Goals Update.

Hello Beautifuls! Hope y’all are having a great New Year so far and are crushing y’alls goals! This girl right here is on a roll! Some goals have been achieved, some are in progress, and some are going to start on fresh start February. Haha. If you go back to my last post, you’ll see all of the goals I’ve set up for myself this year.

The first goal that I’m absolutely proud of is the start of potty training my sweet baby boy… well, I guess he’s not a baby anymore. Queue the sad violin and ugly crying. Today, marked a whole week of potty training! He’s is doing so good, we have way more successful trips to the potty and very little accidents, only two a day to be exact. I had a few tricks to help this go as smoothly as possible. I made him a potty chart and I help him draw a star for every good potty break, I bribed him with candy stickers, gave him a lot of juice, and finally I would let him watch his favorite movie or cartoons. Let me tell y’all it’s has been going ALOT better than I thought it would’ve been. Even though, it’s all going smooth, it has to be the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done. We aren’t fully trained yet but, so far so good and that makes me one happy and proud mommy.

The next goal that I have started and I’m pretty obsessed with is my cleaning schedule and meal planner. This is a new goal and it’s all thanks to my bestie Sarah and the new series on Netflix tidying up with Marie Kondo. Now, I didn’t go quite drastic on my cleaning like on the show but, it sure did put a pep in my step to get my life together. I did get rid a lot of our clothes and got rid of things I no longer used or wanted and to my surprise my hubby was on board with this new way of living. The schedule has really been a life changer, I always felt like I was cleaning and nothing seemed to stay cleaned and it really discouraged me and just pissed me off. But, now it’s so much easier to keep up with everything and not feel overwhelmed. I highly recommend doing one if you’re feeling helpless.

The third to last goal I made was to read more books. To be completely honest, I’m not a big reader, I just want to lead my toddler by example to read more books. He already likes for me to read to him but, I want him to love it and hopefully he will be able to read himself soon. Also, I want to work on myself and not just Netflix and chill all the time.

My last goal is on the materialistic side. Thanks to my adorable baby brothers, who aren’t such babies anymore, they gave me the LV Confidental bracelet. I’m obsessed, it’s so simple but, yet so pretty.

So that’s all of the goals that I’ve achieved so far and it’s only January. I told myself that this is the year I accomplish all the goals I’ve set out for myself and so far I’m kicking this years butt.

Also, don’t get discouraged if you haven’t met the goals just yet, something is always going to try and get in your way. Just start them whenever, don’t wait til next year to start something. You can start next month, week or even the next day. It is up to you to take control of your life and make the changes you want.

What are some of the goals you set for this year?

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Let The Loosing The Scissors & Tape Begin.

Hello beautifuls! Can y’all believe we are 11 days away from Christmas! I’m filled with excitement to see my sweet squishy open is presents this year. I didn’t go all out this year on the gifts like I did last year, the hubby and I agreed on going on a small vacation instead. So, our Christmas present is going to visit our close friends in Okinawa, Japan (it’s the Hawaii of Japan, haha). We are soo excited to see beautiful beaches and see our amazing friends in the spring. Even though, we didn’t go all out on gifts doesn’t mean theres nothing under our tiny tree. My parents obviously went all out this year and I can’t wait for him to open up his gifts. This year I didn’t just want to get him meaningless toys that I will be stepping on in the middle of the night. The hubby and I opened our Christmas gift a little early and have been using them ever since. So, my only focus was my squishy.

If y’all have a toddler and don’t know what to get them here are somethings I think are fun and easy way for them to learn and have fun.

1. Vtech activities table.

This turns into an easel for painting and has storage for more activities pads. Target is having a promotion on toys so, it’s the perfect time to grab this and some activities pages.

2. Activity pages.

The table includes some pages already, but they have more pages like animals, numbers, and so much more. These are also included in the promotion target is having on toys.

3. T-ball Bat and glove.

Jason will be 3 next June so, we will be putting him in t-ball. I couldn’t be more excited and my brothers are over the moon. Baseball is about the only sport that stuck. Since, we are planning on putting him in baseball, I though it was never too soon to get him a little bat and a glove. Hopefully he finds it enjoyable and would be interested in the playing with other kids and I would like to teach him the bat is to hit the ball not other kids. Haha.

4. Clothes!

You can never go wrong with clothes. My child is growing like there’s no tomorrow. So, he sure needs some jeans that don’t look like capris. Old Navy is one of my favorite places to shop for his clothes. They always have great sales and the clothes are really cute. My other favorite place is the MCX, the store on base.

