A Little Bit of Christmas Cheer

Look who decided to re-join the blogging party...


It's me! And to be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to come back to blogging. I'm still not 100% sure about it.

So...uh, yeah. I've been MIA for approximately 4 months. Almost to the day, actually. Ever since I managed to get the MOST EFFING OVERWHELMED I'VE EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE.

I nearly disappeared from the Interwebz in general, because after awhile, working 80 hours a week, studying, and still managing to have a relationship, bathe, make yourself look presentable, sleep, training for a new position, and occasionally act like an adult and cook/clean/etc gets to you and makes you batshit insane.

Uh, which I ended up being for a few weeks there. Like I certifiably probably should have been in a white coat in a padded room.

But, here we are...On Christmas Eve.
Time to update y'all on my life.

Well, I finished school. I haven't seen an official transcript yet (or, any transcript really), but I'm pretty sure my final semester ended up with a 3.875...and I'm going to graduate with honors. So, woot woot for me.

I still need to take my registry. I don't have access to do that for like, another month and a half or something ridiculous. I'm okay with that, although I'd like to let all of this knowledge out of my head so that it quits slowly leaking out. Heh.

And, since I have been working 80 hours a week up until last week, I have absolutely no fa-la-la-la-la-la Christmas cheer. Hell, I'm sitting here right now burning a Bali Sunrise candle and contemplating cleaning my apartment. I do have my mini-tree out and my display of Christmas ornaments, but...I'm not seeing family for Christmas, I'm working on Christmas, I haven't bought (or received) and Christmas presents...and sadly enough, I have not gone to look at Christmas lights. We did get a freak ice storm thing last week that kind of put driving around and looking at lights out of the schedule though.

Also...I'm thinking of renaming le blog. Health and Snark doesn't feel like it's cutting it for me any more. If you have any suggestions, leave 'em in the comments below.

I'm glad to be back, but now it's time to be productive! (And by that, I mean I'm probably going to end up painting my nails while watching YouTube videos.)

Missing Me?

While I've been busy working 80 hours a week, I did manage to guest post last week over at Cupcakes and Curves when Brandi was on vacation.

It's a nice little makeup tutorial, so scroll through Brandi's site until you see it, and leave her some comments while you're at it!

Target Haul #2

So, I stopped by Target again last week and got some good stuff...part of it was on sale, too. Yay! :)

-Nature's Wick candle in Honeysuckle Jasmine smells SO GOOD. And it makes the wood crackling sound when it's burning. It has a nice throw and it was on clearance!
-Yankee Candle in Beach Party was also on clearance...it smells like a sweeter version of the beach. I haven't burned it yet, but if it throws like other Yankee Candles, I love it already, hahaha.
-Sonia Kashuk small eyeshadow brush. This is my new favorite brush. I have some Sephora brand brushes, and this beats them! It's a little bit stiffer, which I was looking for, and just as soft. I've been using it daily.
-Bed Head Candy Fixation Totally Baked Volumizing and Prepping Hair Meringue. Okay, I really only bought this after I saw Brandi buy it a few weeks back. It SERIOUSLY smells like lemon meringue pie! I used it to make my hair curly, and it worked wonderfully. My only sad part about this is that I had used Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle in the shower, and that drowned out the smell of the lemony goodness :(
-Clean and Clear Morning Burst facial cleanser...it smells great and works great! I've been using it daily. It also came with a sample of Clean and Clear Morning Burst hydrating gel moisturizer...and I think I'll purchase a full size of it! It's tingly and almost minty...and I'm now loving gel moisturizers, lol.
-Organix Intensive Moisture Mask in Hydrating Macadamia Oil. Everyone's been loving macadamia oil lately, and rather than dump $30+ into the expensive stuff that everyone's been loving on YouTube, I got the cheap version. And honestly...I prefer my Aussie 3 Minute Miracle. I've only used this stuff once, but it didn't seem nearly as moisturizing.
-2 packs of earrings. Yay! I love me some Target multi-packs. Though, I do have to use their little clear rubber backs and not the backs that are supposed to be used, because they slide off too easily. I've lost too many earrings like that. And look at the adorable rose gold bows!!!
-A plastic organizing basket to corral my daily makeup. Since my boyfriend complains about it being all over the place. Heh. This was in the Dollar Spot stuff...how could I pass it up when I needed it?
-A purple and gray tank top. Also on clearance. It makes my boobs look awesome, somehow, lol.

New Layout!

Hey guys!

I finally created a new layout here...all of my own creation! The last one was actually a tweaked one that I got from Kendra when I first started this blog of mine...Well, I had a little bit of extra time tonight and decided to fiddle around a bit. I'm pretty pleased with it :) There's still a couple of other little adjustments I'd like to make at some point, mostly over in the sidebar, but yep. I'm proud of myself. I did everything from the background to all the various tweaks everywhere. I know it's not anything SUPER special, but I like it. And I hope you guys do too!

Be on the lookout for a new post later this week, probably Thursday or Friday.

Update to Positivity

So, my last post 2 weeks ago (whoopsie!) dealt with my feelings on positivity.

So now to report back some results.

-Work has been slightly better. There is still a lot of crap that goes on, and honestly sometimes I still feel like I'm in high school. There's still huge problems with the schedule, getting me moved into the position I want, dealing with the boss, etc. but I'm happier there now. We've hit a slower point in the year for healthcare, which is nice and leads to less stress. One of my dear friends, unfortunately for me, is going to a different department in 3 weeks. Which, I'm over the moon for her, but it makes me sad because she's one of the people keeping me sane on the daily.
-The girl I was having major issues with at work...well, I made a conscious effort to be nicer and everything...and I'm not going to lie, it worked! We've gone out outside of work for drinks once, we chat a bit more at work, and she's invited me out a couple more times but my body's getting old and I can't handle it, lol.
-I have also not had as hard of a time keeping the negative, mean thoughts out of my head, which is really nice. Things still slip in, and I still say mean-spirited things sometimes, but...I'm not perfect, and I'm feeling less negative...so I'll deal for now.
-I'm doing better to take 5 seconds to just breathe more. It does help, honestly.

Unfortunately, I didn't get my butt into gear about finding other inspirational websites/Pinterests/YouTube channels/etc. to help me out. I'd still love to find some, so if you know of any, let me know in the comments!

