Kimiko's Bloggity Blog

Baby Hailey is here!

2009-09-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It has been a long 3 days, but at last I am back home. Hailey was born on Tuesday 9-8-09 via c-section. She weighed in at 6 lbs & 7 oz and measured 18.5 inches. I was scheduled to have the c-section on 9-10, but my water broke at 3:30 am on 9-8. I am doing better now, but on Tuesday I was in some pain. I'm still tender, but I am up and walking around and trying my best to recover quickly. These 3 days have definitely been tough for me, not so much the recovery but being away from Kailyn. I'm so glad to be home and to have her around me again. She is doing well with adjusting to Hailey but I'm sure she still doesn't understand that Hailey is here to stay lol. Garrick and I are making sure we spend quality time with Kailyn and try to include her as much as we can to avoid jealousy. If Garrick feeds her, I have her sit with me on the couch next to him and the baby and we sit together. It's only been 1 day, but so far so good. I've uploaded a few pics to my Flickr page. Most of them are kinda blurry since I didn't want to use the flash on the camera. I'm hoping to get a few good shots over the next few days so I can get some birth announcements ordered and in the mail. I'll try to post blogs with new pics as often as I can :o) Take care everyone!

Just an update......yes I'm still alive!

2009-08-23T01:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a loooooong while since I've updated anyone! So much has been going on! As most of you know, I am now 9 months pregnant. We are expecting another baby girl due on September 18th. We plan to name her Hailey. The problem is is that Hailey seems to want to be like her big sister and arrive earlier than planned! So for the past 2-3 weeks I've been "ready to go" any day now. I was put on bed rest for a while, but luckily that got lifted last week. My doctor thinks that she is healthy and developed enough to be now, even if it's a few weeks early. I just can't do any heavy lifting. So hopefully within the next few weeks I'll have some exciting news and picture to send to you all! As for Kailyn, she is getting huge. She is now 27 months old. She is talking and in semi-full sentences, eating pretty healthy (but I must admit she does get in her PICKY moods), and has learned her shapes and colors. We've been putting her in weekly swim lessons and she really enjoys those. Garrick is doing well also, been busy at work. But since my early labor & being admitted to hospital scare in early August, he's been coming home extra early to help me with Kailyn. So things right now have been a little hectic and exhausting, but it's all working out. Now we're just waiting for my water to break lol! I had closed down the Etsy shop, but I'm going to open it for 1 more week because life is so boring without Etsy lol! So take a peek if you get a chance :o) Hope everyone is doing well and we hope to see you all very soon! I'll be attaching some recent pictures I've got of us! Take care!

Gardening!

2009-07-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

For the past month and a half Garrick and I have picked up a new hobby: gardening! I always HATED gardening. My mom used to keep a garden.....well tried too lol! She'd always try to get me into it, but nothing ever grew so I always thought it was a waste of time and effort. When Garrick wanted to start up a garden I really wasn't into the idea, but I saw how badly he wanted to try it so I agreed. I'm so glad I did. We've planted numerous rose bushes that I thought for SURE were going to die within a week. Almost 2 months later they are flourishing and have made our yard look so much nicer! So about 4 weeks after we planted rose bushes, we decided to try vegetables. I thought "okay, there is NO WAY these are going to grow". To my astonishment we're watching an eggplant grow on our eggplant bush and a few strawberries ripen on our strawberry bushes. I planted every seed imaginable and shockingly those are growing too! I'm so happy! We've been taking pictures of the garden's progress since early June (they can be viewed here). I can't wait until the other veggies are grown and we can harvest them and make yummy dishes with them. The only problem we're running into is a mystery bug/worm that has eaten up our lettuce sprouts :o( Other than that, everything has been growing and we're anxiously awaiting making our first dish out of our homegrown veggies :o)

