thanks for thanksgiving ... & now back to work

*sigh*
why are holiday weekends all-too-short?
oh well! it was spectacular while it lasted ...
we had A LOT of napping, tv watching, eating, hanging-out-together, tickle-fights, book-browsing, snack-eating, mimosa-and-baileys-n-coffee-drinking ... ahh, the list could go on and on ...
we hit up one of the last UH football games of the season ... tulane v. UH ... we won. oh yay! hopefully those point-shaving rumors will soon be put-to-rest.

who's ready for some warrior football?? kaleo ALWAYS is!!

and then, so quickly, our splendid long holiday weekend ended! and back to the grind again ... but still (& always), so much to be thankful for ...

... i see the end of my thesis in sight 

... i purchased my grad cap & gown

... i'm going to walk in my graduation (for the 1st time) on december 17th

... i found my wedding dress (too bad the store hasn't placed the order yet)

... in 9 days, i will be pau with classes (well, at least until i decide to get my PhD)

... christmas songs on at work & in the car

... time for serious holiday decorating

... it's cold enough at night that i can wear snuggly pjs AND hog the blankets 

... we have a little boy that is simply too cute for words

... i have a fiancee who loves me better than i could have ever wish for 

... tomorrow's work schedule isn't as insane as yesterday's was!

... i have a PILE of FUN books to read ... in 10 days!!!!

counting our blessings ...

... and being lazily burrowed into our home ...

thankfully & gratefully with love to you all 

thanksgiving - part 1

YAY!! the holidays are here ... i've been SO looking forward to this weekend.

it's been such a crazy busy year, i have been so anxious to have a few days with my family, lounging in our pjs, puttering in our kitchen, just hanging out together and enjoying our little life blessings. 

i love cooking a thanksgiving feast ... even if it is only for 3 people ...

well, this year, i'm cooking a feast for 3 3/4 people. and so the preparations have begun!

so many menu ideas ... only tomorrow will tell what the final menu will be

i am a list maker ... that doesn't mean that i'm a list follower, but i do make lists. 

then i keep my fingers crossed, follow my whims and hope that everything turns out for the best

we also have holiday projects to work on ... cards, ornaments, scrapbook pages,

sewing patterns, picture organization, thesis completion ... oh my! the list is quite extensive

it'll be a busy home day ... but we're going to be busy burrowing in to our home and being

thankful for all that we have and who we love.

happy thanksgiving to you and yours!

thank god it's friday!!

it is, right?? if it isn't ... i'm going on strike ...

i can't help to smile when i see this cutey-patootie! 

wishing all of you an awesome weekend!

weekend wishes

have a beautiful, cozy weekend with your ohana!

fall in paradise

it's fall ... the weather is turning, sweaters and boots are appearing left and right, cozy blankets are making regular appearances throughout the home, firewood is being stacked and fires are warming the evenings, colors are changing outside, comfort food is heartier, days are shorter and families are nesting in their homes. well, it's not quite the same in hawaii.

hawaii is truly a small sliver of paradise; rarely do temperatures fall outside of the 73 - 86 degree range. greens and blues are the predominant color, reflecting the water and foliage. when i opened the door at 5:30 this morning to go on my walking meditation, it was a chilly 74 degrees, i could smell the green-ness of the early-morning-watered grass. the sun started coming up over the ocean as i completed the last leg of my walk, and 6:15 crept up with grey-blue skies. truly beautiful, but this tropical beauty does lack a bit when it comes to experiencing the seasons.

fall foliage on my way to work

i have season envy ... panda laughs at me at least once an evening as we watch tv and i get sucked into the commercials romanticizing fall - cozy sweaters, jeans, boots (yes, i'm a clothes whore!), walks through multi-colored woods, fireplace settings and holiday gatherings with leaves falling outside. never does an evening go by that i don't look at panda and say "honey, can we live someplace cold" she laughs at me ... LOUDLY! we're not cold-weather peeps. truly, we're not. we take sweaters and jackets with us when we go out to dinner because the air conditioning makes us cold! i wear scarves in my office because it inevitably is too cold by 10 am .... so, living in cold weather is really not realistic.

fall in our house looks like slippers, shorts, tank tops - soccer games on saturday morning in 78 degree weather - tailgating at UH games sitting in our beach chairs in shorts and a t-shirt. how do we decorate for fall when fall doesn't look like the ideal? i'm still figuring that out .... i want to celebrate the beauty of our home and everything that we are thankful for with a local, hawaii twist ... so fall colors are not going to be the dominant theme in our home during these holidays. not sure what we're going to do, but it will be festive and it will be us and our life in this beautiful slice in paradise will be celebrated and appreciated.

these are the scenes of fall

magazine-cover, blog-styled life? ... NOT!

i live in and with chaos. it's just the nature of our life and our home. with two working parents, a busy-bee 6 year old (YES! he's 6 now!!! NO! i did NOT give him permission to get THAT old!!!) our home is not a peace-full, tidy, organized space ... it is filled with notes, papers, magazines, books, bags, pillows, empty glasses, 1/2-done (or barely-begun, depending on how you look at it) projects, missing remotes, not-yet-put-away groceries ... well, you get the picture.

we had an early AM wake-up today. panda had to be in the office earlier than normal, shortstack decided he wanted to eat breakfast at school and mama was up early because a 6-year-old came in at an unholy hour with a clogged-up nose and a need to cuddle and then mama just couldn't get back to sleep (thanks, creeping migraine!) so, when i finally emerged from our room to start the day, i had to smile when i looked at our kitchen table. it is just a picture-perfect summary of our wonderful chaos!

i'm a bit of a blog and magazine whore ... okay, panda would say more than a bit ... one of the major reasons that i love browsing through blogs and life magazines is simply that i'm nosy! i LOVE eavesdropping into other people's lives ... i love looking at the smart and innovative ideas of smart women who are moving through their lives with their families in creative and beautiful ways  ... i get a kick out of seeing the prettily-styled and set home-scapes that never fail to inspire me to make changes in our home and life but never seems to result in a perfectly-styled home of our own. but the moments of our real life and our family chaos constantly remind me that i wouldn't want life any other way.

shortstack and i are papaya and apple banana monsters! 

just another treat of living in hawaii!

you see, we live a simple life. partly out of circumstance ... but fully aligned with who we are as individuals and as a family. so, the simple snapshots of our life and chaos are such a pleasure for me to share.

quicky breakfast on an early wednesday AM

how can we complain when this cutey-patootie smiles like this for his little ohana (family for you non-hawaii-folk) on a daily basis!?!!

so, nope, we don't have a magazine-picture life but we do have so many beautiful blessings, there's no way that i would ever wish for it to change. 

here's to wishing all of you beautiful chaos today ...