.written nail.

more than likely, the urge began in middle school. we were learning to fold our secret notes into paper puzzles for only our best of friends to unfold. there were games made through our own origami and playing MASH (mansion. apartment. shack. house.) was a typical affair. i strived to come up with the most creative choices in our girlie games of MASH and i wanted my written notes to be witty and the envy of lunchtime.

as high school came and went, writing anything and everything i could gave me energy, an outlet, my sense of self. poems, songs (not for my own shower-only-friendly voice), stories, editing friends' papers, letters, pen pal cards, journals...these were my anchors. during college and my early years of teaching, not much changed and i still found solace with my mechanical pencil and paper.

writing notes to my closest friends and family still served as a source of happiness for me as my twenties marched along. i particularly remember one trip to seattle with my hpff (highest priority friend forever) where we blew our own minds. on the airplane ride back to florida, she sat closer to first class while my assigned seat was next to the back bathroom. joy. not being able to relive every single moment in chattered detail with each other, i wrote and wrote and wrote. jotting down every memory and new inside joke was such a pleasure. she still has that letter and every couple of years or so, we read back through to see how much of the note we still remember. sometimes laughing so hard until our sides hurt, i am reminded how beautiful the written word can be.

what got me thinking today about writing and my personal journey with it was looking at my chipped nail polish this morning while getting ready. now how in the world does nail polish and writing relate? many years after that classic trip with my hpff, she and i were getting a pedicure together. she chose a color called "don't mess with OPI"; from a whole texas collection. as we started reading through polish bottles and snickering at their clever names, i thought- i could do this!

so, that's exactly what i did this morning. i emailed OPI to let the (hopefully) right people know i had a color story for them that i'd like to share. fingers crossed that i hear back from them.