Other than our little garden, everything else has been pretty quiet around here. I'm now 30 weeks along and starting to feel uncomfortable. The usual aches and pains have been plaguing me but the worst is the kicking (and our super hot weather). It hurts so much when this baby starts stomping on my bladder! You know the movie "Alien"? The part when the alien bursts through that dude's chest? That's how I feel! I swear she is trying to explode out of my abdomen. Unlike Kailyn, the doctor thinks that I will be carrying this baby full term and that she'll probably be almost 8 pounds. UGH! Kailyn was 5 weeks early so she weighed 5lbs 12ozs and I had a hard time getting her out lol! I actually MIGHT be getting a c-section this time around to avoid further damage to my back. After Kailyn was born I had really bad back pain for about 8 months. The pain is returning since I'm getting heavier and we're afraid that trying to push an 8lb baby will further aggravate my back. We'll see what happens. Well other than that I think that's about it! Have a great week everybody!

Why am I up so late?!

2009-07-04T01:35:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why I am blogging at 1:36am instead of sleeping, especially since I'm extremely tired. I guess it's one of those things where you want to go to sleep, but you don't because you're having too much fun having everything nice and peaceful and all to yourself lol! It's been a long time since I've blogged and lots has happened! First off, my Etsy shop is back open for business :o) After a long hiatus, I finally feel enough energy to start making magnets and pendants again. But the shop will close again after the baby is born (in September). Speaking of the baby, I'm not sure if I posted this before in a previous blog, but we are expecting a second girl. We're going to name her Hailey. If I mentioned that before, sorry :o( I can't remember anything anymore haha! Kailyn has just turned 2 years old (on May 31st). She has gotten so big and we are amazed at how much she is developing. She is learning to label colors and counts to 3. She is a little chatterbox too lol! And she has an obsession with necklaces. She loves them and will not go a day without wearing 2 or 3 of them. I have so much more to write about, but my forehead is about to hit the desk. I am just too tired right now. I'll have to post another update tomorrow. Until then, here are some pictures of Kailyn :o) Have a Happy 4th everyone!

A wonderful gift.....

2009-05-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

This book was given to me this past Saturday at the funeral service of one of my mother's best friends, Bebe. This book was given to Bebe as a Christmas gift from my mother in 1977 and when Bebe passed away a few weeks ago, she asked that it would be given to me. My mother was a HUGE fan of The Hobbit. As most of you may know, my mother passed away in November 2004. I just had to share it (more photos here). What makes the gift even more meaningful (other than the fact that my mother wrote an inscription in it) is that Bebe kept this book in such pristine condition for over 30 years and it's a beautiful edition of The Hobbit. The book obviously meant a lot to Bebe when my mom gave it to her and after my mom died, it meant even more to her. So much that she wanted me to have it. As you can imagine, this book means a great deal to me and I will treasure it always :o)

Today was the day!!

2009-05-05T23:15:00.001-07:00

I am now 20 weeks along (5 months). We got to find out what the sex of the baby was! Almost EVERYONE said it was going to be a boy because of the way my stomach was showing and because my morning sickness was so bad. Well guess what?! It's another girl!! We are so happy to have another baby girl. It will make things a little easier for us and we hope they will grow up to be close and love each other. I'm so thrilled cause now I get to buy cute new little outfits I've been having my eye on!! Garrick is going to kill me!! :o)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

What a busy week this has been! Weds was Garrick's birthday so we went to Disneyland! I was so happy we got to go since I LOVE Disneyland and we haven't gone in 4 years. Since it was Garrick's birthday, we got in for free so that made it even better! It was a perfect day to go. Nice weather and not too crowded. We only went for 7 hours and it was exhausting. I can't believe how out of shape I am. I was so achy the next day, I called up Burke Williams Spa and got a pregnancy massage lol! That was nice too :o) What made it even nicer was that I had a gift card and the massage didn't cost me a dime. Totally guilt free! I hope everyone has a lovely Easter Sunday and has a nice day with the family! Until next time!

The dogs were caught!

