The NBA is BACK!!

After being shut down almost three months, the NBA announced that it will return on July 31! Teams will play eight games to close out the regular season, then move into a full post-season. This means that the Utah Jazz have officially clinched a playoff birth! I'm so excited, not just about the good news for the Jazz, but also just having basketball back, that I decided to celebrate with some simple nail art! 

I let the City Edition Jazz jerseys be my muse as I painted a modern ombre look. To achieve this look, I used the following nail polish paints. The white polish was used as a base coat under the yellow polish. I also used the base coat/top coat combo by LA Color.

L-R: Revlon Colorstay in French Roast, Sinful Colors in Rorange, Pure Ice in Siren, Water Colors by Color Club in I Have a Sea-Cret, Pure Ice in Super Star, and New York Color in Midtown Mimosa

Jazz Nail Art

For the first time since 2010 the Utah Jazz have made it to the second round of the playoffs.  Their first game is tonight against the Golden State Warriors.  To show my pride, I decided to do some Jazz-inspired, game-day nail art.  

To get to this finished product, I used 5 different nail polishes:

From left to right: ICE (FREE SPIRIT), ICE (TEAL APPEAL), ICE (SUPER STAR), CHARMING CHARLIE (GLITTER GREEN), NYC (MIDTOWN MIMOSA)

To start, I used the white polish to create a base layer for the yellow.  Without the white underneath, the yellow would have a difficult time showing up as it is a pretty sheer color.  The other nails were painted solid blue.  When the white was dry, I added the yellow over it.

After the yellow dried, I cut small strips from a fabric bandage and place them diagonally over the yellow nails on both hands.

After the bandage strip is applied, I worked fast to apply the blue to the bottom of the nail, and the green to the top.  Working fast ensures that the polish doesn't dry to quickly.  If it dries before the bandage strip is removed, it can take the polish off with it.  Once the green reached a tack, I carefully applied the glitter.

               

After slowly peeling off the bandage strip, I waited until the blue polish was tacky and started applying the jersey numbers of Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gobert.  To do this, I used the end of a toothpick and made small dots as a guide for making the numbers.

Using the dots as I guide, I continued to apply small dots to fill in the numbers, giving me the final product.

I hope you've enjoyed this nail tutorial.  Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.  If you use this guide to create your own nail art, please share your creations!

                     

A big meal for the big game!

A few weeks ago my mom realized that she had forgotten to serve the sparkling cider on New Year's Eve that we had left over from Christmas.  She wondered aloud when we should serve them and I suggested the Super Bowl.  Little did I know that that one decision would become the basis for my entire menu.

I wanted to make something that was a bit fancier than I had made in the past and I ended up making three appetizers, a beef roulade, three sides and a dessert.  One might say that I got a bit carried away.

For my appetizers I made Philly cheese steak stuffed mushrooms, stuffed jalapenos, and ham and cheese roll ups.  My parents and one of my brothers are on a pretty low-carb diet, so I try to make things that they are able to eat, which helped me decide on these low-carb appetizers.  

The recipe I used for the stuffed mushrooms can be found here.  Everyone loved them!  I wanted them to be bite-sized so I used the baby portabella option that she outlines in her recipe.  One thing that I found to be helpful was to put the mushroom caps in a mini muffin pan to fill and broil them.  

I sprayed the pan with some non-stick spray before putting the mushroom caps in and they came out SO EASILY!  It was great.  

The recipe for the stuffed jalapenos comes from this great blog.  I've used some of her recipes before.  Everything of hers that I've made has been well-loved by everyone and consistently gets rave reviews.  The stuffed jalapenos were no different.  They were the first to be finished off and with good reason; they're absolutely delicious!

The final appetizer was super simple, but also super yummy.  I took slices of Canadian bacon that we had on hand and spread each slice with cream cheese.  I then put a baby dill pickle in the middle and wrapped the Canadian bacon around it and secured it with an olive speared with a toothpick.

   The main course consisted of a beef roulade made from a flank steak and pesto.  It was delicious.  I wasn't sure how it would be without a marinade, but the oil in the pesto filled the pores of the meat nicely and gave a beautiful and tender meat.  So delicious.  The recipe for the roulade (including the pesto) can be found here.

(Yes, that is bacon inside the roulade. YUM!)

When I was trying to think of a side dish, I wanted to do something simple because the other dishes were pretty complicated.  My first thought was to steam some asparagus, but then my sister informed me that she doesn't really like asparagus.  So in addition to the asparagus I got a salad kit just for her.  I also wanted to make some mashed potatoes and I found this great recipe online!  The potatoes turned out a bit chunkier than I would have liked, but they were still scrumptious.

I then decided it would be the perfect time to make my favorite dessert. This banana cream pie is one of my favorite go-tos for impressing people.  It takes quit a bit of time and preparation, but it's SO worth it!  There are many layers of flavor in this pie and each one works beautifully with the others.

