Turquoise nails and white chairs

Oh dear. It took about a week to get all sanding in this house done. Work got in the way. But now it's finally done! 

I got also a chance to paint the chairs, atleast part of them. 

The remaining part needs to be stained and then some varnish to top it off. 

This is what they look like at this point 

Now that the sanding is over, I can finally do my nails. They got scuffed in the process and I almost had to wear gloves because they were hideous. 

I decided to do clear gel with turquoise french free ends. I didn't want them to look too fine as I want to decorate them a few times with a different style before it's time to redo them again. 

And as it happens, when I got home there was a package waiting. I totally forgot about ordering these so it was a nice surprise. 

And yes, I'm going to drown in glitter very soon!

I counted about 50 pots of glitter in my possession, and mostly they are a different color. Or grain. I have some turquoise in fine glitter and a pot of a bigger grained turquoise and teal. They'd look cute with these nails. 

Also the heart shaped decorations I got a few weeks ago. 

I just can't decide what to start with!

I've had so much energy lately that I actually forgot to come home on Monday. Well not completely forgot, but I stayed at the office for 2 extra hours just because I was so focused on something. 

I guess it's the extra amount of daylight. 

And all the flowers and birds and sunshine and.. well, everything. 

I'm a summer person, even though I hate the super hot days. In Finland we have 2 months of sunshine and warmth and the rest is snow/rain and darkness. 

My boss confirmed my vacation, and now I can plan my summer. I already chose some places to go to, and some things I need to check for photo shoots. 

Kids get off school after this week and they are also full of excitement. 

I've been having dreams about a vacay in Ireland and it's really a possibility at this point. 

Also Scotland and all the moors and ruins and oh-I-really-need-a-vacation! 

I'm so excited about everything in my life right now!

Lunch at the park

Such a lovely day. I had a chance to catch up on some paperwork and I didn't have anything distracting me.

Took a stroll in the park at lunchtime and ate a sandwich there. Had to snap a few pictures while I was there. 

Can't imagine a better place.

It's actually really relaxing when I get to do things at my own pace every now and then. It gives me a lot of energy for a long time and I won't get stressed even if I have a few hectic weeks afterwards. 

This is my way of dealing with stress and getting my head clear. And I've recommended it to my employees as well. 

As I was walking back to the office I also thought of some of the things I need to do before June. Also planned a bit ahead,  vacation and summer. 

One of the things is my last new years resolution. Which is going around the city as a tourist. I know this city like the back of my hand but I've never done the things tourists do, including the museums. We have over 80 museums in this city and I've only been in a few of them. 

Also I need to take my camera for a walk. I haven't used it outside for a long time. I take some pictures with my iPhone. 

And some other home improvement ideas came to mind as well, but I haven't finished the chairs yet. But I wrote them down, so I won't forget them immediately. 

I need some ideas for the living room, currently the color scheme there is burgundy but I need it to be a lighter color (yesterday I posted about my dream home).  

Kitchen is almost planned out, some minor tweaks still needed. It still needs an accent color, maybe towels and a vase in a more vibrant shade? 

My dream home

I have a picture folder full of decoration ideas. 

This would be an amazing house, not too big an on 2 floors:

I'd spend most of my time in a kitchen like this

I love white, with beige and other light colors. 

My bedroom would be this style, but with another type of bed

This is from ikea

ÅRVIKSAND

559€

Either one of the living rooms below 

And these are also from ikea and will be in my living room one day

EKTORPIsefall 

719€

LIATORP

159€

UNG DRILL

39,95€

Home improvements

I started a project.  My kitchen table is an Ikea Jokkmokk that was bought maybe ten years ago. There were scratches and wearing on the varnish. I've thought of redoing it for a while now, but just didn't get the inspiration until now. 

The starting point. The table is stained and varnished. I had a  palm sander and 40-grit paper on it and I started my task. Took a while to get the varnish off, but after it was off the surface I changed to 80-grit and sanded down again. 

To get it even, I sanded for a third time with 120, and smoothed it by hand with 240. All in all, the sanding process took 5 hours. 

I used a paint that wouldn't hide the grain. After the first coat had dried for two hours I sanded once more with 240 and removed the dust. Then the second coat. 

Here's a picture of the table after each step

Left is the original. Second from right is one coat and the one on the right is two coats. 

The shade of the paint is Vanilla. After I applied the first coat I decided to do the chairs as well, so I had to go shopping for more sanding paper. And of course I bought a lot more as well. 

While the second coat was drying I watched some iZombie and snacked on  blair's jalapeño cheddar chips. 

But the table top is done now, and I'll start with the chairs soon, it's too early to use the palm sander yet. It's not that noisy but I don't want to wake anyone with it. 

As you can see, the chairs look terrible...