5. Socks & Shoes.

Like, I said my child is growing like crazy so, socks and shoes are a great gift. I don’t know about y’all but, in my house it’s like his socks disappear into the air. Plus, it’s like a Christmas tradition to get socks. For his shoes I always buy his shoes a little bit bigger that way he can wear them for a little longer and let me tell you he wears the crap out of his shoes.

This year for Christmas we kind of wanted to pull a Christmas with the Kranks type of Christmas since, we were going away on a vacation. But, I love Christmas way too much to do that so it’s a small Christmas for us this year. Literally, it’s a small one for us. One Jason’s present is bigger than our tree hahaha! You can read all about that in my last post.

So, to all the moms and dads that are wrapping all those presents, good luck and I hope you can keep track of your scissors and tape. Happy wrapping!

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Decking The Halls & Filled With Joy of My Blogs Year Anniversary!

Holy Moly! I cannot believe I’ve had my blog for a year now. I’m so grateful for each and everyone of my followers and the amazing people that read my blogs! You guys are amazing. I just go back to the first blog I wrote and how scared I was to start my blog but, here we are a year later. I hope I’ll be doing this for more years to come. I just want to thank you all for the support. Now, let’s get into the holiday spirit and talk Christmas decor.

My house has been decked out for Christmas since the 1st of November, some may say that is way too soon but, I don’t care. I look forward to decorating for Christmas all year sadly, this is the first year that we won’t have a Christmas tree though. You can read all about our Christmas tree fail in a post I wrote last year. Since, then I’ve been a bit hesitant with buying a real tree again and well, living overseas you don’t have a wide range of choices for an artificial tree. We only have the MCX and the choices they have are super expensive and in my opinion, not worth the price. I’ve always had a real tree growing up, I love the smell and how green and full they are. Once, I’m back home I will be splurging on my dream artificial tree or trees… you know maybe one for every room. Haha. Some of the decor I already had from last year and some I found at my local thrift store or got at target. There aren’t a lot of places to shop for decor like back in the states there’s Marshall’s, tjmaxx, and of course target! Not everything they have is online and stuff I would love to buy won’t ship here. So, I had to do work with what I had. I’m loving all the neutral and white decor I’ve been seeing everywhere but, it’s something about the traditional colors like green and red that scream Christmas and I’m not ready to change colors at least, not now maybe when I go back to the states and I have options. For the time being this is how my humble home looks.

The green and red throw pillows I got at one of the Japanese dollar store. For a total of $4 I have cute pillows. These are our stockings from last year and the wreath I made last year as well. My placemats and the runner that’s on my coffee table are from target. The snowman I’ve had for years and the signs are from daiso.

This is probably my fave spot in the living room. This huge snow globe plays music and the bottom turns. I absolutely love it and it’s one Jason’s favorite things to look at. I have a picture of my squishy on his first Christmas, some nutcrackers from hobby lobby, and my recent purchase from target is this mercury glass tree. This little spot is so magical to me and makes me so happy.

The decor in my beauty room is a bit different, I wanted to make it a pink wonderland since, it’s the main color already. I wanted to mix the metals and have a pop of pink. The silver and white wreath and the tall golden tree is from the local thrift store.

The deer, nutcracker,the small rose gold mercury glass tree, and the candle holder in the middle are from target. I diy the white tree with things from the Japanese dollar store and finally a cute picture of my sweet baby boy.

I hope you all enjoyed this little tour of my home in all it’s Christmas glory. Once, again I want to thank each and everyone you for all the support and making this a great year!

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It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.

It came in flash it seems but, the most wonderful time of the year is here! It’s the first day of December and we already had a day full of winter fun. In the afternoon, since my hubby volunteered to be Santa Claus, I went with some friends to the winter market on base and did a little shopping. The winter market is a place where little home shops can be in one place and sell their products. Yes, you read that right, my husband loves dressing up like Santa Claus and surprisingly he doesn’t scare the kids, they actually like him. Haha. Like, I was saying it was a fun time and Jason got to take a picture with Santa aka daddy. We were scared that he would recognize him and pull down his beard and ruin the illusion for the other kids but, he didn’t. Thank goodness.

Later in the evening, we went to the tree lighting event. There were brownies, hot cocoa, delicious apple cider, yummy food, and Christmas music. This was a great experience and to have been surrounded with friends made it so much more fun. It wasn’t the tree lighting at the Rocker Feller but, it was beautiful nonetheless. We made great memories already and it’s just the first day of December, I can only hope there’s more fun to come.

