Diary of a Manicurist

This is the most simple summertime cake recipe I've ever tried! Next time, I'm going to substitute 1 tbsp rum for the vanilla extract and see how it goes! 🍹 1 box angel food cake mix  1 20 oz can crushed pineapple  3/4 cup sweetened coconut  1 tsp vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 brownie pan.  Mix all ingredients together gently in a bowl. Do not whip or over-mix.  Pour mix into prepared pan. Bake on 350 for 30 minutes.  Let cool. Serve by itself or with whipped cream.  Keep covered and consume within 7 days.  It came out looking so perfect! 😍

Ladies....listen to me... If you are over 40 and experiencing and/or suffering with peri-menopause/menopause symptoms like: mood swings, insomnia, fatigue, night sweats, stubborn weight gain, loss of muscle tone, vaginal dryness ...you don't have to suffer anymore!! Have you heard of Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy ? It's different from basic "hormone replacement therapy." Basic HRT can come with risks because doctors often prescribe synthetic hormones like progestin. Whatever you do, please avoid synthetic hormones. There's a new way, a safer way, and it doesn't matter what age you are or if you have high blood pressure or any other health condition. Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy does not require a doctor's prescription although you are monitored medically by holistic practitioners via saliva tests and video/telephone conferences! The biggest mistake I made was waiting until menopause to actually start learning about it. All the suffering I endured for a...

SOFT PUMPKIN SPICE COOKIES with Cream Cheese Frosting ...plus a bonus link to make Pumpkin Pancakes with the leftover puree! 2 cups all-purpose flour 1½ teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon kosher salt ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground ginger ¼ teaspoon ground allspice ⅛ teaspoon ground clove ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg 2 large eggs 1 cup granulated sugar ½ cup coconut oil 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (NOT pie filling) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 can of whipped cream cheese frosting (OR homemade vegan cream cheese frosting) 1. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and spray lightly with nonstick spray. 2.   In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, clove and nutmeg. Set aside. 3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until pale yellow and smooth, about 1 minute. Whisk in the oil, pumpkin and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the...

Another lost blog post from November 3, 2007! I recently dated a guy who said he kissed another dude one time just to see if he might be gay. This was shocking to me. I had been boy crazy since I was 3 so I never thought to even question it for myself. The vulnerable admission triggered an old memory for me. When I was 21, I had 2 jobs--one working for the county tax office and the other doing nails. There was a girl with long black hair named Nicole who used to come into the tax office to make payments on her mom's taxes on a regular basis. I used to hang out and talk to her for a while whenever she came in and I thought she was really cool. I found myself strangely attracted to her. It wasn't the sexual fantasy kind of attraction. It was like a "more excited than you should be to see someone" kind of thing. I guess I was excited to have a new friend. I eventually started doing her nails. She had exceptionally large hands.  That's all I need to say in 2007 an...

Another lost blog post from January 11, 2015! I grabbed my cape and rushed out of the house on this rainy day over to the bagel shop.  While waiting for my coffee, another patron mentioned the tag on my coat. Knowing I've owned this old thing at least 15 years, I couldn't fathom what she was talking about.  I gave her a confused look, "tag?"  Sure enough, a bright green tag that said ORGANIC was stuck to my side. I had been grocery shopping late last night. I had a good laugh and thanked her for saying something. I've been labeled a lot of things before but this one's a first!

A lost blog post from August 12, 2008! My social life has been revolving around downtown since Spring 2005 when I left the Hard Rock and started working at Beauty Bar. By early 2007, the bands I liked the most (The Vacation, The Lashes, The Shys, Diamond Nights, Wildbirds) stopped coming to town. Nonetheless, the whole year of 2007 was still exciting and fun up until October 2007 when Mark moved to Texas and Morpheus stopped doing Blak Fridays at Beauty Bar. Suddenly, I was wandering around with a broken heart and work wasn't fun anymore. I do have to confess that before Mark even left, I knew exactly who I would be aiming to spend my time with downtown as soon as possible. At that point I made it my goal to throw myself in this person's way every chance I got and we became friends very quickly. I became more and more involved in his life as I tried helping him cope with his own broken heart. I would listen to him talk for hours and felt much like a counsellor...but listening ...

...from the eyes of a former employee Sunrise from the parking garage after a Guns N Roses concert In the late 1990s when I was planning to make my move from Indiana to somewhere in the southwest desert, I learned that a Hard Rock Hotel had just opened in Las Vegas. After doing research on cost of living and crime rate in the area, at that time, I learned it was similar to my hometown. One synchronicity after another occured and it seemed like all roads pointed to Las Vegas. I called the Rock Spa at the Hard Rock Hotel and innocently told them about myself and my skills and wanted to know what I needed to do to get a job there. They told me, "Just get here first." So I did, in September 1999, one week before my birthday, I arrived in fabulous Las Vegas where an apartment I rented long distance and my first self-employment booth rental gig were waiting for me. I had saved a ton of money from being an OPI product educator and knew I needed time to heal from a lifetime of ...

