Since guidepost finished officially on Sunday (after the final thanksgiving service) I've been in hibernation, grieving the ending of it for another year. The countdown has started for next year though - only 355 days to go!
However on Saturday, my friend Greta came over and we did what we had done the previous year and has now been called our mourning session, I can feel a tradition forming. She came round my house and we're both in leggings and trackies and hoodies with our hair scraped back off our faces and we sit on my bed reliving the best memories from the week, and reading bits of the bible and eating chocolate and singing all the songs from guidepost.
But then we decided to do something that we had been planning for quite a while and go and get our nails done properly in a salon.
So we set off into to town. Now I know of two nails places near where I live - one which I go to to get my eyebrows done and the other where my older sister once had a birthday party.
Neither of us have ever had our nails done before, and to be honest we didn't really know what to expect or what to get or anything. We'd done a little googling before we left, which basically just scared us a lot because there are a lot of horror story's on the Internet about nails!
Anyway, we went to the salon (we actually walked past it a couple of times before going in because we were really nervous!) and luckily when we went in there were two people free. We said that we didn't really know what we wanted and that we didn't have particularly huge budgets, but they seemed to know exactly what to do and sat us down pretty instantly.
I've always been pretty self concise of my nails because they are in a dreadful state. For starters, I have incredibly weak nails and they just don't seem to grow ever. I have never had long nails, it's just not the way I'm made. Then, I'm also a picker. I don't bite my nails and I never have but I always used to pick and rip my nails all the time. Recently I have tried to cut down the amount I pick my nails because I know how bad it is, but it is my default reaction when I get nervous or stressed (so during exams my nails are the worst they ever are!). And when I pick my nails they split and become even weaker. So year, pretty terrible nails.
I was really scared that the people in the salon would say that my nails are too bad and I am beyond help, but they didn't seem to mind at all.
They started by filling our nails a bit (not that there was much that could be filed for me! They then used this sandpaper tool things to clean and smoothen out our nails and to get rid of any left over nail polish or anything like that.
They then got out this box of these huge nails in all different sizes. I was pretty terrified when he started attaching them to my nails in case they would have to stay that length - I felt like a Disney villain or something! I was also surprised because I though that they attached it to the whole nail, but they only put it on the top of the nail.
They then cut them down to the length that I wanted, and believe me I didn't want them very long at all! At first the length I got felt way too long but I'm used to it now!
I chose to have my cut in a curve shape (if there are any sharpe edges I will pick and them) and they were then trimmed abit before what I assume is the most important bit.
They got out a paintbrush, a little pot of water and a pot of some sort of powder. They dipped the paintbrush into the water and then into the powder and painted the paste that had then been formed onto each of my nails where it hardened to create a protective, smooth and beautiful layer over the joining of my old and new layer.
Then they filed my nails a little more and buffed them to make sure that they were perfect for the paint. I said that I wanted a nice bright yellow (you know, to be all summery), but the only one they had was this neon highlighter colour. I thought that it looked great, really nice and fun so I went for that one.
The lady painted two coats and a top coat really really quickly (it is amazing how good these professionals are at their jobs!) and then I went to go and sit over with the drying things while I waited for Greta to finish. She took absolutely ages, because she couldn't decide what colour to get! Typical! In the end she went for a beautiful bright blue.
We felt very much like we belonged in an American movie, sitting in a nail salon, gossiping, but it was actually really nice to just chill and I think that we both found it very therapeutic!
We then paid (£20 incase you're interested, which is actually very cheap for this kind of thing!) and headed off. We couldn't stop admiring our nails and drumming them against things to hear the satisfying noise that came which neither of us was used to.
Since I've had them done four days ago, they have lasted amazingly. They haven't broken and there isn't a single chip, which is a new personal best for me (I must find out what top coat they used!). I have also received a lot of compliments, and it's just so nice to have long nails for the first time in my life!!
See you soon!