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Favorite Fall Outfits.

Hello beautifuls! Hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. We had a not so traditional Thanksgivings here in Japan. We were feeling a little down this year, it’s not easy being away from family around the holidays and I think this year it really hit us hard. We only have a year and a half left and it can’t come fast enough. So, for our Thanksgiving we went to Hiroshima and did a little shopping and ate out at a restaurant we’ve gone once before. It wasn’t the traditional thing to do, either way we had a good time and all that mattered was that we were together.

Now, that thanksgiving is over, we are fast approaching my favorite holiday of all, Christmas! In my home Christmas arrived the day after Halloween, meaning my decorations have been up since the first of November. There are still some thing I’m waiting for to come in and once they come in I’ll be doing a post on decorating for Christmas. Since, fall is over, well for me any. Haha. I wanted to show y’all some of my favorite fall outfits.

At the beginning of this year one of my goals was to step up my wardrobe and somewhat step out of my comfort zone. So, far I’ve been happy with my wardrobe, I can only hope that it will get better! Let’s get onto the outfits, shall we.

The first outfit is a purple tunic from forever21 with my Lily Pulitzer cardigan paired with basic black leggings and burgundy booties. Simple, yet cute.

Next outfit is one of my more comfortable outfits and a matching one with my squishy face. It was cute and comfy for our trip to the zoo. My rust color jacket is from target and wore some burgundy pants from the MCX and of course, what is comfort without uggs?

The following outfit is probably one of my favorite ones, ever! I have been seeing the animal print trend going around and I was scared on trying it but, I took the jump and went for it. No regrets! I absolutely love this look. All the pieces besides the top are from target, including my heels.

My last look was my thanksgiving outfit. Besides the previous look this one is also one of favs. Again, my coat is from target, the sweater is from a Japanese store called GU, the skirt is from forever21 and my booties from the MCX.

That’s all for my favorite fall looks. See y’all soon on my next blog!

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Family Day At The Zoo.

Hello Beautifuls! I hope you guys had a fantastic weekend and have a great Monday. Well, as great as you can make a Monday be so, throw back a cup of good cup of coffee and start your week off strong.

Anyways, my weekend was full of fun and excitement. It has been a while since we had a little adventure in Japan. On Saturday, we went to a sushi go round with some friends, Jason loves some California rolls. In case you don’t know what a sushi go round is, it’s a place where different types of sushi is going around on a belt line and you can pick from the line up. We thought it was going to be super expensive, but to our surprise it was quite affordable for the amount of sushi we ate. It has become a favorite spot for us now, amoung other amazing restuarants we found this weekend. On Sunday, on our way to the zoo we stopped at this Italian place called, Jolly-Pasta, since the hubby was craving some pizza. We ordered a pie of pizza and a plate of pasta to share and after we ordered a slice of apple pie, by far the most yummiest pie I have ever tasted. Everything was absolutely delicious.

Once, we were done stuffing our faces we were ready to walk it off at the zoo. We went to the Hiroshima City Asa Zoological Park, this was the first time Jason has gone to the zoo and boy, was he excited. The animals were quite close, we saw bamboos, rhinos, turtles, lions and the main animal there the Japanese red panda. It was my favorite animal, it was sooo cute! Jason’s favorite animal was the tiger, when he saw it he roared at it and had his little hand like paw. The hubby was excited to see the chimpanzee, he was a little sad that there were no gorillas there. I was so happy that he was having a great time and it made me so much more happier that the hubby was having a blast too.

After, the zoo we were headed home and we starving, we decided to give this little restaurant close to home a chance and I’m so glad we did. It’s called Cusco, a Peruvian restaurant, y’all dont understand how happy I was to have found this place. It had some of my favorite hispanic dishes, I wanted to order the whole menu. I got some fried yuca and beef empanadas for appetizzers and a lomo saltado for dinner. The struggle is real out here without any hispanic food, but this will do for until we go back to the states. We were ready to go home and relax, Jason was so tired that by the time we came home he was looking for jammies and his bed, he was so tired he put himself to sleep.

Overall, it was a great family outting, we haven’t had time between work and school to go out exploring this great land of Japan. I what our little adventure will be next time…

 

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What I Got For My 25th Birthday.

