true cuento

what the heck happened in the last 6 months!?

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 14:36:00 +0000

A whole lot of nothing really...

Can you believe my last post was back in March?! Tsk tsk...

Anyways, I've completely abandoned my 30-before-30 list. I'm turning 30 next month and I've yet to crack a quarter of that list! I have an endless list of excuses that I won't bore you with. Trust me, they're not exciting. Haha...

In exactly one month from now, I should be able to knock off #12 from my list. That's right friends, I'm going to Disneyworld!!!!! Calat is taking me for my birthday! Yay! I can't wait. We really need this vacation.

We have lots planned already but welcome any recommendations of things to check out in Orlando....especially food. Let me know your favorite foods or restaurants we should try while we're in Florida!

how to: splatter mani

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:54:00 +0000

Hey there...here's a fun and easy mani that you've got to try ~~sometime~~ right now...splatter nails!!! I don't do much nail art but doing them once in awhile is kind of fun.

Warning: this mani is a little bit messy. I highly recommend you put wax paper down on the surface you are working on, also makes for easy clean up after. You'll also need a couple of regular drinking straws and tape.

First, choose a base color for your nails. Paint as usual and let dry. I used OPI's Can't Find My Czechbook for my base. Then choose a couple of other colors you'll want to use for the splatter effect. I chose Orly's Sapphire Silk and Barry M's Peach Melba.

After your base color is dry, put tape around your nails. This is optional but helps a lot during clean up.

Take one of your splatter colors and drip a few drops onto your wax paper. Dip one end of your straw in the little puddle of polish. Make sure you get a good glob of polish then hover over your nail and blow hard at the other end of the straw. Repeat over the nail until desired splatter effect is achieved, then proceed to the other nails. Repeat for any additional colors.

Carefully remove the tape and begin clean up. Let the splatter set on the nail for a minute or two before sealing with a top coat. I did two thick coats of Seche Vite to smooth out the splatter.

Now sit back an enjoy your beautiful work!

in the shade

Here's my first splatter mani that I did for Independence Day, last year.

If I ever use that color combo again, I may use red as my base color otherwise the red splatter almost looks like a crime scene! haha!

Tips:

You might want to play around with the lengths of the straws you use and distance from straw to nail. I preferred using shorter straws to blow through on the nail at about 3 inches away. You also get different splatter effects depending on how strong you blow through the straw
It's easier for me to do one hand at a time.
For clean up, I use a small make-up brush for better control.

thanks goodness for tape!

Are you going to try doing a splatter mani?! What color combo will you use?

Thanks for stopping by!

Update - 3/14/13

I mattified my splatter mani with Essie's Matte About You...

Love!

Linked up with Polly Polish's Polish Days 'Vintage' theme link party.

This mani has a vintage type feel to me...looking like a Jackson Polluck piece of art!

Also linked up with:
F-it Friday Round 14 at Parlo & Logi
What's Shakin' Link Pary #51 at Shaken Together

opi - can’t find my czechbook

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:01:00 +0000

I've made it my goal to swatch all of my untried nail polishes before I buy any more nail polish but I've been so good at not buying any new, new nail polishes for the past few months, I decided to treat myself this weekend. With an ULTA rewards to redeem at hand and after rummaging through a blah clearance section, I caved and bought OPI's Can't Find My Czechbook from their Euro Central Spring/Summer 2013 Collection. It was the last bottle too, so it's meant to be, right?!

I can't remember the last time I've bought a new nail color that was a new release. I usually wait to buy them whenever I can catch them on clearance or will get them if I have a really good coupon.

So glad I got this color! I actually don't have anything like it! It's such a pretty creamy dusty aqua that goes on the nail perfectly. Below is 3 coats, topped with Seche Vite.

in the shade - btw, sorry my skin looks so dry :(

the north texas cake show is coming up

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:16:00 +0000

I'm excited and stressed for the upcoming North Texas Cake show. This cake show only happens every other year and yet I'm never prepared!