2009-04-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe what just happened! The 2 dogs that attacked Spud (and the stray cat Buddy) just came back. They tried to attack Buddy again. Thankfully I had my door wide open and Buddy was on my porch. I was facing the door and I saw Buddy freak out and I looked out and saw the dogs running right towards my door. I started yelling so it scared them away. I immediately got on the phone with animal control. I thought the dogs had gotten away again but as I was talking to them, the dogs came back. They were across the street and ran into my neighbor's yard (they are not his dogs). So animal control came down and they caught the dogs! The officer said that he was looking for these two dogs yesterday cause they tried to attack a kid on a skateboard. The child was okay thanks to some gardeners who chased them away with a shovel. As the animal control officers dragged the dogs out on the nooses, I couldn't help but feel incredibly bad. I know these dogs need to be captured and all, but it's their owner's fault. I almost started to cry cause I felt so bad. Overall of course it's for the best and I hope that the owner is found. The officer said sadly most likely the owners will be not be located since the dogs had no ID (the tan colored dog used to have a blue collar on, but not today) and since the owners are negligent, they most likely won't try to find them. I told the officer I'd call in a week to see if anybody came forward since they should be held financially responsible for the $1,500 in vet bills they cost us. Anyway, I'm glad they are caught and I'm glad that I don't have to worry about Kailyn and other animals' safety anymore. I mean regarding these dogs lol!

Happy April Fool's Day!

2009-04-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

I hope you all didn't get pranked too bad today! I'm not much of a prankster so April Fool's doesn't really matter to me :o) I don't have much to write about today, I just wanted to post a couple of pics of Kailyn. She never lets me take her picture anymore so I rarely get pictures of her now but the other day I was able to catch some good shots of her (and her filthy hands lol!) outside in her swing and sandbox. Have a happy Wednesday everyone!

Hey everybody!

2009-03-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been a while since I blogged! Let's see, what has happened since my last post..... nothing much. Spud has made a full recovery. Unfortunately the dogs were never found, but we're sure we haven't seen the last of them. We're just happy Spud healed well and is back to his old fat self lol! Kailyn is doing well. She'll be 2 in May. We're amazed at how many words she says now and she actually knows what they mean! I'm doing well, so much better than a few months ago! I am so grateful the morning sickness has passed. It was terrible! I'm now 14 weeks along. It seems like this pregnancy is craaaaaawling by though. I feel like I've been pregnant for months and it hasn't even been 4 months yet. I'm starting to show, but just a little bit. Everyone keeps telling me I have to eat more and gain weight. Believe me, I'm trying! Other than that, sadly I have no news to report. Everything has been pretty quiet on this side of the computer screen. I finally reopened my Etsy shop last night. I still have a limited inventory (still a ton of items up for sale, but not nearly as many as usual). I've been feeling good, but by the time Kailyn goes to bed I am whooped. That's usually my "work" time and I just have no energy to make new items right now. I'm hoping to regain some energy soon. Well I think that's all I got for now! Hope everyone has a lovely week!

My poor Spud.......

