I Couldn't Resist

Recently, I told you all how I have become powerless in the face of cashmere. And I confided that I was thinking of buying up a few more pieces. Well, I tried to be good. I tried to push the thoughts of cashmere out of my mind. But, I am weak. So, very, very weak.

So, check it out, I am soon to be the proud owner of a loden green sweater tee, an autumn orange heather cardi, an aztec gold cardi and a spice brown cardi. These will all be welcome additions to my winter sweater wardrobe. Even if they don't get any wear, I can still pile them on the bed and just roll in them. Ahh...cashhhmeeere....

Lacquer Lundi

This week, I decided to stick to a sewing and fashion theme. I picked polishes that had names that conjured up thoughts of whirring sewing machines, fabric splurges and fashionable attire.

Now on to the pretties:

Avon Nailwear Pro - Tweed
- Avon purchased at avon.ca for $2.99 CDN

It seemed apropos to begin with a polish named after one of my favourite types of fabric. There is nothing more satisfying than working with a lovely wool tweed. It shapes and presses so beautifully - it truly is a dream to sew. Avon's Tweed is equally as wonderful. This dark burgundy red is a gorgeous fall shade.

Tweed applied like dream - excellent consistency allowed it to be applied to the nail easily. It covered opaquely in two coats, but I did a third to increase the deep of colour. It dried quickly, even with the three coats and the wear was excellent. I had only very minor tip wear after two days.


New York Color in a Minute - Penn Station
- purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $1.39

Penn Station services New York's Garment District - a mecca for fabric shoppers (and a place that I want to visit someday - for now, I will just have to be happy with Toronto's fabric district, which is still pretty awesome). So, what better colour to wear on your tips while organizing (or adding to) the fabric stash closet? Penn Station appears pinkish red in the bottle, but it reads as a true red (with a bit of shimmer thrown in) on the nail.

Penn Station applied nicely, dried quickly and wore extremely well. I am always pleased with my NYCIAM polishes - they are an exceptional value for the money. I have yet to be disappointed by any of them.


China Glaze - Lubu Heels
- purchased at Sally Beauty Supply for $3.99 CDN

Inspired by the legendary Christian Louboutin red sole, Lubu Heels is a more economical way to channel your inner diva. Lubu Heels is a sheerish black base with sparkly red glitter. It is dark and vampy and gorgeous. Be sure to click on the photo to see the flecks of red glitter encased in the black.

Lubu Heels applies well. However, since the black base is fairly sheer, three coats is needed to build up to bottle colour. This polish wore well, with only tip wear after one and a half days.

This is one of my all time favourite polishes - I love it!


Sally Hansen Salon - Project Runway
- Sally Hansen Salon purchased at Shoppers (chain drug store) for $5.99 CDN

Project Runway (the show) has captured the imaginations and hearts of thousands of seamstresses worldwide. The drama, the fashion, the fabric, the sewing - what's not to love? Project Runway (the polish) is equally as fascinating - a lovely forest green base packed with golden shimmer. I own many greens and this is easily in my top three favourites.

Project Runway applied well and required two coats to ensure opacity. Unfortunately, the wear was not spectacular. I had a fair amount of tip wear after less than 12 hours. However, the tip wear did not get any worse for the remaining day and a half that I wore it.

Cashmere & Carry

The other day, I professed my love for a cashmere cardigan from Land's End. Well, it has arrived and it is sublime. I cannot say enough good things about this little beauty. To say that is gloriously soft is an understatement. When I wore it to work last Thursday, I couldn't stop touching it - it is just so scrumptious! It is also very well made - no hanging threads or ill-finished seams. The front button placket is faced in perfectly colour matched grosgrain ribbon, which appears to be hand sewn in place along one edge. The buttons are wonderful too - small, round, pearl-like and colour matched like the ribbon. It's these little touches that make this sweater well worth the price.

The park green cardigan sits at my high hip and has three quarter sleeves. I do wish it was a bit more shaped through the torso, but I think that going down a size would remedy this (I am wearing a regular small, but next time, I would order the regular extra small or petite small).

