Izzy and I made it.
It seemed like a long "bon-voyage" mainly because our layover in Seattle was nearly 4 hours. And our plane ride going to Hawaii was a bumpy one! There literally was a point where I grabbed Izzy's hand and we squeezed it so tight and prayed the turbulence would go away. I don't think I've ever been in a plane where it swerved as much as that.
But after 14 hours of traveling (including layover of course) we made it to my hometown of Honolulu Hawaii.
I tell you.. one of the most powerful tool I possess is my iPhone.
The ability to capture most anything instantaneously.. is, for me a kind of gratification I can't describe. I've always been a "picture-person" always wanting to capture the moment.
You give a girl a camera, she will take photos of anything and everything..
These photos illustrate my life in ways I can't otherwise describe. It's always meant a lot to me to "snap" a photo of my life..
I thought by now I'd given up on Project Life.. I may have slowed down on the excess amount of photos.. but I have not given up. If anything, it forces me to get creative on capturing life with as little photos as possible. Much like our Facebook status'.. we try to say what's on our mind, with as little words as possible.
But I could sit here and try to explain my drive up to my hubby's work.. the dense fog, the frozen trees, the tinge of grey everywhere, and that desolate feeling you get when you get up there, cause it's smack in the middle of nothing.. I'm not sure if you'd picture this:
Then there's my morning chaos.. a sink full of the dishes, that the kids tossed while heading out the door.
Simple photo.. but glad I caught it because it is something I want to remember.. a time when the house was.. busy.
Again.. with the technology these days, you really have no excuse for not taking a photo :)
*****
Breakfast with my girls.
Oh gosh.. I love these girls.
I'm still heartbroken that her family has decided to take on some new adventures and leave Alaska (before I do).
I am in complete denial.. and I refuse to go to her house to see how much she's painted or worst to see boxes packed. Nope, I will not have it.
Downtown Photo.. probably one of my faves today.
From the fog, to the pedestrian crossing, the cropped building, and the car passing by.
That's downtown Anchorage in a nutshell today.
I went to drop hubby some lunch.. I just had to capture him in "stealth-ninja-mode"
And as bitter cold as it was, well below zero... we played outside. He doesn't mind it until his paws start bothering him. We warm up a bit and head back out again.. This is enough to make for a good afternoon nap.
Which I have to say, I've been taking with him quite a bit this week.
I blame the extremely cold weather.. I mean all you wanna do is snuggle under the sheets.
Brrr..
It's been pretty cold on this side of the world.. In our 7+ years here, I don't remember it being this cold day in and day out.. The temps say something but with some wind it is a lot colder. I remember reading the temps one morning, it said -17 degrees but with windchill feels like -30 !!!
But that sun is out.. shining bright and as cold as it is.. I still try to venture out there with Kai. I just look like a ninja in a snowsuit out there :) Kai still loves being outside.. of course he would, he's a dog :) But the other day I lost one of his booties in the deep snow!!! NO!!! So I spent the better half of my day digging through where I thought he stood.. but it was to deep. So now he's one booty short :(
I love Tina's weekly current updates. These are great for memory keeping and to put in your Project Life as well :) I plan to do this weekly or even more.. just little tidbits of my day :)
time: 11:54 pm
location: home
weather: very, very, cold.. I think it barely made it above 0.
eating: just finished some chips & salsa
drinking: water
loving: netfilx, watching my the first season of Criminal Minds & enjoying scrapbooking again.. currently working on Project Life 2012 and 2010 :)
wondering: how my boys & hubby will do while I'm gone, it's the "mom" in me.
enjoying: the photos from our maternity shoot today, I really do love maternity sessions.
accomplishing: a whole lot of cooking :)
Sunday Jan 15, 2012
When life gives you lemons, you get Freckled Lemonade.
My kids enjoy Red Robin.. me? Not so much, but I do like their Freckled Lemonade.
It's been so cold out.. we're talking well below zero..
So working out, outdoors has been a no go.
