Starting 2016 off right

We definitely kicked off 2016 with a fun filled weekend! Once again, we hosted friends at our house for NYE. We have space to put up Kathy, Beth and their families (and have some other friends join us through midnight), and it's definitely nice to not have to go anywhere! This year I went a little more into the party planning than in previous years, getting some decorations, party hats and leis, and of course having a very well stocked bar :)

We had not one, but TWO babies at our house for NYE (both within a couple of weeks of each other) - and both went to sleep pretty easily! But before that, we had them playing together. Look how cute!

Then, it turns out, I took absolutely zero photos during the actual party. We had a great time after putting the kids to bed - games (including a new card game version of "Never have I Ever" that was a blast!), hanging out, eating, and of course watching the ball drop. An excellent night with friends!

The next morning was time for yummy breakfast (thanks Evan!), and playtime. Henry received a set of Star Wars playing cards for Christmas, and they've been a big hit ever since. Ellie and Henry have gotten better and better at playing together, and the two of them playing Go Fish with these cards was too cute!

Natalie loves having babies around, and was very excited to play some with Rosie. Stella had to get in on the fun too! Too cute.

Definitely a favorite photo :)

On Saturday, it was really gorgeous out, so we thought we'd go have some fun outside. I really wanted to go for a walk, so we took the kids over to Ida Lee and let them play on the playground while Evan and I walked all around. It's great that the paths are set out such that we could walk a pretty good way, circling around periodically, and still be in sight of the playground. The kids did a great job playing together too!

And of course, family selfie at the park <3 p="">

Then, we had a sitter that night so that Evan and I could attend a gala event for the new Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. So much fun to get all dressed up!! We didn't stay at the event too long after dinner was over, instead choosing to go get a drink at a bar just the two of us. A good choice, I think.

 

I took a couple of selfies, cause I felt pretty darn good about myself, and I think this one was my favorite.

I also have to highlight my nails, because I did them specifically to match my dress!The fingernails were absolutely perfect with the dress, and the purple in my toes complimented pretty well too. Evan loved it, and they made me feel extra sexy - just what I was going for! Definitely a good way to start off 2016 :)

 

Holiday Jamicures

One of the really fun things about Jamberry nail wraps are all of the "special occasion" ones that they release. I ended my last Jamberry post with my Halloween nails, but of course that wasn't the end of the fun ones that I had. For the holiday season, there were fall/Thanksgiving wraps, as well as holiday/Christmas wraps. I ordered my favorite, and then had to decide when to wear them!

First up: the month of November. I had a "pedi pack" (the two largest wraps on a sheet), that can easily be cut up to do your toes. I ended up mixing this leopard print with gold nail polish - and loved it!! Unfortunately, when I wore boots for the first time, I screwed up the big toe (you can see on my left foot that my toenail curves up a bit at the end), so I had to take this off after just a few days. I liked it so much that I traded for more gilded leopard so I can do this one again!

My new manicure, after the Halloween one, was for Evan. Custom made Macbeth tartan wraps for Election Day!

Then it was time for my first of 3 fall/Thanksgiving wraps. I love how these "satin" wraps look on my nails! Look how shiny.

 

Then, it was time to get away from fall nails for a while, because Evan and I went on vacation! We headed to Universal Studios for 3 days, just the two of us, and I had to do something fun. I decided on this stained glass pattern on my toes.

 And I had special ordered custom Harry Potter wraps for my nails! I loved wearing these there, not the least because at least 3 employees of the park noticed them and commented. Yay!

 Then, it was Thanksgiving. Time to find some new wraps! I decided on this one because of the colors and the bit of sparkle. Unfortunately, I did kind of a crappy job of applying it so it only lasted about 3 days, but at least it made it through Thanksgiving day.

 I even did my mom's nails after Thanksgiving! She didn't want all of them with Jamberry, so I painted them all this pretty pink color, and put the clear white pattern wrap over two as accents. Very pretty!

To replace the one that failed on me, I did one last "fall" wrap. This was a solid color (dark brown with a bit of sparkle), with a clear leaf overlay as accents. This one held up MUCH better (lasted over a week!), and got me through into December.

 First full week of December meant that it was time for Christmas holiday themed wraps! I had a ton of red wraps on deck for Christmas, so it was just a question of which ones to wear when, and switched them out each week. I chose this pattern first.

Followed by this one (which was the first one I used my Tru Shine gel kit with - the UV gel liquid really keeps the jams on!!).

Finally, Christmas week - Santa suits!

 I bought matching Santa wraps for the kids for Christmas. Natalie wanted to wear them, although Henry didn't, so Natalie and I were able to match for the holiday.

Oh, and we can't forget my Christmas toes, that I had for most of the month! Love how these came out.

