We have a winner!

I'm happy to announce that the winner of my Soft Surroundings giveaway, chosen randomly by Rafflecopter, is:

 Debbi at She Accesorizes Well!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

I will be sending Debbi an e-mail shortly, and I'll also be sending Soft Surroundings an e-mail letting them know who the winner is.

I hope Debbi enjoys this beautiful top as much as I have!

Visible Monday: Winning the Battle with My Weak Nails

Two months without peeling my nail polish off! This is OPI  in "Manicurist of Seville"

I love pretty fingernails.  But for years I didn't have them.

As a kid and as a teenager, I bit my nails incessantly.  Well, finally one day I decided I was going to stop biting my nails.  It wasn't as hard as I had expected. Once I made the decision not to bite them, they grew.

And I would be delighted...finally able to apply pretty polish to my nails!  But guess what? The biting-the-nail habit turned into something arguably just as bad or worse: peeling off the polish.

Sometimes I would only have the polish on for a couple of hours and I would already be peeling and picking it off.  Yes, obviously I have issues.

I tried fake nails a few times, but my budget never really allows for them on a regular basis, and they left my real nails more unhealthy than ever.

A terrible habit!

The peeling-off habit was very damaging to my nails, too.  I read or heard somewhere that when you peel off the polish, you also strip off essential oils that your nails need to be strong and healthy.

I believe it.  My nails were flimsy.  I already take a B-vitamin supplement that is supposed to help hair and nails, so that should have been covered.

5 weeks without peeling off my nail polish!

My big decision

I don't know what prompted it, but one day last summer I decided I wasn't going to peel off my nail polish anymore.

It was a habit of long standing that I figured wasn't going to be easy.  But for the last couple of years, I've committed to trying to be the best woman-of-a-certain-age that I can be.  And having ragged, ugly fingernails just didn't jibe with that commitment.

So, on July 28th, I wrote this on Facebook:

"OK, FB friends, you are my witnesses: I hearby determine to break the appalling habit of peeling off my nail polish! If you see me doing it, you have my permission to slap me hard across the face!"

Since I made that decision, I haven't peeled my nail polish once--even though the temptation was strong at times.  And my nails have benefited immensely!

One of the first things I did was go and get a professional manicure to send me off on a good path.  Since then, I've had frequent polish changes at the nail salon (they're very cheap), and I'm learning to give myself a good home manicure.

A pretty color from Essie

They're no longer flimsy.  I've only had one beginning of a crack, and I fixed it with a remedy someone gave me on Facebook (maybe I'll talk about that in a future post...it's pretty genius.)

It's been over two months since I made my decision.  Who knows if I've permanently conquered the habit?  But so far, so good...and I'm so enjoying having pretty nails, I never want to go back!

Getting daring and experimenting with purple!

Note: When I went public with my shameful peeling habit, I found out that lots of women do the same thing!  It's compulsive.  Have you ever had the problem?  I'd love to know...share in my comments!

Also, a reminder: Just 5 days left in my Soft Surroundings give-away of this beautiful top...go here to enter for your chance to win!

I'm participating in Visible Monday, hosted by Not Dead Yet Style!  Click the icon for more info....

High Five for Friday!

For the first time, I'm participating in High Five for Friday, hosted by Lauren at From My Grey Desk.  I found out about this bloghop from Kate Bryan's The Small Things Blog.  Kate is a lovely young woman who does amazing hair tutorials.  Check her out if you haven't already!

Oh, and don't forget to enter my give-away for the chance to win a gorgeous top from Soft Surroundings...more on that below!

So here we go!

1.Yay for good deals at Old Navy! I'm in love with these earrings, because I'm a sucker for all things Paris.  I even have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to Paris!  Are these earrings not the cutest?  And the black top I got for $9.49!

2.  The weather here in Northwest Illinois has been just about perfect all week.  One day when I was out and about I snapped some pictures of the fall colors that are just beginning to emerge.  This house just looked so pretty, I had to take a pic of it.

3.  I'm loving the return of my favorite TV shows!  Fringe returns tonight... Person of Interest was AMAZING last night...and Once Upon a Time comes back Sunday night!

Josh Dallas plays Prince Charming

4.  I'm planning to get out my fall decorations this weekend and dress the house up for autumn!

5.  High five for my Soft Surroundings give-away!  Go here to enter to win this beautiful Vintage Ruffle Top...I have it in cornflower blue and absolutely love it.  It retails for 79.00 but it can be YOURS for free!

Click on the icon below to participate in High Five for Friday!

Visible Monday: Win This Beautiful Top from Soft Surroundings

I'm so delighted to offer you a chance to win this beautiful Vintage Ruffle Top from Soft Surroundings!  This is the second give-away I've been involved in with this wonderful company.  As you can see, I chose the top in cornflower blue, but it's also available tea rose (as pictured above) and charcoal.

From the Soft Surroundings website, here's a description of the top:

A special dye treatment gives this contemporary rib-knit top a unique dimensional effect that's especially notable on the ruffles that enhance the neckline, center front and three-quarter length sleeves. Attractively shaped and altogether current. Cotton body, rayon ruffle. Misses 26" long.

I have to tell you that this top is extremely comfortable and enjoyable to wear! I love it.  It's a good weight to go right into fall.

  On the day these pictures were taken, I wore it to work with a denim skirt, then dressed it up with a pretty necklace and earrings for date night with my husband. (My husband loved it, by the way!)

Here's how to enter: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm also taking part today in Visible Monday, hosted by Not Dead Yet Style! Click on the icon to find out more!

Visible Monday: The top I won in a blog give-away!

I used to NEVER win anything.  So it's been such a delight to have been the winner of a few blog give-aways in the past year or two.

The top I'm wearing above is from a company called Soft Surroundings.  I won it from a give-away on one of my very favorite blogs, the lovely Pam's Over50Feeling40.

It's  very sheer and lightweight, so a shell or a tank underneath is a must.  I think the top looks nice either buttoned up (above) or left open with the tank showing (below.)

This top is wonderfully colorful, so I'll probably pair it with black on the bottom.  It feels like anything else would just be too crazy.  This top deserves the spotlight!

Gotta admit, though....it does make me want to wear a flower in my hair. :)

A bonus? Thanks to my interaction with the company, I'll be hosting a Soft Surroundings give-away on this blog shortly!

Oh, and if you've ever been hesitant about entering a give-away, don't be! If someone like me can win, so can you!

A little late in the day, but I'm linking up with Visible Monday, hosted by Not Dead Yet Style!