soooo pretty!

I just got lashes extensions! Thanks, Aich, for the lovely Birthday present! Putting make up on in the morning will be a breeze! Yay!

I will post pictures later, when I have time.

gold and black

News Flash: A man was stabbed on the platform of Kinshicho station yesterday!! 

So not cool, considering the fact that it's my station that I use! Somehow, the whole thing put me under the weather and I couldn't concentrate on my nail art or anything for that matter! I ended up accomplishing little, helping myself with some retail therapy, and ended the night with a (half)  bottle of red wine, and an episode of 'The Following'.

But here are some of the results of last night's practice.

You know about nail stickers right? Just stick 'em on, and they look fantastic! I used to be obsessed with those until I bought myself a paint brush and some paint!

yum

Fantastic discovery: There's a Bubba Gump and a HUB near my school!!! 

***

So, I've stopped going out to drink. That's a lie. I still go out for drinks, but significantly less than before. But that doesn't mean I don't drink at home! I allow myself to indulge in alcohol and junk food 1-2 times a week, and naturally, those days fall on the weekend when I don't have to worry about work the next day.

So, the Kaldi in my station was sampling some Australian red wine which I had sip of, naturally, and I liked what I tasted a lot. No thinking, I grabbed myself a bottle, and enjoyed it with some blue-cheese-look-alike ...cheese, some crackers, and some of the chocolate cake my sister sent me for Valentine's Day! 

I finished every drop of the 750ml bottle of wine, and got myself happily drunk. I felt great, sent a text to somebody I wouldn't have if I were sober, had a fun conversation with a friend, fell asleep in my dress, and committed the terrible crime of not washing off my make-up!! My skin paid the consequences. Stupid.

Yeah, it's called living. 

 

weekend art

Gold and brown nail polish art

 Nail art with paint

work, school, wine, cell phone

After work, I headed for my school which is just a few stations away, but thanks to a 'jinshinjiko', the trains were delayed. I was tired, it was almost 9:00, it was freezing cold, and my shoulders hurt from all the slouching and the shivering I do, so I REALLY wanted to just cancel my lesson and head back home, have a glass of wine and watch Life of Pi (again) or something. But I didn't!! Extra points for me!

I got to school just 10 minutes late, and I learned how to paint nails with pearl nail polish. All you ladies out there know how difficult it is to paint your nails with pearl nail polish and make it look even. Yeah. So, I spent two hours trying to get that 'even look', and it was quite the annoying thing! Argh!! While hunched over my table, painting and painting, my teacher and I had a chat about me and my family. Yes, my family is really big. Yes, we all speak English. Yes, we're all from Mom. Yes, my eldest brother has 4 kids. No, I don't want twelve kids myself.

On my way out, I helped out some of the salon workers who were struggling with a British customer who was on vaca in Japan. I translated and chit-chatted with the customer, and problem was solved. The salon workers were just staring at me with this, 'annta wa nanimono desuka? Maji sugo!!' look on their faces. It was the first time EVER for someone to liken me to a god.

I got home past mid-night, and had some wine with my sister. I then woke up a friend with one of those annoying, 'I'm calling cuz I wanted to talk to you, see how you are, you know... yeah, I know, it's way past mid-night....blah blah blah' phone calls.

I slept at around 3:00 am.

Why am I so tired today? Argh!

Pink Marble

Totally different working on someone else's hands from just working on your own or on practice nails!

But gave it a go anyway. 

Blue marble

I read something very basic, but eye-opening all the same, on an accomplished Japanese nail technician's blog yesterday. The post read that great skill doesn't just 'happen' over night, and that practice is the #1 key to improvement. She noted that some of her housewife students simply can't afford to put in the time because of their busy schedules, and that their progress is slower than the other students who make it a point to practice often. The nail technician encourages at least (shit!) 3 hours of practice everyday! Wow! Of course, that doesn't include time spent at nail school where you're learning new techniques.

My first thought was, 'Great! With a full time job, going to beauty-school and the exercise, how am I suppose to find additional 3 hours everyday in my packed schedule for practice?' But hey, we make time for what's important.

So I decided to cut my exercise and sleep time short, and put in more hours to brush up on my nail art.

After coming home from a day of English teaching and exercise, I pulled out my tools and practiced my marble art with these lovely colors while watching 'Crazy Stupid Love'!

Ryan Gosling, you are very, VERY sexy! x

balancing act

So, I get paid late. But since I ALWAYS get paid late, the consistency of the problem makes it not a problem. My pay checks are spaced roughly a month apart and it works. But I DO get a little edgy when my pay check is even later than that! That with a loan to pay off, and trip to Thailand to save up for, it's understandable that 'late' is not good. So when I finally get paid--which so happened to be today-- I feel like celebrating! It's like I've been holding my breath until now, counting every yen I use and don't use, and I can finally breath!

And what better way to celebrate than to shop at ZARA? *guilty smile*

And yes, I shopped at ZARA. I didn't need anything I purchased, but I wanted them all enough to make up for the lack of necessity... .. . ?

I might post pictures if I find a window of time between time spent on personal health, going to work, working, going to school, studying, personal life, and sleeping, and cleaning. Not very promising, those pictures appearing on this blog.

I have been keeping myself very busy these days and as a result have been finding it hard to keep a balance between work, school, me-time, and Boris time. But I have decided to KEEP my membership at Tipness. All things into consideration, I think it would be best for everything. I noted last week that if I skimp too much on me-time, I become a bit of a cranky bitch. I become snappy, mentally stretched, drained of enthusiasm, and generally unattractive. I made an impromptu decision to cancel school and drink some red wine at home instead. This ended up to be a very good idea, as I instantly felt the difference in my attitude, and of course I felt more accomplished at work the next day. Don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I even lost a whole killo! (<-- probably has nothing to do with it.)

Anyway, that's what I'm struggling with: BALANCE! And of course, my ZARA addiction.

I'm going to be working on these two issues throughout this 2013.