I also haven't been making cakes regularly so I'm kind of out of the loop on new techniques and styles. I'm debating whether I should even compete in this year's show....well not really, I want to compete! I just have no cake designs in mind. That's where I always get stuck!

Here was my last submission:

I placed 2nd in the Adult Intermediate Wedding Category. I had grand ideas for this cake that never happened too! I made all of the flowers weeks before I had a design in mind. In just days before the competition, I slapped everything on my cake! I'm surprised I even placed. It was very sloppy and plain. I had no sleep during that time. I vow to not do that again this year!

As boring and unfinished as it is, it's actually one of my favorite cakes that I've entered in a cake competition. I think it has to do with the variety of flowers and color combo? Also the decorative pieces...although I don't really know what I was trying to do with the topper! hahaha!

These were my first cake competitions cakes:

3rd Place - Adult Beginner Wedding Category
That Takes the Cake Show 2009
Austin, TX

1st Place - Adult Beginner Wedding Category
Sugar Wonders Cake Show 2009
McKinney, TX

1st Place - Adult Beginner Novelty Tiered Category
Sugar Wonders Cake Show 2009
McKinney, TX

I've been pinning really gorgeous cakes onto my Cake Love board on Pinterest. Hopefully all of these beautiful cakes will help motivate me and give me some ideas for the cake show!

opi gift cards for everyone

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:06:00 +0000

Last Christmas, ULTA was having a promotion with OPI nail polishes: Buy 2, get 1 ULTA exclusive OPI color for free. As my free bottle, I chose Gift Cards for Everyone!. Such an odd name.

Gift Cards for Everyone is a dark metallicky purple with hints of blue shimmer from the microglitter.

I'm sad to say that this is a purple that I don't like. And I looove purple...

The color looks so nice in the bottle but not on me. Maybe it may look better if my nails were shorter!?

my own attempt at generating a meme :)

with flash to show the microglitter

To me, this color is borderline Grandma-ish and I don't think I will be wearing this much, if ever again.

At least I got it for free.

china glaze 2011 ULTA holiday exclusive

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:35:00 +0000

Ok, 2011 sounds so long ago! I got 3 of China Glaze's 2011 ULTA holiday exclusive nail polishes two Christmas' ago when they went on clearance. I think there was about 8 of them.

Today I finally tried on these 2: Mistletoe Me and Fireside Glow as an accent.

Mistletoe Me is a dark pink foil that can be a bit streaky. It looks like a grandma color to me! I'm not too big on foils because they tend to be streaky and look grandma-ish. It looked really nice in the bottle though.

I used Fireside Glow as an accent. I may want to try that on all my nails next time. I like the color and hello, it's slightly holographic! That's so fun!

I may end up purging Mistletoe Me. I don't think I'll miss it much. Sorry MM.

Is there a certain nail color or finish that makes you feel grandma-ish?

opi planks a lot

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:42:00 +0000

Felt like wearing purple on my nails. Here is OPI's Planks A Lot from their Pirates of the Caribbean collection. It's a really nice dusty lavender color.

I only did 2 coats when I should have done 3. Don't be lazy like me, otherwise you'll get these bald spots...whomp whomp whomp...

It's still pretty though....as long as you don't look at it up close and see the bald spots!

china glaze sea spray

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:30:00 +0000

I always go to Sally's whenever I need to get a new bottle of Seche Vite. I was hoping it would be on sale but they had an even better deal...you can get a FREE bottle of China Glaze with the purchase of SV right now!

I had the hardest time trying to figure out which CG I wanted to get as my free bottle. I had been wanting Sea Spray, Refresh Mint and Recycle for the longest time. I ultimately decided to get Sea Spray.

Here is China Glaze Sea Spray with Orly Rock Solid as an accent.

