'Murica Toes

Today, I got a pedicure. My toenail was smashed a few weeks ago, and finally has grown to where it can be touched without pain, and the rest are so long and grody, I decided it was time to make them look acceptable. I had school this morning, that's right, today was the beginning of my summer semester. I don't know how I feel about the classes yet, and we'll see how these go! But when I got to the toe place, I really wanted something fun and patriotic, and boy did he deliver.

An American flag! I just love it so, and I can't wait to celebrate the 4th with these toes.

I have finally found it

You guys, epic news.

I have finally found a nail place that I really like. I know, it’s only my first visit there, and I should pace myself, and wait to see how it is two times in a row, but I had such a good experience today that I just want to sing it from the rooftops. I got a pedicure on a whim, and tried this place after googling pedicures in the area, and looking at reviews, to find a good place, since I haven’t had a good experience in the places I usually go. So, I went, and this is the end result:

I am so happy with the nails, and it was such a good time. I’ll try again, naturally, and make sure that they’re still really good, but otherwise, I think I may finally have a place to call my own!

Fall Toes

Today, I realized I still had my Halloween toes, and it was high time to get them changed. So I did them myself, and for the flowers, luckily, I still have some stickers I could put on there. Nobody judge the uneven painting, and uneven cutting/filing, I did these all myself!

But they’re really not looking too bad! Nobody will see them anyway, since I’ll be wearing shoes, but at least I know they’re ready for fall.

The Woes of My Toes

Today I went to the foot doctor, and had many things done. First of all, we all remember when I broke my toe back in January, and I never went to a doc for it. They can’t do anything, so I didn’t see a point in even trying to fix it. The bruising went away, it stopped hurting so much, and all I had left was a bump on my foot, and a pain when I tried to bend my toe. Finally, I was going to the foot doctor for another issue, so I thought I’d see what they said about my toe. The doc saw the toe, and immediately knew what it was, but wanted some X-Rays to make sure. After getting those, he told me what the problem was. You know how you take a hammer, and you hit it really hard into a piece of wood, and it makes a big dent, with a few spidery cracks around it? Apparently, that’s what happened to my toe – it’s dented. Sheesh! So now there’s scar tissue there, and that’s what the bump is. So he’s given me some creams, and I get to rub those in, and then wear what I’m calling a toe sleeve:

Which is just a small compression band, that hopefully, with the help of the creams, will dissolve/get rid of the scar tissue. If that doesn’t work, I’m supposed to get cortisone/steroid shots, which I don’t want to get. So lets all cross my fingers that this will work.

The whole reason for my going was to ask the doc about my arches, which always hurt. He decided orthotics were a good idea, and I got fitted right away for my custom ones.

I can’t wait to see how these turn out. Of course, this sadly means I won’t be able to wear flip flops anymore, and that makes me sad. But on the positive side, now I can go buy some new shoes, to wear with my new orthotics!

Valentines Toes

Today, after work, Chelle, Mama G, and I went out for some nail business. Chelle and I got pedicures, and Mama G got a manicure. It was nice to have the feet pampered a little bit, even though it hurt my recently bruised toe a little. But it felt awesome, and they did a good job. At the end, we asked if we could get hearts on our toes, for Valentines this upcoming month, and the girl very confidently said that she could draw them on there. Unfortunately, we got them on there, and she wasn’t at good at drawing them as I thought she would be, but that’s just fine. They look good enough far away, and that’s all that matters. Here are my little beauties:

See? Totally ready for February now!

A Bruise

Yesterday I was co-throwing a baby shower for a girl in my ward, and I was just getting everything ready, and my co-thrower came over, with her 4 year old daughter. Her daughter sat down, and was just chilling, eating, doing nothing, and then we were kind of being silly together. There was a point that I was picking her up off a stool, and as I picked her up, she wrapped her legs around the stool legs (this I didn’t see) and then, when she was getting too far away from the chair, which was coming up with her, the stool dropped. It dropped on my toe, and that hurt! It took me a few seconds to react, and then, it was hurting a whole heck of a lot. I had to sit down, and laugh to keep from crying, kind of. It had a bruise when I looked at it right then, and then later that day, there was no bruise. When I took off my sock at the end of the night, this is what I saw:

Yeesh! That escalated! I had kind of limped all day, and now I see why. When I went to bed, I was careful with it, made sure it didn’t hit or snag on anything. When I woke up this morning, it still looks pretty bad.

