Baking My Way to a New Adventure

Naturally, when you have a nail art and beauty blog, you would try out new make-up, nail polish or new fashion trend, right?  Well, I kind-off take "trying something new" as the artsy-and-adventure rather than the beauty-and-fashion side.  This is tea related, afterall... And any food that goes with tea, for that matter {which is practically anything, right?} That's my excuse for deviating from nails and beauty hauls into my new adventure - Baking and Cake Decorating ;-)

As The Autumn Days Begin {2014}

What a lovely day indeed.  Though the wind blows hard and unsteady, the sun shines so brightly making an otherwise cold day into a nice, comfortable, beautiful day.

Two days ago was the first day of Autumn this year.  The day was announced by bleak winds and lightly overcast skies that necessitated digging out thick clothing from storage.  "It cannot be put off much longer,"  I told myself as I hesitantly put on a light winter jacket.  Then followed by a weak smile of disapproval: "Oh that just looks silly..." Hence comes a light fall jacket instead.  Regrets came afterwards when it fell short of keeping these little bones of mine warm.  So today I made sure I had the winters on - So glad to be wrong and the day turned out to be so lovely.

KONAD Stamping Nail Art | Haul

The days of summer were short and busy.  How did your summer go?
I must say, it was a very adventurous 'few weeks' indeed.  This last few weeks especially were full of many different activities.  And I am glad. I had my fill of wanderlust and great time with friends from near and far that now I look forward to quiet and slow days.  I would be lying if I say I am looking forward to winter.  My ever warm-blood could not stand the cold! But I could finally say: "I am ready for it!"  By that I mean, I have collected not just memories - I also collected lots of new polish bottles and nail art toys waiting for me to try. (That and some baking tools, learning and teaching a new language... arts and crafts...  Add that to a new job and my volunteer work = I am going to be really busy!  No time to mope and complain about the cold - or so I would hope.)

Take this lovely stamping nail art kit for example.  I am super excited to try it!

Salon Insta Gel Strips Starter Kit | Haul

One of the perks of working close to a shopping area is... shopping... lol.
Well, I mean, because it's on my way, I get to drop in quite often and check in on some sales.  Have you ever wondered what these insta gel strips are?  Well, I have and I wondered how they work but refuse to pay full price... Now I know what's in it... ;-)

Fingerpaints Gel Polish Starter Kit and LED Lamp | Updated Product Review

Here's my gel nails with the Hopewell Rocks in the background.
Hopewell Rocks is located at the Fundy National Park, New Brunswick

A girl going on vacation? How about a busy mom who toggles between the home, kids and maybe even a job outside the home?  Or a modern lady that's multi-tasking between so many activities that time seems to run out so fast? Manicure, what? Ain't no time for that??? Well, you probably heard about gel polish before? An instantly dry manicure that you can wear for up to two weeks - so they claim. It is also claims to have great shine and durability - you can wash the dishes, clean, do laundry,... They say, just go about your daily life and not worry a single bit about your nails?  But then you also hear about horror stories about how it damages the nails?!?  Hmmm....

To have gel polish nails or not? 

OPI Polish Haul | My First OPI Polishes

These last few days of summer have proved to be truly, truly busy for me.  From hosting friends that visit from faraway, traveling to different cities to fulfill our volunteer work... keeping my own home and getting ready for the winter (yup, we have three chords of firewood to stack... ouch)... And there's also teaching my native language to English speakers who are also volunteers like us... Well, I don't know if these much activities can be summed up in a "nut-shell."  There's just too many things going on right now... It's crazy busy but I am also crazy motivated and happy.

Milady's Art and Science of Nail Technology (Book Review)

"An investment in knowledge always gives the best interest."
~Benjamin Franklin

Because you do a lot of nail art, friends and family might ask you to do their nails time and again.  Because you really really do love nail art, maybe you joined various nail art communities in different social media platforms such as this...  And then you come across ones who would ask you questions about nail care, how to stop nail biting (I get this a lot), how to grow longer healthier nails... this or that?... Are you one to get annoyed and say? "I don't know, I just do nail art...."  Or are you the other who feels flattered that someone thinks you know a great deal and actually trust your opinions? I prefer the latter.  Though I don't always know the answer, I try to be well-informed.