Bye-bye Christmas :(

Sadly, this weekend I had to bid adieu to Christmas... It definitely isn't easy (physically or emotionally) to pack up all the ornaments, wind up the lights, and box up all the other tchotchkes, but with some new storage bins (and label maker) in hand, the process was a little more bearable, and maybe even a little enjoyable.    

{via}

When possible, I try to save the boxes that the ornaments come in, but because not all boxes can be salvaged, these ornament savers are amazing!

I think clear containers are a MUST! I want to look at the container while it is on the shelf and know exactly what is in it without having to lug it down and dig through it.

{via}

I have a separate storage container to for my Christmas wrapping paper.  Segregating my Christmas paper from birthday and all other wrappings help to simply things.

{via}

And since I spent so much time dressing my wreath, it is very important to me to have the perfect container to protect and store it until next year.

To anyone who is dreading putting the holiday decorations to rest, trust me, the proper storage containers (along with a venti coffee and a label maker) will make the process go much more smoothly and quickly (and hopefully enjoyable too). 

New Year's Eve!

{via}

Twenty10 has been a wonderful year: our dog had puppies, I was a bridesmaid in Queenie's wedding, I found some great friends at work, planned my wedding (with MUCH help and INPUT from the Mister),  traveled to Cali to celebrate my niece's 1st birthday, was asked by Donne to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, had the 1st (of many, hopefully) dinner and a movie nights with my parents, went to Disneyland with the Mister, moved to a new office, went on a vaca to Maui, tried many new recipes, and  started this blog (my gratitude and a special "hello"to you for reading)!  

After such a wonderful and eventful 2010, I am excited to welcome in 2011 and all the fabulousness it has to offer!  As I count down the moments til 2011 I will be wearing this...

{my new J Crew top from the after Christmas sales}

watching this...

sipping on this...

Cheers to everyone and a fabulous 2011! 

Day After Christmas Mall Madness

Just because I was curious to see just how crowded the shopping malls would be, I convinced the Mister to go with me to check out the "After Christmas" sales.. 

It was crazy!  Complete chaos! -Because I finished all of my shopping in the very beginning of December, I hadn't been to the malls during the "Christmas Rush" but if this is any indication of the insanity I missed, boy, am I thankful!  

Despite all of the people and the lines we did manage to come away with some great finds including my WEDDING BAND! (and totally on sale too!)

Rain brings... Waterfalls!

It was raining all day so as we were driving to the M&D's house we were treated to a waterfall show!  I know we won't have a white Christmas but this is quite a beautiful sight! 

Warm Holiday Wishes

{hot cocoa with mint chips}

because i love an excuse to be creative and share some holiday cheer, with some help from the Mister, I made a little something to share with my friends at work

Holiday Tea

The ladies and I got together @ the Kahala for an special afternoon and high tea. We all had a wonderful time catching up and laughing!  

This was our first Holiday Tea; I hope it becomes an annual tradition!

A Gingerbread Palace

While many people are working on constructing a gingerbread house the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel has a gingerbread palace!  -It is a gingerbread replica of Iolani Palace (and some surrounding landmarks) created by Executive Chef Ralf Bauer.  Wow! 

{via}

According to the hotel website, Chef Bauer and the other hotel Chefs will spend over 660 hours designing and constructing.  They anticipate the Gingerbread Village, will stand over 14.5 feet high, and 24 feet wide, and will be constructed with 200 gallons of icing, 100 pounds of dark chocolate, 30 pounds of white chocolate, and 60 sheets of gingerbread!!!

Wreaths @ Punchbowl

Last month I went to Punchbowl for Veterans' Day but recently I went back (with Mother) to put some flowers for my grandfather and was impressed by the sight of hundreds of wreaths in center of the cemetery.  I thought this was a nice holiday gesture for those people who have sacrificed so very much for us.

