These are the in-between moments.
Having the best night
I love feeling like I’m falling in love all over again.
Ian’s been extra sweet on me these last few weeks, sending me cute texts, waking me up in the morning with kisses and affirmations like “you are gonna make a difference in the world” while I’m still yawning and trying to keep my eyes open. Tonight we had a call with our wedding coordinator who is amazing and is really excited about our wedding because, she says, it’s different and unique! We’re going to confirm our venue booking tomorrow morning together! And after the call, we got to searching for flights to the mainland, and found really cheap flights, so we booked our holiday trip together, sitting side by side on the studio workbench we built together. Gah. Aren’t we just so disgustingly cute? We just got to chopping the veggies and frying up the chicken to make butter chicken, and I’m taking a quick computer break to type this out and search for a movie to watch on Netflix. We’re gonna get all cozy and cuddly with this rainy weather!! I feel so so so blessed and loved!
TEDxPagoPago
American Samoa’s first TEDx talks on Tuesday, October 1st 2019.
Big thanks to Samu’s Ice Cream for sponsoring me and Ian’s tickets!
the wise honest ship from north korea still sitting in the harbor
The cutest package came in from Love Audry Rose.
Mt. Pioa also known as “Rainmaker” – September 21, 2019
What a lovely thing it is to write freely and without consequence
while waiting for ian at the paddling races
September 21, 2019
leaf it alone
what mondays feel like
LifeProof underwater
Stay close to the people that feel like sunshine
loved this sunrise shoot with Mareike right before she left for the Azores
So much to upload
So little time.
Forgot about this session with Mareike that I need to post! There were so many good moments.
Actually though…
ok good night!
(image credit: Pinterest)
Inspo
(credit: Tumblr)
my room in the downstairs apartment 4 years ago.
Wake me up in the morning with a kiss. I’ll smile back at you with my eyes still closed because I’m tired but then I’ll wipe the sleep from my eyes and I’ll look at you, and smile again. You’re the first person I want to see in the morning every day. I’ll make breakfast. I’ll learn how to make it just the way you like it. Over medium. Something green. A little sriracha on the side. Black coffee. Definitely coffee. We’ll start a routine, and then we’ll forget all about it. Someday we’ll do something new and exciting then talk about our lives together. You’ll laugh because I have unrealistic expectations, but you tell me everything is going to be okay. And I know it will be. Because I look forward to tomorrow when you wake me up in the morning with a kiss.
Wrote this four years ago when I was just falling in love. Still falling…
Scuba doodling
TGI-
Do you ever get so excited to make sh** happen already?
kind of just want to go home and play in the studio
thirsty for more days like these
Ian and Scruff
LOOK AT THESE CUTIE KITTIES! Been perusing through my tumblr archives and found these pieces of gold so I had to bring them back. So so good!
I do believe in an everyday sort of magic – the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we’re alone.
Charles de Lint
“I love when you read a book and you become so emotionally invested in it, and when you walk around public places after reading it you feel like you’re in this bubble by yourself, like you’re so deeply inside your mind you’re actually out of touch with reality”
Safe travels, mom and dad! Love you both so much.
How cute are my parents, on their way to Myanmar for a conference? #travelbuddies
my handsome fiance driving on the other side of the road
Me, waiting to meet with the events coordinator at the first venue we toured in Samoa.
08.31.2019 (Samoa time)
Motu Mahaea (Taha’a): French Polynesia Photo Journals
Motu Mahaea
[ Photo Journal – 01 July 2019 ]
This idyllic motu (island) just off Taha’a. We sailed there and anchored in the shallow sandbar for the night. We avoided having to pay the day fee by taking our dinghy out and anchoring it in the sand, then snorkeling and kayaking around. The mara’amu was blowing mighty strong and the current made staying in one place difficult so we drifted back to the lee of this tiny motu. Polly saw a stingray! And then we dinghied back while Rick kayaked back to our floating home. Everyone on the island paddled back to land before dark, and a local man wandered over and mumbled some stuff we didn’t understand. We asked him if we could anchor there, and he nodded his head, mumbled some more I think, and then paddled back to Taha’a too. I remember thinking that I wanted us to move anchorage, but Captain Rick made the executive decision to stay the night. I recall getting super seasick on this night, but I also recall the food we made for dinner being epic, and how it felt eerie and serene, not having anyone anchor there.