Some other things I'm planning on adding at some point to my routine/still waiting for results:
-Vitamins (I'll be doing a post about these soon!)
-Yoga/Exercise (this one really has to wait until I'm done with school in December...I'll be back to working/interning 80 hours a week and I'm a bit drained by the end of the day!)
-Positive websites/books/YouTube channels/etc
-Cleanliness/organization (a post is coming about this, too!)

Guys, I have a bunch of posts chilling out in my drafts right now, so hopefully I'll be able to get 1-2 posts out a week. I start my clinical internships back up the 19th, so I'm going to try to write some posts before then so I can have them auto-post!

Positivity

So, over the past week and a bit, I've been trying to get myself into a more positive frame of mind.

My job has been absolutely eating at me for...well, in the neighborhood of a year now. Now, don't get me wrong, I love what I do, and I love what I'm finishing school for...but the department that I'm in right now literally sucks the living daylights out of you. Like some little friends from Harry Potter...

link
So anyhow. It's...rough. It's been rough for awhile, but I haven't had the option of leaving, really. There weren't jobs available for my experience level, and quite honestly, they HAVE been working with me when I've needed time off for school and such. But over the past year, we've had two crap-tastic supervisors, a rotating door of employees, and work conditions that quite frankly, make me want to go back to minimum wage for better conditions. It honestly makes me a very negative person both in how I think, how I feel, how I feel like I treat people, etc. There's others in the department that feel the same way, so unfortunately, it isn't just me.

So, last weekend I got it in my head I wanted to be in a better mindset (this was partially from seeing all of Nikki Phillipi's various Youtubes, as well as some other people who just always seem to be bubbly, happy people). I deactivated my Facebook (which I reactivated solely for my Candy Crush addiction...and well, Facebook timeline scrolling is back). I've been trying to make my words less negative (and trying to keep negative comments to myself, though I know it's not exactly visible through this blog post), and when I start having even mean/nasty thoughts about people, I'm trying to replace the words with "rainbows and sunshine".

link
Yes, that's the image I got going through my head. I also have to subject myself to pulling up pictures of puppies and kittens and cute baby animals because really, who's going to be a bitch when staring at this little nugget?

link

That's right. NOT YOU.

Anyhow. I've been making a concentrated effort to be a nicer person and to try to let stuff roll off my back for the next few months, etc. It's HARD y'all. I'm not going to lie. Maybe I really am a bitch at heart, but the number of times I have to stop myself because I'm thinking mean thoughts is ridiculous.

Is anyone else going through a similar dilemma? I'm doing everything in my power to help myself with this, because I honestly FEEL better when I'm nicer. I mean, yeah, I've been doing some other health-related things (more to come on that later), but your mindset can do WONDERS for you.

I'm also trying to find some inspirational reads, whether it's books, websites, a Pinterest folder that has lots of uplifting quotes, etc. If you have any suggestions, PLEASE leave them in the comments or tweet me. I'm not necessarily looking for religious things, but just good quotes or even just relaxing pictures, etc.

My July Ipsy Bag

 So...this month was my first Ipsy bag! I saw June's bag on Facebook/Twitter/YouTube and loved it, so I signed up and received my first bag last week.

A couple of things left a bit to be desired, but I've tried most of it out now so I can give mini-reviews!

-Pop Beauty pouty pop crayon in Fuchsia Flirt: While I ADORE the consistency/smell/texture/etc of this, I wish I could have gotten the coral color! This is very much a hot Barbie pink. I can get it to stain my lips instead of being so opaque though, so I'll definitely be using it. It actually reminds me of the Revlon Kissable Balm stains in consistency, plus it smells minty as well! I haven't tested the staying power of this yet though.

-Demeter Salt Air perfume: So far, this is my favorite thing in the bag! OMG. It is a roll on, but DOES come in a spray, as well as body lotion and body wash...which I may be picking up! The smell of this is SO fresh. I can't find the description of the scent anywhere, but it does remind me of the beach...and while I normally like girly sweet smells, this one is perfect in a completely different way.

-Coola Mineral Face SPF20 Unscented Moisturizer: This I haven't used yet. My face is already broken out because it's TTOTM, so I don't want to aggravate it. I do want to say, I wish I had gotten the tinted moisturizer instead though. I love me some tinted moisturizers.

-Big Sexy Hair Weather Proof Humidity Resistant Spray: Haha, I got to test this out when it was literally 92% humidity outside. It did keep the frizz at bay, although I'm not sure how great the hold was because I combined it with mousse for keeping my hair curly. This doesn't have a strong scent to it, though I've never used anything from Big Sexy Hair so I don't know if any of the products have a strong scent or not.

-BH Cosmetics California Collection Eyeshadow Sample: My only bitch about this is that they picked one color from each of the palettes, leaving me with a matte royal purple, a shimmery brown, and a shimmery gold. They don't really go together. The colors seem to have good payoff, though I haven't used them on my eyes yet.

Want your own Ipsy bag? <a href=http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-hhzphujz2dls15qv> Sign up! </a> Already have a subscription? Tell me what you got in the comments and let me know how you liked it!

Sharing Blogland

Okay guys, been doing my catching-up-on-my-dailies deal, and I came upon this thought in my head...

How many of you actually share your blog with your people in real life???

Hell, my boyfriend barely knows that I have a Twitter, let alone a blog. And I've been with him for 2 1/2 years. There is literally not another soul that I know in person that knows I have a Twitter...and a blog? Fuh-gett-about-it.

Now, mind you, the majority of my friends don't do "the Twitter thing" and don't really understand it (which...if you don't have friends that use Twitter, then yeah, it is kind of pointless)...so that clears me on that one.

The blog thing though? From what I've seen, most of us DON'T share out little corners of the Interwebz with those near and dear to us that are technologically incompetent. And while I'm not spreading my stuff around, I also don't understand WHY we still treat blogs like they're so taboo? Are we afraid of being judged for what we write, how we write, or our design ideas? Just embarrassed to be caught with a blog? I don't know.

Feel free to leave your input y'all. I'm curious as to your feelings on the subject!

Mini Target Haul

Yep, I hit up Target last week and did a bit of a haul. I also got some Muddy Buddies and Drumsticks, but those were already in the fridge/freezer.
So...what did I get, and what did I think of the stuff I already tried?

