summer stripes [the nail files]

it might be september, but summer's not over. the days here in Taiwan are still up in the 90s, and with the humidity it feels like 100+ by mid morning. I've always loved summer: the sun, the beach, the dresses, the tan lines. though I will admit a small part of me is craving a midwestern fall chill with cider and sweatshirts - it's most definitely not fall here yet. and when winter comes it will be sweatshirts [not parkas] and plenty of chilly rain. so, I will try to embrace the summer heat while it lasts.

we went to a teacher potluck friday night and everyone asked if I had my nails done local. [but once they saw there were no rhinestones or glitter, they believed I did them myself.] I've only had a professional manicure twice in my life, but I'm thinking I need to check out a salon over here if only to see what they come up with.

I used these essie orange, pink, and purple shades because they reminded me of a summer sunset. my secret weapon to diagonal stripes? scotch tape. let your base color dry completely and then tape off half your nail diagonally. paint the uncovered nail, let dry and peel off the tape. then repeat with a third color by taping off about half of the second color. I think scotch tape works better than painter's tape here because you can see the other line to make your tape parallel. dry, peel, topcoat, done.

ps. I found this metrocard in one of my wallets from the last time I went into New York and it kindof made me want to cry. there are a lot of things I love about our new life in Taiwan, but I do still have moments where something [even as small as a metrocard] will give me heartaches for home...