In the photo, I am wearing the cardigan with a pair of straw coloured linen Loes Hinse Hepburn pants (which I now lovingly refer to as my "wide-ass pants" after a poster on SG euphemistically told me that they make me look fat - gotta love the lack of manners these days) and a long sleeve round neck T-shirt in park green that was purchased along with the cardigan. I finished off the outfit with a cool faux-pearl necklace and a pair of my favourite double strap Clarks mary janes, in caramel leather. A simple, classic, easy-to-wear outfit, perfect for teaching.

Now, based on this shopping success, I'm eye-balling three other cashmere cardigans and a cashmere tee at Land's End (they're on sale 30% off right now) - I think I may have created a cashmere buying monster!

Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?

First the good (amazing!) news:
A week ago Simon went in the have his stitches removed. At that time, the vet told me that the results of the tumour testing had come back and it was not cancer, but rather fatty growths (lipomas). However, the original thin needle aspiration had shown mast cells (leading him to believe that Simon did have cancer). Faced with this enigma, the vet retested very lump and bump on his body. The new set of results all came back as fatty cells, which are 100% non-life threatening. So, Simon does not have cancerous tumours. Saying that I'm happy with this outcome is a major understatement. I want to say thank you to every person that provided us with good thoughts. I guess hoping and wishing and enlisting the positive vibes of internet friends all over the world really does do good things!


Now, the bad news:
Unfortunately, my relief was short lived. The day after visiting the vet and getting the wonderful cancer-free news, Simon slipped awkwardly going up the stairs and hurt his back. For the next two days he was going up and down stairs very gingerly and refused to jump up. Then he seemed to be recovering. However, after a short walk, his entire body began shaking from head to tail (presumably from pain). So, back to the vet we went (I've begun calling him my six million dollar dog). After a bit of poking and prodding elicited a pretty serious yowl of pain, the vet thinks Simon injured his spine in the sacro lumbar region. So, the poor little guy is now on Tramadol (a strong analgesic) and bed rest.

Hopefully, over the next week or two, my little man will heal up and be back to normal.

Bootie or Not Bootie

In a previous post, I professed my growing love for the skirt, tights, bootie combo that I'm seeing around the fashion blogs as of late. Some commenters agreed with me that the look is potentially super cute and others were not sold on the whole thing. I must admit when I first saw booties worn with skirts, I thought it looked ridiculous. However, as time has past, I think I have become more accustomed to the silhouette and I now think it's quite fetching.

So, today I put together my first bootie-tights-skirt (I first typed this as tight-bootie-skirt and got a good chuckle) outfit. The skirt is Simplicity 4422 (view F), done up in a burgundy tweed flecked with dark brown and tan. The top is Vogue 2759 in a dark brown knit.

I must say that I felt pretty good in the outfit all day long and received compliments from both students and colleagues. Looking at the photo though, I think next time I will try and match the colour of the tights more closely to the bootie for a longer leg line. As well, I never tuck in my tops, so this was a real departure for me, but it actually doesn't look as bad as I expected. Last but not least, this outfit makes the pesky 10 lbs I want to drop a little more obvious than I would like - time to hit the treadmill and weight machine harder. So, all in all, pretty good, but a few things to keep in mind for next time.

So, what do y'all think? Yay or nay? Bear in mind that I am venturing into new territory here, so please be gentle.

Lacquer Lundi

Straight to the pretties:

BB Couture - Prince Charming & Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear - Disco Ball
- BB Couture purchased at overallbeauty.com for $9.00 US
- SHHANXW purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $2.95 CDN

Prince Charming is a stunning royal blue with purple undertones. It positively glows on the nail - it is certainly one of my favourite blues. It flowed on smoothly and required two coats to achieve opacity.

