11 hours of bliss ..

... -ful sleep, that is! yep! mama got 11 hours of sleep last night. i don't know the last time that happened. too sad that i could do with another 6 - 8 hours of sleep, but i had to start my day. and so i did.

it's a crazy time in our office ... spring registration and classes starting on monday ... sometimes insanity just creeps into every corner of our world. so, despite my 11 hours of sleep, i still find myself with a migraine today. 

pho lunch ...trying to combat the insane pain in my head ... 

i'm thanking our angels that it is a short week. especially after two AWESOME weekends!! our honeymoon weekend was such an indulgence ~ we got to do so much that otherwise is not done in our house ... drinks and dinners with adult friends on a weekday-night, date night ~ getting dressed up & lingering over dessert at a fancy-shmancy restaurant, watching TV til 2 am, assembling furniture and completely rearranging the living room (pictures to come) 

in the meantime, here's shortstack after he came home for his long-weekend camping trip. 

can you figure out what's different in our living room??

hope you all are having a spectacular day!

adults-only weekend

shortstack is camping with his dad this weekend ... that means that panda and i have an adults-only honeymoon 3-day weekend that we get to enjoy ... together ... alone ... stay-up-late, wake-up-late, maybe-stay-in-our-pjs kind of weekend. seriously!! and we're not quite sure what to do with ourselves!!

i'm sure that we're not the only parentals that rarely get the only-us-time, so when we do it's a bit of a struggle to not just fall into bed at 7:34 pm and sleep until 7:34 am without having to think about homework, dinner, cleaning up, packing lunches, getting breakfast, finding missing shoes, corralling lunch bags, etc., etc ...

and so we went TOTALLY out of our comfort zone last night and met up with friends (our aussie contingent) for drinks and dinner ... AT 7 PM!!!!! okay ... that may not sound too amazing to y'all , but to us, that is REVOLUTIONARY!!! you see ... shortstack's bedtime is 7:30 ... that means that at 7 pm, baths are being rushed, pjs are being rummaged for, fish are being fed and the ongoing bargaining for bedtime stories is being conducted. 7:30 is the clean-up, lights-out, collapse-on-the-couch for a few minutes time frame. WOOHOO!!! we're adults on-our-own!!!

with 3 days ahead of us of alone-time, we are giddy with possibilities ... we'll likely end up chillin around the house, but just to stretch that comfort zone a bit more, we are planning a date ... an honest-to-goodness, get-dressed-up, make-reservations, sit-at-a-table-with-china-and-linen date!!! i'll fill you in next week. but until then, enjoy your weekend and find some time to grab your honey (if you have one) for a few minutes of us-time. if you're running solo, grab a few minutes to sit with yourself and enjoy some peace!

AND ... just because i can ... here's another little peek at our APLS WEEDING WEEKEND ADVENTURE!!

 our aussie crew rocked their aloha wear ... we know that kylie and sim will be wearing their muumuus weekly when then get back to aussie-land!!

for those that departed early ... there was some panda-provided entertainment. it is possible that there's a little bit of filipino in my woman ... she's a sucker for karaoke ~ especially if there's a dj that will provide her with bohemian rhapsody (and, depending on how much alcohol is consumed, baby got back just might make an appearance as well).

tidbits from our wedding in paradise

you know the horror stories you hear about weddings, bridezillas and resulting chaos ... well, that was nowhere to be found for our AWESOME WEDDING ADVENTURE. i promise to sit down one day soon and share stories and excerpts from the wonderful wedding weekend ... but until then, here are some tidbits. thanks, wendy, for taking the time to document this special weekend for us! if i ever make fun of you being camera-happy again, smack me! =)

 the night before our wedding, we had an impromptu dinner gathering in our turtle bay condo ... chili and drinks for everyone ... and there were LOTS of aussies too!

 our family and friends were the ones who made this weekend happen for us. everyone was SO AMAZING in creating and executing the vision that our wedding-planning-extraordinaire, Cheri Teranishi-Hashimoto, had dreamed us for us. our poor aussie family has yet to make it hawai'i for a simple vacation - everytime they come over, we put them to work. i promise, shane, you'll be able to enjoy your next one ... work free!!

 

 set-up included a few cocktails ... of course!! 

brother (shane) and sister (panda) ... how cute!!! seriously ... you can TOTALLY tell they're siblings!

 i love that our friends had fun and laughed all the way through the set-up ... at least as far as i could tell ... 

i've finally figured out why i wasn't allowed to help with set-up - apparently i don't direction well but other peeps do! yep, that's my cousin, michi, in the background ... can you tell that she's happy on life ... and had a few cocktails! iris is determined to get things done and sym's just enjoying life!

 we wanted a guestbook that we would keep and be able to continue to add to, so we chose a coffee-table book that we adore. so, anytime you peeps come to visit our home, please continue to add to the 

APLS 'Ohana guestbook

 our AWESOME brother-in-law, D ... who is also the bestest bartender!!

 we had friends and family from around the world join us for this spectacular day!!! 

donnna and tracy ... our volcano peeps ... we LOVE you guys!!

