FitBF - Color!

This week over at the little things we do, the FitBF theme is color.  I know it’s random, but the moment I read it, I immediately thought of the nail salon.  Go pick your color, right?! 

So on that note, I’ve decided to share my fave nail colors with you.  If it’s not shown here, I’m probably not interested in ever wearing the color…unless it’s one of those special frankenpolishes…I have been lovin’ some of those! 

Happy Friday, friends!

My normal, although I am VERY picky about it…straight with rounded edges, white part must be thin but not too thin and not too curved, pink in the middle.  I couldn’t find an EXACT picture of how I like it, but this pic is close.  In reality, all that really matters is that Linh (my nail lady)
or Anna (my backup to Linh) knows how it’s done, and they do. :D

Essie’s Pink Ballet Slippers…a pretty soft pink that I love, thanks to Wendy!

I’ve shared this color before, but I do love this when I’m feelin’ like going to the dark side. 

It’s OPI’s Sephora Never Enough Shoes.  The picture doesn’t do it justice,

but it’s black with glitter…awesome!

I have given up my dream to get my hands on this polish, but a girl can wish, right Hongie?!
Lynderella's Snow Angel...

Thankful Thursday - with some wedding pics ;)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  On this Thankful Thursday, I am praising my Heavenly Father for…

§  Awesome girl time with Hongie – thank you for sharing your vaca pics and for the nail TLC!  You are near and dear to my heart girlie…love you lots! XOXO

§  Wedding pictures!  We received all our pictures on discs today…we haven’t gone through all of them yet but I'm sure I'll be sharing in days to come!  So excited for our album to arrive!

§  Yummy somen salad – I don’t mean to brag, but I think I made a pretty tasty SS this week…twice!

§  J’s back!  Omigosh folks, the girl is driving again, AND it’s manual!!!  Whoop whoop! 

§  My love’s back is better (he had a little spasm) and had a major win at his basketball game!

§  Our special team at work – they truly are the best ever – family, friends, co-workers…all wrapped up in one!

§  Healing loved ones that are sickie!  Mommy, Daddy, Tin, Addy – glad you’re on the mend!

§  A weekend home with the hubby…seemingly rare these days. :P

What blessings are you counting today?

Miss now Mrs. :)

The truth is that it’s been official since 1.21.2012, but seeing my new married name in print, on legal documents, is something completely separate.

The only thing left is my passport, and since we are traveling out of the country soon, I thought it would be best to leave it as is for now so I’m not in a panic if it takes longer than expected.

It’s going to take some getting used to...

§  a new signature...I’m often clearing the signature pad because I signed incorrectly.

§  hearing people I don’t know (and do know, I suppose), call me Mrs. S. 

§  no one talking to me about last name (before, 75% of the time, the clerk would ask me or talk to me about my Japanese last name).

§  clerks at the Japanese store not giving me the “special bond” treatment when I’m checking out because my name doesn’t indicate our shared heritage. 

§  saying my married last name when asked what my name is.

Loving my new last name because…

§  it signifies the bond between my Mister and I.

§  it honors Genesis 2:24.

§  I love being his wife.

§  in my head, it makes everything that much more official.

§  the other night, my Mister told me that my new name, is beautiful.

For those of you that know me, the name change was what I was dreading the most.  Now that most things are changed, I’ve found that the process wasn’t as nearly as painful as I thought it would be (literally and emotionally).  As much as I loved my maiden name…what it stood for, where I came from, who I was…my past; my married name has birthed the significance of a new covenant, stemmed from love and devotion…my future.

With love...

FitBF - Summer Edition!

As I introduced last week, the little things we do, gave FitBF a new look.  This week’s theme is summer and here’s what summer means to me:

That’s the mister and I, tan and all, wishing we were in Hawaii!

mmm…my sister-in-law introduced me to these and I’ve been hooked since!

Mugicha!  It's a staple, especially during these hot summer months!

Somen Salad – cool, refreshing and oh-so tasty!  I’m making it for din din tomorrow!

Spent the first weekend of summer in sweltering Las Vegas!

Heading up to Elk Grove in July for Jr.’s 11^th birthday!

Cabo, here we come again (for Labor day)!

Celebrating both our birthdays…

And I couldn’t leave without playin’ this for ya…the anthem for the summer and I have to admit that I was diggin’ the soundtrack to The Show…man, I feel super old!

 Happy summer and stay cool out there!

Thankful Thursday!

Tomorrow we are headed to Las Vegas for the weekend, but before leaving, just wanted to share some of the things I’m thankful for this Thursday (again, in no particular order)!

§  God’s faithfulness - to me, my Mister, to our family, hearing the progress that J’s making with her back…the riches of His goodness is humbling.

§  The most amazing husband…home safe and sound.

§  Awesome Fathers!