-Goody Color Collection bobby pins. Eh, they're bobby pins. What kind of a review are you expecting here? If only I didn't manage to mysteriously lose them all and then find half a pack in my sofa at random points in my life. I still really don't know what happened to my last pack, really.
-Not Your Mother's Clean Freak dry shampoo - OMG, I LOVE THIS. I've seen it a few places in the YouTube world and I was always highly addicted to by Got2Be dry shampoo. I saw this and figured...hey, it's cheaper than my other stuff and it can't be any worse than my Tresemme crap. It smells SO GOOD and works AMAZINGLY. Go buy this stuff, seriously. I think it was about $5 at my Tar-jay.
-Bodycology XOXO body lotion. It smells nearly identical to my Be Enchanted stuff from Bath and Body Works for a fraction of the price. So, ya know. Good in my books.
-75 pack of Goody Ouchless hair elastics. Again, they're hair ties. If they don't ever stretch out or get lost, then they'd be a miracle.
-Maybelline's The Rocket mascara in waterproof black. I haven't used it yet. I'll get back to you. But once again, it's a YouTube/blogger phenomenon, so I hope I'm not disappointed.
-Rimmel ScandalEyes waterproof kohl eyeliner in deep blue. HOLY COW I LOVE THIS. It claims it's waterproof and smudgeproof, which on my watery, allergy-prone eyes, is a high claim. And it exceeded my expectations, even on my freakin' WATERLINE. I've been wearing this daily and it's my new favorite thing.
-Revlon Lash Potion in waterproof black. How could I NOT get this, just for the packaging alone? I've seen it a few places online with mediocre reviews, but I love this stuff. It's got a slightly drier formula, but it's wonderful! I can do two coats and have my lashes look awesome. Plus, the packaging is so adorable I can't stand it!

What have you hauled from Target lately?

Spring Fever VoxBox

Yes, I did indeed get picked for the Spring Fever VoxBox. I was actually pretty excited for it once I received it in the mail about a month ago.


I have tried a few of the products thus far, and two of them I still need to try to work with.

Negativity

So...I kind of had a freakout session on Friday night.

I have been stressing myself out to the max lately. I mean, really. I'm at work 80 hours a week, learning a new job basically 50% of the time, while trying to keep myself sane the other 50% of the time. I also am having tests...which I'm not going to lie, have NOT been turning out so great because I haven't had adequate time to study.

I finally lost it driving home on Friday night. Some of the girls I work with (and actually like) and I were going to go out. Well...I made it to the club after work and realized I had nobody's number. Mind you, this is a big club...like it has two stories to it. After having been up since 5:00am, I wasn't in the mood to walk into some club at 11:30 at night trying to find these girls. So...I just drove back home. But, I bawled my eyes out the entire way.
I'm probably going to lie on Monday and say I couldn't find my ID or something. Because really, even walking into a neighborhood bar that holds maybe 100 people by myself is intimidating for me. I panic about that crap so easily and I KNOW. I shouldn't be like that. It's embarrassing and a huge personality flaw for me. I am not the girl that can just walk into a place and make friends.

But anyhow. Crying in my car. Driving half an hour home on the interstate. I started questioning EVERYTHING. My relationship, my job, my friends, school, EVEN MY FREAKING CHOICE IN CAR (which I adore my car. It's a 2012 Honda Civic, so I'm not driving a Corvette or anything, but it's comfy and in my price range and drives well).
I've been having relationship problems for...well, awhile. It comes in spurts. It's been going well the past week or so, but I just lost it on Friday night. My job drives me insane and I was literally about to lose it at work on Friday because one of my coworkers is so damn abrasive it isn't even funny. And when I lose it at work, I disappear to the bathroom for 10-15 minutes and bawl because I get so frustrated. Yes, that's what I do when I get mad, is go cry. And this whole past week, I've just been so miserable because I see what it is that I'm dying to be doing to a living and yet I'm stuck in a place that is SO horrible for me mentally. My friends...I have a few friends I work with, but I've lost touch with most of my friends I had in college. And I miss a lot of them. Some of them I was only friends with for 2 years, some of them I was friends with for longer. I miss going out with them and seeing them and sitting on the porch until 5am talking and listening to music. I started missing that life I had so much, and even typing this out I'm tearing up. I had such a solid group of friends and a neighborhood bar and just...such a better mindset 3-5 years ago. I'm sitting here, typing this out more for my benefit, realizing that part of the reason I have become so bitter is the toxic environment that I work in and some of the relationships I hold with people. I'll always be a snarky bitch, that's just in my personality, but the way I am right now...I hate it.

So...in the coming months, I have a lot of choices to make. I have a couple of things I'm working toward, work-wise, that I am excited about but I can't be sure of if/when they'll happen. I have to make decisions about my relationship. I have to decide if I really want to stay here or move somewhere else. I should probably make the choice to reconnect with at least some of the friends that I've lost over the past 3 years.

MIA but Returning Soon!

Yes, I'm fully aware I've been missing for 3 months.

I have a damn good excuse, that being school.

Yeah, I posted last in March. Yes, March y'all. Sorry. I had a crapton of finals and such, then I had to go out to classes for 3 weeks in April. Then, as soon as I got back (the last week of April), I started working/interning for 80 hours a week.

...No, no typo there. EIGHTY HOURS PER WEEK. I'm there from 6:45am until 11:15pm most days. Give or take a few minutes. Please mind you, I've also been working every other weekend, so I have two days per week that I'm only there for 8 hours. But I digress.

So, yes, I AM still alive and sort of kicking, given the circumstances.

This blog WILL be coming back, though it still won't be super frequent posting, simply because I don't have the mental energy to do it.

However, I'm currently scheduling 2 posts to be up within the next week or so. One of which will be published tomorrow because I need to get some crap out into cyberspace and I don't really have anyone to discuss it with in real life. Well, I do...but she has her own ish to be messing with/worrying about. And trust me, y'all aren't getting the full story because I don't know who's going to be reading this.

Anyhow. Today was my day completely off from work and internship, and I didn't get out of bed until I had been in bed for 12 hours and then I proceeded to watch YouTube videos, catch up on some blogs, watch Made of Honor/Keeping up with the Kardashians (which hello, how behind am I? Oh right, haven't had a chance to watch good trash in a few months...yes, first world problems right here), and eat.

Not going to lie. Working 16 hour days makes you lose weight. I'm not trying to scarf down food before work/on my way to work, oftentimes including Chick-fil-A or something worse...I'm maybe eating something light at 6:00 (or at 9:00, depending on how my stomach feels), then having a fairly light lunch, then a somewhat substantial dinner. I cut out my late-night-after-work eating, as well as my nearly-nightly beers. Plus, while stressing myself out, I've been giving myself GI problems. Yes, TMI, but when the food doesn't stay with you long, you can't absorb the calories. I've also been having issues from too much processed food...so uh...that's keeping me eating better.