But I hit the gym (sometimes) I'm still trying to get used to the treadmill. But I do love this Nike Training App that gets me going and working up a sweat. Izzy loves working out with me and I'm amazed that little thang can hold a plank pretty well :)
Monday Jan 16, 2012
Need I say more?
Even though I am freezing my butt off, I'm quite fascinated by it all.. hence all the snapshots I take of the weather.
Got the girls some lunch...
They've started scrapbooking their photos in their little albums so they wanted to take photos together so I could print them :)
Driving around while Izzy is dance.. I caught a glimpse of the sunset and clear skies at a stoplight.. I really liked the way the silhouette turned out.. I'm always trying to find inspiration and fun photos :)
I admit at first, this Project Life thing was a bit overwhelming.. so many ideas, so many talented scrappers doing it, and it's all over pinterest! So, being this my first time doing this project, I wasn't sure how to approach it. Week One, I realized that I took to many photos.. it almost seemed like I was doing a Week In The Life kind of thing.. and that's now how I wanted to do it.. because it is so detailed and this project was not meant to be tedious like that.
So week Two rolled around and this time I took less photos and focuses on the story of the day. Instead of trying to capture the day in its entirety, I just wanted to capture glimpses of my day.
So this (below) is the end of Week One, which took 3 pages.
Being that my first week took 3 pages.. it left an odd "one" page for me. And since I'm quite particualr about how my pages flow.. this bothered me.. But as usual, we always do a lot on a weekend, that I didn't mind giving Sunday an entire page.
Week Two
So the rest of the week (Monday - Saturday) are a double page layout keeping the same format..
I'm not sure which page protectors these are.. but they all have 4x6 vertical on the top and 3x4 horizontal on the bottom..
And this week, it didn't take much from me to take less photos, because I simply wasn't into this week.
I did do some "writing" which (again) is hard for me.. because I do like the neatness of the type written look. But I'm learning to embrace it.. :)
So Week Two.. I'm starting to get the "feel" of this project..
But of course that's when things will be thrown off track..
I will be flying home to be with my family for about 10 days.. This is a difficult time for my family back home and I know my mom needs me right now. As hard.. (and that's loosely stating) it's so hard for me to leave the rest of my family behind (I'm taking Izzy though) especially when my hubby is so busy at work with several tests and promotional work coming up.. I know I need to be with my mom and grandfather. So I may be here or not.. I'm trying to plan ahead for my boys and hubby while I'm gone and so far it's taking everything in me to not break down and cry (well, I've already done that several times this weekend).
I am here..
Working, doing laundry, scrapbooking, working out, or watching tv.
I just been wanting to do these arrow pointing thingies for a while :)
Sometimes all I need is a good cry and a good night's sleep, with lots of cuddles from everyone including the dog to make me feel better. Thanks for all the calls/texts/emails and FB messages.. Sometimes I'm still so overwhelmed by how many people I've met along the way thru blogging, scrapbooking, and the world wide web. It's amazing.
I will be flying home for a little bit to be with my mom and grandfather. It will just be me and my little Izzy. Although I hate to take her out of school for nearly 10 days, there will be no one here to care for her in the mornings since her brothers go to school before her. And plus, I need her energy, her positive outlook on life, and her daily smiles to chase away some of the heartache I will be facing. And maybe, just maybe, I may come back with a tan :)
Speaking of flying back home... NOW (above) seems like a good time to go.. huh?
Just enjoying this "dance" free Saturday.. her classes are now on Friday after school... so we enjoyed a lazy but cold Saturday.
Last night I put together a Shutterfly book for my mom from the photos we took while we were there in May. (It took that long to get that out to her, LOL but since I knew I was flying back next week, I thought now is a good time to get that to her).. After making a book for her, I made another one for my brother and his wife.. then I felt ambitious and now making one from our trip back in May. YES, it's that simple!
I'm officially hooked.. especially for these type of books like vacations or a significant event with tons of photos. I don't know when was the last time I was on Shutterfly, but they have a section called Storybook, where you literally drag & drop the photos you want together on a specific page and it will place them for you and you have the option of changing the layouts..etc.