I love Sea Spray! It's a lovely dusty pale gray blue with the slightest hint of shimmer. It only took me 2 coats for full opacity. I'm loving Rock Solid too, it too was opaque in 2 coats. I had never tried it on until now. I'm not a too much into the glitter but I can dig it as an accent nail especially when it has little bits of holographic glitters. Fun!

You can't really see the shimmer in Sea Spray here but I guarantee you it's there!

I think I'm ready for brighter nail colors now. Is it spring yet?!

caviar accent nail

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:08:00 +0000

This is Piggy Polish Embrace Adventure with a multi-colored micro beaded accent nail.

I finally tried doing caviar nails, well just one nail...

I caviared my accent nail with micro beads that I got from the scrapbook section of Michael's. I actually got these beads a long time ago to use for other crafts and it just clicked to me that I could use them on my nails.

For my accent nail, I painted on a thicker second coating of polish for the beads to adhere and gave a gentle push to set.

It was pretty easy and kind of fun. I didn't keep the beads on for that long. I just wanted to try it out. Maybe I'll try it on all my nails for a party or get together just to see how long the beads would actually stay on.

Have you tried doing the caviar nails yet?

Linked with:
Somewhat Simple

christmas recap

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 23:38:00 +0000

Happy New Year! Yup, I'm kind of late on my Christmas post, too much quality family time going on!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and got to celebrate it with the ones you love. I sure did...here's a quick recap of my Christmas:

I celebrated Christmas at my parents with my cousins. This was our tree with all of the lovely wrapped gifts!

This cute little ball of fur is my sister, Pinky! [Pinky is my parent's dog, therefore, Pink is my sister] She was decked out in the cutest Christmas outfit.

You can see her outfit better here as she greets the rest of my family by the door.

We had our hearts set on opening presents Christmas morning in our pajamas but our parents made us dress up for photos. I quickly changed into some comfy sweats right after this photo!

the cousins...and me on the far right

Oh yeah and it snowed!!!!! I don't think I've ever truly had a White Christmas, that I can remember at least.

Hi Mom! She thinks she's taking a picture of me with her iPad...she's not, she's taking a mini video. Poor thing took accidental mini videos of us opening presents all morning!

sorry so blurry but you can actually see the snow flurries

I introduced my family to Tim Tams and most of us mastered the Tim Tam Slam. You need to try these cookies! They originate from Australia but you can find the Pepperidge Farm version at Target for a limited time during the winter months. I didn't see any more of them at the Target closest to me so I had to check other ones near by. I cleared out a couple of the Target's of their Tim Tams supply. It wasn't all for me! I shared with my family. Honest!

And of course I had to do a Christmasy mani. This is Sephora by OPI's Pushing Your Luck. I got it on clearance at Sephora for $5! I really like this red. Some reds look orange on me, but this red actually look red. Sorry for the cropped image. My cuticles were so dry. I forgot to moisturize before taking this shot.

On my ring finger is a fun little Christmas tree as an accent. I taped off the tree part and used Nicole by OPI's Green Up Your Act for the tree and Finger Paints Twisted as ornaments and mattified it. I used Orly's Luxe for the gold topper.

How was your Christmas? Did Santa bring ya anything good? I should have asked Santa for a nice camera or classes on how to take better pictures with my old school camera haha

homemade peppermint marshmallows

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 20:33:00 +0000

For the past few years, around Christmas time, I've been making homemade treats for my coworkers. This year I decided to make homemade peppermint marshmallows so I can cross it off my 30 before 30 list.

I have been wanting to make homemade marshmallows for so long. I think I've always been intimidated by the fact that you have to use a candy thermometer and work with hot sugar. I have a fear of burning things, especially myself!

I decided to use Alton Brown's homemade marshmallow recipe. It got really good reviews and other bloggers seem to like that recipe too. I can totally see why. The marshmallows tasted like little peppermint pillows of air from Heaven! No joke! Making marshmallows from scratch was so easy too! The hardest part of the whole process what waiting for the marshmallows to firm up, which took about 4 hours. I was able to wrap up all my Christmas gifts while waiting.

