BuJo's and Netflix shows...



Hey everyone! One of the things I mentioned I was into (I think!) was planning. I've always been a planner and I've always been a person who loves lists and routines and being prepared. I can also be spontaneous but only about certain things. I recently started a bullet journal (or BuJo) and I'm not sure yet whether I love it or hate it. I'll be doing an upcoming vlog on this but for now, I'm using my BuJo as a supplementary planner and still using my Happy Planner for day to day stuff. I like the BuJo because it's so open for possibilities but I don't always have time to sit and do a whole spread every week and I think trying to be creative all the time could get really overwhelming. I did this little spread for my upcoming trip to Ka'anapali in Maui County, Hawaii and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. My flights and times are in the top right corner, my hotel and car information including phone numbers and addresses in the bottom left (blurred for privacy reasons til I get back! ;P) and then over on the right bottom I've listed some things I plan to do while I'm there and some things I absolutely can't forget to pack.  I'm going to add another page with a check list of what I need to pack and how I plan to do it this week before I go. Between three cats, myself and an infant it's going to be a lot to take care of. Of course this is the third trip I've taken this year via flight so I'm not SUPER concerned about it but you just never know what things a 15 month old is going to throw at you.  This week I started getting together some shows from Netflix on my iPad for her to watch on the plane. I don't typically let her watch a lot of TV but she does like to watch/listen to Little Baby Bum and I always keep Moana on there as well.  After I get back I'll probably start the first in my series of vlogs/blogs about how to travel with babies.  I typically take about three major vacations a year and three or four little ones as well. Now that I have a child I don't plan to stop travelling but since daycare only gives me two free weeks a year it's likely that I'll go down to two major (week long) trips and probably one or two weekend ones. That being said everyone told me not to fly with a nine month old, that it would be hell. Been there. Done that. She was great. Everyone told me not to fly with a one year old. It will be a nightmare they said. Been there. Done that. Had a few little hiccups but nothing at all major. Now she's 15 months and is getting to the stage where she loves to push boundaries and hates to take naps so we'll see! But I aim to come prepared and hopefully it will go well and I'll at least have some tips on what NOT to do if it doesn't! Do you have any travel plans this fall? Any travel tips for me before I leave? ;P

Getting to know you...

Hello again! If you came back that is. ;P Yesterday I posted about how I wanted to take this blog in a new direction and start adding new content to it.  So today I thought it might be nice to get things rolling by letting you into my little corner of the world. So you already know I love nail polish and I'm a licensed nail tech.  But there's a ton of things you may NOT know about me.  I'm not going to list those all out today of course but there's nothing wrong with a little getting to know you chat, right? Since we're starting over a bit here let me introduce you to the woman BEHIND the nails...

So first of here's a more update picture of me than what you see on my sidebar. Yes it's got a snapchat filter cause let's face it this is Friday and I'm exhausted and my curls are going haywire but through the magic of SnapChat we all look like goddesses, right? (PS you can see me in all my unfiltered glory on YouTube ;P). So thing number one you may not know about me...in my actual real life I am a medical biller. I do have my nail tech license and for awhile I did nails as a profession but what I found was it tended to be a lot of just polish and not a lot of creative art and it just didn't work for me. For a little while I worked in an upscale spa and it was....an interesting experience. If you're considering becoming a tech and working it as a profession I'd say really look into it. The hours are long (I was working 10+ hour days and often without breaks) the pay is commission, clients don't always have any consideration and will cancel, show up late, and/or want things to be very specific even if they're not the way you'd want your work to be displayed and it can take you a long time to build a client base. One of the things I disliked most about it was the lack of time off to just enjoy life. I love nails and I've always had a job but life is about more than just work for me. My job now offers me the opportunity to have time to have a life outside of the office.

