Friday Favorites: Comet Vomit Nail Polish

I am not typically one to do 'Friday Favorites'. I have always done product reviews randomly, under the title of 'Get Pretty Reviews', or, for non-beauty related products, 'Stuff I Love Saturdays'. I figured I would try something different out, and maybe find at least one thing a week I want to talk about!

One of my best friends in this whole world, Tiffany, is a lot of things. A few years ago, she decided she wanted to learn to bake cakes, like Ace of Cakes. She did it. She started cycling seriously because she wanted to - she inspires me to go after everything I want. Earlier this year, she became interested in nail art, and in that different nail polishes. As her collection grew, she learned about how nail polish was made up. Just like with cakes, she very recently taught herself how to make her own! She chose the name Comet Vomit, and you can find the beginning of her line on Etsy here. She opened the shop just a couple of weeks ago, and had a lot of support from the Reddit community starting out.

Imagine my surprise when she texted me to tell me that she was making me my very own blend of her new polish! All of it has great space-y names, like "Protect Ya Holodeck" and "Hubble Bubble", just to name a couple. My blend is called "Planet Packer", after my favorite football team and the beloved team of my hometown, the Green Bay Packers. It was a bit more awesome before they got creamed this past weekend, but let's not talk about that.

With a light green sparkly base, there were a couple of different colors of green chunky glitter, and it went on easily and was easy to layer. She told me I could put it over something else, and I decided not to. I just layered it a couple of times, and came out with a great result. I topped it with an OPI fast-dry top coat, and to be honest, it didn't even chip or crack for over a week! I was mad about the game and wanted to take it off, to be honest!

All that being said, if you are looking for a new, different polish, try these! I promise, you will not be disappointed.

How To Tuesday: Favorite DIYs of 2012!

2012 was a great year for crafting in my world. I started a weekly blog post called How To Tuesday, and drove myself to figure out a new craft for each and every week! While it was daunting at first, it got easier. Of course now, I'm daunted again, but am recounting my top three favorite DIYs of 2012 to drum up some inspiration for 2013!

Furniture Decoupage

Done a couple of years ago, I still get great compliments on this table in my living room! Even if you don't decoupage with comics, you can use newsprint or old books for a different effect.

Keurig K-Cup Storage

This was one of my favorite DIYs of the year. Not only was it popular, but it's a cheap, fun, easy way to store K-Cups without having to pay upwards of $20-40 for a rack! It may not be the most stylish thing, but it does its' job and that's what is most important.

Fabric Canvas Wall Art

Just a quick, fun project to brighten up a room. I may already be thinking of ways to update and change up the bedroom, but this made a great project!

I am hoping for some great new inspiration and projects in 2013, and I have a few things up my sleeve to accomplish just that. Stop back next Tuesday for my surprise first How To Tuesday of 2013!

One of my favorite things of 2012.

In early November, I got the opportunity to do something I never thought I would get to. I made the trek to Chicago's Logan Square Auditorium and met Damien Echols.

Now you may or may not know who Damien Echols is. If you're interested in finding out more, see a couple of my previous posts on the West Memphis Three. These days, I consider Damien an author and an activist. Damien himself has said, in his book Life After Death which I reviewed here, "I'm often plagued by thoughts that people will think of me only as either someone on Death Row or someone who used to be on Death Row." Every day puts him farther and farther away from being that person, and that makes me happier than I could explain.

The event was put together by a new book shop in Chicago, City Lit Books. It was a question and answer session with Damien first, with a book signing and meeting opportunity afterward. Since it's been so many months, I don't remember most of the poignant comments made throughout the interview portion, but one quote stuck out so much I Instagrammed it. "If you don't have the things you love in your life, its not worth living."

One of my personal favorite parts about the interview was just hearing Damien talk about his life post Death Row. How he and his wife, Lorri, decided to live in Salem, Massachusetts. The things he likes to do. Things he has experienced in just over a year out of prison. Tattooing X's on people in a shop in New York. Little things we would all take for granted, like how to use an iPhone. All things that go back to that quote and how he is living it to the fullest every single day.

It was a great adventure, and something I needed to do in order to break up my day to day. Above all, though, I finally got to meet someone I never thought I would get the opportunity to. When I finally got up to the table, I could not think of a single thing to say. I had two books, both Almost Home, which has been out of print for a long time and was written while Damien was on Death Row, and Life After Death, his newest. He was happy to sign both, and I was glad to have the opportunity. What did I say to him? Nothing but "thank you".

When I think about it, I'm not exactly sure why I was thanking him. Of course, for the signatures, but also for not giving up on himself. Not giving up on the truth - and though he, Jason, and Jessie have not been exonerated for the crime, they are still trying.

If anything inspires me about the West Memphis Three, it is their inability to give up on the truth, and that is a big reason why I stayed with the case. They inspired me to stand for something beyond myself, and we all need something to believe in.