Hey there beautifuls! As, y’all read from the title, I turned 25 on the 14th of this month. I thank God everyday for blessing me for another year. Each year I learn and grow as a person, whether it be as a wife, a mom, or an overall person. I’m extremely blessed to have been surrounded with my beautiful little family and great friends. They really made this birthday a great one, if it wasn’t for them I probably would’ve been in a ball crying and searching for the best eye cream there is. I know I’m just being dramatic but, in 5 years I’ll be 30, like whattt!?!? I know I’m going to blink and those years will fly on by. By then, I’ll get it together and just think about being “Thirty, Flirty, & Thriving.” Unlike the movie I won’t go back to being 13 years old with just a little bit of pixie dust. But, I sure don’t want to go back to being 13, UGH! Those are some cringeworthy years. Am I right? Anyway, let’s get to what I got for my birthday.

This year I was extremely spoiled by my husband, my parents, my friends, and myself. My amazing husband was not able to be here for my birthday, it was the first time he missed my birthday, but you know that’s the life of the military wife. He went all out like he always does and bought me a Louis Vuitton wallet to match my speedy. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I’m so grateful for having a husband this amazing. Now, onto what I spoiled myself with. I felt like this year was a treat yourself year and that’s exactly what I did. I was able to spoil myself and I bought two things. A Louis Vuitton phone case and something that was on my dream board for sometime, what is it you may ask? Well, they are gold Chanel earrings! I’m so excited that I was able to buy these for myself. I mean look how gorgeous they are!

The next things I’ll show y’all, my parents and friends got me. My parents were sweet enough to send me a bunch of fall decor and a Longchamp, the decor isn’t pictured, because I was too excited and put them up. My bosses gave me a Fitbit, which I was so excited about, I have an Apple Watch but I just forget to charge it everyday and I don’t have to charge the Fitbit for a couple days. Yay! My nugget bestie kept me from having a meltdown about not having my hubby with me for my birthday, she really kept me together. She took me to get a cardio workout by shopping and gave me the cutest gift. She took me back to my Claire’s days and gave me a BFF koala necklace and some yummy macaroons from our favorite bakery. Finally, my amazing, Disney loving, my Serena to my Blair friend, sent me this cute backpack that is very popular in Japan, oh yes, she now lives in Japan too, but in a different part of Japan. I’m truly blessed to have amazing and loving parents and friends.

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Transitioning My Toddler to His Big Boy Bed.

Hello beautifuls! I hope y’all are doing amazing this week. I’m doing amazing and super excited for my birthday coming up in a couple days, but I’m also bugging out that I’m turning 25, in 5 more years I’ll be 30! WOW! But, let’s move on to another little person who keeps growing and breaking my heart, my squishy, my toddler Jason. We recently transitioned him from his crib, since he would escape from every morning. This was a sign that he was ready for a big boy bed. A huge thanks to grandma and grandpa for buying him his toddler bed, y’all are the best.

I had so much fun making his room a big boy room. He really didn’t have a lot of decor for his nursery since we moved to Japan. So, I went into diy mode and made some of his room decor. Thanks to the yen store here in Japan I was able to make his decor for cheap. It was easy to pick what his room was going to be since he is obsessed with cars and loves the movies from Disney Cars. I first started with these box displays, I painted them to look like roads, I have been collecting mini cars and I thought it would be a perfect way to display them in his room. I think they are the cutest things ever!

The next thing I made was a sign with his name on it. Now, this took a while to make, but it turned out sooo awesome! This took three 8×11 canvas boards, a printer to print out the letters, mod podge, and a lot of patience. I was able to find free fonts to create the font of the movie Cars. I then started to trace out every square to make a race car flag. I painted the square black and white, once it was dry I mod podged the letters onto the canvas. This helps it lay the letters flat and seem like they are painted on. To make the 95’s that are on each side of his name sign, I used smaller canvas and painted them red, printed the number 95 and mod podged it on the canvases. I felt like this really brought the name sign together.

I was able to find these hooks at the yen store and painted it red, I thought it would be great to hang his backpack and jackets. This was the one thing that wasn’t as time consuming. But, it looks great.

I found the carpet at a store called nafco, it’s so soft and fluffy, I have the exact same one in my beauty room in pink. They are high quality carpets and were super affordable, can y’all believe they were only $40! I had to snatch them up. His little table I bought on amazon for $35 and the little bar stools I bought at daiso for $4 each. The bed set I bought from target on sale. And lastly the wall art I got on Etsy, it was $3 for the digital copy of the cars. I then printed them out on photo paper.

Jason loves his new bed and room. I think it turned out amazing! What do y’all think?

August/September Favorites.

