IIHF World Juniors

The first games of the World Juniors (Buffalo, NY) were held on Boxing Day. Stores in Newfoundland are closed Boxing Day (very sad) so my sale shopping had to be done Monday. This left Sunday to watch some hockey (particularly since the Liverpool match was postponed due to a frozen pitch) and repaint my nails. Christmas is over, time to move on. The original plan was to have Germany on the left hand and Canada on the right. I want Canada to win, but I'd like Germany to do well. Unfortunately I broke my thumbnail on the right hand trying to get something out of a box (an endeavour in which success still eludes me) and decided not to risk getting nail polish remover in the somewhat open wound. With the hands uneven I opted to have Canada on both hands with a little shout-out to Germany on the left thumb. I decided to experiment with a landscape set up which gave a bit extra space to include hockey sticks and have the boards in the background. Granted, this layout has been done before (Canadiens, Vimy, Discworld) but this round was undertaken with a bit more intent. Germany lost their first game 4:3 but Canada was victorious against Russia with a 6:3 final scoreline.

Christmas 2010

The intention was to keep the Hogfather nails for all of Christmas but when the dilemma of Hogfather versus proper holiday nails was put to a friend, the latter won out. The original plan was to have at least 5 different designs but I really liked the idea of the candy cane stripes and decided that they should be over-represented for my own personal enjoyment. This also cancelled out another early plan to do all gift boxes with different wrapping paper and bows. I decided to stick to a red/gold/green basic palette with some white and tonal variations thrown in. There are two shades of red on the candy canes, but it's likely too subtle for the camera to pick up. The gift plan remained in red and gold on the index fingers, while Christmas trees and mistletoe made the cut on ring fingers and thumbs respectively.

The Hogfather

To get in the holiday spirit I painted my nails like my second favourite holiday movie, the Hogfather, based on the book by Terry Pratchett. (My first favourite holiday movie? Muppets Christmas Carol). On the left hand I had the villan, his employer and a few hired associates - Mr. Teatime (the assassin), Mr. Sideney, Banjo and one of the Auditors. On the thumb is Discworld, a flat world resting on the back of four elephants who stand on a giant turtle, the Great A'Tuin. On the left hand Death is given the honoured thumb placement, complete with his Hogfather getup. There are also Susan (his granddaughter), Albert (the servant/stand-in elf), the Hogfather himself, and Quoth (the raven). Happy Hogswatch all!

World Cup Hosts

After I misjudged the amount of time before Christmas I realized that my proposed holiday nails would not survive 3 weeks. Fortunately, FIFA made their announcement for the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on December 2nd. A simple flag design with gold bacgrounds and gold years on the pinkie fingers both commemorated the event and filled up an extra week and a half.

Marvel Comics

I received a suggestion from a friend that I should do Wolverine on my next nails. I had initially thought I would do X-Men nails but when I decided that with Wolverine should go Sabretooth the idea morphed into a thought that I should do Marvel superheroes and their respective arch-nemeses. Wolverine/Sabretooth and Spiderman/Green Goblin were easy choices. The Hulk was simple enough but Thunderbolt Ross took some thinking. I then chose Daredevil and thought Bullseye looked fun for his enemy. Finally was Hawkeye from the Avengers. I was going to do Skrulls for his enemy but they look far too much like Green Goblin. In the end I decided on Ultron, not sure how much he figures in Avengers plots but he fulfills his purpose. No less than 17 different bottles of polish were required for all 10 nails.

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Mounted Unit

After watching the RNC Mounted Unit at the Remembrance Day ceremonies and seeing the horses grazing in their field while I walked home one day I thought that, come their anniversary, I should pay a tribute to them. They are lovely horses. A day or so later I finally looked up the date of their anniversary, which happened to be the next day. Rather than wait another year I shortened the shelf-life of the argyle and plaid nails to do the RNC crest. I had originally thought that my base gold and thin gold were two different shades but upon application this was not the case. In order to simplify matters I repainted the background of my left hand in blue. The right hand was already complete so I just left it as two shades. Canadiens-Flyers game is on in the background.

Plaid and Argyle

I mentioned in an earlier post that in response to a lack of purple in a thin brush bottle I bought 3 shades. I then promptly did nothing with them though it was comforting to have the option. Finally I decided that they had to be used but had no idea what to do with them. I thought of a flower, but flowers can be so dreadfully dull. The simple option of a pattern eluded me for a while but the lightbulb over the head finally went on and I decided on plaid on one hand and argyle on the other. They only lasted a few days but the patterns will likely reemerge at a later date.

