Happy new year!

I can't believe 2010 is ending... being in Hawaii and all, I still have 4.5 hours until it's officially 2011. Typically the new year is my FAVORITEST 'holiday' because it's all about starting fresh and celebrating life and making resolutions to better yourself, but this year I'm a little blah. I won't even tell you that I'm sitting at home with my dogs . . . thinking.

Some note worthy things we did in 2010 that I won't blog pictures because it'll take too long
1. Flew to Florida for the first time and went to Disney World/ Harry Potter ville
2. Went to NorCal for my beautiful roommate's wedding
3. Celebrated my little girl's first birthday
4. Watched my little one take her first steps

Pretty exciting, right? 2011 will have to be a pretty amazing year to top 2010, but bring it on. :)

And some words to live by, or to think about anyway..
Ninety to ninety-five percent of people will withdraw to the comfort zone when what they try doesn't work. Only that small percentage, 5 or 10 percent, will continually improve themselves; they will continually push themselves out into the zone of discomfort, and these are always the highest performers in every field.
-Brian Tracy

I think this is so funny and totally something I would do

rough patch

I am going through a little rough patch right now. Nothing awful, like anything health related but I need to sit down and think some things through. It would help if I had someone to talk to, but I'm not really sure who to turn to so it's been rough.

My parents are in Vegas with my brother and his girlfriend so we're stuck at home with their corgi, Mimi. Here is the little stinker:


And my little stinker with their little stinker.

With all of my friends home, I have been going out a lot more. It is helping to take my mind off of things. I got home at 5am the other day for the first time since I was in college. Then Brooke woke me up at 8am and I was hurting the entire day! Guess my days of being 21 are long gone.

On a different note, I am losing followers! What the heck is going on?

man oh man

.. did Brooke get a lot of presents this year! You'll see her whole loot later in this post, so I'll start from the very beginning.

We woke up on Christmas Eve and planned to open her play kitchen so she could play with it all day. Here it is, in all of its glory:

It only took Vance an hour to put together


But what Brooke was MOST thrilled with was a slide that Vance created out of the play kitchen box:

How do you like her 'do?



Then we headed over to Vance's aunt and uncle's house for dinner. They have an enormous, beautiful house with stairs, which is huge for Brooke because she loves stairs. This is what she did all.night.long.




Family photo near the entertainment


Photo with the newlyweds :)




Then we woke up this morning, my parents & Vance's parents came over to watch Brooke open presents...

Here's the end result:

Yay, she has her very own slide!

Family photo on Christmas morning:

Merry merry Christmas to all!

aesthetic thursday .. christmas edition

Well, tomorrow Brooke will be opening her humangoid play kitchen from my parents and Vance and I will be struggling to find room in our teeny tiny cottage to house her new toy. We're all really excited. Here are some holiday-related pictures, all from tumblr. (I think you can click on the picture and it'll take you to the source)

I'm starting to think that being happy is a choice we make and does not depend on a person's circumstances, but I'm still figuring it out...

Merry merry Christmas everyone! :)

Getting ready for Christmas..

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner! How absolutely ridiculous. We're spending Christmas Eve with my in-laws and having everyone over for Christmas morning breakfast (my parents + my in-laws-- including sister/brother in law, parents, possibly aunties and grandma).. everyone is looking forward to watching Brooke tear through her presents!

My mom & dad went out and got the little monster a huge play kitchen and it's currently sitting in our storage room ... just waiting to be played with. My mom is like a little kid right now and keeps asking me, "is it okay if she opens it early?" Our plan is to have her open it on Christmas Eve morning so she can play with it all day so it's not the only thing she'll play with on Christmas morning.

I am the proud owner of a Nook Color... unfortunately my husby wrapped it up and it's sitting under our tree... mocking me. :(

I am extremely pleased to announce that my baby's black eye has disappeared. Thank God.

Here she is playing with some hand me down blocks from her cousin, Emily. I have a few cousins with kids who are now 8, 7 & 5, so we are EXTREMELY fortunate that they have given us all of the toys and books they are done playing with! Notice how everyone is 'playing' with Brooke-- she is miss boss in this house!

And last but not least, here is a pic from our Christmas card this year. My brother's girlfriend is an uber talented photographer, no?

Happy holidays everyone!

Friends & Christmas decorations!

My friends are slowly trickling home for the holidays. A majority of them do NOT live in Hawaii, so it is always great when they're home to hang out! This is our most recent dinner (pizza & wine) at our house. The two girls to the right of me are my cousins (the one sitting right next to me is my 2nd cousin and the one on the far right is my 1st cousin) and the girl on the left of me is a cousin through marriage-- what a happy little fam!


My little Zoe meets her twin

My mom, hubs, Brooke & I went to lunch and shopping at the mall the other day. This is what happened on the way home..

Here are some phone pictures of our tree this year. My newest ornament from my aunty who just returned from Disney World: (I used to love Winnie the Pooh when I was a kid)

The hubs & I first ornament when we first started dating in 2006!

Mickey & Minnie just married ornament from Disneyland a few months after we were married and one of Brooke's first ornaments from last year

Buddy & Zoe's stocking

Brooke's brand spankin' new stocking (we didn't have one last year, gasp!) from Disney World

I can't believe Christmas is so soon! I'm so excited for my little girl to wake up and RIP through her presents. Grandma bought her an enormous play kitchen that she's going to looooove! She has so many presents under the tree-- I'll take a picture of it soon! Such a lucky little girl to have SO MANY PEOPLE who love and spoil her :)

Somebody get this kid to a park ... stat

aesthetic thursday ... life updates

images

so .. i didn't end up getting the job that I so-very-wanted. i am disappointed, but i am a Christian and so i'm trying my very hardest to believe that God has a bigger plan for me. or i'm trying to believe that everything does, indeed, happen for a reason and life/destiny/fate/whateveryoucall it will guide me in the right direction. it's hard though .. waiting to see what that plan is! i suppose it's also hard watching my friends start off on their careers, discovering what they want to do with their lives, enjoying spending their money on late nights at bars and expensive dinners or traveling while vance and i are off busy learning how to become parents. don't get me wrong-- i love my little monkey with every ounce of my being and wouldn't trade my life for the world (unless i could live exactly the way i do but make copious amounts of money while doing so-- reality show, anyone?), but it has been quite an adjustment for me.

and so these following pictures may reflect this 'quarter life crisis' I'm going through.

I think I may need to take time to figure this one out.

no quarter-life crisis, but i think this is so sweet:

and last, but definitely not least...

WOW! Light!

We brought our little monkey to see the Christmas lights in our neighborhood this past weekend and the entire time we heard "WOW! Light! Hi light!" This year the monkey's grandparents joined us and we all enjoyed walking around, drinking our Starbucks and looking at the lights.

Here we are last year:


This year:

Okay, I really need a haircut!


& I think I like my other glasses better... what do you think?

Brooke last year:


Brooke this year (couldn't find that darn penguin!)

Grandpa chasing her down the street, occasionally trying to use her hood as a leash (oops safety harness)

Hello Kitty!

Came to the conclusion that Christmas basically vomitted all over this house

Disney princesses

Spent awhile looking at this house and naming all of the characters

Grandpa, monkey, daddy

Love that they decorated the basketball hoop!

Little girl and her little pig :)