Holiday Cheer - Celeb Style

HGTV and holiday decorations are a couple of my favorite things, and tonight I was super excited to watch HGTV's Celebrity Holiday Homes 2010.  This years the celebrities were Trisha Yearwood, Sherri Shepherd, and Brooke Burke and husband, David Carvet.  With the help designers each of the celebrities had their homes decorated fabulously, yet in very different styles representing their personalities and geographic locations.

Trisha Yearwood's Tennessee home was decorated with fresh flowers and greenery (from her yard) to give her home a Country Christmas touch. 

Sherri Shepherd's Harlem living room and foyer was decorated in golds and champagnes.  

(The Mister and I love the warmth of the gold and candles!)

Brooke Burke and David Carvet's living room, dining room, and outdoor cabana were fashioned to resemble a winter wonderland - in Malibu.  

All Wrapped and Ready to Go!

{via}

Today I had a vacation day scheduled so I spent a leisurely day wrapping gifts and addressing our holiday cards (they came in the mail today!).  Now that everything is wrapped, stamped, and ready to go, the Mister has graciously volunteered to take all gifites to be mailed!  Whoo hoo! 

Now I have time to bake :)

Holiday Lights

Because we love the Holidays so much, the Mister took me out for a special date night to look at the holiday lights and displays around town. 

{A pretty pink tree @ the "Pink Hotel"}

{Sand (yes, that's really sand) sculptures @ the Sheaton}

{A beautiful and incredibly tall tree @ the Parc Hotel}

After walking through a few hotels we decided to see the Honolulu City Lights display.  

{The Mister - making sure the Grinch doesn't steal Christmas} 

{getting a scare from an abominable snowman}

{the Mister loved the train, unfortunately it was too late for a ride}

What a great time! I hope everyone else is enjoying the Holiday Season! 

Decorate the House (**check**)

This weekend I spent some quality time watching a few of the Hallmark Channel's Holiday Movies, and decorating the house: I dressed 2 small trees, put out a few of our favorite holiday decorations, and even decorated not one... but TWO wreaths.   

{before}

I am particularly proud of this of this wreath because for a year (maybe even two) it had been sitting bare, still in the a box, and on my craft "to do" list... until yesterday.  

{after}

Armed with my hot glue gun, I used a box of round red ornaments, a bushel of (fake) "holiday flower," and some ribbon from one of the Mister's birthday presents to decorate the (thankfully, pre-lit) wreath.  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Order Holiday Cards (**check**)

I am pleased to report that our 2010 holiday cards have been ordered! Whoo hoo! 

{via}

. . .  and I am super excited to report that all 50 cards were FREE (total savings of $104.50!) courtesy of Shutterfly!  After posting about Shutterfly's awesome holiday cards and blogger promo (and, of course, sending a link of the post back to Shutterfly) I was promptly emailed a promo code for 50 folded or flat 5x7 stationery cards!  Yeah! 

Tis the Season... of Giving

I love finding the perfect present for my friends and family.  It brings me a great deal of joy to know I can give someone a gift that will bring a smile to their face and make them happy.

To bring holiday cheer to local children, my office is supporting an organization called the Children's Alliance of Hawaii.  We have a Christmas tree in our main lobby with the names and holiday wishes of children.  Although some of the children are asking for MP3 players and "skinny jeans" others are asking for such simple things as a backpack, a book, shoes, and art supplies.  

The "angel"I selected is a little girl who wants a book or a game; I'm getting  her both.  It may not be much, but through a simple gift, it makes me happy to know that I am able to bring some holiday cheer to a child who may not otherwise have had any presents or a tree to put them under.  

Christmas Countdown!

Today is the first day of December and the countdown to Christmas has officially begun!  

Last night I was super excited when I realized that I had finished almost all of our holiday shopping before December!  That excitement was short lived: I realized that the Mister and I still had to work on our holiday cards!!
And then... 50 Free Holiday Cards? *Whaa? Really* -Can you imagine how super happy I was to learn about a blogger deal from, your friends and mine, Shutterfly!  The good people at Shutterfly are asking bloggers to do what they do best: blog (about their favorite holiday cards)!
But now the problem is... which Shutterfly card to choose? After looking through the holiday card selection there are SO many great cards to choose from; here are just a few of my faves:

I'm super excited for the Mister to help me choose our 2010 holiday card (I already picked the picture)! 