Alright back to scrapbooking.. cause I also got my photos (2011) that I uploaded from Walgreens in the mail (yes, I am that lazy that I could not pick them up) but I had a coupon and for nearly 150 photos and postage it only cost $8.. again, with this coupon I got in an email. I've never printed through Walgreens before and I like the quality of their matte finish for my everyday photos.
It's been a rough week. Filled with worry, pain, & heartache.
I feel like my emotions have been thrown around like a rag doll and with my lifeless self, I somehow manage to maintain this 100 mph speed at which I'm going. But today, I'm finally slowing down, taking it all in, and now the tears I tried so hard to fight off are catching up with me. As I try to hold them back.. I realize, sometimes we just need a good "cry". We all need to feel "exposed" and to just let that pain sink in.
It's so hard to be away from home..It's especially harder when the people you love are in not doing well.
I don't know if I just grew a thicker coat on (well in Alaska, you kinda have to) but I don't remember the last time, I really missed home (Hawaii).. Till this week.
So much going on at home with my mom that being thousands of miles away and not being able to give her a hug each time she cried, shatters this already broken heart to pieces over and over again. And my sweet grandfather who is pushing 96 years old.. is in the hospital. Things are not looking good for him as well.
Meanwhile, a thousand miles away.. I'm just trying to keep it all togther.
For some reason it feels like it should be Thursday which means tomorrow will be the start of our long weekend. But, no.. it's only Tuesday. So I haven't been able to shake this "once" a month feeling. I went to bed last night with a headache and woke up with one too. So this morning all I could imagine doing was laying back down.. but that's always next to impossible. I was also this close to cancelling my hair appointment because I just couldn't imagine getting out and driving on this yucky day and feeling extra bleh.. but I went anyway.. and like most decisions in my life, it was a rash one.. and decided to just 'chop' the whole thing off.. not like there was a lot to chop anyway.. But here it goes:
I was inspired by these two (thanks Pinterest)
The verdict?
I.LOVE.IT!!
For a wihle, I was dabbling with the idea of growing it back to a bob again.. but that process takes forever and you have to go through this awkward phase in order to get there.. and I was just not willing to do it..
I was just meant to have short-short hair.. I have the thickest/bushiest hair.. ever.. that I always look like I'm sporting a mushroom or a mullet.
But this new do is still a lot getting used to.. I think I need some dangling earrings :)
I enjoyed the ride home, a bit windy.. but still I enjoyed it, the sunset was gorgeous..
And got me a cup of iced Americano.
And I covered back up.. (literally covered) .. cause that wind will sting you!! And we took Kai out on a walk and watched him trying to fetch the stick in 2 feet of snow!
I'm ending the night with scrapbooking. So I brought out my old unfinished albums and picked my 2010 album.. to work on while I wait for the end of the week to recap my week with my current 2012 album. (Apparently I did not even start a 2011 album). I found some photos that I had printed (several years ago) that were sitting in a box and went back to my blog (Thank goodness for this blog to help me recap the moments) and went from there. I've been using the concept of Project Life in this album and it made it seem less stressful and more enjoyable.
So with the idea of keeping my current album.. current. But going back to my 2010 album, I decided to upload more 2010 photos and get that album rolling. My photos were already organized and they just needed to be sent for printing. Needless to say, I actually don't feel overwhelmed and I am enjoying this bit of scrapbooking. :)
We napped today.. he snuggled right up against me and he loved the sun blazing through the window.
I started off my morning racing at 100 mph. Making breakfast at 5:45 am, starting dinner at 6:30 am, and loads of laundry by 7am. So needless to say, I was exhausted by the time the last kid went to school. I decided to take advantage of the quiet house, the already made dinner in the crock-pot, and the clean house... and took a nap.
A lot of driving on a Monday.
I finally get to so my other half, Ms. Paula. We enjoyed a nice treat and great conversation.
