lovelove day ♥

This Valentine's is our first as an *engaged* couple. Not that it makes any difference but it IS a little different from our norm since we now live together. Before we moved in together, Russ would just come over to my house, chill or we'd go out, have a dinner date and then he'd have to go home or he would sleepover but that would be like once a week. Now I get to see him everyday and night :D It is pretty nice getting to see your significant other everyday... well sometimes it's not so nice... jk! Anyways, even though we live together, I still think it's important to have date nights and keep the romance alive!! and not just on vday!! But I do like celebrating holidays and special occasions :) Since vday fell on a Monday (he works), we decided to celebrate on Sunday. We didn't do anything big.. just had a nice dinner date at Tsukuneya Robata Grill (located near UH). We went there once like a long time ago so I was pretty excited to go back.. plus I love tsukune!


My pineapple chu hai... got me a good buzzzz.


Crunchy cabbage salad w/black sesame dressing... I ordered this cause I love cabbage!!!


Mayomiso Tsukune... super bombtastic. I think mayo makes everything taste bomtastic though :P


Tsukune stuffed shitake mushroom.. one of my favs.


Onigiri


Dynamite


Fried bananas

Ordered some other things but I ate it before I could take a pic oops! Everything was delish and I was went home stufffed n satisfied :) Oh and instead of roses this year, Russ paid to get my nails done :)

Nails by Anri!! lovesss it. Don't know if you can tell but there's a little diamond ring on my ring finger :)

Don't get me wrong.. I do love getting flowers! But I do looove having pretty nails!! and they last a little longer than flowers :P hmm I should of gotten both. lol jk! My bubby (not my hubby just yet!!) is superduperawesome for putting up with my ridiculous nail addiction :P and for putting up with me all these years. So grateful for him in my life... not just on vday but everyday!! Knowing that I get to spend the next 489903292438 years (hopefully lol) with him makes me happy :) Even being able to come home to him makes me giddy *cheesy* I know. Love... definitely a beautiful thing :)

happy vday 2011 ♥

End of 2010 & Beginning of 2011 UPDATE~

So I guess my attempt to update my blog more has failed once again. I really was on a blogging streak at one point and blogged almost everyday! But of course, that didn't continue for very long because one, I got really busy with work, the holidays & just life in general and two, I was lazy. Plus I was still getting adjusted to my new life with the fiancé! Which btw, has been fun and great.. but definitely learned a lot about each other that we didn't know before (even after being together for 5 years!) It is nice though being able to wake up to him every morning and going to bed with him every night ♥ Anyways, my goal this year IS to blog more! Lately I've been really into Yelp. I seriously love Yelp cause it's real people writing real reviews so you know it's not bullcrap.. well most of the times at least. I even found my new hair dresser from Yelp! See I got a new hair cut =)
I almost feel like as if it was fate because I randomly decided at 7 in the morning to get my haircut but wanted to try someone new. I typed in "hair salons" on yelp and the first thing that popped up was Winam Hair Studio which was a minute away from me. I was like wow that's convenient AND Hillary (the hair dresser) had all 5 star reviews so I figured she must be good. Lucky for me she was available that morning and I was able to schedule an appt at 9AM! She gave me the "I can't stop looking at myself" haircut. I was so happy with the results. Finally a hairstylist that is able to cut my hair the way I want it!! She has her own private little studio and it's pretty much by appointments only. I feel like I found the jackpot!!

Anyways besides finding my new hair dresser... I also found THE perfect boots..

Thanks to Bamboo Sky =)

This past Christmas was Russell's and I first Christmas together in our new apartment. I decided I was feeling in the Christmas spirit and got our first Christmas tree!

Yes, of course a fake one. And yes, that's a BBQ ornament.. I just had to get it for Russell.

All my prezzies.. feeling a little *spoiled*

Unfortunately Russ was working on Christmas day so we decided to spend Christmas Eve together at his parents' house.. which btw I have not seen in years. So I was a tad bit nervous but dinner turned out great! His dad made a feast for us and I brought over my pathetic sausage stuffed mushrooms. Russell's dad actually made stuffed mushrooms too but it was clearly obvious that his was much better appearance and taste wise than mine. They were nice enough to compliment mines and in fact, liked the crunchiness of the sausages (in other words, I burnt it). Oh well at least I tried!

