Journalist and Designer Nail Artist?

I've had a long and storied life with my finger nails. Fr the first 22 years of my life, I was a nail biter. And not just any nail biter, a bite-them-to-the-quick-and-they-bleed-profusely type nail biter. Then one day, I was offered a mini manicure. I of course laughed at the idea - I had no nails to manicure. The lovely lady said "No, no! I'll do them. I bet once I do them you'll never bite your nails again, either." I laughed in her face. Obviously not my proudest moment, but it happened.

So I had my mini manicure and made a conscious effort not to bite the polish off those suckers. And boy for the first couple days was it hard. But as they days went by, it got easier and easier. One day it dawned on me - I was biting my nails anymore. It freaked my shit up, let me tell you. Then they started to grow. After that many years, I didn't think they had it in them.

For those of you who've never bitten your nails before, you can't begin to understand the sting and pain that newly growing nails causes when they're moving up the finger and cutting the skin. That's part I don't care ever want to feel again. I remember I was able to have nicely painted nails for my University graduation - it made the pictures look so much better.

I guess the most exciting part was being able to paint my nails for the first time in my life. A whole new world had opened up to me, and I went a bit bananas with polish buying (I have to have at least a hundred bucks worth of polish in my fridge). And then I started to get creative.

There's lots of little thing people can do to show off your personality - I had no idea nail design was such a big one. Over the last few years, I've had my nails painted a bunch of different ways, and let me tell you, people notice. So I've gathered a few different 'styles' I've rocked. Love em or hate em, they're different, and me. That's the best part.

My Union Jack nails...( a little blurry, but you get the idea)

My Canucks nails...(which made it on TV, what what?)

My Union Jack "I'm going on vacation" nails...

My England Euro Cup 2012 nails...

And my latest creation I did tonight, my Pacman nails...

And there you have it. My bff Erin suggested I make money on the side from it. I just don't think any potential customer would appreciate the way I cuss like a sailor when I'm doing the tiny difficult bits. But hey, maybe one day it could happen. I'm open to suggestions on anything I should try out. Drop me a line if you think of something fabulous!

xo