I L-O-V-E Halloween. One of my favorite things to do is make my kids their costumes. They don’t always let me but some years they cave into my begging. I think this is one thing they will remember fondly. (well … Continue reading
Halloween!
Girly Nautical Baby Shower
One of my good friends is expecting a baby girl this summer and I could not WAIT to throw her a shower. I though that since her husband is a sailor (and she is a former sailor herself) that we could do a cute nautical theme. But forget just boring old navy blue, lets girly it up and add some PINK!
I wanted to make a cute banner and I was having such a hard time finding what I wanted on island (our craft stores are a joke) Finally, FINALLY I found the cutest chipboard pennant that I was able to customize. It was already white so I just added navy blue strips of cardstock in an alternating pattern. Then I added some hot pink letters. I strung it on some pink twine and was SO happy with the way it turned out!
On the front door I made a quick welcome sign. I actually failed a bit because I accented with red instead of pink. Whoopsie. The whole party theme just fell apart right there. For this I just used posterboard and traced a life preserver shape. Then once cut out laid it on the red posterboard and traced it. Then cut out three sections and laid them on top. Easy peasy $1 door decoration.
Food table! Can I be super-pretentious and say ‘table scape’? I actually had a ton of fun with this one. First off, my table is a massive square and NO tablecloths ever fit it. Well my mind must have been working on overdrive because guess what fits it perfectly? A shower curtain! I found this one at Target, $12 I think? Over the top of that went some craft store fish netting and then some broken sea shell vase filler (again from Target, so much cuter, less messy and more on theme than confetti!) The ceramic urchin was stolen from my master bathroom decor.
I did also find some cute anchor wood cut outs I used to decorate here and there (painted reluctantly by my daughter):
(Tulle from Walmart + wood anchors $1/chair decor!)
The dessert table was the one thing I wanted to turn out perfect. And I am actually happy with it. Just bummed I didn’t have time to do a backdrop but you know what, most people don’t. My plates will have to suffice! I found the BEST fabric store on island (danger!) and found this cute chevron fabric. (Starfish print stolen from the guest bathroom)
Macarons from Life Is Sweet. Yum! (and I could have gotten them all pink to coordinate but what fun is that?)
Easy peasy berry tarts. Like no, REALLY easy! Pie crust (homemade for me because I am a pie crust snob, you could use store bought no prob) cut into circle (use the rim of a glass if you don’t have a circle cookie cutter) gently shove into mini cupcake pan (you can also make a ball and then just squish it into place. Whatever you feel like doing. Bake until done at 350. I think it was 9-10 min for me. Cool. Make vanilla pudding (oh yes, so cheatery and also delicious). Right before you want to serve fill with pudding and top with a perfect berry. No joke I couldn’t stop eating these little bites of yumminess.
The cake I did NOT do. I know my limits on cake making and my idea of what I wanted greatly surpassed them! She did such a great job! (Kimmie*cakes located in Ewa, she is on FB) and the cake didn’t just look good it was delish. Red velvet with cheesecake mousse filling. Oh yes.
I forgot to snap a picture of drinks before everyone hit them up, but I just had them on my bar. Plantation tea (the best drink eva! Iced tea with pineapple juice. In this case Mango Iced tea with pineapple juice. So. Good.)
And make those gifts do double duty as decor! Thank you baby clothes designers for keeping on theme! Little girls have the best clothes. Another one of our friends had a couple of items custom-embroidered which was even cuter.
Happy Baby Shower Alex! It was so much fun to throw!
Oh don’t think even MORE nautical clothing didn’t show up in the actual gifts!
Our great group of ladies! We had so much fun we moved the party outside, added our husbands and kids and hung out all night!
Pin it!
Farmer’s Market – Hawaii Style
Okay our farmers markets are a tiny bit different here. Our local produce tends to be a little bit different than what you find on the mainland. So no apples, strawberries or peaches. We do however get as much papaya, mango and apple bananas as you could possibly want.
(along with some awesome music to shop to)
Also I don’t think you will be able to see a poi making demonstration anywhere but here.
The flower selection is pretty amazing with every color ginger flower, bird of paradise, and heloconia. (I am inspired to plant all of these in my front garden that is currently a sad patch of weeds again!)
There are tons of produce vendors but most of them sell the same items, lots of sweet onions and local corn (which is outrageously priced anywhere you go, $1/ear!) Lots of greens and herbs, lots of stuff I am not even sure what it is…
I haven’t yet been able to shell out the big bucks for our local dairy products, maybe next time. The $7/lb butter is a little shocking (although I am sure its good) and the local butchers are super pricey too. We only have one dairy on island and one beef farm, so prices are always high.
But you will not go hungry shopping! There are some to die for food vendors.
There are farmers markets held all over the island, most on Saturday mornings. Try to hit one up and bring home some new goodies!
Happy Mother’s Day to me!
A Sunday with nothing to do was just what I needed! We decided to make it an early dinner so we all just lazed around the house. Until I got bit by the cleaning bug and did a million loads of laundry, dishes and mopped the floors. Yes, I know. I am doing Mother’s Day wrong. However I felt a million times better having a clean house to start the week.
