Happy Things Friday: 18 July

And just like that, the month is over half gone. I’m not sad about it; summer (and by summer, I mean school vacation) always feels like a week too long. Even still, I’m astounded by how quickly the days seem to be slipping by.

It was a busy week. On paper, it shouldn’t have felt so hectic. Reality was another thing.

I felt behind on life admin, I felt behind on work admin, and Indy is still at an age where he needs a fair amount of metaphorical hand-holding. He doesn’t have a phone, so communications generally fall to John and me to sort out. He has a lot of friends and a lot of ideas of what he wants to do with those friends.

Someone constantly needs a water bottle or a snack.

That said, I’m cognizant that I’ll miss these days, so I’m trying to enjoy unstructured summer activities while I still can.

Indy and two friends continued on with their car detailing business. They made a surprising amount of money over the weekend, for three tweens with not much more than a few buckets and rags who promised to leave people’s vehicles “squicky clean.”

He played soccer and tennis; lots of both.

We curtailed his screen time and I’m already noticing some behavioural improvements. Screen time is a double-edged sword. It provides entertainment and fun, but can become a real energy sink. I’m feeling a bit better about the balance this week.

John took Indy and a friend to “Cheap Night” at the movies to see the new Minions movie.

I mostly just tried to keep up. I filled out a boring corporate Statistics Canada survey that had been dangling on my to-do list for a few weeks. I paid credit cards (I know you can automate this task but for a variety of reasons we’ve run into issues with this, so I manually pay our credit cards off using online banking). I needed to do some boring back-end blog stuff. I had a routine doctor’s appointment.

There was, as always, plenty of laundry.

And there were lots of Happy Things, too. So let’s start talking about those!

BIRTHDAY LUNCH WITH JOY

For the last decade (maybe more?), for Joy’s birthday gift, I take the two of us out for dinner. This year, we were in Europe on her actual birthday so, alas, dinner on or even near her birthday wasn’t going to happen.

But, delayed gratification for the win.

Evenings were tricky with our schedules, and we knew if it didn’t happen THIS WEEK, it was unlikely to happen until September. So we met up for lunch at a local restaurant and it was delightful. The food was good, the company was even better, and we both left with doggy bags. You know how much I enjoy leftovers.

We even got to walk to the library together…

READING

I have been reading SO much lately (here’s my reading recap from June). But the main impetus for this trip to the library was to try to coax Indy into reading.

He tells me he doesn’t like reading and then he starts reading a graphic novel and starts laughing and wanting to show me every other paragraph. I know there’s a reader hidden deep inside his soul and I’m determined to bring it out. He listens to audiobooks every single night. But I want reading with eyes happening, too. And that is such a slog for him.

I picked up some Tintin—I LOVED Tintin at his age, but Indy tells me that it “doesn’t appeal” to him. I also grabbed some Garfield because, as a friend said, reading is reading. And comics fit that bill.

KITTENS

My word, the kittens have grown and they are SO cute. They all have nicknames assigned by Joy and her family. They’re keeping one (still not sure which), and my family is rooting for the tiny girl, who they’ve nicknamed Cheetah. Here’s Indy holding Marshall.

So precious!!! He so desperately wants a kitten.

LEFTOVERS

I am not overly impressed by people needing to eat these days (Suzanne agrees!) and there is nothing better to me right now than opening up the fridge and realizing there is food ready to consume. A few evenings, because we had cooked the previous night, there were leftovers! Oh joy.

BRIDGE JUMPING

We got bridge jumping for a second time this summer and brought three friends along for the ride… I guess I mean, leap?

AT-HOME MANICURE PRODUCTS I USE

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (Yes, this is new! I wrote more about why I’ve decided to start sharing affiliate links here). Canadian law requires I disclose this every time I share links, so this little blurb will show up whenever I’m linking to something that is an affiliate link!)

I will do a full rundown of how I do my at-home manicures… eventually. I admit, I find taking pictures of processes like that incredibly tedious. I guess that’s why people film vlogs? Heaven help us if I become a vlogger.

Here was last week’s manicure. It’s a European brand called Nail Kind in Miss Ballet. It’s a barely-there shade and I love it.

This week I went back to an old faithful: Essie’s Ballet Slippers. This shade is best known for reportedly being Queen Elizabeth II’s go-to nail polish.

I like it, but it’s a bit of a faff. It can be streaky, and I’m not patient enough to do three thin coats which is really what it needs. I do one thin coat, and then I float a coat and call it good enough.

Here is all the gear I currently use for my at-home manicures. It’s .. a lot. I guess this makes up for me doing nothing with skincare?

