Father's Day

Since both of our fathers spent Father's Day with other people's children, Mr. Bruises and I decided to spend it together with our boys. Travis and I took Mr. Bruises and Riley to his new swimming hole that we found. We had an awesome time.



















Travis had a great time, fetching ball after ball! I swear that dog never tires!



Riley, who is famous for being one of the only golden retrievers that I know that doesn't like water actually got in the creek on his own. I think he was inspired by Travis. Riley only went in until the water touched his belly.
We did manage to hold Travis and let Riley fetch a ball or two.

What a wonderful afternoon it was for all of us. We are going to try to do it on a regular basis!

Rules, why have them?

Seriously, why have rules when they never get enforced? This applies to so many things in life, but right now, it applies totally to nail competitions. One of the reasons that I quit competing years ago was rampant cheating and model thievery. Things got a little better through the years and I was talked into giving it another try. I guess some things never change.

While in Orlando, in both competitions, people were still working on their models after the briefing, even though the RULES state that you can't touch after briefing. My model actually had to call out the cheaters to officials. One particular competitor was doing it in both competitions. A competitor behind me asked when does that become grounds for disqualification. I agree with her. One warning is enough, come on, the rules were read to you just minutes before. If you do it repeatedly, your ass should be out. Period.

What is really chapping my ass right now is the fact that the rules specifically state that in art competitions that NO FLOWERS in any design. Yet I see pictures of the second and third place winners and what do I see? FLOWERS! Second place had 20 flowers, encompassing 2 of 10 nails and featured a Flower Shop in the design. Third place had five roses on five nails that is HALF of the design.

So word is that they got a 5 point deduction. WOW how generous. It should be 5 points per infraction, no, actually it should be disqualification. A rule is a rule and if you don't abide by it, it is considered CHEATING plain and simple. Cheating is grounds for disqualification.

My entry didn't make the top ten, yet I followed the rules and those that didn't made the top ten. Now I am not saying that my entry should have been in the top 10, but it should have been ranked before the rule breakers. Come on, how many Miss America's have you ever seen without a bouquet of roses? Answer? ONE the one I painted that followed the NO FLOWERS rule.

It's time for Nailpro to take a stand and enforce the rules. There should be no grey area. A rule is a rule. Enforce it. Enforce all of them. Giving points deductions here and there is a slap in the face to the competitors that abide by the rules, while you are rewarding those that wave their finger in the air to the rules.

Peace out!

The Swimming Hole!

BFF Jill and I took Travis on a hike in Crooked Creek park this weekend. We found a really great, private swimming hole for Travis. Travis had a ball! He would have swam all day if I would have let him.
Travis is my outdoors dog. He listens really well. I was able to have him off leash on the trail. Riley, on the other hand, hates the outdoors. He stayed home in bed, in the air conditioning and didn't really seem to mind that Travis was getting an outing.

When we got home, I gave Travis a bath, in the yard, with the garden hose. He just stood there and let me do it. Riley runs when he sees the hose. Later, Travis was still a little wet and he let me blow dry his fur. Again, Riley would have run for the hills.
Riley and Travis are such different dogs. I love it. I have the best of both worlds!

Penguin Victory Parade!

Who would think that the same year that The Steelers win the Super Bowl and I get to go to the victory parade, that The Penguins would win The Stanley Cup and I would attend another victory parade in the same year! WHOO HOO for Pittsburgh sports, now how about those Buccos??

BFF Jill, Natalie, Tammy and I headed to the 'Burgh bright and early on Monday morning for the parade. We staked out a good spot before the crowds stared to arrive and we settled in for about four hours of defending our spaces.

We found a nice spot across from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. There is a sculpture of a dinosaur out front and we noticed that it had a Penguins shirt on as well as some sort of brown mask or bandanna. It took me two and a half hours of staring at this thing before I realized that it was supposed to be it's playoff beard! We also noticed how the window decorations made it appear that a hand was grabbing at the dinosaur's crotch. Hey, we had a lot of time on our hands!

I can't tell you how many douchebags we had to kick out of our space. One lady asked if a six year old could sit on BFF Jill's lap. Several just pushed up to the fence and kicked my cooler out of the way. I smiled at them, told them to move and offered them second row. They left. The biggest douche of the day was one who pushed his two kids through four rows of people right in front of me while he followed. I politely told him that this was NOT going to work. He then said to me that he has been a Penguins fan since he was six. I politely told him then he should have arrived at 8 and claimed a spot like I did. He then said he was going to find some "cool" people to hang out with. Good luck with that one Douchebag!

