Reading Cook Books and French Manicures

First I would like to take a moment to remember Miss Elizabeth Taylor; an incredibly beautiful woman and one of my icons....


I am sad to see her go.

Sometimes I wonder if I aspire to be too much.. (wonder? I'm pretty sure I know...). Sometimes I feel like I need to spend hours grooming, be a triathlete, a CEO and Martha Stewart all at once to be a success.

I admit, I read cook books. I don't know if it's weird. It's one of those things... like saying, "I always pee myself when I laugh!!!" People look at you with horror, when you thought you were stating a totally normal fact. I read cook books and dream of amazing home cooked meals. I fantasize that I will come home from work every day and make a juicy pot roast, a luscious whole roasted chicken, or a perfectly glazed meatloaf with decadently frosted chocolate cake or a fruit pie with home made crust for dessert. In reality, I throw a lasagna from freezer to oven or dump some pre-washed lettuce into a bowl and open a can of tuna and call it a salad. If I'm feeling particularly gourmet I will put bread and cheese in the grilled cheese maker and pat myself on the back for "really cooking."

Let's face it - by the time I wake up, drag my ass to the gym, work and get home through rush hour traffic, I've been in constant motion for thirteen hours!! Who is going to make a frikkin pot roast by that time?! I guess a girl can dream...

And now onto another random thought of perfection and time management. At home French manicures... I love a French.. I think they are classy and always appropriate. I work in one of those jobs where I'm TECHNICALLY not supposed to do my nails and I never feel like I'm crossing a line when I have a French going on. One of my favorite combinations is OPI's Princessess Rule!! with white tips. I love Princesses, but I feel like it is lacking something when I wear it alone.

Oh, but doing your own French manicure... I don't know if I am alone in this or not, but I'm pretty sure they're impossible. I've tried the kits with the incredibly annoying strips that you put on, paint and peel off. I don't think I've gotten them on straight once and if I do manage, it bleeds underneath. Then there are those white nail polish "pens" made specifically to help you with the annoying task of drawing perfect white tips. Sometimes, I do the first nail and I know immediately that it's a bad idea. Those days are good, because you can wipe the one tip off and keep your polish. Other days, I do my entire left hand, think that my some miraculous intervention I've suddenly been given the skill of straight line drawing and then I move on to my right hand and I realize I am horribly mistaken. This turns out to be a horrible embarrassment.


Today I've managed to make my nails passable (for one day anyways), but it's just not the same. Maybe I need to think of investing in some gels again...?

Take Two

Well, here I go again - starting a blog and then abandoning it just when I see where it's going. I'm going to keep going with this one though, but I'm giving it a make-over (don't we all need one of those this time of year?). So, A Daily Dose of All Things Beautiful has transformed into Beautiful Ramblings. And instead of being a beauty-related only blog it has transformed into a beauty and life related blog. I will chit chat about anything I darn well please.

I figure seeing as I've been out of the blogging game for so long I will start off with a nice easy Take It or Leave It II post.

Taking
SPRING! - Can I say how happy I am that spring has been with us for close to an hour already? I feel like I've made it through one more winter! And Peeps are out. YUM!

Texture in Hair - I am so happy that hair is more than just pin straight. I feel so glad to wake up every morning and not feel like I am fighting with my hair.

Goals - This one sounds a little odd, but I feel as though I've been making a lot of goals lately and I'm really staying dedicated. It's changing my day to day life from surviving to having a purpose.

Leaving
Fashion - Right now I look in the fashion mags and the first thing that goes through my head is... "ughhhhh." Not the reaction you really want to have. Normally I am pretty adventurous with fashion... but right now all of the mixing prints and weird shapes?? I feel like in fifteen years fashion today will be worse than the big perms of the 80's.

Pastel Nail Polish - OK that's partly a lie. I love how they look. I HATE sitting around for hours fighting with them to make them look alright. Last night I painted my nails peach... when I woke up I realized they looked terrible. So, I painted them yellow this morning and they were so streaky and gross that I took the polish off right away. Then I went to my amazing signature hot pink, because it works.