moving on up...

Ok, well I'm not moving, but I am stepping it up in the tech savy world!

I just got my very first smartphone.

Yea I know, only now, I'm old skool like that.

So far, I have to say, I'm not a big fan of it.

Everyone says I just have to get used to it, so I havent thrown it out the window yet.

I also wanted to let you all know, I'm also on Facebook now check me out at From the Heart.

And if that aint enough, I also made me a twitter account too... oooohhhh....

(@Rhiannonmariko)

Just FYI, my twitter account is my personal account not my blog so you can have a peak into my bipolar random mind.

Tonight we have a little party with our martial arts Ohana.
Hopefully I can check in tomorrow during our massive pre-New Year's clean.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Yes, as you have noticed I have been very absent.
For those of you who stick by me, I appologize.

It's the Holidays and besides working my butt off for year end financials, I have decided to spend whatever free time with my family.

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you all did as well.

I didn't feel overwhelmed since I did get a head start this year shopping and stashing.

I am determined to keep doing this every year, it has been such a HUGE relief!

I have a big exciting announcement to make about the bestest Christmas gift ever!!
(no I am not pregnant)

The days are flying by and thank goodness, I cant wait for another long weekend with my family.

I have always been taught that you start the new year fresh and clean.
So you have to give up your grudges, forgive your enemies and clean the house!
Saturday we're planning just that. (Especially since we skipped it this past weekend)

Well, back to work I go... wishing all of you a happy and safe new year!
I'll see you all in 2012!

Source



Picture this...

So my friend's daugher's first birthday party was a success, as far as I can tell. 

It's over and done with and everyone survived.

It was beautiful and as promised I will be sharing pictures soon, I only took about 500!

The party is over but life sure isn't slowing down any time soon.

Can you belive it's only 6 days till Christmas?!

image source google

I have to spend tonight wrapping my gifts and figuring out who I still need to get for, which isn't a lot. Thank goodness I shopped early in the year.

Sewing gifts this year is out of the question at this point.

Oh and I have to find time to bake family gifts too.

Of course at the very last minute we took family pictures this past Sunday.

I think I got two good pictures of the boys and not a single one of me.

It rained about 10 minutes after we got there and rain and my freshly ironed hair does not do well. So me and my frizz ball of a head didnt make any of the cuts. We'll have to retake soon!

Looks like we're sending out "Holiday" cards instead of Christmas cards.

Here are my boys...



For a while getting a picture of my almost 3 year old was like pulling teeth, now he seems to be warming up to the camera again. Now I just have to deal with the fake smile.

I'm also a week behind on my 2011 recap, so I'll have 6 months worth of recap by the end of the week.

How are you guys doing with Christmas just days away?

drowning...

I am running on empty

image source google

I am so tired as I type this my eyes are heavy and wanting to close so bad!

I've been helping my friend get ready for her daughter's first birthday party and I've had late nights every day this week since Monday.

But I cannot wait to see it all put together tonight.
I will no doubt have a ton of amazing pictures.
Not that my picture taking skills rock but that she pays attention to every last detail, no matter how extravagant. Remember the sunfower baby shower?
Yea that one.

I still have some Christmas shopping to do, my spare room looks like a tornado hit and I wanted to spend time with my dear friend Charity before she leaves me and moves to Kansas City, on MONDAY!!! (sob, sob, sob)

Saturday night is the annual Waimea Lights Parade and I really want to take my son, we've been going since his first Christmas!

I love the look of amazement in this photo.

Have a great weekend guys, I'll be back with lots of photos!

cheap Christmas in a vase

I know I'm super late on getting with the Christmas decorating.

I just havent gotten into it this year, time is just flying by too fast.

We did get our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving.

So, here is my super fast and super cheap project I did last night.

About a week or so ago I went to Kmart since they had jar candles on sale for $3.99 SUPER CHEAP! But alas when I got there, the shelves were completely wiped out.

But I did find these two vases for $6 and candle stick holders for 99 cents.

(running total under $14)

I had been putting off buying the fabulous E-6000 glue since this sucker is expensive.

I saw a picture on a blog somewhere with a price tag on the tube, it said $3-something.

