China Glaze Surfin' For Boys (and Leaving Cleveland Heights)

Remember when I wore China Glaze Flirty Tankini and I decided it was too pink and not orange enough?  If we're talking neon corals here, then Surfin' For Boys is what I really wanted for summer.

To my eye, this one looks like a neon red-orange base, but then it has this really delicate pink shimmer throughout that makes the polish read as coral.  I really, really like this one.  It may be my favorite neon I've ever worn.  I do love China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, but there's something about the shimmer in this one that appeals to me.  Also, Surfin' For Boys has an excellent formula.  None of the thickness of Flirty Tankini.  It went on in two very easy coats.  No neon-streaky-goopy-bald-spot bullshit here.  I'm really glad I picked this one up.  And speaking of picking up, this is really just the pick-me-up I needed after a hectic weekend.

Yesterday all of my big furniture was moved out of my apartment.  So now it's pretty barren.  Ben and his friend did all of the very heavy moving, while I ran up and down the stairs with as many light loads as I could.  They were both amazing.  Ben's napping next to me right now, which is adorable.  He certainly earned a nap.  All of my furniture is now living in my parents' basement.  My cats, Alley and Raven, seemed delighted to have new things to sniff. In particular, I could see Raven eyeing my pristine couch and flexing those claws of his.  If Raven had a resume, "destroying furniture" would be one of his skills.  You guys remember Raven, right?  I haven't mentioned him much because he's been crashing with my parents.  And he will continue to do so.  He's very happy there.

Here is he is, probably gearing up to destroy that chair.

Anyway, my plan is to spend today cleaning the place, spend the night on an air mattress (because I'm classy), and then clean some more tomorrow morning and afternoon.  I'll hand the keys over at 3:30 and bid farewell to Cleveland Heights.  Insert sad face here.

The weirdest part about moving, for me, is that you go to seeing one place every day to seeing it never. Like I kind of still haven't gotten over that with my place in Chicago.  I used to walk down University Avenue every day to my apartment on 54th.  I used to eat from the same place all the time (Pockets, holla!).  I'd see the same people.  And now I have to do the same thing with Cleveland Heights.  I'll never look out my living room window into the window of Tommy's Restaurant again.  I'll never walk down the street to read a book at Phoenix Coffee again.  But, that's just the way it has to be, I guess.  The next time I post I'll be doing it from my parents' house.  Or maybe Ben's.  I'm still not sure where I'm staying until I move to Manhattan (August 9th, by the way).  

Anyway, that was just an update.  Thank you for all the support you've been giving me.  It means a lot, and reading your advice and success stories has really helped me out; it's nice knowing that some of you have been in similar situations.

Until next time.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri In A Flurry

I'm just going to go ahead and say right off the bat that Sally Hansen Insta-Dri In A Flurry is everything I wanted China Glaze Smoke and Ashes to be.  And it so wasn't.  You may remember my disappointment.  Months later, finding this polish was drug store catharsis at its finest.  

No glittery black in my collection can compete with the gloriousness that is In A Flurry.  I mean, LOOK AT IT:

If you were living inside a snow globe at nighttime, it would look like this.  I said "black" up there, but I have my suspicions that this is actually a dark green jelly.  But I'm not sure.  It looks a bit green in some of those images, but that may be the gold/green glitter talking, like with China Glaze Wagon Trail.  What's not to love about this?  I'll tell you what:  the stupid Insta-Dri brush that I just can't get behind.  It's like a canoe paddle.  But I persevered, and I'm glad I did.  Three coats later (yes, unfortunately, three) I had this lovely flakey glitter galaxy on my hands.  

Every once in a while the Insta-Dri line comes out with a real gem.  Go buy this if you can find it.  You won't regret it.

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (Plus A Rant Meal)

It's really hard to find the perfect shade of white polish.  My favorite one is (or was) Essie Marshmallow, but that's a jelly with kind of a crappy formula.  What if you want to use a creme and you DON'T want your fingers to look like you painted them with Wite-Out?  Enter OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

I actually sort of feel like this one looks better in real life than in pictures.  Also, sorry my cuticles might look a little shiny.  I lotioned those bitches UP.  Anyway, when you look at this polish by itself it just reads as white.  But there's something different about it that makes it look less harsh, a little softer.  That something is just a little drop of gray.  

Here I'm holding a lint-roller handle that's white, and you can see how that pulls out the gray tones in the polish.  Pretty sneaky, OPI.  

