations with people, I'm starting to wonder - is it really doing me any good to just not drink it? I mean, the only reasons I'm abstaining are mainly to prove that I can do it - and because I know carbonation is not really good for you. But what good is that, when I plan on starting back up again in June? Doesn't that defeat my whole purpose of not drinking soda? If I'm controlling my calorie intake, can't I just build a can of soda into my calorie budget?

So now comes my question: Do I just give up carbonation altogether because I know it's not good for me, and I'm trying to be healthy? Or do I let myself have a Coke every once in a while because not only am I replacing soda with juice that has the same sugar and calorie content, but I just really, really like it?

What do YOU think?

Good News!

So Kate said that I should get some new blog topics... and I think she's right, I think I should face reality for at least ONE blog post.

Fortunately, reality isn't that awful right now! A few weeks ago, I had about three or four months more worth of payments on my student loans, until I got this notice in the mail:


Yes, I could have paid that off long before now, but man - getting this in the mail was the coolest thing ever! This is a notice I got that the UHEAA telling me that the balances on my student loans have been "forgiven" - paid off, erased, kaput. One less debt to worry about.

Life is GOOD. :)

Candy

Okay, so it turns out that I don't really HAVE celebrity crushes, I just like to watch really pretty boys. Um, I mean, really attractive MEN. Eye candy. Optical sugar.

Lately I've been watching "Supernatural" - I watched most of the first season and loved it (which is weird, because I won't see shows like this at the movie theaters - I hate scary movies, and some of these episodes have some freaky stuff in them), but I stopped a few episodes into the second season. Now it's in its third season, and I've watched a few episodes - and I realized what I've been missing out on.



Award winning show? Possibly. Quality TV? Not really. Good acting? Ah, so-so. Excellent directing and writing? Maybe. Incredibly attractive leading roles?

OH YES.

Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. The "Winchester Brothers" who chase ghosts and demons and are seeking revenge for the murder of their mother and the downfall of their father. Men who make and old-school Chevy Impala look like the hottest car on the market. Men who make preforming an exorcism look like afternoon tea. So I went to the library and checked out the first season on DVD - even though I've already seen them - to start watching again, and keep up on the series, and I've been up insanely late the past two nights glued to my TV.

LOVE it.

Channing Tatum

I think I have a problem that might need professional attention.

I have yet ANOTHER celebrity crush. Seriously, I need to get out more.

Kate lent me her newest DVD purchase last night, Step Up, and I had only planned on watching half of it last night, then going to sleep at a decent hour, then watching the rest tonight. When she watched it, I asked her how she like it, and she said, "It was lame, dumb, cheesy, and predictable. But the dancing was cool." HHMMM!! Right up my alley! So I borrowed it, intending (like I said) to split it up into two nights.

Yeah right.

I got watching it, and couldn't stop. I watched it all the way through, then watched some of the special features, then watched my favorite parts of the movie two or three more times. (Yeah, I was up pretty late.) In confessing this, I realize that I am revealing my nerdiness to the extreme. But please forgive me, as I show you my newest celeb crush...

Channing Tatum.