Fitness Friday

I saw this tweet today and man if this doesn't motivate you to exercise, I don't know what would! “What fits your schedule better: Exercising 1 hour a day or being fat 24 hours a day?”. It's completely blunt and one hundred percent true! I am so proud of myself this week. As of Monday I made a decision that I would do something, anything, fitness every day this week. I am proud to say that I have done something every day this week so far! Today I headed out for a run after work for the first time in awhile, it felt really good and it was beautiful weather! It was so nice outside I actually wore shorts! Shorts in June it's ok! Our weather is so crazy! I ran 3.39 miles and then the sun started to set. I recovered with some watermelon Nuun. I am so glad I stocked up on this before the summer was over, it has turned out to be one of my favorites! I think I have snapped out of my cold weather blues, even today I am finally back on track with my fitness and ready to kick some ass! Happy Friday!

A Matter of Class

Book Review: A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh. Genre: Romance. Publisher: Vanguard Press - 208 pages. Description: News Bite. Reginald Mason has been a wildly extravagant expense to his father for too long. He must marry and settle down. And it so happens that Lady Annabelle Ashton, daughter of the Earl of Havercroft, the Masons' neighbor and long-time enemy, has just disgraced herself by trying to elope with her father's coachman. At last Mr. Mason sees a way of forcing recognition for his wealth even though he is not a gentlemen by birth. Reggie will marry Annabelle - or be cut off forever from his father's vast funds. Annabelle is about to be banished to her father's most remote estate in northern England. She is ruined and unmarriageable. But at the last moment she is offered a reprieve from complete disgrace and her father is offered a reprieve from the financial ruin he has been facing for some time. All the earl has to do is swallow his pride and marry his daughter to the son of his enormously wealthy neighbor, whom he has despised for years. His decision is soon made. Annabelle will choose - marry Reginald Mason or be cast into outer darkness for the rest of her life.

It is not a promising start for the lifelong commitment of marriage. But it would seem that Reggie and Annabelle have no choice but to make the best of it. They have no control over their destiny, after all. Or do they? My Review: I picked this up because I read a glowing review. Meh. It definitely was not all that great. Since romance revolves solely around our two main characters, you have to see a certain amount of development to be satisfied, in both the characters and the story. Not enough by my standards. I never really grew to like, or really know, Reggie or Annabelle. The book has a "twist." I hesitate greatly to call this plot device a "twist." The exact definition of a twist is an unexpected development of events. Hello? I saw this twist a mile away! I know, I know, I am beating said word to death. I feel the need to beat more. The word is like a nagging wife that just won't shut up! I needs to beat her. Okay now I am losing it. Ignore my insanity. I really have little else to say. The book is short and not so sweet. The plot device is obvious. The flashbacks used within the text are unhelpful and almost uneventful (harsh?). The romance was nothing special, unique or precious. I suppose I would recommend this book to Balogh fans or romance addicts.

Black Storm Nails

How is everyone? I know I don't post much swatches lately but I feel like showing some of the manicures I've worn during the time of my absence. And it is... black again! Here are the color of the nails I love a lot. It's actually an other attempt to the high voltage nails I've made quite a while ago at the beginning of my blog. As you might now by now, I love black and the matte/glossy association a whole lot so I prefer this version. The base of this manicure is Orly Matte Vinyl  (a must have) and the black flash is made with transparent polish (can also be achieved with a glossy black). It's not a very complicated manicure to do actually - I do it with scotch tape. With a minimum of patience and care, everything goes smoothly.

Pretty Serious Collection - In the Night

Hi guys, sorry for the lack of updates lately (well, it's been like this the last 18 months or so, hasn't it?). As I may have mentioned at various times, I've been my Grandmother's carer for almost two years and things got pretty bad the last month or so. She passed away in her sleep at home on Saturday afternoon - so as you can imagine, things are kind all over the place. But I just had to pass on this press release to everyone cos it's my girl, latest collection consisting of six gorgeous nail shades, two fabulous new colour glosses and a spectacular new loose shadow, the Into Dreams collection really is what dreams are made of! We are so pleased to introduce: Claris - A beautiful milky pink jelly with tiny golden flakes. Dream Delight - A smoky blue-grey jelly base, packed to bursting with silver glitter particles! Definitely delightful! Elliot - A lovely sky blue creme loaded with multi-coloured micro flecks. 

Into Dreams - A vibrant purple with delicious pink shimmer. Nightmaren - A glowing, warm golden red. Nightopia - A spectacular teal green with glimmering golden shimmer. We also have wonderful new colour glosses to match our Claris and Into Dreams shades - Cotton Candy and Grape flavoured respectively, plus a stunning purple loose shadow packed with gold, blue, purple and red sparkle - rounding out the Into Dreams combo! We are vegan friendly and cruelty free, as well as our nail polishes being Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) and Formaldehyde Resin free. All products are made in US from local and imported ingredients. All items are priced at $9.95 and Pretty Serious cosmetics of the smile ships worldwide. We also offer great combo discounts! Rock on, and thanks for all your support! You can see bottle shots and swatches of all the colours on the Pretty Serious Facebook page as well.