§  My toe folks, is finally almost well.  I’m having to sacrifice my high heels and the clubs this time around, but have no fear, my flat's days are limited.  Yippee!

§  Wonderful friends – looking forward to big fun with friends this weekend, precious time spent with Wendy last weekend, being with Sonia in the office this week – they all fill my life with such deep joy and happiness!

§  Family.  I feel like I’m always talking about Mommy, Daddy, Nafan-Chan, Diana, Lolli Oli and Bubbas, but I can’t help but feel so immensely blessed by each of them…again, God’s goodness.

§  The miracle of life!  Friends and family that are expecting (J+R, J+L, A+B, W+J, S+S), praying for good health and comfortability (as much as possible!) as you prepare to deliver a blessing into this world!

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

Quick pick!

I used to be a hardcore Belieber, but my Bieber Fever seems to be subsiding…just a little.  I didn’t buy tickets to his concert, but I couldn’t resist buying his album that dropped on Tuesday.  After skimming through the songs, this one always seems to grab my attention.  I’m sure that the more I listen to it, I’ll find others that I like, but for now, this is my quick pick off of Justin Bieber’s newly released album, Believe. 

Sorry that there is no video, just audio, but I couldn’t wait to share it with ya. 

Happy hump day!

Hubby is home!

I’ve been in agony the past 5 days as Sherwin was in Sacramento, but he has returned and I couldn’t be a happier wife.  LOVE this man and found I couldn’t function normally without him.  

Welcome home, love!!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

I always thought my wedding day would be bittersweet because although I’d be overflowing with joy to  marry the love of my life, it would also symbolize the separation from my parents…specifically my Daddy.  Much to my surprise, as Daddy walked me down the aisle and gave me away to my Mister, it was all sweet and no bitter.  Looking back on my 30 years of life thus far, I realize that Daddy has made my life always sweet and never bitter.  That’s not to say he is perfect, but it is to say that he has been and will always be my hero, my best friend, my Daddy and nothing, not even changing my last name, could ever change any of that.

The video below, put together by my hubby, was played at our wedding.  The video footage began and then transitioned into the song my Daddy and I danced to.

Daddy – on this Father’s Day, I hope you know how much I love you…how much I treasure the moments spent together, and how much you mean to me.  It’s no wonder why I married such a great man, because much of what I love about Sherwin, I learned from you.  God could not have blessed me with a better Daddy.  With all my love, Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!

I Loved Her First

Heartland

Look at the two of you dancing that way

Lost in the moment and each others face

So much in love your alone in this place

Like there's nobody else in the world

I was enough for her not long ago

I was her number one

She told me so

And she still means the world to me

Just so you know

So be careful when you hold my girl

Time changes everything

Life must go on

And I'm not gonna stand in your way

  
But I loved her first and I held her first

And a place in my heart will always be hers

From the first breath she breathed

When she first smiled at me

I knew the love of a father runs deep

And I prayed that she'd find you someday

But it still hard to give her away

I loved her first

How could that beautiful woman with you

Be the same freckle face kid that I knew

The one that I read all those fairy tales to

And tucked into bed all those nights

And I knew the first time I saw you with her

It was only a matter of time

But I loved her first and I held her first

And a place in my heart will always be hers

From the first breath she breathed

When she first smiled at me

I knew the love of a father runs deep

And I prayed that she'd find you someday

But its still hard to give her away

I loved her first

From the first breath she breathed

When she first smiled at me

I knew the love of a father runs deep

Someday you might know what I'm going through

When a miracle smiles up at you

I loved her first

FitBF with a twist!

Over at the little things we do, FITBF has gotten a makeover, so this is my first attempt using the new format.  As I started thinking about my fill-ins, I started getting super excited. 

I originally wanted to throw a big birthday bash for my golden birthday last year, after all, I was turning the big 3-0 on 8.3-0!  After talking to my Mister about it, he said that since we were already doing so much for our wedding, he thought it be best if we didn’t try to plan/throw a big shindig, not to mention the budget for that on top of the wedding – yikes.  So when I saw this week’s theme, I jumped on the world wide web in efforts to plan my virtual, already passed, golden birthday bash.

I found it wasn’t such a good idea.  My head was swirling and I even started getting frustrated and stressed when I couldn’t find the images of what I was envisioning!  I felt wedding flashbacks coming on, only this time, I was racing against time, wanting to post my images tonight!  That should be a TV show, if it isn’t already, like couples planning their whole wedding in 12 hours, or something crazy…it would be a nail-biting show for reals.

OK, so back to my FITBF…after an hour of searching, skimming, and stressing, I only found these images to capture some of what I might have included for my party.  I thought it might have been New York themed, sprinkled with Hello Kitty and a touch of fancy. 

If you do a FITBF, would you let me know?  I’d love to join your party as well!  Happy weekend!

There would be…a ton of twinkle lights

Invitations would look like…this…maybe not the color scheme, but do love the layout.

