Throwback Thursday | We're Engaged!

Today's throwback post is pretty special to Wan and I. 4 years ago today we sat on a bench in San Diego with the sun setting over Coronado Bay and the love of my life asked me to marry him. It was like a fairytale! You can read all about it here.

I snapped this picture moments before he asked me. :)

In two weeks we'll be celebrating our 4 year wedding anniversary. Time sure does fly by. We have grown so much together and are in such a good place. 10 years together has brought so many ups and downs but we are so much better for it. We're both determined to make 2015 (our 10th year together!) the best one yet!

Hey Guys!

Holy crap! I didn't realize it had been so long since I last updated the blog! Well I'm back to check in and share what I've been up to by way of the bullet point. Enjoy!

• We moved!  Lots of changes in our life prompted the move but it was mostly to be closer to my dad and brothers while I prepare for and recover from surgery.

• You read that right, I am in the process of choosing a world class surgeon for my surgery! I was sent the provider list a couple weeks ago and now I'm just waiting for my appointment. :)

• I've been trying to get out of an emotional rutt by being more social. Moving and getting ready for surgery has been really nerve racking and I just need to forget about it sometimes. My friends and husband really help me out when I need it! I went to a BBQ this past weekend and Wan and I went to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library last week. All of which I hope I get around to recapping for you soon!

• I love to drive! Since my injury I can't drive any long distances with my back and leg pain but when I do get to drive my car I really love it. I've been able to drive myself to my doctors appointments now that I live closer and those few minutes of alone time in my car with the music turned up is the best!

• With surgery getting closer, I've started to plan some of the things that I want to do once my recovery is complete. The first one is Disneyland! Too cliche? Lol. No but really, my sister and I have been talking about it for quite some time and with her in Colorado she really misses it. I live about 1 1/2 hours north of Disneyland and have not been since my high school grad night! I can't wait. Hoping and praying my surgery comes quick and I recover well without living in pain everyday. "I can't wait" is an understatement!

And that is all she wrote! For now. I'll try to work on some recap posts this week so I can capture all the wonderful things I've been up to this summer.

I hope you have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday | Birthday Edition!

Here are a few more pictures from my birthday party a couple weeks ago.
I had so much fun and I'm so grateful for the amazing friends and family I have.

Enjoy! :)

Right before they sang "Happy Birthday".

A very candid shot of us getting ready for a picture. Lol!

My best friend and the hostess of my amazing party. Love her!

Everyone was calling him Luigi! Haha!

My goofy friends that I love so much!

Hope you're having a great day!

Hey there!

I've been thinking about coming back to the blog for a while now. I just feel so behind. I haven't been feeling very well and reading my favorite blogs hit the back burner. Do you ever feel so behind it seems overwhelming just thinking about catching up? Yea, that's where I'm at.

Anyways, I thought I would start by catching you up on what I've been up to since my time off from "blogland". Warning: It's pretty picture heavy! :)

At the end of April, a friend of mine who attends a make-up design school, asked me to be her model for a 1940s/50s photo shoot for her portfolio. I was honored and a little nervous! I've never done anything like this before but I'm so glad I did. It was so much fun! I felt so beautiful that day!

This was the first look. A very glamorous 1950s housewife.

The second look was a glammed up Rosie the Riveter.

I still haven't received the pictures from the shoot back yet, but when I do I'll be sure to share them here!

In May my husband was honored with being chosen as the Best Representative for Judo by his Judo Club.  Martial Arts has always been something my husband is very passionate about and he  dedicates all of his free time to not only learning but also teaching. It was an honor for me to attend the award ceremony with him that was for all the clubs in the Southern California area.

The end of May into early June I started to embrace change a little more and get ready for my birthday. I make a big deal out of my birthday because my Mom always made me feel like it's supposed to be your special day. No other day in the year is just about you.

So as I started to think more and more about my birthday the only thing I wanted to do is look good! Haha! I've lost 43lbs and I may not always know how to feel about my new body but on my birthday at least I know I'll look good!

