Manicure Monday: Minty Sparkles

Happy Monday! Man, today just seemed like one of those days that I couldn't get with it. It was gloomy, I was tired, and all I wanted all day was another cup of coffee! It is nice, though, to come home after a long day of work and treat my beat up hands to a fresh mani. Again, this week I wanted something "festive." It was a toss up between trying red and white candy candy stripes and mint green with sparkles. I just didn't have the time or patience for anything striped or red tonight, so I opted for the mint. While mint is not typically seasonal or considered festive, the color mint reminds me of those little Ande's mints and peppermint flavored things, which are everywhere this time of year. This mani also reminds me of snow falling on a frosty day - the "snow" being the glitter specs and the frosty day being the muted mint. Mint green is also one of my favorite colors, so it's always a winner for me :)

I used Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear nail color in 340 Mint Sorbet with Essie Set in Stones and Essie No Chips Ahead top coat. Sally Hansen's Xtreme wear is definitely not my first choice in polish. The only reason I have this one is because the color is perfect. It's my favorite mint (and I own three). But the wear is anything but "Xtreme" to me, unless of course they mean extremely bad. Hopefully with the glitter and top coat, the mint will stay somewhat intact.

Something I picked up a little while ago to save my dried up winter hands is this Shea Cashmere & Silk hand cream from Bath & Body Works. This stuff is a miracle! It really feels like rubbing silk into your skin. So after I'm done with my mani, I rub this all over and my hands are darn near perfect (for a while at least). I'd highly recommend this stuff and it's sometimes on sale for $5-6. Not bad!

I would have wanted to get this post out sooner, but I was at work all day, then had to come home to real life, make dinner, play with Beans, and oh, gee - it's still Manicure Monday! I often times am finding it more difficult than I realized to do something as simple as a Manicure on Monday's. But this was my idea after all, and I made this posting series so that I could commit to a post every Monday since I already do a manicure once a week. It's also nice to start the week with a new mani. Anyway, I'm just realizing that it's not always fitting perfectly into my schedule, especially since my work schedule changes week to week. Basically, while I love Manicure Monday, it's not perfect and sometimes leaves me feeling annoyed or frustrated. And it's probably just my lack of organization with my time management, but either way, my feelings about it aren't always ideal. I'm just putting this out there because this blog for me is all about self-growth and being real about where I am with the imperfections. And yes, truthfully, Manicure Monday is sometimes another imperfection marker in my day.

But any time I'm done doing my mani Monday post, I'm happy I did and I get a new set of nails out of it to enjoy for the rest of the week. Part of the reason why I wanted to do this posting series was to show how important it is for me to take time to do something for myself each week. There are a lot of things I wish I could do each week for myself just in terms of beauty, like a long bath, a diy facial, hair treatments, etc. But I picked this one because it's practial, easy, and brings me a lot of joy. I feel most put together when I have my nails done. It reminds me that - even for an hour - I put myself first to take care of myself in a special way. And that's why it's all worth it!

Sometimes I think the best way to make time for the things we all want to do is to simply schedule them with no negotiations. My manicure is something that is non-negogiable unless I just want to skip my post altogether, which is pretty lame. The blog helps me hold myself accountable to doing it, and therefore, it gets done. If only I could start doing this hold-myself-accountable thing for all areas of my life!

• Question for you: What one thing do you want to start scheduling for yourself each week that you always wish you had time for?