Now that I am no longer afraid to make marshmallows, I'm completely excited about all of the possible flavors of marshmallows to try! If you too have been intimated by making homemade marshmallows like me, don't be! You can do it! It was super easy! Just make sure you read over the recipe a couple times and make sure you have all of your ingredients measured and ready to go. That will help a a lot. Oh and get a candy thermometer! I got mine from Hobby Lobby for only $3.99 (that price is without a coupon)!

Peppermint marshmallows with hot chocolate...perfect combo!

Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows
adapted from this recipe from Alton Brown

Ingredients

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.
In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the peppermint extract during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Drop red food coloring onto the marshmallows and use a toothpick to swirl the food coloring on the marshmallows. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

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Linked up with:
High Heels and Grills
House of Hepworths
It's a Hodgepodge Life
Katie's Nesting Spot
Kitchen Meets Girl
Ladybird Ln
Lil' Luna
Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Polkadots on Parade
Say Not Sweet Anne
Setting for Four
Simply Designing
Southern Lovely
The Answer is Chocolate
Thrifty Handmade Days
What's Cooking, Love

2 weddings in one night

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 05:44:00 +0000

Last weekend, Calat and I attended 2 beautiful weddings in one night! Good thing they were both at different times. It worked out perfectly for us to go to both. Congrats to both wonderful couples!

I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to but I at least got one with my love.

Doesn't Calat look handsome? I really think he should dress up more! :)

I was really excited for my outfit and accessories. Apparently blue is a really hot color right now.

How fun is this necklace!?! I found all of these accessories at Charming Charlie. I even got the bracelet and earrings on clearance. I just love shopping there because everything is color-coded and pretty reasonably priced.

I painted my nails blue too.

How cute is this Hello Kitty bottle!? I got it through my mom's nail polish stash. Well, I actually got her this as one as her birthday presents earlier this year. My Mom is obsessed with Hello Kitty.

The nail polish is called Blueberry and is the perfect periwinkle blue. You can find it at Sephora and is $10.

Great formula. Just 2 coats for full opacity.

I'm really loving blue right now. What about you?

euro photo grid

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 04:16:00 +0000

Earlier this year, I went on a trip of a lifetime with three of my girlfriends to Europe visiting London, Paris and Barcelona. We took a lot of pictures and I just now finally put something together with the picture we took.

For months, I couldn't decide on how I wanted to display my travel memories. Good 'ol Pinterest came to the rescue. I kept seeing awesome photo grids and decided on going with that to display my favorite shots from my Euro trip.

When I moved into my apartment 2 years ago, I had big ideas of creating a piece of artwork to hang on my wall. That never happened. I'm glad I did a photo grid instead. Sorry for the horrible pics. The lighting in my apartment is horrible!

Among the 4 of us, there were a lot pictures to go through, hundreds of photos! I wanted to pick my top 3 shots from each place. It took me a week to narrow it down to just 9 shots!

I chose to make a photo grid using 8" x 10" black and white photos in matching 11" x 14" frames. I got the frames from Michael's. They came in a pack of 3 and I got them on sale for $9.99 a pack (regularly $19.99) plus I got to use a coupon to get an extra 25% off my entire frame purchase. Score!

I knew I wasn't going to have help putting this grid together so I order some helpers from amazon.com: this picture hanging tool and a laser level. I also ordered this pack of photo mats.

I love the helpers I got! You can't really see the laser too well in picture but it really helped me when aligning the frames. Some look a little off but I'm blaming it on the frames! haha. Some of the hangers on the frames were kind of crooked so I had to adjust when needed. Even the picture hanging tool has a level on it too. You hang the frame on the tool and it helps you level the frame and mark exactly where you need to the nail into the wall.

I really love the way it turned out! Do you display your travel memories?