Doesn’t that look bad? Oy vey. (Also please excuse the fact that my toes are in desperate need of a pedicure). It hurts today. Putting on shoes for church hurt, so that was an experience. I’ve been walking around without shoes today, but I wasn’t aware of how often I moved my toes, until today. All movement hurts, so I’m trying to limit that. Hopefully, that stops hurting soon, and my toe will get back to normal!

Christmas Toes

Today, after work, I went and got a pedicure after work with Michelle. I was wanting one, since my toes were getting too long and grody, so it needed to get done. We went there, and even though there was no line, and we didn’t have to wait at all, it still took forever! They did a good job, but holy cow they just went so slowly. I wanted something Christmassy, even though it’s already over after tomorrow, but I don’t care. Here’s what it looked like:

Cute, eh? And now, I’m ready for Christmas in this regard. Merry Christmas Eve!

Fall Toes

I got a pedicure last night, I needed one, my nails were getting so long. I finally chose a color that wasn’t the same and that in itself is a victory. I chose brown this time, because I wanted to have fall color nails, which I told the person doing my nails. I went back to my previous place that I haven’t been to in a while, and after he asked why I hadn’t been back in a while, I told him I’d had some crappy experiences the last few times I’d come, I think he made sure to try to make this a good time. It wasn’t too bad, but then I ended up having to wait about 10-15 minutes for the gal to come over and paint a flower on there. She added some pink to the flower, and a red jewel, which I didn’t want, I wanted fall colors, but she put it on there before I noticed what color she had chosen, curse my for reading my book. They are cute, just not exactly what I wanted:

And now they’ll look pretty for the next week or so, until they start to chip and get monster-long.

New Polish, New Polish

I went and got a pedicure the other night – something I haven’t done since before I went to Germany. Everyone remembers my toes trauma in Germany, how the guys suitcase fell on my foot, and broke the toenail, so I was just waiting for that to grow out before I went back. I tried the same place as last time, hoping to get a new person, and thinking it was maybe just that one guy that I don’t like. Unfortunately, I got the same guy. It’s not a big deal or anything, but I really wanted to try someone new there. So I sit down, and he gets started, and again, he’s hurting me. Which I keep telling him, while pulling my foot away, and he just keeps saying reasons for why, there’s too much dead skin, blah blah but it was still hurting. And then I told him that I thought he cut them too short, and he argued with me! He tried to tell me that they weren’t, like I was in the wrong here. So he does his thing, and then when he’s painting the color on, I realize I chose the exact same color as last time. Holy cow how dumb am I that I didn’t realize I had chosen the same color?! In my defense, it had been over a month, so of course, I wasn’t really thinking, but I just wish I had taken a second to just LOOK at my toes to see what color they were. So now, I just have nails that look the exact same, but hopefully, when I go in again, I’ll choose a good color, and find a better place. Any suggestions, anyone?

The Woes of My Toes

Last weekend, I went and got pedicures with Chelle and her mom, plus a manicure. As the guy was doing my toes (We went to a new place, I’ve been disappointed with my place of late), he kept trying to do something – I don’t even know how to explain it, he was maybe trying to pull out hangnails that I didn’t actually have, but mostly, he kind of kept hurting my toes. One of the toes, he made bleed for a few minutes – I have no idea what the heck he was trying to do, but I told him I didn’t like it, and he was hurting me. He then cut my toenails waaaay too short. Like, they hurt they were so short. Finally, when all was said and done, they were cute, even if they hurt.

There are all of our toes, cute as always. The next few days was just me waiting for my toenails to grow out, even a few millimeters so that they didn’t hurt when I was just sitting there, and finally, they were feeling ok. Then, on Wednesday, we were waiting in the customs line in Germany, and the gentleman in front of me dropped his suitcase on my toe. OUCH I said, but thought nothing more of it. That night, as I was crawling into bed, my toenail snagged on the sheets, and I was like, oh no. So yes, my toenails that were already ridiculously short, were trying to go shorter. I didn’t want to cut it, because there was nowhere else for the toe to go, so I just tried to be really careful, and not let anything touch it. On the flight home, my jeans snagged the nail a little, and pulled it just a little off, dang it! I tried again to be really careful, but last night, I was in my closet, cleaning it out, and I was kneeling, and then as I stood up, my nail snagged on the carpet, and ripped off, and it HURT! I had to cut the nail off where it didn’t rip completely off, and now it hurts and is ugly, and alas. My poor toe.