The Return of Book Club Mondays (on a Wednesday) – "Gone Girl"

Let’s just say that I haven’t had the time to read a book per week in a few months. It is a bit of a high expectation, given how much everyone has going on these days! But I’m going to do my best to get back on some kind of book review schedule – whether it’ll be every week or not I can’t promise, but I’ll try. 

Also, this post is my 80^th post on An Epic Liz! It seems like kind of a silly milestone, but it isn’t to me!

Gone Girl was a book I’d heard about or read about on a book list somewhere, and I downloaded it a couple of months ago with every intention of reading it right away, but yeah, life. Written by Gillian Flynn, who has written two other novels (Dark Places and Sharp Objects, for reference) that I haven’t read, I looked at the positive reviews and decided to give it a shot. 

Here is the jacket description, thanks to gillian-flynn.com:

Marriage can be a real killer. One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn, takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. As The Washington Post proclaimed, her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit with deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick Dunne’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick Dunne isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but hearing from Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

Employing her trademark razor-sharp writing and assured psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

The first thing that I noticed was the voice of the novel wasn’t like most others. The story progressed by journal entries, basically, entries by both husband and wife. The husband being Nick Dunne, the husband of Amy, the woman who had gone missing. The entries switched off between Nick and Amy’s view points. Though it seems like a weird way to read a book, it really isn’t – not weird like Chuck Palahniuk’s Pygmy was, for sure. Each entry chronicled a different day, both prior to Amy’s disappearance and after. It was separated into three different sections to dictate the place in the story, as well, which made it easier.

Both had had bad luck and wound up back in Nick’s hometown in North Carthage, Missouri, which, for New York born and raised Amy, was difficult. The beginning of the book went through how they found themselves in their current situations, and the remainder was the story progressing from both viewpoints, both Nick and Amy, as Amy disappeared and the reader was left wondering what happened to her. As the story progressed, so did Nick's character. From doting, loving husband who thought he had gotten so lucky to a man who nobody believed. Both characters took a sinister approach at times, and the story blew itself open once the truth about the relationship between Nick and Amy came out. The plot progressed effortlessly, and I wanted to know what was going to happen so badly I just kept reading! Before I knew it, hours had gone by!

Unlike most books I read, I did not read much about this book before getting into it. In a world where everything has been reviewed a thousand times on the Internet, it was a bit refreshing to not have any idea what was coming next. One thing I will say, however, is this book absolutely kept me at the edge of my seat, and I finished it in just over one day! I don’t want to give too much away, but there were definitely some sucker punches thrown in for the reader who thought they knew exactly what was going on. 

This being my first read by Gillian Flynn, I will say that it was absolutely fantastic. I could not put it down, even if I wanted to. I had to keep reading, keep figuring out exactly what was going on. One hundred percent one of the most enthralling books I have read in a long while. In that, I will definitely be looking into her other works to see how they compare to Gone Girl. 

Read any good books lately? Don't hesitate to offer suggestions! Also, thank you for reading. I say it all the time, but it is definitely 100% appreciated.

Currently...

Sitting in bed with a sleeping cat, ready to go to bed myself, and decided to write a little note to just say that I am still alive. See, I've spent the last few months learning how to live again. As dramatic as that sounds, its' true.

It ended with a text message that read 'you are dead to me'. I knew it was over from there. Packed up, moved out, and I was left with the haunted house. Not haunted, literally, but haunted by the love that once lived between these walls. Haunted by what used to be and what isn't anymore. Instead of staying friends, I decided that for me, for my own sanity, it was better to cut all ties. I didn't want to play games, and I didn't want him to, either.

For everyone that thinks that it's easy to break up with someone you lived with, let me just tell you that it isn't. It sucks. Coming home to what looks like a ransacked living room, that only looks that way because the couch, TV stand, and TV are gone, and all that's left is a pile of cable boxes and the line in the carpet where his couch used to be. I rented a Rug Doctor like an adult - got rid of all the stains, as good as a chalk outline so far as I was concerned. The outline of the death of our relationship.

Before thinking that I'm wallowing in some sort of self-pity over here, let me just say that no, that isn't the case. In the two or so months since this has happened, I've gotten promoted at work, got a new car, and have a moderately successful handmade business. All in two months. I don't have time to wallow - hell, I barely have time to work some days! I'll leave you guys with a few pictures from life these days - and promise that I'm working hard, as my show schedule slows down, to get back to writing. It's not something I like not doing. It feels like something is missing, to me, and I'm more than ready to get back to the way life should be.

An amazing sunrise on my way to work!

A recent show's booth setup.

The crazy waves here in the MKE due to
Superstorm Sandy.

Cupcakes I made as a Halloween surprise for the shop -
I made a little mess with the frosting, as usual.

My Day of the Dead makeup from hosting trivia
on Halloween night!

Me hanging with my favorite little dude.