Aloha friends!

This last week of September was mentally draining. My best friend who has had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since she was like 7 just told me she has to have neck surgery (hopefully in October). And then we find out for sure my mom does have cancer but they don’t know where the tumor is yet – she has a CT scan coming up soon and then surgery to remove where the cancer is. We are taking it day by day and hope she is still in the early stages since she has no pain and is relatively healthy except for when she has blood in her urine. So my mental state wasn’t the best this week it was filled with anxiety and worry.

On top of that my son’s 5th grade class apparently has the worst students! My son is a good kid and all he’s trying to do is get good grades and finish elementary school but his classmates are disruptive to the point the teacher is saying this is the worst class she’s ever had in 20 years of teaching. They even scared off a substitute teacher! This week the vice-principal and counselor came to talk to their classroom as a whole but honestly…do kids not get detention anymore?!

It’s October and honestly my loved ones dealing with health issues are all going to get procedures done this month so I’m hoping for good news. I’m just praying for good vibes and lots of positive healing headed their way.

Anyway, hope you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

• Goodreads Monday: When Ghosts Call Us Home
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 9/26/23
• Secondary/Minor Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book | TTT | 9/26/23
• WWW Wednesday | 9/27/23
• Forget Me Not by. Julie Soto | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Wreck the Halls by. Tessa Bailey | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Love in Winter Wonderland by. Abiola Bello | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Hatchet Girls by. Diana Rodriguez Wallach | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

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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!

We are in the last week of September! Wow!

So last week I spent worrying about my mom. Her doctor fit her into his schedule on Friday and he took more samples from her, he can see no tumors so we are hoping for good news. Also my dad’s 70th birthday was on Wednesday but we are going over to their house today to celebrate. I’m bringing ice cream cake – yum! It’s still so hot here in Hawaii, but the days are starting to get shorter which signals fall. My kids will have fall break in 2 weeks which is nice but we aren’t doing much during break since we are planning our family vacation during Thanksgiving instead.

Speaking of our upcoming vacation – I had to buy our Universal Studios Japan tickets and yikes they are expensive. I haven’t brought my kids to any major theme park yet, so this will be their first experience in Japan. Their number one thing is to visit Nintendo World and of course my husband wants to visit Harry Potter world. Me…I’m just there to experience it all since we had to pay so much for it. 😅 I’m trying to plan the rest of the trip – like I definitely want to check out Kyoto and Nara while we are there. I’m also excited it will be fall – I hope we get to see some autumn foliage!

I can’t say I got much reading done. I was mentally exhausted, but I’m finally getting my motivation back!

Anyway, hope you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

• Happy Place by. Emily Henry | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Goodreads Monday: What the River Knows
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 9/19/23
• Books on My Fall 2023 To-Read List | TTT | 9/19/23
• WWW Wednesday | 9/20/23
• Unfortunately Yours by. Tessa Bailey | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Bitterness in the Hollow by. Kate Pearsall | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Book Haul | September 2023

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

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• Chappell Roan‘s new album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – such a fun album

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!

Can you believe September is almost over? I can’t! Just been busy with the kids and their homework and activities. Heard some news yesterday concerning my mom’s health and it has bummed me out but I’m going to try and stay positive about it and see what happens after her next doctor appointment/procedure. She has had blood in her urine off and on for 3 years now and they kept giving her antibiotics and saying it was a kidney infection but its back and she demanded an answer so they FINALLY took some tissue from her bladder and the doctor said its cancer. I’m devastated BUT I want to be positive, and keep her positive. She has a procedure in 3 weeks and they need to check her uterus also, etc…I’m praying they caught it “early” (except 3 years would have been earlier)and that it’s treatable…etc…I’m kind of mad it’s taken them 3 years to finally listen to her. I find it crazy because for me, one little blip on a mammogram and boom – it’s another mammo, an ultrasound, a biopsy, an MRI – like they got me a TEAM of people and I only have pre-cancer cells! Yet she’s had blood in her urine off and on for 3 years and it was no concern to them. It’s so frustrating and I’m going to pray for the best because I really, really, really can’t fathom….I don’t even want to think about it or else I’ll have anxiety. Anyway…hate that I have not so good news to share, but isn’t that life? I still gotta stay kinda oblivious and happy and steady for my kids while internally dealing with messy feelings. SIGH.

Anyway, hope you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

• Goodreads Monday: Night of the Witch
• Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley | Audiobook Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 9/12/23
• Favorite Character Relationships | TTT | 9/12/23
• WWW Wednesday | 9/13/23
• The Blackwoods by. Brandy Colbert | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• The Scarlet Alchemist by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• The Hurricane Wars by. Thea Guanzon | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Night of the Witch by. Sara Raasch and Beth Revis | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

• NFL Football – football is back! But I think I only have energy to watch Eagles games this year. We’ll see!

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Music – the Olivia Rodrigo album, GUTS, is STILL on repeat! It’s such a good album.

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!

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.

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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!