22.2.09

Heimlich & Stevo









I figured that I would post some snake pictures today. ^^


All of these, save the red one--is Heimlich.
The red one is Stevo.


Heimlich's a sweetheart. Isn't he so pretty--I love that pink in him!

Stevo refuses to, he insists on running away into my sleeves.
Love,
D.B.

15.2.09

Solar Power, because it's /so/ sunny outside.


Thursday morning I left.
Saturday evening I came back.The TMEA convention is, as a family friend puts it, "old hat to you, right?" I think my CMT is not favouring the convention, because over the past few years it has been getting progressively worse to walk about to and from the clinics and up and down the out-of-order escalators, and to and from the shuttle bus, whose driver persists on parking at the far end of the parking lot rather than simply the middle. At times I felt perhaps that cars did not exist, or perhaps we were too poor to buy one, when we walked from our really quite nice hotel (we always stay at motels, a Holiday Inn was a nice treat) to dinner and back in the dark. I woke up early in the morning, and found myself falling asleep with boredom by nine or eight-thirty. My dad enjoys the nice conducting clinics and such; I enjoy the booths. I enjoy walking past the fundraising booths such as Little Caesars and lollipops, who insist on offering us free samples, and at a certain extent now know our name because we go by perhaps every fifteen or thirty minutes wanting another slice of their delicious garlic bread or cookies. There are instruments everywhere, people playing them constantly. Trumpets play as loud and as high as they can to make a statement, but saxophones will play the most insanely difficult thing to do. Normally I'll play a few bassoons, and the small bassoon I fell in love with (it's a soprano, I believe just an octave above the regular one, and absolutely adorable!), but I left all my reeds at school and did not wish to spend that crisp twenty dollar bill my parents let me have for the convention be spoiled on a seventeen dollar reed. There's lots of technology, marching band attire, concert band attire, sound systems, practically anything and everything, even things you put on braces to make it easier to play a horn with. However, this year they were overcome with touring places, DisneyWorld and California and New Orleans trips for bands--and those were quite a bore. I did get numerous free pens, though..

I did, however, regain my former obsession with tin whistles--and after much looking for after I remembered what they were called because a man passing us just happened to be playing one, I bought a five dollar one. ^^ I really am a dork. Instead of buying solos or books or music..I buy a tinwhistle.
Oh well. I saw Coraline--incredible. I've always been someone who loves stop animation, not just because of the style, but because I appreciate how much work it takes to get to that. I loved the 3-dness to it, it was really really fascinating. Although Tim Burton always has a way of making things creepy, it's never dark. Things might be a bit odd or eerie, but it's always cutesy or romantic or sad, and nothing about this movie was anything but horrifying. Some parts of the movie made me question it's rating and the young children seeing it. I was sincerely moved, it is a thought-proving movie that will most certainly horrify any young innocent girl who sees it-nevertheless, I absolutely loved it. I loved/hated the music. It did its job and scared the living daylights out of me, because it is gibberish sung by a boy's choir, playful music, in the most evil key possible. Real creepy. Fabulous. Danny Elfman couldn't have done that style, I don't think.

He's too /fun/.

-phew- Sorry about that, I believe you're all caught up now. I tend to ramble on a bit..Anyhow, I find it ironic that the nail polish I've swatched for you today (Solar Power--by China Glaze) depicts the opposite of the past few dark, stormy days. Cheers.

Solar Power is a really cool colour, and is part of the E-Collection (or whatever it's called) of China Glaze. I do like the hue, a lot, but it doesn't work with my skin tone at all. And sorry about my wretched fingers, and the intense dryness. Yellows bring out redness. Like most yellows, this was quite streaky. This is three, maybe even four coats. It took to opacity quite quickly, but took a bit to even out. The formula was a bit dry and clumped, and runny--as if it wasn't mixed properly--and I shook it a lot, which seemed to temporarily work. Ah well, it's a nice colour.

Love,
D.B.





7.2.09

Snakes and China Glaze - Harmony

To start things off, the last thing I believe I mentioned was my JCL competition. I got third in my category, and our level got third in Certamen--which is cool, because I was drafted!

I think I've had some major wants lately when it comes to nail lacquer, major..major..and I'm just a kid who occasionally works for my parents and no allowance, which = very little $$. I'm eager to get the new Summer Day's collection from China Glaze once Sally's starts selling them--because with a Sally's Beauty Club card you get them (regular about six dollars) for $3.25, a wicked deal! I've also been wanting Nubar's Pastel Collection --needs-- and to start working on Konading, something I've been saving up for for a while, but whenever I get that whole twenty dollars I need to have free shipping, I end up buying something else with it.

Speaking of which--Palais Royal sale. Doubt I'll go to it. =[

Anyhow, I remembered that most snakes are tamed at a young age. Meaning, if I just feed them and take care of their environment, but never ever hold them, they'll most likely to be more violent and snippery when they're adults (most in particular, my BCI, and I would rather he be friendly when he gets to be eight feet long). So today I spent a bit holding Tangles and Heimlich, and I took a few pictures.
Now Tangles, she is the sweetest most beautiful snake in the world. In some areas her scales are such a bright rich yellow I absolutely adore, and instead of the common maize (corn)-like appearance of this corn snake on the bottom, she is white. I think she is absolutely gorgeous--of course, most snake lovers wouldn't say that at all..but she is absolutely adorable! She's a bit more than a year old, and still quite tiny. She's about 32 inches long, and very very thin.
Heimlich is a little bit less than 32 inches long, a little bit more than two feet, however he's quite the thickness. He doesn't really like to take pictures, but he'll move his upper body up in a straight line about half a foot in any direction and that doesn't entirely work for photographs. I'll admit that I am a bit afraid of him during his feeding time, when he can be snappy, and has snapped at me once (but not in attempts to bite), but generally he is quite friendly and already has a good muscled crimp on my arm.
Good moustache, too.
You might have heard rumours about the opacity of the Romantique collection. This collection looks quite bland and boring inside the bottle, but outside it is gorgeous. I only own one, Harmony, of the China Glaze Romantique Collection, and I hope to buy more soon. These rumours are true. Complete opacity was gained after ONE COAT. It's unbelievably pretty, but it doesn't want to take pictures well. Forever, it would take blue and silvery pictures--and let me assure you that this nail polish is far from anything but purple. I wasn't entirely patient on waiting for it to dry, and so it got a bit denty.
I hope to stock up a bit more. I have plenty of nail polish, but none of it is exactly of any worth or interest. I'll just take a picture when I put it on and maybe put them all up if it comes to that.
--Loves questions, comments, concerns, etc.
Love,
D.B.



1.2.09

OPI -- Don't Toy With Me!


Thought I'd put in something new--now, it's not the best quality picture. I find those little caps and brushes a bit hard to manage with with the little ones--I really don't think its me, I usually don't have this much trouble with application. Excuse that, please...I really don't think it's bad until it get on the camera.


Take my word for it--this is an absolutely gorgeous nail polish. My favourite of the Holiday in Toyland collection without a doubt. The bottle colour is pretty accurate, it is a burgundy ish with lots and lots and lots of shimmer and sparkle that my camera didn't catch all too well at all. I really like to think I'm getting better, and then something like this comes along. It's the best colour in the world, and then I do a terrible job of it.


Love,

D.B.