I started by a haircut and coloring my hair back to red. I had it red for so many years and decided that it's time to go back. I love it!

I also bought my first pair of shorts in well over 10 years! They're not short shorts but they're perfect for me and where I'm at with my body image. :)

The week of my birthday finally rolled around and my best friend decided to have a dinner at her house for me the night before. What I didn't know was that she had invited some of our closest friends to surprise me! It was amazing and I cried! Haha. Here are some tidbits from that night. Comment below if you'd like to follow me on instagram for more. :)

It was an amazing night and I felt so incredibly blessed to have so much love in my life.


The next day on my actual birthday, I enjoyed a lovely lunch with my Dad and brothers and a great dinner with my husband and close friends.

The following day was my final birthday celebration with my family. My Dad likes to cook and entertain so he offered to have a get together at his house. He's the best. :)

My Aunt brought the most delicious birthday cake!

My Uncle who is 78 years old gifted me his mothers graduation pin from 1924. As he was telling me the story of the pin he began to cry and then I started to cry! My Aunt (Dad's sister) and Uncle never had children. As my Uncle is getting older he is starting to gift a lot of his things to close family and friends. I am so honored he chose me for such a sentimental gift. I will post pictures of it soon!

It's been a great couple of months. I'm trying to live a little more and not let my disability limit me too much from doing things I enjoy. The cherry on top of all of this is of course:

My favorite hockey team, the Los Angeles Kings, won the Stanley Cup!

It was a tough season but they got through it and came out on top. I'm so proud to be born and raised in a city that has such an amazing team. I'm hoping I can get out to meet some of the players and of course the Stanley Cup sometime this summer. :)

Hope you enjoyed catching up with me! I'll try not to leave so much time between posts next time but no promises. I would also love to catch up with all of my favorite blog friends. Be prepared for lots of comments from me!

Hope you're having a great week!

Three Amazing Years

Today marks 3 years to the day that I married my best friend!  

 

1.30.11 <3

We have been through so much these past few years and

I'm so happy we are getting through this life together.

 

 

"It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing it's always better when we're together"

-Jack Johnson "Better Together"


Wordless Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

 

Here's a little bit of what I've been up to. :)

 

Brought in the New Year feeling great!

Declared 2014 the "Year of the Selfie" ;)

Lots of driving around with this cutie <3

More "Selfies"

Reuniting with my college roomie after 8 years!

 

Hope you have a great day!



Happy Holidays and more!

I'm back! Yay! I know in my last post I promised to blog soon and of course life got in the way. But I'm here and plan to update you all on what I've been up to!

I'd like to do separate posts about everything but I'll try to sum it up here to give you a bit of a preview. :)

I officially started Jenny Craig at the end of September and I'm 3 months in! I've lost 15lbs and feel wonderful! I'm learning how to eat all over again and exercising a lot of self control! Dieting like this during the holidays is a challenge and I'm so proud of what I've accomplished so far.


For Thanksgiving I headed out to Colorado Springs, CO to visit my sister and mom. I got stuck in my first snow storm and was constantly amazed by the beautiful snow-filled landscape. My sisters German Shepherd, Kilo, kept me entertained and gave me lots of love when I was missing my fur-baby at home. I also met up with a friend I met through Facebook when our husbands went through training together! It was a great day! I'll give you a full update on my trip as soon as I can. :)

My sisters front yard :)

Look at that face! My "nephew", Kilo. :)

Amanda and I. Love this girl!

As soon as I got back from my trip I began decorating for Christmas! I absolutely love this time of year! I decorated the house and sent out holiday cards to friends, family and Amanda's Somewhere Over the Camo holiday card exchange. I also made a cake for my brother-in-laws 15th birthday and went to a "costume" party for my best friends birthday. That was all in the last couple of weeks! This past Friday my husband and I also went to his Judo Club's holiday party and had so much fun! :)

My sweet boy in front of our tree.

Holiday cards were sent out!

My brother-in-law's birthday cake.
 