Hello beautifuls! Today I will be talking about my August favorites, I know it’s already the middle of September, but ya girl has been a bit busy. Let me fill y’all in on what is happening in my beautiful life as a wife, mommy, employee, and student, again. Yes, I have started school again, I took a break last semester and now I’m back to torturing myself. I keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end. Unlike, last semester I was doing my general studies and getting all my prerequisite credits done, but, this time I will be doing a program that gives me a little more of an understanding of the field I will hopefully be in once I am done with all my general studies. It also gives me a certification that can help me find a job when we go back to then states. So far, it has been easy, but I’m sure it will get harder the more I get into my program. On top of getting school work done, I have been making my squishy face a big boy room. I’ve been doing some DIY decor for his room, I will do a post about it and show you how cute it turned out, I’m really happy how it turned out. Now, lets get onto the goodies.

My first favorite is a new fragrance I picked up, it is a different scent from my Chanel Chance. A few months ago Tiffany an Co. came out with a perfume and I have been dying to get my hands on it and I’m so happy I finally did. It is a fresh and light sort of scent. It smells amazing and the packaging is beautiful.

These next two favorites are my recent makeup favorites. I know, only two makeup item, who am I? When I was back home in the states I was trying to find a new foundation, for a while I was using the BECCA and Too Faced foundations. After, going to Sephora a thousand times and getting samples of all the good foundations, I finally found a good one. If you’re in the market for new foundation I highly suggest trying out NARS foundation, a little goes a long way and it is full coverage. It applies amazing and it doesn’t make me look caked and above all else, it is the perfect color match. The one struggle I had with all the other foundations were some had pink undertones or too much of a yellow undertone, I have more of a natural undertone. The last makeup favorite is the famous Jaclyn Hill Palette. It is a beautiful palette, it has all the colors you need to create different eye looks in just one palette. This being the reason why I haven’t been reaching for my other eyeshadows as much.

Moving onto some jewelry, a girl can never have to much jewelry. The first piece are rose gold earrings for Henri Bendel, they are so cute and comfortable, and the best part is I got them on SALE. Actually, the next two pieces I got on sale as well. These pieces are from Ted Baker, their pieces are totally my esthetics. How beautiful are these matching bracelet and earrings, both are rose gold with a light pink enamel.

And last, but surely not least is my Louis Vuitton Speedy 30. I bought this a couple months back and it was preloved. The handles and trimming were in bad shape, so for our anniversary my amazing husband sent off my bag to get new leather and handles. It takes a while for Louis Vuitton to get the leather fixed so, by the time I got back from the states my bag was ready. Now, it looks like a brand new bag. I love it so much, it’s absolutely beautiful. The best part is even with fixing the leather and such I still paid half of what I would have paid for a brand new one. Isn’t gorgeous?

That’s the last of my August/September favorites. Sorry I have been absent for a while but, I will hopefully get it together.

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What would you like my next post be? Jasons big boy rooms tour or my makeup room tour? Let me know.

Hello, Fall!

Hello, Beautifuls! We have approached my favorite season, ever. Although, it technically isn’t fall yet, but, in my mind once it hits September; it is fall for me. There are so many reasons why I love fall, the first being my birthday is in October and this year I will be turning 25 years old. Only five more years until my 30th birthday. AAHH! The other reasonsI love the fall season is the weather starts to get chilly and my makeup isn’t sliding off my face, the fashion, and lastly, I love the decor.

I start decorating on the 31st so, my house can be ready for fall the first day of September. I don’t decorate for Halloween I just decorate for fall. I take decorating for fall and Christmas very seriously. My husband just looks at me all crazy, but, it makes me soo happy. This year Jason can actually understand and enjoy the decoration, he likes it and helped me set up some things, and yes he has not touched them since. He is really good with not messing with it. Some of the decorations I’ve had for some time, sadly, it is really hard to find to fall items here in Japan. The Japanese are really into Halloween, but like said I don’t decorate for Halloween. Today, I attempted to go out and see if I could find some things, but no luck. Out of five stores I was able to find four fall items at Nitori and of course they had an abundance of Halloween things. My only hope is that the store on base puts out some decor soon and I’m just waiting for a good fall care package from my amazing madre, she always comes through. Even though, I couldn’t find more decor, I did the best with what I had and it gives me so much joy. Most of it came from the dollar section at target, the dollar tree, and the floral and leaves came from Daiso. Thank goodness I’m was able to bring back some fall candles from bath and body works when I was back home. So for now, I am so happy with how my house looks and smells.

Where do y’all get your decorations? Are y’all sad summer is over? Are y’all ready for fall like I am?

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