Welcome home and a belated birthday!

Wendy went to London for work a couple weeks ago and came home last Wednesday.  We had her over for dinner tonight for sharing and pictures.  We had a lovely time and it was nice to hear all about her trip and the awesome sights; makes me want to go to Europe, STAT!   The only downer is that because our American dollar is so weak right now, everything is even that much more expensive…oh, and Wendy said the food was horrible.  Mommy and Daddy agreed, and although they went to Europe over 30 years ago, they also remembered the bad food.  Yikes – Brits, get it together!  Hmm….no wonder they don’t have the same obesity problem as the US. :X   Anywho, Wendy also brought me back the CUTEST Harrod’s HK towels – to die for, right?!?!?!  So glad you are home safe and sound, Wendy! 

 

It was also Wendy's birthday last month and I am just getting caught up now.  I still have a few birthday posts on the horizon (sorry I’m late Diana, Mommy, Lolli Oli and J!).  We went to Mastro’s for din din and celebrated both hers and Mommy’s birthdays as they are two days apart.  It was a great dining experience even though we didn’t get our bill comped.  :P 

Celebrations aside, Wendy is like a sister.  We have been close since we practically met 12 years ago. I thank God for her in my life.  She has a super busy social calendar, yet always makes time to hang out or do something low key with me and/or with the fam.  She is smart, talented, driven and beautiful, on the inside and out, and no matter how crazy life gets, we make time to catch up.  She never judges, always loves, always cares, and gives with everything she has.  I love you so much, Wendy, and I hope you always know just how special you are to me.  To celebrating many more together, with all my love…XOXO

 

Spend my life with you...

As tired as I am, I promised J a post this weekend so here’s to keeping my word to one of my nearest and dearest.  ;)

This weekend, heck this summer, has gone by in flash.  I can’t believe that in a few weeks, we will be entering into the fall season.  I can’t complain though as this season has been wonderful.  We have traveled, friends and family have delivered little miracles (and/or announced their upcoming deliveries!), birthdays have been celebrated, and a new job has begun for my Mister – hooray! 

And through it all, I have enjoyed sharing every moment of this busy life with my hubby.  In my opinion, a song can say so much, so I want to share a song with you that gives you a glimpse of where my heart is.  The Mister and I heard it the other day and we talked about how we forgot all about this song, but loved it.  Hope it’s not too sappy, but truth be told…no matter how fast and full life gets, I am truly, deeply, utterly thankful for the one man that I get to spend my life with.  Praise God for Sherwin!
 

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead! XO

 

 

Sorry for the poor video quality…it’s the best one I found…don’t you hate it when there is no official music video for a song you love?!?! UGH! :P

Back!

I’m baaack!!!  Well at least for a few days before we depart for a mini vaca to Cabo!

So life has been crazy.  I’m sure it’s been crazy for y’all as well since we each have our own chaos, but the days have just flown by.  I find myself barely getting home in time to shower, do some house chores or maybe read a bit, get to bed past midnight, only to wake up the next day and do it all over again…BUT, as always, God is faithful and has been taking good care of us.

There is one thing, other than time, that has truly put a damper on my blogging.  About 7 weeks ago, my camera broke (I won’t go into details, but for once, it isn’t my fault :P).  Since I don’t have my camera, it’s been hard to capture moments to share on the blog, and let’s be real…no one just wants to read text…booooring, right?!!?  Anyhow, we are on the hunt for a new camera, or we may just get ours fixed, but until then, I’m cameraless and have been totally bummed and unmotivated to blog.  OK – enough with the excuses, camera or not, I gotta get caught up.  I’ve missed you!

So much to tell, so little time, and again, all with no camera.  I’m going to do my best to recap the past couple weeks with “borrowed” pictures, so just bear with me in case the photo doesn’t exactly match the event.  Here we go!

Day trip to Laguna Beach – attended Saddleback church in the morning, then headed down to the beachside for brunch.  Went to Art-a-Fair, Sawdust Festival, Festival of the Arts, and finished the day with Pageant of the Masters!

 

  

 

Celebrated three special birthdays (more to come…)!! 

 

Our wedding DVD – HOORAY for Addy and Julian at 10^th Letter!!!

 

 Had a special visit from Rocky!

  

Much needed QT with Wendy <3 

Celebrating God’s new gift to my Cousin Stacy!

 

“…because that’s what you do with gifts…you give them away.”

