+ Happy May everyone! It’s the first Sunday in May and nothing special happened this past week. We are just trying to get to the end of this month and get everything done with kids and their last month of school which will be cut short since we are leaving on a trip to the Philippines during their last week of school.
Curses, Keys and Secret Societies by. Breanna Randall
When the Light Returns by. Joanna Ruth Meyer
Shadow Reaper by. Lynette Noni
This Book Made Me Think of You by. Libby Page
Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:
+ Running Point (Netflix) – Season 2 – this show makes me laugh so much! 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!
Is April really over? I had a stressful first week of April – the weather was so bad, my hubby’s car died and he had to get a new one, 3 friends who were supposed to go to see Bruno Mars with me cancelled last minute, but things turned around when my kids and I went to Vegas for Bruno and I had to force myself to literally count any and every blessing coming my way. It helped me get over the high stress I was under. 🙏🏽. It forced me to look for positive things and honestly, I made a promise to adopt this positive thinking for the whole year. And when I get stressed I tell myself I can do HARD things. 😅
May is going to be jam-packed! I have the BTS trip to go to, my nephew’s graduation and then a 2 week trips to the Philippines. I don’t know if I’m ready but I have to be right? Again, trying to stay positive!
I read 24 books.
Books I Read – 24 books
The Becket Effect (arc)
Dhampira by. Amy Pennza (arc)
Between Tides & Thunder by. Leeza Kazak
Verity Guild by. Mai Corland (arc)
The Shadows That Listen by. Louisa Carmody
Crown Me Yours by. Liv Zander
Crown Me Dead by. Liv Zander
Change of Plans by. Sarah Dessern (arc)
The Legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox by. Katrina Kwan (audiobook)
+ We have been back in the school routine. I thought I was going to do a jury summons on Monday, but the case was settled so yay, I didn’t have to drive into morning traffic for that.
+ It is back to being HOT in Hawaii, we are hovering in the high 80’s so it feels like summer again.
+ My sister, my daughter and I are going to Stanford, California for the BTS concert in 3 weeks, and then a week after that I’m going to the Philippines with my parents and my kids…so I am traveling in the next few weeks. It’s going to be…a lot! I’m excited but also like…a little overwhelmed? Most of the Philippines trip my parents are planning and they have their way of traveling and I have my way…SO…I am giving up control to them I suppose? 😅 I’m kinda scared BUT…I have learned in my travels the past 3 years…just have to go with the flow.
The Legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox by. Katrina Kwan
Change of Plans by. Sarah Dessen
Weavingshaw by. Heba Al-Wasity
Double Happiness by. Heather Eng
The Last Page by. Katie Holt
Currently Reading:
Heir of Twisted Lies by. L.J. Andrews
Verity Guild by. Mai Corland
Soon By You by. Dahlia Adler
Rites of the Starling by. Devney Perry
Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:
MUSIC:
+ Drop Dead by Olivia Rodrigo – obsessed with it, love the regular and acoustic version!
+ BTS Arirang album so I can know the lyrics for the concert.
+ Still rocking Bruno Mars The Romantic because I am still on the concert high from his show.
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!
+ My kids and I went to Las Vegas to see Bruno Mars in concert on April 11, 2026. Let me just tell you what a crazy weekend it was. First, the weather called for HEAVY rain – thank you God it didn’t affect us. And I was worried about TSA lines, but that went smoothly and quick. 🙏🏽. Through security I run into someone I went to college with in California…and she’s my ex-high school boyfriend’s wife now. 😅. She’s a great girl, and we keep in touch – but it’s always kind of been awkward between my ex and me, if I saw him in public he never said hi to me. WELL…with me and my kids there and his wife calling out my name, he had no choice but to finally say hi to me. 😂 We even hugged! Anyway, they were going to the same Bruno Mars show as we were but they were on a different flight that was delayed.
Our flight was stopping over on Maui to switch planes, which we did on time…then the pilot comes on and says they need more fuel to make the trip to Vegas. SAY WHAT? And that they were trying to get clearance to fuel up in Maui…well they were denied, so we had to fly to the Big Island next door, to refuel there. So now we were delayed for 2 hours…kids were hungry. Good thing I loaded up on snacks but we reached Vegas at almost 9:30pm, checked into the Excalibur and got to our room by 10pm. They have a 24/7 food court, thank goodness…but yeah it was a LONG, tiring, day.
Since it was my kids’ first time in Vegas I did want them to see it in the day time, so we slept in, got breakfast, then decided to walk to Park Mgm and take the free tram to the Bellagio so I could show them the flower garden.
