Hau'oli Hump Day!

Happy, Happy Wednesday everyone! I can't believe that in just two days, it's going to be 2011! I have a feeling that 2011 is going to be one of my best years ever. And usually my feelings are pretty accurate.

The last few days have been spent cleaning my room and moving things around in preparation for the New Year! In the next few days I'll also have some excellent blog posts recapping 2010 as well. But as for right now, how about I just recap my Christmas? mmkay, here goes!

The miss lady luvs on christmas eve! She's so photogenic, it kills me!

The Christmas trees that I set up in my room. The first is with the light on, and yeah I know my room was a crazy mess! And the second is with the lights off and the fiber optics on. I love my mini Christmas tree. I've had it since I was in high school and it was always present in my dorm room around Christmas time, my friends and I even put Christmas presents under it pre-Christmas vacation!

My two pups on Christmas morning. Merlin and Lady Luvs

Yeah, I tried to at least take a decent Christmas picture, plus I loved my outfit that day :)

Christmas presents! Jewel=Awesome. Elvis=the KING, enough said. George Strait=my dream guy, really!

I got Dance on Broadway for Wii! It's pretty intense, haha. I love it though. I'm also going to get Just Dance 2 and Zumba for Wii. I'll review them too, later, maybe even with a video of me making a fool of myself dancing to Bend and Snap!

And for my number one present

My sewing machine! I've been dying for one for a while and I assumed that I was just going to get the own my family owns (which I was totally content with), instead my grandma surprised me with a brand spanking new one! And it's a Limited Edition Project Runway one and it comes with 50 built in stitches and it has an LCD screen. Yeah, I'm pretty much in love with it.

Here's my baby in all her glory! I also got a few yards of fabric, two easy patterns, an easy sew apron and pillowcase kit, a sewing essentials kit and some quilting scraps so I can start of easily with a blanket. Yeah, I've never really sewn at all before, so this is going to be INTERESTING. But I'm really optimistic about it, soo...

I got another present that I didn't really expect, it was truly a nice surprise. Remember how I told y'all that I got to witness my two friends getting engaged? Well...

She asked me to be one of her bridesmaids!! I'm so excited it's crazy! This is the first time that I'm going to be a bridesmaid for someone other than family, so it makes me even more excited for all the upcoming Weddings!!
I'm most excited about helping her figure out all the little details and stuff. I already have way too many ideas for my own good :)

At least I now have a justified reason to look at wedding sites and blogs :)

Christmas Miracles

Hey Guys! Happy Boxing Day!
Of course, we don't celebrate Boxing Day in America and I actually have no idea what the heck Boxing Day is (time to do some research!), but Happy Boxing Day anyway!

How was your Christmas? I hope that you all had a wonderful time spent with family and friends. I also hope that you all ate super a lot. (I just realized, I only ate like twice yesterday and none was really a full meal. weird.)


Christmas around these parts was ok in the morning, then better in the afternoon, then super awesome at night, then back to bleh late last night. Anyway, i don't really want to talk about it.


I did see Tangled again though! Man that movie is so flippen awesome! Flynn Rider is seriously to die for! He's my ideal Disney Prince. Haha.


But ok, let's talk about last night, cuz that's really the only reason why I'm posting this today. One of my close friends got engaged and I got to be there to witness it! It was so adorable and I'm really glad that I was invited to experience it.

A bunch of my friends (we consider each other family, for the most part), got together at my Auntie's house. Alexa (the girl who got proposed to!) thought that we were getting together to play some games and we were thinking about going to see Honolulu City Lights. When I got there, Alexa was pretty upset. She'd been having a rough Christmas and she was kinda upset at her boyfriend, Paul, because he hadn't given her a present yet. So we sat on the couch and talked for a bit. Paul was stalling because some people hadn't arrived yet. Then finally everyone was there and we started the "games" beginning with a game called The Humble Chair. Paul had Alexa sit in the chair and we all gathered around acting like we were gonna play, Paul started and was saying all kinds of good things about Alexa. Then she was like "This isn't the humble chair, is it?" Paul said no and pulled out the ring and she started crying. And then every one else started tearing and smiling.

