Aloha friends!

What a week! 🤯

We celebrated my nephew and daughter’s birthday. My kids had a few doctor’s appointments, and they went back to school. My hubby was in Los Angeles for his dad’s funeral and his flight back to Okinawa was riddled with delays, missed flights, etc…he officially HATES flying right now. How did he happen to his every kind of flying drama in the span of 3 weeks? Poor guy, plus his sleep is truly messed up with all the time zones he has traveled. He has a lot to get done this week before he starts his official job so I pray it goes smoothly from here on out.

Yesterday was my daughter’s birthday party so I am exhausted today but I have to take them to Sunday school soon. So no break for me. I’ll finally have a break on Tuesday…just got to take one day at a time! Hopefully I can actually have energy to read this week also.

I hope all of you had a good week!

Blog Posts:

• Begin Again by. Emma Lord | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Goodreads Monday: The Rom-Com Agenda
• Favorite Books of 2022 | TTT | 1/3/23
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 1/3/23
• WWW Wednesday | 1/4/23
• The Rom-Com Agenda by. Jayne Denker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Trial of the Sun Queen by. Nisha J. Tuli | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• NFL Football

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!

I was kind of relieved the holiday rush of Christmas was over. We made it through Hanukkah and Christmas without my hubby – the kids survived it and I was glad. We use face-time with him a lot so it’s been really nice for us.

My family (parents and sister and her family) slept over my house on New Year’s Eve because their neighborhood always sounds like a war zone before and after midnight. I feel so bad for their dog and all the pets that get traumatized by fireworks. My neighborhood isn’t as loud and it helps that my house is insulated – so loud bombs/bangs are a bit muffled.

There was some bad news to end 2022. My father-in-law unexpectedly passed away on 12/28/22. He did have neck surgery 2 weeks ago and was dealing with some undiagnosed UTI issues I think but he was unresponsive on Wednesday morning. Thing is my hubby’s step-mom called him frantic because his dad kept trying to go to the bathroom and falling over. He said he was fine and didn’t need to go to a doctor or ER. Clearly he was not fine – that was my hubby’s last time talking to him. So it’s been….quite a week. My hubby flies out to Los Angeles today (Monday Okinawa time) for the funeral. I cannot believe the amount of flying he’s done in the past 6 weeks alone. Poor guy.

Today is my nephew’s 15th birthday. And then my daughter is turning 6 in 2 days. We’re having a party on Saturday and whew am I trying to conjure up energy and positivity!

I’m just trying to hold it all together but I can’t believe this is how 2023 is starting. I pray for patience and peace. I pray for strength and good health. My husband gave me a gift card for a massage so when I get a chance, I’m definitely going to use it!

I hope ALL of you have a Happy New Year!

Blog Posts:

• Exes & O’s by. Amy Lea | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Goodreads Monday: Friday I’m in Love
• Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection | TTT | 12/27/22
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 12/27/22
• WWW Wednesday | 12/28/22
• 2022 | A Year in Review
• Reading Goals of 2022
• Let’s Talk Bookish: 2022 Reading & Blogging Reflections | 12/30/22
• Friday I’m in Love by. Camryn Garrett | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Monthly Wrap Up | December 2022

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• NFL Football

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’s Christmas so Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and happy holidays to those who don’t – blessings to one and all!

The one thing I dislike about Christmas is the traffic and short tempers/patience of people rushing to do things. I try to avoid going to the malls the two days before Christmas just to avoid being in a stressed out mood. It’s Christmas! We shouldn’t be so stressed out. But it never fails to give me some sort of stress from gift buying, delivering the gifts and trying to meet up with people, etc…but I do love the joy it brings my kids when they see the decorations. It’s winter break so and I got my kids the board game Life for Hanukkah and we have been playing Life (on repeat), Twister (someone else gifted that to my kids for Hanukkah), dreidel because it’s Hanukkah and my daughter can’t pass up trying to win chocolate! And speaking of chocolates…I’ve been getting so much treats and I try to give them away and then I get more treats back. 😅 My hubby isn’t here to help me indulge and I need to watch myself – he told me to just pack it up and send it to him in Okinawa.

He’s settling in fine, his job seems to be soooo much less stressful than the one here. I said he better relish this mental vacation because when he comes back in 2 years he’ll have to get used to the amount of work and the pace of work he did back here in Hawaii. And it’s crazy to think Hawaii as a stressful place to work, but it can be – he literally went from one island to another island just in different countries lol. He face-times us twice a day – and sometimes he gets on Minecraft with the kids (he created a personal server for them to use while he is away so they can be on together), and then he even played Life with the kids today 😅. So they are doing fine. When he starts work and the kids get back to school schedule it will be more difficult to face time but we’ll make it work.

Anyway that was my week – the stress of the holidays! Now it’s time to plan my daughter’s birthday sigh…the money spending never ends for me in November-January! 😩

Are we all ready for the New Year?!