I was a little bit bummed by my meal out, we hit up Nico’s one of my favorite places to eat. It wasn’t too crowded which was great. I ordered a Pier 38 Punch to start, eh, it was okay. My husband decided to be brave and try the oyster shooters. My seafood lover wasn’t a fan, I was actually surprised. I could barely look at them, ugh. It was a brave person who first ate one of those. Well I decided to order the Steak Frites, ribeye steak, medium and was so disappointed to have it come almost well done. Awful. But I am one of those people who NEVER send food back. Like ever. (I have seen Waiting I know what happens!) I am kinda picky when it comes to steak, if you can’t grill it better than I can for $25 then shame on you. Also my husbands seafood scampi was pretty bland.
It’s such a surprise when one of your favorite places let’s you down! We couldn’t get reservations at the Japanese Steakhouse I really wanted to go to, and instead of postponing dinner out, I just went with a second choice. Dang it!
(Dessert partially redeemed it, however, dessert trio- mini lava cake, salted caramel ice cream and smore’s bread pudding)
At least I managed to snag a picture with each of my munchkins, you can tell how delighted they are.
Really that is as good as it gets picture-wise. I am amazed I even got those.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the other mamma’s out there!
Does no one blog anymore?
I kinda stepped back from my blog for a little while. Not just my blog but all of the fabulous bloggers I read, some of whom I have followed for YEARS. I am so sick and tired of every.single. post. being sponsored, a product review, or a link-up, or some other money/traffic/follower generated post instead of REAL WORDS. Sponsored post? I immediately click past it. Yes I know your words are your own but funny think I have NEVER read a negative sponsored post or review. Yes I have joined some link ups but I have also found some great new blogs that way, but I don’t use GFC so I won’t be following you anytime soon.
I started my blog really to share some of the issues with being a military spouse, moving all over the world, and things to do when you get there. I love being out and about and I love to help people find hikes, places to go and food to eat.
/end rant
I Am Employed!
So yeah, another looonnnggg absence and I am so annoyed at myself. It felt so good to get back into the swing of blogging again. But I do have a bit of an excuse, I was seriously job hunting again. I have never in my life had such a difficult time finding a job! I have always, ALWAYS gotten the job I wanted before now.
And now that I am thinking about it (and just because I want to) I am going to reminisce about my past jobs…
Age 16: First job, Hastings. I LOVED this job. It is a big Pacific Northwest chain of book/music/video stores. I had so much fun working here. I remember when DVD’s first started trickling onto our shelves. Loved it!
17/18, Schlotzsky’s, went to work there because one of my best friends was working there. Another super fun job, loved it. I ended up getting promoted to baker which was awesome. Got there at like 6 am to bake all the bread and pizza crusts.
17/18, Also worked at ol’ Papa John’s for awhile. I will always, always tip delivery drivers well because of this job.
18, I worked as a cocktail waitress for about 5 minutes at a country club at a golf course. Never really liked it.
-Big move to Virginia-
First week in VA, walked into a Petco, filled out an app got interviewed and hired on the spot. Worked at Petco for three years, becoming assistant manager and meeting the man I was going to marry my first day of work.
After Mckenna was born I started working at a vet’s office part time while Omar went to boot camp. I really enjoyed it but then it was time to move again, this time down to Virginia Beach.
I didn’t want to work outside the home so I started nannying which was great. I got to make some money but still be home with Mckenna. Once again, every family I interviewed with wanted to hire me! I am an awesome interview!
When we moved to Spain Omar was a baby so I wasn’t rushing into work anytime soon and the job market is seriously limited. When he was almost 3 I was ready. I applied at the commissary (one of the few jobs on base) and got hired.
After a year I moved over to the CDC which was even better, I was full time M-F and I could pop in on Omar anytime. I loved working the CDC the coworkers and families were awesome.
Then the move to Hawaii.
Ugh.
What a disheartening time I had.
For the first year I wasn’t really looking too seriously. Omar was deployed and I wanted to be home for the kids.
But then I started looking for real and I didn’t hear back from anyone! I sent out resumes, even got called in for a few interviews and NOTHING!
I know I had a gap in employment and no one really likes to hire military spouses because we move all the damn time, but come on!
I finally updated my resume once again to make it a skills based resume to highlight all my insane skillz, and redid my cover letter and finally got some nibbles again!
I interviewed with a local company and got hired on the spot. FINALLY!
And no, this isn’t my dream career or anything close to it, it’s just admin/accounts receivable (crazy enough I was actually an accounting major before decided I would kill myself if I had to do it for the rest of my life and ended up finding my passion in environmental management. Joke’s on me.) It’s a big parts wholesaler, with a million delivery drivers, but the clerical staff is just me and 4 other ladies. All who are super nice (so far!)
I love the hours, I work four hours in the morning (after dropping the kids off at school) then come home, eat lunch, pick up the house, laze around watching tv for a bit, then time to pick up the kids again. So far it’s working out perfectly. And I am really enjoying being in the ranks of the employed again!
Sink Or Swim 