Diary of a Manicurist

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...

Eighteen years ago I was suffering. I've never experienced such unbearable pain, no painkiller pills could relieve the misery. I couldn't eat and was hallucinating. I did this to myself. I chose to have breast augmentation surgery. In 1996, I was very young and naive and didn't know much about anything. What I did know was that I weighed 120 lbs, my chest measured 32" and my hips 38" which made shopping for any clothing a depressing, frustrating hassle. Nothing fit right, very few things were flattering and I spent lots money at alteration shops. It was time to make a change. I wanted to feel good about the way I looked. I went to a flashy doctor at a big facility in a big city, seemed like the smart choice. It was a Friday and there would be no staff on duty over the weekend. I stayed the night in a hotel. They did the surgery without drainage tubes, since no one would be there during the weekend to remove them. I didn't even know use of drainage tubes was c...

The benefits of wheatgrass are widely debated. I just like the way it tastes. My personal belief is that anything that helps restore alkalinity to the blood is a good thing. Rich in chlorophyll, wheatgrass aids in detoxing the body and liver as well. Wheatgrass is higher in vitamin E per ounce than other green vegetables. All I know is that drinking green plant juice has to be better for you than not drinking it. Here's how I "juice" my wheatgrass using the NutriBullet extraction method: Buy a flat of organic wheatgrass. Trim the grass as close to the root as possible.  1/2 flat = 1 serving Put wheatgrass in a strainer and wash/rinse thoroughly. Place wheatgrass into small size NutriBullet cup. Add approximately 1 inch of purified water to cup. Add slightly more water for double serving (but not double the amount or it will become too watered down.) Experiment with the amount of water that works for your own personal taste. This is just what works for...

This is an update to a blog that I posted several years ago, a true story about a magical day I spent hanging out with Guns N Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin in 1988. November 23, 2012 It took over 24 years for the stars to align in such a way that Izzy and I would end up in the same place again. Quite honestly, I'm surprised it took that long, with me always traveling back and forth to many of the same cities he's known to frequent. I always imagined that when the day came that I would cross paths with him again, it would be in a casual situation where I could pull up a chair and smile and speak quietly and naturally. Unfortunately, that's not how it went...  Right before Thanksgiving, I received an email with a PDF attachment from a generous Christian friend of mine. It was a ticket to see the last show of Guns N Roses residency at the Hard Rock Hotel. He refused to let me pay him for it, just said he couldn't go and wanted me to have the ticket. Knowing Izzy Strad...

Move over Minx Nails, there's a new nail covering in town...OPI's new Pure Lacquer Nail Apps! Unlike Minx and their "nail sticker" competitors like Sally Hansen and Sheekee, OPI's nail apps are made out of actual nail lacquer with a base and top coat built right into the product. They can be worn over natural or artificial nails and are removed easily with acetone polish remover.  As a professional, I was embarrassed that I could never get Minx to adhere to fingernails for any decent length of time, even after going through Minx's intensive level one training. Some clients could get a week out of their Minx fingernails, others couldn't make it more than a day. Yet on toenails they lasted for over a month on everyone. I think Minx is just too sensitive and not very user/wearer friendly for the average woman's lifestyle. Leave it to OPI to step up and perfect the nail covering craze! OPI's Pure Lacquer Nail Apps are easy for anyone to apply an...

Last Friday night, not long after falling asleep, I was jolted awake by a crackling sound and a vision of the curtains in my bedroom catching on fire. I sat up in bed with my heart racing as if I were having a panic attack. I sat there in the dark room thinking, "What would I do if my house caught on fire right now? I would be lucky to get dressed let alone grab anything of value." Then I started thinking about a small handful of things that are important to me and wondering how I ever acquired so much useless stuff and what a waste of money all those things were. I thought about Butch Walker and how he lost everything in the Malibu fires and about my birth mother who the same thing happened to many years before I met her. I eventually mellowed out and fell back to sleep. This morning I put Joyce Meyer on the TV while making breakfast and she was telling the story of the rich man asking Jesus what he must do to get to heaven. After Jesus answered him, the rich man said he w...

Nail polish lovers: How many times have you wished it didn't take so long for your polish to dry? How many times have you waited patiently for it to dry, only to smudge, scratch or get "sheet mark" imprints on it within the first hour? How many times have you wished it would stay on for more than a few days without chipping or peeling? Your wish is my command! Some brilliant people found a way to make a hybrid nail polish using UV gel technology. A million nail techs are kicking themselves right now for not thinking of this first. Here are the specifics about this professional-only nail polish hybrid: It doesn't air-dry like regular nail polish. It cures for a couple minutes under a UV lamp. Once your hand is removed from the lamp, the polish is completely dry and ultra-shiny. It is guaranteed to wear on natural nails--yes, natural nails--for 14+ days! My clients are wearing it successfully for even longer than that. This new hybrid nail polish cannot be taken off...