Weekend over and a new humidifier

Weekends fly by.

My humidifier that I've had for over a decade died. I loved that it was a penguin. However, it wasn't a top-loader, which was a pain.

I got a new one to replace it. I love it. It changes colour. I oddly don't find it bright when I have it on at night. I simply change it to dark blue and I'm good.

I do find it soothing to look at when I have it cycle through all the colours. I fill it with water from the top, which is life-changing.

It works well. I find that it's so dry in the winter that I'm congested, so I need humidity.

Meatball soup and nail polish colour

On Sunday, I made meatball soup. It turned out well. The recipe is a keeper.

I used a beef-veal mix for the meatballs. I also used a veggie-beef broth mix. So flavourful. I'm glad that I made a large amount of it.

I decided to use nail polish on my nails. During this pandemic, I switched to using clear shellac. I looked at my nail polish collection and kind of missed seeing colour. It's nice to change things up.

Manicure, shaved legs, exercise, and benefits

During this pandemic, there are some things that I have let go doing. It's not horrible, but they are worth noting.

I still give myself a manicure every Sunday. These days, I use clear shellac. It's a throwback to what I used to do before meeting my ex, who liked when I put colour on my nails. I have been working from home for over two months now. I have used coloured polish on my nails twice.

Last night, I shaved my legs for the first time in over two months. Luckily, I don't have a ton of leg hair. It wasn't like I was mowing the lawn.

I haven't gained weight since staying at home. I thank getting out to fetch groceries and essentials twice a week, along with exercising at home.

I do sleep more. I cook more. I do improvements around the house. I have also saved a ton of money because I'm not shopping as much.

It's an interesting time.

Painting my nails with colour and throwing away empty product boxes

My Sunday was quiet. I finally got around to painting my nails a nice berry colour.

Ever since I have been working from home every day, I decided to go with a clear shellac on my nails. I dropped changing up my colour for almost two months. It was nice giving my nails a breather. 

I missed having a pop of colour on my nails, so I went for it. It's nice.

My decluttering activity continues. I have kept many boxes that used to contain products. I suppose I saved them in case I wanted to sell them down the road. The thing is that I have kept and continue to use these products. I don't have any inclination to sell them.

It has been interesting figuring out why I have kept so many items. I feel so differently years later about them.

Purple sunglasses

I experienced a touching, thoughtful moment at work on Thursday. I came into the office and noticed a pair of company-branded sunglasses on my desk. They were purple.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that purple is my favourite colour. Someone deliberately got me a pair of purple sunglasses. I was happy.

Later on in the day, I found out from a colleague, who is also my friend, that our boss and my student both said to our office administrator that I would like the purple pair. The sunglasses were distributed on Wednesday. I was working from home that day.

Ah, they all know me well. It may seem like a small gesture, but it meant a lot to me.

Packed with parting gifts

I am all packed. I am ready for my Labour Day weekend staycation to begin!

Friday was a good day. It was my two students' last day with the company. We went out of a casual lunch. It was nice spending nearly two hours away from the workplace.

They are incredibly thoughtful, creative folks. They gave me thank-you gifts, which consisted of chocolate and tea. I love both.

The quieter one of the two drew M&M's characters that I love on the gift tag. She also made sure that the gift tag's string was purple, which happens to be my favourite colour.

It was great working with them. I get to start the entire process again, but with a single student who starts next week.

It's simply nice to have a long weekend. I get to rest up before the craziness begins!

My guy was right about my nails

My guy is the first to admit that he noticed my nails when we first met. Although I would have thought that it would have been my face, he has always insisted that he looks at a woman's hands first.

He loves my hands, but the nails reeled him in. I remember being in the lunchroom and we were alone. He actually lifted my left pinky finger with his to look at how shiny my nail was.

He asked me when we were finally dating whether I would consider putting coloured polish on my nails. Back then, I had nail strengthener on, which was clear.

Since I have been training and supervising students at work, a number of them have thought that I go to a nail salon every week. I wouldn't be able to afford going 52 times a year. I have only been to a nail salon once so far in 2017.

Lately, I have had the administrator at work, as well as a female colleague, ask me about my nail routine. It's not complicated at all!

1. Start with clean, natural nails.
2. Apply a base coat, ensuring that your nail polish adheres nicely.
3. Apply a thin first coat of nail polish. Let it dry. Polish dries faster when it's a thin coat.
4. Apply a second thin coat of polish. Let it dry.
5. Apply a top coat to seal everything. Let it dry.

That's it. The key is to find a nail polish colour that lasts.

