Happy Fourth of July!

For all my American visitors, happy Independence Day! I hope you are all enjoying your parades, your barbecues, your fireworks, and fun times with family and friends! We'll be heading to the morning parade with my family. My dad always has a lovely spread of breakfast foods and he even sets up a tent so we have some shade. After that we'll be hanging out for a barbecue and ending the night with fireworks!

A Ric Rac Nail Fail

When I was younger my mom used to sew Halloween costumes and some holiday dresses for my me and my siblings. No off-the-rack Walmart costumes for us! I remember hours of her sitting at the kitchen table with her Singer sewing machine, patterns, fabric, ribbons, and threads. I guess I was feeling nostalgic the other day because these nails are inspired by Ric Rac ribbon.  Do you know ric ric? It's wavy and looks like this:
So I tried to translate it to a nail design. Didn't exactly work out BUT it's been a while since I posted an actual nail design on here so it's nice to see some nails for once!

A Quick Trip to NOLA (Part One)

Any opportunity we have to scratch our travel itch we try to take. So when Memorial Day approached we knew we wanted to seize the opportunity (and days off) to schedule a quick getaway. We considered a few locations but ultimately settled on a brief visit to New Orleans, Louisiana. Want to see what we got into?

An Overdue Recap: Nails, Meals, and Miles!

Sometimes a girl just needs to paint her nails, kick her feet up, and blog a little, you know? And for me that time is right now. Like right this very second. I know it’s been a while, so there are beaucoup updates to share!

The Last Italy Recap: Final Days in Florence

Oh my goodness it is about time this gets posted, right? I mean, our trip to Italy was literally over six months ago but no big. I've recapped our time in Rome (part one and part two), Vatican City (part one and part twoPompeii, Venice (part one and part two), and Milan. Now it's time to share how we spent our final days in Florence!

Maxing Out Our Time in Milan

From Venice we traveled north to Milan. I was psyched to see Milan and all of its fashionable inhabitants but I was also really looking forward to our day trip to Lake Como. We were in Milan for three days but I really count it as one and a half because we only went sightseeing the first day and the third morning we were there. This is what we did on those days!

A Few Days in Venice - Day Two

For day two/our last day in Venice it was back to sunny skies all day. We hit the road water and visited the Venetian islands of Murano and Burano. These islands were so tiny and fun to explore.

A Few Days in Venice - Day One

We only had a few days to spend in Venice during our two weeks in Italy in September. I really wish we would have added one more time though because wandering the canals and waterways was so much fun. It's like another world and was completely different than what we are used to. This is how we spent our few days in vivacious Venice.

Things for 2019

Alright, so this year didn't see quite the same amount of excitement as 2017 did but we still did manage to have what I think was a darn good year. This year I went to see Taylor Swift with my siblings, completed my very first Tough Mudder Half, celebrated my broski's 21st birthday in Las Vegas, tried a new activity, saw Christina Aguilera in concert, continued my family's paint party traditions, and spent two blissful weeks with my love in Italy

But now it's on to even bigger and brighter things in 2019 and I can't wait to see all that happens in the new year. Of course, it wouldn't be a new year without my "Things For" post. It's basically New Year's resolutions but slightly different. Let's see how badly I failed I did based on the goals I set back in January 2018. My "Things For" 2018 list included the following: 
  1. Travel to a new country and/or stateHooray! Checked this off both as a new state (Nevada) and a new country (Italy).
  2. Use one new never-before-used-on-the-blog polish per month. Let's see....in January I swatched OPI Relentless Ruby; in February I swatched Sally Hansen Street Flair, in March  I didn't use any new polishes; in April I swatched Sinful Colors Alfresco; in May I didn't post at all; in June I didn't post any nails; in July I didn't swatch anything; in September I swatched OPI Italian Love Affair; in October I didn't swatch anything; in November I didn't swatch anything; and in December I swatched OPI Pompeii Purple. So all in all I did five new-to-the-blog polishes. Five out of twelve isn't toooo bad, right? Lol.
  3. Check at least five things off my Bucket List and two things off my 101 in 1001 list. From my bucket list I completed #126, #211, and #587 and from my 101 in 1001 list I completed #41, #90, #91. Since I completed two things from my 101 in 1001 list I'm going to mark this as completed. 
  4. Post a design for every major holiday: Valentine's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. Every single year I try to do this and every single year I fail.
  5. Review this list and create a list for 2019. Done! Hopefully I do better in 2019!
My Things for 2019 are going to be:
  1. Swatch at least one new-to-the-blog polish per month.
  2. Run at least 50 miles total this year.
  3. Eat more fruits and vegetables and less meat. Perhaps a meatless Monday or Fish Friday?
  4. Try at least one new activity. Doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's new.
  5. Travel to at least one new country and one new state.

Do you make new year's resolutions? What are some of your goals for the new year?

Happy New Year: Best of 2018!

I bet you thought I would forget, didn't you? It's that time of year again--time for my annual Best Of post featuring my favorite nail designs that I did in the year prior. I did this for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, so there was no way I was letting this tradition stop.

I am happy to report that 2018 saw the exact same number of posts as 2017....73 strong. However, there were notably less nail-related posts in 2017. I am going to try to get back to doing at least a few more nail designs on the blog. After all, it is Nikki's Nail Files, after all. Anyway, here are my top 10 favorite manicures from 2018:

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