The parade was awesome! I got to see all of my favorites, starting with Mario! Too bad his driver was driving so fast, I barely got a photo of him!

Then we have the Douchenstahl. He was boo-ed the whole parade route. I was shaking from booing so violently that the photo is blurry! Even though I live in Armstrong County, I am sympathetic to the poor people who have him as Mayor!

My most exciting moment was seeing my favorite player, Kris Letang! I was screaming for him to take off his hat and release his #Letangssexhair (Twitter speak for those not in the know). He, unfortunately, didn't hear me.

Then, there was Gino! People started chanting for him and he went nuts! Mama and Papa Malkin were in the truck too!

Finally, Crosby and Fleury were coming with the cup. When Sidney hoisted it and shoved it in the air, the crowd was deafening! I seriously COULD NOT hear myself screaming. It was an unbelievable moment, that I will remember forever.

Congratulations, Pittsburgh, you have incredible sports teams and Pittsburgh fans are like no others. Too bad Wheaties ignored the Penguin's underdog win, and instead honored The Lakers on their cereal boxes.

Orlando Recap

Orlando was an awesome trip. I had so much fun with my girlies. We called the weekend "Girls Behaving Badly in Orlando" We made a ton of videos. We have one of Amanda pole dancing on the tram to the airport terminal. We have one of Jill dancing in a liquor store until be got kicked out for taking pictures. We have one of us in the van, in traffic, asking random groups of tourists for directions to something we were right in front of. Then there's our favorite, videos of us heckling the golfers. All of these are on Facebook. If you aren't my friend on there, why the hell not? Find me Rhonda Kibuk and add me, you will be happy you did just for the entertainment value that these videos will bring!

My competition experience was great. I think I did very well after a multiple year break. I totally bombed my first competition. The major malfunction is that I was given a piece of equipment that has not been patented yet. Well, I stuck it in my bra so that no one could photograph it while it wasn't in use. I then went to use the rest room with BFF Jill, who was my model in that competition. When the competition started, I as done with the first nail. It was time to use my device. I reached in my bra and IT WA GONE! Let me tell you, I have never been felt up more than I felt up myself at that moment because my hand was in every nook and cranny of my bra looking for it. I realized it must have fallen out when I went to the bathroom. I had two people go look for it and about 30 minutes later, it was located. Whew! The damage was done though. My hand was like a jack hammer. Needless to say, I barely finished and the nails were awful and I didn't make the top ten.

The next competition was much better. This was the Design Sculptured Nails with a purple and gold theme. I did a purple to glitter fade for a sea and sculpted 3d goldfish that were then inlaid with clear. I ended up placing 5th out of 25 and was very happy with that!

This weekend is Vegas and even though I won't be attending, I did complete an art entry to be turned in. The theme for this one was "America". I came up with the most awesome idea and with a little help came up with what I feel is my best flat nail art entry I have produced to day. I will be sure to share the story and photos after the competition has been judged.

Good luck to all my team mates competing in Las Vegas! Go Team Pink!!!

Orlando Bound!

Trixie and I will be leaving in about three hours to pick up my co-worker, Sue, my BFF Jill and her sister Amanda and heading for the airport. We are all headed for the Premier Orlando Beauty Show, which is the largest beauty show on the east coast. This is Trixie's first trip and I am sure she is excited!

I used to compete nationally in nail competitions. I travelled like crazy. Then I retired and started working as a floor judge for the competitions. Well, I've been talked into coming back. I've joined a competition team with a dear friend, Lynn Lammers. We were team mates on a former team. After signing on to Lynn's team and starting her ten week training program, Lynn went to Germany as the US Champion and came home World Champion!!

This will be my first time competing in about four years. I am in it to have fun this time. I've worked hard and I am hoping for the best.

I better get some sleep, because I won't be sleeping much this weekend! We are coming home on Tuesday. One thing is for sure, it will be a jam-packed, fun-filled weekend of shopping, learning, sharing, laughing and just having an awesome time with my best besties in the whole wide world!!

Look out Orlando, here we come!!