Lunch with the Girls and Nolan

Last week, Nolan and I got together with some friends for dim sum lunch.  {drooling again}  I haven't had dim sum in years.  I love dim sum cuz of the variety of food.  I know some people would say, a buffet has a variety of food.  But, with a buffet you have to get up every time you want food, with dim sum the food comes to you!  I can be fat and lazy.  :P

So we made reservations at the Hotel Nikko Alivila, lunch for 4 please.   Its actually 5 min away from my house!  I can't believe I've never been there before. We were there right at 11:30 when their lunch begins.  I wanted enough time to indulge, enjoy, laugh and eat till my hearts content before I had to pick up Amelia from school.

The hotel was beautiful.  The restaurant was pretty.  The view was gorgeous.  We sat right next to the window, with a view of the water and their gorgeous church.  They even had a wedding going on. Nolan was knocked out so I was at ease during lunch.  Conversation was funny and the food was delish! There was a walk up area that had a hot tea bar, fried foods, soups, dim sum {if you couldn't wait for the carts}, desserts and a few Chinese dishes.  We started there and loaded up on a couple plates and soup bowls.  The carts quickly came after we sat down at out table.  We couldn't help but get at least one of everything.  There were so many things I've never seen at another dim sum restaurant.  I didn't even ask what most of the stuff was , I just ate it.  And I'm not sorry about it, there wasn't anything there that wasn't delish.  After a couple plates and a handful of dim sum dishes I needed a breather.  I had to give myself some room for desserts.  The desserts were more Japanese then Chinese.  I munched on green tea cookies, almond jelly, and flan.  After that I was out for the count.  I was so full it hurt.  To top that off, we were laughing so hard...didn't help my stomach situation.

It was a good time.  Lunch was 2,500 yen and definitely well worth it.  We went on a weekday and it was nice.  Not too busy and the dim sum carts were fast.  I'm going to have to take M here when he gets a day off during the week, its a must try.

                                     

      

      

      

      

                               

                                

Sunday Snaps

Snaps from the week 

:: shameless selfie ::

:: park time ::

 :: Nolan taking a few snaps ::

:: pancakes for breakfast ::

:: alligator steps ::

Final Friday Faves

I'm starting a new series for the final Friday of the month I'll post my faves

:: makeup ::

Nars Larger than Life Long Wear Eyeliner  in Via Veneto

I love, love, love this eyeliner!  My fellow makeup addict friend told me about it months ago, but I only just got it recently because our local exchange has been sold out every time I've looked.  This eyeliner is the best, it actually stays put!  Whenever I line my waterline I'm constantly checking in the mirror to make sure it's not smudged.  The first day I wore this, I did the same thing but I didn't have to reapply or clean up any smudging!  Now, I swear by this eyeliner .  I tell anybody and everybody that wears makeup.  I've recently went back to pick up a second one, {one to keep at home and another to keep in my purse}, but of course it's sold out.  I'll have to keep checking.

:: kitchen ::

NuWave 

My hubs was actually the one who wanted to buy this.  He's been talking about it for awhile.  I've always been opposed because of our limited space in our kitchen.  I didn't want another thing to just sit on our counter tops collecting dust.  I am so sorry I waited so long on this purchase!  The NuWave has totally revolutionized the way I cook.  We initially purchased the NuWave to cook healthier for our cleanse.  I hated baking stuff in the oven, especially chicken because it came out so dry.  Not with the NuWave.  I've made the most moist chicken breasts in here and no frying at all.  Now I use it for everything!  I toast break for breakfast, I bake sweet potatoes for lunch, and then I cook fish and veggies for dinner.  It's so much easier and efficient then using the oven.  An added plus is its less energy then using the oven.  Electricity in Japan is really expensive.  I try to conserve as much as I can.  Using the NuWave is faster and more energy efficient.   Great buy!

