Yay!

Thank you Starbucks for the free drink for my birthday.

You guys rock.

Sincerely, your biggest fan,

Aim

It's Beginning to Feel a lot like Christmas!

Just for fun...and because it's a popular thing to do in the blogosphere...
My Wish List 2011

1. A Cozy Robe, monogrammed with my new initials :), because our house is freezinggggg!

2. Spice up the table with some gold cutlery. I think it brings drama and depth to a table-love!

3. A black&white striped rug for the living room.

4. And while we're on the subject, a bit of color to inject in the room too, for spring :).

5. This blouse makes me happy.

6. I love things with lifetime warranties-like this throw. Perfect for cozying up on the couch.

7. And these to keep my feet warm in our, again, freezing cold house.

8. I've been wanting one of these for forever. Simple, easily dressed up or down, put together. Just like that.

9. This nice little kit, because I lost my other foundation somewhere in New Zealand. :(

10. I'd love to eat dinner here. Because it's a Michelin two-star rated restaurant and I keep reading about how great it is. Got to try.

11. And this. Because I've secretly wanted one with a snap or magnetic enclosure for years. That way I can carry my Bible around in my purse! Whoo-hooo!

12. Having one of these would be cool especially when charging my phone and laptop.

13. I've always thought it would be cool to do this.

14. This is way rad and oh so chic

15. For a splash of color and some nice typography on your bookshelf.

16. Blane and I have been so blessed this year. This would be an awesome gift to us that would bless someone who is less fortunate than we are. After all, isn't that the real reason for the season?

Thankful for the gift of Christ,
Aim

Wedding Sneak Peaks from our Photographer

A sneak peak of our wedding photos by the ever lovely Viera Photographics!

If you want to see the full post on Viera's blog, click here.

I think Viera did a great job of capturing the emotion and feeling of the day don't you? I can't wait to see the rest of their photographs! I love the one of Blane looking at my Dad with his eyes. It might be my favorite of the bunch.

Which one is yours?

Mrs. S

Mom's Bday

Phew! Getting this one in under the wire today. Tonight Blane and I had both sets of parents over to our house in honor of Blane's Mom's birthday this week. It was the first time that I cooked for our parents and it turned out great!

On the menu was Misoyaki salmon (courtesy of Court and her Dad's recipe!), brown rice, Kathy's salad and homemade banana cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert. Mom Sandi shared during dinner that this evening was her second favorite moment of her entire year (after the wedding) because no one had ever invited her over and cooked for her before. My heart swelled and hurt at that because she is always cooking for everyone else and having people over at her house. She was so touched that we would want to cook for her and have her over-it was the best birthday present that we could have given to her.

I am blessed to have a wonderful Mother-in-law. I was so excited to give her my first "Happy Birthday Mom" card tonight. It was a great evening, with sharing (hey-my Dad was in the house, haha), family, good food and celebration. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Love you,

Aim

For Quiddie

Grace turns 22 today everybody! In honor of that, I've dedicated this blog post to all things Quiddie.

Q. Quid.

This has been my nickname for Grace since she was in Middle School. We bonded over a Harry Potter board game and if you know HP, then you know that the game they play is called, "Quidditch." So I started calling her Quidditch, which then was shortened to Quiddie, and finally to Quid. Sometimes it even goes to just "Q" depending on my mood :). If I've given you a nickname it's because I hold you dear. I don't call anyone in my inner circle by their actual name-I think it's special when just you have a name to call someone. Right Quid? 

Quid goes to camp, circa 1999

U. Understated.

When Grace first came to America back when she was seven years old, she was a mute. The first time I remember meeting her she hid behind her Mom and barely uttered a "hi" and only because her Mom made her. Nowadays things have changed and although people on the outside might think she is still quiet, insiders know better. Bring your earplugs people, it can get that loud ;)

Quid rides the Shotgun Bouncer, 2009

I. Intelligent.

Grace has a mind like no other-her memory is one of the very best around. She is especially adept at memorizing numbers of any kind. For example-the girl knows my driver's license #, my SSN, the plates on my car and every address I've lived at in the past decade or so. The girl is a whiz I tell you-it's scary sometimes. If I ever am fuzzy on a detail of something we've done, she always knows. She also is super observant and knows far more about the people in her world (and even some who aren't) than you would even guess she does. Tricky, that one.

 Quid in her High School Senior Portrait, 2008

D. Dark.

I think this one goes without saying, but the girl has melatone up the wazoo! We are always joking that I want some of her skin color, and she can have some of my paleness. For my wedding, J, Dawn and I had to get spray tans because we all know that the darker you are, the slimmer and more pretty you are ;). Grace, on the other hand, didn't need to fork over the $$ and stand buck naked in front of a spraying stranger because she already had the color, thank you very much!