2009-02-25T22:51:00.000-08:00

This is Spud (and my favorite pic of him). Spud is my favorite out of my 7 kitties. He can cop an attitude sometimes, but he is such a loving and sweet fat cat. Yesterday afternoon he was attacked by 2 dogs. I do not let my cats go outside, but he somehow slipped past me yesterday without me even noticing. Thank goodness that I was home and heard the attack from the start. I heard the commotion, ran to the window and to my horror saw 1 of the 2 dogs pinning Spud against the gate. Spud was belly up and the dog had him by his hind leg. I ran outside screaming and the dogs ran away. These same 2 dogs are responsible for attacking a stray cat we like to call "Buddy" because he is so sweet and follows you around like a little Buddy cat. Same circumstances with Buddy. We luckily heard the commotion and broke that attack up quickly and Buddy has made a full recovery. Spud will make a full recovery as well, but his injuries are far worse than Buddy's were. Spud's hind left leg was chewed up pretty bad and had to have surgery on it. He is home tonight recovering, but it's gonna be hard. There is a draining tube, a 5 inch or so incision, and a smaller 2-3 inch incision on his right leg. I'm so glad he'll be okay but I can't help but feel guilty for not noticing he got out. Even though he must be in so much pain, he is being such an incredible sweetheart. He was so happy to be home tonight. He was purring away, rubbing on my leg, etc. After a while I think the pain got to him so he was hiding under our bed all night. To be expected, but it's so hard seeing him suffer and realizing how much more horrible this situation could've easily been. I'm so ANGRY about these dogs. I know they have an owner cause one of them had a blue collar on. We already filed a police report with Buddy's attack, but since that was late at night we didn't get a good look at the dogs. Spud's attack was in broad daylight so I got a good look at both of them. I'm hoping and praying that either we or the city's Animal Control will find these dogs & owners. They are taking this VERY seriously because they see how much of a threat these dogs are to our community and small children. Anyway, please send your prayers and good thoughts out to Spud (and me since I'm the primary caretaker lol!) and hope that these owners will be caught!!

First baby photo....

2009-02-13T23:40:00.000-08:00

Well kind of lol! It's a little hard to see. The scan didn't turn out too well. If you look closely you can see the little arms. The head is on the left. The doctor says the baby is the size of a gummy bear. It's so amazing that we all started off that way! He says I'm 8 weeks along and that everything looks perfect :o) My due date is 9-18-09. We'll see if I actually make it to 9 months this time though! Kailyn was born a whole 5 weeks ahead of schedule. Thankfully the morning sickness has eased up A LOT. It was so bad for about 2 weeks and then all of a sudden it just started tapering off. I'm really thankful for that. I don't think I could've lasted until 12 or 13 weeks. The nausea was horrible. I still get a little nauseous, but not nearly as bad as before. I guess it was a fair trade. 2 weeks of extreme nausea but ONLY 2 weeks of it. With Kailyn the nausea wasn't as bad, but it did last until I was about 3 months pregnant. Certain foods are still grossing me out though. Foods with thick orange or yellow sauces (like curry) and shockingly chicken! Chicken is usually my favorite and what I cook the most! I don't know what I'm going to cook for dinner now lol! I haven't been cooking lately since I have been a little nauseous and still fatigued. I'm getting better though so I should start cooking again next week. Now I have to figure out what I can make without making myself sick lol! I think that's about all I have to update on :o) I should start taking prego photos soon. I just hate having my picture taken! Especially now since I look so frumpy all the time. Until next time, have a great weekend everybody and Happy Valentine's Day!

Just shoot me......

2009-01-30T23:19:00.000-08:00

So I've been MIA for a while. The reason for that is because I am expecting again! I'm due September 18th. And the reason that is causing me to be MIA is because I'm suffering from horrible morning sickness and fatigue. I had morning sickness when I was pregnant with Kailyn but this time it is so much worse. Especially in the mornings. I'm having trouble holding down food and even water. So I've been laying low and trying to rest up and haven't been doing much online. I'm even having trouble keeping up with my Etsy shop. I still managed to make a few new magnet designs, but I don't think I'll be making anything else for a while. This pregnancy is particularly hard since I've got little Kailyn running around, pulling me off the couch to play with her when I just don't have the strength. I feel so bad! I'm so glad it's Friday cause Garrick will be home to help me this weekend. But I know the weekend will be over in a blink of an eye and it'll be Monday again. Other than this, everything else has been going well. Kailyn has been talking and learning so many new words recently. It's so cute to hear her mispronounce them. She calls potatoes "po-ta-tee". Sometimes there are two "tee"s so it's "po-ta-tee-tee". She is 20 months old now! Time flies! Hopefully these next few months fly by so this morning sickness will be gone! Well I think that's all my news :o) Have a great weekend everybody!