:: kids ::

Cartoon HD app

This app is wonderful!  I saw a post in an FB group I'm in, saying that this app is free for the day it's normally $20 .  It's an app that streams movies and cartoons for kids.  My kids love this app!  My daughter , she is so awesome, she loves old school cartoons like Tom n Jerry, Pink Panther, and Sailor moon!  These shows don't show on regular TV but they are all available on this app.  I'll admit I had to watch a few episodes if Sailor moon too, brought me back to middle school! Since I've got this app I unfortunately haven't seen it available .  I tell everyone about this app, I hope it comes back!

:: home ::

Belkin Advance n900 DB wireless router

In Japan we live off base and are fortunate enough to be able to get fiber optic internet.  {I'm really not tech savey at all, but I'm told fiber optic is the fastest internet and it's not even available in the states for personal home use}. The router we used prior was not doing the job.  We constantly had to reset and would get kicked off the wifi.  We have a ton of electronics running on our wifi; tv, 2 iPads, Xbox, PS3, 2 iPhone , and a computer.  It obviously was too much to handle.  We pay a lot of money to get high speed internet and we were just wasting it away with our crappy router.  So I started researching new routers months ago.  Then on a sleepless night browsing the lighting deals {this was during Christmas time} on Amazon the Belkin N900 was on sale!  I bought it for $80, it usually retails for $140.  It has been the best $80 I've ever spent.  Since getting it set up, { I got it after New Years}, I have not had to reset it one time.  We stream Netflix with ease, we don't use up our data plans on our cell phones, our magicjack works perfect.  It's just so great. I know it's #firstsworldproblems to complain about our router, but like I said we pay a lot of money for our internet and we want to enjoy it and use it.

Sapporo {throwback thursday}

Since a lot of the news talk these days is about snow, I thought I'd throw it back to our trip to Sapporo Japan.  We went to the annual snow and ice festival in February 2011.  Amelia was 2 and I was 5 months pregnant with Nolan.  This was the first ever cold vacation that I've taken.  My idea of a vacation is somewhere warm and preferably by some body of water.  We heard so many great things about the festival and Sapporo, so we had to make the trip up there.

Sapporo is located on  Hokkaido , it's the most northern island in Japan.  We took two plane rides and a bus to get to Sapporo.  It was SUPER cold.  Maybe since being in Okinawa we weren't ready for the cold weather.  It was no joke.  I of course packed to look cute in the snow, but that all went out the window when I got there.  I practically layered all my clothes everyday!

We stayed there for 3 nights and 4 days.  It was pretty fun.  Our hotel was located in the heart of Sapporo so we would go see something then come back to our hotel and warm up.  The snow sculptures were amazing!  Theses things were gigantic and had so much detail.  I was literally in awe of every single one of them.  We went to see them during the day and at night.  I suggest going at night!  The way they are light up at night looks so magical.  I remember Amelia saying "wow" the whole time we were walking around looking at them.

My favorite part of the trip was when we went to this parking lot that was converted into a big snow playground.  There were slides, rides, ice sculptures, snow playgrounds.  It was super awesome.  I know Amelia had the time of her life there.  This was the first time she had seen snow and been old enough to play.

Another notable mention of this trip was the FOOD!  Hokkaido is famous for their seafood, crab in particular.  It was so good, I still dream about it to this day.  It was so good I didn't even get a picture of it.  

Why are you on a diet???

This weekend was jamm packed full of activites.  There was a goodbye party, a kids birthday party, a housewarming party, and to top it off it was a 3 day weekend!  I'm still on the cleanse so I didn't want to attend these parties.  I knew there would be lots of food and adult beverages, the temptation would be too much.  I dint trust myself to go and be good.  So I opted out of ALL the activites.  Since I sidn that I couldn't make it to all of them, I started getting questioned about not going.  I told everyone thr truth , I'm eating clean for 24 days and I really want to stay on tract.  Many people tried to talk me into it, mentioned that I didn't have to drink or eat, said I should just stop by, but the biggest question I got was "why are you on a diet?"  

I'm totally aware of what I look like. I know that for someone to just look at me , me saying that I'm on a diet is pretty laughable.  What everyone doesn't know is how unhealthy I was.  I would constantly drink coke, I hate vegetables, I eat whatever, I snack all the time, and have I no regarard for nutrion. I needed a lifestyle change.  How could I teach my kids too eat well if I didn't practice the same things?  That's when I decided to do a clean eating "diet" for 24 days.  It is strict, however I think it's the jump start I need to make a lifestyle change.  In the week that I have been doing this cleanse I see so much has changed.  Even just going to the grocery store, I read more labels and find myself generally only shopping on the perimeter of the store.  