Woah, our craft store sells it for oh $7.99.

I had a 40% off coupon good for this past weekend, plus a $5 gift card.

I got the glue and a candy bar for 81 cents, chee hoo!

(total now $14.81)

I applied some glue to the candle stick holder and then placed the vase on top.

Man that is some messy glue to work with!

Be careful and have a nice area to work in and some petroleum jelly close by.

After letting it dry here they are...

A while ago we went up to Kokee and picked up pine cones so they were FREE.

I threw a bunch of them in the jar.

I also added some left over glitter ornaments from several years ago, again FREE.

I put them on the entryway table. It still looks bare but, its a start.

I still have 12 days left, right?

Total cost of project under $15!

Plus I got a candy bar too.

I'm linking to the parties at the bottom of my page go check out the other great projects!

Today's Creative Blog

January - March Recap

I've never done a recap before so when I read about the 2011 Review Extravanganza I thought what a fun idea! Its always good to reflect on the past year anyway right?

So thats what I did. I went back to see what I did throught the year, first up is
January - March Recap, what did I do?

I sewed with Bias tape for the first time.

I joined the 21 days to getting organized challenge over at A bowl full of lemons.
It was great I organized under my kitchen sink, my dresser & drawers, the medicine cabinet (when was the last time you checked the expiration date on your meds?), under the bathroom sink, toy organization and my recipe books.

It was a lot of cleaning and organizing let me tell ya, but I needed it.
They were small enough projects that they were easy to tackle... now can someone else do another organizing challenge please? I need to start cleaning again.

My girlfriend put on a beautiful Sunflower Baby shower.
And its time for her daughters 1st bday so I just can't wait to see it all put together and share it with ya'll! She goes WAY over the top and doesnt miss a single detail!

I practiced a bit with my photography and learned about bokeh and macro.

My lil man celebrated his 2nd bday in February.
I reminised about being pregos and giving birth.
And I reflected on my son's first two years, boy do they grow so fast!

We had a little celebration for him at our home and had a great time.

Hawaii was hit with a tsunami warning on 3/11/11 after the horrible Japan earthquakes.
Thankfully we were not badly affected by it.

I shared my story about karma that till today when I read my own story, I still get goose bumps and tear a little.

And speaking getting teary and geting goose bumps....
I told you about the little gift I made for my friend Kai.
It was supposed to be uplifting and keep him positive.
Little did we know that times were only going to get tougher for him.
Few months into the year, they found a large tumor on the base of his brain.
Thank God for miracles, hes doing fine now.

Hmmm what a way to start the year! Thanks for keeping up with me... next week April - June Recap!

Shaved Ice on a HOT day

I cannot belive I live on an island where we are KNOWN for our shaved ice stands and I just realized that my son has never had a shaved ice!

Does that make me a bad mother?

Here he is on Sunday with his very first shaved ice.

He actually turned it down and until we told him it was ice cream he gave it a chance.

First bite down, hmmm he's thinking about it.

Then he dove right in and went to town!

Forget the small wooden spoon just bite it!

ugghhh... brain freeze...

But that didnt stop him, right back in there to finish it up!

And then we hung out in the sun to warm up and watch the kids play in the baseball field.

Where else in the world do you have a shaved ice and sit in the sun at the park on a Sunday afternoon during WINTER TIME!

Hoo Are you? With Night Owl Crafting

 It's been a while, but Night Owl Crafting is doing their weekly Hoo Are you again!

Here are my answers! 

 

1. Is all your Christmas shopping done?

 

NOPE! But I'm in good shape. I did most of my shopping through out the year when I found great sales so I just have a few last minute things to pick up and then the rest is just baking.

2. Do you decorate for Christmas and if so when?

 

Yes, I decorate usually Thanksgiving weekend or the weekend after.

This year I havent gone all out with the lights on the house and the lighted tree and reindeer in the yard because we just plugged some new grass and I have to water often!

 

3. Do you bake during the Holiday season?

 

Yes, I make myself crazy baking every year, but I have to. I just can't afford to buy gifts for everyone, and who doesnt like a homemade sweet treat? 

