Happy Easter

I hope you have a wonderful Easter. 

I encourage you to read one of my favorite talks from President Monson (the Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints). The talk is entitled He Is Risen! and you can click here to read it. 

{image via}

Friday Flashback #45

In Honor of Easter: 

Look at that all blue sweat-suit. Even then I liked to be comfortable! 

I think I remember being really confused during this egg hunt. I think my Aunt Nickie had to help me out. 

What's In Your Easter Basket?

I love Easter. I really do. I love everything it represents, and I love another excuse to show my friends and family I love them with little Easter gifts. 

Matt and I have a special place in our hearts for Easter and Easter baskets because of our engagement. {If you have no idea what I am talking about click here.} 

As a kid, I understood what Easter was, but I really enjoyed getting my Easter basket and all the candy that came with it. 

As I am older, I have a greater understanding of Easter and it's importance, but I still like getting my Easter basket. 

So I thought I would write a guide to my dream Easter basket. Really this is just a few things I am loving, that would go great in an Easter basket... or maybe as a birthday gift, if one's birthday was just a couple months away.... hint... hint. 

{Loving this Lisa Leonard necklace} 

{Still loving this soft cover notebook}

{Love these Homegrown Monogram Mugs from Anthropologie}

{Loving this Calico Owl Knob from Anthropologie. Don't ask why.}

{Awesome Mustache Turvis Tumbler} 

{Seriously, my dream gift!} 

I hope you all have a great Easter weekend! 

Dying Easter Eggs

For as long as I can remember, my family would meet at my Abuela and Papa's house and dye Easter eggs every year. And every year we would have two Easter Egg Hunts- one for the kids and one for the adults. My Abuela has this awesome Easter bunny hat she wears and it's just an all around great time! 

 (I still remember my dad, Barry, hip checking my Abuela to the ground in order to secure himself one more egg during one of the adult egg hunts!)

We would have a blast at my Abuela's house. One thing I love about my Abuela is the emphasis she puts on holidays. I don't think it is the holiday itself that she loves, but the fact that it brings our family together. When I think of holidays in my family, I immediately think of being at my Abuela and Papa's house. 

One thing being married has taught me is to really emphasize holiday traditions within my own little family of two. I want my children and grandchildren to have the same fun memories that I had.

So like I said before: Dying Easter Eggs. Matt and I haven't done this the last two years! And this year I was 'putting my foot down'. We are dying Easter Eggs no matter what! 

I am very excited to do this. This year we invited our cousins Josh & Ari and Kea & Kaianui over on Sunday to have Easter Brunch and to dye eggs. 

Here are some egg decorations that I am dying to try (pun intended): 

{Silk Dyed Easter Eggs tutorial here}

{Black and White Eggs found here. I think Matt would be great at this.}

{Polka Dot found here}

{Glitter Eggs found here} 

{Mustache Eggs found here} 

{Tie Dye Eggs found here} 

{Sprinkle Eggs found here} 

{Sequin Easter Eggs found here}

I am very excited to at least be dying Easter Eggs this year, and to get to do it with some of my favorite people. 

What's your favorite way to dye Easter eggs? 

Enjoy! 

Friday Flashback #44

Liverpool, England 

This is another habit of mine... posing like statues... this habit also spans two continents. 

Stanford University, California 

Happy Spring

{image via}

{image via} 

Have a great Spring y'all! 

What are you most excited about? 

An Eli Update

Now I know Eli is just my nephew, but I still love giving you guys some updates. 

I love when my sister-in-law sends me pictures. In the past, she has been really bad about updating us about her life, but I gotta say she has gotten a lot better! (No offense Malier.) 

So here we go. 

Eli turned two months on March 9th. (I have no idea how much he weighs, etc. - Like I said, I am just the Auntie.) 

So cute. 

This weekend Matt and I got the following pictures and text. Eli was having a little conversation with us. 

{:D my auntie and uncle!}

{Oh how I miss them and haven't even met them! :( }

{Ooo but soon I shall see them!!}

Ok, I am very impressed. One, we got three pictures in one day! And two, Malia printed our picture and is showing it to Eli! YAY. Hopefully, when we see him next month he won't look at us like we are strangers! 

Keep the pictures coming Malia! 

A Wee Bit of Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day. 