 

Sleepover in the OC, early entry to DCA (Cars Land is AWESOME!), then Disneyland. 

After 10 hours of Disney fun, enjoyed a yummie Tonkatsu dinner

and tasty shaved ice with the fam and Ethan.

 

  

And on Friday, headed to Cabo for some much needed R&R…

Have a blessed Tuesday…I know I will as J is visiting!! 

Happy Birthday, Hubby! (Part III - Big Bear)

And the finale to my Mister’s birthday celebrations was the weekend in Big Bear, granting his request to go fishing.  Mommy, Daddy, Sherwin and I headed up the mountain and spent the weekend eating, laughing, resting, and fishing.  It’s awesome when family is some of your best friends. 

Happy birthday, love!  I hope you know just how much you mean to me.  To celebrating our 10^th birthday together, and many more to come…I love you.  Cheers!

Happy Birthday, Hubby (Part I)!!!!

Happy birthday, hubby!!!

Today is Sherwin’s birthday (yipeeee!!) and as you know, we celebrate week long around here!  We actually started celebrating on Tuesday with Mommy and Daddy (pics below).  We went there before his basketball game and they bought him a cake and one of his fave treats…donuts!  They also gave him a heartwarming card (complete with a cute drawing, compliments of Picasso a la Daddy) and a generous gift (that we might be using towards a new toy! *ahem* ipad *ahem* maybe?….)! :P

In a few hours we will be packing our bags and heading to Big Bear for the weekend as the  Mister wanted to go fishing for his birthday!  There will be more birthday posts to come, but couldn’t leave without wishing my “life partner, my one coquette, the answer to my love’s duet” (oh boy…watching too much Enchanted :P), a happy, happy birthday.

To my itchy bun, I mean ichiban…hee hee…

I love you with all my heart.  You truly are the answer to my love’s duet and

I praise God for you!!  Thank you for being my everything!!  I am excited about what

 the Lord has in store for you, and for us, this next year.  I am so grateful that

you are the one I get to spend the rest of my life with. 

With all my love and affection,

your wifey XOXO

And we’re back – Weekend recap!

We are home from sunny Sacramento!  We flew up on Friday morning and spent the day with Jr. – watched Spiderman, went shopping, then headed home to hang out with the fam bam.  In other words, we made sure to engage in activities that provided shelter from the heat.  :D 

Thoroughly enjoyed Spidey!

Saturday was filled with party preparation, and of course the party itself.  We celebrated two birthdays – Jr. (10) and Nana (90), and it was precious time spent with family.  We shared our wedding photos and answered the baby question about 20 times - no, we are not pregnant yet and no, we won’t be anytime soon.  The girl cousins and I hung out (Sharlene did make-up while I did hair), the aunties, Mom and I played cards, we ate loads of food and yummy cake and just enjoyed one another’s company. 

Then came Sunday morning…and after 2 hours of sleep, we headed to the airport.  Jr.’s flight back to Hawaii departed 9:15am and ours at 8:55am.  It was an emotional morning as Jr. said bye to his Mom, Step-dad, siblings, Mama and Papa (my MIL and FIL).  After lots of hugs, kisses and teary goodbyes, we decided to grab a quick breakfast with Jr. before we had to board.   Then it was our turn to say good bye, and as we walked Jr. to his gate to meet his uncle (who is flying back with him), his tears started to fall.    For those of you that know me, the whole situation is a little complicated and too much to write in this post, but as I turned around one last time to tell Jr. I loved him, his “I love you, too” response made my heart ache.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and praying for a blessed week ahead!

Home again!

We are home - bags are unpacked, dinner eaten and we even had time to see the worst movie ever.  I should've known better, but oh well...*sigh*

Highlight of the weekend – Sherwin’s catch!  Hooray for my Mister!!!  His fishy has been 5 years in the making.

More pics to come later, but wanted to wish y’all a happy week ahead!

Mammoth Lakes

This weekend we are going to Mammoth Lakes.  Totally looking forward to the beautiful scenery and oddly enough, being in the car with my Mister for the 6 hour drive. 

If you’ve talked to me recently, you’ve heard my growing aversion for long car rides, but for some reason, this drive is different.  It’s different because it’s a new drive for us.  We’ve never been to Mammoth together and we get to take a completely different route.  It’s not our 6+ hour drive up the 99 to Sacramento (woo hoo, we are flying up next weekend, NOT driving!) and I’m praying it won’t be like our recent 8 hour drive to Las Vegas (oil spill on the 15 – BOOOO).  Just as the pro’s (J+Josh)  told me earlier this week, we will be heading up the 395 and that, for us, is new.  It will also be just my Mister and I, and as much as I am “the more the merrier” type, I do LOVE being with just him.