I should mention, also, that the formula on this was incredible.  I think we all know that whites, along with yellows, are notoriously streaky and gross to work with.  This one was non-streaky and opaque in two coats.  I recommend it.  I think it's a good shade to have in your stash, and it seems unique to me.

God, I have so many things I want to write about today.  The whole moving thing is coming along, unfortunately.  I am so apprehensive about this moving-to-New-York event.  And you know what pisses me off?  If I share this apprehension with people (ie.  "Are you excited?"  "Actually I'm more nervous than excited," etc.) they invariably say something like BUT ISN'T THIS WHAT YOU WANT?  Okay, listen.  I am uprooting my ENTIRE LIFE and moving to A HUGE CITY I am UNFAMILIAR WITH where I don't know ANYONE.  You try it, okay?  You try doing what I'm doing.  You try being more excited than nervous.  Yes, on some level, this is what I want.  At this point I think it's like, well, I have this opportunity to go and do this thing I've always wanted to do.  And I'm scared.  But I can't really let that stop me, can I?  I will always regret it if I don't try, won't I?  The thought has been in my head lately that maybe my goals are too lofty.  So I get a PhD, and then what?  What if I can't find a job and this is all for nothing?  What if this, what if that.  

Honestly, I've never felt more alone.  I've been moving out of this apartment by myself, little by little, with no offer of help from my family (Ben has offered, but he works during the day, and I also have this issue of not wanting to be a burden to him).  And also, I was talking to my dad two weeks ago and he said something like:

Dad:  Blah blah blah, when we're in Scotland...

Me:  When you're...when you're where?  When?

Dad:  We're going to Scotland right after you move.  Didn't you get the e-mail?

Me:  BLINK BLINK

Maybe this is completely and utterly childish, but in the car on my way home that night I freaked out.  First, my parents are going to Europe and will likely be unreachable after I move if I need them because I'm in this new place and I'm alone.  Second, the fact that they're going to a different continent didn't even merit a PHONE CALL to me?  I get a flight itinerary via e-mail that wasn't even delivered to my inbox?  What?  

Then the other thing that people always ask goes something like this:

Them:  Oh, you're moving to New York?

Me:  Yes.

Them:  That's a dangerous city.

Me:  I've heard.

Them:  So is your boyfriend moving with you?

Me:  No, not right now.

Them:  Oh, that's going to be hard.

Oh, REALLY?  Yes, please rub it in.  Please, let's talk about the fact that this person and I found each other against what seemed like monumental odds, and that now we have to be separated.  Yes, that's what I'd like to talk about.  No, no, don't let's talk about my career or anything.  Let's talk about how my love life is going to be difficult.  Perfect.

I'm sorry, guys.  This whole situation is just mind-blowingly difficult.  Maybe it's just the anticipation that's so difficult, and once I'm there it'll be better.  I'm going in totally blind (haven't seen my apartment, my neighborhood, my school, anything).  And the bright side is that my best friend Sam is in  only in Boston, and she said she would come stay with me and help me get acclimated.  And I miss her like crazy.  So I have that silver lining.  

To conclude:

Rory:  We'll have two coffees and a rant meal please, extra cheese.

Lorelai:  No.

Rory:  Why?

Lorelai:  I'm through ranting.  The rant is over.  I'll have an acceptance meal with a side of fries.

Rain Storm Giveaway Winner

Hey guys, sorry I'm late in posting this.  I had a busy end of the week and a crappy start to this one, so I don't have a nails post for you.  Just the winner of the Sinful Colors Giveaway:


Stephanie (nice name)
She had trouble picking just one polish, but she mentioned OPI DS Vintage.  Which is interesting, because the vast majority of you guys chose OPI DS polishes.  I only own one true DS holo, Reflection (which I like, it's just not love).  Is there something better about OPI holo polishes than, say, China Glaze ones?  I was a little shocked at the DS love you guys were showing.


Anyway, I e-mailed Stephanie and she has confirmed that she exists, so she will be receiving Sinful Colors Rain Storm.  That polish has started popping up in a lot of places (I've heard), so if you didn't win I'm sure there's hope that you'll find it at your local Walgreens sometime soon.

Thanks for entering if you did!

EDITED TO ADD:  Well, in light of recent events, I'm going to have to seriously reconsider purchasing from the brand Sinful Colors ever again.  It seems that they flat-out stole an image from Mary over at Swatch and Learn and are including it in a pamphlet distributed at Walgreens (in the same display that includes Rain Storm).  Here's her post about it.  I know how pissed off I get when someone e-mails me to tell me that my images are being used on eBay or other blogs, so I can't even imagine how Mary must feel.

