Christmas Miracles, part 2

So, even though I've been SUPER good all year, Santa kinda forgot to stop by my house this year (I blame it on the fact that my cousins are SUPER naughty).

Well, I did get gifted a sewing machine, which is good. But you know what would go hand in hand with my awesome sewing machine? An awesome Silhouette! I mean, come on, I have three weddings to make presents for in 2011. I can sew the newlyweds some awesome blankets and then monogram some towels using the Silhouette. I could even help make their thank you cards or even their invites using the nifty Silhouette. I'm pretty sure that thing can do anything.

As Christmas Miracles go, four awesome blogs are giving away the Silhouette! Do you understand how exciting that is?

And as much as I want to be selfish and not tell anyone about the giveaways, I love you guys and I want to share. (Plus, I get more entries if I blog about it =P). So head on over to these three blogs and check out the give away!

Giveaway post here

Giveaway post here

Giveaway post here

Giveaway post here

Good luck to me! And to all you guys too :)

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!

This is a procrastination blog

It's true, I am procrastinating. I keep telling myself that I will at least start to clean my room today, but it just hasn't happened yet. I blame it on the fact that I only woke up an hour ago (that's extremely weird for me!), I blame that on the rain. It's been super rainy here for the last two days (which I looooveee!!!!!), but alas today the blue skies and mr. sun has decided to emerge again. Bummer, because I was looking for an excuse to stay under covers today!

Anyway, moving on with life. Today is my cousin Nehemiah's 11th birthday! Happy Birthday Miah!!! 

Also, Homespun Threads has given me a wonderful Christmas present, and it's for all of you too. All of the sewing patterns in the Homespun Threads shop is completely FREE right now. So if you're interested in sewing (and even if you're not) I suggest you head on over there and browse through them. Uhm, I may or may not have gotten a little crazy with that whole thing. It's perfect though! One of my goals for the new year is to teach myself how to sew (it'll be interesting...trust me), so having these patterns will definitely be worth it!


Now, for today's Ten on Tuesday via Roots and Rings! 


1. Do you do any volunteer work? I do. Well, I try to anyway. I actually really like volunteer work, though! That reminds me, I have to do like 50 hours for my scholarship...
2. Do you have night and/or morning ritual? Uhm, I used to and I need to get back into it. In the morning, I would wake up and read my scriptures, then I would eat breakfast & watch some TV or go on the computer. At night, I would read my scriptures again and then read a book until I got really tired.
3. Would you rather exercise or diet? Why? Exercise. Because I like food. A lot.
4. If you would rather exercise, do you prefer going to a gym or working out at home? Both, I guess. It depends. I love doing work out videos and stuf, but I'd rather run on a treadmill and do stuff like Zumba in a class.
5. What do you think is a huge waste of time? Fighting and holding grudges. Just let it go, move on. I mean, don't dwell on it. If you dwell, you're wasting all of your precious time when you could be doing something that makes you happy.
6. What is one way you save time? Being organized! When I know where everything is and that everything has a place, it's so much easier to get things done quicker!
7. What is your current obsession? Online, forum type RPG Games. Yeah, I'm kinda a dork like that. I'm currently in like four different RPGs. They're fun though, you all should join!
8. What is a current obsession you can’t wait to pass? Uhm....I don't know.
9. Are you currently reading a book? If so, what book? Would you recommend it? I am! I'm reading Memoirs of A Geisha by Arthur Golden. It's the first book that I'm reading on my book list for my new Book Blog! I've read it before and I liked it a lot then, but now that I'm older I actually understand more of the themes and I like it a lot better, so yes, you all should read it!
10. Since we had the 90s question last week, what’s your favorite songs from 00′s? Is this not counting 2010, since technically it's the start of the new decade? Well, the 00s are pretty much all my music, I grew up with most of the artists in the 00s. I have to say Taylor Swifts songs (yes all of them) are among my favorites, It Happens Everytime by Dream Street will always be awesome), NSYNC, Mandy Moore, Eminem...I really can't decide on just songs!


I am the momma of the weirdest puppy in the world! This morning, I found her inside the bag of dog food, with no food left in the bag at all. She got so startled when I found her. One of these days I am going to have to dedicate a blog post to her and all of her weird little quirks!

Ok, now I have to stop procrastinating. Later days!

New Years Preparation List.

Hey guys!
If you haven't been able to check out my new reading blog, TayIRL Reads, please do. Or, if you have any friends who love reading, send them over! I am currently reading Memoirs of A Geisha by Arthur Golden. If you want, you can even read it with me!


As you guys probably already know, I am soooooo excited for the new year! And not so much Christmas (I'm gonna be a total Scrooge McDuck this year, I know it =P). The New Year is exciting for me because I am a really huge fan of a having a New Start. I think it's cool how the universe (literally) constantly gives us the chance to start again, to do better, you know...all that good stuff.

Well, I also believe in starting the new year off on the right foot. To be honest, I'm pretty superstitious about New Years (blame my Chinese for that one...). It's nothing too big, but I really believe in starting off the year how you want to end it. So, if you're bummed out and mopey on New Years eve/day, you'll probably have a grumptastic year. But, if you start the new year off with a smile on your face, then you'll probably be smiley all year. Really, it's just all about your outlook. Last year, I had an interesting New Years full of ups and downs, which is why (I believe) my year was a full on roller coaster of emotion. 


Anyway, I am really looking forward to 2011 and I want to start the New Year off right! I am already in that positive thinking state of mind (I'm pretty sure 2011 is going to be AWESOME) and I'm trying to stay extra, super healthy so that I don't get sick on New Years, but here's a list of some other stuff I want to get done by the time 2011 hits!