"Costume" Party with my Bestie! :)

This week my Mom has been in town and we've been spending a lot of time together. Tonight we will be having dinner at my brother's house and then it's Christmas! I'm so happy to be back blogging and hope I can catch you up even more in the next coming weeks.

Happy Holidays!

My Mom Came and Good News!

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post! I've been so behind on blogging lately! This past month has been busy! Since everyone loves pictures, I thought I'd give you an update with some of the pictures I've taken this past month.

At the beginning of September my Mom came for a visit and spent 2 whole weeks here! It was so wonderful having her here for a longer trip.

 

First order of business was to make her wonderful homemade carrot cake! So good!

Lots of family time! Here we are with my younger brother, Matt.

We spent some time with my Aunt Toby (Dad's sister).

I snapped some pictures of the decor at the restaurant we had lunch at with my Aunt.

My beautiful Mom at lunch. So lucky to have her in my life.

We also had a great time chatting on my Aunt's back patio. 

She lives in a beautiful Spanish-style home in the Hollywood Hills.

It was so wonderful having my Mom here for so long this time. I'm now counting down the days until December when she'll be back. :)

Soon after my Mom left town I got the news that I've been waiting for! I get to start Jenny Craig! As some of you may know, my upcoming surgery is contingent upon me losing the weight I've gained since my injury. It was the best news I've received in a long time! I've been on the program for almost two weeks and it's going well. It was really hard at first to train myself to eat 6 meals a day every 2 hours! I was always full and all those veggies were not making me feel too hot at first. Now that I'm in my second week of the program, I have a good routine and feel like I'm making good strides to lose the weight. 

Some of the yummy food I get to eat on Jenny Craig!
French Toast with Berries and Vanilla Yogurt.

Of course with anything new there has been some anxiety. I have found comfort in the support of my husband and my parents and know that whatever the results of this program may be I'm going to be okay. I plan on talking more about my experience here on the blog and I'm very excited to be sharing this part of my journey with you!

Happy October!

Sunday Social - Summer Fun

Happy Sunday! I'm linking up with Neely at A Complete Waste of Makeup again this week!

 
 1. What was your favorite trip/vacation/activity this summer? My favorite trip this summer was my day at the beach with my dear friend, Rosa. I had been wanting to go to the beach for so long and she went with me! It was a great day!

2. What was your favorite outfit look/clothing item of the summer? I got this great maxi dress at the beginning of summer and it became a staple. I plan on wearing it this fall too with a scarf and cardigan. :)

3. What is one thing you wish you’d gotten to do this summer? There are so many things! Because of my back pain, I'm very limited at what I can do. Visiting my sister in Colorado was at the top of my list this summer. I still hope I can go visit her soon!

4. What was your favorite song of the summer? Oh that's a hard one because there are so many! One of my favorites is "Stubborn Love" by The Lumineers. My husband and I have had it on repeat for weeks now!

5. What was your favorite movie/tv show of the summer? This summer I've been watching "Who Do You Think You Are?" on TLC. I've always been interested in where people come from and my own personal ancestry. This is such a great show!

Sunday Social - Childhood Memories

Happy Sunday! Today I'm linking up with Neely over at A Complete Waste of Makeup!

1. What do you miss most about being a kid? I miss the summers I spent with my Mom and my siblings. We would wake up late and head straight to the pool everyday.  

2. Did you have a nickname growing up? What was it? I did have a nickname. My Dad always called me "Kimmer". He always said it and eventually it caught on with the whole family and some close friends.

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess? I loved playing Hand Ball! I was never really into sports or anything but I was very competitive with Hand Ball. Haha!

4. What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a teacher. Eventually as I got older, my fear of standing in front of a group of people deterred me from that. I still want to work with kids but in a less formal setting. Like my job at the Museum I work at! 

5. Did you participate in any school activities? Unfortunately, I didn't start participating in school activities until high school. I joined Stage Crew my Junior year and had so much fun helping with shows in the auditorium and playing music at football games.

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about? Nothing really. My Mom always talks about how sweet and quiet I was. Out of all my siblings I guess I was the most behaved! ;)

 

Me and my parents on my birthday. :)