Thursday, June 28, 2012

paper flower

I'm obsessed with Pinterest. I can easily spend a few hours just perusing through the different categories and pinning them on my boards. Lately, I've been pinning a lot of arts and crafts projects. This is probably one of my favorite ones.
ohcrafts.net/wedding-paper-flower-tutorial.php

It's so simple and it takes me about a couple minutes to do. It's easy if  you have some random scraps of patterned paper lying around (I have a collection in my drawer...eee). I'm thinking about adding these little things to my desk tomorrow. 

Friday, June 22, 2012

instagram noob

Busy busy busy. Seems like the past few months have blurred together. Piles of articles and artwork keep rising higher and higher at my work. Every weekend has been filled with birthdays, holidays, graduations, etc.; and when I'm not going anywhere, I bring work home. During my week, I try to balance time with friends and sleep, ha. Sometimes I imagine adding kids to the mix of my chaotic life, and then I  distract myself from that thought.

But in this crazy life of mine, I do have time for myself and having been resting a little bit more than usual. We recently moved into the Android world, and have been using Instagram since (well, at least I have). I try to keep myself sane by doing relaxing things, and this has been one of them. Here's just a glimpse of my past week:

Round 2 of growing a sunflower in my office/space. I say, I think this one is a winner
Tuesday dinner: Chicken fajita lettuce wraps. This is our attempt to eating healthier. Note to self: add more spices!
Angels v Giants. Too bad they lost this game. Forgot how crazy people can get during these events. I found myself getting into the mix as well...good thing I have this one to keep me sane (for the most part).
She's the Guatemalan version of me. 
(L) Vanessa's aunt got us a sweet discount...yep, we're at field seating. (R) It's Heather's first baseball game. My initial reaction was shock, but then again...you don't see much baseball action in Guam.
Working at an arts & crafts company has its perks. Why not have a boat-themed editorial meeting?
I can honestly say that I'm a fan of Instagram. I know that I'm still new (or "noob") to it all, but I'm excited to see what stories I'll be able to capture!

Friday, June 8, 2012

alone time

Thursday night was my first "alone time" since...well, forever. Although it was spent working out, more working out, cleaning the entire house, and cooking dinner and baking dessert at the same time, it was nice to have the place to myself, and hanging out with myself. Sometimes I just need a breather, a pause in life.

I love spending time with my husband. I also love hanging out with friends. When I'm not doing one, I'm doing the other. But I never allow myself me time. It sounds crazy, I know. But for the past two years, I can't recollect how many times I've had me time; all I can tell you is that it's less than the amount of fingers I have on both hands. Sigh.

I kinda blame it on college. When I wanted to hang out with friends, I just walked on over to their room, or spend the day at the beach, or just hanging out for hours at night. When Brian & I were dating, we would eat dinner together, go to the malls, or even go on random adventures. In an odd way, I developed a somewhat "healthy" balance with all that. With school work, couple of job, and the many extracurricular activities I was involved, I was on the go. Sometimes I look back on those four years and think, "How in the world did I survive all that?" But if I wanted alone time, I found time to do it. I just had to force it. Sometimes I didn't show up for a class or two, or even cancelled on several hang out times.

Now that I'm married and  have a full-time job (that often times require overtime or bringing the work home during my weekends, oi), my life is a little bit different. My days usually start at 615/630 in the morning at ends at 1030 at night (sometimes 9/930 depending on how work went). My husband is my priority in life. I need eight hours of sleep to endure eight or more hours of staring at my computer the next day. Hanging out with friends is reduced to once a week for a couple of hours (and that's with just one of several groups of friends I'm balancing). I meet with my wonderful life group once a week. That's just M-F. Weekends can vary with family shindigs, Saturday morning soccer games, celebrations, church, or one or two coffee dates. Life is little bit different in the "adult world."

Busy. Busy. Busy. 

The problem is, I don't like spending time alone, ironically. It's my fault really. I would rather busy it up with friends or stay at home with my husband all night. If I know I'll be alone at home or feel the need to do something instead of resting, I'll fill that time. There are many reasons why: need for people, people-pleaser, antsy, think that someone might break into my home (valid reason), don't like being alone with my thoughts, need to fill time with things. But being alone that Thursday night, even though I once again busied it with minute tasks, made me wonder how often I need to have time to myself. To pause. To breathe. To regain energy for the next day.

New goal for 2012: more alone time.




Sunday, June 3, 2012

a simple love story

Started in 4th grade. A boy and a girl. An innocent crush.  
For Ashley & Drew, it was the beginning of their story. I had the opportunity to witness my dear friend Ashley say "I do" to Drew. The ceremony was simply beautiful. Ashley, of course, was absolutely stunning walking down the aisle.The bridal party was filled with energy. Drew smiled proudly as he stood side-by-side & hand-in-hand with his wife. And the couple was surrounded by the love and support of their family and friends.

The day was beautiful. It was just right. It truly captured Ashley & Drew's personalities and love for one another. The day can be best summed up by Ashley's sister, Shayna. As she raised her glass smiling ever so wide to her sister and new brother, she said, "Some call it destiny. Others call it faith. I call it God's will."