Merii Kurisumasu

Last week I was invited to watch my wonderful second-grade ballerinas do their 2nd grade Christmas play. Actually, I was comanded to see it. I can never refuse an invitiation like that from a child..."Miss Lindsay, you HAVE to come to our play! Will you please come and watch us?" Now, not knowing whether or not they would have their parents there to watch them, as it was mid-day, I put my "Miss Lindsay" hat on an hour earlier than usual and tromped on over to their show.
Boy, were they fantastic! Children certainly do encompass the Christmas spirit more than we adults ever could through our silly gifts and feelings of unpreparedness at all times...Why are we rushing? What really matters? Well, besides the answer to that question, the children taught me how to say "Merry Christmas" in many languages. My favorite of all time is Japanese. The Japanese language does not actually have a translation for Merry Christmas, and so here is the best spelling that I found for how to say Merry Christmas in Japanese....
MERII KURISUMASU!!!
I just love it.

Speaking of holiday spirit, these lights were donated to us by a very generous friend. We just LOVE them.

And speaking of gifts, here are some of my homemade creations this year:
First up, gingerbread biscotti! The mugs came from my favorite store...anyone know what it is??

Biscotti in the oven...can you smell it?

"Home" Christmas ornaments! Two of my friends bought homes this year, and so, here are my craft skills:

Last year, I was so excited about the warm weather in Hawaii in December. This year, I'm looking forward to a sweater or two when we are visiting family. Today, the newscaster said, "Everyone pull out your coats! THe temperature is dropping into the 70s." He then proceded to show the 5 day forecast: 80, 79, 78, 80, 85 Dropping into the 70s! Okay, barely. AND the woolen hats with ear flaps that I've seen walking the sidewalks mid-day are BEYOND out-of-control.

Merii Kurisumasu!

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!!