Aloha friends!

We got through another week, and it was short but my daughter of course caught a cold over the weekend…so I was trying to get her better quick. She managed to go to school all week – and what is with this hot weather? I felt like compared to right now Hawaii’s summer weather has been really mild. But I feel the heat now, in September which means October is going to be hot yuck…I hate sweating during Halloween lol…it’s not ideal.

My kids started Sunday school today so yeah I was so late in writing and posting this but it is what it is. I did get a much needed massage today though! I used the gift card my hubby gave me back in November. He got me a gift card to the spa I used to work at 20 years ago and man…I don’t know if it’s because of the Olivia Rodrigo album, GUTS, I’ve had on repeat and reminding me of my young self…but I had a major bout of nostalgia. Like…when I worked there 20 years ago I was still going out clubbing with my friends, lots of lunches, dinners, hanging out, my 20’s was FUN. And today I went in, gray in my hair, dropped off my kids to Sunday school, the place looks the same, smells the same (they use AVEDA products which I will ALWAYS love), and I was like longing for that easier, funner, less anxious time. It was bittersweet! Might be the stress just hitting me and I felt finally I had some “me” time at the spa. It was just so much needed, August was tough. 15 more months before hubby comes home…🙏🏼

Well, gotta keep going!! I hope all of you had a good week!

Blog Posts:

• Never a Hero by. Vanessa Len | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Goodreads Monday: Vampires of El Norte
• BLOG TOUR} Main Character Energy by. Jamie Varon | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 9/5/23
• Books That Defied My Expectations | TTT | 9/5/23
• The Brothers Hawthorne by. Jennifer Lynn Barnes | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Foul Heart Huntsman by. Chloe Gong | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Birthstone Book Covers: September – Sapphire
• King of Wrath by. Ana Huang | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Monthly Wrap Up | August 2023

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• Love Again (Netflix) – this one was a little boring but I liked the whole grief and moving on theme because I can relate. But I needed more chemistry or something in the movie.

+++++

Music – the Olivia Rodrigo album, GUTS, is on repeat! It speaks to my teenage self, I love all the alt rock sounds in the upbeat songs, it makes my body move and dance! And then man does her ballads cut to my heart. LOVE it!

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Aloha friends!

It was an easier week, yay! Except for my hot flashes and no a/c. But it finally got fixed 2 days ago. You don’t know how happy I am!

It’s Labor Day weekend here in the USA, so tomorrow is a holiday. We are going to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my son’s belated 11th birthday with family, so that should be fun and filling.

I cannot believe it’s September! My kids start up Sunday school next weekend, so we’ll be back to a busy weekend schedule. I’m looking forward to cooler weather, football and the holidays but it also means the year is almost over. And we are taking another trip to Japan, but this time to Osaka. My hubby will meet us there – us, being our kids and my parents who wanted to tag along again! We will be going for Thanksgiving, so I have lots to plan for that!

I hope all of you had a good week!

Blog Posts:

• Goodreads Monday: The Brothers Hawthorne
• Bitter Medicine by. Mia Tsai | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Water | TTT | 8/29/23
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 8/29/23
• When You Wish Upon a Lantern | Audiobook Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫
• WWW Wednesday | 8/30/23
• As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by. Zoulfa Katouh | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• The Name Drop by. Susan Lee | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• Voltron (Netflix) – my son is very into movies and shows lately (it only took him 11 years! lol) but we watched all of Sailor Moon, he watched Nimona and he was trying to find something and I said well when I was a kid, I watched this show called Voltron. So we’ve been watching the new version of it and he likes it!

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Aloha friends!

Well, I had my son home all week because he caught Covid from his sister and I. But honestly he had the most mild case, out of all of us. I’m still dealing with some stomach issues. Add to that our a/c broke but my brother-in-law took a look at it, found the broken part and it’s all about waiting for the part to come in right now. It’s been quite an annoying week, but all I wanted to do was my son and I to get better.

Today is my son’s 11th birthday! And we were gonna go to Cheesecake Factory with the family but, we’re postponing it to Labor Day weekend just to make sure he’s not contagious anymore. So it was a fairly chill week, we had to cancel some events because of being ill, but better safe than getting others sick.

I hope this week is better! Have a great week everyone!

Blog Posts:

• Goodreads Monday: Sign of the Slayer
• Books with a Love Triangle | TTT | 8/22/23
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 8/22/23
• WWW Wednesday | 8/23/23
• Flip the Script by. Lyla Lee | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Book Blogger Hop: Have you ever been enticed to read more by an author or by a book? #bookbloggerhop

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Aloha friends!