To further enhance the gorgeousness that is Prince Charming, I layered to coats of Disco Ball over top. Disco Ball is a slightly milky base packed with iridescent glitter. It sparkles like crazy when the light strikes it. It applied fairly well, although it was a bit thick - but that's nothing a bit of thinner couldn't fix.

This combo suffered from some tip wear within the first 24 hours (I find chunky glitters often suffer from tip wear to a greater extent non-glitter polishes. I think the glitter catches on things as objects are picked up, resulting in the tip wear.)


Sally Hansen Salon - Sweet Creams & Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear - Pink Confetti
- Sally Hansen Salon purchased at Shoppers (chain drug store) for $5.99 CDN
- SHHANXW purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $1.53 CDN

I don't often wear "regular" nail colours. I tend to be more of a wacky colour connoisseur - blues, greens, yellows are more up my alley. But, every once in a while I crave a more natural look and this is the type of manicure that results. I applied three coats of Sweet Creams, an off-white (with a slight pinkish cast), slightly sheer polish. It applied nicely and was easy to work around on the nail. However, after only one day, I did have a moderate amount of tip wear.

To cover up this wear and to add some zing, I applied two coats of Pink Confetti. Pink Confetti is a sheerish light pink base with small iridescent glitter that adds a subtle hint of sparkle. It applied easily and dried quickly.


Sally Hansen Salon - Burnt Sienna
- purchased at Shoppers (chain drug store) for $5.99 CDN

Burnt Sienna is from a recently released Sally Hansen Collection that I believe is available only in Canada. It is a beautiful metallic polish that is brown and green and gold all at the same time. It truly is interesting.

I applied three coats of Burnt Sienna - two coats would have sufficed, but I really wanted a depth of colour, so I added one more. The polish applied well and moved around the nail nicely. However, the drying time was not great - I was still able to dent my polish over an hour later (likely this is due to the three coats, but I have other three coater polishes that dry more quickly). It also succumbed to a fair amount of wear - within 24 hours I had appreciable tip wear and after 36 hours I was starting to get chips. So, bottom line - a beautiful colour, but only so-so wear.

These are a Few of My Favourite Things

As I browse the fashion magazines and websites the past few weeks, there are a few things that have jumped out at me. Here are some of garments and accessories that spark my lust for the fall/winter season.

Riding Boots
I love a good tall boot. They go with everything - pants, skirts, dresses - everything. This season the tall boot is everywhere, in every incarnation; flat, wedge, over the knee, stiletto, fringed, slouchy, etc. My pick of the bunch is the riding boot. I love the quaint English, upper crust ambiance of this leather charmer. My only issue is with fit. I have been blessed with athletic calves, which make finding a comfortable boot difficult. Even if I'm lucky enough to force up the zipper, my legs often feel like they are being strangled. So, I'm on the hunt (ironically enough) for a pair of fab riding boots. I just ordered a pair of Naturalizer Hunter boots in brown leather. I'm hoping the elastic and the buckle at the back will allow me to wear them.

ETA: I received the boots today and unfortunately they do not zip up over my calves. For reference, my calves measure 15" at the widest point. So, back to the store they go and back on the hunt I go.


Booties
When fashion bloggers first started wearing booties with skirts and tights, I was definitely not sold on the look. As time has passed however, I have become quite smitten with the look and now I actually want to emulate it. So, while I was shopping at Naturalizer I picked up a couple of cute booties: Corso and Dublin, both in brown leather. I adore the leather/suede combo, along with the sweet stitching accents on the Corso. The multi-colours and textures, combined with the menswear inspired laces on the Dublin are also drool worthy. I picture wearing both of these with some cozy textured tights (see below). These shoes, as well as the boots above come in wide widths, which makes me ridiculously happy.

ETA: I received the booties today and they are fairly comfortable. I think the lace up booties will require a bit of breaking in, but the other pair seems fine right out of the box.