 

4. What are your favorite smells of this time of year?

 

I'm  not a peppermint fan, I do like cinnamon, cookies and the smell of fresh trees. We never have a real tree but I catch a wiff when we go to the stores.

 

5. What are your favorite things to do during the Holiday Season?

 

I love to drive around and check out everyone's houses all decorated with lights.



Card Swap

Hey everyone? Want to send some holiday cheer but not break the bank?

Kimmie over at Sugar & Dots and Rachelle over at Fingerprints on the Fridge
are having a Card Swap!

Sounds like fun and you can meet some new peeps!
Go check it out

My most favorite dressing

I know Thanksgiving is so last week (or even the week before), but I just have to share this recipe with ya'll. It's even great for Christmas dinner.

One of my most favorite things about any holiday is my grandma's stuffing, which I have learned is actually dressing not stuffing.

Every holiday we would have her stuffing and I would pick on it from the stove top long before our meal was ready to be served. I love it!

A few years ago, she taught me how to make it.

It never comes out exactly how she makes it, I think she has just the right grandma touch.

Either that or she's not giving me the whole recipie.

We have to start with 2 loaves of white bread, the cheap stuff is fine and were gonna put them out 2 days before to dry out and get stale.

Then you take that bag of turkey innards out and salt some water and boil the heck out of them.

While that is boiling chop a half an onion.

Then take all the goodies out of the pot and chop them up pretty fine as well.

YES, you will be adding all those turkey insides!

Just trust me on this one.

Add it to your bowl of chopped onion and while youre at it throw in 2 stalks of chopped celery as well.

And chop up some olives.

Now take your stale bread and wet it with water. Just wet it till moist if there is extra water squeeze it out over the sink, we dont want the bread too wet.

Then add in all the veggies, 3-4 eggs, salt and pepper to taste and chop up a couple of chili peppers to make it exciting too.

Get a large pan or wok and put some oil in it and let it get hot.

Now throw your dressing mix in and cook it till it dries up a little bit.

Then you freak out and remember that you forgot to add in the flat parsley!!

Rush to your chopping board and cut it up, make sure it's FLAT parsley, if you use any other you won't get the right flavor.

Ok throw it in and mix it up really fast and hope its not too late!

Easy Peasy!

When it's done you have warm delish old fashioned grandma's dressing!

Try not to eat it all before you serve your holiday meal.

I'm linking to the parties found {here} or at the bottom of my page, check them out.

today's creative blog



One last pumpkin post I promise!

I know its December and almost Christmas....

I know I promised that I wasnt going to post anything more about pumpkins... sorry I lied.

I thought the pumpkin talk was all over but its back.

The other night I walked past my son's room and saw this organge glow.

"What the heck?" I thought to myself.

I went into his room and found this...

My son took his flashlight and put it in his plastic jack o lantern and put it on his bed!

Hahahaha!

My lil man is just like his mama.... loves Halloween!



Special Treat... Guest post from A Little Knick Knack!!

It's Thursday, only one more day till Aloha Friday!

Today I have a very special treat!

I have Meg visiting from A Little Knick Knack come over to share a little something about herself and her blog.

This is my very first blog swap ever and I'm so happy and honored to have her.

Please give her a warm welcome and dont forget to go and check her out!

Hey everyone! My name is Meg and I live over at A Little Knick Knack. I've been blogging for almost 2 years and love it! I have a lovely link party every Friday called Everything but the Kitchen Sink, and I'd love for you to join! I also host many great giveaways and do some fun reviews, so come by and check things out!

I have a lot of wood. Anything that I can do to wood, I'll do. I love to paint, stain, glaze, hammer, distress, sand...the possibilities are endless. I had so much fun making these birdhouses....

 ...and these fun little initial blocks...

And this yellow chair...

I've been trying my hand at sewing lately. I hosted a basic sewing series with another fabulous blog friend--Tina from Twinkle Toes, and we did a tutorial on how to make these lovely pillowcases....

And then I went on a canvas kick and made these lovely pillow forms....

 ....and this canvas table runner.

I hope you enjoyed a little preview of my little blog and can join my Thursday link party, Everything but the Kitchen Sink! It's open all weekend and we have such a fun time! Come check it out!

Merry Christmas!