Anyhow. Tomorrow (well, later today at this point) there will be another blog post up! Not quite as peppy as this one, but like I said...issues to get off my chest.

Why I've Been Missing / Spring Break

Wow. I am so GOOD at disappearing from the blogging world.

I don't mean it, I promise! I've just...well, before my previous entry last week, I had been out of town for a week and half a whirlwind of a few weeks before/after that in terms of school mess. Tests, quizzes, assignments, and just listening to lectures! Plus working 40 hours a week. Oy. There was one point where I was awake for 40 hours straight. Yes, being awake that long makes you feel drunk.

Thankfully, next week is spring break, and while I still have schoolwork due this week, my number of lectures is dwindling. The week after spring break, as well. I do have a few assignments I need to work on over spring break, but...eh, whatever. They'll get done. I've already started on one of them.

In the meantime, I'm planning on cleaning the bajeezus out of my living quarters. I'm not gonna lie, besides just needing to be organized BIG TIME, I also need to actually clean. It's by no means the dirtiest place I've been (nor is it the dirtiest I've allowed my apartment to become), but I haven't cleaned in...awhile. My main motivation on this is I just got 2 Scentsy warmers and 9 sets of wax and they smell DIVINE. However, I do need a clearer countertop for my large warmer that I got...so starting as soon as I finish this post, I'll be doing some cleaning and organizing before bed.

Yes, it's 1:45am and I'm going to be doing housework and homework. Don't judge me. I get home from work around 11:45pm. I don't normally get up until 10am or so, which doesn't leave tons of time to get stuff done.

Coming up later this week will be some new posts - I promise! What kind of posts do you want to see? Let me know in the comments!

e.l.f Shimmering Facial Whip - Review and How To!

Okay guys, I'm not gonna lie. I saw this on Pinterest and of course...once you pin something on there you know you can never find it again when you need it. However, in the description for the e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip, it essentially said to use it for your dark undereye circles. So, I figured, for a dollar, let's try this out. I got the "Lilac Petal" shade, which is a slightly pink shimmer.

None of these pictures were retouched/edited in any way. Hence, the fact that I look like I have lazy eyes, etc. The only thing on my face to start off with is lotion. Plain ol' CeraVe.

1. Completely bare face. Please note that I got literally NO sleep the night before I took these pictures.
2. The amount of facial whip I use per eye...very tiny amount. I'm not going to lie though...this stuff smells AMAZING. It smells like sugary goodness. I would probably wear a perfume scented like this. I only used this under one eye so you could see the difference between the two, since the lighting isn't the best.

3. All blended in and my under eye area looks like a disco ball!
4. But wait. I'm adding concealer on top! I added it to both eyes just so you can see the difference between using the facial whip under the concealer and not. The eye that I put the facial whip on under had the more severe dark circle underneath it, and it looks better than the eye with just the concealer. I obviously balance it out a bit more and have foundation and such to even out the redness on a normal day, but there IS a big difference just from this.

Final verdict? A+. You really can't beat a dollar, and I could find a use for this in highlighting my brow bone, cheeks, etc.

Want some more reviewing goodness from me? Check out my Nail Polish Review to prove that not everything is all peaches and roses when I review it :) I also edited it with my final verdict after getting some wearing, so check that out!

02/13

You know what tomorrow is...

Which brings up the question, what kind of Valentine's Day person are you?

I find there tends to be 4 categories.

I tend to be number 4...which type are you? Or are you some other category that I missed?

Nail Polish Review

Edited with a Final Verdict on 03/06/2013.

I'm probably not the BEST person to be doing a nail polish review, but eh, whatever.

Anyhow. I went to good ol' Wally World last night after I got off work to pick up some taquitos. Of course, I wandered into the nail polishes and found a brand I hadn't heard of. Apparently it's a Walmart exclusive (oh yeah, I know, getting fancy here!) called Salon Perfect. I picked up two bottles even though I'm only reviewing one of them today. I paid $3.48 per bottle, so it's definitely not the highest-priced polish out there.

This color is called Gone Sailing. Which, uh, doesn't quite fit. I'd call this a green teal or emerald. It actually is fairly close to the Pantone 2013 emerald color (see here)...so, if you're looking for something in that realm, well here you go.

I'm not going to lie, the formula is not the best on this. It dries to a matte/satin finish and actually is similar to the formula of the neons that I have. Meaning my first thin coat was pretty streaky and hard to mess with, but my second, thicker coat worked fairly well. I just put it on last night, so I'm not sure about the wearability of this, but it IS a beautiful color. I will be putting a glossy top coat on that will cancel out the matte finish on this.

I'll be reviewing the other color I got, a neon lime green, Loopy Lime, fairly soon.

Overall, I'm not sure I'll purchase these again - I will give them another try before I make a final ruling. I will say, on first impressions alone, that I'd rather spend my money on Sinful Colors for a slightly cheaper price but a better application.

Edited: After ONE day in my normal life of wearing this nail polish...I'm not going to lie, I was horrendously disappointed. Normally, I'll have a nail or two chip - at the most - in a shift at my job. I have to use my hands a LOT. This stuff...halfway through my 8 hour shift, every single nail was chipped. By the end of the shift, both of my entire index fingers were completely polish free. Not impressed at all.
Final Verdict? D- Unfortunately, I don't feel like I can ENTIRELY shun this nail polish simply because I LOVE the color. However, between the application and the longevity of the stuff, plus a god-awful chemical smell while painting my nails...I may use this on my toenails or for an accent nail/nail art. I will NOT be using it fully on my fingernails ever again. I still have yet to try the second color I bought from this brand...I'm kind of scared to.

ABCs of Me

I've been seeing this floating around the blog-o-sphere on some of my dailies, so I figured I'd do what the junior high girl in me wants to do and steal it for myself!