01. Clean/Rearrange & Reorganize my room. It has been somewhat of a mess since I came back from vacation (possibly because I still have not unpacked anything...), which is actually really unlike me. So, over the next week I'm going to clean my room and take pictures of it in it's current arrangement.


I'm the type of girl that enjoys moving things around and playing with the looks of a room (I'm telling you, I should be an interior designer. Do they have majors for that?). I don't really like my room looking one way for too long. It doesn't have to be a whole furniture reversal most of the time, but it will be this time. 


02. Get a new dresser/mirror. That's also a pretty big Christmas wish list item for me (along with a bike, and some awesome fabrics/thread/mad sewing skills). The current dresser that I have belonged to my cousins and I apparently have way too much clothes, so the drawers are kind of falling apart and I don't have enough closet space.


03. Get rid of all the clothes that are tattered or don't fit me anymore. I've never actually done this for the new year before, and it doesn't really have anything to do with a superstition, but I just want to make sure that I have clothes that fit and that are nice.


04. Make amends. This one is probably going to be on the harder side for me, because I tend to hold grudges (not good, I know). But chinese superstition says that you should be at a positive place and not in "debt" whether it be personal or financial. 


05. Put money in all of my purses. Speaking of finances, another superstition says that all a persons money bags should have at least a few coins in them, and the person should be carrying money on them. It's a sign of good finances in the new year.


06. Do a My Year In Review based on my Twitter Statuses. You know those Facebook Status  in a year thingies? Well, I deleted my old facebook right smack dab in the middle of the year and I won't be able to do that, so instead I'm going to go through my twitter statuses and make my own year in review kind of thing.


07. Blog about this year. That will definitely be fun!


That's all that I can think of right now. But I'm sure more things will come up in the future. What are some things on your "To Do Before New Years" list? And share some cool New Years Superstitions you've heard of too!

Insert Witty Title Here

Howdy y'all,


When I was in Vegas last week, there was a Rodeo going on hosted by the MGM Grand which is also where we stayed. Imagine my immense joy when I found out that there would be loads of cutie cowboys roaming around for a week and also when I found out that they'd only be playing country music for a week. Well, I was mighty happy. I was so happy, in fact, that I started speaking with a "country" accent. This also happened when we had our layover in Texas. Yep, I do that pretty often. In fact, the voice in my head is reading this in a country accent right now.


In case you couldn't tell from that paragraph, this is going to be a random entry of random stuff that y'all need to know. So stick with me. I know we can get through this.


Now, for our first order of business I need to let you guys know that I will be starting my reading goal that I talked about a few entries back tomorrow. If you don't remember, you can check out the post here, and you can even check out my reading list. I also started up a new blog, which will focus only on my reading goal. It'll include personal book reviews, information on how my goal is going, and I'm even hoping to start a virtual book club with some guests and linky parties there in the new year. You can check me out over at TayIRLReads.blogspot.com.

And don't worry, I'm not abandoning this blog! The whole point of having the two separate blogs is so that I can blog regularly here and do all my bookish things there!


Now it's time for the Appreciation part of this random post. I have a few lovely ladies that need thanking.

First, have you noticed this awesome new blog design? Well, I owe a big huge thank you to Julie over at Leelou Blogs. The blog design that I have is one of her many free, pre-made ones, but I wish I had the money to pay her to make me a personal design (Dear Santa, can you please give me money for that). Her designs are beautiful and I'm sure they take a lot of time to make, and she still provides so many of them free of charge. So, if you're thinking of giving your blog a makeover, I would recommend Julie!


My second big, huge Appreciation cyber hug goes to Stephanie! She just made an appreciation post for all of her followers and I just wanted to thank her for mentioning me. So thank youuu!!! Steph is super awesome. Her post about the day zero project actually inspired me to make one of my own. So it's her fault that I'm forcing myself to read like a bazillion books. :P. No, but really, her blog is great and you should really go and check her out! Thank you again for your nice words and also for following me, Steph! You are awesome!

And last, but certainly not least, I wanted to honor an incredible woman. Though I have never met her, she has truly influenced my life in a way that no other person has. She has given me one of the most priceless gifts that I could ever imagine and I love her and appreciate her for it. (Warning: I will probably start typing in Hawaiian now...) Mahalo nui loa e Ke Ali'i Pauahi Bishop. Thank you for all that you have done for me. Thank you for all that you have done for the children of Hawai'i. Without you and your legacy, I would not have had the opportunity to graduate from Kamehameha, nor would I have the job that I have. I am grateful for the opportunities you have given me and the doors you have opened for me. I can only hope to one day be as amazing a woman as you were. I can only hope that I will one day be able to leave my own legacy on the children of Hawai'i. Thank you, Pauahi.

For those of you who may not know, Bernice Pauahi Bishop was the founder of Kamehameha Schools. It's a private K-12 school in Hawaii with campuses on three islands (Maui, Big Island and Oahu) as well as over 30 Pre-schools statewide. Pauahi was the granddaughter of King Kamehameha I, which is why the school was named after him. After Kamehameha V, the last of the Kamehameha Dynasty, passed away, Pauahi was next in line for the throne, but she gave it up so that she could better help the people of Hawai'i. During her lifetime, Pauahi had a great love for her people. In her will, she left her estate and money to her trustees asking them to build a school for Hawaiian children. And that's how Kamehameha Schools was founded. We can have a more in depth Hawaiian History lesson later :P

I was lucky enough to attend for high school, and I actually worked at one of the pre schools on the big island, and I am still a substitute there. Every year around her birthday, December 19, we celebrate her, her life and legacy and all she has done for us. So Hau'oli La Hanau e Pauahi! 

Well, I guess that's all.
Please don't forget to go and check out my new book blog! I'll be starting my first book, Memoirs of A Geisha tomorrow!