Lucky winner #2!!

2009-01-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Gloria!! The random number drawer picked lucky #23! Gloria will get to choose between pendants 2 & 3. Satindollco chose pendant #1 as her prize! I will do more pendant/magnet set giveaways in the future! Thank you again to everyone who entered!

We have a winner!

2009-01-25T00:55:00.000-08:00

First off, I would like to thank everyone who entered my little giveaway and for all the kind comments you all have left :o) With that said lucky winner #1 is...... SatinDollCo! The random number generator drew lucky number #19. SatinDollCo will get to pick which pendant she would like and as soon as she does, I will draw lucky winner #2. I will post again later today announcing winner #2. Congrats to SatinDollCo and again, thank you everyone!

Super dooper giveaway!

2009-01-12T12:27:00.001-08:00

To commemorate my 2 year Etsy-versary I'm going to have my very first blog giveaway! Just leave a comment (make sure you leave either your email address or Etsy username so I can contact you if you win!) and on January 25th, my Etsy anniversary, I will randomly draw a winner! The winner will get to choose which pendant they would like out of the three pictured (chain and shipping included!). Thank you to all the sweet Etsy members who have made these past 2 years on Etsy so much fun! Good luck everyone!

**UPDATE! I will be drawing 2 winners. The first winner will get first choice, the second winner will get to choose from the remaining 2 pendants**

I think I need to play the lottery this week.....

2009-01-07T00:13:00.000-08:00

So the coolest thing happened to me yesterday. I'm a big fan of Dennis Anderson's soaps. They not only smell WONDERFUL, but they are soft, smooth, and cleansing. He had a cool contest on his blog last week. He was asking for suggestions from members for new scents! There were so many awesome entries so imagine my surprise when I was one of the ones chosen! My suggestion was a vanilla & peppermint bar. The photo above (courtesy of Dennis Anderson) is the soap! It's called Buttermint Treat. Doesn't it look divine! I want to eat it lol! I was so thrilled to have been chosen and I can't wait to try this new yummy bar! I'm gonna take a peek around his shop for more yummy soaps (The Oatmeal milk and honey bar is FABULOUS). So that was the coolest thing that happened to me yesterday (Monday). The coolest thing to happen to me today (Tuesday) is that I found out I was another lucky winner of the lovely Beedazzles blog giveaway! I get to chose $20 worth of items I like and she will send it to me for free! Isn't that amazingly generous! I actually feel a little guilty lol! Her artwork and pendants are so beautiful, please take a peek at her shop. You won't be disappointed.

So a big thank you to Dennis Anderson for choosing me (and for letting me use his photo) and to Beedazzles for entering me into her drawing! I love both of your work and I frequently visit your shops often :o) With all this good luck I'm having, I think I better buy a lotto ticket!

So glad the holidays are over!

2009-01-06T00:23:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize that it's been over a month since I last blogged! I had NO time in December to do anything but Etsy stuff. I have never been more overwhelmed in my life!! I was up EVERY night until 2am, sometimes 3am! I think my post man hates me now lol! I had to finally give in and recruit my hubby for help. Once it hit about 12-17 it started to calm down. Now that the holidays are over, my shop is dead again lol! I'm okay with it now since I'm still getting over the holiday rush, but pretty soon I'm gonna start getting antsy again. Especially since I'm adding tons of Valentine's day themed magnet sets and starting a new "project". I want to start making pendants, but the kind that are in trays. I want to start working with beads also. That means more junk to fill up my store that is filled to the top with other junk lol! I've got to stop making stuff! I'm addicted to Etsy......I need help :o) Hope everyone had a lovely holiday season and wishing you all a prosperous New Year!

My Personal Wish List.....err I mean Gift Guide!

