Life Lately: Balance and making time to blog for myself

Life Lately: Balance and making time to blog for myself

Dec 9, 2019 | Journal, Lifestyle, Moments

Well well well, I’m here and there these days. Lots of busy-ness, even in this small island life. I’ve been trying to balance my full time work, freelance photography gigs, my side business, wedding planning, a social life, outside recreation time, quality time with my fiance and my parents, and of course, rest. Despite how much that sounds like, I’ve been quite happy with life lately. In fact, I’m stoked on where I am right now. The end of 2019 is drawing close and I have much to reflect on and be thankful for.

It’s the time of year that I’m finding myself to be most busy with work, so I’ve been taking every chance I get outside of work to chill out, relax, and not hole myself up hunched over my laptop. I also haven’t quite mastered writing on my smartphone, so photos from my camera roll posted to the ‘Moments’ will have to do. I was looking through some old posts over the weekend, and I’ve really missed blogging.

And so here I am…

My life lately updates:

  • My best friend, Gabby, and Ano and Traci, moved in to the house right across from mine! When we were younger, Gabby and I always planned to live together in California after college, so we could basically become artists and make a bunch of money. Hahah I don’t know what happened to us, but we’re loving it back home!
  • I’ve been taking a lot of photos, so I’ll be posting a bunch of sessions soon.
  • I started a 31-day daily yoga challenge with Traci and Gabby. I fell off the 5am daily yoga train after my trip to Tahiti this summer, so doing this challenge with friends has been a great way to keep me motivated to actually stick to my practice. It’ll be hard to keep up since it’s the holidays and I’m traveling for a few weeks, but I’m committed, and I’ll do my best to do at least 10 minutes a day.
  • Speaking of which, yes, I’m traveling for the holidays! First, I’m going up to Phoenix to spend Christmas with my whole family finally. It’s been several years since we’ve all spent the holidays together, my parents and siblings and their extended families. I’m especially excited to spend it with my niece and nephew, who are growing way too quickly! Then, going to LA to spend New Years with my fiance’s family. I always love hanging out with his parents, they’re the best.
  • I honestly can’t think of what else right this second because I just realized it’s 11:45pm and of courseeee I would attempt to update my blog when it’s way past my bedtime. I think I’ll just post this now and think about it later!

 

Manuia le po.

Briskly taking in Old San Juan | Puerto Rico Travel Diary

Briskly taking in Old San Juan | Puerto Rico Travel Diary

Jun 7, 2018 | Journal, Travel

A brisk morning jaunt in Old San Juan checking out the National Historic Site forts before we got on the road to Rincon. We had just gotten coffee and sandwiches at Café Cuatros Sombras, a few blocks away from our AirBnB. Ian and I flew into town yesterday in the late afternoon as a result of a delayed flight, so we could only catch the sunset from Castillo San Felipe del Morro before hopping around the many restaurants and pubs. Today we were rushing our way through the blue cobblestone streets trying to soak in as much of this romantic old spanish town vibe before our road trip. We quickly checked out Castillo de San Cristobal, the Devil’s Sentry Box lookout, and the colorful colonial style homes. Here are a few snaps from this morning.

Lucky to have this love

Lucky to have this love

May 26, 2018 | Journal, Lifestyle

I’m so lucky to have this kind of love. You bring more love to my life than I ever could have expected. We’ve grown up a lot too. We’re that old couple that leaves the party early to go watch a movie in bed. I love you old man baby boy. Each year gets better with you.

Aunty Files: Merbaby and Friends

Aunty Files: Merbaby and Friends

May 25, 2018 | Journal, Lifestyle

I think it’s important to gift my niece and nephew with things that are meaningful and memorable. My niece just turned 1 last month, and I have no idea what toys or clothes she already has. As her only aunt (read favorite aunt) I want to get her cute things!So when I saw that Lexi Lizama from MeAndMyMerbaby.com reopened her Etsy shop, I messaged her right away for a custom order.

Lexi is a Pacific Islander like myself and–inspired by her adventures with her sweet daughter Aaliyah–she makes the most adorable merbaby dolls and sea friends from soft colorful felt and hand stitched detailing.

Lexi is super sweet. She was super helpful and sent me a custom Etsy link for my order. At only $30 for both the custom merbaby and seahorse, and the fact that she was able to make and ship my order within just a few days, it was all so worth it! I placed the order while I was on a trip to the Dominican Republic and was so excited when I got to Arizona and found that the order had arrived! Just in time too since I only had a couple of days with my niece before I was to return to American Samoa.

My order was wrapped in white tissue paper and twine. She also included my message “To my sweet little merbabe Rachel”.

My nephew helped his baby sister open her present and let her rip off the tissue to reveal her merbaby.

I requested a merbaby with light brown skin (for my little asian pacific islander niece) and braided black hair. I wanted this merbaby to have a friend and asked for the seahorse plush in complementing colors.

My sister noticed the special details right away, like the twinkle of the merbaby’s eye, and the secured stitching at the end of her braided hair to prevent from unbraiding and flyaways.

My niece is an observer, so she held it skeptically at first. I imagine her thinking to herself: what is this… it’s soft but it doesn’t smell like mom… oh but it looks like her… ok I like it!

I really like the size of these plush merbabies too. It was larger than I expected, which is nice so Rachel can hug them for warmth and comfort while she’s still tiny, and she can still hug them as she gets older.

This merbaby and seahorse plush was the perfect gift for Rachel’s belated birthday. It has all the elements of what makes a gift from an aunt so special, and it felt great to support a small business and artsy friend! I hope my niece goes on many adventures with her merbaby friends.

Check out @MeandMyMerbaby on their website, instagram, and etsy!

*This is not a sponsored post!

Diary of an Aunty: Summer 2018

Diary of an Aunty: Summer 2018

May 25, 2018 | Journal, Lifestyle

Oh my goodness time flies and these cuties just get cuter! I am so incredibly blessed to have the chance to go and visit my nephew and niece every year.

It always feels like eons waiting for summer to come around and my bank account is weak but when I’m hanging out with them and we’re bonding over a fish book that Ian picked out a couple years ago and my nephew’s super excited to read it for us… It just feels so good.

Also my tiny 3-year old nephew who barely spoke the last time I saw him showed me a photo of his class playing with puzzles and I asked him if he was able to solve the puzzle – he straight up said to me “it wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t easy”. What??? Who taught you that kind of reasoning in response to a very simple question?! You’re 3!! How do I even respond to that?? I’m just “aunting” real hard here heheh.

My 1-year old niece is also too adorable for words. She’s different from Isaac: she doesn’t (yet) like people as much as Isaac did when he was that age, gives you a skeptical look when you try to pick her up, she is a total mama’s girl, and she has a hilarious toothy smile when she laughs. But she’s also super observant, gives the best kiss we when you say besos, and makes my heart melt when she’s reaching for her blankie in her sleep.

The two of them together, they’re just the perfect little kids in my eyes. Isaac’s always talking about his little sister with affection, always tries to make her smile, shares his toys with her and is patient with her when she hogs the toys. Rachel is learning lots from her big brother. She laughs every time he makes a funny face for her, or when he runs around and does something silly, she plays with him even if it’s trucks or puzzles.

I forget sometimes that these tiny humans came out of my sister’s womb. It’s nuts to me. We were that age once, my sister, me, and my baby brother. We were best friends and confidants, with some headaches in between. All these little moments make me so happy.