The hotels are so big you don’t know you’ve walked 8,000 steps until you’ve felt it! After checking out Caesar’s Palace my daughter said her feet hurt and it was time to rest before the concert. We spied the line for the Hello Kitty/Bruno Mars merch which I wanted so badly but my kids didn’t want to stand in line (I don’t blame them – it was a long line). We were supposed to check out the arcade at the hotel but I needed to nap and the kids wanted to go back to the room. So I napped, kids were on their ipads and we got at least 4 hours of resting our feet before taking the free tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay and walking it over the bridge to Allegiant Stadium. It wasn’t bad at all! The weather was nice too.
The stadium was nice, entry was easy – if you are ever going there for a concert, make sure you read the bag policy – clear bags only of a certain size!!! I’m glad I read it beforehand. Overall, we had such an amazing time! My daughter was a bit tired from all day walking (next time I’ll book one more day to rest), but once Bruno came on, both my kids were so hype. My son is a teen and always so self-conscious about singing…oh boy did he sing his heart out! Bruno was fantastic, such a showman, such a performer and that voice…I’m so glad my kids got to see him with me! ♥️. It’s my 4th time seeing him in concert and each time has been so amazing.
After the concert, we walked back with the massive crowd back over the bridge and to our hotel. When I looked at my steps counted it was 23,000 for the day! I felt it! We got back to our room at 11:45pm and I told the kids to go to sleep because we had to wake up in 4 hours to catch a 7am flight! UGH. I could do these quick trips when I was younger or just traveling with a friend but with kids, it’s a little hard, so next time I know to book one more day. Flight was on time, and who was on my flight? My ex and his wife again LOL….good times! What a weekend.
+ After our concert weekend it was back to our regular schedule but also I am planning my son’s bar mitzvah which is in July. He’s not having a major party because he said he didn’t want one. But I’m trying to at least make it a little special for people attending the ceremony. So now I’m stressed with that. 😅. At least I’ll be better at planning my daughter’s bat mitzvah in 4 years.
Blog Posts:
Books I Finished
The Summer of Second Chances by. K.L. Walther
Us Dark Few by. Alexis Patton
A Merry Life by. Sarah Branson
Miracles in Mercy by. Briony J. Shutt
The Verdant Cage by. Jess Lourey
Heart of the Wolf Queen by. Sarah Gallego
Currently Reading:
For Whom the Belle Tolls by. Jaysea Lynn
The Legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox by. Katrina Kwan
Change of Plans by. Sarah Dessen
Heir of Twisted Lies by. L.J. Andrews
Weavingshaw by. Heba Al-Wasity
Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:
MUSIC:
+ I cannot wait for Olivia Rodrigo’s album and by the way I promised my kids I’d take them to her concert. 😩 Mama is broke! But I’m going…someway, somehow. I love her new single Drop Dead!
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!
+ It was a stressful weekend. My hubby’s car broke down on Friday which left us stressed out all weekend, it was broken Friday, but drivable but Goodyear said they couldn’t fix it, it was the transmission, then he chanced it and took it to Lexus which is in town (I told him to tow it) but they said the same the transmission is shot, so he attempted to drive it home and got stuck on the freeway. 🤦🏻♀️ So he had to tow it home and now we gotta figure out money to get a new car. Lovely. I feel like 2026 is the year where it’s a “lose money” kind of year. I feel like concerts tickets were so damn expensive this year (and I’m trying to sell 5 of them, thank BTS for not opening up Ticketmaster resale – it’s frustrating). Prices went up for gas, groceries, EVERYTHING. And now we might have to cancel our Philippines trip next month because we don’t want to be there while there is an energy crisis and resources are low (and we might have to pay a cancellation fee for that). So because of prices – I’m also back on my book buying ban! 😅.
+ My kids and I are going to Las Vegas on Friday – we are seeing Bruno Mar’s on Saturday! It’s very exciting. A friend of mine from college and her hubby will be joining us. But I’m bummed my friend who was supposed to fly with us from Hawaii to Vegas, might have to cancel because of her mom’s health problems. So this will be my first time flying with my two kids alone, and their first time in Vegas. It’s going to be a very short trip though, we are in and out of there.
+ Why do we have another weather alert for this week? I am tired of heavy rain and flooding in our state. I hope it passes quickly over our islands. 😩
Blog Posts:
Books I Finished
Japanese Gothic by. Kylie Lee Baker
Bloody Black by. Rhiannon Hargadon
Your Soulmail is Attached by. Joan F. Smith
Blood & Roses by. Callie Hart
Runebreaker by. Mila Finch
Currently Reading:
The Summer of Second Chances by. K.L. Walther
Starside by. Alex Aster
For Whom the Belle Tolls by. Jaysea Lynn
Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:
MUSIC:
+ RAYE – This Music May Contain Joy – what a creative album! It’s such a mix of different genres but the theme of being uplifting and staying strong, is heard throughout the whole album.