Linked up with:
DIY Project Parade at DIY Showoff

opi - houston we have a purple

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:32:00 +0000

I've been really good and haven't bought any nail polish in a while. I want to at least wear all of my untried nail polishes first. I have a lot of them.

I was at ULTA the other day redeeming my Beauty Club Reward and decided to check out the nail polish clearance section and there were actually some colors that I had wanted to get.

I settled on purchasing OPI's Houston We Have a Purple from their 2011 Texas Collection. This was not one of the ones I wanted to get. It was an impulse buy. I really like purple! And I didn't have this kind of purple!

I usually look up swatches on my phone before I buy a new nail polish but for some reason I didn't for this one. I had no idea it was a jelly! I don't even like jellies!

When I put it on, my first thought was, Oh man! It's a jelly! Then layer after layer, I started to kind of like it. It reminds me of raspberry jelly!

It took me 3 coats for opacity but you can kind of still see my nail line. The finish was very glossy but I topped with a coat of Seche Vite anyways.

Now I can't wait to try this as a jelly sandwich!

my not-so-christmasy christmas wreath

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 04:59:00 +0000

I finally got a chance to put my Christmas wreath together. I used to make wreaths for every type of occasion or season but the time flies by so fast I can barely keep up. It also doesn't help that I only had one wreath to use to change up every time! I figured that Christmas time is not a time to skip making a wreath.

This was my Christmas wreath last year.

Pretty simple. I like peacocks. They're so beautiful. Especially love their peacocky colors.

For my wreath this year, I used the same grapevine wreath, peacock, white poinsettia, and Christmas picks plus added a white feathered boa and a few new picks.

I didn't really know how I wanted the wreath to look like, so I just put the boa on and randomly stuck everything on.

There was glitter and feathers everywhere! But that's ok because I love the way the wreath turned out!

It looks like a whimsical wintry wonderland.....that will never happen in Texas! Today's high temperature was almost 80 degrees!

Do you put up a wreath for Christmas? or make ones for certain occasions?

Linked up with:
Craft-o-Matic
Darnice's Holiday Blog
Happy Hour Projects
Hi Sugarplum!
Homemaker on a Dime
The Ivy Cottage Blog
Keeping it Simple
Lil' Luna
Savvy Southern Style
Sugar Bee Crafts
Thrifty Decor Chick

cakes, a baby shower, and nails

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:11:00 +0000

My friend, Aissa, is going to have a baby boy in less than a month! I can't wait to meet him...I'm sure he's going to be one super cute baby!

Last weekend was her baby shower and I made her this cake.

It was a blue velvet cake with cream cheese icing and marshmallow fondant. Since the shower theme was kind of swampy, Aissa's sister, Karina, found these perfect cute little toys for the cake, which was awesome since I'm not very good at sculpting figures out of gumpaste or fondant.

I had come to the realization that I have made cakes for all of Aissa's big life events.

Surprise 25th Birthday

Wedding cake & Groom's cake

Surprise going away cake for her sister

I'm so happy to have been included in those moments and so lucky to have such a great friendship with her.

Back to the baby shower, which was very cute and put together nicely by my friend Karina (Aissa's sister), Good job, KFlo! I had to have blue mani for this event.

This is Orly Sapphire Silk with American Apparel Meteor Shower as an accent.

I just found this alligator at my work. He would have fit in perfectly at the baby shower!

happy thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 23:13:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are surrounded by loved ones and lots of food!

I really wasn't planning on doing a mani for Thanksgiving but my Mom had the perfect colors for an autumn dotticure and I could no longer resist.

I used these:

I used Spoiled Pumping Gas as my base and OPI Chopsticking to My Story, Zoya Pippa, and Spoiled I Don't Drink Cheap Wine for the dots.