Tsk, tsk, Sinful.

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

Have you entered the Sinful Colors Rain Storm Giveaway yet?  Click the image at the top of the righthand sidebar to take you to the entry post.


I'm pretty late to this party.  A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted a dupe for Chanel Peridot, the actual Chanel not being an option.  So I headed up to Ulta to find OPI Just Spotted the Lizard.  It wasn't there.  My boyfriend, Ben, met me up there because it's close to his work and I told him what I was looking for.  I stopped up there one more time, couldn't find it, and gave up.  The adorable part of the story is that Ben decided he was going to find this polish for me without being asked.  After a few days and visits to what I assume turned out to be several stores, he brought me home a bottle.

A burnished, antique-y gold to greenish-teal duochrome, Just Spotted the Lizard sparkles in the sun and looks equally, if not more, amazing in the shade and low lighting.  The formula was fine, but a little brushstroke-y, which I didn't like so much.  I did three thin coats here, but two might be fine.  I was doing my nails in a really dimly lit room and I was afraid I might get bald patches with two coats.  Anyway, I love this color.  It reminds me of leaves turning from green to gold in the autumn, so I predict I'll be pulling out this one a lot come fall.  But this bottle of polish now has incredible sentimental value to me--there's something so sweet about Ben's hunt for this really popular shade.  He knew I wanted it and was frustrated I couldn't find it anywhere.  For this reason alone it would come with me to Manhattan.  The perk is that I absolutely adore it.

And a note on the name:  I think it fits this polish really well.  The color does look a little reptilian to me.  We actually saw The Amazing Spider-Man a couple weeks ago and I wasn't impressed.  At all.  I liked the 2002 Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire miles better.  Ben pointed out that Andrew Garfield didn't really look nerdy enough in the role, and I have to agree.  Now instead of complaining that The Amazing Spider-Man was not in fact amazing, but just mediocre, I have this lovely polish (plus another one from the collection) to remember it by.

In related news, when this posts I will hopefully be sound asleep after catching a 3:30am showing of The Dark Knight Rises.  The midnight IMAX showing was sold out, so Ben and I made the executive decision to power through for a 3:30am IMAX showing.  In preparation he bought us 5 Hour Energies, and I still need to pick up a bag of Sour Patch Kids big enough to keep me alert for Gary Oldman.  We'll grab breakfast and head to bed when the movie's over, and then tonight we're going to an Indians game.  It'll be a good start to the weekend.

Thanks for reading!  I'll announce the winner of the Sinful Colors Rain Storm Giveaway on Monday!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Romantic

Hey.  You've got until tomorrow at midnight to enter this giveaway.


The last of these Revlon Balm Stains that I own is the obligatory red shade called Romantic.  I was holding off on posting it because I wanted to wear it for a little while and make sure my first impression still held solid.  Here's a swatch (heavily applied), and then that same swatch after sitting on my arm for about thirty minutes:

It's actually more sheer than I expected, but buildable, and it still gives the lips a pleasant color.

I already told you about the formulas and pros and cons of these in this post over here.  All of these things hold true with Romantic.  My only problem with it is the color.  Now, I'm not exactly a connoisseur of red lip products, but I do wear a lot of red lipstick.  Illamasqua Maneater, MAC Lady Danger, and CoverGirl LipPerfection Hot are my red staples (that's a blue-red, an orange-red, and a true red for reference).  And although in the photographs above Romantic definitely reads as red, there's something...not crisp about it.  Perhaps it's the sheerness, but I suspect that it has a drop of brown or something murky in it that's making it appear sort of...blah.  

After having said that, I will tell you that my choices of red lipsticks are pretty POW-IN-YOUR-FACE red.  I mean, here I am wearing Maneater back in April:

This is like, whoa I can see your lips from a mile away.  It's also a crisp, clear, gorgeous RED-red.  No traces of murkiness in Maneater.  But Romantic isn't like that.  It's just a little...meh.  For me, anyway.  

BUT if you're trying to ease yourself into red, then a stain like this might be a good way to do it.  It's not too red and it can be a sheer wash of color if you want it to be.  

