celebrations – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Hello 2019!

Hi Friends! How was your new years eve? We stayed home (just how we like it) and invited our In laws to celebrate NYE. We had prime rib and other fixins. We just watched the TV coverage of the Times Square ball drop and toasted with our Proseco (apple cider for Boo!). Went to bed before midnight (thank God our neighbors didn’t do any crazy fireworks because Riley slept like a baby:). He’s very stressed every time there’s fireworks or loud banging.

New Year’s Day we watched the Rose bowl game between Ohio and Washington, our team lost! We had fondue and fried chicken. YUM! Hubs finally took down our Christmas tree and other decors. I kinda miss the lights but I’m glad we have a little space back in our tiny living room! We also did our first shopping at Costco for the year to stock up on basic things like toilet paper, ziplock bags,etc. I noticed that Costco has decent prices for these things every new year. Happy New Year friends! May 2019 be full of blessings and good health for all of us:)

Our first breakfast of the year! Pop Overs by hubs:)

Shopping at Costco – Boo had fun helping us and was a good girl!HA..Love her face in this pic, she gets so impatient with me! Hehehe

Lunch at Red Robin after Costco shopping!

Enjoying my coffee in this Emma Bridgewater mug that Hubs gifted me this Christmas.

Christmas 2018!

Hello Friends! How was your Christmas? We had a great one celebrating the Birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! Christmas eve, we attended our Church service, then had Chinese food. Christmas morning we had breakfast together, my Hubs prepared Pop Overs! We try to keep breakfast simple because we know we’ll be snacking all day! Lots of family time, yummy food and just the right amount of gifts:) Over the years our family is really trying to be intentional with our gift giving and trying to minimize the amounts of gifts given. Mia received many gifts from our immediate and extended family – almost too many! We are thankful for their generosity and thoughtfulness.

I’m kinda itching to take down our Christmas decorations, normally I wait after the New years! But I’ve been watching and reading about minimalism, living intentionally and simplifying. I’m debating whether or not to take it down or just wait for few more days, because I really do just love the coziness of Christmas. We’ll see…

Garlic honey pork chop from our Chinese dinner!

She got Mickey and Minnie stuffed toys from Grandparents!

I got a massager, and I tried it today and so far I’m so loving it!

Auntie Candy and Uncle Tom stopped by to deliver gifts and Christmas goodies!

I made roast pork belly!Yum!

Day after Christmas! Mia had fun jumping on her gift from Auntie Chak and Uncle Chads gift!

My sis got me these new sheets! I love the blue paisley print! My family spoiled me this year, they got me everything I wanted:) HA!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! I was able to convince everybody to be matchy matchy! I love it:)

Have a great night friends! I’m hanging out with Hubs watching TV and sipping Hot chocolate:) Blessings to you and your family!

Holiday Traditions!

Hi Friends! I wanted to share one of our family traditions with you. Every year we go to Seattle the day after Thanksgiving, officially welcoming in the Christmas season. Since we had Mia we always go to the carousel and let her ride, she didn’t really care for it this year!HA. Maybe when she’s a little older, she will love it.

We always do the Pike Place Market, check Delaurenti’s cheese and charcuterie selection (love this place but Ugh so pricey). Franz chocolate shop is also a must. We got a couple of their famous sea salt caramels. We end up eating at Dahlia Lounge (Tom Douglas resto). I enjoyed their corned beef hash (so so good!). Mia loved the Macy’s Christmas decorations, she was really into watching the snowflakes, trains, and Christmas village scenes. I loved seeing her reactions:) One more week till Christmas friends! Blessings to you and your family this time of year:)

Christmas in our house!

Hi Friends! It’s beginning to look like Christmas in our house:) Christmas time is so special when you have a little one! Mia was having fun when we set up our tree and put up all the ornaments. She already broke 4 ornaments! We have to put our “nicer” ornaments in the upper part of the tree, she’s getting so tall that she can reach things easily!

Our decors are old and mostly second hand from my In laws. My Mom In law gave us our nativity set and made our stockings too. I wanted to keep things simple because it’s easy to put things away, less stuff to organize. I’m thinking of getting some things after Christmas though (Christmas sales) just to update some decorations for next year.

Just two more weeks till Christmas friends! I’m getting excited:)

Like mother,like daughter! Twinning with my Boo!

Some of my fave ornaments!

I got this from Lenox when we visited the Philippines early this year!

Keeping it simple in our stairway. Old poinsettias from my Mom in law, and we have a collection of Teddy bears. I only put out 3 because Riley gets crazy and wants to play with them.

Stockings are made by my Mom In Law except for Riley’s, she just added his name.

Our nativity set! Gifted to me from my Mom In law.

Seattle Aquarium!

Hi friends! Happy Saturday! We went to the Seattle Aquarium this week to celebrate the hub’s company Holiday party. They had it in the aquarium this time. I wanted to go mostly for Mia. I knew she would like watching the animals, especially the fish. I’m not sure if she liked the octopus! She did enjoy harassing the fake one:) We had a great time, especially during dinner, when we had a good view of the aquarium and the fish while having yummy food!