Tights
If I could wear skirts (or dresses) everyday, I would. But, come winter, it gets a tad too nippy to be sporting uncovered legs in my neck of the woods. The reintroduction of tights into the fashion world the last few years has helped to remedy this chilly situation. So, I headed over to We Love Colors and bought up some microfibre tights in a variety of colours (rust, gold, maroon, teal and olive green - I already own some in brown, black and grey), as well as a pair of Croche Fishnets in brown. I just hope they fit well - us short folks often have leg length issues, resulting in elephant knees and crotch droop. I'll report back on my findings. I am also on the look out for some textured wool tights that don't bag out at the knees.


Cardigans
I must own upwards of 40 cardigans - some with the matching shell, some without. Being a lover of 50s style, it stands to reason that I am smitten with the ubiquitous twin set and the sweater girl look. So easy to wear and perfect for those days that deciding on an outfit seems difficult. Toss on a twin set over a great pair of pants, accessorize with a strand or three of pearls (or a vintage brooch) and you're good to go. Right now, I am lusting after several cashmere lovelies, in particular this one from Land's End. I am drawn to the simple lines, the 3/4 raglan sleeves and of course, the luscious park green colour - it would fit seamlessly into my existing wardrobe.

ETA: I succumbed to the siren call of cashmere. I now have the cardi winging it's way to Canada as I write. I'll report on the quality when I receive it.


So, dear reader, what are you lusting after for this fall/winter season?

A Sense of Community

Over the last few days I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of the online community. All the words of support have been a welcome comfort - both from established friends and from wonderful new friends. I am still waiting for the definitive word on Simon's tumours. When I know the final results, I will post about it.

I would be remiss if I didn't single out one person in particular - Gaylen. Not only did she bestow upon me the Nemo's Award, she also wrote a lovely entry on her blog, asking for fellow animal lovers to send out positive karma to Simon. Fittingly, the award is "a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging" and it requires that I "write the reason why I love blogging."

I have come to realize that blogging has introduced me to a wonderful community of like-minded individuals - women who share a passion for the same things that I enjoy. Not only that, but the people that I have made contact with through blogging are some of the kindest, warm-hearted ladies. I am truly lucky.

Lacquer Lundi

First, let me thank each and every one of you that has left a thoughtful comment on my last post. I really appreciate the kind show of support from all my online friends. I realize that some people consider animals to simply be pets. I, however, love Simon as if he was my child. Maybe I'm the weird dog lady, but that's how it is with me. He is part of my soul.


Next up is a reader comment: Rosaline said, "Like the others I love the LL posts. I on the other hand, never wear nail polish because I've heard it can do great damage to your nails, such as softening them and turning them yellow. As a nail polish user, would you do a post on the topic of how often you use polish, do you give your nails "a rest", and how often you change your colors. I've always loved nail polish and as you can see, all the exciting colors you show are making me long for wearing it. Thanks for LLs."

I believe it is an old wives' tale that nails need a "rest" or that nail polish will damage them. What needs to be kept in mind is that nails are dead cell tissue (the same as hair). Although I still get the very rare split nail, I haven't had a break for as long as I can remember. I attribute my strong nails to four things: I keep polish on my nails always (I have not had a polish-less day in over a year), I take 3000 mcg of biotin per day, I moisturize constantly (although granted that is more for my cuticles than my actual nails) and I was blessed with good nail genetics. As for how often I change my polish - usually every day or two - I get bored easily and I like having on a new colour. Besides, my students like checking out my latest manicure! Now, in the interest of full disclosure, my nails are lightly stained due to dark coloured polish. However, since I never go without polish and I prefer opaque (as opposed to sheer) polishes, I don't really care too much.


This week, I decided to dedicate LL to Halloween. I have a selection of frightening and fabulous colours, guaranteed to get you into the spooky spirit. I have included some special edition, Halloween-only polishes, along with some regular polishes that have the proper attitude for the season. I hope you think they're a scream! So, let's get on to the pretties:

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear - Red Carpet
- purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $2.95 CDN

Thinking about making an appearance at a Halloween gathering as a sexy vampire? Than Red Carpet is the one for you! This blood red polish is sure to make you look like a sensuous sucker, ready to drain the life out of any party. The deep, rich base, packed with sparkly red glitter is a corpuscular delight that is perfect for you and you and Nosferatu.

