My first gradient attempt; and rhinestone-y things.

I have pretty much ignored the whole gradient thing. I am spazzy enough with a brush and dotting tools; what kind of mess would I make with a polished-up sponge?
I decided to give it a go. It is not great. My colour choices on my right had were a bit crap-not opaque enough. On my left hand...I discovered the coral I love in the bottle, is not so pretty on my hands. So, that will be leaving me. To photos!

Colours are LA Colors 12, and Sinful Colors Island Coral. I didn't want to push the gradient attempt (at first) so went for dots.
And the right hand. This is a mess. My clean up was terribly half-arsed, and you can see exactly what I mean when I say lack of opacity.

Bleurgh.

Over the weekend, I was at the local $2/Max Out shop, whatever this one happens to be called. I found some little nail art rhinestones and thought 'why not?' I have just done a mani with them, and I'm pretty happy with the results. You'll have to excuse the photos. I plan to get some in natural light tomorrow, but wanted evidence before I knock these flowers off. I have two thick layers of top coat on, and will probably add another before bed.

Here are a couple that show the polish colour more accurately.

Awful photos, I apologise. Base is boe Champagne-lovely colour, formula is quite good...but it stinks. I'm talking a petrol-like reek. I have a headache from the smell. I may also be mildly high.
When I bought the rhinestone doo-hickeys, I grabbed an eye/lip liner, solely so I could pick them up. It works! So quick and easy.
All going well, I should have better pics of this tomorrow.

Sorry, sorry.

It's been a while, and I have no excuse. I also have no set topic for this. Prepare for random crap.
My nails have been a bit nudey. I was wearing falsies and fingernails don't really enjoy that, so I'm giving them a break. I do have these photos.

This is C'mon Spring! A Star Kin Polish. I somehow failed to get on-nail pics of this.

And Raven Mad, another Star Kin. God, I loved this. It is so damn pretty. I kept getting distracted by the red shimmer.
Star Kin consist of a mother-daughter team here in NZ. They make AMAZING polishes, for excellent prices.  The formula is fantastic, and for the glitter/bitsy ones-the pay off is awesome. Check out the products here.

I had a book-worm fan girl moment this week. I am a BIG fan of Paul Cleave-an NZ author. His books are based in Christchurch-my home town-but it is a much darker, seedier ChCh. His books are fabulous, and I love recognising various places. I recently read his latest book (Joe Victim; awesome) and tweeted Paul. He tweeted back! I got all giggly and stupid. It was amazing. It's a shame being facetious doesn't really come across well in text, though.
I have been a fan since I read 'The Cleaner' a few years ago, but the introduction Paul wrote in 'Joe Victim' tipped me over into total author adoration.
Check out Paul Cleave here.

I have heard back about a heart monitor-in a couple weeks I am taking part in a study. I'll have a monitor on 24/7 for 2-4wks. It comes with a smart phone so I can record what I'm doing during an 'event'.  The whole thing is wireless and all data goes to Cloud, so it can be reviewed in real time if need be.
I'm looking forward to it. I had an episode last night that was quite extreme and lasted a minute or so longer than usual. It will be great to get some answers, finally.

That's it for now!

Jorja!

I forgot I had said I would do a Jorja post. I am a terribly neglectful owner.

We have had Jorja just over 2yrs now. She is a 7-8yr old,  purebred (apparently) rotti bitch. 
Jorja had lived entirely outside before coming to us, and was quite a timid, fearful dog.

It took us a few weeks before we could pat her head, without her flinching. She was also terrified of the clotheshorse, and of empty boxes. I found these out the hard way. Being in the path of a running rottweiler is a shitty place to be.
For the first few couple weeks, Jorja would pee inside every couple of nights. It took her a little while to get accustomed to sleeping inside. It was so frustrating, but all you can do is persevere. She did get it-and reasonably quickly. It did not seem fast at the time.
After being with us for a few months, Jorja was spayed. She was so sad and pathetic after her surgery, and for the record-the Cone Of Shame is horrendously scary, at first. She was not a happy bunny.

When we got Dexter, Jorja lived in a state of near-constant tension. Initially, I was a bit worried-solely due to Jorja's size in comparison-but she was so frightened of Dex. Every time he came near her, she would freeze, attempt invisibility and wait. After a while, Dexter would move on to someone more fun, like Sarsh. I kept such a close eye on their interactions for months. It would have been so easy for Jorja to hurt Dexter, without even meaning to. But all was well. 21mths later, Jorja still gets a bit tense when Dex has his Crazy on (to be honest, I do too!), but it is no longer a concern, and she likes to play with him.

Jorja, like Sarsh and Dexter, is fully raw-fed. She loves anything and everything. Jorja has no concept of stopping-when-full, so when they get a 'free-feed', hers has a time limit. Raw was amazing for her. Her breath was incredibly bad, her coat was rough, and she just stunk! Bath, no bath, it didn't matter. It was like dog+poo+rotting something. After a couple weeks on raw, she smelled just fine. Or doesn't smell. I don't know, she no longer makes me retch!

As you can see by this bottom picture, rain doesn't bother Jorja at all.


Jorja makes an excellent guard dog. We always know when someone has come to visit, she announces it very loudly. This comes in handy at certain times-like Halloween. I have nothing against it, personally. However, when I buy lollies, I like to be the one to eat them. Maybe this year I'll give her glowing contacts and horns.

And now, for a couple of Classy Bitch pics.

 Speaking of classy-I wish I had some running pictures to put in. Rottis are not in the least bit graceful. Jorja thunders around, looking special, and sort of...flailing. She looks the way I picture myself running, if that makes sense.
I'll throw in a couple of good photos.

And the Sad Rotti face.

It is so difficult, living a life of leisure, in a bed containing a duvet and several blankets. Poor dog.