My meals over the weekend were mostly the same.  I tried a couple new things.  I did buy a NuWave infrared oven!!  We've been trying it out with a couple recipes.  One of my faves was some sweet potato fries.  Even the kids liked them!  So easy and quick to make.

:: New Toy::

:: sweet potato fries | seasoned with cinnamon, ginger, and coconut oil ::

* ketchup was there for the kids :)

Day 3 Eating Clean

Today has been glorious!  I wasn't hungry once!  Haha sounds crazy?? Maybe I'm getting used to the portions and healthy food.  One thing I did notice was that I wasn't tired.  Usually I have a tough time getting up and need a nap by the time the kids take a nap.  Today that wasn't the case, I was able to just do my thang.  I even did some running around, so I had to pack a few snacks.  I'm so used to packing snacks for the kids, it was like second nature packing for myself.  I also started packing Morgan's lunch.  Keeps him on track.

Support system::

One of the biggest aspects on why I will be successful at this lifestyle change is my support system.  Morgan and I planned to do this about a month ago.  We felt like our health and our overall wellness was not at a high point.  Plus I just turned 30 and thought a lifestyle change was in order...I'm not getting any younger. Sad but true.    I'm happy that we decided to do this together.  Also, our good friends the B fam is joining us.   They actually did this cleanse last year and have always tried to talk us into doing it with them.    Its nice to be able to someone about any questions , thoughts, or concerns.  I think it's important to have a good support system.  I know it's only been 3 days, but there is no way I would have got this far without a support system. It's comforting to know that there is someone going through the same challenges you are.  

Everything I ate today ::

Breakfast | oatmeal

Snack | avocado slices with mustard

Lunch | broiled tilapia seasoned with paprika, green onions, pepper, and Mrs. Dash garlic herb 

             brown rice

            sautéed spinach with garlic

Snack | 5 oz protien shake

Dinner | grilled chicken breast marinated in cilantro, lime, and onion

             avocado slices

             homemade salsa, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, onion

             brown rice

             greens 

The chicken looks a lil crazy but it was delish.  I made the marinade in my vitamix, it was more of a sauce.

Day 3 down for the books! 

Day 2 Eating Clean

Well day 2 is down for the books.  I think it was a lil easier.  We stayed at home all day so I had all my snacks and food readily available.  Not a shabby day...

Everything I ate today::

Breakfast | 2 egg omelet with 1 yolk, filled with spinach, tomatoes, and red onion

Snack | 1/2 apple sliced with a side of almond butter

Lunch |  baked tilapia with lemon juice, green onion, and Mrs. Dash garlic -herb seasoning

             brown rice

             green beans and mushrooms

Snack | 5 oz protein shake

Dinner | flank steak season with Mrs. Dash spicy southwest

             sautéed bell peppers and onions

             brown rice

And 40 oz of water throughout the day.

Day 1 eating clean

Wow, first day has been rough!  We didn't really clean out our fridge and pantry like we planned.  Our weekend accidentally got busy and we forgot about it.  So there is temptation all over.  I can't really be ok with throwing all that food away either.  It's not that we have a ton of processed food,but we do have a lot of snacks.  I'm a snacker!  I didn't realize how much process food and drinks I consumed in a day.  Kind of disgusting! 

Everything I ate today::

Breakfast | 1 hard boiled egg and oatmeal

Snack | 1/2 banana and almonds 

Lunch | hard boiled egg with a salad

Snack | 8 oz protein shake

Dinner | baked tilapia seasoned with pepper, lemon, crushed red pepper, paprika, and topped with green onions.  With a side of green beans and mushrooms 

All in all,  it was a big adjustment.  This is the cleanest I've ever eaten, it's a total 360 from where I was the day before.  I've been on Pinterest all day looking up meal plans and recipes.  Some people are so creative with their plans.  It's very inspiring ! It helps to see all the recipes, I thought that eating clean would be eating boring.  I have been proven wrong! 