Dessert would be…a cake like this...definitely not the same color scheme (hate this one),

the stiletto would be different (hate that shoe), but love the NY skyline,

the bows, and the shape of the cake.

The back of the menu would be…Hello Kitty!  Not sure if it would actually be

the back of the menu, but I would find some way to incorporate her!

My make-up would look like…LOVE that smokey eye and those lashes!

I would wear…this dress if I had some time to work out and shed some of my weight! L

If not, I might end up wearing something like this…

  My shoes would be…these Valentino’s…SWOON!

My hair would be…BIG curls…bigger than in this picture but I got a

2-for-1 deal on this pic…love the hair and love Hilary too!

  

Party favors would be…this engraved on the back of an ipod.  Since this is my virtual party, I’m not concerned with the budget…and get it…an apple from the Big Apple! 

Hee hee…I’m so cheesy sometimes I make myself sick. :P

 

*all images found on google J

A special gift

I am so sorry for the sporadic posts – life has been nuts!  I know I say that all the time, but really, it’s been a whirlwind of craziness.  My Mister and I have both been running around like chickens with our heads cut off (he’s been hired by my parents to assist with their home upgrades and has been graciously helping me with my name change stuff...I’ve been swamped at work all while trying to fight a $3K fraud claim with Paypal and my bank – SO frustrating!), but somewhere in between the chaos, he found time to do something super sweet.

So we got home on Monday night after being in the car for 10 hours (well, it’s really an 8 hour trip but we made some stops), and I probably shouldn’t be complaining because he drove 8 hours and Daddy drove 2, which made me just a passenger, but something about being on the road for that long was just exhausting.  I had work to do so I jumped online to knock some out before unpacking, showering, etc.  As usual, a few hours pass and I finally peeled myself off the computer, joined my love on the couch, and slouched next to him just feeling totally beat.  As we sat together, we opened our mail and then he handed me a small UPS package.  I saw the package on the table when we first walked in, but figured he had just ordered something online, as I made a beeline to my office. 

I opened the package and this was inside…

His note melted my heart and made my day, my week…AND the HP HK gift was the cherry on top.  With everything that has been going on, his thoughtful package meant even more. 

To my love – thank you for being the greatest hubby ever and for always taking care of me, emotionally, physically and spiritually.  I love you with all my heart and praise God for you!!  You are an amazing man and I am privileged to be your wifey.  With a grateful heart filled with love…Your Mrs. S

Home Sweet Home

Welcome back to reality…after 4 days of being on vacay, we are back home to reality.  Oddly enough, reality is just as good as vacay, if not better.  Recently J mentioned that after 2 weeks of being away from home, even though she enjoyed the time with family and friends, she was stoked to be sleeping in their own bed, hanging on their own couch, being in her own kitchen…and I know exactly what she means.  Hello home – so excited to be back.

Post and pics to come of what we’ve been up to these past 4 days, but hoping y’all had a wonderful weekend and a great start to the week!

Happy (early) weekend!

This week has been rough, to say the least.  Taking an extended weekend to go on a mini vacay this weekend, Friday thru Monday, with family and our friends from San Jose (who I can’t wait to see!).  Will have to fill you in on the crazy happenings of this week later, but wanted to wish you all a happy weekend! 

Thought it was time for some good music and I fell in love with this song when we saw the movie.  The mister and I were also just talking about how we would totally like to go see John Legend in concert someday…

Beware, this isn’t my normal radio Disney type of song…it’s a little more for the mature crowd (and I am totally diggin' that vest/suit outfit, Mr. Legend - I think I gotta get one of those for my mister!), but I’m an R&B girlie at heart too!

Just tryin’ to get thru this week, so until next time…enjoy!

Ready to pop!

This past Saturday, I was honored to attend my friend Aim’s, baby shower.  It was sweet, beautiful, fun, and spirit-filled, just like Aim and all the women who helped throw the shower.  The theme was “ready to pop” and everything was so cute…from the hand stamped bags, filled with yummie popcorn, to the sparkling cider, it was all just so creative and thoughtful. 

I’ve realized that I’m not really a good photographer, so the pictures don’t really do it justice, but here are some snapshots to share a little bit of the day with you.

Can’t wait for Aim to pop!  That little boy is going to be such a blessing as his parents are to so many! J

  The terrific trio - Melis (hostess) + Aim (mommy-to-be!) + J (hostess)

 Centerpieces – pretty flowers, yummie popcorn and fizzy cider!

J’s cookies – O.M.G. AMAZING. Gorgeous AND so so tasty!

In lieu of a card, guests were to bring a childhood book.  So many great ones were given, but I couldn’t help but LOVE this “itadakimas” book!

 

Melis – that girl…always so witty :P

 

The room was decorated with baby names (first and middle) and we had to guess what baby boy’s name is going to be!