What a week. I think I said that LAST week also. But my daughter came down with a fever on Sunday, tested her for Covid on Monday – she was positive and missed the whole 2nd week of school already. Of course I still had to bring my son to school, but I already felt a tickle in my throat on Monday, but I tested negative on Tuesday and Wednesday, low grade fever on Thursday, full fever on Friday and positive on Saturday (sure I was positive on Thursday but I ran out of home covid tests until my mom brought me one on Saturday). Anyway I already knew it was covid with how the fever sneaks up on you on the 4 or 5th day and I lost my sense of smell (which sucks because everything I eat taste like nothing…bleh…). Anyway it was a rough weekend, and my kids had to kind of take care of themselves, my son did such a good job with helping feed his sister as I tried to quarantine – by the way my daughter is perfectly fine now, she was good by Thursday. But yeah he dealt with her tantrums lol – she wanted ME to make her food, not him, of course but she had to deal with it at least for one day. My parents came to help out on Saturday thank god. I’m already feeling much improved compared to Friday which was the worst day and I need to get better because it’s another week of school for the kids and I need to do a major grocery run.

My son’s 11th birthday is next Sunday and I’m going to watch him for any symptoms. I tried my best to stay away but I did have to use the kitchen at times and I tried to disinfect afterwards. I’m praying he didn’t get enough exposure but that’s hard when my daughter who had covid had to be with me at school drop off and pick up. I’m just glad kids had a 3 day weekend and I got full blown sick on the day they weren’t in school. I slept a lot! Anyway it was a long week, I’ll be so happy to feel better and get back to myself!

I’m still sharing links to help the people who lost their homes in Lahaina, Maui. My cousin in-law’s family’s home burnt down and they are facing other challenges as well. Please check out this link to read their story and help if you can.>> http://spot.fund/plvj4sc

Blog Posts:

• Goodreads Monday: Heart of Night and Fire
• Book Cover with the Sun | TTT | 8/15/23
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 8/15/23
• WWW Wednesday | 8/16/23
• Midnight at the Houdini by. Delilah S. Dawson | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️💫
• The Firsts of 2023 Book Tag

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• The Summer I Turned Pretty – …Belly 🙄 why do I torture myself? lol…I actually love the friendship story between Beck and Laurel. Also why is it when Taylor stays Steven it reminds me of Kristen and Stephen on Laguna Beach! lol…

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Aloha friends!

What a week. So my kids went back to school and they had the first day jitters. My daughter had an incident the second day with the girl sitting next to her. I guess the girl grabbed her arm because she thought my daughter was hiding a toy in her palm, which she wasn’t and the girl wanted to see. My daughter wasn’t okay with the arm pulling so she cried – and now sits next to someone she had in Kindergarten. She was sad because her whole Kinder class was split up – she only has 2 kids from her kinder class in her 1st grade class. Her bestie is in another class which made her sad but the rest of the week was great and fun for her. As for my son, he was having 5th grade drama lol…his two besties got into a fight. So he was being mediator….and they are all friends again! Thank goodness – it’s only the first week of school.😅

Tuesday was a really messed up day. My parents were flying to Vegas and they got delayed because of a problem with the plane, but the wind. The wind was crazy from Monday and Tuesday. We had Hurricane Dora passing 100’s of miles SOUTH of us…it was not close to us at all, so we had no Hurricane warnings meaning we weren’t going to be hit by it, but we did have high wind alerts. I’m on the island of Oahu and it was so windy my dog was scared to go in the backyard because everything was blowing around. The wind kept me up at night, everything was banging around and I texted my friend who lives in the valley (I live on the drier west side) and she said it was super windy but hot too. I was even telling my kids wow, I can’t believe a hurricane so far away is generating high winds on our island. Sometimes we get these freak high wind days (without a hurricane around) and I stay wary because trees and branches will come down on the road. Anyway later in the day, there was news of a major wildfire destroying the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui.

I have cousins on Maui but they don’t live in Lahaina so they are safe. 🙏🏼 There were multiple fires burning on the island but the one near Lahaina really exploded with the high winds. Talking to so many friends and family, they know families and friends that lost homes, businesses, and we are still waiting on news of some missing people (my mom’s friend). It is devastating. Last time I went to Lahaina was 20 years ago and I was 25….anyway my kids and I donated clothes yesterday and I’ve been donating money online to different organizations. Living on an island is hard when a disaster hits because we are so isolated, we have to fly in help and resources so that takes time. The death toll is now at 89, and we are heartbroken, mourning and are praying for the families, people, rescue workers, volunteers and everyone affected by this major tragedy. Please keep them in your prayers!🙏🏼

Here are some ways to help:

Blog Posts:

• #5OnMyTBR: Woods
• Goodreads Monday: Unholy Terrors
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 8/8/23
• Books I’ve Read/Want to Read Because of Top Ten Tuesday | TTT | 8/8/23
• WWW Wednesday | 8/9/23
• Her Radiant Curse by. Elizabeth Lim | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Together We Rot by. Skyla Arndt | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Bookish Travels – July 2023 Destinations
• Sign of the Slayer by. Sharina Harris | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Monthly Wrap Up | July 2023

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• The Summer I Turned Pretty – …Belly 🙄 leave those brothers alone ugh….I know she won’t since I read the books lol
• Okay did anyway watch Taylor’s concerts on Tiktok? I was trying to catch them here and there to hear the surprise songs but I definitely stayed longer to watch on her last show because it was the last show. Thank YOU to all the people streaming the show on tiktok…I mean how awesome we get to watch for free lol. Also to hold your phone up for like 3 hours? I couldn’t do it!

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!