2008-11-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted! I've been super swamped with Etsy and just everyday life. Nothing new since I last posted. Just starting to prepare for the Holidays. I just put up a Christmas garland around our entertainment center. My cats are already trying to swat at it. It's been up literally for 10 minutes and I've already had to squirt them with a spray bottle 3 times. I think it's inevitable that the garland will come crashing down at least 3-4 times lol. The last time we had a tree, my cats knocked it down 3 times before we finally took it down. Broke almost all of my ornaments. I love Christmas ornaments so much and I'm so sad I can't have any this year. I did buy 3 of Twolefthands' ADORABLE Mossie ornaments that I am able to hang from the garland, since they are so light and durable. I am seriously addicted to buying those. I've bought 3 for me (one to represent me, Kailyn, and Garrick) and I've bought I don't know how many for everyone else. But I know everyone will LOVE them as much as I do. So the last post mentioned something about my own personal gift guide. I don't know how to set up a gift guide, but I do know how to set up an Etsy mini! So here is just a *few* of my favorite sellers/items that I think would make brilliant gifts this year. There are SO many and I wish I could feature EVERYONE who's work I love. I'm going to use Garrick's ID to make this Etsy mini. So to all the sellers who are featured below, I love your work and I'm so jealous of your talents! I think next week I'll post again using an Etsy mini from my dad's ID that way I can feature more people! Yes....I think I'll do that :o) So here is my own personal wish list....err I mean gift guide tee hee!

Etsy
Buy Handmade
cherricko

Happy Friday!

2008-11-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

TGIF!! This has been one heck of a long week! I'm so glad the weekend is almost here, even though it'll be over in a blink of the eye. We're going to attempt to take Kailyn's Christmas pictures on Saturday. I say ATTEMPT cause I tried last week and she wasn't having it. I got lots of nice shots of the back of her head and blurry profile shots. Hopefully with Garrick there, it'll be easier and we'll get some decent shots. I feel bad for her though. Her Christmas outfit is long sleeved and it's supposed to be over 90 degrees this weekend. Hopefully we can get it done quickly. We have to get those pics taken this weekend so I can order some Christmas mailers. Can you believe it's almost Christmas? Thanksgiving is in 2 weeks?! Where does the time go?

Speaking of Christmas, the shoppers are out and in full swing on Etsy. I'm so happy that so many people are buying from Etsy this year. I know Etsy usually does well with Christmas shopping, but I think this year is going to be better than ever. Since the economy is so bad and people (like myself) are B-R-O-K-E, it's going to be a struggle buying gifts this year. What better place to shop is there than Etsy? You get gorgeous, adorable, quality, and unique items for GREAT prices. Not to mention they are handmade! I'm doing 90% of my shopping on Etsy this year and I tell ya, it's saving me a bundle. I'm buying lots of nice gifts and paying so little. I know everyone is going to be so happy with their presents this year. So here is where I'm going to insert my shameless promotion for today. I am so honored to be featured in Upstate Fancy's gift guide this year. I got a convo from Peppersprouts from Upstate Fancy asking if I would like to be featured in their "Sock Stuffers" gift guide. I said "HECK YES I WOULD!"! I'm not just saying this cause I'm a little biased, but the gift guides on Upstate Fancy are TERRIFIC. So many beautiful items that I never even knew existed! So if you need a little help with your shopping this year, maybe take a peek at the Upstate Fancy gift guides ;o) Thank you so much to Upstate Fancy for featuring little ol' me :o)

Have you ever.....

2008-11-10T23:41:00.000-08:00

Bought something that you think is so cute and you're so excited about it that you just have to share it with everybody?? I just bought the cutest ornament ever. I love it so much that I'm gonna blog about it. I'm talking about THIS adorable ornament made by the lovely Liz aka Twolefthands. I've bought two other ornaments as gifts, but something about this little guy just made me melt. I bought an ornament even though we can't have a Christmas tree haha! We can't have a tree for 3 reasons.