Which brings me to thing number two: I LOVE to travel. It's probably the thing I'm most passionate about in life other than my daughter. Travelling used to be very difficult for me because it can be costly but as I've done it more I've learned where to splurge and where to pinch and found lots of ways to make travel more accessible and efficient for my family. This year for the first time I got to experience travelling with an infant and I hope to add some tips about how to travel on a budget and how to travel with babies and toddlers (and as she grows older, kids) to the blog since I think it's something a lot of people may be interested in learning about. I rarely traveled growing up and only once outside the country (very briefly) so I want to make sure my daughter sees as many places as I can afford her to as she grows up.

We can go ahead and just go into that I had a daughter last year so you may or may not know that I'm a mom!  For various reasons I never thought I would be one and I'm ecstatic that it's a reality for me now. My pregnancy was NOT easy and I'm unfortunately a NICU mom so the first bit of motherhood was really hard for me. I was also diagnosed with PPD pretty early on so that's something that may pop up from time to time.  Definitely motherhood will be a large part of the new blogging lineup since it takes up a lot of my time and attention and it's something I'm having a lot of fun navigating. 
I'm finding that I'm a much more laid back mom than I expected to be but we do a lot of natural things as well. I made some baby food in the beginning but we quickly gave that up for baby led weaning. We nursed and still are nursing at 15 months but she had formula as well in the early days. I babywear but we also have and use a stroller.  We make most of her food now since she eats what we do but she also gets some pre-made snacks. We cloth diaper during the day but she wears disposables overnight. So I wouldn't say I'm really a crunchy mom but there are elements of it in there. I'm sure my daughters meals and crafts and other things will be a component of the blog.

Speaking of crafts...you might already know I love crafts. I consider myself to be a pretty creative person and crafting and creating are my favorite things to do. I'm currently doing a DIY kitchen redo on a budget so that may show up here and I also love making felt foods for my daughter. I do some embroidery, I'm learning lettering and I Bible journal and paint a bit. Painting isn't my forte but I still love doing it. There are lots of other things I'm trying and I'm also a HUGE planner girl and I love to cook so some of those things may show up as well. 

Since I don't want to make this TOO long I'll go ahead and wrap up here for today.  I'd love to know more about you and things you love to do as well so please drop me some comments and let me know! :)

The end of the beginning...


Hey everyone! Or at least anyone who's still reading. Do people still even read blogs? Are they like newspapers? A thing of the past? Lost to their flashier cousins, the insta-apps that let us drop a quick picture with a snappy one liner and be done with it.  I don't know. What I do know is that since the time I started Bee Polished so much has changed. Not just in the blogging world or on the internet but in my own life too. I used to polish my nails everyday. Sometimes twice a day. I loved doing it. I loved planning out designs and playing with new techniques and seeing what I could do with what tools.  Don't get me wrong; I still love to polish my nails. I still love to play with different techniques and tools and I still get excited over fun new colors and finishes. I'm still a nail tech and I still enjoy doing other people's nails here and there as well. But a lot of the initial passion is gone for me. It's no longer an outlet for me or a creative space. It feels forced at times and I find myself struggling to come up with regular content for you guys. I started adding makeup and that sort of helped but even though I enjoy unboxing fun things for you and reviewing makeup I'm not really into investing tons of money on things I don't use often and my lighting situation is not ideal for makeup and has already cost me a bit and takes up a ton of space. I've considered shutting down but I love this space. It was an outlet for me for so long and I'm not ready to let go of it.  SO...onto my next point. This space is going to be changing a bit. Or maybe a lot. I've toyed with this idea before and written about how I wanted to overhaul but I think now is an ideal time for it. I feel like in a lot of ways my life is really starting over right now and it's great time to start over here too. I do have a new name in mind and at some point I'll have to let go of Bee Polished and put up a new sign and turn the page and start a new chapter. But for now we can just start up a little epilogue and ease into the new stuff slowly. This is a big deal for me. It's a new beginning. It's letting you into the cracks and crevices and nuances behind the nails. And if that's not for you then I understand that too! We're all in different places in our lives. But if my little corner still interests you then I welcome you into the next chapter of Bee Polished. :)

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