I would like to say Matt and I had this elaborate St. Patty's dinner planned and it was all green, but we didn't. 

However, we did have some green in our lives...

Here is our bit of green for the day: 

{Eli in the outfit we bought him- including the green high tops}

{Some cute holiday cards from my Grandma} 

{This shirt is green... I promise}

We did take some time to write down why we are lucky.

Here are our lists:

Matt- 

I'm married to a beautiful woman

We're going to Korea

Right now we are puppy sitting two cute chaweenies

We're not homeless

A loving family

I'm not dead

Alex- 

We live in Hawaii

We are in love

We have a job

We could move to Korea

We got to puppy sit

We live next to our cousins

Grimm is back on

You are almost done with school 

How did you celebrate St. Patty's? 

I Spy With My Little Eye....

a Hawaiian Monk Seal. 

{Not the monk seal I saw, but I liked this picture a friend of mine took} 

This is a pretty big deal that we saw one because they are endangered. These Hawaiian Monk Seals are endemic to Hawaii (they only live in Hawaii.) 

I love when I see one laying on the beach. They are not dead, just resting. 

Last Minute St. Patty's Day

Here is a little last minute St. Patty's idea. 

Enjoy. 

Friday Flashback #43

I absolutely LOVE this picture of my cousin Jessie and I. 

I have no idea what is on our heads, but we look like we were having a lot of fun. 

My Monthly RACK (random act of kindness)

If you don't remember, I am dedicating the 14th of every month to RACKs (random act of kindness). 

This month, I challenged my students to join me in my RACKs. And I was so surprised to see so many students showing up with their little random acts. 

Some wrote sweet notes to their friends, gave candy, wrote a note and gave it to a teacher, stuck some money in an envelope... the random acts go on and on! 

I am so proud of my students. I hope to continue this through the rest of the school year. 

And what did I do this month? 

I grabbed some Jamba Juice gift cards, wrote this little note, and stuck it in the mailboxes of some of my co-workers. Just something a little small, but I am two for two so far. And I am loving it!

I encourage you to try completing some RACKs. You will feel awesome! 

If you want an idea, check out this treat plate tutorial from 30Handmade days (the blog that inspired me to keep going with my RACKs). 

{image via} 

I think this would be great to make and pass along to my neighbors. To add to this idea, you could write your name on the back of the plate, and every time it is passed a name is added- kinda like a timeline for the plate! 

Enjoy! 

Life in Hawaii: It's All Right to be Jealous

Matt and I had another great weekend exploring the island and having fun with our friends/ family. 

Here is what we have been up to: 

Friday, March 8- Matt and I met up with our cousins and close friends, Josh & Ari and Kea & Kai'anui Graham (Josh & Matt are cousins and Josh & Kai'anui are cousins). We met in Haleiwa to eat at Cholos Mexican Restaurant. 

Matt and I were a bit early, so we decided to wander around the Wyland art gallery. They have the best dolphin statues and artwork, so I always like to go in and look for my mom. 

The gallery also showcases work from Heather Brown and we ended up getting one of her prints called "Juicy Sunset". 

We bought the print already framed. And fun fact: The frame was handmade by Heather Brown's husband. While this is just a print (we can't wait to be able to afford a canvas) it's still cool because Heather Brown actually signed the bottom! 

After our purchase we met with the Grahams and had a great dinner. Then we walked down to a local ice cream place called Scoops of Paradise (seriously some of the best ice cream). 

Somehow we ended up in another gallery which happened to be having an art showcase for two different artists, who we got to meet- Norm Daniels and Thomadro. 

It was a great night with great people. 

{Really bad picture, but I wanted to remember the night!} 

Saturday, March 9- Matt and I went to Eat the Street in Mililani. 

We had an awesome time, and even better food. 

I will let the pictures talk!

{How cute is my husband?}

{Cupcakes of course}

{Bacon wrapped hot dog? Good, but gross at the same time.} 

 {True Love and Good Food}

 {Dance Crew}

{Chicken n' Waffles from Soul Patrol}

We didn't have too much time, but we had a blast. We can't wait to go to the next one. 

After Eat the Street, we rushed over to Kamehameha to see a high school performance of Rent! Ari's brother was playing Mark, so we went to support... and the fact that this is my favorite Rock Opera had NOTHING to do with it!