Oh my beautiful friends! How many of you have stood patiently and encouragingly at my side. How I wish you could've explained to me that the remedy I was searching for was inside me all along. I have woken from my slumber. The men I allowed to parade through my life were like nails in my coffin, one by one. The final nail sealed me in nearly 4 years ago but I was not dead, no, I was not finished. I've been like a vampire struggling and clawing at the darkness though the painful metamorphosis. Now I rise. I am lovable. I am good enough. No longer am I glued to the mattress of lonely defeat. No longer am I under a mountain, as I have commanded that mountain to move by the power given to me through Jesus Christ. No longer hiding under my black cloak, I have dropped my shields of invisibility. The dark veil of tunnel vision has been whisked away to reveal a new bright day where I see the friendly gazes and approving smiles of strangers and friends. Like the seed planted undergr...

In 1990, as we were driving down a long country road in northern Indiana, I spotted a cobalt blue sofa in a driveway with a sign on it. Nearly gave myself whiplash as I jerked my neck around to get a better look. After passing it again later that day, I had to stop. Even though we didn't have our own place yet, as I was still in college, I had  to have it. I begged my grandparents to let me store it in their garage. I paid the lady $10 for it and it was mine! Everything was great until my family actually saw it. They thought it was the most ridiculous-looking piece of furniture they've ever seen. The cobalt blue fabric was faux fur, like a stuffed animal. It was extra-long with a low profile back and dark wood spindles propping up the arms. Two wood feet in the back, two rolling casters in the front. Truly the most unique piece of furniture I've ever seen from a company called Prestige in Monroe, OH. Still to this day I've never seen another one like it. The more my ...

A summary of my diary (minus the personal stuff)  ~February 20-June 30, 2015.~ If this sounds like a whole bunch of whiney boring crap to you, imagine what it was like to live it. The Allergies It all began the day after a friend's birthday party at Dino's at the end of last February. I was crushed by a brutal allergy attack (I totally blame Dino's) that lasted 8 long miserable weeks. I tried to tough it out with no medicine but it just wouldn't go away. The local news said it was the worst allergy season Las Vegas had seen in many years. I concur. I began having what seemed like random hot flashes. I couldn't handle extreme temperature changes or bright light. This caused me to have a total breakdown on a friend's birthday party bus. A neighbor gave me some allergy medicine to try and assured me that it was non-drowsy formula. He was wrong. It took me 10 days of extreme lethargy to figure that out. Doctors didn't want to give me a steroid shot becaus...

As a 22+ year beauty industry professional specializing in nails, I am as thrilled as beauty school graduation day whenever a promising new nail product enters the market. With the invention of gel nail polish circa 2011, the nail industry changed overnight. It was the single greatest thing to happen for manicurists since the mid-1980s brought us safe (ethyl methacrylate) acrylic liquid! I often wondered what it must have been like for those techs learning and troubleshooting with acrylic nails for the first time. Like being dropped in the middle of a jungle and whacking your way through to civilization with a machete, or in our case a 100-grit nail file, now I know. The last 3 1/2 years of trying to get it right with gel manicures has been a challenge. With manufacturers changing their training instructions and every different gel polish company having different products and procedures, it has been at times a frustrating yet rewarding challenge. I am ...

It is no secret to anyone how much I love some kinds of music. Music makes everything in my life except sleeping that much more enjoyable. I am therefore always drawn to places that have live music as I appreciate being surrounded by such kinds of talent. However, one thing I never really talk about...and it may come as a huge surprise to many people who know me... is how much I dread attending large arena-style rock concerts. I'm convinced there's a vile place in hell for outdoor concert festivals as well. Of course, there are the traffic jams both in and out, plus the parking nightmares. (hello Woodstock!) Then there is the never ending challenge of being able to see the stage due to the people around and in front me who are either tall or moving around too much. It takes some social adeptness to be able to assess the obnoxiousness level of those around you at general admission shows and I've gotten pretty good at it, but inevitably some asshole always elbows his way in....

It all began in Kindergarten. I thought the song "Shake Your Booty" by KC & the Sunshine Band was really  funny. I decided to be sassy and start singing it in front of my class at the end of a school day, figuring all the other kids knew the song and would think I was funny. Only one kid knew it and he sang it with me and we giggled and giggled and made everybody laugh. I remember walking away wondering why nobody else had ever heard that song before. From that point on, I obsessed over the radio, rolling the dial up and down slowly and listening to every station. My likes and dislikes formed naturally, uninfluenced by anyone else. Then in 5th grade I discovered a couple kids that were just as bananas over Styx's "Too Much Time On My Hands" and AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds" as I was. How exciting to actually talk to my peers about something I liked and have them "get it!" That's when I started to receive confirmation and validation that...