Mani of the Day

Happy Sunday!!

I have to post this mani for my friend Amanda. She is my "partner in crime" when it comes to buying ridiculous amounts of nail polish and accessories! But for some reason, she is just now buying herself a set of stamping plates (I should have bought them for her for Christmas). Anyway, here is what I used...

Open Seas is supposed to be similar to OPI Mermaid Tears. I don't have Mermaid Tears, but I have seen it in stores and this is a very close duplicate. For the stamping, I used Bundle Monster #210 seen below...

This second series of plates is much much better than the 1st edition, bigger images that actually fit my nails!!

Geez, I can tell from these pics that I use acetone way too much, skin and cuticles are all ragged and wrinkled **smh**. This mani seemed a bit dull. A good coat of SV would solve that problem, but I felt this needed to sparkle. Since I don't have China Glaze Fairy Dust, and cannot find it anywhere, I used my Northern Lights Holographic TopCoat; the bottle looks like this...

I will probably only wear this mani for one day because I really don't like to wear stamps and stickers and such on my nails for too long. My favorite "go-to" manis are cremes and glitter!! But I had to do this for Amanda Bean...love ya sister!!

Foil Pouch Recipe: Chicken

Sometimes these types of recipes just work for a busy family, and now-a-days, this is what my family needs.

So I showed you my Foil Pouch Pork Chop Recipe last week. We all just love it! so I decided to create another version of the same idea. Now, there are many versions created by many people all over the internet, but this is what I came up with from things that were available in my kitchen today (I didn't want to go grocery shopping, it was so rainy and yucky out today). Here is what I used:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Shredded Cheese

Carrots

Bacon Bits

I seasoned my chicken with salt, pepper & Italian Bread Crumbs. Then I coated all the veggies in olive oil, garlic salt & pepper. Then pile all the veggies on top of each chicken breast in the foil to make meal pouches like this...

I think I cook everything in my oven on 375. It just fits me! These were in the oven for around 30 or 40 minutes I guess, maybe less. You don't want your chicken to dry out, so adjust your oven temperature to your needs. And then, bada-bing bada-boom...you get this yumminess!!

The broccoli and cauliflower gets all caramelized and the cheese gets all oozy and yummy! And it's a full meal deal, with only one dirty dish! I served these savory beauties with baked sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar. This was one of the best meals ever...Thanks for reading!!

24k gold Mani

I just realized that I haven't done a nail polish post since who knows when. Nail polish is one of the main reasons I started this blog, so today I return to where I began.

I first saw this polish on Rachel Marie's blog last summer and I loved the way the gold sparkled. But, the only place I knew that Petite's Color Fever nail polishes were sold were at Rite Aid, and there are no Rite Aid stores where I live. So, for my birthday last summer, I drove an hour, crossed state lines and went on a polish shopping spree, which you can see here. I think this is the first time I've worn this polish since i first swatched it. This is 2 coats of Petite's Color Fever 24k gold.

Nails always look perfect until you start taking pictures of them. I should have cleaned around my cuticles a little better, especially my index finger. Oh well...I used one good thick coat of gelous as my base, and topped it all with 2 coats of SV, which made it really shine!! I love glitter polish sooo much, but just like every other polish lover, I hate to wear it because it is a PAIN to remove. So when I wear it, I like to wear it well, because I won't take it off for a few days. I could have easily went to CVS or Wal-Mart and bought the look-a-like Milani Gold Glitz, but that's what everyone else that lives here probably did, and I don't usually follow the crowd. These polishes may be an exact dupe of each other, but I have the one with the prettier bottle!!

**photo from www.rachelmariesnails.com**

Thanks for reading!!