A - Age: I just turned 25 last month...eesh.
B - Bed size: Full. It's both horrible and lovely having 2 people sleep in it, lol.
C - Chore you hate: I HATE HATE HATE dishes. And while I don't hate laundry, I hate putting it away. Please see the stack of clean clothes that are folded but need to be hung chillin' in my closet.
D - Drink of choice: I'm usually drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper.
E - Essential start to your day item: Uh...I don't know. Because I don't work until 2:45, I get to start my days sans an alarm clock while rushing around trying to get my outfit together and makeup on. I get to wake up on my own terms. It's nice :)
F - Favorite color: Pink!
G - Gold or Silver: Silver.
H - Height: 5'4"
I - Instruments you play(ed): Clarinet. I also tried teaching myself piano. THAT didn't go so well.
J - Job: Lab assistant. I do everything from play secretary to ordering testing to pouring off blood, urine, and stool. Yes, there are lab tests that exist that require liquid stool that I get to pour off. Glamorous, really. 
K - Kids: They can be nice or absolute terrors. I don't have any currently though.
L - Living arrangements: I live in a 1-bedroom apartment by myself.
M - Mom's name: Elizabeth. 
N - Nicknames: Ash...well, that's about it from normal people. I have other people that call me everything from twin to little one or pretty girl. 
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Once in my junior year when I ODed on aspirin.
P - Pet Peeve: But I have so many! I think people just being purely lazy and passing the buck due to their laziness. Which oftentimes results in me fixing something. Or it just being flat wrong.
Q - Quote from a movie: Hmm...I don't have one? I'm boring, I'm sorry!
R - Right or left handed: Righty! Although there are some things I do ambidextrously. 
S - Siblings: 4 step-brothers.
T - Time you wake up: If I have an exam, I have to be up by 7. Other days, anywhere between 9 and noon. I don't even get home from work until 11:30, don't judge me! 
U- Underwear: Uh, what kind of question is this?
V - Vegetable you dislike: Brussels sprouts. I haven't had them since I was in elementary school, so I may actually like them now, but they still ick me out.
W - What makes you run late: I normally don't run late. If I do, it's because I need to stop and get something on my way to wherever I'm going, whether it's gas, food, or a gift. And I always wait until last minute to do it.
X - X-rays you've had: I've only had dental x-rays. 
Y - Yummy food you make: Cheesy quinoa cakes. I'm also pretty awesome at baking. I just don't do it very often because then I'm too tempted to eat it all! 
Z - Zoo favorite: Do dolphins count? If not, penguins.

Spring Cleaning!

Though it is just January, I got the spring cleaning bug on Friday. And when I say spring cleaning, I mean I move all the furniture and clean behind it, rearrange the furniture, sort through stuff and purge, organize, everything!

Of course, I didn't get far since I had to work on Friday and all weekend. So, of course, things are still in a half-done state. Which is rather annoying.
However, pictures will come after I've finished everything. Which might not be until my spring break in March when it's fully done. But, ya know.

Do you get the spring cleaning bug? How far do you take it?

Rock and a Hard Place

I'm definitely having a hard time with some things right now.

I hate for things on this blog to ever turn negative, but there are a few situations that have been bubbling up over the past few months. These situations are finally coming to a head.
I have the feeling my boyfriend would rather me not discuss one of them with anyone at all. The other, main one, has to do with my unhappiness at work. There are a few situations at work which are making me so unhappy and I haven't quite figured out what to do about them.
One has to do with various attitudes at work. There are two people in particular that have holier-than-thou attitudes, think they are better than everyone else (when in reality...neither of them are), and in general their personalities have started to grind my gears. Which is making me regress from being myself at work. There's another situation in regards to management which I won't really get into, and finally, there's the fact of my job itself.

I love what I do. I really do. But I also don't want to be stuck doing it forever, hence, why I'm busting my ass in school full-time while working full-time. I'm not sure I want to stay at my current job location, even in a different position, just due to the way I've been treated, my general attitude toward the place at this time, etc. This has been building for...probably close to a year. It waxes and wanes, but at one point I was so miserable at work that I was crying before I had to even get ready for work, because I didn't want to be there that badly. It's improved a bit since then, but it's still fairly dismal.
To compare...when I first started, I had voluntary overtime within my first two weeks, and about 6 months after I started, I was voluntarily there about 50 hours a week. And now I don't want to be there at all, even though I really do need the money.

So, I'm in a very odd place in my life right now. I'm trying to sort out various situations, and it's really wearing on my mental state. I will get some relief soon, I'm sure, with the situation that I didn't go into detail about, however the work situation, I'm afraid, will be lingering for at least the next few months, if not for the next year as I finish school.

A Source of Snark

Do you ever have those days where you just want to forget all social etiquette and start screaming at someone?

Well, today (uh, yesterday at this point) was one of those days. Not getting into full details, but when you have fully grown, fairly mentally stable adults acting like children for hours until you can get them to leave...that should be enough to drive anyone crazy. Then add on the fact that you practically need to babysit other people lest you fear for others' well-being while fielding phone calls from people that obviously have no clue what's going on...

I actually missed working in retail today. Even front-end customer service retail. You know, the kind where you have people arguing with you over a PENNY. ONE CENT. Yelling.

Everyone keeps telling me that I have a light at the end of the tunnel, but damn, the this tunnel feels like it's never going to end. I absolutely LOVE what I'm going to school for, but getting to the point of being done (December of this year, y'all!) is wearing on me. There's only a person or two that really gets it.

I wouldn't be nearly as snarky and plain mean some days if I didn't feel like my brain was wasting away at work. Yet we have people that...well, you'd think it was advanced rocket surgery or something. It also wouldn't be as bad if I got the recognition for my hard work and desire to learn...but seemingly, the slackers get rewarded while the people that actually have a clue are held back. Whether it's true or not, I can't say, but that's sure what it feels like.

What I do know is that I used to love my job. I would voluntarily work around 50 hours a week for the longest time. Now, it takes everything in me to not call in a lot of days.

TGIF

Yes, I'm like 95% (totally made-up stats y'all) of the population when I say I look forward to Fridays nearly EVERY week.

It's normally our slowest day of the workweek, leaving me with ample time to get work things done and not feel rushed, as well as leaving me with a few hours to get schoolwork done as well. Win/win, right?

I also normally get to begin my lazy weekends with my boyfriend, starting with our weekly Friday-night-at-11:30pm trips to Denny's as soon as I get off work.

Unfortunately, this weekend is not the case.

The pitfalls of working in a hospital is that they tend to be open 24/7. In most hospitals, this means the lab needs to be staffed on the weekends too. And, because we are currently shorter staffed than a sewage plant, I'm pretty much on the working-every-other-weekend rotation. Because also factoring into this is the people that we can't seem to get rid of that suck at their job, and thus can't be TRUSTED to work a weekend.

Ah, the inequalities. Being good at something means you get crap pay and you have to work more weekends.