Finally, after Christmas, it was time to get away from red. After wearing red on my nails for 3 weeks, I wanted something different! I had so many sparkly options for New Year's that it was hard to choose, but ultimately I went with this one.

Since then, I've continued to put on new ones about once a week. With all of the trading I've done (and, yes, ones I've purchased), I have so many options that I just have to put new ones on! Today is 7 days since my last one, but I'm not feeling up to it tonight, so I guess this one will last a bit longer. Since I have a work trip on Thurs-Friday, I definitely have to get new ones before then!

My latest Jamberry applications!

Ok, I've been prepping this post for a while, and it keeps getting longer since I keep doing new jamberry applications, so I think it's time to finally get it up here. I think this post runs me from about mid-May through end of October (this week!) - so many pretty nail options! And of course I'll have more to show for the holiday season...

Anyway, here are a couple that I did in May/June. The left was a favorite: the striped wrap is actually clear and pink, and I put it over a silver nail polish. The left was also a clear wrap (silver pattern on clear), that I put over a green nail polish for my conference in June.

Another favorite: mermaid toes! I did these for our beach vacation in July and absolutely loved it. Can't wait to put them on again next summer!

Here are a couple of girly/floral applications I did. The one on the right I ended up NOT liking, and was able to trade away the rest of the wrap for something that I like a lot more.

This was another favorite: a double wrap! I had seen tutorials online about layering wraps, and thought I'd give it a try. I put on the purple solid wrap, and then the clear/white over top. It turned out SO GREAT! The pic on the left was when I applied it, and on the right was about 9 days later. Held up so well! I've got another double wrap below, as I liked this one so much.

Then it was time to finally put on some butterflies! I thought that a full hand of butterflies was too much (although I changed my mind on that below), so I added it with the "lotus" flowers. So pretty!

 

The next application was both toes and hands. I liked both of these! The nails turned out better than I thought too - again, an animal/flower combination.

 

I then had some difficulty choosing my next application, and decided to finally put on this one that I'd had for a while but had never used. Since I didn't have any specific applications to do, this one worked for a week or so.

Then, I received my order from the latest catalog, and I put on the one I was SOOOO excited for - Butterfly Bliss! This looked gorgeous in the catalog, and it came out on my nails even better than I could have hoped. This one lasted a good almost 10 days (which for me is a long time!), and I could not stop looking at my nails. So pretty!!

I even did butterfly toes to match! This was an older wrap that I hadn't used yet either. Loved my butterflies!

Then, in late September, I headed to Arizona and threw on these black/clear wraps over 3 colors of nail polish. I was going for a southwest/Aztec vibe (the wrap is called "Lost Ruins"), and I think it worked! I also had blue on my toes to match the blue on m fingers. Not something I would normally apply, but it worked for Arizona!

Now, the second double wrap application. As I mentioned above, I had traded away one of the wraps I didn't like. My friends told me about a jamberry trade group on Facebook, which I joined. I've since done DOZENS of trades (I'm slowly breaking myself of my addiction). I had joined three additional jamberry design/trade groups, and I've spent way too much time thinking about this. Pro: I've traded away everything now that I didn't really want, and gotten some awesome things in trade...like this one! The top wrap (colors) is actually a tinted clear (with the leaf pattern on it); I put it over a silver sparkle wrap, and it looked AMAZING together. So, thanks to the woman I traded with for making this happen!

Then, in early October, I put on the foxes that I traded a friend for half of. This means i only have 4 wraps left, but that should get me a pedicure out of it, and maybe a couple of accents with another wrap, so that's ok! The kids still have a lot left too. I say kids, because Henry finally wanted to wear some jams too!

He wasn't totally sure about it (and I wasn't too sure that he'd keep them on), so we just did 3 on him as a trial. Luckily, he loved them and they lasted almost 3 weeks!

 

Then, in mid-October, it was time for some Noldus nails for our big Society for Neuroscience conference. We wore both green and purple this year, so I put that polish under a black/clear wrap. Not something I would do for any other reason than a conference, but they were fun for a week!

 Now we come to our current wraps....kids first! I traded a friend for a half sheet of the kids' monster jamberry wrap, and they are too cute! Henry liked his foxes so much that he wanted a full hand of monsters. Look how great these are on both of them!

Now, my Halloween application. I purchased one of these (black with spiders - Itsy Bitsy), and traded for the other (Eerie Nights). I thought that a whole hand of just one of these wraps might be too much (or not enough, depending), so I mixed them together, and LOVE how it looks. The matte finish of the spiders with the satin shine if the graveyard is so cool together. And it looks so great! Will definitely last through Halloween this weekend.

 I even did Halloween toes! I put the spider wrap on my big toe and painted the rest of them black. I realized that I went 35 years of my life without having ever put on black polish - guess I made it through my teen years relatively happy!