Adding space
Ian’s new tools already coming in clutch! Tonight he put up this long shelf that spans the entire wall in our spare bedroom. I love the way it turned out. So simple but so functional! I’ve already put my blank canvases up there, a snake plant, all my miscellaneous writing utensils, and fabric projects up there. Plus, I can’t wait to share some cute shelfies! 😉
Easy ways to move your body when you feel lazy
- Do leg lifts while lying in bed staring at your phone
- Suck your tummy in and take deep breaths
- Sway your hips side to side while sitting at your desk at work
- While seated, stretch your calves by raising your toes as high as possible
- Roll your shoulders back and sit up straight
- Do squats while waiting for your coffee or when you’re dispensing water at the cooler
- Bend forward, sideways left, backward, then sideways right several times, pumping your body as you move
- While laying on your back, cross your entire left leg (knee pointing out perpendicular to your body) over your right side for a few moments, and do the other side to stretch your lower back
- Raise yourself on your tiptoes for a second and then back down, and repeat for as long as you want killer calves
- Just be lazy and work out properly later 😂
Deep cleaning
Tiny apartment living has it’s perks. Namely, it’s easier to clean. Or so you’d think…
On Friday I felt the urge to deep clean my entire house, and made a list of areas I wanted to really get spotless. It was actually really… I don’t know what the word is… fun???? Just writing down my cleaning list was getting me giddy. It’s like Monica Gellar took over my mind and body and I wanted nothing more than a natural all-purpose cleaning spray and some pop music playing on the speakers to get me going. So when I got home from work, I moved all the big furniture in the living room to sweep under and around them, then dusted and rearranged my bookshelf by color. That’s all I could manage before dinner with my parents later that night. On Saturday I woke up, moved my body, journaled, ate brunch that Ian made, then got to deep cleaning the kitchen. It was a mission. I cleared everything off the counters, wiped and scrubbed the tiles, and emptied the dish drawers and orange guarded the heck out of all the corners. Ian had gone to Ace to grab supplies for a shelf we wanted to build in our spare room, then had paddling practice. So I sang out loud karaoke style to music blasting from my spotify playlists. Ian came home with a lot more than just supplies, he got himself a really nice jig saw and a bunch of other ‘manly men’ tools. Then cleaned out the fridge and our kitchen island. It’s been a lot of time on my feet so they hurt now, but I’m so happy and feel inspired to keep my house this clean all the time! I have yet to start on my bedroom and the spare room (we have guests tonight staying in there) so very very soon, I hope!
Got all these beautiful LifeProof goodies on the mail, and a radddd backpack!! So so stoked
Dinner on the SV Robert C. Seaman with Captain Cassie
Aunu`u Get Into Your Sanctuary Day
Early August 2019 from a work event.
Get Into Your Sanctuary Aunu`u Summer Fun Day.
People and places.
Candid scenes on the Samoan streetside
From our trip last weekend.
Black out to the entire island currently. It makes me kinda nervous actually. Here’s a pic from earlier this weekend of our apartment looking cute with the lights.
Jessica at Utulei Beach. July 20, 2019.
Jessica at the Bluesky birthday bash / concert at Utulei Beach Park.July 20, 2019.
Bluesky’s 20th birthday bash
Utulei Beach Park, American Samoa.
We decided on a wedding destination!
Taaaalofa!
Ian and I just got back from the long weekend in Apia. Why? Because we’re going to get married there next year! The thing about wedding planning for me is this: it sucked not knowing where we were going to have it. We knew we probably wouldn’t have our wedding here in American Samoa because we ultimately knew a destination wedding was what we wanted, but we also didn’t want to stress too much with planning a wedding from afar. And so we finally decided, like last month, that we would get married in Samoa.
Samoa is close enough to American Samoa that it feels like home, yet it always feels like a getaway since we have to hop on a plane and literally time travel over. We travel there at least once a year, but usually more often than that, and yet we still feel like we’re on vacation but with the comforts of home. Plus, for all our friends and family who will come, it will still be a full on destination wedding, and they can choose to come to American Samoa afterwards to adventure with me and Ian in our actual stomping grounds! And one other big aspect is the currency exchange between USD and WST means that we can stretch our money to get better value.
We booked appointments with venues to meet with their coordinators, and got to do a walk through of the venue and the packages. This has been an incredible experience of getting to see and feel what we envision our “big day” to be like. Now we’re down to our final two options, but since we haven’t made the final final decision yet. I’ll leave that a mystery and I’ll post some photos from the different venues we toured soon!
Tea
Afternoon tea with Charity and Aunty Solo last weekend.
Char made yummy finger sandwiches, and homemade peanut butter cupcakes.
I was fully enraptured with stories from the heydays of Aunu’u, Manu’a, and Tutuila from Aunty Solo.
She showed us her wedding photos and what she looked like when she was about our age. She was hot stuff!
And we watched “The Sun is Also a Star” which was me and Char’s book club book from a few months ago.
Ah, it was so nice to kick back with these lovely ladies in Ili’ili.
Didn’t realize I needed this.
Two more sleeps until I get to kiss this handsome face again
kinda gives me the heebie jeebies!
Snorkeling with Yodi
umu smoke
this morning.
you can tell it’s a sunday because of the umu smoke.
yay another weekend
Woohoo! Another restful weekend for me. It’s only Saturday morning, and I’m just so happy to know the weekend is all mine!
I’m missing my guy though. He’s out on Ofu as the ranger-on-duty for the next week and a half.
Kinda stoked to have the bed all to myself though bc Ian is a bit of a bed-hog hahaha, or am I the bed hog?
Things are gonna ramp up in the next couple of weeks, so I realllyyy need to dump all these FP photos already lol
Lovin’ on the hour
Refreshed
Post snorkel and shower face