I also made some pumpkin muffins with chopped walnuts and white chocolate chunks. Super yummy! I must have ate 3 back-to-back...oops! haha

in the shade

As per usual, my Mom wanted me to do her nails too, exactly like mine...Twinsies!

comparison blues

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:52:00 +0000

Last week I wore Sephora by OPI's Cartwheels on the the Catwalk. I was pretty sure I had some other bottles that were similar but turns out I only had one. I guess that's kinda good, right?

Here I compared $OPI [<-- because the Sephora by OPI is more expensive than the original OPI] with Essie's Who is the Boss, from their 2012 Wedding Collection.

The $OPI has a sea greenish hue while Essie is more of a grayish baby blue.

Both 3 coats with Seche Vite.

I don't know Jacques anymore

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 18:12:00 +0000

I used to wear OPI's You Don't Know Jacques all the time. It was my go-to nail polish. I would wear it week after week after week! It's the perfect taupe. I reccommended this color to everyone I knew. I made people want this color! I was completely in love with Jacques!

But that was last year...I really haven't worn YDKJ in about a year and I finally put it on my nails.

As my much as I hate to admit, the color didn't feel the same. I wasn't as excited to see it on my nails like I had been before. I still like the color but I guess I'm no lnger in love with it...what happened?! Did I just break up with Jacques?!

Do you have a nail color that you used to love?

sephora by opi - cartwheels on the catwalk

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:45:00 +0000

I'm currently wearing this on my nails, Cartwheels on the Catwalk from Sephora by OPI.

artificial light shots

I've had this for a while and I don't know why the heck I've waited this long to try it because I love this color! I do have some similar colors already, so maybe that's why. I need to do a comparison among them.

natural light shots

This was from the Betsey Johnson 2012 Spring Collection and I got it from Sephora for only $5 (regular $9.50)! It does look like a springy color but I think it could also pass for a winter color too.

It's a sea green cream that has nice coverage in 2 coats, but I did 3 coats here. This was also my first time to try a Sephora by OPI and so far I'm impressed. The brush is not as wide as a traditional OPI, which is good because sometimes that brush is just do darn wide and a little hard to control.

The name is fun too. If you are not familiar with Betsey Johnson, she's a bold and quirky fashion designer who just turned 70 that does cartwheels down the runway after all her fashions shows. I hope I can move like that at her age!

outside in the cold shot

I went camping...sort of

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:03:00 +0000

This past weekend, Calat and I went camping with his friends at Beavers Bend in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, which is a 3 hour drive from Dallas, TX. We had been planning it for the past couple of months.

Camping is on my 30-before-30 list, but I'm not sure if I can cross it off. My vision of camping is being out in the wilderness with a tent with limited modern amenities. This camping trip was far from that. We stayed at the Leaping Lizard Lodge that comfortably accommodated our 20+ group. Yes, the cabin was huge! It had 4 bedrooms, giant kitchen, a game room, which was a total man cave, a hot tub, a couple of hammocks and a pavilion. The cabin was so nice. I wish I took more pictures! Since the lodge was called Leaping Lizard, there were cute lizard things everywhere, even in the brick outside!

Check out that fall foliage

Calat and I arrived later than everyone else on Friday night. Once we got there, we just jumped right in to party mode to celebrate our friends' birthdays. Happy Birthday, Kavin and Phuong! There was lots of food, drinks and laughs.

All they got for their birthday was a big booty cake!

Saturday morning, a few of us headed over to Broken Bow Lake to check it out. It was beautiful. I probably could have stayed there the whole day.

Panoramic view of Broken Bow Lake from Calat

After the lake, we headed back to the cabin to get our grub on. We had all sorts of grilled and smoked meats: brisket, ribs, fajitas, burgers, etc. I think I overdosed on meat.

My highlight of the weekend was when it was time to make 'smores...This was my first time to have a real 'smores experience! Calat and I brought all of the 'smores essentials, including different kinds of chocolates, cinnamon and regular graham crackers, and giant marshmallows!

