Everything I've ever loved

Hey y'all, Kali here! The weather here finally warmed up to 43 today (a heat wave, right?), so I decided I would throw some spring colors on my digits. I just started following this Australian nail salon on Instagram, +I Scream Nails - Melbourne Nail Art, Collingwood, and the design I chose is a mash up of a few they did this past week. Basically, it consists of everything I've ever loved!

I started out by choosing my base colors, and giving all of my nails two coats of their color. 

My thumbs got lavender stripes, so the bottom half of my nail will look like the paper lining of a cupcake. 

Next, I took my large dotting tool, and made 3 white dots going across the center of my nail. Then I went back with my white polish, and filled in half my nail, so the white part now looks like the icing part of a cupcake. 

My pointer fingers then got diagonally striped, to give the look of my pastel rainbow.

I did the same thing with my large dotting tool, and made 3 more white dots across the bottom half of my nail. Then filled in with white again, so my nail looks like clouds with a rainbow behind it. 

I decided to put donuts on my ring fingers! I started with making a ring with brown polish, to resemble the dough part of the donut. I did not use a striper for this part, I just used the regular brush that came with the polish. 

Then I went over the brown polish, with pink, leaving a ring of brown around the outside and inside of the donut. The pink part is the frosting on the donut.

Going back with all of my different colored stripers, I made several small lines on the pink icing, to resemble the sprinkles. 

At this point, I was exhausted, so my middle and pinky fingers just got tiny polka dots in colors to match! 

Of course I decided to add little faces on my clouds and cupcakes, making them super Kawaii! I made the eyes with black polish, and my large dotting tool, and the mouths with the black striper. 

Boom! Rainbows + cupcakes + donuts + Kawaii = CUTE OVERLOAD! I hope you all go paint something you love on your nails now. I promise, it will make your day! 

I went to Orlando, & all I got was this lousy...

So, I am still alive! Even with 3 straight days of work under my belt. I will admit, I was being a little over dramatic about my return to the working class. I was actually pretty stoked to see all of my co-workers, after being away for so long. It's amazing how much time you spend with the people you work with, compared to everyone else in your life. I mean, they are stuck with me (or I am stuck with them?) 40+ hours a week! I don't think I even spend that much time with Eddy, & we live together. Needless to say, I love them all, & honestly missed seeing their beautiful faces everyday. 😍 

I am still trying to get back on a normal schedule, & trying to unpack, slowly but surely. My favorite part about coming back home from being away for the holidays, is unpacking all of the Christmas presents I got while I was there. I always forget every little thing I unwrapped in my stocking, so it is like Christmas all over again when we get back! Eddy shouted to me from the other room earlier, "Babe! I went through the presents your parents got me, & there's so much awesome stuff!". Like we didn't realize how awesome it was the first time around? I think Christmas is so overwhelming, that it is hard to appreciate everything all at once. I will say that we got the crap spoiled out of us while we were there, & everything we got was perfect, but I did want to highlight my top 5 faves!

First of all, I'm lumping both of these gifts together as one of my faves. Second, HOW FREAKIN' ADORABLE IS CROCHETED FOOD?!? The donut is a pin cushion (the colored sprinkles are actually pins!!), & the pizza is a brooch. My super talented friend, Jen is to blame for all of this cuteness, & you can head over to her Etsy shop here, to buy up her delicious accessories. She also has a kick-ass blog Amity Island where she talks about all things DIY, & I know this week she's constructing some beautiful lingerie pieces! 

Can you tell I'm hungry? All of my favorite things revolve around food! This sweet little pack of  Doughnotes comes with donut shaped note cards (perfect for any occasion), tissue paper envelopes, & To/From labels. My Wisconsin babe, Lisa gifted these to me in exchange for me knitting her a scarf for our brutal winter. I think some of my loves in different states might be getting their valentines written on these babies. 

Speaking of knitting! I am a very, VERY amateur knitter, only having taught myself from a book about nine months ago, so I can use all of the help I can get. Between my mom, & Eddy's mom, I made out with about seven scanes of new yarn, & all of these books on knitting & crocheting. I won't lie, I am a little overwhelmed, & am not sure where to start, but at least I have all the materials I need once I figure it out! Last year picking up this hobby saved me from the "winter madness", & will hopefully get me through another few months of hibernation. 

I love, love, LOVE to do my nails. I love it to much that it drives me insane, & they have to be perfect all of the time, but I love it nonetheless. Eddy's mom stayed with us for a few days back at Thanksgiving, got to witness me obsessively nail painting every few days, & gifted me this nifty little nail dryer. It is battery operated (so no annoying cords in the way), & came with a nail file, nail clippers, scissors, cuticle cream, & tweezers all conveniently stored in the clear top. I can't find this exact model, but I did find this adorable little pink nail dryer on Amazon for super cheap! 

Every year after Christmas, my mom always takes me shopping to hit all of the after-Christmas sales. We were actually pretty disappointed in what was in the malls this year, & there weren't even that many great of sales out there! I don't know if I just don't like the styles out right now, or if everyone was selling down winter stuff & transitioning into spring, but it was certainly a dud... except for this bag! I will openly admit that I have a purse problem. One of the walls in our spare bedroom (*cough* my closet *cough*), is dedicated to all of my bags. I've surprisingly scaled down a LOT, & won't buy one now unless I am completely head over heels for it. Anyway, we were browsing the gigantic handbag section in JCPenney (don't judge me, it's my mom's favorite store), & I gasped when I saw this beauty. I wish you could see the color better, because it is definitely eggplant purple, & not brown like shown here. I also sprung for this little polka dotty wallet, because I had been just throwing my ID & debit card in my pocket, hoping they wouldn't get lost. The wallet is a good size, not too bulky, & can still fit in my smaller bags. I found a white version of this Lulu by Lulu Guinness bag here, & a black version of this Mundi wallet here. 

That's it. I went to Orlando, & all I came back with was this lousy list of AMAZING GIFTS! What a spoiled little jerk, huh? Honestly, everything I got for Christmas was fantastic, not to mention all of the family time I got while I was down there (all right, I'll admit that was the real #1 present). What was all of your favorite gifts from the holidays?