Anyhow. Boyfriend has to work too. The shift before me. So we don't get a chance to see each other at all this weekend. (No, we don't live together and we only typically see each other on the weekends.)

Thankfully, our days off coincided enough to have yesterday off together and then Monday, our anniversary, we both have the day off as well.

So, while I am happy that it's Friday, it's also a bit bittersweet. Oh well. Maybe I'll get some blog posts written up for you guys while I have some time to myself.

How is your Friday going?

Facts of Me

So, I'm linking up with Whitney's The Facts of Me and listing 20 fun-filled, sometimes little known facts about me. Ready?

-I normally only wash my hair once a week. I am a fan of dry shampoo and it isn't as gross as it sounds. Most people can't tell.
-I prefer getting my drinks, except soda and most alcoholic beverages, without ice. You get more bang for your buck without ice, plus I don't want my stuff getting watered down!
-I'm naturally a very cold person. I actually LIKE 90 degree weather.
-I'm slightly OCD with various things. I know many people are like that. Mine tend to involve cleanliness. Yes, this contradicts fun fact número uno. Deal.
-I can't keep a pair of pearl stud earrings intact. I have 2 pairs that only have 1 pearl total still attached to the back. I need to rectify this.
-Throughout high school, I only listened to alternative rock. Much of it was 5-10 years old when I was listening to it. Leaving me with no frame of reference as to when it was released.
-Tinkerbell is my go-to favorite Disney character.
-I have 10 active piercings and 1 microdermal anchor. Most people don't realize this as I only have jewelry in about half of them at any given time.
-Even though I wear scrubs to work every day, I would still love the opportunity to dress up with heels, skirts, etc every once in awhile at work. It's not feasible :(
-I can't parallel park. Thank God I don't have the need to.
-I hate unpainted toenails on females.
-I don't particularly like feet in general. They gross me out.
-I was blessed with great eyebrows. They basically require no maintenance and have no holes or unibrow tendencies.
-My humidifier is in the shape of a penguin. Yes, I'm still 3 years old sometimes.
-I have a slight obsessions with ducks and penguins. And goats. I have no idea why. They aren't even my favorite animals.
-I have never broken a bone or had major surgery in my life. The only surgery I've had was wisdom tooth extraction.
-On a similar note, I've never had a cavity or had to have braces.
-I have an extremely high pain tolerance, which scares me sometimes.
-I almost got a minor in humanities. I could probably go back and get it, but really, what's the point?
-I really dislike talking on the phone. I have only a few people I'm okay with talking to. And if your number isn't saved in my contacts list, forget me answering your call.

Insulted/Offended?

Have you ever been so insulted/offended by someone downplaying your abilities/skills/intelligence that you were shaking and -literally- seeing red?

This happened to me yesterday. While I'm not going to get into details here (I do have a LITTLE bit of class!), I have to say that I have NEVER felt so insulted in my lifetime, and it was a combination of 4 people that accomplished this, one in particular. While the one in particular does not know me well, it's partially that fact that I felt so offended by his comments and general attitude toward the situation.

While I feel like I handled the situation as best as I could - sitting there and taking it at the time, letting myself cool down for over 24 hours, then writing a simple email to the principal party involved - I would have loved to go take my frustrations out in the gym. Of course, I also would have liked to shout obscenities at various people, but once again, I do have SOME class.

I know I'm being horrendously vague, but I don't want someone from my real life to come across this.

If you have been in a situation like this before, what did you do?

Thursday Night + Insomnia Thoughts

So, in lieu of posting about this on...oh, I don't know, the night it happened. Or yesterday, since I needed to link up with miss Brandi for the What's In My "Makeup Bag" post.

Anyhow. My birthday is tomorrow, the 13th. And I have to work all weekend. So, I had a day off Thursday. J came over after he got off work, and took me out to dinner (amongst us doing other things). It was honest to God one of the best times we've had in a long time. We went to an upscale restaurant (for Oklahoma anyway) and enjoyed our food and then just had an amazing time. I don't know what has happened over the past month or so, but it's fixed so much about our relationship. And I can't help but be so happy and excited about it. I'm not sure if it's the fact I just didn't have classes for the past month so I didn't have that heavy stress bearing on me or what, but I don't want it to ever change.

However, my insomnia was raging. He has to get up for work around 2:30am, so we tried to go to bed around 8. I fell asleep around 9, woke up no less than 4 times throughout the night, and then not long before his alarm went off, I woke up. And proceeded to not go back to sleep. It's so frustrating not being able to sleep. I mean, I feel fairly well rested for the most part, like I'm not just absolutely dragging, but considering most days I'm not going to sleep until a lot of people are getting up for the day...it's frustrating. I guess it gives me more time to do my schoolwork though. I just wish I could figure out what was wrong with me and a way to fix it.

What's In My "Makeup Bag"

Obviously, looking at these pictures, you can tell that this isn't what's SOLELY in my makeup bag. However, this is the stuff I use on a fairly regular basis, much of it is what I bring while traveling and it fits into one little bag for size purposes, but I've expanded a bit recently. I also have other makeup in another case in another room that has stuff I don't use routinely.

I'm linking up with Cupcakes and Curves for this one, so go see her post over here when you're done here :)

So, onto the explanations!

This is my samples bag from Sephora that I'm slowly working my way through (various skincare samples along with 5 perfumes) on the left.
On the right is my travel makeup bag. Hence, why it's beat up. And, quite frankly, pretty ugly. LOL, it used to be cuter, and my lipgloss bag in my purse is basically a disco ball, but this really doesn't see the light of day except when going somewhere overnight.

Skin prep! I use either CeraVe or Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisture (I have another bottle with SPF floating around somewhere as well) every day under everything. Even when wearing my Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream; lately I've been using up samples from Sephora though, so I haven't been using my BB Cream lately. I use 3 different concealers from Physicians Formula on a daily basis...the small one on the bottom left I often will use as a primer for eyeshadow, the navy blue Gentle Concealer stick in the middle for red spots, and the larger white Powder Finish Concealer stick on the right for undereye circles. I either set with Rimmel Stay Matte powder (upper right) or Physicians Formula Bamboo Wear pressed powder (which all the stores here quit carrying so I'm just using the last of it) on the right. And finally, some days, I'll use my Rimmel Natural Bronzer to give myself a glow...I use that more often in the summer though.