Remembrance Day 2010

Occassionally I will think ahead and when that happens I usually think quite far ahead. I had been looking for a khaki brown or khaki green colour for a while. I love the military and figured at some point I would need these. There was also a nail plan that was thwarted due to being unable to find a good shade though I can't recall anymore what I had wanted to do. When LA Girl came out with a new metallic line I saw this green and knew it would be perfect for a Great War uniform colour. And that would be a perfect design for Remembrance Day. It didn't matter that I had over 3 months to wait. The bottle of metallic green polish sat in my container of nail polish patiently for those 3 months; I couldn't use it for another purpose, it would be christened on Nov. 11. This was the final result. Next year I might complicate the design a bit more, but as an initial attempt I quite enjoyed these.

Sunflowers

While my parents were out for my convocation my mom agreed to let me paint her nails with Sunflowers. Unfortunately her nails are really short but regardless it was nice to paint nails that weren't my own. So close to Halloween at least one person had asked if they were spider webs, but I don't think that's a shock.

Halloween 2010

I put off doing nails for Halloween and by the time I thought of it I had lost motivation. As a result a midnight blue base with gold spiderwebs was a simple design that served the purpose but was quick to finish.

Convocation 2010

I graduated from university in Fall 2010 with a Master of Arts in History. I had a black and white dress and decided to do black and white flowers on my nails. I did a trial run with blue and orange which supported the concept, despite the fact there were two shades of orange and 2 shades of blue. The final version turned out quite well, I thought, and was a lovely compliment to the dress.

Montreal Canadiens 2010-2011 Season

Another one of the designs that is/will be a standard are the Montreal Canadiens nails. I'm anticipating a point where I decide to do Habs jerseys, just to mix it up, but that will probably wait until after Christmas. They're pictured here with the coffee from my church (Tims) and a scarf showing my allegiance to Germany during another UEFA qualifying game.

FC Bayern, Take 2

At the beginning of October I tried out the Bayern nails again. I can't say they much improved in either the DFB Cup games or the regular Bundesliga season. Regardless, I really enjoy this design. It will probably be a regular design, interspersed with new things.

UEFA 2012 Qualifying

When UEFA Qualifying began I decided that it would be a good time to do UEFA nails for Poland-Ukraine. I love their logo, I think it's quite fun and colourful. When the competition begins, this space will be again devoted to Germany. This was a fun design to do but also opened up the problem that I did not have a thin purple brush. That was soon rectified with the purchase of 3 shades of purple that I subsequently had no use for.

2010/2011 Season Start

Bayern München is my team. I've often said they could put on skates and play the Canadiens and I'd still go for Bayern. So for the start of the season I went with Bayern nails on the right hand. Unfortunately with the exception of their Champions League run, they had the worst start in their history.
This year also marked the year when I finally chose my Premier League team. It had been suggested that Liverpool was a team I should follow since at least 2007 and with a final push in that direction this summer I took the plunge. Portions of Liverpools crest made it to my left hand. A dismal start from them as well certainly made me wonder if I had somehow jinxed the teams.

2010 World Cup KO Round

For the Knock-Out round the nails changed to German jerseys. After losing 2 goalkeepers to suicide and injury, it was wonderful to see Neuer perform so well and see the entire team come together under Philipp Lahm's captaincy. Their loss ushered in a period of mourning for me, but they played beautifully in the 3rd place game. It was only unfortunate that Klose couldn't beat the goal-scorer record.
16: Lahm (captain)
7: Schweinsteiger (vice-captain)
10: Podolski
11: Klose
6: Khedira
1: Neuer
8: Özil
21: Marin
17: Mertesacker
2: Jansen

World Cup 2010 Group Stages

My first sport love is football (aka soccer) though I'm a rather recent convert to that as well. In 2006 the first full match I ever watched was the opening game of Germany v Costa Rica. Lahm scored and he would later inform which Bundesliga team I supported. That's another story. Regardless, I had high hopes for Deutschland in South Africa and began the Group Stages with German eagles.

Philadelphia Flyers

When the Canadiens very unfortunately were eliminated from the playoffs the nails were switched to Philadelphia Flyers nails. Partially because I bet on them in the final (and lost) and partially because one of my MA colleagues is a Flyers fan. Granted, as a burgeoning Habs fan it lacked a degree of loyalty, but I do love orange.

Vimy Ridge

As a Canadian who loves military history, for April 9-12 it was necessary that I pay tribute to the Canadian Corps taking Vimy Ridge in 1917. It was the first time Canadians fought together in a single action and has inspired many 'nation' myths since. Regardless, it's an important point in Canadian history and Canadian military history. The thumbs gave the dates. The left hand showed the German lines and the movement of Canadian troops while the left showed the Canadian lines and the movement of Canadian troops. The "V" was the location of the ridge. Since Canada's flag was the Red Ensign I included the Union Jack along with a maple leaf (on the cap badges).