It was pretty awesome. I've never witnessed a proposal before so it was really beautiful. They've been together for three years and I'm so excited that they're finally getting married! They're really cute together and they really love each other. I am so happy for them!


So next year three of my friends are getting married, pretty much one right after the other (August, September and November). 2011 is definitely going to be exciting!


Ok, Santa, I'll accept a late Christmas present, send my a Flynn Rider look alike to marry and we'll be good :)

To My Bloggy Friends,

Since the Christmas spirit is in full swing around these parts (and because I still have to wrap Christmas presents for everyone in my family....), I would like to take this time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.



If you will be traveling over the next few days, I wish you safe travels.

Enjoy the time spent with your family and friends! 


Thank you for being awesome followers. You guys are the greatest.

Until next week!

The most wonderful time!

Yay! It's Friday! Well, actually it's 8:30pm here in Hawaii, but whatever. Let's just play pretend for a little while. And while we are pretending, why don't you go on over to Lauren's blog and link up for Fill In The Blank Friday. This weeks questions are all Christmasy and awesome. Speaking of Christmas, can you believe that it's only in a week?! I haven't even gotten my letter to Santa yet! :P

1.   Giving is       awesome! i know that it's cliche to say that giving is better than receiving, but it's true. and for me, giving doesn't just mean giving material gifts. in my opinion, giving also means time. time is the most precious gift that you can give. giving, especially your time, is the most awesome gift that you can give! That's why "Gift" sounds so much like "Give". I mean you don't call a gift a "receive" or something sounds close to that. You call it a gift because it's the giving that counts  .

2.  Receiving is   nice. Christmas isn't much of a big deal to me anymore though. At Christmas, I'd rather spend my day relaxing, watching Christmas movies on TV, eating dinner with my family and playing with the toys that my cousins and baby brother get. Christmas should just be about spending time (oh, there's that time thing again) with your family. Now birthdays on the other hand, that's when I like to be pampered!  .

3.  The best gift I ever received was       my grandpa's chain and pendant. I got it in after he passed away, which was of course really hard for me since he was pretty much my dad. But he wore it pretty much every single day for 16 years (we'll get to that later) and it meant a lot to him and me. I can't wait to be able to pass that on to my son one day   .

4.  The best gift I ever gave was       When I was one, I gave my grandpa his chain and pendant for Father's Day. Both are gold and the pendant is the Hawaiian crest. He wore it every single day of his life since I gave it to him. I got it back on the day that he passed away. He wore it for 16 years and for me, it was just a sign that he loved me. One day, I will pass it on to my son and I hope that he'll cherish it as much as I do .

5.  Something intangible that I wish I could receive is       awesome crafting skills. I so wish that I could sew and had amazing crafting ideas all the time .

6.  Something intangible that I wish I could give is        happiness. I believe everyone deserves happiness    .

7.  The one gift I always wanted as a child, but never got was       an American Girl doll! Don't worry, that's still on my list. I will get it one day!       .

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OK, Now it's really Friday and I completely forgot about 5 Question Friday over at Mama M's blog Five Crooked Halos. So that's what you're getting now!

1. Do you regift...and if so, do you have a regifting horror story?

I do not regift. I don't know, I find regifting mean and rude. It's just not the way I roll.

2. Do you know what you are getting for Christmas this year?

No. In fact, I will probably get nothing for Christmas since we're struggling with the whole money thing (aren't we all?). Also, I guess I kind of got a gift already since we joined the Disney Vacation Club when we were on vacation and my grandma is paying for my school. 

I mean, I'd really like to get a Christmas present, but whatever. I can deal. Besides, my birthday is a month after Christmas!

3. Who brings the most gifts in your family, you or Santa?

Growing up, Santa and the gifts from the family were pretty much equal. When I have Christmas with my family, though, I want to make sure that the kids get just one "big" present from Santa (like a Tonka Truck or a Doll), some stocking Stuffers from Santa and the rest from the family.

I mean, I always thought it was weird how we'd get a lot of things from Santa. Like "Really does he have time to MAKE us like 5 presents?!" IDK, I was a weird kid.

