How cute is this?

My friend Kristen (who knows how much I love cute nails) sent me a bunch of pictures from Polyvore featuring amazing manicures. This is one of my favorites. I really like the look of combining more than one design in a manicure, and this one is so cottage/retro/feminine that it just makes me sigh and smile.

nails | Tumblr (clipped to polyvore.com)

These Things I Know...

The title of this post imposes some pretty strict limits, since I don't know as much as I used to think I did.  I do know some things though, and I thought I might share them with you.  Most of them were learned the hard way. That seems to be the way I tend to do things.  It sure will pound the lesson home.

1.  Life is short.  Yep, no matter how long it is, it's short.  Ask the guy who is 99 and 364 days if 100 years is long enough.  Chances are he'd like another few years.  What to do with this knowledge? Here are my suggestions:

• tell people you love them. Tell them every day, and SHOW them - don't just mouth the words.  Mean them and let people see that you do.  
• decide what you want out of life and go get it.  Don't tell yourself you are too old, or that the thing you want will take too long to get.  So what if it takes ten years?  In ten years' time you'll be ten years older and you'll either have the thing you wanted or you won't.  That time will have passed either way.
• Be nice. Compliment people you don't know - they could probably use it.  Smile more. Laugh as much as you can. Talk to strangers. (Not the creepy ones.)  You will learn fascinating things.

2.  You cannot make people change.  You can only change yourself.  I learned this one at Al-Anon.  It seems like such a simple thing - you'd think everyone would know it.  I didn't, and once I heard it and really took it in, it made a profound change in my life.  Are you waiting for someone in your life to change?  Stop.  Stop right now.  If you have told them that their behavior is a problem for you, and they choose to continue that behavior, YOU need to decide what YOU will do.  Your options are: a) live with it, or b) choose NOT to live with it.  I know - not as easy as it sounds.  This might involve a huge life change on YOUR part, and that change could be painful. Weigh the costs and benefits and decide.  By the way - if you choose option a) - please shut up and stop whining about it.  Everyone else is probably tired of hearing you complain when you never do anything to change your situation.

3. Cake is good.  (Yeah, I know more stuff, but I thought I'd end on a light note!)