Red Carpet applied like a dream and covered beautifully in two coats. It wore well - very minor tip wear after two days. Now, this is a polish you can sink your teeth into.



Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear - Black Out & Nfu Oh - #60
- Sally Hansen purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $1.53 CDN
- Nfu Oh purchased at fabuloustreet.com for $8.50 US

If you're looking for a grungy, punk-inspired look with a unexpected punch, then this combo is for you. Black Out is a gothically gorgeous shiny black creme, that provides the foundation for this manicure. The addition of Nfu-Oh #60, which is a charcoal base packed with light reflecting orange and green flakies, adds a whole other deadly dimension (click on the photo to the right for an amazing close up view of this stunning polish). So, whether you're dressing up as a strung out rocker chic or bewitching sorceress, this manicure is sure to frighten the bejezees out of everyone around you!

Both polishes are shown with two coats on the nail. This manicure held up well for the day that I had it on - only minor tip wear and no chipping. This is certainly a spook-tacularly boo-tiful combination.


New York Color - Times Sq Tangerine
- purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $2.95 CDN

Looking fashionable while carving up that hapless pumpkin is no longer a problem - just sport Times Sq Tangerine on your tips. This pumpkin coloured polish is sure to get the knife blade moving and as an extra added bonus, you won't be able to see all pumpkin guts under your nails when you're done!

Times Sq Tangerine is a great polish for the price - two coats applied well, dried quickly and wore amazingly well (only extremely minor tip wear after two days). This polish is so gourd, it will squash the competition (ahem).



Sally Hansen New Lengths Ceramics - Ghoulish Green & Glow in the Dark
- both polishes purchased at Shoppers (chain drug store) for $4.49 CDN each

Zombies are a Halloween staple (and an obvious favourite around Chez HZC) and what better way to channel your inner undead than with a couple of coats of Ghoulish Green on your leathery digits? You'd have to be brain-eating fiend not to see the appeal of this polish - it's pus-atively putrid! But, why stop there? Add a layer of Glow in the Dark, to ensure that your victims see you coming, even when the lights go out.

Both polishes applied nicely. The wear was great - only minor tip wear after two days. However, Glow in the Dark dries a smidgen bumpy, so a layer of top coat is required to smooth it all out. Also, be aware that it takes a good, strong light to activate the polish to glow in the dark - the high fluorescent lighting at school didn't do it for me.

Sucker Punch

Last Saturday, I got the call from the vet. "Simon has at least one mast cell tumour that has to be removed. We'll schedule him for surgery on Monday."

Cancer.

For such a small word, it certainly can send you reeling. When you hear the C word, it's all you can do to focus, to listen, to process. This tiny word has the power to suck all the wind out of you, to drain all happiness.

I put down the phone and told my husband the news. I googled "mast cell tumour dog." I learned more than I wanted to know. Then, I curled up on the couch with Simon and cried - quietly enough not to alert my husband. Or so I thought. But, he found us and he cried too.


It all started the end of May, when Simon began vomiting every few days. I was scared. After all, Simon is an older dog. The vet diagnosed an ulcer and gave him meds to allow it to heal. All was well for a few weeks and then it started up again. I was scared again. The vet mentioned that mast cell tumours can cause ulcers. Now, I was terrified. The vet did thin needle aspirations of Simon's lumps and bumps. Simon has had a long history of lipomas, which are harmless fatty growths, so I hoped the results would come back benign as usual. No such luck.

Simon is now recuperating from the removal of two mast cell tumours and a growth on his eyelid. The vet was optimistic afterward, but I still asked that the tumours be sent out for grading. I haven't heard back yet. So, I have been on pins and needles all week, trying to keep my active boy calm so he can heal and waiting for the report. I just want this to all go away.

So, if you have any good vibes to spare, please send them to Simon.