4. What store do you love to by jeans from?

Uhm...Ross. Haha, I don't buy jeans from any other place, actually.

5. Christmas meal: Big, All Out Meal or Snacks and Apps?

Big Meal! With the Snacks and stuff in between. The holidays are my excuse to eat all I want, okay?

OK, Now I'm done!
Have a wonderful weekend, loves!




P.S. I'll probably be back for a second Friday entry a little later on. Today is an important day! You'll know why later :P

Let's talk New Years!

Yes, I am quite aware that it isn't even Christmas yet (how many days til that anyway), but of all the holidays in this season, my absolute most favoritest, favorite holiday is New Years! OK, I lied, Thanksgiving is my most favorite, but since I was flying on Thanksgiving day and I'd just arrived in Florida and we didn't do much of anything, we're going to go with New Years as my favorite this year. And while I think Christmas is awesome, it just isn't fun when you're in the weird age between being a teenaged kid and being a full fledged adult, so you don't get any really cool presents. Yeah, I'm in that stage right now. I am also in the stage where I'm too old to go to fun teen stuff, but I'm still too young to go to a good night club (not that I enjoy clubbing anyway, I just want to be old enough to have that option, kay?). OK, sorry, I'm done complaining now. Let's just go with Christmas is not my favorite winter holiday and we'll leave it at that.

Now New Years, well New Years in my book is awesome! For as long as I can remember, everyone on our street would get together have a huge potluck with fireworks (most of them illegal). All the TV stations would have countdowns of their best show episodes from the year. We get to watch how different countries and cultures are celebrating the New Year. And we get to have a HUGE party. I think my love for New Years shows my strong connection to my Chinese heritage. The Chinese really know how to ring in the new year, let me tell you!


Anyway, on to the real point of this blog. Starting in 2011, I've decided that I am really going to focus on working on my Day Zero Project goals. I've got 5 down and only 96 more to go! And I can't think of a better way to go through 2011 than by working to complete some goals! I've already decided that I will be starting to write a book as well as my autobiography beginning in 2011. And I have some other plans for the month of January and beyond, but my biggest goal is, drum roll please.....


My book list!

(via)

Oh, how I wish that beauty was in my house! Anyhow, I am super excited to start on this goal. I love reading, it's one of the things that has always kept me sane. I know that no matter how crazy life is, I can enter into another world for a while by simply opening a book. It is honestly the greatest escape.

My reading list is pretty long, but hey I do have 962 days, and I'll probably give myself the full 1001 since I should have started this project sooner, but we'll see! I'll also probably start a separate blog to do book reviews and what not, just so that I don't flood my personal blog with stuff. And, I may even start a virtual book club thing. So, if anyone else is interested in reading through my list with me (or even just reading SOME of the books on the list) let me know and we can talk and figure things out.



Well, I better go and figure out which books on the list I actually own so I can start there. Or maybe it's time for me to head down to the library!










P.S. Stay tuned for a new blog design (hopefully!!) over the next couple of days. I'm getting a bit tired of this one, it's time for something new!

Wee Bit Of Moi.

It has been way too long since I've joined up on any linky parties. To be completely honest, I actually really missed doing Wee Bit Of Me, Hoo Are You and Ten on a Tuesday. We all know that I love answering questions and doing surveys about myself and my life (yeah, I say that in ever link party post). So, I am rejoining the linky party madness this week with Leigh Ashley's Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays. Just click on her pretty graphic to link up!