PS. to the other bloggers who haven't made your holiday cards yet, check out this deal: what an amazing offer! 

Tis the Season!

{via}

The lighting ceremony for the Christmas tree in New York City's Rockerfeller Center was tonight!  There was an entire TV special dedicated for the holiday excitement.  This year's Norway spruce towers over 74 feet and weighs 12 tons, is covered in 30,000 multi colored LED lights wrapped on 5 miles of wire, drinks up to 90 gallons of water (on the onset), and will be visited by approximately 2.5 million people!

PS. Happy Birthday to Mother! 

Black Friday!

{via}

I'm sure my feet would disagree, but I fondly remember Mother and I waking up obscenely early every morning the day after Thanksgiving to start our Holiday shopping.   This year, unfortunately, I had to work;  it was a total bummer since the office was super empty and most people took the day off -and one person had the audacity to call in *cough* sick!

{via}

After work (and a nappie nap) the Mister and I hit the mall - just to see the craziness in action.  Surprisingly, the mall wasn't too crowded and we found some great presents at some amazing prices!  Everyone knows how much I love a great deal but you gotta check this out: we got 2 full sets of fluffy Martha Stewart towels, a set of pjs, 3 Roxy tops, Quicksilver boardshorts for ONLY$97!!! Crazy!
We finished the evening with approximately 60% of our shopping done, lots of motivation to finish the rest of our shopping, and all of our holiday spirit is still in tact! Whoo Hoo!

Pre-Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow the Mister and I have a busy day ahead of us: we have a Thanksgiving brunch, lunch, late lunch/early dinner, and dinner!  A busy day tomorrow means a lot of food and A LOT of cooking and baking tonight!
For our Thanksgiving meals I will be making (and we will be taking):

Mother's Super Buttery Cornbread

{via}

 

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie, courtesy of Paula Deen (times 2)

Stovetop Turkey Stuffing (the Mister and I love Stovetop!)

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting





and... Aunty Linda's Mushroom Cups! 

A "Despicable" Halloween :)

{@the Kula Punkin Patch}

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Halloween! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because, as I have mentioned in a previous post, it is the kickoff for Holiday Season! In case anyone was wondering:

Holiday Season (noun): a period of time lasting approximately 5 months, and encompass most of the year's major holidays including Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Mister's Birthday, Mother's Birthday, Christmas, Daddy's Birthday, (future) Dad-in-Law's Birthday, Sister's Birthday, my Birthday, Valentine's Day, and Girls' Day.  It begins on Halloween and traditionally ends on March 3 (Girls' Day, a Japanese Holiday), although some people will extend the season and observe until Easter.

{the Mister and Charlie}

 This year for Halloween we dressed up as characters from Despicable Me (me, Agnes; the Mister, Gru; and 3 of the dogs, Minions), one of my favorite movies this year.  When I first decided that I was going to be Agnes I thought the most difficult part of my costume prep would be to find a large fluffy unicorn, but little did I know it would be the overalls that would be the biggest issue.  I went to all the major department stores, garden stores, Walmart, Target, KMart, and even Goodwill and other thrift stores - no overalls.  I couldn't let my costume suffer because no one has worn overalls since I have been in the 7th grade - I decided to take matters into my own hands and draw my overalls onto my yellow shirt!

{Agnes w/ unicorn, cookie wagon, and Minions}

I created the dog costumes using pieces of yellow fabric, safety pins, duct tape, permanent marker, velcro, and a hot glue gun.  While I made the dog costumes the Mister carved our Minion pumpkin.  The  Mister wasn't super pumped about dressing up but did cooperate and wear the "Gru" scarf and helped me prep and load my cookie wagon. It was a great Halloween!