He Surprised Me At Work!

Hihi,

Yes, I am still trying to catch up on my blog posts. I am almost a month behind. Soooo back on October 5th I was sitting at station six, doing my thing when my phone started to buzz. He doesn't normally call me so I was a bit concerned. While my client was waiting for her gel to cure, I texted to see if he was okay. He said he was outside. Honestly thought he was messing with me and then I saw him poke his head around the window! He came all the way out to my work to then wait to have lunch with me! Of course my boss wouldn't let me go on lunch when I was done with my client. Sadly he had to wait over an hour for me to go on lunch. When I walked outside he was sitting there at a table, holding flowers in one hand and his corgi in the other. I was very surprised that he brought flowers let alone he was there!! A guy surprised me at work!! I still can't believe he drove out to me not knowing when or if I had gone on break, sat outside in the heat, brought me flowers, waited for me to be done, etc so he could surprise me and spend half an hour with me.

Oh and he was going to see me at 4am the next day. Can't say it was the best timing for giving flowers since I wouldn't be home for the next few days to enjoy their beauty, but he made me extremely happy! Not to mention I had super rosy cheeks going back into the salon.

-ALG

MY Pineapple!

Hey there,

October 1st we made an impromptu quick trip to Round One before he had to head off to work. He really enjoys playing those claw games and winning prizes. When we walked into the arcade I was overwhelmed with all the machines, lights, noises, and people. I don't like crowded, dark, or loud places so I was feeling a bit out of place.

We walked around every single claw machine so he could analyze them to see which he should play. I honestly didn't know so much goes into playing a claw game. I figured you aim the best you can and hope for the best. Nope, it's not that simple. As we walked around he asked me which I liked/wanted. I got shy and weird so in my head I kept yelling the pineapple! Of course I stayed quiet though. I think he could tell I was drawn to the pineapple so that's where we ended up. 

Yeaaa neither of us thought the pineapple would be simple to win, but it only took two times to win! I used to think claw games you just grab it in one go or give up. Apparently you usually need more than one move to win the prize. He explained how different claws have different levels of strength, some you have to drop in the hole while others you have to push down, and other strategies. Waaaay too complicated for me to fully grasp, but I'm glad he understands it all because I got to take this baby home with me! First time a guy has ever won me a prize! I was trying real hard to not act too giddy, but I love my pineapple!!

Back to the house and off to work he went. I did go chill at his work though. I got a drink and talked to the guys (his coworkers/roommate) at the sushi bar. He got off work late, but we eventually made it back to the house to relax for the night.

The next day we went to see a screening of quite a few songs from various Asian animated movies. I only recognized a few of the movies, but I enjoyed sitting with him and watching the orchestra. Not to mention the impressive taiko drummers! I should've tried out taiko with Sarah back at UCSD.

After the screening we went to Downtown Fullerton for dinner. This guy loves his ramen! I almost never finish my food, and he's usually hungry after he finishes his so it works out perfectly!

-ALG

LACF 2016

Sooooo,

Yes, these posts are out of order, but oh well. September 22nd he and I went to the LA County Fair. Working for Fairplex gives me some perks which is how we got into the dinosaur exhibit for FREE! There were tons of animatronic dinosaurs ranging in color, size, and shape.


He really likes those claw games so you can only imagine the look on his face when we came across this claw that picks up dino eggs.






Look at this awesome sandbox!

We made our way over to the flower and garden pavilion and took some cool colorful photos. The pavilion is one of my favorite places to visit at the fair. One, I love flowers, and two, I feel relaxed around all the flowers.

I got to attempt to be a model for him to practice using his ew fancy camera lens. Yeah, I need to work on not being so awkward.



Who knew pool noodles could be useful outside of the pool!





Can't go to the fair without seeing the animals right?? We got to see baby sheep, calves, goats, miniature horses, etc.

I can't go to the fair without getting chocolate milk!! Seriously, even if I only get to work the fair I will clock out and walk across the fairgrounds to buy the little container of chocolate milk!

Before we called it a day, he let me pick a ride. I had my eye on the swings for half the day! Aren't we cute? Well I mean he always poses like a model, and I am always slightly funky looking. To be honest the swings were a bit more intense than I had expected. They weren't the kind that simply raise straight up and go in circles. This swing went up and then kind of swung you up and down if that makes any sense? Regardless, I had fun! When it was time to get off the swing I couldn't walk straight. I mean I really couldn't! I was trying very hard to walk like a normal person, but I'm pretty sure everyone could tell I was struggling.

Sadly, we had to leave the fair early because my bosses required I show up to help with a private party for three hours.

Aside from work of course, I had a lot of fun that day.

-ALG

Just Because

Hihi

September 30th he brought me flowers! Well let me take a step back. He only had a few hours before he had to go to work, but he insisted on seeing me. He freaked me out by sending me a text saying his motorcycle battery died and he was stuck on the side of the freeway. Took him a while to get to a hill and start it back up. When he finally got to the house he was drenched in sweat. He pulled a bouquet of flowers out of his bag and gave them to me!

