Nail Painting Parties

Last night I made time to sit and paint my nails (dark purple with one magenta "party nail" on each hand in case you were wondering.)  As I sat while the last coat of polish dried, I thought back to when my love for nail-painting began.

I always loved having my nails painted, but it wasn't until I began teaching in 2010 that I actually began to appreciate the process of painting my nails. I used to see it as a time-waster and mildly frustrating since I couldn't do much while my nails were still wet (or I'd try to reject that truth and fold laundry which would result in messing up my nails, and then inevitably taking more time re-doing them...)

Amelia & Jessica, two of my incredible students, were painting their nails one day in my room during lunch and in a (somewhat extremely desperate) attempt to build a relationship with them, I joined the nail painting party. We laughed (well mostly they laughed at me and my sub-par nail painting skills) and to this day they are two students I hold close to my heart.

Since then I've used the process of nail painting as:

• a key babysitting tactic
• way of bonding with female friends of all ages
• a method to increase my self-control & patience
• a therapeutic way to unwind on a Friday or Saturday evening.

Of course I still love the result of having my nails painted (especially with a fun party nail to look down at during the day), but have found an additional layer of gratitude for the actual process of painting nails.

Curious what my favorite nail polish color of all time is? Carry on.