Thanks and Giving

All too often I get caught up in the rigors of daily life and fail to see what is TRULY important. The small picture is always closer in view and easier to reach than the big picture. It has become my goal to reduce my anxiety levels, and insodoing, have seen so many wonderfully beautiful aspects of my life for which I am forever thankful.

We'll start here: Hawaii-Need I say more? I am thankful for the visual beauty that it provides and will be working diligently to save it from plastic-based extinction...I think I may need a cape...

#2: My family (Picture is missing Brandon and Nick... :( ). We have held on to each other through the last 5 years and are finally resurfacing as a beautiful butterfly...

#3&4: My HUSBAND and our apartment: Security, love, and peace...

#5: The OCEAN: The absolute mystery and glory of God

#6: Cameras! To capture a moment in time is priceless...

Life With a Tail...

...is sure better than life without one! There are a few downsides to having a tail, though.

1) Kids everyone think you are an automatic petting zoo.

2) Sometimes you forget you have a tail and you close it in the car door...doesn't hurt, just looks pretty funny from the outside of the car.


Good things?

You have a great excuse to do anything you want to do! I've had a brighter feeling about life for the last few days as a monkey...just feel like a kid! Monkey'in around!

ps: just got a Trick-or-Treater at the door...1 year old...dressed up as a strawberry...cutest things I've ever seen!

Fall

Fall

Fall means all things pumpkin! Woohoo!! Here is a shot from my morning...

My newest tradition is to buy a pumpkin candle around Halloween time. I bought it last night and you can see it here...

Do you love it? I love it! I got it at Ross!

Also note the massive basil plant growing the background. Basil is a HEARTY plant! Grow on, basil!

Domestication

Saved these potatoes from extinction! We now have frozen hash browns. I found out, however, that you have to blanch potatoes before freezing them or they turn brown. Oops!

Snap shots from my domestic life...

Domestication: to accustom to household life or affairs

I've never considered myself to be the domestic type...yes, I enjoy cleaning, but more for fear of clutter and disease than the joy of a catalog-looking home. However, after looking up the definition of "domestication", I now realize that I am, actually, quite domestic!

Take, for example, the picture above. The household life (legs up on the couch) is pictured behind the affairs (french-pressed coffee and cream). As per the definition, I believe this to be domestic.

From my window, I can see...

Our new apartment has the BEST view...checkout the sunrise/set from our point of view:

Goin' to the Chapel....

We're married! Yeah! We got married January 7th on Waimanalo Beach.  It was an incredible day that started with rain...lots of it...enough to cause major anxiety on my part.  Nonetheless, there was a beautiful rainbow, wonderful friends and lots of family.  About 5 minutes before the ceremony began, the rain cleared and the sun came out!  Talk about a rain blessing!! 

Our goal in planning was to make sure that our wedding was eco-friendly.  Some of the things that helped us to do that were 1) Using only one vendor to cut the emissions from transportation to and from the site. 2) Using Styrophobia plates, spoons, forks and knives.  3) Recycling! 4) Making our own cupcakes (they tasted just as good as a professional and we made them from a box!) 5) Having our ceremony in the day time to eliminate the need for lighting.  6) Giving recycled notebooks, fashionable reusable grocery bags and slippers for wedding party gifts.  7) Buying wedding rings from Touch Wood Rings, a man that makes incredible rings from recycled wood!  www.touchwoodrings.com 8)Using real flowers...fake flowers left on beaches are eaten by birds and turtles. You can guess the rest.  You'd be surprised how many fake-flowers we see on the beach left over from wedding ceremonies.  

I'm sure there were more details that I've forgotten, but nonetheless, it was exactly what we wanted.  Earth-friendly, people-friendly...to all a good time! 

Enjoy the pics!!!

Awesome thing about Hawaii? It was free to get a permit to have our wedding on the beach!! Woohoo!!

October

The waves were HUGE at Makapu'u this last Saturday.  Not only was the weather weary, the waves were rolling in in strange places.  Check this out!

We caught an amazing sunset from our lanai.

Here's the girls at Meghen's birthday celebration! We had a blast!


Roxy, Caroline and I performed at the Honolulu Youth Theater's "A Mid-summer Night's Dream" fundraiser.  Here we are in our fairy suits having fun at Kahala Mall after the show.

Fairies in a cart.

It has rained so much in the last few days that the waterfalls that don't normally see much action are overflowing!  Here's my shots of the Manoa Falls...taken from my truck.  Usually these falls aren't visible from the road.  It was AWESOME.
If you look closely, you can see the falls in the background.
Cool thing about Hawai'i? It was cold today...sweater weather...like 75 degrees.  Haha!

Blessings everywhere

I recently went to Tucson to celebrate Brandon's 21st BIRTHDAY! WOOHOO!!! It was awesome. He has become the best person...he is humble, kind, fun, studious, honest....he is my hero! We had a lot of time to hang out and enjoy each other's company. Here we are in the jungle at the Shanty!
B and I got to watch a few Ohio State games together. Here I am in his Buckeye helmet. OSU Football here I come? eh?


I've started dancing with a modern dance company in town, called Convergence. It has filled a hole in my heart that has existed for three years...dance! Wonderful people! Good work! Wow...I am just so thankful. Here we are at our first performance together.


We went to Las Vegas to celebrate Brandon's 21st. It was super nuts. I haven't been up that late in years...Although Vegas is not my priority, family certainly is and we had a great time! Here is my family:

Beyond these blessings, Nick has really been enjoying his new job and is looking forward to continuing his career, I am excited about the possibility of grad school for Special Ed, we are moving into a two-bedroom apt (need I say more??) and we are getting married in a few months! This is just a GREAT time in life.
Cool thing about Hawaii? While the rest of the nation is starting to feel fall, we are still enjoying beach weather! Yes!