Our Wedding Invitations Arrived

Ahh, our wedding invites arrived! 

I searched and searched online and finally found a design I loved at Paper Source. They are seriously GORGEOUS. It's funny because it literally took us four hours to design them with the Paper Source designer. FOUR.HOURS. But what can I say? It was worth it.

I am obsessed. We were going for a traditional and classic invite without a bunch of colors. If fact, it ended up being silver, white, and dark gray. This is what the full suit looks like:

Because of the silver foil we went plain for the details and rsvp cards. However, leaving the trifold alone looked unfinished. We decided to do a ribbon band with a stamped and embossed monogram of our last initial. That was the only thing we had to assemble ourselves but believe me it took forever. First we (I) had to cut 80 portions of the blue ribbon. Then I had to cut equal amounts of the silver ribbon. Then we had to punch out the bigger black squares. Then we had to punch out the smaller silver squares. Then we had to stamp each one, layer the powder, and use the embossing gun (which is super fun BTW and that might get a post of its own) and then we had to adhesive it all together. We wanted the monogram to be attached the band of ribbons but make it so the band of ribbons would slide off the invite.

And then this is what the invite looked like before it was ready to be stuffed in the envelope. We printed the envelopes in a faux calligraphy (calligraphy is SO expensive I found out and I was too chicken to try to DIY that).

Apologies for the poor photos. I only used my good camera for some of them! Alright, so we have to get these in the mail and then start the nail-biting-inducing process of waiting for the rsvps to roll in!

My Parisian Themed Bridal Shower

Yet another wedding-related post. I promise we're almost finished with all the wedding-related stuff and I'll go back to just nails (and then some). But for now, I'm sharing a peek into my bridal shower! My bridal party planned a *surprise* Parisian-themed bridal shower for me. It was nice to see everyone and I was blown away by the fact that one of my closest college buddies showed up -- she had to drive 3 hours each way! Unfortunately, I don't have the digital files for photos so we'll have to do the whole photo-of-a-photo thing.

Full disclosure, it was not really a surprise. Hence I wore the white pants. The rouse was that Andrew and I were going to lunch with my future in-laws. The problem was not that we never go to lunch with them--it was that we do that somewhat often and we only ever go to one restaurant (it's my father-in-law's favorite). So when Andrew told me we were going somewhere else I was immediately suspicious. It was easy to put 2 and 2 together and I decided to wear white pants because that was bridal but non-committed in case I was wrong. After all, it's summer and people wear white all the time.

It was a buffet brunch with mimosas and delicious food. Andrew's family was there, my family was there, my friends, and my mom's friends, too. And how cute is this little cake?! The black bow? So precious! They also gave out Eiffel Tower cookies and a compact mirror with an Eiffel Tower as favors.

Overall, it was a nice time. The opening presents while everyone watched me was a little awkward and I got SO MANY KITCHEN things I could open a second kitchen. By far the best gifts were the Himalayan sea salt lamp (from my future sister-in-law) and the creme brulee set (my college buddy).

 One step closer to the wedding!

One Love Manchester

Yesterday I, like many people, tuned in to watch the One Love Manchester benefit concert organized by Ariana Grande after a terrorist attack occurred in connection with her Dangerous Woman tour performance two weeks ago in Manchester, England. I posted these nails to my Instagram today as a show of support to Ariana, her fans, and everyone else who came together to show "One Love"

If you had not heard, a bomb went off as concert goers were leaving the concert...leaving innocent concertgoers dead and many more injured. My heart dropped when I heard the news because my sister and I went to see this tour when it was at Madison Square Garden in New York in February. It's a little too close to home and it's a shame we live in a world where this behavior actually happens. I send my thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families. We all deserve better.

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.

Swatch: Gelish Mini Passion

My sweetheart and I will celebrate our SEVEN YEAR anniversary on April 24th! I'll put a detailed post up about it later but if you've been reading this blog for a while you probably know exactly what we're going to do. When it comes to our anniversary we are very traditional and try not to stray too far. I can't believe this will be our last time celebrating an April anniversary since we're getting married in September. Anyway, let's get back to the reason for this post....a swatch of one of my new gel polishes! You know I've been looking for the perfect light pink polish for my friend's wedding and let's just say I couldn't resist buying some gel polishes in some other colors too! This one is by Gelish Mini and is the color "Passion," which is a really fun bright pink that is perfect for the warmer weather in spring and summertime.

I cannot tell you how much I love gel polish. It is SO convenient because it has NO dry time. Seriously, you can have a complete manicure in about 15 minutes and you don't have any drying/hardening time. You can't beat it!

The only thing that drove me nuts about this polish was that you could still see some darn visible nail line, despite doing two coats. It wasn't visible ALL the time but in certain light you could definitely see it.

This is a photo that I took without any light source.  Notice how I forgot to cap my index finger? oops! 

See what I'm saying about the visible nail line? It's not so bad but still, very annoying.

My Gel Lamp: Abody UVLED Nail Lamp 9C

If you're interested in DIY-at-home gel manicures (and not the "no-light" sorts of gel) then you probably already know that you MUST use an appropriate light in order to complete the manicure. My brother gifted me this Abody UVLED Nail Lamp 9C this past Christmas and I'm downright giddy to post about it here on the blog because I love it! Here's what it's packaging looks like:

The packaging is really nice and simple. It's easy to read and let's you know all of the important deets: the left bottom corner has little icons and says "sunshine, non-harmful, non-blacken UV/LED, 24W Power." Some lamps out there are either UV or LED but this one is both, if you're into that sort of thing. The lamp itself is so light--I doubt it's even one pound--and shaped in a half circle/dome. From straight on it looks like this:

The top is a glossy clean white with a power button (the only button on the light) and two LED lights. There are actually three ways to use this lamp. First, you can simply put your hand in the dome to activate the lights for however long you want. Second, you can tap the power button once for 30 seconds of light. Third, you can tap the power button twice for 60 seconds of light. If you press the button to activate the light, then the light will turn off after it hits your desired 30 or 60 seconds.

The underbelly of the lamp is where all of the lights are, obviously. My lamp has 15 lights in a U formation and is tinted pink. Abody sells these lamps in green and blue though too, in case you're not into pink. My brought gave me the pink one and I really like it.

That's a lot of lights! In order to make the lights actually work though (i.e. light up) you need to plug in the power cord. There's a spot on the side of the lamp where you can plug in the cord. It's the little boxy area in this photo:

It's a pretty standard power cord. I saw online that Abody also sells lamps with a USB option that would plug into your computer. I don't have the USB so I don't know how well that works.

All in all, I am SO pleased with this lamp. It's lightweight and easy to transport. It's not clunky and doesn't take up much space at all. And it works! Plus, it's big enough that you can fit your toes in there if you want to do a gel pedicure. Abody also sells a version with a digital timer on the top instead of the power button. I think that version is called the "9S" lamp. If you need some more info on gel polish, check out my Gel Q&A post.