Blog Posts:

• Goodreads Monday: Heartbreaker (Hells Belles, #2) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 12/20/22
• Books I Hope Santa Brings This Year | TTT | 12/20/22
• WWW Wednesday | 12/21/22
• Looking Back on 2022: Books with Twins
• Looking Back on 2022: Series That I Started or Finished
• How the Grump Saved Christmas by. Claire Kingsley | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Let’s Talk Bookish: Holiday Books | 12/23/22
• Book Sequels I Want to Read in 2023

I can barely read I’ve been so busy!

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• Emily in Paris – Season 3 (Netflix) – I’m halfway through the season! I’m trying to watch it while on the treadmill.

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!

The kids are officially on Winter Break – my daughter caught another cold, I went to see the show Hamilton yesterday which was amazing and today is when my husband leaves for Okinawa, Japan to work for 2 years.

So now starts a journey I never thought I’d be in since he’s already out of the military – I really didn’t think I’d be doing the whole single-parent thing…but it’s the thought of trying to keep my kids happy and okay during the holidays and I mean more emotionally than physically. It’s Hanukkah week (Happy Hanukkah) and my hubby usually does the candles and prayer every night. And then there is Christmas morning of course – but we usually head over to my mom’s for lunch so they will be surrounded by family and New Year’s we usually stay in because the fireworks terrifies my dog and Hawaii on NYE is bonkers. But right after New Year’s is our daughter’s 6th birthday. SO he’s going to miss a lot of family moments and I know I’ll do the best I can…but sometimes the thought of doing everything alone is daunting and overwhelming. I just have to learn to ask for help more (and I have plenty help – my family lives 30 minutes away, I have friends too). It is what it is and I guess I should start planning for that Japan trip which we are tentatively planning for October 2023!

Anyway I hope your week was wonderful and you have a fabulous start of the new week – it’s the countdown to Christmas! 😆

Blog Posts:

• E-Books on Kindle Unlimited or Deals I Found This Week | 12/11/22
• The Secret Society of Salzburg by. Renee Ryan | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Goodreads Monday: Stardust in Their Veins
• Books on My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List | TTT | 12/13/22
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 12/13/22
• WWW Wednesday | 12/14/22
• A Merry Little Meet Cute by. Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• Heartbreaker by. Sarah MacLean | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s been a busy week! So I haven’t done much reading – hoping I can do much more reading this week but we shall see!

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• The Hills (Hulu) – I binged Laguna Beach and now been working my way through The Hills while working on my Etsy keychains. I think it’s crazy to look back and see the fashions of the early 2000’s. I’m SO old lol…
• Harry & Meghan (Netflix) – I love their love story and really can the press just leave them alone? It’s awful to live that way…

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!

I didn’t have a break after coming home from vacation – it’s back to normal as usual except I was dealing with an upper respiratory illness. I don’t know if it was a cold or rsv or what not – I didn’t have much nasal congestion, mostly a cough and finally my voice is 90% back to normal! I do still cough in the early, early morning probably due to the colder air and post nasal drip but most of the day I’m fine.

Another contributor to my cough/sinus/etc…is that Mauna Loa, a volcano, on the Big Island is erupting. I live on Oahu which is about a 30 minutes flight away – you literally go up and down! I haven’t been there in 20 years which is kind of a shame – I have relatives there and my dad often goes but we stopped making casual trips when flights got expensive. Anyway, the smoke from the volcano makes it’s way over to our island and there is vog in the air – it’s like smog, but not brown polluted air – it’s hazy and when there is no wind it lingers over the island, my allergies go into high gear, I get a headache sometimes. It’s been windy since yesterday so I feel much better but I’m not looking forward to the days where there will be no wind.

My kids have one more week of school then it is Winter Break, plus my husband is moving to Okinawa next Sunday – I’m just taking it day by day! But he’s stressed about what to bring and what to expect when he gets there, and I’m not super stressed unless I look at the calendar and think of the things I have to do by myself. 🙄 I’m in a half annoyed and half “oh well it is what it is” mood. He won’t be here for Christmas and our daughter’s 6th birthday first week of January and yes…I still have to plan it. 😕 So my calendar stresses me out right now! lol…so I try not to look at it! 😜

Blog Posts:

• Birthstone Book Covers: December – Turquoise, Tanzanite, Zircon
• Ledge by. Stacey McEwan | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Goodreads Monday: The Atlas Paradox
• Winter Theme Book Covers | TTT | 12/6/22
• Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 12/6/22
• WWW Wednesday | 12/7/22
• The End of the Year Book Tag – 2022 Edition
• Belladonna by. Adalyn Grace | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s been a busy week! So I haven’t done much reading – hoping I can do much more reading this week but we shall see!

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

• Laguna Beach (Netflix) – talk about nostalgia!!! Just seeing all of the people on the show using Motorola flip phones made me miss that time. I loved my Motorola flip phone 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!