Nail Art for the Big Game, take 2

This year the Carolina Panthers are set to take on the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.  As much as I like the Panthers, (especially Cam Newton, who I feel is incredibly talented and is absolutely deserving to be in the Super Bowl) I'm not ready to commit my fandom to them via nail art.  And as anyone who reads my blog knows, as far as professional football goes I bleed black and silver--so there's no way in hell I would put orange and blue on my nails!  Without having a horse in the race, however, I wasn't sure how to adequately express how excited I am for this year's showdown.  Then I realized that the Super Bowl is celebrating its golden anniversary this year and I decided to simply celebrate the Super Bowl.  Thus, I went with a minimalist golden french manicure.

To get this look, I used Revoln's 830 Golden shade and Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Top Coat. 

A few months ago I picked up a box of adhesive bandages from the dollar store specifically for using when doing french manicures and they have been an absolute lifesaver!  I simply cut them in half and use the rounded edge as the guide for painting the tips of my nails.  After painting I peel them off and I have a nice, clean edge.  It's probably the best investment I've ever made.

I couldn't be more pleased with the way my nails turned out and I'm super stoked to have them ready for Super Bowl Sunday!

GSW nails

Recently I realized that all of the nail art I've shared with you has been football related.  So I decided to do some fancy nails for the NBA finals.  Since I'm pretty sure the Warriors will take the cake in this series I decided to make nails that are specific to their team.

Unfortunately I was unable to snap a picture before some damage occurred.  Sorry for the chips.

For these nails I used three colors:

From left to right we have Pure Ice: Superstar, Avon: Splendid Blue and VS Beauty Rush: 9CN

To do this, I started by painting my nails white.  Once the layer of white was dry I used pieces of tape and created a diagonal line as shown below and painted my nails with the blue color.  Once that layer had fully dried I used more tape to create another diagonal, leaving a strip of white, and this time used the yellow.

Power Pellets and the Big Game

There is nothing so delightful as a pan of freshly made Rice Crispy treats cooling on the windowsill.  Unless, of course, it's game day and said crispy rice cereal treats are infused with the colorful power pellets that turn on the "Beast Mode" in a would-be average running back, thus turning him into an extraordinary running machine.

I usually go all out for game-day food, but being in an apartment with no TV, and roommates who aren't as into sports as yours truly, I decided to crash my cousin's Super Bowl bash this year.  That means I only made a side dish for the game, but it's a good one.

These were made using a basic rice crispy recipe (usually I just dump a bag of marshmallows into a bowl, add some butter, microwave it until the butter is melted and the marshmallows are big and puffy, then start adding the cereal until it looks about right.  If you need more directions than that, there is usually a recipe on the side of the cereal box or one can easily be found online.)  Once the cereal was fully incorporated and the marshmallows had cooled about half way, I added the Skittles and stirred them in.  Once they were evenly distributed, I dumped the mixture into a greased pan and set them on the windowsill to cool.

I'm so excited to enjoy these while watching the game!

Nail Art for the Big Game 2015!

As I have made very clear in my nail art posts, I am a big Raider's fan. Unfortunately, with only two wins on the season, they clearly didn't make it to the Big Game.  Right now, though I am living in Oregon, which is pretty darn close to Seattle (well, a lot closer than I was in Utah), and I like the Seahawks, so I decided to don some Seahawk love on my nails for the Super Bowl this weekend.

So I'll start the different tutorials with the pinky finger and work toward the thumb:

What I used:

The pinky finger is actually three different nail polishes.  The green I used isn't quite as bright as the official bright green of the Seahawks, but with a base coat of white paint I got the green to pop a bit more than it would otherwise.  So I laid down a basic white, layered the green on top of that, and when it was dry, I placed a piece of tape across my finger at a diagonal and painted the tip with the Celestial blue.

For the ring finger, I did a simple coat of the Splendid Blue color, then used a toothpick to freehand the number 24 (for Marshawn Lynch) on my right hand, and a number 3 (for Russell Wilson) on my left hand. I used the Superstar! white color to do the numbers.

The middle finger was super simple as well.  I first put on a coat of silver nail polish.  When that had dried fully I took a small rubber band (the kind used for small braids) and wrapped that around the nail to create a definite line.  Once the rubber band was secured, I painted right up to the rubber band and out to the end of the nail.  I cut the rubber band off of my finger so as not to pull it past wet nail polish.  I also didn't want to wait for the polish to dry before removing the rubber band.

The Index finger, I started by putting on one coat of white paint, then following up using the same ombre method that I've described before. This is one of my favorite color combinations so far and definitely one I'll have to remember for Summer!

Finally, the thumb. This was done starting with one coat of the Celestial blue.  Once that dried I took two pieces of tape and positioned them about 1/4" apart.  I didn't measure, I just eyeballed a good distance and good placement.  the non-torn ends (so the sides of the roll of tape) should be facing each other to ensure a clean line. Then I put some silver polish between the pieces of tape.  After removing the tape, I used the end of a paperclip that I had un-bent slightly and dipped that in the white polish to create a line of 5 polka dots under the silver line.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I look forward to seeing your Super Bowl nails!  Go Seahawks!!