I find that giving myself a manicure to be a nice way to de-stress. Same goes with a pedicure, but I tend to do the former more often.

When I am wearing sandals, my guy notices both the polish on my toenails and fingernails. He's observant. He does indeed love my nails.

A compliment on my nail colour goes a long way

As crazy as work is these days, I find that the new folks that I have welcomed and trained recently bring a smile to my face when I least expect it.

I was in our regular team meeting on Thursday. I don't normally bring my laptop into these meetings because I don't like being distracted. However, I had another meeting after this one that required my pulling up information that I had prepared on my laptop.

My manager posed a question to me that he should have known the answer to. He had booked the meeting, for heaven's sake! So, I answered it and continued to listen to him.

A new writer (NW), whom I interviewed and helped train with one of my co-op students a few weeks ago, shot me an instant message. As of late, our corporate instant messaging systems causes me stress when folks pick my brains.

I enjoyed this brief exchange:

NW: Hi, Cutiebootie. I love your nail colour!
Me: Thanks, NW! I thought that I needed a bright colour to liven up our workplace. =)
NW: I agree

All it takes is a small compliment to make someone's day. I have a cheerful berry colour polish on my nails. She made this meeting far more bearable!

Interviews, e-card, ramen, and nail polish

Last Friday was a pretty long day for me. I had to get up early to head to a university with my manager and interview prospective interns.

My manager had slept in late. He arrived twenty minutes late. I had arrived at the office parking lot at 7 am. I actually went into the building to fix myself a tea, came back out, got into my car, and reviewed my e-mail. I am that practical and surprisingly functional at that hour.

Long story short, but my manager hopped into my car at 7:35 am. I noticed that his car's headlights were on as I slowly pulled away, so we had to cycle back to his car. He got out and went back into this car to turn them off.

I am glad that I drove us there. He obviously wasn't fully awake. I also have a lead foot. I easily made up for lost time.

Anyway, I visited my guy's hometown. It has an excellent Japanese ramen restaurant. My manager and I loved the food there, which arrived quickly.

I told my guy about it. He was pleased that I had a good day. Of course, it would have been better with him there.

We exchanged Valentine's Day greetings. Since I have been with my guy, he always sends me an e-card for this occasion. He's sweet.

I ended up sending him a photo of my nail polish colour for the week. It's a nice blue on my fingernails.

Incidentally, one of the interviewees commented on how nice my nails looks. I had red polish on last week. My guy is right. My nails are nice, even to women!

Nails

A while back, I decided to purchase a Groupon deal for a manicure. It was for shellac polish on my fingernails, which lasts for roughly two weeks.

Before I went to my salon appointment, I had never had my nails professionally done. I have always done them myself. It has been a ritual for years where I spent each Sunday morning trimming, filing, buffing, and polishing my nails. I have always found the ritual to be therapeutic.

Well, two weeks ago, I broke tradition and had my nails done at a local place. Everyone there spoke Mandarin. I don't understand the language, but speak Cantonese. So, we communicated in English.

My guy has always said that I have pretty nails. Before we went on our first date, we were chatting briefly in the lunchroom one afternoon. He actually held my left pinky finger and said that I have pretty nails. He has never stopped saying that to me, which is sweet.

When one of the beauty experts was taking off my nail polish, she noticed that my nails were still shiny. She actually had to call in two other staff members to observe my nails. Finally, the owner asked whether I polished my nails. I do. She told me a couple of times that I have pretty nails.

Anyway, it was nice seeing how a professional person does nails. I do almost the same thing, except for the following:

• Soak my hands in a warm bath, to soften my cuticles
• Have a gel lamp to cure the gel shellac
• Put intricate flowers or beads on my nails
• Give my arms a massage after my nails are done

I had picked a pretty berry colour. The woman doing my nails agreed that it was a pretty colour. She did a great job. I would go back again to have them done.

So, at the airport, while my guy was boarding a plane to Warsaw, he had asked how my weekend went. I told him about my first visit to get a manicure and uploaded this picture:

He liked my nails.

When he came back from his trip and we had dinner, he looked at my week-old manicure and said that I have pretty nails. He also liked the colour.

I tend to like clear polish because it's easier to maintain. My guy likes when I have polish on both my fingers and toes. He tends to like colours more, but colour can be harsh on nails when you don't let them breathe.

I am changing things up a bit. Last night, I would have written this post, but I was too busy trying to get the gel polish off my nails. It takes some patience to soak your nails and scrape the gel off. 

I have lilac-coloured nails now. We'll see what my guy thinks of them this week.