I’m sure there will be a post and pics to follow, but until then, thank goodness for Daddy!  He gave us this trusty handbook and as long as nothing’s changed since 1976, we’re all set (hee hee…do love you, Daddy)!

Happy weekend, friends!       

Weekend recap - Fun in the sun!

I just realized that it’s been a while since I wrote a weekend recap!  Our weekends have been nuts  (most of them have been spent out of town) and I am so behind on sharing what’s been happening!  This weekend was the first in over a month, and the last until another month, where we didn’t have any must-do’s (other than a work appointment I had on Saturday), which is awesome because I’ve actually been kinda fightin’ a bug of some sort…not full blown sick, but not my normal self either…just annoying.

Anyhow, we kicked off the weekend with a Friday night dinner with Mommy and Daddy.  After dinner they came over for wedding pictures and dessert.  Mommy and Daddy are like the only ones, outside of Sherwin and I, who actually are still excited to do all things wedding related and I love them for it.  Five discs and an almond jello dessert later, they headed home.  The Mister and I hung out till about 3:30am, then called it a night.

Saturday morning, Sherwin went over to my parents to help Daddy with some yard work.  I cleaned up around the house and needless to say, even though our plan was to sleep in a bit, we were both up and doing stuff by 9:30am, which I guess is, kinda sleeping in. :/  The Mister came home to go with me on my work errand, and after, we swung by the mall to do some shopping.  Oh, BTW, I have decided that a certain pair of zori’s need not be worn until my toe is fully recovered.  They are the shoes I wore in Vegas one day that gave me a blister and on Saturday, after just an hour or so of shopping, my toe was throbbing.  I think they don’t give my foot enough support, but they are super cute and one of three flats I own.  Ugh, my toe issue is killin’ me!  Came home, watched video upon video of the new MacBook Pro with retina display (it is fancy, folks!), took a nap, then went to work on my blog.  I’ve been wanting to give my blog a summer look and was inspired by J’s recent updo, but I spent 3+ hours last night researching and trying codes and it got me nowhere.  Truth be told, I was super frustrated and in a bad mood so finally I just went to bed. 

Sunday morning, late for church as usual (but the hubby did make me some yummy pancakes for breakfast!), then came home for lunch with my Mister, Mommy and Daddy.  Since Sherwin had a double-hitter today (2 bball games in a row), I decided to head up to Nafan-Chan and Diana’s for a swim day.  All in all, a relaxing weekend at home didn’t turn out to be so relaxing, but I did enjoy being with family and spending some QT with the hubby.  Hope you enjoy our fun-in-the-sun day pictures (sorry for the bad quality, they were all taken with an iphone) and wishing you all a fantastic 4^th of July week!

  Lolli Oli practicing her diving!

  Lolli Oli and Diana :D

  Hi Bubbas!

  Cheese!

Daddy having fun with Mommy

  Bubbas sad to go inside…

After a long day of fun in the sun…zzzZzzz

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!

Weekend Recap - Holiday Edition!

Every Memorial weekend, Sherwin and his friends (plus all the SO’s) try to get together.  Some years have been missed, but the years that weren’t created memorable moments.  This year we all headed to Lake Arrowhead…Mike and Angie flew in from SF, Armand flew in from Denver, and the rest of us headed to the mountains from the LA and OC area.

It was a weekend full of food, fun, shopping, hiking (not for us though because of my toe - booo), Monopoly Deal, and King’s Cup…oh and of course, precious time spent with friends. 

I’ll let the pictures recap the weekend and hoping y’all had a wonderful holiday too!

 On our mini walk since we couldn’t go hiking...

 The girlies preparing chicken dinner!

 Breakfast – mmMmM…

 Close-up of the spread…yikes!

 God’s creation…beautiful.

Saw this and thought of our friends, A+B!

 Another picture of the Lord’s handiwork…gorgeous!

 Mike and Angie grillin’ dinner – so yummy!

 It’s Mike’s birthday next weekend, so Angie made him a Red Velvet cake (it kinda came out lookin’ like a brain…hee hee) – what a good wifey!

 Happy Birthday, Mike (yes, that is Mike, not Manny Paquiao). :P