 

our vows were simple, short and sweet ... there was a lot more laughter than tears!

kaleo stood with us as we shared our vows and he held our rings until we were ready for them.

 then it was time to party!! the soccer gals ROCK!

 tell us what you REALLY think, kido! these guys worked hard to help everything run smoothly

 the food was DELICIOUS! or so we were told ... didn't have too much time to eat =( 

Uncle Masa sure knows how to feed a hungry crowd!

 our officiants were my cousins ... joy and michelle ... they represented the new zealand side of the family

 there's our handsome boy!! anytime mama can steal a kiss, she does!

 our over-the-top wedding surprise ... Ms. Geralyn Kamaha'olani Camarillo ... making photo magic happen. all the while, panda's checking out the party and looking forward to visiting the bar

our angels ... D & Reech ... talk about an amazing pair!

our DJ (shawn), wedding-weekend-documenter (wendy), friends julie and nat ... gotta love life!

more to come ... again, thank you wendy ~ and everyone ~ for the pictures and the memories!!

2012 ROCKS!!!

oh my goodness! OH MY GOODNESS!!

2011 has exited and 2012 has entered ... and it ALREADY ROCKS!!!!

i haven't had much of a chance to catch my breath ... mainly because the amazingness of what the first week of 2012 has made me breathless ... but here are a few tidbits of what will soon follow ...

 amazing friends who created a spectacular dreamscape for our 'ohana

 a time and space for us to recognize and celebrate the 'ohana that we've created

symbols of the commitment that we have for one another and our 'ohana

i promise!!! i'll be back soon to share with all of you our simply perfect wedding day ...

happy 2012, everyone ... may it be as blessed and filled with love as ours is!

lunch!!

## up until this week, i have used my lunch hour to write, edit, read, research, re-write, re-read, re-edit and re-research for my thesis. this week, though, i have my first taste of freedom since i started this job. YAY!! i feel a little guilty for not doing homework or writing about soul-wrenching (for me) topics. so, to alleviate that guilt, i picked up a book i've been wanting to finish for a few years and a caramel brulee latte ... *giggle* ... good lord! i love NOT being a student!

 ## and here's pic of the CO girls that made their way from the chilly country of CO to our warm and balmy country in the middle of the pacific ... unfortunately, they decided to bring the cold, wind and rain with them so they didn't get to partake of the balmy weather ... but we did get to enjoy a few days of hanging out (per shortstack's request), volleyball, eating and imbibing ... all good!

aunty jamie, aunti mollie, panda and mama ... getting cozy and posing for shortstack's photography practice

weekend recap

for some reason, even during the slow times, we're crazy busy. but i am DETERMINED that things WILL slow down VERY SOON!!! see all those caps? that's me willing it to be so!

this past weekend involved friends, regional volleyball games, rainy beaches, drinks and carb-loaded food, wedding dresses, shopping lists and some mild stress of what has yet to be.

* we had some CO girls out here visiting us/working/playing hooky. it was ALL GOOD! thanks to our jobs, our lives and the social butterfly-ness of my ohana, we have friends from all over - some are panda's, some are mine, some are shortstack's .... but when they are introduced to the whole family, we tend to just take them in. unfortunately, our CO girls felt the need to bring the cold and wet weather with them ...

shortstack & aunty mollie ... yes, we know the focus is a bit one-sided 

* UH wahine (women - for our non-hawaii peeps) volleyball team were playing in the NCAA regionals this weekend ... friday night we faced USC ... and they played hard ... but we still lost. so not good! like, lisa-is-crying-at-the-end-of-the-game not good.

 

UH v USC

* some of us took a good, long nap during the volleyball game

* it was the 1st weekend in a SUPER LONG TIME that we could enjoy without the thought of writing, editing, reading, researching, data collection, coding, analyses, etc., etc., etc. ... hanging over our head. so after a saturday of shopping, driving, cold-beach swimming, eating and plain ole' hanging out together, we headed into a sunday of cooler-packing potlucking with some soccer friends ... (yes, soccer friends. yes, you read that on my blog. yes, i wrote that of my own volition!) 

 cooler packed and ready to go, books stacked and ready to entertain ...

* i have a stack of books to get to now that i don't have to worry about anything academic. this one was ordered and received but was kept in the box on a shelf per panda's instructions and under her wacthful eyes until i got my thesis in and classes done. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

so, the book stayed next to me all weekend, but for some reason, tv-vegging was prioritized

* we did a costco run and started the fridge cleaning ... had some garlic that needed to be used so i roasted up a HUGE batch ... well, i thought it was huge. last night i noticed that it never makes quite as much as i think it does.

 roasted garlic w/ olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt ... goes well in and on ANYTHING!!

now it's a sunday monday and we're back to the grind. only a few short weeks and christmas will be upon us. where the heck did this year go?? here's to hoping that all of you are having a spectacular day ... get through it ... .75 days down and 4.25 left to go!

the holidays are here ... and i get to enjoy 'em!!

it is done! yep!! last night was my final class for my final course for my master's program. i turned in my thesis on monday. it is ALL done!!

and now we get to enjoy the christmas season. WOOHOO!!

i thought this would be a great way to start the celebration times ...

~ christmas buddies ~