I made my 'smores with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and Hershey's Cookies 'n Cream! I ate 3! I probably could have eaten more, if the marshmallows weren't so big, it made it kind of hard to eat.

Reeses 'smores

Cookies 'n Cream 'smores

Calat and I had to leave earlier than everyone else too. We were already trying to plan our next camping camping trip before we left!

Next time, I hope to stay a little longer and explore the area more, whether it be going on a hike, fishing or just checking out the local shops and restaurants.

happy halloween

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Here's my Halloween wreath that I have hanging at my desk at work....well, actually, it's been hanging at my desk this whole time since last Halloween! I don't care, it's cute!

I decided to dress up my nails in a nice Halloweenish color for today. Don't look too close or you'll get a scare! My hands are soooo dry.

This is OPI Lincoln Park After Dark.

I've had this color for almost a year and I'm finally trying it out. I love it! Perfect fall color! It's a lovely deep purply-maroonish creally [cream/jelly] that looks almost black and goes on your nail like a dream in just 2 coats.

Oh hey, look at my new watch. It was a late birthday gift from my boyfriend, Calat. Hey Babe! It's awesome! I still haven't learned about all of its features, but the best thing about it is that it's not just an analog watch but it's digital too!

Did you decide to wear a Halloween color on your nails today or do any fun nail art?

nail polish strips

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:05:00 +0000

I had been stalking the the beauty clearance bins at Target the past few weeks looking for goodies, specifically nail polish. I had been eyeing the nail polish strips from Sally Hansen for awhile but they were just too expensive for me, around $10 for a set. I couldn't justify myself getting them since I change the color of my nails almost daily.

Just last week, I found these:

This is Sally Hansen Salon Effects Pedicure Nail Polish Strips in Snake Rattle and Roll on clearance! You get 18 strips of polish, a mini cuticle stick and a mini nail file/buffer. If you're not familiar with nail polish strips, you can find out about them here.

So the ones I got are actually for your toes but I used them on my fingers. Some of the strips are more narrow and can be pieced together. Depending on how short your nails are, you can even get two nails done with one strip, which was my case. Then that make me think, Who the heck has toenails that long!?

My Mom and I are not too big on nail art but we love our nail polish. That's probably where my addiction came from. Thanks Mom!

Check our Mother-Daughter Manis from the weekend before heading out to my birthday dinner with my family and my boyfriend's family.

My Mom has on OPI - Mermaid Tears (left) and I have on Rimmel London Wild Orchid (right), which btw, has an awesome wide brush almost as good as OPI.

I had full intentions of putting on the nail polish strips on all of my Mom's fingers but due to lack of time and n00b error, I only managed to use the nail polish strips as accent nails. The nail polish strips were very easy to use, once I stopped trying to apply them the hard way! For a demo video on application, click here.

I would use them again, especially if the price is right! They are supposed to last for up to 10 days. That's way too long for me. These would be great if you were going on vacation. It's been about 3 days and I still have this on...I know shocking...and there is no tip wear!

If you are interested in getting this pattern, they are unfortunately no longer available. I believe this was a limited edition pattern. But here's a tip: I've seen nail polish strips from OPI in the clearance sections at ULTA! They have some fun patterns too!

Have you tried nail polish strips yet? Do you have a favorite brand? Don't you love them?

and so it starts...

noreply@blogger.com (stephanne cuento) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:49:00 +0000

Hello World...

I'm actually blogging!!! I'm not sure what kind of blog this will be or what it will be become but you can probably expect a little bit nail polish, cake stuff, DIYs, and lots of randomness.

I just turned 29...yesterday...and came up with the ever so popular 30 before 30 list.

Here's my list:

It was kind of hard for me to come up with 30 things I wanted to do before I turned 30 so I kinda cheated a little bit and had to look up what other people had on their lists. Some people had really
ambitious lists and others not so much. I'd like to think mine is somewhere in between.

As you can see from my list, #7 is to start a blog...DONE! Only 29 more to go...