Happy New Year (and Happy Belated Bday Daddy)

Happy New Year! 

I hope everyone's 2011 has gotten off to a wonderful start.  I spent the first day of 2011, the best way I could think of: with family and friends.  

The Mister and I kicked off the new year by waking up pretty early to go to Ala Moana for FUKUBUKURO! 

Fukubukuro, which literally translates to "lucky bag,"is a tradition on January 1st.  Many merchants in the mall will participate by making grab-bags and selling them at 50% of the retail value, and shoppers rush to the mall to grab their "lucky bag"which can range from $20 to $5000 (@Gucci).  This was the first year I made it to fukubukuro, and with some help from the Mister, selected a bag ($100) from Vera Bradley.  

{the line of shoppers outside Vera Bradley, after selecting their lucky bag(s)}

{my lucky bag}

{what'd i get, what'd i get?!} 

{showing off my loot}

I had such a wonderful time checking out the fukubukuro around the mall and watching the other shoppers go crazy as they picked their bag(s), some using shake, squeeze, stare at, repeat.  -and I crossed off the first item from my "Thirty before 30" list (more to come in a future post).

After our Fukubukuro adventure we had a birthday lunch for my future FIL and then headed over to my parents' house where we celebrated my dad's birthday with family and friends.  (Yup that's right, both our dads have the SAME birthday!!!) 

I am confident 2011 will be a wonderful year to share with family and friends filled with lots of happiness, love and laughter!  Cheers to everyone and a splendid 2011!