So there it is. Now my toes are no longer pretty and painted, and I’ll have to wait a really long time to go get them fixed. Its ok, it doesn’t hurt unless it rubs against something. Or something falls onto it. Or touches it at all. So now, I feel good about my decision to always wear flip flops.

Toes…Again

Today, for Adam’s grandmother’s birthday, all the girls in the family were going to go and get pedicures done, as she had never done this. Unfortunately, they picked a time that I couldn’t go, since I was at work, but I went after work, because I wanted my toes to be painted, and it was time for them to be cut, with my impending race. So, I went to my usual place after work, and it had a bit of a wait, 25 minutes. I had time to kill, so I said sure, and waited. After that time, we (my sister-in-law was with me) finally got to sit down. And…the pedicure took a whopping 10 minutes. I’ve never had that short a pedicure in my life. We sat down, she took off my polish, cut my two big toes, and then put more polish on there. No massage, no buffering, nothing. Then she drew the flower, which I made sure to ask her for before it was too late, and she applied the topcoat, then she put lotion on my legs. Not the feet that were soaking for 2 whole minutes, but the legs that weren’t. Then, I was done. My SIL had a similar experience, we only took 10 minutes. I was incredibly disappointed in them, and with my bad experience last time, I think now may be the time to look for a new place. I tried to give them another shot, but I was just so let down. Here’s what my toes did look like afterward:

I like the color, I’m pleased with that, but there are some toes that when you look at them (You can’t tell in the pic) you can see the old color peeking through. But luckily, you can’t tell when you’re of average height and you look down, so I’m safe for now.

Toenail Draaaama

My toenails have been getting super long. Probably not that long to a normal person, but when mine get a little longer, they push against my running shoes, and then later in the day, my toes hurt a little, and that’s when I know it’s time to do them again. So I stopped last night on my way home to my nail place, and got them done. My usual people weren’t there, so I had a new guy, and I didn’t really care for him. I don’t know what it was about him, but I just didn’t like him. So he finishes the painting, and I assume he’ll ask if I want a flower, since I’ve had one every single time I’ve gone, and usually they ask. He didn’t though, he just put the top coat on my toes, and that was that. I was about to ask him if I could get a flower, and he started doing the nails of another person, and ignored me. So after a few minutes of them drying, a girl came up, put my shoes on for me, and then rang me up, and I was mad, I wanted my flower. So, I left, and after I’d gone outside, and saw the color in the real light, I hated them. I hated the color, and still wanted my flower, and the nails actually looked like I had done them myself. Which is fine, but if I go through the trouble of getting my nails done professionally, I want it to look like a better job than I could do. Here’s what they looked like:

So I went back inside to have them redone, because I was so bugged by them already. I went in, and all of a sudden, it was the place to be, there were a bunch of girls in there, and the wait was an hour long. I didn’t want to wait an hour, so I just left. I was on the way home, and I spotted a nail place just on my way home. Even though I just got done, I was like, I’m going here to have a polish change, that way, it’s probably only a couple of bucks, and I’ll be glad to not have this color anymore. So I walk in, and I told the gal my situation, and she was willing to help. So, I chose a different color, told her I wanted a flower, and they got to work. I was really pleased with the outcome:

Now, I know what you’re thinking. It was incredibly high maintenance of me to have done this whole thing, but I figure, I see my toes every day, if I’m not pleased with them, then every single time I look at them, I’m just going to be mad at them. So instead of having the anger, I took a little more time, and now I like what I see.

Firework Toes

My toenails have been getting pretty long lately, and I never notice until after I have a run, and then my toes hurt, and I realize, I need to get these babies cut. So this weekend, I went and got a pedicure, and I had a sort of weird experience with it. I sat down, and a girl that I had never seen before sat down in front of me, and I handed her my color, and she started to fill my sink. After it was full, and my feet were in there, the lady that I think owns the place said something to my girl, in Vietnamese, and after a few back-and-forths between them, my girl went to the person next to me, and I got a new girl, who introduced herself to me and was really sweet. I don’t know why they made her change, and I don’t know what happened there, but it was weird. She did a good job on my toes, but at one point, she had to get up to ring up the gal she had just finished doing, and she forgot to lotion my other foot, so I only had one foot lotioned, which was ok, but then later, when I was walking around, one of my feet was sort of sliding in my shoe, and the other wasn’t. I went home and just put some lotion on my foot, to even things out. For my design, instead of a flower this time, she did a firework!