{one} did you buy a christmas tree this year?i did not, but thankfully my aunty and uncle that live with us did! we were on vacation since before thanksgiving until sunday, leaving very little time to buy a christmas tree, but we do have one!
{two} what is your favorite holiday tradition?my family doesn't do this anymore, but we use to go to my tutu's house every year on christmas day. Santa would come and we would open presents and have a huge, yummy dinner with all of my grandma's siblings and their families. It was really fun. But we kinda stopped doing that after tutu passed away :(
{three} do you open your gifts on christmas eve or christmas day?one on christmas eve, the rest on christmas day.
{four} at what age did you stop believing in santa claus?i still believe in santa! haha, ok well...i'm not sure when I stopped believing. I think it was probably when I started to recognize my grandma's handwriting, but then even after that I forced myself to still "believe" so that I wouldn't disappoint my siblings or cousins.
{five} do you fill stockings?Nah. I mean, I will when I have my own family some day. 
{six} handmade presents or store bought presents?both. it just depends.
{seven} do you have a favorite christmas meal?stuffing and mashed potatoes!
{eight} is your christmas tree real or artificial?real.
{nine} what is your favorite christmas song?merry christmas, happy holidays by nsync! that and walking in a winter wonderland sung by pretty much anyone.
{ten} did you send out christmas cards this year?nah. i really should have since i had that whole 50 cards for free thing, but eh.
OK, well, that was that and I hope that you enjoy reading my Christmas-y answers. Haha. Now I have to go and finish a few final assignments that I've been putting off lately.
XOXO,

Ahhh...Christmas!

I know, I know. It isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but hey, cut me some slack here!


I love winter. It's my favorite season. All of my favorite holidays happen in the winter (well...and in late fall too, I guess). Unfortunately, I never had the chance to play in the snow or to build a snowman, or have a snowball fight. We don't even have actual winter here in Hawaii. Sure, it does get a little chillier and it rains more often, but that's the extent of our winter season. You can even find people hanging out on the beach on Christmas morning, enjoying time with family.


My favorite thing about Christmas has always been Christmas cards. When I was younger and learning how to write, my grandma would pick up boxes of cards from the store and she would have me write short notes in the cards. We would give those cards to everyone. Teachers, friends, family, pastors, heck I think we even gave one to the lady who worked at McDonalds one year! 


Now, Christmas cards have gone way fancy thanks to people being more computer savvy. Now days, all you really have to do is take some family pictures with your digital camera and upload it onto either an online site with ready made templates or, if you're feeling extra fancy, you can even make your own Christmas card with photoshop. Well, I'm not fancy enough to use photoshop, so I turn to Shutterfly instead!


Have I ever mentioned before how much I love Shutterfly? Well, I do. There are so many cute projects that you can make in an instant. It's so quick and easy that anyone (even a Caveman) could do it!


For Christmas last year, my Aunty and Uncle made our family super cute calendars for Christmas on Shutterfly. It had pictures of my grandpa with various people from our family and there are even pictures of each person on their birthdays, for us...ahem...more forgetful people. It looked something like this:

Shutterfly Wall Calendars

One year, I even made a photo book for a (now ex) boyfriend using Shutterfly. Long story short, I love Shutterfly and I decided that I would go through them to make Christmas Cards this year. Now that we actually know more people, and it's so much simpler just to upload some photos than to write out a whole long novel about how my year went, I thought that it would be fun to actually send Christmas cards this year.

Plus, Shutterfly is way awesome and is offering a sweet deal for Bloggers. Basically Bloggers get 50 Free Holiday Cards! Just for blogging about how awesome Shutterfly is. An really, why wouldn't you want to blog about that? Check out the promotion here.

I tend to be drawn to the simpler Christmas Cards. When these come in the mail from other family members and friends, I always notice the pictures. It's so interesting to see how much people have grown through the years, so I really like cards that focus more on the pictures, and less on the words. Here are a few of my absolute favorites from the Shutterfly Holiday collection:

(Via)

(via)

(via)

(via)

(via)

My absolute favorite is the brown and green one. I love those colors together, plus aren't those kids in the picture the most adorable kids ever? How do you even become a model for these picture things? Can I be one?

Anyways...I don't normally send out Christmas cards anymore, but this year-with family and friends spread across the globe, and virtually no money to send Chocolate covered Mac. nuts all over the world, cute and customized Christmas cards seems to be the best option. I mean, I'm already sending my missionary buddy a whole package full of goodies for his birthday (which is today!! Happy Birthday George!!!), so I really don't want to spend another 40 or 50 bucks shipping goodies around the world. 

Plus, who doesn't like a good holiday card, right?

Have a marvelous Wednesday & happy holiday card hunting!

XOXO,