All this manual labor ruined my nails, so I'll need to redo them as well, but not today. My house is full of dust for atleast another day. 

From management training to chili seedlings

Today's theme: empowering leadership training. From what I learned was that there are 3 words that describe me as a manager:

Elaborate, ancillary, resolute. Also that it's easy for me to work with almost any kind of personality. I basically knew these already, but now it's confirmed by someone who doesn't know me. 

Today was still full of new things and inspiring, I did learn a lot of new things. 

At this point in my life I think I know myself so well that I don't need someone else to tell me who or what I am, but it was actually nice to know that I'm not imagining this. Of course everyone learns new things about themselves as they go along.  I don't know how I'd react in a crisis because other than deaths I haven't had so much experience. 

For example the Amtrak accident last evening (this morning for me), I really don't know what I would have done if I'd been there. 

I live in a place where I feel safe, and everyone thinks this is a safe haven. Then when something happens, we are extremely shocked and thinking that "this can't happen here". 

I'm not a beauty pageant contestant so I'm not going to the world peace talk but I wish everyone could be safe.  Always. 

Tomorrow being a public holiday I have no plans, but if it happens to be a pretty day I am planning a hiking trip. 

It has been raining all day and the wind is ridiculous. I read the forecast for tomorrow so I'm not holding my breath in high hopes. I've planned so many trips with my camera but they always get cancelled due to this lovely rainy weather. 

There's a ton of things to do at home as well. As I probably have mentioned our pet-child-spouse-hurricane, the cleaning never ends. 

And the chili seedlings that I have growing need some attention. They have cotyledons already so I need to do something soon. 

Now some relaxation and sleep, keeping my fingers crossed but not holding my breath. 

Early bird

Yet again a Monday with a super early wake up. 

I decided to start working even though it was before dawn because I didn't have anything better to do. It's actually really pretty when you walk downtown before the morning traffic and when there's no one rushing to work. No tourists blocking the streets. I do like the tourist season, don't get me wrong, but it's sometimes impossible to pass them. 

And here it's too quiet off season in my opinion, even though some people think it's not. I just love to be in places where there's a buzz, and I couldn't picture myself living in the countryside with a minimal amount of people. 

I just wish there was a place to get coffee before 6 in the morning. Even a gas station open 24/7 would do. 

There are gas stations but not in the center and it takes too long to get there and back just for a cup. 

When I got home there was a package waiting. 

Can't wait to get to try these. 

I don't usually like to use tips but these are pre-pinched with a tight c curve. Regular tips make my nails look like shovels and usually I'm too lazy to pinch them. 

Tomorrow I have some management training at work so I better get some sleep. I'll update if I'm still alive after those 8 hours. 

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! 

For a family lunch at a restaurant I decided to do some green decorations for my nails. Green is the color of spring at least for me. 

The weather was extremely beautiful, not too warm and not too cold. We had a nice late lunch at a local restaurant with the family, we usually don't eat out even on these holidays but this was a nice exception. 

But to the nails. 

A coat of clear polish and this nice forest green polish from w7. I free handed a diagonal line and let it dry. 

Some neon green from koneHelsinki, also diagonally and let it dry. I did only a thin coat so the darker would also be visible underneath it. 

I swiped some glittering decorating polish to the side of the nail and continued to the edge of the darker green.  It's still wet in the picture so a bit hard to see at this point. 

I didn't want all of the nail to glitter because it would have made the nails too busy looking. 

This was the tricky part for me. The tape is so thin and lightweight that I had to stick the starting point on the paper and then try to get it aligned with the neon green. 

In the end this only took a few minutes once I figured out the start and used the paper to my advantage. I've used these tapes before but I've never had to be this precise with it!

And a coat of clear polish to seal all in. 

I really like the result and the ease of making these. 

These were the polishes I used, you can change the color scheme easily and make any designs with one scheme. 

I've made also a Facebook page for this blog, you can find it at http://bit.ly/1QyABXr and I have a Twitter account http://bit.ly/1GXoT1w where I post the shorter versions of my thoughts. 

English version

After I've had the chance to translate the previous posts to English I'll make the transition to only post in English.

This page will then be the main page and soon after that I'll delete the Finnish version altogether.  

I started this blog a few years ago and previously I posted all my gym and training blabbering here. Then a couple of years ago I just forgot about it. I got a promotion at work which meant longer days and learning a lot of new things and I was just too busy. Even deleted my Facebook because my job and family were more important than social media. 

Now that my kids are older and my job is steady, I have more time on my hands. I have gained an obsession about nails, but also my training and all the other things close to my heart will be here. 

Fast delivery from China

A quick update. I ordered some items from eBay on april 23rd. 12 pots of glitter 1,5€ including shipping. This was supposed to be delivered between may 19th- june 8thi

the remaining 13 packages are still on the way. eBay's bad side is that all 14 of the purchases from day cost a total of about $ 15, including shipping.
I ordered also new tweezers for rhinestones, lots of sparkles and glitter and 500pcs bag of transparent tips.

