Operation Backyard Beautification!

We're desperately trying to spruce up our yard! After my weed-pulling extravaganza, we hit up Home Depot (seriously love that place!!) for some much needed lawn care stuff. They hooked us up and we are well on our way to have a better looking yard - yay!
These tomato planters are awesome! We liked our first one so much, we went back and bought two more! No tomatoes yet but the plants are doing well so hopefully soon!

Joe watering the lawn - he'd been working on it all day, so I guess it's ok that he's taking the lazy route and sitting down!

This is me favorite planter ever! My dad and I have a thing for smiley faces and he and my mom got me this planter for my birthday last year. I love it, it makes me happy and every time I see it, I think of my parents! I'm excited to have some pretty flowers to put in it!

寿司

Yesterday, I went to a friends and we made homemade sushi!! I thought it was going to be really difficult but it was super easy and it tasted amazing! The *perfect* summer meal! It was so good, we made an impromptu trip to the grocery and stocked up on more ingredients to make it for dinner that night! We had a blast! So fun!

I'm lovin' it!

Things I am loving right now (in no particular order)....

1

Pic

Peanut-butter Moo'd from Jamba Juice! I tried my friend's the other day and have been craving one ever since! So good!

2
This song
Your love never fails! (Lyrics)


3
Learning to make sushi today with a friend! Yum!

4
My flowers look amazing! Maybe I can grow things after-all!

5

My friend got some awesome pictures of the dolphins the other day! Stole these from her facebook page! It was so awesome!

6
This guy!

Lions and Tigers

.... and dolphins and turtles?!? That's right, dolphins and turtles were both apart of my day today! Early this morning, I headed to Shark's Cove with some friends.We spent the entire day soaking up the sun, reading magazines, and playing in the water! I had never been before and had a blast! We saw a pod of about fifteen dolphins playing and leaping and jumping in the water! It was unbelievable, I have never seen anything like it before! It was such an amazing day!! Pictures do it way more justice than any words I could use to describe... so here ya' go!




Stumbled upon a Bonsai garden
Came across 5 big sea turtles at Turtle Bay!



I am super sunburned but it was well worth it!! All in all it was a great day - the only thing that could have made today better was if I could have spent it with Joe.

Lessons from Home Depot

The other day, my husband convinced me to wear pajama pants on one of our Home Depot outings. He told me to bring the camera, it would be an event I could blog about! Haha! I was not a fan of this - I don't like doing things that cause me to stand out - and bright pink and yellow pj pants would definitely cause me to stand out! As we're walking through the store, I suddenly realized that I could care less about what anyone else thought because the man holding my hand was all that mattered! I love him and he loves me, just the way I am, crazy pj pants and all!

We're planning to do some home improvement projects in the next few weeks, so stay tuned! I'll def be keeping the blog updated!

Rocks my socks!

Yesterday, I found this waiting for me in my mailbox:
I was pretty excited, I love mail and this is a pretty big box! Remember this post? About my curse, the one where I never win anything? Well apparently someone somewhere was looking out for me I actually won something! Better than the blog giveaway, I won Gluten Free products! Allie over at Sorry, I can't eat that , hosted a Better Batter giveaway and I was shocked when I won!! I think I almost cried I was so excited, Hawaii is not exactly known for it's Gluten Free products -they're often hard to find, expensive, and taste like cardboard (I wish I was kidding). So, I was seriously stoked to find out that I won this giveaway! I used to use Better Batter flour in Maryland and it works really well, so I'm excited to try out some of their other products!

The Goods
Love the packaging - so cute!
2 boxes of Brownie Mix, 1 Box of Flour, 1 Box of Pancake mix - yum!

This stuff totally rocks my world!!

Thanks again, Allie!

Goin' to the chapel!

I am so thankful that each stage of life I have been in, God has provided wonderful friends! This girl, was one of my closest best friends in college. We were friends and roommates, got involved in crazy shenanigans and had an absolute blast! She's getting married today and I wish with all my heart that I could be there to help celebrate. I absolutely hate being 4,000 miles and an ocean away from those I care about. I have some of the best memories hanging out with this girl and consider her one of my dearest friends. Hope you have a great wedding day, Bean!

Family Fun

In our household we have been playing a boatload of this:


And lovin' it! We have had a blast and really enjoying it! I am an excellent speller and Joe and our neighbor are excellent strategists - it sure does make for interesting games. They have kicked my tail every game so far, except for last night -where I won for the first time!! I was so excited - I actually tried to plan my moves and made some really good moves! I didn't win by much but I still won! Go me!

Welcome to the Jungle

Sadly, the jungle is exactly what our yard looks like! :( My husband and our neighbor had this great (in their eyes) idea to put blankets over the yard to kill the weeds. This may have seemed like a good idea in theory but what actually happened is the blankets created a greenhouse effect and the weeds went insane. I was so sick of looking at the blankets that I was bound and determined to de-ghettofy our yard but I was in no way prepared for what I saw when I removed the blankets. The weeds were so intense I couldn't even our rotary lawn mower - some of them were as tall as I was! I ended up having to weed the yard by hand and boy do I feel it today! I worked for four hours and would have kept going but the Hawaii sun ended up baking the soil making it impossible to pull the weeds. It's ok, I'll leave the rest for Joe.

So close to being done! Maybe one day I'll have a real yard!

Flashback Fourth

This time last year I was spending the 4th of July in Savannah Georgia with my then boyfriend. Don't worry my husband won't get jealous, he was said boyfriend. I had such a hard time deciding if I was going to go - there were a lot of things I was going to miss at home - my Mom's B-day, my good friend's annual 4th of July shindig, time with friends. In the end, my mom convinced me to make the trip and boy am I glad she did! Joe and I had a great time soaking up the sights in Savannah, watching fireworks at the river walk, going to Tybee Island, and lounging by the pool. It was great to meet some of his friends and spend some time with him since we hadn't really seen each other. I remember Joe telling me that this was the first 4th of July that he had spent in the States, in a really long time. How crazy! We had such a great time and the trip was totally worth it. Little did I know but the man in this picture would be my husband just five short months later. Crazy!

Us then
Us now
( I was wearing a super-cute skirt, shame you can't see it in the picture)
This year, I'm spending the day listening to all the planes fly over, fireworks being lit off (people were going crazy last night and it wasn't even the 4th yet), and listening to the sounds of hubby playing Super Mario Brothers (I love that theme song)! I also made some scrumptious banana/blueberry muffins and yes there is one missing, whoops!
Later, I'll be spending some time with this lady, hanging out after church and going to a concert. I'm excited, got my outfit picked out and my camera batteries charged :) - here's to hoping I get some good pics!
Us at Toy Story 3 which was such a great movie!

Whatever you do, have a safe and happy 4th of July!
Enjoy it!

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Happy birthday, to the most awesome person I know! She is seriously one of the strongest, most-selfless, gorgeous people I know. I'm proud to call her not only my best friend, but my Mom!
Hope you have a great birthday Mom, I wish I was there to help celebrate!
Happy Birthday!