This is just my opinion on the color.  Other people are not as crazy about red lipsticks as I am.  In fact, when I started wearing the Revlon Balm Stain in Sweetheart frequently my mother said, "I like that.  I like that much better than that DARK RED you always wear."  Hey, it's not for everyone.  But maybe that's what's nice about Romantic.  It could be for everyone.

What do you think?

nails inc. Baker Street

Have you entered the Sinful Colors Rain Storm giveaway?  If not, click here.  You have until Friday!


I'm apparently in a super blue/cool toned mood lately, because that's all I want to wear. 

nails inc. Baker Street is a vibrant and bright yet deep cornflower/cobalt blue.  This color in particular is big this summer because Beyonce was wearing it at some point.  I guess she's taking this whole Blue Ivy thing pretty seriously.  Anyway, this is the first nails inc. polish I've ever used, at least to my recollection, and I wasn't particularly impressed with the formula.  It wasn't terrible, it wasn't great.  It covered decently in two coats.  I was impressed with the color, though.  It's absolutely gorgeous, loud and in-your-face.  It looks great in every light you put it in.  Really, I couldn't be happier with the color.  It reminds me a lot of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue, which is $1.99 and pretty close to Baker Street.  Not a dupe, but close (here's a post about that with lovely photographs).  Do with that information what you will.

So I'm moving my things from the east to the west side of Cleveland small carload by small carload.  And yesterday...I moved my Helmer.  This may not sound like a huge task, but sweet Jesus, it took forever.  My apartment is a third floor walk-up, and I had to take out the drawers and carry them down to my car separately because they were heavy.  And people, it was 97 degrees in Cleveland yesterday.  By the time I got to my parents' house on the west side of the city I had to stand in a cold shower for ten minutes just to feel like I wasn't going to die (what?  no, I'm not dramatic).  So now I only have a few bottles of nail polish at my apartment--all cool toned and not a coral or a red in sight!  I know, it's crazy.

Other than wearing Baker Street and moving my Helmer, I've just been trying to spend time with Ben and enjoy summer.  Here's evidence in video form of me swinging at the park by my apartment, in which I say the words "crotch" and "douche."  It is undeniable that I'm a classy broad.

That's all.  I have a few polishes still lying around at my place that I can't wait to show you, so I'll be back soon!  What do you guys think of Baker Street?

Sinful Colors Rain Storm GIVEAWAY

You may remember this post where I showed you a new Sinful Colors polish, Rain Storm.  Well, after everyone seemed to love the color so much I made a trip up to Walgreens to buy another one.  And I found one.  So now I have one to give to you.  In case you don't remember, here's what this polish looks like.

Would you like to win this?  Well, you can.  All you have to do is:

• Be a follower of this blog.  If you aren't, just click "join this site" in the righthand sidebar.
• Comment on this post with: 
• Your name
• Your e-mail address
• And, lastly, since while I'm reading these entries I like to read something fun, tell me the one polish you'd take with you if you were going on a trip and could only take one.  This will both be interesting and perhaps help me with my NYC packing, since I'm limiting myself to 10-12 bottles.
• Tell someone!  Blog about it or tweet about it or whatever Twitter does, or tell your mom or your best friend.  But only one entry per person, though.  By this I mean there will be no extra entries if you provide evidence that you blogged about it.  But I'd love for you to let people know about this.
• Enter by Friday, July 20th at 11:59pm
• Also open to international readers

Usually I give you guys a couple weeks to enter, but I'm going to make this giveaway short and sweet. You've got until Friday.  Monday, July 23rd I will announce the winner.

That's it.  Good luck!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains: As Awesome As You've Heard?

A couple summers ago I went through a serious lip stain phase.  Actually, I think it was the beginning of my lipstick obsession.  But of course the problem with stains is that they're drying and sometimes irritating.  So I switched to matte lipsticks and forgot about stains.  Until I heard about Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stains, which are balm and stain COMBINED.  I'd been hearing raves about them from makeup bloggers and YouTubers alike, so I decided to try a couple.  I have four of them, and I'm going to talk about three today, Sweetheart, Darling, and Smitten.


First, here is what one of them looks like uncapped.

Darling

These are little crayon-type things that don't require sharpening.  They just twist up from the bottom.  And as many people have pointed out, no, the product doesn't go all the way down to the silver bit.  You don't get as much as you think you do, in other words.  But.  Not a big deal because these are amazing and well worth the money.  So, swatches.