On to day 2...  

So long to my roaring 20s....

It happened! I turned 30!  Geeze, when I was young it felt like 30 was 2 lifetimes away.  Now it's here....it's really here.  I'm really thankful for this birthday.  First off, thankful I made it to this age.  Tomorrow is never gauranteed so another day is another blessing.  I'm thankful to have a wonderful husband who is loving, helpful, and that provides a comfortable lifestyle that gives me the opportunity to stay at home with our children.  I'm thankful for my 2 beautiful and healthy kids.  Some days they make me want to tear my hair out, but they always find a way to melt my heart. 

Life is good.  I'm at a good place and I'm loving life.  During my 20s. I learned a lot.  I changed so much from 20 to 29!  A lot happened...I learned a lot.  I lived in Washington state, we bought our first home, we short sales our first home, I had Amelia, I moved to Japan, I had Nolan, changed my last name, got into credit card debt, got out of credit card debt, traveled to Hokkaido, traveled to Thailand, traveld to the states, and many more experiences I can't think of.  If you asked me 10 years ago how i thought my life would be at 30, I would haven't even been close to where I am now.   Here I am a full fledge adult!  I understand it's all the rage these days. Haha. I'm really looking forward to the next 30 years of my life.  If time keeps flying at this rate I'm sure it won't be long.

Well the plan for my birthday was pretty low key.  I just wanted to go out to dinner with Morgan and then the night after a dinner out with the ladies.  So I went to my friend Melliza's house to drop off the kids for her to babysit and there it was a SURPRISE PARTY!!!  All our friends were there.  I was so shocked, I didn't expect anything like this.  I even was tearing up.  I'm such a sap.  I had an awesome time, couldn't have asked for more.  It was a great way to bring in my 30s.  

It's All About Tradition!!!

Every year while growing up my parents took us to the mall so we could go see Santa. We would get dressed in our Christmas dresses and wait in line to tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas.  The mall that we went to was indoor, (there aren't many indoor malls in San Diego) so it was pretty awesome we didn't have the wait in the cold.

Now that I have my own family it is no different.  We don't have a mall here but we take our kids to see Santa.  The only thing that did change was Morgan refused to take our kids to see Santa within their first year.  He is in the medical field, more specifically infectious disease.  Since both of our kids were too young to get their flu shots around Christmas time, he didn't want to take that chance.  I think he has seen what the flu can do to someone, especially a young child so he doesn't want to take the risk.   There are so many kids that go through that line, also with all the people , there is just a lot of germs that could be spread.  (I know we probably sound crazy) Totally understandable, so we just took their pics by our tree.  After Amelia's first year, we have taken her ever since.  Since Nolan is now 1 and able to get his flu shot (both of our kids received their flu shots this year) this will be his first year.

This is the first year that we had both our kids in the picture.  The local USO had a Santa set up that you pay $10 per kid and you get the pictures, some of the fee would go towards the USO.  This was the first year Amelia didn't cry.  It was just so precious, the look in her eye when she saw Santa.  She really believed it was him.  Her innocence was just so adorable.  Nolan on the other hand, was screaming bloody murder.  I got to give all the Santas out their a hand, because having probably every other kid cry must be crazy!! Here's to all the Santas out there!!!

Thanksgiving 2013

I can't believe Thanksgiving has gone and past.  This year has just flown by.

This time of year when all the holidays start, always is hard for me.  It being the the 4th year in a row that we will be spending the holidays overseas. I wish we could be home in the states spending time with our families and friends.  I envy all the people out there who are home and spending time with their loved ones.  Thankfully we have made our own Oki family here and they are great friends that have turned into family.  We are lucky to have met them and have them in our lives.  {I digress} We really have a lot to be thankful for, not only on Thanksgiving but everyday.  God is good and has continued to bless our family.

