Job Envy

If you have naturally ugly fingers and toes like I do, you already know what a lifesaver nail polish is. While I love that pretty pops of color on my hands and feet take the spotlight off of my flaws, my very favorite thing about nail polish is found on the bottom of the bottle.

Whose job is it to come up with the color names for OPI, for Essie, for NARS, for MAC, for Chanel? I want this job. I want to baptize nail polishes for a living.

Red isn't just red. It's wife goes on red or charged-up cherry. Blue isn't just blue. It's turquoise and caicos or lapis of luxury. Pink isn't just pink. It's pistol-packin' pink or pink me I'm good.

When we splurge and get manicures/pedicures, I have just as much fun reading the nail polish names as I do relaxing in the chair with warm towels on my legs.

Here's a look at some of the colors that I wish I had in my collection at home:

On My Wish List

(First row, from left to right)
1. OPI's Last Friday Night
2. Chanel's Nouvelle Vague
3. Essie's Fruit Sangria
4. OPI's Pinking of You
5. Essie's Pretty Edgy

(Second row, from left to right)
1. Sephora by OPI's Caliente Coral
2. Essie's Looking for Love
3. OPI's Gargantuan Green Grape
4. Sephora by OPI's Looks Like Rain Dear
5. NARS's Jungle Red

Necessary Luxuries

My new wish list (see the last one here) is just begging to be shared. As usual, it's a daydreamer's collection run amok...an explosion of offensively expensive and entirely unrelated items (divided into two groups for your viewing pleasure). Enjoy!

Shopping Cart #1

A whole outfit in cobalt blue, a printed pompom fringed scarf (to jazz up a plain tee), a new bikini top to mix and match, an essential white tank (with a sequined pocket just for fun), a long turquoise pendant, a new pair of tech socks, and a to-die for leather jacket...

(From left to right, top to bottom)
1. Intermix's Enza Costa Striped Tank and Rag and Bone Cobalt Belles Jeans
2. Anthropologie's Printwork Scarf
3. Victoria Secret's Very Sexy Push-up Triangle Top
4. Piperlime's Son of John Show Off Tank
5. Sundance's Circle of Blue Necklace
6. Runningwarehouse's Drymax Hot Weather Run Mini Crew Socks
7. Madewell's Leather Moto Jacket

Shopping Cart #2

A maximum impact belted maxi, a fun and flirty first date top, a barely there nail polish (perfect for french manicures), a buttery soft journal, a handful of chocolate-covered raspberries, a bright orange stapler to add some fun to desk work, a cozy blanket to fend off an ocean breeze, and a pair of sky high wedges for Fourth of July...

(From left to right, top to bottom)
1. Shopbop's Milly Strapless Hostess Gown
2. J.Crew Collection's Exploding Bow Blouse
3. Sephora by OPI's Bare to Be Different Nail Polish
4. Anthropologie's Prospero Journal
5. Bissinger's Chocolate-Covered Raspberries
6. Poppin's Orange Stapler
7. Pottery Barn's Waffle Weave Blanket
8. Tory Burch's Araminta High Wedge

What's #1 on your current wish list?

Wishes and Whims

If you haven't already caught the drift, I love lists. I'm particularly partial to wish lists. Why? Because wishes don't have to be justifiable, practical, or economical. Wishes could be a cousin twice removed of whims (I heard someone use this word at our favorite artisan bread place today and decided that I liked it so much that I would use it myself as soon as the opportunity arose).

Whim:
1. A sudden or capricious idea; a fancy
2. Arbitrary thought or impulse

For a girl who rarely indulges in arbitrary thoughts or fancies, let alone one who ever entertains impulses (the horror!), doing things on a whim seems quite wicked. I must admit, the idea of spontaneity causes my brain to engage in a sort of simultaneous vigorous head shaking and eager nodding.

The closest that I come to throwing caution to the wind is when I create my wish list. My therapist would probably have something to say about the fact that my idea of spur-of-the-moment fantasies are housed in a list - but hey, baby steps right?

If I see something that catches my eye, I bookmark it in the "Love This" folder - no matter how much it's going to hurt my feet or how much it looks like everything else I own (I really need to stop buying things in neons) or how much grief I'm going to get from Brother #2 for getting hosed out of a good deal.

Every few weeks I rein myself in by deleting items like one-purpose-only kitchen gadgets (like this fully automatic ice cream maker) and outrageously expensive designer clothes that I can't afford on my oh wait I don't even have a summer job budget. But for an intoxicating moment, they were part of my queue. That's about all the excitement I can take.

While I wrestle with the pros and cons of removing that pesky word pending in front of "purchases", here's a look at my current wish list.



Wish List

(1st column, from top to bottom)
1. Zara's Satin Platform Sandals
2. Shopbop's Cady Cuff Shorts
3. Fresh's Vanilla Soap

(2nd column)
1. Shopbop's Bianca Enamel Bow Studs
2. Anthropologie's Refreshing Lemonade Urn
3. Shopbop's Crackle Clutch
4. Net-A-Porter's Time Teller P Watch

(3rd column)
1. CUSP's Cream 3/4SLV Lark Rise LA
2. Blik's Wrought Iron Headboard Wall Decal

(4th column)
1. Lululemon's Run Swifty Racerback
2. William Somona's Breville Panini Press
3. Harry and David's Royal Riviera Pears