Darling at the top, Sweetheart on the bottom

As you can see, these are pretty pigmented.  These aren't really heavily swatched, either; a couple swipes of each.  The color is semi-sheer, but totally buildable.  Also, just for fun, this is what my arm looked like after I tried to wipe the color off.

The stains had been on my arm for about 30 minutes.  As you can see, they do leave behind color.  In the case of Sweetheart, the one on the left, it leaves behind a lot of color.

wearing Darling

While in the packaging it looks pretty lilac, on my lips Darling looks like a pinky-violet.  I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but it turns out that I absolutely love it.

a recycled picture from last week, wearing Sweetheart

another recycled picture; this is Sweetheart after about four hours of wear, after it had settled down into a stain

Sweetheart is a bright, cool pink and the one I wear most often.  Very pigmented.  There's not much else to say about it.

EDITED TO ADD:

Well, this weekend I tried another one of these, Smitten, so I thought I would share that too even though it isn't included in my arm swatches.

Smitten is a really lovely, saturated berry.  This one shows up as very pigmented on my lips. I wore it with a couple of Urban Decay shadows (Sin on lid, Last Call in crease, Hustle in outer-v, Polyester Bride in inner corner), as well as my new cat-eye eyeliner routine, and the entire look ended up being almost too much for a random Saturday.  Well, almost.  I wore it all day anyway.  I'll keep this in mind for our next date night, though.

Also, can we please discuss for a second my new aviators?  I lost my pair, along with the pair I was wearing for years, in my April breakup, so I'd been looking for a new pair for several months.  Why'd I choose these?

They have little neon pink arms.  I'm in love with these sunglasses.  And they were only $14 at Francesca's.

Anyway, back to why these Revlon Balm Stains are great:

• When they go on they're very moisturizing.  They just feel nice.
• They smell AMAZING.  Like peppermint.  I love the scent.
• The very pigmented shades, like Sweetheart, will DEFINITELY stain your lips.  I need makeup remover to get this off my mouth at the end of the day...and if something is billed as a stain, then it should stain your lips like that.  
• They're just...pretty.  Trust me.

The downside:

• While these do go on feeling very moisturizing, as the shiny wears off (which it does), and the stain is left behind, my lips end up feeling dry.  Not a big deal because then all I do is reapply the product.  But some people may not like that.
• Eventually the little point will wear off making application less accurate.  Again, not a big deal.
• For a drug store product these might be a little pricey.  I've seen them for as much as $10, but I ended up finding these BOGO 50% off at Walgreens, so they ended up being about $7 apiece (with Walgreens prices...c. $8.99).

To conclude, I certainly recommend these.  As someone who rarely goes without a product on her lips, I give these my endorsement.  They're easy to wear; you can put them on and forget about them.  And they're gorgeous.  I'm also on the lookout for Honey, the neutral.  It was gone at every drug store I checked.  But it needs to be a part of my makeup stash, so I'll continue my hunt.  

Have any of you tried these?  If so, how do you feel about them?  Are you in love with them too, or would you leave them at the store?

Sinful Colors Rain Storm and Bloggin' My Bangs

I have an uncanny ability to spot new Sinful Colors polishes on displays mostly full of old re-promotes.  I walked into Walgreens yesterday and saw this display (called "Start a Phenomenon") FULL OF pretty colors.  But for some reason one, Rain Storm, stood out and I bought it immediately.  

Okay now, listen to me.  Er, well, you can't hear me.  So read this carefully:  this polish has one of the best formulas I have ever used.  Yes, it's true.  I've shelled out the big bucks for Chanel and Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes, and the formula on this little guy is as good as those.  Pretty much a one-coater with careful application.  Also, I am absolutely in love with this color.  It's a bit grayer and dustier than these photos are showing, and it reminds me a lot of one of the Chanel jeans colors.  Blue Boy?  Blue Boy looks more grayed out.  But I'll never know because I won't be buying that Chanel.  Maybe one of you guys can let me know.  Here is what I do know:  I paid $1.99 for this amazing little polish and it has one of the best formulas in my stash.  It's a gorgeous creme that seems like it'll be perfect for every season.  I call this a win.

Now, life stuff.  More specifically, hair stuff.  I am ONE OF THOSE GIRLS that doesn't really have a hair routine.  I like to wear it long and in Heidi braids and in braided up-dos and in high ballerina-esque buns.  But my haircut had been the same for ten years.  In a decade I hadn't changed my hair.  Here's a picture I've posted before that's pretty indicative of Steff-hair.