My chocolate peanut butter toffee turned out pretty amazing though!

Russell's dad prime rib

Yummy samosas!

Ally girl

On Christmas day I spent it at my mama's house. We had a Chinese feast... way more food than we needed!

Had this box awaiting for me when I got back to my apartment :)

From the hubbster!!! Yes I do love my Louis ;)

.... And it's initialed!

Been really into crepes lately. My friend Maiko & I have been on a crepe hunt. We discovered Harajuku Crepes at Shirokiya.

I must say these were pretty damn good crepes. Almost as good as the ones in Japan. But beware of the scary korean lady who is not so friendly....
Maiko & I will continue our crepe hunt.. but for now, Harajuku Crepes is the best we've tried so far.

My cooking has also gotten a lot better!

See! I have proof. Even my sister liked it and that's saying a lot.

My beef quesadilla

Pork belly fried rice and stir fried veggies.. I think even Russ likes my cooking but hates to admit it ;P

New Year's was pretty mellow this year. Russ & I decided to stay in since he had to wake up early the next morning for work.
My New Year's outfit...

My New Year's nails

Pop champaaagne!

Time for some bubbly~

Fireworks from our balcony


... as you can tell with this pic, I still don't have the iPhone4 :(

With the fambam on New Year's Day 2011 @New Otani Hotel... definitely not the same without grandpa :(

So I made a few New Year's resolutions and I am DETERMINED to accomplish it all within this year =)

1. To be on time and PLAN ahead of time.... in other words no more procrastination!! (This however, didn't go so well for my bday party haha... but will update you more on that another time).
2. Start wedding planning (I guess this goes along with the first one).
3. I should probably, however, figure our wedding date first!!!
4. Stop shopping every weekend and spend WISELY. Yes, I need to follow the footsteps of my friend Maiko who is a smart shopper and doesn't buy everything she sees in site like I do =)
5. To be a cleaning maniac like my fiancé. Normally in most relationships it would be the other way around... but in my case, Russ is the clean freak!! Not me.
6. Make a trip out to CA to see the BFF Sarah.
7. Make another trip out to Seattle to see the other BFF Chiri.
8. Save all my babysitting $$$ for the wedding.
9. Work out.
10. Brush up on my cooking skillz.

I have a few more.. but those are the main ones. Oh and not to stress out so much!!!! Cause I tend to do that to myself a lot =)

I was going to post some bday pics from my 25th bday party but this post took me forever. I'll leave that for another update =) Promise I won't take another 94758759838 million years to write up an update.

Hope you all had a wonderful new year~! Btw, new layout for the new year!!

P.S. This is my motto for the year...

I smell something good cooking in the kitchen...

I love that my hubby cooks dinner for me. Even after a tiring day of work :)

My first May's burger and definitely not my last! So yummy!!

Busy Bee

The title says it all. It's also the reason why I suck at updating. But I'll try to recap as much as I can of what's been going on in the past month or so. So besides stressing out over apartment hunting (which I've been doing for several months already), I was also on a mission to learn how to cook and be the best gosh darn cook. Ok maybe not the best, but good enough to prove to Russell that I could cook since my previous attempts were not so impressive. Plus I got to prepare for being a wifey!! And as the saying goes, the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I had my trusty ol' friend Yubee (or as I call her, Iron Chef Bee) use her cooking magic on me.

Chef Bee teaching me how to make breaded baked chicken & pasta (I mostly watched lol)

.... and voilà! Dinner is served =)

Finally got to have a 3-way skype date with Sarah (well I guess 4 if you include Broadway). Miss this girl like crazy :(

I also played tourist and did some sight-seeing with Russell & his friend who was visiting.

Makapuu!

Had a sunset BBQ at the park with my sis Tiffany & her bf Ian.

Got to show off my cooking "skills" and made basil chicken. I guess Yubee's cooking magic worked because my chicken was a hit.