I really like it, and it’s a nice holiday change from the flower. Plus now I make little firework noises in my head when I see it.

Foto Friday

Since I've not had anything interesting to photograph lately, or even funny, I'd thought I'd share my toes. I got them done this week. I know many people think it's dumb to get pedicures, but I love them. They're my luxury. I pound my feet so hard with all the running, it's nice to do something for them to try to reverse some of the damage I inflict on them.

I really like the flowers this time. I went to my usual place, but had a new guy, and I think he did an awesome job. And now I get to smile when I look at my toes.

Miscellaneous Monday

I realized yesterday that I’m not very good at doing my nails. I always paint my fingernails a clear color, just because I’ve always felt like they were a little weak after I had fake nails for so long. So that always goes well, but last night, I painted my toenails a nice fall-y brown color. I tried to do a cute dot design (Since I can’t seem to draw or do flowers or anything on myself) and it just didn’t turn out. I can never get my toenails to match each other.

It’s not that it looks bad, necessarily; I’m just disappointed that they aren’t the same.
I went to see the new James Bond movie this weekend. (AMAZING, BTW, everyone should see this.) A group of 3 boys sat down right before the trailers started. One of them had his cell phone out, texting. Usually, I’ll let it slide for the trailers. Technically the movie hasn’t started, so I’ll not get mad at it. The movie started, and he kept texting. He pulled his phone out to text 3 times before the opening credits, and by the third time, I’d had enough. I’m sorry, but if you want to text someone during a movie, leave. It’s not cool of you to have your phone out, with the tiny glowing screen, ruining the movie that I had to pay good money for. So by the third time, I leaned forward, and told him to put his phone away, and not be that guy. The look of surprise on his face was weird to me, was he surprised that it was annoying? Surprised I said something? Did he miss the 45 commercials before the movie that told him to put his phone away? In any case, he did put the phone away, and didn’t pull it out for the rest of the movie. I’m a hero.
I am home alone again, as Husband is gone once again. I made myself a pretty good sized to-do list, and I accomplished everything on it! I was so proud. I finished by like, 7, and I was psyched. I spent the rest of my evening doing things that I had sort of wanted to do, but I didn’t add them to the list, lest I not have time for them, and then I’d be sad because I didn’t finish. I watched a movie, I read a book, and it was nice. Of course, this morning, I thought of like, 4 other things I want to do. I have plenty of time to do my stuff; I just wish I had thought of them yesterday, when I could have done them then. I’ll be doing them all tomorrow, naturally, and I’ll think of more things by then, I’m betting.

Today, I am thankful that with it being winter and me now wearing shoes, no one has to see my unmatched toes.

Feet, Feet, and Nothing But Feet

I painted my toenails again this week. I tried really hard to get some cute shapes, that sort of thing on them, but after trying for a quite a while, I had to finally take off the entire nail polish, paint again, and just added the dots. I like it, it’s simple.

Ta-daaaa! I like ‘em. I think I’ll keep these around for a bit.
And kids, I tried again. I did the feet thing again. I even tried using the Ziploc bags, so that I could walk around, like I was told. Well…I couldn’t walk around. I just had to sit there in the two Ziploc bags, because walking made the excess mouthwash stuff spill out.
So, I dutifully sat there for 30 minutes, washed it off, dried my feet, and applied a healthy amount of lotion, as required. And…there was really no change at all. The tops of my feet were soft, I’ll give you that. But the bottoms, the cracks, etc, were the same as always. Still cracky, still not soft.
I am a little disappointed with the shaving cream-mouthwash adventure, but that’s ok, at least I gave it a go, and got to see the results myself. It’s possible that because I wear flip-flops every day that my feet are beyond saving with a simple home remedy like this, and that’s ok. I’ll just do what I always do – wear my flip-flops, and get a pro pedicure once every few months, and they can slough all the dead stuff off themselves.