20th Birthday for the Broski

It's not every day your little brother enters into his roaring 20s so my family decided to celebrate by going to where some real roaring happens...the zoo! He's not really one for big hullabaloos and he's fine with pretty much anything so this was the perfect celebration for him. My favorite part of any zoo is always the big cats. I think it's because when I used to work late nights (9 pm to 4 am) I would sleep all day and my sister would call me a lion. If I could pick any animal to be it would probably be a type of big cat, such as this tiger!

I mean, who doesn't want to lounge around and snooze all day?? Where do I sign up? The zoo also has this really cool network of overhead tunnels that the big cats can roam through. I caught this one picking a shady spot up near the trees for a snooze.

My second favorite part would be the zebras. I would guess this surprises nobody because zebra strips is one of my go to nail designs. What can I say? It's easy and always looks good! If you don't believe me check out my old zebra nail posts here, here, here, and one of the super old ones here. Also, a little Nikki's Nail Files trivia for you...a zebra pedicure was included as one of my very first blog posts all those years ago!

He's not one for photos but we were able to get him to join us for a photo with a giant kangaroo.

And of course the day ended with cake. Like I said, Broski isn't one for photos and definitely won't be caught taking a selfie with me (WAHH!) so I have to seize the opportunity when I have it!

Happy 20th Birthday Broski! 

I hope you have a fantastic year!

My Birthday!

Alright everyone, it's time to celebrate a birthday here on The Files....mine! Unfortunately, I had a host of job duties and responsibilities to tend to before I could celebrate yesterday. But in a serendipitous twist one of those job duties took me into the city. The fiance works in the city so we planned to meet up for dinner. The fiance surprised me by taking me a sushi restaurant that was SO GOOD. I mean really, so good.

We ordered so much because I wanted to try it all. For appetizers, we ordered dumplings and vegetable tempura. Then I ordered a rainbow roll and the bronzizzle roll. Have to say, I'm not sure I like bronzino...but the rest was delicious.

And of course we had to order dessert. Luckily, the restaurant's desserts were small, and we were able to try a bunch of treats to test out. We settled on the fluffernutter dumplings (Andrew ate all of those though), a delicious Japanese dessert called moshi, and, naturally, creme brulee (because...yum),

The moshi was a strawberry ice cream wrapped in rice paper so it was chewy on the outside. As if I haven't said this enough during this post....everything was delicious!

All in all I had a great birthday. And my handsome fiance gave me a great gift! He gave me a new camera lens! So I'll be going out and taking some photos ASAP to try it out!

Happy Wedding Day! Wedding Recap

You may remember my buddies Sarah and Alysia from when they got engaged, or when Sarah asked me to be her Maid of Honor, or maybe Sarah's bridal shower, or maybe even her bachelorette party. Either way, there has been a lot of Sarah's wedding on this blog recently! I am so psyched to say that they are officially MARRIED as of May 6, 2017!!

The ceremony took place at 4:30 PM on May 6, 2017, and it was outside in a park. It rained a bit during the morning while we were getting ready BUT the weather was perfect for the ceremony. They had a guitarist/instrumentalist play music while all of the guests were waiting and then also to play the processional for the bridal party.

The reception was at a local Moose Lodge that Alysia's father belongs to. The brides and their families decorated the whole venue themselves, including hanging tulle and twinkling lights from the ceiling, perfecting the table settings, and putting out all the lawn games, favors, and activities.

The day began at 8:20 AM when I had to run a last minute Maid of Honor errand. The girls had written each other letters to read while they were getting ready but Sarah forgot hers. I had to fetch it from Alysia. Then I met up with Sarah and her bridesmaids to head to the salon to get our hair and makeup done. Sarah had the cutest little wine glass tumblers for us as a thank you surprise.

This is a sneak peak I took after my hair and makeup was done (and the tumblers Sarah gave us):

Then we ran back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. I helped Sarah into her dress, tied the corset (which is no walk in the park let me just tell you), put on her jewelry and off we went. The girls got ready at separate locations but we were all taking the same limo so we had to blindfold both brides so they wouldn't ruin the surprise. Obviously I took the time to sneak another selfie.

Then we did the whole walk-in-and-go-to-your-place thing. They took their blindfolds off shortly before walking down the aisle. How pretty are both of these girls?

By the way, LOL at Andrew photobombing two of these photos. Crackin' me up!

Also, not gonna lie...it's not the most attractive photo of me that I've seen.

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. I held the rings, Sarah's bouquet, her vows, tissues, my Maid of Honor speech, and who knows what else. Thank goodness for being able to stow them in my cleavage. 

Oh my god, originally Sarah and Alysia were on opposite sides (Sarah being closer to our side) but during the opening wine toast between the brides and their parents...Sarah's dad may have spilled some red wine ON ALYSIA'S DRESS! They switched sides so you wouldn't see it in the photos. Finally they made it through their vows (some tears were shed) and were pronounced Mrs. and Mrs.!

Then off they went to the reception!

The reception decorations looked like this:

These were some of the decor items: card/gift table, centerpiece, and they even decorated the hanging moose head (lol)...

As Maid of Honor I gave a toast. It talked about Sarah, when I met Alysia, and a quote that perfectly summed up their relationship. I won't give away too much but it ended with me saying this:

I am so honored to have stood by your side today. 

I wish you all the best, every happiness you can imagine,

and I can't wait to see where your life journey takes you together. 

I hope everyone will join me as I raise my glass and toast...to Mrs. and Mrs. (last name)!

Later in the night, the girls cut the cake, which ended up in Alysia's face....

But seriously, how gorgeous is this cake? A friend of theirs made it!

And finally here's a shot of Andrew and I:

And the rest is history! We had so much fun at their wedding and I am so honored to have served twice now as a Maid of Honor.


Andrew and I have another wedding in June for one of Andrew's best friend's brothers. Obviously I'm not Maid of Honor for that wedding! But for real, being in a wedding and being Maid of Honor can be quite stressful (but fun!). It will be nice to just be a guest for the next wedding who gets to sit and enjoy the show!

Then after the June wedding it looks like mine is next! And then who knows, maybe my next friend who gets married will make me a Matron of Honor and three time MOH!

Phew time to sleep now! This was such a long post!

Swatch: Red Carpet Manicure Simply Adorable

Oh my gosh Sarah gets married tomorrow! Naturally, I have to do a bit of pampering and getting ready for the wedding, which includes doing my nails! I was lucky to find the perfect light pink polish for the wedding. Where did I find it? Red Carpet Manicure from Ulta makes a gel polish called Simply Adorable, which is a subtle light pink. Here are some swatches of the polish:

I can't wait to celebrate Sarah's wedding tomorrow! But until then, I have to shower, look over the speech, and get my clothes and accessories ready for tomorrow! Ahhhh so excited!

Nail News: What Your Nails Say About You

Hey guys, if you're interested in a laugh....check this youtube video out. A few of them are actually pretty funny (once you get past the whole totally-inappropriate stuff).For example, I totally agree with the red nails one and the nail art thing. I can't tell you how many times my boyfriend has texted me only to hear back about an hour later that I was painting my nails. It's pretty much expected now I think when he hasn't heard from me and he knows I don' have much to do.

The video is by a YouTuber named Jenna Marbles. Her YouTube channel is here.