Why did his battery die? He had stopped on the freeway to check on my flowers and forgot to turn off his lights. Not the brightest move, but that's so sweet for him to check on them. Anyhow, by the time he got to the house we only had an hour to spend together before he had to go back home in traffic to then go to work. We watched some of American Horror Story and off he went!


-ALG

Roman Numeral Henna

Hey hey,


I ordered some new henna paste a few weeks back and decided to test out the darkest paste. Looks black to me! Well, blackish blue but I like it more than the brown henna color.

Onto the meaning. The Roman numerals stand for the dates I was cutting myself. The arrow means that you have to face some setbacks in order to move forward. I thought the two went very well together.

At the time I was feeling very negative, and thought I could use a friendly reminder throughout the day.

I really liked this henna tattoo and may even consider getting this tattooed down the road. Maybe not so large or in that spot, but I think I will get this.

-ALG

Wedding Dress Shopping

What's up!

No no no I am not getting married. Although if you know me, I am so down to go try on wedding dresses! Shhhh don't tell nobody. I was somewhat invited to a wedding so I had to go find a dress. I tried to find one at the mall I work at, but no luck. Sooo I took my date with me to Brea mall for sushi and dress shopping. I get sushi probably 90% of the time I go to Brea mall. I mean who doesn't love revolving sushi?!?

Don't mind the weird look on my face, but this is the dress I ended up getting. We had been through a few different stores, but none of the dresses fit my body right. Can't believe I ended up finding my dress at Forever21. Not bad, less than $30. Then I had to worry about the other girly crap. Ya know, the shoes, jewelry, bag, makeup, hair, etc.



After the mall we just had to stop at the one and only McDonald's! I swear we eat way too much ice cream and fries, but that's okay because we love it! Just means I need to visit the gym more often. Look at his foo with the ice creams while my baby peaks around trying to get
some.



Isn't she cute! She loves ice cream too!

-ALG

My First Paint Night!

Hola,

September 17th I went to my very first paint night! For those of you that have no clue what I am talking about I will explain. Paint night events provide the painting supplies and an instructor that helps you step by step create you're very own masterpiece. Sadly, the alcohol for the night is not included, but considering the event itself isn't terribly expensive I didn't mind buying a drink.

I had purchased my tickets on Groupon, and asked an old coworker if he would like to go with me. Before you all start to assume it was a date, it was not. I miss my coworkers, and honestly would like to see them all more frequently. Anyways, we met at Mimi's Cafe for our paint night. The painting was cherry blossom branches with the night sky and moon in the background. Sounds simple right?

Here we are with our drinks and canvases. I can't believe he sat there and only drank Dr. Pepper while I had a mimosa. It was my first time having a mimosa too! Wish I had my first mimosa on a hotel balcony looking out at a gorgeous view in like Mexico or Hawaii, but I'll work my way to that dream. My poor friend sat next to a woman that talked his ear off the whole event.





We had a ton of funny laughing, being immature, failing at following directions, making fun of the drunk women, and creating our own pieces of art! Look how focused he is!





I decided to make this painting my own by adding black to the sky. Not surprising huh?

I loved the event so much that I basically went home that night and signed up for another!

-ALG

Intricate Gel Manis

Sorry,

I realize this is a lot of posts to be spamming you guys with (even though I don't think anyone really reads this these days). Just one or two more for the night!










Love the yellow with the grey for this moon mani look!
























This client wanted her nails done for her friend's wedding. Chic!















I actually made friends with the owner of a Pilates studio at the mall! She is super sweet and came to me to get her nails done. We did her signature shade of blue, Swarovski crystals, and mylar stained glass accent nails! Sooo glad I met her because not only is she an awesome person, she also gave me a great deal on my Pilates membership!!












New client came in wanting something cute for a bachelorette weekend! Super cute! I think I was a bit jealous of how adorable her nails turned out! Plus they matched my pineapple!














Pink, pink, pink! Hot pink gel, with stripes, and glitter accents!

Stick around for more nail creations! I have a blast being creative and making people happy! My job allows me to create mini masterpieces for deserving individuals!

-ALG

Tackling Acrylics!

Hey guys,

Before I started Nail Technician school I had never really seen acrylic nails. When I was first introduced to acrylics I HATED them! I thought they looked bulky, unnatural, and flat out ugly. Unfortunately, I have been pushed to do acrylics at work. I mean it's a good skill to have as a nail technician so I can get a job anywhere. Here's the end result of my first fill! When I say first fill, I mean first fill in my whole life!! Yes, I have never done a fill. Not even on myself, friends, or in school. Disclaimer: she came in with really really wide bulky nails from another salon. I couldn't narrow them out as much as I would have liked to, but they looked 10xs better than when she first sat down in my chair!




My second acrylic fill I was faced with wide thick acrylic and a picky client. In the end she got her nails better shaped, polished, and all covered in chrome.

I actually did my third fill yesterday. Again, she came in with thick, bulky, and extremely lifted acrylics. We drilled them down so they felt more natural, polished them, and designed them. Matte gel polish with a black ombre and accent Swarovski crystal nails!