Brushes and eyeliner! Yes, I got the Hello Kitty brush set from Sephora, and yes, I like it. Haha. I also have some random kabuki and various other eyeshadow/etc brushes pictured right below Hello Kitty. My eyeliners that I use for my waterline are below the brushes: Maybelline Unstoppable in Onyx, L'Oreal Le Kohl Pencil in Onyx, and Maybelline ExpertWear in Ebony Black. It depends on the day and the look I'm going for as to which I use. Finally, my E.l.f. Studio Cream Eyeliner in Black is at the bottom.

Ah yes, eyeshadows. I have the Disney Cinderella Storylook palette from Sephora (LOVE it!), the MAC 2007 Holiday Curiositease warm pigments (used to use these daily until getting my Cinderella palette), and my 3 go-to highlight MAC pigments - Vanilla, Jardin Aires, and Provence.






And finally, my miscellaneous crap. My mascaras - Maybelline Waterproof Falsies in Very Black and Maybelline LashBlast in Waterproof and non-Waterproof in Very Black and Black. I have an EOS Smooth Sphere in Summer Fruit, and then bobby pins and hair ties :)

Insomnia is SO NEAT you guys!

Please read the title of this post with the largest amount of sarcasm you can bear, then add about 3 more units of measurement of sarcasm on top. That title is DRIPPING in snark.

I have not been to sleep before 3am since oh...about 2 weeks ago. Some days I've had to get up at 8am. Other days I haven't gone to sleep until 8am. I don't know what my deal is but I'm ready to tear my hair out. And of course, I'm not really horribly productive at the hour of four am, because I live in an apartment complex. I can't exactly start vacuuming or rearranging furniture at 4am. Well, I could, but I'm not THAT big of an ass.

And of course, I apparently think I'm too good to do schoolwork at 3am to try to get ahead, since classes don't technically start until (tomorrow) Thursday. I did already print off my forest's worth of notes - I'm only slightly exaggerating. One class had I think 350 pages of notes? The other three classes I think averaged somewhere around 150 pages. I DID print them all double sided, so cut all of those numbers in half. But still. I put all of it in binders, but I still need to put all my tabs in. Last semester I decided to make my own tabs, which is fun and cute but also kind of a pain in the neck. I got the super awesome pack of construction paper that has prints and glitter along with non-primary colors and I cut it down to size and added those stick-on tabs. Alllllll color-coordinated and I tried to make patterns "match" the subject material...like for body fluids I had wavy lines.

Geesh, I ramble a lot.

Which brings me to the point of this post. I'm trying to find blog linkups, especially ones that will have a topic on a specific day of the week (or a weekly topic, I'm not picky) so that I AVOID having posts like this that make people question my sanity/sobriety/etc. If you know of any, PLEASE SEND ME THAT DIRECTION. The daily topics, I'm talking like Wordless Wednesday, Meal Plan Monday, those open letters on Fridays, etc.

Thanks y'all!

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Today was honestly the most stressful and busiest day at work I've had in the lab ever. And I've worked there 2 1/2 years.

I came in to mountains of stuff, and when outpatient services are normally finish by 7 or 7:30...we got done after NINE. And that didn't include everything that went along with it. I had the feeling that I was just treading water for the entire first 6 hours of my shift. It made things go by extremely fast, but holy crap, were we busy.


I finally got access to all of my classes for school. I'm super excited about that, even though I'm not really looking forward to this semester...Molecular Diagnostics, Chemistry, Microbiology, and Blood Bank. I'm kind of excited about Blood Bank, as the bf thinks I'll enjoy it because it's like a huge puzzle. Who knows, I might. However, in our lab we sort of outsource our molecular stuff (I enter in results for it all the time, but I don't run the tests) and chemistry just bores the crap out of me. So, we'll see.

I also got part of my order from Victoria's Secret today, yay :) I accidentally ended up getting a matching set, lol. Go figure. I pulled them out of the bag and was like "Oh, hey. I don't have any patterned stuff that ACTUALLY MATCHES, so here we go". I also stopped by Walmart after work to get new nail polish, new headphones, and some binders. I tried printing off all my notes for class and ended up getting a quarter of the way through Microbiology lecture plus all of Chemistry lecture. I already had Blood Bank lecture and lab printed off, but it's going to be like a damn tree getting all of this printed. Retail therapy FTW though. I'll be making my own tabs for my notes again, color and pattern coordinated. And once I figure out what I want to do with my nails for my birthday week, I'll do them as well.


I did have the worse insomnia and anxiety last night. I wish I knew what my problem is. I went to lay down with J at 2am (he has to get up between 2 and 3 for work) and just started BAWLING. The kind of bawling where you're taking the weird little gasps for air and you're getting snot all over the place. And I ended up not falling asleep until 8am. So, uh. I got about 3 hours of sleep. Go me. I don't know if I'm anxious about school or work or what. Friday night I had a work-related nightmare in which I was actually, in real life, awake and J was trying to calm me down and I wouldn't have it...I was still halfway stuck in the dream. I remember it all, too.

The Disappointing Weekend

Gosh. I've gotten my days and nights all messed up again. Just in time for school to start again. Convenient, no?

This weekend was, unfortunately, rather disappointing. One of my close coworkers had her last day on Friday, and thus she decided her "outside of work" going away party would be Saturday evening at a restaurant/bar. I'll admit, I slept in a little late; I was finally able to sleep on Friday night, so I took advantage of it. And apparently I should have gotten up earlier. J also slept in...until 5pm. Well, we got up for a few hours and napped.
Anyhow. The party started at 7, we didn't get there until about 7:45. It was extremely awkward for me. There were a total of 10 of us there, and I didn't know any of them terribly well except my coworker and J. We were at a long table and of course I was at the opposite end of the table as my coworker. The other people there...3 of them we also worked with, but I'm on a different shift and not horribly comfortable with 2 of them. Then there were guests that had been brought which I didn't know at all. It was actually rather miserable for me.

This is why I hate going to social events with people I'm not super close with. I always feel awkward and wish I could be somewhere else. And I get extremely irritable. So, I just continued drinking. For two hours.
After that, 6 of them decided to go to a hookah bar and the other 2 decided to go home. I didn't want to be in the awkward situation anymore and didn't want to spend the money, so we also decided to go home. In which J and I stayed up until about 2, intended to do things today.