I'd been toying with the idea of bangs for quite some time.  The guy I had been dating for the past couple years was vehemently against the idea, so I held off and kept my hair the same.  The other day I went to go get my bi-annual haircut, sat down in the chair, and said to my new stylist (Mike!), "Do you think I would look stupid with bangs?  Tell me the truth."  He toyed around with my hair for a while and then said they would look great on me.  So I said, "Do whatever you want."  I am going to show you several photographs of MY NEW HAIR because I want OPINIONS.

wearing Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Sweetheart

Wearing CoverGirl LipPerfection in Hot

This is a pretty big change for me.  They're not those severe straight-across-y bangs; I can still get them out of my face.  But still, super different.  So, what do you think?  Everyone I've talked to likes them.  Ben is crazy about them.  And yes, I'm happy with them.  I know that if I get sick of them I can just twist them back and pin them.  But I'm pretty insecure about them nonetheless.  They're just so...different.

Also, funny side note.  I thought to myself earlier, "I really need to blog my bangs;" I thought it would be funny if "blog my bangs" became some sort of a cliche.  Like instead of "minding my own business" it was "blogging my bangs."  I was just SITTING THERE, bloggin' my bangs...  No?  Okay, maybe it's just me.  But if we could get something started there I'd be pretty excited.

So that's it.  New hair and a perfect blue drug store polish.  I'm telling you, run, do not walk to Walgreens and buy that blue.  It's calling out to you.  

Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal

I'm back from my mini-vacation!  Sitting in a floating chair in a lake and drinking beer for several days at a time isn't easy, but someone had to do it.  But in all honesty, there was food, fireworks and family, and I'm happy that it was a [relatively] smooth and easy break.  So now let's talk about Maybelline.

The Color Show polishes are relatively new.  I'd been seeing them around the drug store for maybe a month or so, but I never felt compelled to try them.  On Monday night I headed up to CVS in search of a drug store gel liner, and I settled on Maybelline's variation.  It turned out that Maybelline stuff was BOGO 50%, so I got this polish also.  So, this is Tenacious Teal.  I actually love the color.  It reminds me a lot of OPI Jade Is the New Black, but I don't have my bottle with me now to compare.  

When I started putting this one on I was sort of disappointed with the formula.  The first coat went on really weirdly sheer and watery.  But it built up complete opacity after the second coat, and I ended up only needing two.  This polish looks so creamy and luscious on.  I really like it.  I'm glad I only had to pay $3 for it, but I think I would try out another Color Show polish at full price if I liked the shade enough.  And I saw a couple interesting ones there.  My boyfriend will tell you that I was squatting (in a dress) in front of the display for at least five minutes before I chose this color.  That's dedication.

So, a bit more on this past weekend.

It was hot.  I screen-capped this on Saturday at around 2:30pm (YES, I use military time on my phone; people can't get over that for some reason).  Saturday was probably the most brutal day, heat-wise.  We went on a boat ride in the morning to take my little cousins tubing (first mistake:  I'd had no coffee or food).  I got motion sick after about 30 minutes, and the heat was absolutely unbearable.  I spent the rest of the morning trying not to puke and the rest of the day floating in the lake.  I myself don't have a lot of pictures from when we were actually at the lake (those are on my mother's camera and probably Ben's phone), but I do have a couple pictures of where Ben and I stopped on our way home.

If you live in northern/central Ohio, you may be familiar with the signs on 71 touting the greatness of a place called, and I shit you not, "Grandpa's Cheesebarn."  On our drive home we finally decided to stop there and see what the hell it was about.  I say "finally" because my friend Sam had been trying to convince me to stop there for ages.  I never wanted to.  I mean, it's a cheesebarn.  But Ben convinced me.  And by that I mean, he put on a sad face when I said no.  Inside the cheesebarn is all kinds of...cheese.  But also honey and pickles and...just lots of food.  And you can get free samples of everything.  We wandered around there for a while, eating to our hearts' content, and then we went to the candy store next to the cheesebarn and bought some dark chocolate covered cashews for the rest of the ride home.

I could have had this EXCELLENT SOUVENIR.  Or this PERSONALIZED one that I should have gotten for Sam, since she never got to experience the cheesebarn.

Anyway, time well spent.  Cheese well consumed.  Cashews enjoyed immensely.  If you're anywhere near Ashland, Ohio, I suggest you visit this place.  If nothing else, it is hilarious.

That's all for today.  Anyone else tried the Maybelline Color Show polishes?  Any recommendations?