hello, 2013.

our original plans for new years [heading to Taipei to watch the 101 fireworks display with friends, drinking lots of champagne and eating German food] were spoiled by an upset stomach. mine. Husband was awesome enough to scoot out in the cold and pick up groceries to get us through the next few days, so we spent the rest of the day on the couch being lazy and watching movies and 30 Rock. by about 10pm I had recovered enough to have some olive cheese tarts and a glass or two of champagne. and we discovered that about 20 channels were showing new years specials, all in Chinese of course. we flipped through and cracked jokes about the crazy outfits, the Asian Justin Bieber and Jonas brothers, and the random celebrities and/or dignitaries they had giving speeches before the countdown. [CNN was counting down to the "fiscal cliff" so we avoided that.] after midnight there were fireworks on every channel, except 3: a lingerie football league game, a game show where girls in bikinis tried to blow a ping pong ball out of a cup of water, and an LA Clippers game.

I felt much better the next day, though we were still pretty lazy spent more time relaxing. Husband did some school work, and then cooked us an incredible meal to start the year off right. steak with onions + garlic, mashed redskin potatoes, steamed broccoli, and the best red wine I've had since leaving the states. and for dessert? vanilla ice cream [for him] topped with warm bananas, nuts, and melted chili chocolate.

not a bad way to ring in 2013. maybe not the same level of excitement as being downtown in Taipei with a million people... but it was still entertaining, tasty, much warmer, and I had some good company. oh. and obviously some seriously sparkly nails. [essie power clutch topped with set in stones... one of my favorite combos ever.]

I have high hopes for the year to come, and wish you all the best in 2013. I look forward to continuing to share my adventures with you [both planned and unexpected.]

and that, dear readers, is the last of the new year's themed posts.

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...