TV SHOWS & MOVIES:
+ Super Mario Galaxy Movie – had to watch this one because my kids were asking. We enjoyed it! I love the Super Mario music, the graphics, and all the surprise cameos of characters like my kids LOVE Pikmin. So they had a blast watching it and again, like the first movie, it tugged my nostalgia strings!
+ XO, Kitty (Season 3, Netflix) – so much dating drama! I was watching to see if Min Ho and Kitty end up together. Do you think there will be a season 4 to properly conclude this show?
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!
March was so wild – especially because Hawaii has two storms that knocked out power, flooded communities and after those two weeks (during Spring Break), now the sun is out like nothing happened. I did get to read a lot but I felt like the month went by too fast. Let’s take a look at how many books I read and what I posted on my blog.
I read 26 books and posted 23 book reviews in March.
Books I Read – 26 books
Eternal is the Night by. Alayna Ravenwood (arc)
Life: A Love Story by. Elizabeth Berg (arc)
Half City by. Kate Golden
The Shippers by. Katherine Center (alc)
Never Ever After by. Sue Lynn Tan
The Poison Daughter by. Sheila Masterson
The Thorn Queen by. Sasha Peyton Smith (arc)
Seek the Traitor’s Son by. Veronica Roth (alc)
Cruel Angel by. Rebecca Kenney (arc)
While You Were Seething by. Charlotte Stein (alc)
The Serpent’s Bride by. Kathryn Ann Kingsley
The Serpent’s Sin by. Kathryn Ann Kingsley
Tethered by. Elayna R. Gallea
The Lies that Summon the Night by. Tessonja Odette
The Wings That Bind by. Briar Boleyn
Web of Vows and Vengeance by. Aria Ashbrook
Storm Breaker by. Nisha J. Tuli (arc)
Student Union: The Undergrads by. Julie Murphy (arc)
+ The weather got better, it stopped raining but the sun barely came out all week. But at least it gave me a chance to do some activities with my daughter like take her to the arcade one day and then the movies the next. We watched GOAT and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would!
+ Then the weather got bad again, for round two of rain 2 days ago. I’m glad there were no high winds, but the rain was pounding and with the ground still so saturated (I haven’t turned on our sprinklers in 2 weeks!), the North Shore has lots of flooding in that area and other places around the island. It’s awful to see the damage of the homes. ☹️ People have lost their homes but from what I know – no lives lost, which is good. But recovery is going to be awhile – for one, we need the rain to stop – we need that sun to come out and dry up all this moisture in the ground.
+ Spring break is over today, it’s been mostly a rainy and boring one for me and my daughter. My hubby and son have been enjoying Osaka and Kyoto – lots of walking! But they come home today, yay, we’ve missed them!
Blog Posts:
Books I Finished
Never Ever After by. Sue Lynn Tan
The Thorn Queen by. Sasha Peyton Smith
Web of Vows and Vengeance by. Aria Ashbrook
The Lies that Summon the Night by. Tessonja Odette
Currently Reading:
The Summer of Second Chances by. K.L. Walther
Japanese Gothic by. Kylie Lee Baker
Storm Breaker by. Nisha J. Tuli
Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:
+ Bruno Mars, The Romantic, is on repeat!
+ BTS, Arirang – I have to learn these songs before the concert! I also watched the Netflix concert, but not at 1am in the morning when it aired in Hawaii. I was too tired to wake up but glad the replay was there, so I watched it when I woke up.
My daughter and I were bored and indoors because of the rain so we watched Spirited Away on my laptop when we had the power outage last week. And it was kind of the perfect thing to watch in the dark. ❤️ The following night my daughter wanted to watch another Ghibli movie but I only had Spirited Away on my laptop so I caved and signed up for HBO MAX (again – I don’t remember how many times I’ve cancelled already LOL). And we watched My Neighbor Totoro (we love that movie also), and then we had more time so we watched a My Little Pony movie. Then the next night we watched Ponyo. Ghibli films are really amazing! I’m glad my kids love them as much as I do. 🥹
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!
+ So we had warnings of severe weather, this week starting on Tuesday, and though it did rain hard during the night, the days were okay with scattered showers here and there, from Tuesday-Thursday. Then they called off school for Friday. Kids were excited for an early Spring Break…but Friday came and it was like a Category 1 Hurricane outside! but it wasn’t…it was just a storm with severe weather. The wind was whipping, the rain was going sideways, it was all day from evening to evening. We lost power at 11:30am and as I’m typing this on Saturday at 2:14pm, we still don’t have power so it has been now…27 hours. The food in my fridge is all bad by now. I’ve been throwing out things here and there. But I’m bummed because food is so expensive right now, not to mention gas…sigh…so it was QUITE a weekend. (Update on 3/15/26: power came back on at 11:30pm last night! Thank god!)