I guess they come to my letterbox by midsummer.


By the way,  I could't get any photos of finches, but spotted a mistle thrush. Little comfort.

Moanday

Whoa. I wonder what the hell has made me put my alarm on at 4:30 on a monday? Or did someone tickle my brain?

Work will begin at eight, but I'd be a fool to go back under the covers. And I need more coffee than sleep.

I went to my balcony to listen to the birds sing, horrible rumpus from such small birds. Springtime is wonderful anyway, during the winter you will hear a single beep and when the air warms up, so many chirps that your own thoughts are impossible to be heard.

The morning weather reports offered by Carrot weather:

I got excited about Saturday's drawer cleaning so much that the whole of yesterday I cleaned the kitchen cabinets and a couple of junk drawers. Although I got just a couple of plastic bags to the  trash bin, I was still able to get a couple of cabinets empty.

And I also got a couple of bags of textile for the donation box.

Our home is not a magazine cover, and we have a lot of cleaning to do daily. Whenever I get a single room, or even a shelve cleaned to the condition that it could take a photo, we get a human (or a cat) hurricane that messes up everything else.

We've lived here for 8 years and only now I've gotten to decorate this place. The living room is still a puzzle where the pieces are from  different boxes, but the kitchen is getting close to finished.

Dining table acts as my desktop, and the kid is doing the homework on it, so it is always full of papers. However, those papers always come to work and to school, the times we are all at home ...

But isn't home for living and not for magazine covers? It should look like someone lives there.

With these thoughts I leave to pack my bags for work. Since I have a couple of hours before work, I could grab the camera with me. Maybe I can get a photo or two from the chaffinch while I'm at it?

Orange and cheery

Redid my paws yesterday, not much growth, but the top layer of lacquer was chipped and appearance anyway bothered.

Filed my varnish off, and I put a couple of coats of gel. I got the form slightly adjusted at the same time. Shortened the length of the nail a bit to ease life.

After the Quick Operation a couple of layers Nfu-Oh pink. Bright orange glitter added by dipping a wet nail into the glitter jar diagonally. Pat it gently with my finger onto the nail and let it dry.

Loose glitter brushed off and then clear polish on top.

Aftermath: looks I was shaking the glitter jar with my eyes closed

Certainly, these will be boring by the weekend, but that's okay. Today  the weather was so miserable, gray and wet. Had to get something to cheer my mood.

As soon as the nails were dry, I started spring cleaning and got a couple of dents on my nails. Had to pull apart a couple of drawers that I wanted to move to other rooms, they weigh a ton when assembled. Rest of the day then went in despair in the midst of chaos. Either way a lot of stuff inside those drawers! And of course all of the stuff was laid on top of the bed, so I couldn't leave anything for tomorrow.

These long weekends are wonderful in the cleaning point of view.  I don't have to spend all my spare time for cleaning my home, and I still get some spare time. For sleeping etc..

My current equipment

Tools and equipment I use at the moment to do my own nails, the majority of these from   MiMax, the rest through Amazon and eBay, the Rio device from Verkkokauppa.com.

The bottom left: hand creams, the blue basket nailfiles below cuticle pusher and a pair of scissors and a pair of finger supports and pinching tools. On the right is a basket full of glitters and other decorative stuff.

Tips, adhesives, cleaners, basic gel nail equipment. In fact, I do not like color gels so there's base gel, clear and pink builder gel and finishing gel. Acrylic basket has all acryl nail equipment, etc. 

And this: it's a wonderland of miscellaneous nail polish. My favorite right now is the NFU-Oh pink. On behalf of the quality of China Glaze lacquers have been favorites for some time now, I have only a  couple of bottles left. Orly Decoded, china glaze intelligence, integrity and courage and orly matteFX Iron Butterfly were my winter-time favorites.

Tokmanni KoneHELSINKI varnishes are a weakness, less than 2€ per bottle so I always have to go shopping for them if I'm near a store that sells them

Machinery:

If  I remember correctly, Anttila store sold this machine. Surprisingly good, it is also effective against acrylics. It's cordless and therefore easy to grab and use if the need arises. The battery lasts about 15-20 minutes on a single charge

Rio electric manicure device. This I use mostly. The case can be closed and then it fits into the smallest shelve so it does not take up much space. The guarantee has already expired, the rotating direction can't be changed but it still can be used. I just need to more my hand a bit more when I'm working on my dominant hand

And lastly, a 36W UV-light. The bottom pane can be removed for easy cleaning. I hadn't bothered to remove the blue protective layer before I took the photo, but afterwards I yanked it off.