Closing out 2012

As I watch 2012 come to a close, I can't say that I am all that sad. It's been a year of adjustments and a lot more self doubt than I care for. But it hasn't been all bad. I have taken some major steps in a direction that I have been tiptoeing towards for months, years even.

So while 2012 might be quietly making its exit in my life, 2013 is waiting to start with a bang. Why is that you might ask? Well that's because I have taken a huge leap and am excited with where it's going.

I have started another blog, one that revolves around my love of all things nail polish. It's about time, seeing as I have a very large love of all things nail lacquer. But that alone is not the big jump. The big jump is that after 6 months of making nail polish of my own, I am going to launch a shop. I am going to sell my nail polish!

If you would like to join me on this journey, please join me over at Emerald & Ash. I will not only share my polish collection, but also the polishes I have made and that I plan to sell.


Running my own shop and making something I truly love has been something I have dreamed about for years. So I am beyond excited. I hope to be able to still blog over here, but it will probably be slow while I work on my shop and getting everything up and running.

2013 is already looking to be full of excitement and new things and I hope that you will join me in this new endeavor.

I also hope that you have a wonderful new year and that it brings you all of the things you have been hoping for.

Review: SquareHue

Hello! Today I am very excited to share with you a new monthly subscription box called SquareHue. Why am I so excited? Because SquareHue is a nail polish box! Yep...it's like my dream box.

When I first heard about the box it sparked my interest. After looking through their website I knew that I had to try it. You get 3 polishes each month that have been specifically made for that month. The company looks at what is trending in colors for at the time and they create beautiful colors from there. Even better is this:

• “3-Free” Clean formula – Does not contain (1)DBP, (2)Formaldehyde, (3)Toluene.
• We like our formula extra clean… so no Camphor either.
• Not tested on animals.
• Proudly Made in the USA.

Here's what really hooked me. Their bottles are the "normal" .50 oz bottles. None of this tiny bottle for a high price crap (I'm looking at you Julep). That and it's their own brand. So if you're like me and have a huge collection you don't have to worry that they might send you an OPI you already have. 

I was actually lucky enough to get their very first box, which was December's, sent to me for review and I have to say that not only am I honored, it was an absolute pleasure talking with Laura at SquareHue. She was nothing but helpful and answered all of my questions. 

So after a little wait (wrong zipcode issue) I finally got my box yesterday. I have to say, it's an adorable little box. It's so small, but perfect for the polishes. Once opened I was greeted with a welcome card that was signed by everyone from SquareHue. It was a simple, but sweet extra. 






Now for the swatches! I started with Champagne Toast, which is a great light gold foil. There are some flashes of silver in it as well. It really does have a Champagne feel to it. This went on to be opaque with two coats. The first coat started out a little streaky, but I find that to be true with a lot of foils that I have used. After the second coat everything evened out and looked great. It didn't show much in the way of brush strokes either. It dried fairly quickly to the touch and is shown here without a top coat.





Next is Sugar Plum. It's a great deep purple metallic with a little shimmer in it. I honestly don't own enough purples, so I was haver happy to add this to my collection. The first coat started out very streaky, but was easily fixed with a second coat. I did do a thin third coat for peace of mind, but probably would have been fine with only two coats. The formula was really nice, not too thin that it flooded my cuticles and not to thick that it was hard to work with.






Last, but not least is Holly Berry. It's a great red metallic with gold shimmer. Maybe not the most original red, but lets face it there is no such thing as an original red at this point. I do really like that it's a metallic with the shimmer, because it makes it look lit from within. I will apologize now, because the sun went off and hit by the time I was ready for pictures, so you can't see the gold as much, but it's there. After applying the purple I decided to try 3 thin coats with this color, which worked perfectly. Again, streaky at first, but smooth and wonderful after the second coat.

Decor: The rainbow tree returns!

It's back! After a year of our rainbow tree being gone, I couldn't wait to get it back up. My only wish it is that it would put its self up. But I love it...and am so happy that its back again!

Life: Halloween

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! We stayed home and handed out candy and Play-Doh. Yep we were that house. Luckily 90% of the kids were really excited.

Nails: Pegasus Poop

Life: Hi!

Life: To Don't

Nosh: Ginger peach jam

Life: The colors are just as vivid 5 years later

Decor: Bright idea

The light looked pretty cool all on its own, before being decorated with the flowers.



And the shadows that it throws onto the ceiling make me giddy. I may have say with all of the other lights off so I could just sit and stare at the beauty of my new dining room light.

Life: Hello world...it's me

Holy balls.

That pretty much sums up the last few months and my life.

Lets do a little recap shall we?

Back at the end of March (um how the heck are we in the middle of August already!?) we packed up to move.



We got to Colorado at the very beginning of April.



Our welcome gift was a broken down car less than 60 miles away from our destination.



We worked on getting settled into the house...



Only to realize that we had outgrown it in the almost 5 years we had been away. So we decided to take the leap and look for a new house.


And the house slowly started to come together.



During that time the Waldo Canyon Fire started.


A few days later and right after Nate left for a TDY, the worst of the fire happened.


After all of the fire bans were lifted we went to the local Renaissance Festival, which is a must, solely for the fact that it's a tradition to pick up a piece from the glass blower.


And then just in case life wasn't already busy for us we got another dog. A Cocker Spaniel to be exact. We named him Swarley. Emmett isn't a huge fan, but he's warming up. Slowly. And begrudgingly.


I also started making my own nail polish as well.



Along with all of this stuff, Nate was working on settling into his new job...even though he didn't actually start doing his actual job until this month.

Probably the best thing that happened, besides a new house and puppy is that I finally got to meet Cassie (as well as her husband and cute little boy) in person. After 3 years of harassing one another over the internet, through snail mail and text messages...we met. I personally could not have been more excited and look forward to many more chances to hang out. Of course we're big dorks and forgot to
take a good picture together. Guess that will have to happen on the next trip.

There was other various things that happened since April, but I will share that with you in other blog posts.

Life never seems to slow down, it only ever goes the same pace of faster. Because of this, my new current goal is to take photos whenever I can. And from there I look forward to sharing, with you, those photos and the stories that go with them.