+ But my hubby and my son got to escape our power outage yesterday because they hopped on a plane to Osaka, Japan for Spring Break. I’m hoping the sun comes back out sometime this week so we can salvage my daughter’s Spring Break.
+ The power outage left me with just one thing I could really do because scrolling on social media ate up my phone battery. So I read a lot at least! Ebooks and physical books!
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!
+ It’s wild times in the news these days and I’m losing myself in books because of it. 😞
+ I got caught in a lock down at my daughter’s school on Thursday. It was 5 minutes to the final ringing, I heard police sirens around the area, but that isn’t new. The school opened the side gate for parents to come in and then the bell started ringing, but 5 times. Teachers then were telling us parents to get inside a room because there was a lock down happening. I think my first thought was why are they doing a lock down drill 5 minutes prior to the end of school? No…the teacher or staff who had her walkie talkie said police were in pursuit of some guy and he climbed the fence at the front of the school. It barely lasted 10 minutes, but I had to text my son I’d be late to pick him up at his school (he was freaking out), and all I could think about was how I was so close to my daughter who was a building away yet still so far from her and I wanted to protect her. I did NOT like those thoughts…the police said they got him (I heard on the walkie), it was all clear but we had to wait for the all clear bell. Us parents went to our kids classrooms, and when my daughter’s teacher opened the door some of the boys ran out laughing but saying “whoa that was scary!”, and the girls…two girls were bawling their eyes out. Other girls had tear streaks and I just was anxious to see my daughter, saw her and she was okay and I gave her the biggest hug. As we walked through campus I saw girls with tears on their faces, I heard parents and grandparents explaining to kids how the school kept them inside to keep them safe. I heard a mom tell her daughter she almost cried (the mom).
My daughter seemed “fine” but I thought maybe it didn’t hit her yet? Because watching your classmates cry – I know it scared her – but she was trying to keep everything normal. In the car ride home, she said some of the kids grabbed their scissors, in case someone came through their barricaded door. These are 3rd graders! 😞. The were hiding under their desks trying to stay very quiet. 💔 At dinner time my daughter’s emotions spilled out – she was frustrated with something and then burst into tears. So we talked about it, I told her I was in the next building waiting to get to her and that I know how scary that was. I told her they did such a good job and the drills helped them prepare for a moment like this. This is their world…and it’s a scary one! I will say though, the school was very prepared and worked fast when that 5 bell system rang – especially because it was almost final bell, they got all of us parents into rooms and locked that door fast. I will say as parents in the room (4 of us and 2 staff) we failed at barricading the door. We didn’t do that at all. A parent even joked if we need to get under the table and we just did the nervous laugh thing.
Also, I gotta give it up to teachers and school staff. Their lives are on the line teaching in this day and age. I’m just glad everyone was safe and it wasn’t a worse situation! But it reminded me things can happen in the blink of an eye.
+ Bruno Mars is on repeat – I gotta learn all the songs before the concert in 5 weeks! So excited!
+ Also Olivia Rodrigo made a cover of the song called The Book of Love – for the HELP (2) album created by War Child UK. War Child works in 14 countries – from Gaza to Ukraine, Lebanon to Sudan – to protect, educate, and stand up for the rights of children living through war. All proceeds and donations from HELP(2) support the War Child Alliance’s work around the world.
Check out the song below, it’s such a beautiful song 🥹 and don’t forget to give the album a listen!
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!
Where January was a slow month, February went by in the blink of an eye! We had some wild weather this month, but we survived. Anyway, here’s what I read and posted in February.
I read 20 books and posted 24 book reviews in February.
Books I Read – 19 books
She Drinks the Light by. Yasmin Angoe (arc)
Mate by. Ali Hazelwood (audiobook)
In Time With You by. Kristin Dwyer (arc)
Lonely Hearts Day by. Kasie West (alc)
The Sun and the Starmaker by. Rachel Griffin (alc)
Keeper of Lost Children by. Sadeqa Johnson
The Last Wish of Bristol Keats by. Mary E. Pearson (audiobook)
Toe to Toe by. Falon Ballard (arc)
I, Medusa by. Ayana Gray
In Your Dreams by. Sarah Adams (audiobook)
Midnight on the Celestial by. Julia Alexandra (arc)
The Poet Empress by. Shen Tao
Caged by Fallen Crows: Part One by. Ava Larksen
A Vow in Vengeance by. Jaclyn Rodriguez
First-Time Caller by. B.K. Borison (audiobook)
The Library of Amorlin by. Kalyn Josephson (arc)
Blood & Betrayals by. Jeanette Rose by. Alexis Rune
The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by. Takuya Asakura
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 