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Oh snap! My nails look good!

I found this amazing nail tutorial on HelloGiggles and had to give it a try! Its super easy and fun + it could be a great way to decorate your nails for the 4th of July! Sorry to all of my readers that come here for photo stuff- its time for a girly post!




Step one is to gather all of your supplies. You will need a light colored polish, rubbing alcohol, a small glass and a few newspaper clippings. Paint your nails and let them COMPLETELY dry. I gave my nails a few coats of polish so it took them about 20 minutes to be totally dry. Dont worry though, you can do step 2 while you wait! Well, go on. Read ahead!

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While you are waiting on your nails to dry, cut your newspaper clippings into small squares and pour alcohol into your glass. The clippings should be big enough to completely cover your nails but not too big.

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Dip your fingers (individually) into the alcohol and leave them in there for about 30 seconds. Next, place a square of newspaper onto your finger and press to make sure its flat across the entire surface of your nail. This is about the time where you will have an awful itch but dont scratch. Dont sneeze. Dont move. Even if you mess up with the placement dont move. Dont move!

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Finally, give your nail one last little rub, say a quick prayer and pull the paper off! So cool, right???? I know!! The last step is to paint a clear coat of polish over each nail, let them dry and take those amazing nails out on the town!

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Please, do not judge my poor, dry fingers. I lotion them every single night but they still look like this. Sigh. Let me know how your nails turn out!
Polish is Turquoise & Caicos by Essie

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Publishing Myths General Guidelines and Good Advice

Winner for best cloud-sourced myth(s):

It dont mater how bad youre speling or grammer is, or how illegibly formatted your submission. As long as you have an idea thats the new Harry Potter or DaVinci Code, publishers will send your book to a ghost writer to be written, slap a celebritys name on it as "author", and give you all the money. Or none of the money.

Alternatively: it doesnt matter how unsalable your idea is if your writing is limpidly beautiful and lyrically whatever. Its only about Art. Who cares how many books we can sell?

Alternatively again: it doesnt matter how beautiful your writing is, because its only about money. Publishers are actively rejecting most slush manuscripts as "too good" and only publishing cliche-ridden drivel because thats the only thing that sells.

Only the young and vivacious get published. Publishing isnt just a popularity contest in terms of your manuscript, were also looking ahead to the interviews youll have to do in a bikini. So wax now.

You must get rejected 26 times. LEngle, Seuss, Grisham, Karen Jay Fowler... all the best writers have been rejected exactly 26 times. (No doubt this number is because of some secret cabal in publishing.) If you get a 27th rejection, though, it means youre crap.

Once you are published, its easy-peasy to get all your friends, family members, and crit group partners published, too. Once youre in the secret club, you can recommend up to 26 new members per month. (No, of course your editor wont mind the influx of recommended manuscripts--shes doesnt have to read them, just put them on the secret orders altar and read the secret fortunetelling bones over them.)

Moreover, this is really the only way to be published, since publishing houses go to any lengths to avoid reading submissions. This includes giving false addresses (ha, Candlewick is located in "Boston"! Honestly, who would fall for that?) and simply moving away from old buildings once they become heavily impacted with piles of slush.

Finally, if you earn out your advance and make your publisher glad they worked with you, you clearly didnt get paid enough. Fire your agent, so that at least someone will have learned their lesson.

Thanks to Sam, Chris, Merry, Tricia, Literaticat, Carol, Michael, Vonna, Hope, and A.L.!

P.S.: Anonymous, the secret society of bloggers (led by Nathan Bransford and Literaticat) is factual. This was a MYTHS contest.

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One Good Thing Throw Pillow Combinations

A new series started this week over on the Mix & Match (my e-design biz) websites blog called "One Good Thing" where I share a favorite quick design tip or trick. I figured a lot of yall over here might appreciate the post since this weeks topic helps solve a common decorating conundrum: how to mix throw pillow patterns so they look cohesive. I put together five super combos to help show you how to mix patterns.

Youll have to head on over to Mix & Match to see the full post, but you can check out a preview of the combos below!

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