Light my Heart Up!

Happy Monday!! For those of you who called into work today because Superbowl Sunday was just TOO much fun, a super duper happy Monday to you! As you know, February is a FAVE of mine, and I've been all about the red/pink/heart-sy DIY's! I'm kicking it off with my Heart-Jar Candle!

If you want to finish it off extra cutsie, you can add a bow to the brim of the mason jar! And VOILA!

I tried lighting a votive and tealight in the heart-jar, and I think the tealight is best suitable because you can see the entire design of the heart more clearly. You can make a ton of these, and light your house with tons of love!

My LLL's of the week!

LOVE

I LOVE MY FAMILY!! In case you haven't caught onto that by now, I seriously honestly love each and every 32498237498 of them!! This week I talked to so many family members that there wasn't room to feel discouraged or alone!

LEARN

I learned (again) that it's okay to feel sad or discouraged. Just don't let it dictate each and every day you wake up! Dust your knees off and keep it pushin... it's all about your ATTITUDE!

LAUGH

I had some great chukkles with my gal pals when we went to a birthday lunch last week. We gabbed and laughed our pasta and salad away!

Farewell Aunty...

She is my grandmother's sister. The one to raise all of us in the family... The one to watch all the kiddos from infants to high school'ers...  The one to show and remind us all of the Samoan Way of Life... The one to encourage us to remain humble, respectful, and to honor our parents... This beautiful woman is one of the oldest ladies in our family... my Aunty Tali. She's the one to leave us here in America today to be with her son and family in New Zealand. She is heavily on my mind, especially lately, and more as ever today. I think, "Did I visit her as much as I was able to?"... "Did I tell her I love her enough times today?"... and on, and on, and on.

I share this farewell with you all today my friends, to remind you to tell your loved ones that you love them... to visit your loved ones "just because"... to love, honor and respect your elders no matter if you think they're right or wrong. They may not always be around the corner... they may move away from you, or you away from them, or they can easily be called by our Lord to be with Him in heaven. Don't live life with regrets or questions unanswered.... it's never too late to love each other, and forgive one another!

Celebrate Good Times!

This weekend there were some mighty fine celebrations back home! One being my Aunt's birthday parlayyy full of some good ol' Samoan food that warms the soul, and some good sweet family time! My Aunt has been an amazing mother figure to me... and the rest of my family! There are no words to describe my appreciation for her love since the day I was born, but I'll give it a shot anyhoots! She is the one to never turn her back on our family, through thick and thin... she's the one who always has what I need before even asking her for it... she's the one to encourage and motivate me at each point in my life... she's the youngest of 14 siblings, and the one with my grandmother's heart... she's my Aunty ONE and I love her past the moon!

Aunty ONE, me, and my other mother/aunty, Aunty June

Another celebration that I sadly wasn't home for was my Bestie's bridal shower!! She's the one in the white, as you probably have guessed already! These are 5 of the 7 of us lucky bridesmaids who get to be with her as she becomes a MRS.! Her bridal shower was a burlesque theme, and from the pictures I swooned over, was extremely cute!! She's been there for me through it all, especially graduate school! She was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding, and we were so blessed to have her and her awesome possom fiancé in Maui with us to celebrate some SUPERB times!! I can't wait to reunite with her, especially for her BIG day that can't come soon enough! We shall fist pump like no other and celebrate the new chapter in her life!

And thennnnnn.... last night I missed one of my younger cousin's 21st birthday parlay! How fun it would have been there to sang a sweet song at her karaoke party! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KITTY KAT RACHA!!!

So many celebrations that make me super home sick, but I'm trusting that His plan is entirely for a reason!

And now, for my LLL's of the week... What I loved, laughed, and learned about!

LOVE

I absolutely loveeee that one of my gal pals asked mwuah for some blogging tips and tricks... not that I'm a pro or anything, but I was still able to share some basics that others were able to share with me! I love hearing about my friends starting their own blogs... I honestly love my blogging community and the fact that we all bring each other new things each and every day! Check her out!! Her name is Whitney (to me she be Whit Whit!) and she blogs over at High Heels & Carhartts... stop by and show her some love!

LEARN

I learned about an opportunity to present my dissertation at the biggest annual conference for SIOP (Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Inc.), and I am SO excited to keep the wheels turning with this while it's still fresh in my mind. Submitting is one thing, but getting accepted is a whole other ball park! I shall keep you all filled in!

LAUGH

My hubs and I watched 21 Jump Street this weekend, and I seriously cracked up the entire time!! Jonah HIll and Channing Tatum were hilarious together! If you haven't see it, I totes recommend it... who doesn't laugh while reminiscing through the high school days?!

Did you have any celebrations this weekend? How about your LLL's?

High Five!

TGIF!! Time to list our top 5 fave things from this past week with Lauren at From My Grey Desk! Let's give a High Five for Friday and get this party started on this Friday morning shall we?

:: one ::

I'm not sure if you noticed from my blog, but we had the BEST time at our first official family reunion!

:: two ::

Someone left this sweet note on my desk, which meant the world to me. Giving me kudos "just cause" can bring some sunshine in my life any day!

:: three ::

During our family reunion, we had my graduation party! It was so overwhelming to see everyone and hear how they were all so proud of me. Also had an opportunity to make it rain during our customary Samoan dances!