 The closest we've ever been in skin color-and this is after I had four layers of spray tan applied!, 2011

D. Dude.

I mean this in a lot of ways. Don't get me wrong here-Grace is a gal through and through-she just happens to have some "dude-esque" qualitites in her. Nothing wrong with that right? ;) First of all, she loves basketball, more particularily the NBA and the Lakers. She knows more stats than probably my cousin No and he's a stat King. (He'd probably dispute this claim but whatevs ;) If I ever am on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and I need a lifeline for a sports question, I'm calling Grace, no doubt. Secondly, the girl can burp like no other. We're known for earthquakes here in California, and shake the walls she can! It's pretty amazing actually. We're working on getting that out of her system in front of cute boys so we'll see if this continues. ;) Thirdly, she says the word "dude" a lot. Which is originally where this "D. Dude" came from. If she hasn't said "dude!" or called you "DUDE" then you haven't talked to Grace like ever.

Walking down the aisle at our wedding in October

Doesn't she look stunning? No dude here! :)

I. Insider.

For me, there are very few people that are inside my inner circle. I'm just private that way. Grace is one of my "insider" people. Somehow, she went from that mute 7 year-old to one of my greatest friends as a 22 year-old. She is my little little sister and I love her greatly. You know she's close when she celebrates every Christmas at my house! (That's right-don't you dare break the tradition! Grrrr)

Our annual Christmas at Starbucks drinks, 2010

 Helping me go over my vows before the ceremony, Oct. 2011

E. Every person's friend.

Grace has a lot of friends. She doesn't think so, but she really does. I think it's because she is loyal, keeps secrets like no other (she's a vault), and she's not critical or mean. Basically, she's the anti-girl in this department and I mean that as a compliment. Girls can be harsh, Grace just isn't. I know that her being a bridesmaid in my wedding is only the beginning to her standing up for a lot of her friends in their future weddings. (sorry Quid :)-I'll make sure you look good though!) She's as good a friend as they come, and if you don't have one like her, then her # is...haha, just kidding. She's all mine people! :D

These two are "best friends" and they love bantering with eachother like brother and sister. Blane even took Grace engagement ring shopping before he proposed and they tried on diamonds together. Haha. They are funny and I know they both love eachother even though I don't think they've ever said it to one another ;)

Quiddie, you are beautiful, through and through. My prayer for you today is that you feel loved, celebrated and recognized for the incredible person that God has made you to be. I look forward to seeing what journey God will take you on in this next year of life~for the many challenges, but also for the many victories and joys that He is going to bring to you. Trust in Him and you will never fail. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I love you!

4Life,

Aim :)

Ridiculous!

Really?!? I saw this over on MSN today and it really made me angry. Really?!? The way you want to make a political statement is to boycott an organization that helps people in need in major ways?!? How lame, immature, childish and selfish can you get?

Makes me want to put more $$ in the red bucket. Hope you will do the same!

Merry Christmas,

Aim

December, D.Fir+Carrie

Today is December First. The official start of the Christmas season. I love Christmas. I love the smell of trees, the lights, the cold weather, the candles, the celebrations, the birth of Jesus.

The day after Thanksgiving marks the first day of decorating for me and my family. It always has, always will. We don't cheat Thanksgiving around here like all these big name stores that bust out their holiday decor in August. No way Jose. A shout out to Nordstrom for waiting to put their Christmas decor up until the Black Friday as well. They had a sign and everything about respecting Thanksgiving. Wish I had a photo of it. Kudos Nordies!

So on Black Friday, while the rest of the world was recovering from shopping with the masses at insane hours, Blane and I were at Home Depot, picking out our first Christmas tree. We went prepared, with gloves and knife in hand, because we have learned from past experience that if one does not have these tools, then the buying-the-tree business is a lot more difficult than it needs to be. 

I love my husband. One of the reasons is because he goes along with what is important to me. No, we didn't buy the first tree that he opened for me; nor did we buy the second, or the third. I know it's not the most fun thing he's ever done, and it gets monotonous, but he lets me do my tree thing and continually opens tree after tree, shaking them down until we find "the one." 

This year's tree is a winner! We always go with a Douglas Fir (because anyone who really knows tree decorating knows that the firs are the best for hanging lights and ornaments) because that's what J and I always grew up getting. It's not Christmas without a D. Fir!

Meliss and J were on hand as we brought her home, made a space in our living room and figured out the exact tilt that she needed to be in the tree stand. Important matters at hand-we take tree setting up seriously.

Our tree has affectionately been named "Carrie" by Blane. And yes, he named her after Carrie Underwood. I don't know what to tell you-at least he took an interest in our tree right? :D

1500 lights (Yes, you read that right-we have over one thousand lights on this baby and she's only 6-7' tall. The general rule is 100 lights per foot so technically we only needed to put 700 lights on the tree but by the time I finished putting the lights on we had double that number-it looks ah-maz-ing!!!), one $5 garland (also from Home Depot-steal!), a handful of candles, our stockings and some ornaments later Christmas had officially come to our house. :)

I am beyond excited to celebrate my favorite season with my new husband in our new home. I feel so blessed! As we all enter December today, I hope that we all will think to spread some Christmas cheer~and some Christ!~with those we encounter this season.

Merry Christmas!

Aim

P.S. Again, my apologies on the lack of pics in this post. This time my blackberry has failed me and it has somehow stopped e-mailing my pics even though it says that they have gone through :(
Come over and see the tree in person instead!