I couldn't wake up until 3. I was in a horrible fog. This is what I get for taking sleeping pills, I suppose. And J didn't want to do anything, like take back the clothes we got him that didn't fit. He managed to sleep all day, and I fell asleep again for an hour around 6pm. I feel like such a lazy slob.
And I also hate feeling like I'm wasting weekends like this. This is my last real weekend off until May, and that's horribly disappointing. All the rest of the weekends until then will be absorbed by school and/or me working. Or both. My classes officially start on Thursday, but I've already listened to one lecture and I'll be listening to more as they become available. I work next weekend, but for the weekend after, I'd like to be ahead enough in my schoolwork that my birthday (the 13th, which I'm working) can actually be celebrated and I can really spend time with J.

I'm just really disappointed right now and I'm not entirely sure what's wrong with me.

Digital Thermostats

Not gonna lie. This is my first tipsy post here on Health and Snark. Probably not going to be my last. Also, I'm not a lush and I'm writing this at 1am, not 10am. Promise.

And I'm keepin' it classy with apple pie moonshine in a redneck wineglass. Yum. If you haven't tried it...well, you should.

I'm also COMPLETELY obsessed with the ring that my boyfriend got me (uh, that I picked out). It came with a necklace too, but the ring is what I was after. Isn't it pretty? It's opal with diamond accents in white gold. <3

This post is going to turn into a ramble, I believe.

Which brings me to my next point. My neighbors are RIDICULOUS. Their (probably) 2 year old, I kid you not, is up screaming every.single.night between 1 and 1:30am. I don't think this kid has any kind of schedule...or rather, the parents continually wake the kid up with their loud video games and their parties. I honestly feel bad for this kid, but I also just want to go over there and yell at them all to shut up. And when I say this kid is screaming, I can hear, through the paper thin walls, that the parents are doing nothing to try to comfort their child. They just let him scream his little head off. Which...cry it out method. Cool. Whatever. But don't do that shit at 1am when you're in an apartment complex and your neighbors may or may not be trying to get some shut eye. Or trying to do school work. Or just, quite frankly, are sick of hearing a toddler screaming.

Ahh, apartment life.

Which, speaking of. My heater had been having issues for...geez...probably since last winter. I thought I probably wouldn't be living here this winter (bad thought, obviously), so I just kind of ignored it. When we got to the days where it wasn't getting above 40 outside and it was 60 inside...well, I talked to the apartment manager. This was about 3 weeks ago. I figured they had already "fixed" it, as apartment complexes are notorious to do, but a maintenance guy stopped by on Monday and fixed it. And installed a digital thermostat. Guys, I'm living in near-Stone Age apartments here.

And I'm excited over a damn digital thermostat.

Imagine what I'll be like when I have my own home, with a dishwasher (nope, I'm living without one here), a garbage disposal (I said near-Stone Age!), and I can paint and decorate to my heart's content. And all without having to hear someone else's child screaming!

It's going to be insane y'all.

This random post brought to you by alcohol :)

Links

Gotta put this out there, as I'm currently setting up shop here...

Would anyone like to be linked in the sidebar? I'll be adding my daily favorites, of course, but if you'd like to see yourself up there, leave me a comment :)

Obligatory

Ah, of course. The obligatory New Year's post. I'm sitting here watching the Orange Bowl while my boyfriend is trying to go to sleep...over my yelling and clapping. And he wants the Cinderella team to win, so I'm even more obnoxious because I'm pulling for FSU.

Yeah, well. I don't have a "2012 in Review" to post...the main thing of substance I remember from the year is getting accepted to lab school, and completing my first semester with a 3.9 GPA. I'm sure some other things happened...many of them disappointing, but whatever. 2013 is a new year.

So, let's start with the resolutions that we all know I'll fail at at least SOME of them.

-Make my relationship better with my boyfriend. We've been fighting a LOT, especially since I started school, and some things I've not so proud of have gone down. I'd like to fix it. I'm tired of being in this limbo state, and these last few days have done wonders for our relationship...we spent this weekend, Monday, and today together.
-Get back on track with my health. This includes both my eating and working out.
-Have another amazing semester of classes at school. My clinicals shouldn't be a problem, but this upcoming semester has all kinds of potential to be problematic. I'm aiming for a 4.0, just because that's what I aimed for this semester and I can't really do any better than that, now can I? ;)
-Get work settled. I'll be done with school in mid-December, and I'd either like to be working as a tech at my current hospital by then, or have a job lined up outside of my current hospital if they aren't willing to work with me as much as I'd like.
-Get my blog on! I'd love to get something good going on with this blog, whether it morphs entirely into a lifestyle blog or continues to focus a lot on health and healthcare.

I think 5 is a good number to have. And I don't really feel like it's acceptable for me to fail at any of them. It's stuff I was planning on working on anyhow, it's just out there now. Heh.

Glitter Gradient Nails Tutorial

When I tried doing a glitter gradient for the first time, I failed pretty miserably and couldn't find a tutorial for how to make it look decent to save my life. I finally figured out a version, and thought I'd share, complete with crappy quality iPhone pictures :)


First of all, prep your nails. Get your old chipped nail polish off. Don't spill acetone all over the place like I did (uh, multiple times. I don't know what my deal was). Trim them if you need to, though I love how this looks on long nails at the tips. Then buff the crap out of them. That makes my polish last at least 5x as long, and I'm rough on my hands at work.

You'll probably want to add a base coat, if you're into that. Once again, anything to make my stuff last longer than half an hour without a chip, I'll do it.

Then I did 2 coats of my base color, Snow Me White from Sinful Colors. 1 thick coat probably would have been enough, but in the small picture on the left, you can see what two coats look like. It's fully opaque and I'm actually really impressed with it. If you don't know about Sinful colors...you should. It's normally between $0.99 - $1.99 and I'll get it from Walgreens or Target.


Let this dry extremely well. I took a nap, to be honest. A long one. And a shower.

Then I used Gone Gonzo from OPI to make a single dot on the tip of each nail. I let a full drop of polish drip off the brush onto my nail, wiped most of the excess off onto the lip of the bottle, then spread it along the edge of the nail, about halfway up or so.

Again, let this dry VERY well before you start the next step.

Your final step with colored polish is to take your glitter polish again and line along the bottom of your nails, almost like you're doing a French manicure on top of the glitter that's already there. Use the remaining polish on your nails to dab glitter up above the top of halfway point on your nails where you spread the polish from the previous step. If you feel like you need to add a bit extra polish, feel free.

Finally, you will once again let this dry VERY well, then add your top coat to protect it and make it smooth so you aren't snagging everything under the sun on your glitter.