For Thanksgiving this year we got together with the Oki fam and had a huge potluck.  We had about 12 families and a handful of single marines and sailors.  This is the first time that we've joined the Oki fam on Thanksgiving, the potluck is something we do for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  However we don't usually go to Thanksgiving, we usually have a meal at our house for Morgan's single sailors.  Anyways, we volunteered to bring a turkey, mac n cheese, and 2 of my famous pumpkin cheesecakes. Thanksgiving was really nice.  All the other ladies/gentlemen who cooked pulled out all the stops, we had a ton of food.  We had a traditional Thanksgiving and had some Filipino dishes and desserts.  It was all so delish, I must of had 3 plates and 1 plate of dessert.  I purposely wore a flowy dress so I could eat to my hearts content.  Best idea ever!  Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Morgan decided to smoke the Turkey this year

Put a fork in it, Turkey is done *drool*

Prep for my famous Pumpkin cheesecake

One of my cheesecakes 

Thanksgiving Buffet 1

Thanksgiving Buffet 2

Thanksgiving Buffet 3

With all the Oki Mommies

All the kiddies

Day in the Life

Thought this meme was appropriate :) 

I have a 16 mo old (Nolan) and a 4 yr old (Amelia).  I tend to stay on a routine to keep my sanity AND so the kids know what to expect from day to day. Here is what a typical day looks like


6:00-    I like to get up before the kids and get some ME time.  I have my coffee and I browse my social media, news, gossip, and generally wake up

7:00-    16 mo old wakes up

7:45-    Get Amelia up and beds made

8:00-    Feed both kids breakfast, pack Amelia's lunch and her backpack

8:30-    Get both kids dressed and ready

8:40-    Take Amelia to pre-school (if it's a school day MWF)

9:00-    After we drop off Amelia we have play time, either in the play room our outside.  OR if we have errands I do them now.  I like to get stuff done in the morning, less people and no lines. On Wed Nolan and I have story time at the Library and Kinder Jam.  On Fridays we have Alligator Steps (mommy and me class).

11:00- We usually get home, I start up a movie for Nolan to watch and I prepare lunch

11:30- Lunch TIME

12:00- Nolan goes down for a nap

1:30-    Wake up him and give him a small snack

1:40-    We go and pick up Amelia

2:00-    Get home and feed Amelia a snack

2:30-4:30-play time

5:00-    Daddy comes home from work and I start to prepare dinner

5:30-    Dinner for everyone

6:30-    Clean up kitchen and living room

7:00-    Kids take a bath

7:30-    Bottle, brush teeth, bedtime story

8:30-    Lights out

The rest of the night is spent with the hubby, it's our down time.   We watch our fave shows, he plays video games, I read, I catch up on YouTube, he watches sports highlights, haha we just chill.  We usually go to bed around 9:30-10:30 and we do it all again the next day.

Churaumi Aquarium & Pizza in the Sky

What a busy weekend we had!  I really had nothing planned for this weekend; there were baskets of laundry, messy rooms, and an unorganized kitchen calling my name. None of that got done! Usually I would freak out at that notion, but we had a good weekend exploring Okinawa.  Much of the time our weekends are spent doing the usual, so its nice to go out and do explore.

Saturday we went to the aquarium.  Third largest aquarium in the world after Dubai and Georgia.  We've been before, but this was the first time with Nolan.  It was a weekend day but it actually wasn't too packed.  My fave part is seeing the whale sharks.  The tank that they are in is gigantic!  It's just so unreal to see them so close and just swimming about.  The kids were mesmerized by them.  Their little faces just looked so curious.  It was so adorable.  In every single tank Mills looked for Nemo or Dori.  Haha  She successfully found Nemo 4 times.

For an early dinner we headed to Pizza in the Sky.  We have never been there before but heard great reviews.  Pizza in Japan is definitely different. Its delicious, but I know many people who don't really like it.  Anyways, we heard that the view is to die for, the pizza is delish, but the wait is a monster.  So we prepared ourselves for a long wait.  When we got there we got seated right away and after ordering our food it took about 5 min. Maybe we were lucky, maybe we came at the right time, either way this place got 5 starts from us.  We ordered a pepperoni pizza for the kids and a "mix" pizza for Morgan and I, oh and a salad.
 
All in all great and fun filled Saturday!