We were able to watch the workers feed the otters too, they’re so adorable and cuddly looking! They ate a lot:) We also got to see the Seattle Great Wheel, that ferris wheel is HUGE! So pretty with all of the lights and the water reflection. WOW! We would have loved to walk around the area but it was so cold and we worried about Mia getting too cold. Anyways, are you done with your Christmas shopping friends? I’m almost done with mine. I’m trying to be intentional with my shopping and not go overboard. It helps that I’ve been decluttering and minimizing stuff around the house.

I’m off to watch a Cheesy Hallmark movie and have some hot chocolate with my Boo. Have a great weekend friends! Blessings to you and your family:)

Hubs Bday!

Hi Friends! Happy Thursday, this week has been NON stop for us! My Hubs birthday was this week, we had doctors, dental, and vet appointments (Riley has some skin issues) UGH! It’s been exhausting. So we’re taking it easy tonight (KFC for dinner, PLEASE don’t judge!HA) and hot chocolate and cheesy hallmark movies is what we’re doing for self-care!

Anyways, Hubs wanted sushi for his bday dinner so we went to our neighborhood sushi place.

Randomness this week:

I’m still enjoying our thanksgiving flowers (daisies and dried hydrangeas).

A cute welcome note for BOO!HA

Grandma got her a mickey night gown! so adorable:)

Grandma baked us a carrot cake for our bday! YUM! so moist…the best carrot cake ever!

Have a great night friends!

Thanksgiving 2018!

Hi Friends! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. We have always hosted Thanksgiving since my In laws downsized their house. It’s OK with me because we do potluck style, so all of the responsibilities are shared. We enjoyed our traditional Thanksgiving food (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans casserole). I’m so thankful for all the blessings the Lord has given me this year. Thank You Jesus. We’ve had a busy Thanksgiving weekend, we went to Seattle and decorated out Christmas tree. I will post more of that this week. Have a good week Friends!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

A simple Thanksgiving table, we used our dried hydrangeas from our yard! And bought daisies from the store.

Happy Birthday!

Hi Friends! I had my birthday last week and to celebrate my Hubs and I went to John Howie (my personal fave steak house in WA). Thanks to my In laws for watching the Boobear. Hubs bday is 10 days after mine,so we usually have a combine bday celebrations/gifts. They gifted us a John Howie certificate so we used that. We decided that we will not give each other birthday gifts this year. We really don’t need anything right now and we are saving for my car that we plan to pay for with cash:) I did get my free birthday drink from Starbucks earlier that day! YUM! I got their hot chocolate:)

I’ve tried the Japanese wagyu before and I personally don’t like it, it’s like eating butter in my opinion!HA

La Belle Farm Foie Gras, warm golden chanterelle and shaved Brussels sprout salad, Kurobuta guanciale, sherry vinaigrette, sweet yellow corn sauce .

Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Beef “Long Bone” R Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Beef “Long Bone” Rib Eye, mesquite grilled, duck fat roasted Yukon gold potatoes and Cipollini onions, roasted bone marrow, bordelaise (info from website)

definitely too raw for me! good thing the side part was cooked enough though:)

We we’re already too full and decided to skip dessert! Thanks to my family and friends for all of the birthday wishes. I’m so grateful for what the Lord has done for me this past year. Have a blessed week friends! Happy Thanksgiving:)

Our Halloween!

Hi Friends! I hope you had a fun Halloween and that you got to enjoy some treats. I personally do not participate or do something big during Halloween, we do buy candies for the trick or treaters in our neighborhood. Since we have Mia now, we joined the craziness of the holiday:) I got her a Snow White dress because we’ve been watching some Disney shows lately and she really enjoys them.

We attended my husband’s Office party too! It was so much fun to see the other kids dressed up, but Mia didn’t win the toddler contest! Next time Boo:)

My In-law’s joined us for our neighborhood trick or treats, we were blown away with all of the creative decorations. Some of our neighbors went all out!

We didn’t go to a pumpkin patch this year, so we got our pumpkins at our local grocery:( HA! My hubs did amazing carving pumpkins this year. Good job Ga!

My In laws brought bbq for dinner before went out to trick or treat! My MIL got too many bundt cakes! It was good though.

Off to get some candies:)

What a fun and tiring day! She had a good sleep after enjoying her treats:)

Back From Our Vacay!

Hello Friends! We just got back from our 12 day Hawaiian Vacation! Nothing beats a tropical vacation with family. Pure Paradise! This was Mia’s 2nd birthday celebration, we skipped a children’s party this year. We had a little brunch celebration with my In-laws the day before we left though . She got lots of birthday gifts from our Hawaii family too. Thanks to our families for their generosity. I’m so proud of my MiaBoo for being a good girl on our 6 hour flight (Seattle to Honolulu). A couple of passengers on the flight mentioned it too. Way to go Boo:)

Thanks to our Hawaii family, especially my Sis and Bro In-law for taking the time to be with us. Lots of beach time and food tripping! I will surely post more of it in the coming days. For now, I hope you enjoy some of the pics that Hubs took! He got a new phone so he’s been playing with his new gadget. Off to do some laundry folks! HA! Have a great weekend:)