So was my easy peasy pasta salad :D

Found these Hello Kitty Doc Martens shoes while passing through Nordstrom. Although I am a HK fanatic, I definitely would not wear these. But I thought it was cool that Doc Martens make Hello Kitty mary janes!! I think I would of wore these back in elementary school day (which btw, I use to sport Doc Martens.. super comfy!).

Went on another island adventure with Russ & his friend. Took him to the infamous, Giovanni's Shrimp Truck. Never knew the lines were this long.

30 min later... we got our shrimp. All 3 flavors. Was it worth the wait? Sure if it's your first time. Would I do it again? Probably not.

Happy shrimp lovers.

Also celebrated my sister's 22nd birthday at Benihana. This was actually bday dinner #1.

Bday dinner #2 was at Wolfgang's Steakhouse.. one of my favs.

My sister looking posh as always ;) Btw, this jacket totally reminds of Rachel Zoe.

So Yubee was suuuper awesome and helped me do some home shopping because.....

WE GOT THE PLACE!!!!!!!

Well me & Russ that is. Yes, it's official, I am MOVING OUT. Never thought I'd say those 2 words haha. ROSS is awesome for home shopping. Btw, Bee & I had to lugg all that stuff to her apt which is like a 15 min walk. Yeah, not fun!! But got a good work out at least?

After lugging around like 50 lbs worth of stuff, we decided to reward ourselves to a nice dinner in downtown. Got all dressed up (finally put my lace leggings to use) and had a romantic dinner for 2 at one of my fav restaurant's Du Vin.

We were feeling a little frisky and ordered some baked oysters... so yummy ♥

Was keeping Bee a lot of company since her BF was away for a month in training. On a random Saturday night, we decided to take an adventure through Waikiki at 1am. Where did we end up at? Mickey D's. How sad right? Oh well, we burned it off anyways by dancing the night away~

So since we got the place, Russ & I have been busy getting it ready & moving stuff in. Russ and his friend installed a 47" flat screen tv to the wall... the finishing product looks very nice. Pic will be up later ;) We have yet to finish moving everything, but I will say.. I'm loving it more and more!

This is Russell and our friend's daughter. She likes him :) This pic makes me go "awwww."

I know I shouldn't be shopping, but found these cute Kathy Van Zeeland flats at ROSS. Seriously, cutest thing everrr and soooo comfortable. $25... a steal right? I love pairing these with like a non-printed summer dress.. loves it!

Got a crate full cleaning products from one of my kiddie's mom... isn't that so thoughtful? What's even greater is that they are Method cleaning products so they are good for the environment ♥ and better yet, non-toxic so kid-friendly!!

Super random, but I went to the Justin Beiber concert. Took these 2 kids and felt like a major teeny bopper. Despite being surrounded by little teenage girls swooning & crying over JB, I had fun. In fact, I have more respect for JB cause he is one very talented kid.

I know you can't tell, but that's Justin Beiber. And no I do not have Beiber fever.

Yesterday I had to go to one of my kid's bday party. Thankfully Sascha tagged along with me. Did not take any pictures. But I did take a pic of this yumtastic cream puff & strawberry cream soda from Cafe Laufer.

You're probably wondering why I have a picture of a pizza & a Chuck E Cheese cup. Well I had to go to ANOTHER birthday (same child) at Chuck E Cheese. Haven't been there since I was a wee little kid.. but I was def looking forward to the pizza. Russ was a great sport and came with me to the party :D

Chuck E Cheese has def changed from back in my time lol. I thought it was cool that they had a ticket blaster for the birthday girl or boy. It's like those game shows where the money is blowing and you have to grab as much as you can. In this case, it was tickets.

After the party, Russ and I did some home shopping and then headed back to our place to do some cleaning & organizing. He also took a little nap on our new bed!! So happy it is finally here :) For dinner, we went to Gyu-Kaku (another fav) and ordered up a storm. Tried their new beer battered fries w/wasabi mayo. It pretty good & very crispy.

It's been a crazy couple months. Still have so much to do!! PLUS I got to plan & get ready for my Japan trip end of this month!!!!!! I am so excited you don't even know. Lots to plan & do!! Got to get on it.