First up, I just use a basic acetone fingernail polish remover. I’ve used different formulas before, and I do find 100% acetone works the best. It can be drying, so using washing your hands after removing polish, and applying cuticle oil/hand cream helps a lot.

My sister, who does her own gel nails at home, recently convinced me to get some of these nail clips and they are a GAMECHANGER!

I hate removing old polish, especially if you have a glossy top coat.

I cut a cotton pad into quarters, put some polish remover on the pad, place that on top of my nail, attach the clip, wait a few minutes and the polish slides RIGHT off in one fell swoop.

They look ridiculous, but they work.

Next is the cuticle remover. I hate this part, but it really does make a big difference. There are all sorts of tutorials for how to use cuticle remover. It’s important to be gentle and to NOT CUT cuticles! I use the BlueCross Cuticle Remover. I’ve been using this bottle for over a year and it still looks full.

I bought an etched glass cuticle pusher and it’s great. I finish things off with the Sally Hansen cuticle oil. It’s fine; I might opt to try something different when it’s all gone.

Here’s the picture from last week of my post-cuticle care bare nail.

Next up, it’s polish time!! I wash my hands with warm soapy water first and then apply the base coat. As you can tell, this is an old picture; I do not currently have my Christmas tree set up in the living room.

Followed by a colour!

Essie Ballet Slippers + Nail Kind Miss Ballet.

I heard about Orly Rubberized Basecoat from Kelsey (The Girl Next Door Podcast); she’s where I direct most of my at-home manicure questions!

It’s great. It dries quickly and has a bit of a tacky surface.

Kelsey also recommended Seche Vite. This is the GOAT of top coats. And it really is amazing. It’s SO thick and glossy. But, it does cause some shrinkage and it gets very thick as it’s exposed to air. You can buy kits of the product with a thinner, but that just feels like too much work for me.

So I recently bought the Essie Gel Top Coat (you don’t need a UV light). It’s not as thick and shiny as Seche Vite, but it also feels a bit less fiddly and it’s cheaper! Seche Vite is designed to be applied when your colour coat isn’t fully dry, but I found the timing on that a bit hard to get right. (I also couldn’t get the Seche Vite Instant Gel Effect Top Coat in Canada, so I’m curious how that compares to the original formulation.)

Another current shot of my nails. Next week it might be time for something more vibrant? I remain unsure.

Let me know if you have questions. All in, I’d say my supplies over the years have probably cost me about $200 and things like the Orly basecoat and BlueCross Cuticle Remover—at the rate I’m using them—will last me years.

BONUS HAPPY THINGS

• More hammock time. It’s not just me! The kids and their friends seem to have this invisible string pulling them toward it whenever someone visits. (This is very similar to the hammock we own and love; here’s the actual link, not affiliate, from Canada.)

• I balked when we bought this Marimekko bag in Helsinki. I’d never heard of the brand before and it all seemed a bit overhyped. It is, without a doubt, the most expensive cotton tote I’ve ever purchased but it’s also… very, very fun.

• Rain. Every little bit helps, and it’s especially nice when it comes overnight so daytime activities aren’t impacted!
• Clean laundry.

• My pothos plant was getting too long, so I snipped off a bit of excess, put it in a clean pasta sauce container and seeing the pop of green while I wash dishes gives me a little jolt of delight every single time. I don’t have a green thumb, but pothos seems to be impervious to neglect and/or overwatering.
• My little space heater. I feel a bit ridiculous using it this time of year, but the basement can get quite cold with the AC on, so I shut the office door and turn on the heater for a few minutes.

• Even more important than my space heater is my heating mat. I use this thing every single time I sit down at my desk. This is the exact version I have. LOVE!

• Fun postcards. How I adore receiving snail mail. This is the point where I admit I have not sent ANY postcards out lately. Apologies, I’m trying to get my life back together in Canada and only marginally managing to do so. Huge thanks to Birchie!!

Belle gets home from camp later today. I have done zero packing for Indy’s stint at camp next week. How my expectations change. Years ago I would have had things packed and organized a week in advance and now we’re less than 48 hours out and I have exactly nothing ready.

It will get done.

I’m not quite sure how much I’ll post next week. Maybe daily, maybe not at all. We shall see. It’s an exciting week because John and I will be kidless for a few days. Glory be. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I am very much looking forward to a quiet house and zero kid activities to arrange!

Happy weekending, friends.

Your turn.

• Tell me some Happy Things from your world this week.
• What’s your favourite nail polish shade?
• Go-to plant that survives “brown” thumbs?