I also did my first full sculpted set yesterday! Oh man she came in with busted up natural nails. She told me she ripped off her acrylic nails prior to coming in. Ladies, NEVER ever attempt to rip off your acrylic or let anyone try to do that to you!! Proper acrylic removal is key to the health of your nails! Anyhow, I prepped her, build the nails using forms, filed them, polished, and designed! We used Swarovski crystals, nail tape, and nail foil.

I can say that I have definitely grown as a nail technician. I am not 110% confident in my acrylic skills, but I am content with my skill level for now. I will work on my timing for now. I am hoping that I can start to increase my clientele while also seeing more money flow into my pocket.

-ALG

Disney Nails!

Sup,

I have a client that recently started seeing me for her gel manis. She loves Disneyland and always comes in with fun requests! These are the first nails we created. Simple Mickey heads and Minnie Mouse bows for the thumbs. We used her R2-D2 phone case as a prop!

She came in again recently and requested Star Wars nails. I can't say I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but I was able to paint what she wanted! Stormtroopers and R2-D2s. Not too bad, huh? This time we used her Disneyland Pass as a prop. Speaking of Disneyland, I am considering buying a pass. I enjoy Disneyland even if I don't like half the rides. The last time I was there I made a lot of nice memories and had a blast. I am kind of worried about how I'll feel going back, but I need my salad!

Yeah, I'm weird!

-ALG

San Francisco (Day 4)

Hi again,

*sighs* The last bit of time we had in SF I chose to go to Onigilly for breakfast/snack. It's sooo cool! Basically a Japanese version of Chipotle? Plus I adore the chalkboard menu and the colors they chose.

I ended up getting the edamame set which included my choice of three onigilly, tsukemono, and edamame. Decided to go a bit out of my comfort zone and got (left to right) the teriyaki tofu, ume, and unagi onigiri. I actually really like this photo. He let me borrow his jacket because I was freezing my butt off. I feel like the colors of the restaurant, the colors in my hair, and the lighting make this photo perfect.

We were right near Sushiritto so we walked over there so he could get his sushi burrito. Look how crazy that is! I had never seen anything like it before. I knew sushi burritos were a thing, but I had never seen one before. I swear he inhaled that before I even finished one of my onigiri!

Of course a boba spot across the street caught my eye so I had to ask him if we could go there before we hit the road. OMG I got the panda milk tea and it was bomb! The drink got it's name because of the black and white boba inside. The texture of the white boba was so unique that I couldn't stop drinking it! Doesn't sound like much of a problem right? Well it is when you have to be on the road for many hours and conveniently have a tiny bladder!

He kept going back and forth about visiting his hometown so I decided for him that we would stop by. He told me that his town was small, but it's not as small as the last one. We killed some time walking around their outdoor mall and headed to the house. Coincidentally we ended up following his mom to the house! To be honest I was kind of nervous about meeting his mom. Turns out she's pretty chill! A few weeks prior he had mentioned his mom would be getting married in October. I was thinking he may invite me, but he said it's probably too late. I then found myself standing in his moms kitchen as she asked me if I was coming to her wedding. I couldn't help myself, I turned to look at him to say am I going/are you inviting me? She was like I can't believe you didn't invite her! Then she invited me and told me I should come! Luckily I was able to get time off from my work. Before I knew it, we were back on the road headed home.

On the way back he put on some comedy from Netflix and then got me started on American Horror Story. I have seen American Horror Story when scrolling through Netflix, but I always got too scared to check it out. I think I am now hooked though!

We got back pretty late, hit the sack, got up early, returned the car, and were crazy enough to go to the gym. It was kind of strange to think that if I hadn't decided to go to San Francisco I would have been at home doing laundry, chores, watching tv, and running errands. Of course I watched my bank account go down a bit, but it was worth getting away from everything crazy going on. Where should I go next?

-ALG

San Francisco (day 3)

Hey hey,

For our last full day in San Francisco we decided to try the Bay Watch Restaurant for breakfast. When we first walked in I felt like I was at the California hotel in Vegas! It had that family Hawaiian/Japanese feel. I got the potatoes, bacon, eggs, and english muffin. He got the ham, bacon, eggs, and toast. We both like to eat eggs with ketchup, but dang look at how much ketchup he put on his eggs that morning! I tease, but honestly I don't care. Every time we went to eat out we never had enough water, but at this place we got a whole pitcher at the table! That breakfast may have been my favorite out of all our days (I really love breakfast potatoes).

We headed over to Fisherman's Wharf, but parking was such a pain in the butt that we gave up and ended up in Chinatown. Neither of us were expecting there to be some big festival, but we tackled the crowds of old Asian grandmas. Passed this older gentleman playing Christmas music on a rather interesting instrument. Sooo random! Oh and we found this sign with a guy that looks way too happy about whatever he's advertising!

As far as the evening went, we ended up back in Japan Town for ramen. Why is it that ramen bowls are so big? I got a veggie kind, and may have been overly excited about finding Japanese pumpkin in the soup. What can I say? I love Japanese pumpkin!

Not sure about him, but I went to bed a tad bit sad that we would be heading back to SoCal in the morning.

-ALG