:: four ::

Career hunting has been quite fun this week. There have been some great opportunities out there, and I'm excited to learn of many more!

:: five ::

Sweet words couldn't have been more bliss coming in an email!

Don't forget to link up with Lauren, and share your 5 fave things of your week! Happy Friday!

Family Weekend

Why am I home/family-sick? THIS is why!! A weekend full of family smiles, sunshine, and love!

My cousin ran for Ms. Taupou at the Samoan Flag Day

Showing love for the ones who built our foundation

Our talent show

Beach Day

Girls of the Fam

Boys of the Fam

I just love and miss each and every one of them!! Let me tell you... if you live near your family, enjoy every second of being with them... for those are the moments you will cherish the most!

Happy Friday!!

Happy Friday to you ALL!! So first thing is first... YES, I was supposed to post some of my official wedding pictures yesterday, but read on to hear about my why I failed!

Moving and grooving' (as my Bootcamp goooorl would say!), here are 5 of my fave things from this past week! Linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk, let's celebrate with a High Five for Friday!

:: one ::

I witnessed some gnarly sunsets this past week, and made me want to stay outside for all of night!!

:: two ::

 I participated in my first ever VLOG with Lindsay at Trial by Sapphire and Ashley at 5ohWifey for The Girl Behind the Blog series. Thank you ALL so much for your sweet comments... you gave me great confidence to partake in another vlog session... of course after some time has passed! If you missed out on that vlog, you can peep game out here.

:: three ::

I got some pics of my 5 month old cutie patootie nephew who now knows how to sit up all by himself!

:: four ::

My family is here for the weekend, and the weather is fantastic!! Which means lots of outdoor hiking for us, possibly floating the river, and lots of laughs from the gut!! I am OOBERLY excited to be present this weekend ;)

:: five ::

As you probably have read by now, I got our wedding pictures in the mail! YAYYYYY!!! I had THE hardest time choosing photos to share with you all from the wedding, so I decided not to post at all yesterday. I promise it was overwhelming for me and took for half my day to work through it. Well, I really didn't work "through" anything since they never were posted. But long story longer (sorry), I decided to break up the wedding pictures throughout next week, opposed to sharing the 55 flicks I narrowed down from the 722 total pics in one post! Anyhoots, great news is I now have the pictures, and here's one of my fave!

Courtesy of Hawaiiana Photography

Don't forget to link up with Lauren, and share your favorite 5 things from this past week!

Small Kine Wedding Show & Tell

Hey there my lovies! I know you are all anxious to see some wedding flicks, but I'm still sorting through the ones we took on our own camera (over 1,000 can be overwhelming)... and still waiting to get our official-dicial pics back! BUT, I have a few ("small kine" as the locals would say)  I thought I can share with you today!

WARNING... the quality isn't the greatest, but it's from my handy dandy iPhone :)

I la la LOVE these girls... they helped calm my nerves down that day, and made me feel "normal" the entire time I was stressed. Best sisters I can ever ask for!

Bridesmaids and Flower Girl

My Dad and I walking down THE aisle. Man oh man was I glad HE walked me down that path... my Dad kept me calm each step that my heels dug into the grass!

Pops and I

I know it's a horrific shot being that the ribbon is covering my head, BUT you get the gist of the picture, right? Holding hands in matrimony... best feeling of my entire life.

THE moment

Hope the sneak peak can hold you off a bit longer while I gather my pictures together. Until then, I'll continue to share what I can in this bloggy blog world. Happy Tuesday folks!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you amazing Dads out there!!! And to my POPS!! You have been the most awesome father I can ever ask for. Each day, our bond grows stronger, and I am so blessed that God has blessed me with a great role model in life who has taught me to live life to the fullest, and to never be blind to anyone or anything! I love you so much DAD, and YOU ROCK MY SOCKS!!

Hooray..Hooray...It's FRIDAYYY!!

TGIF!! Last working day before we peace out to Maui, and I am oh so excited!! But FIRST, we must kick this morning off with a High Five for Friday link up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk!

Top five fave things of the week are....

:: one ::

My cousin Kyle graduated form high school on Wednesday! WOOP!! I'm so excited and proud of him!! It's been one long journey through his high school years, but he pulled through with a diploma and a smile on his face!! AND our cousin Coco graduated too! Same school, same class, same coolness!

:: two ::

Got my Birchbox for the month, and what a perfect start to packing for the trip!! The them is Jet Set, and got tons of goodies in there to help prepare me for the sun and some!

:: three ::

My Bestie of all America sent me THE gift I've been awaiting for all my life!!! Feast your eyeballs on this!! Can't wait to buy all the different flavors in the world and brew coffee whenever I want to!! In either my spiffy new coffee pot from my SIL, or a single cup from the nice Keurig my Bestie best bought me!!

:: four ::

Oregon State University is having their commencement ceremony this Sunday. AND they are ooberly lucky to have the First Lady come speak! The good thing about working in the Football office is this view!! Amazing how much time and effort is put into the ceremony!

:: five :: 

I'm tickled pink I get to marry the man of my life, my best friend, my BOO!

Although I'll be gone and MIA from the blog visits I regularly do, don't stay away from my hood! I have posts scheduled and some guest posting goin' on!! Stay tuned my friends... and if I don't respond in the next two weeks, please know I LA LA LOVE YOU GUYS and I shall be on and poppin' when I get back... as a WIFE!!