Our house is too small. We have absolutely nowhere to put a tree.
Cats. The last time we had a tree, it was knocked over 3 times and almost all the ornaments I had bought for it were broken into a million pieces.
KAILYN! She is the best baby in the world, but she is so naughty sometimes. She is the most inquisitive toddler ever born. She gets into EVERYTHING and NOTHING is safe from her reach. She actually takes her toys, drags them across the carpet, and uses them as stepping stools to reach what she wants to get at.

I wish we could have a tree. The last time we had a tree was before the Etsy days and now I see all the adorable handmade ornaments and Christmas decorations and I want some so badly. Hopefully next year we can have a tree since she'll be 2 1/2 and out of this exploration stage. So anyway, I just had to feature Liz's adorable ornaments. I HIGHLY recommend giving her shop a peek and her items are so well made. I have 5 mossies and one of her petal pillows. I love them so much and she is the sweetest person. She was my first Etsy friend :o) My second Etsy friend was Starrydesigns :o) Please check out her shop too! She makes the most beautiful wire wrapped jewelry and her prices are AWESOME. Shoot, I just might as well have my own Etsy gift guide here!! Maybe I will :o) Maybe next week!

Kailyn's 2nd Halloween

2008-10-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everybody! How was your day today? Our Halloween didn't work out too well. Kailyn did look extremely cute in her costume though! We decided to take her trick or treating at the mall this year, since we didn't feel it was safe for her to try to walk in the neighborhood. She won't let us hold her hand, so it might be just a tad dangerous walking around with cars and a million other kids around. We head on down to the mall and it's beyond packed. There were "Sorry, no more candy" signs everywhere. We got 2 pieces of candy total. Of course getting candy isn't really important since Kailyn can't eat it anyway, but I was extremely annoyed. I wanted to get there at 6 or 6:30 to avoid the crowd, but instead we got there at almost 7:30 and it was insanity. We ended up leaving after 15 minutes. What a bummer. But at least I got some good pictures of Kailyn in her costume! It's a good thing that I listened to my instincts and took them before we went cause we didn't get any pictures at the mall. It was too crazy. Hopefully next year it will be better, especially since Kailyn will be 2 1/2 and more aware of what's going on. So here are some pictures of little Kailyn in her butterfly costume :o) I also made a split picture of her last year vs. this year. What a difference a year makes!! Happy Halloween everyone!

Survey time!

2008-10-25T22:40:00.000-07:00

I was checking out my Etsy friend Amy's blog (beanpicklesprout) and I saw her cool little survey. I thought I'd steal it and fill it out :o)

A - Age: 28
B - Band listening to right now: Right now I am enjoying the silence of my living room
C - Career future: To be the best mom & wife I can be
D - Dad’s name: Robert (Bob) Treitler
E - Easiest person to talk to: My friend Tiffany
F - Favorite type of shoe: Rainbow brand flip flops. I have a horrible tan on my feet cause of them
G – Grapes or Grapefruit: Grapes
H – Hometown: Monterey Park, California. I hope to get out of here soon!
I – Instrumental talent: Sadly, absolutely none
J – Juice of choice: Not a fan of juice, but I guess apple would be the best
K – Koala Bear or Panda Bear: Koala Bear but the Panda is so cute too!
L - Longest car ride ever: 11 hours from California to Park City, Utah
M – Middle name: Renee
N - Number of jobs you’ve had: 2. First job was a seasonal job at Wet Seal (HATED IT) and the second job was 8 years as a pharmacy technician
O- OCD traits: My food cannot touch. When I put food on my plate, everything is sectioned and far enough from each other so they don't "contaminate" one another lol!
P - Phobia[s]: Heights and dead people (freaked out at a funeral once)
Q - Quote: "Sorry about it" It's a stupid phrase we made up at work
R - Reason to smile: Kailyn :o)
S - Song you sang last: Umm... I'm not sure. Maybe the theme song to one of Kailyn's baby shows
T - Time you wake up: Kailyn usually wakes up at about 8:15 on weekdays. Weekends I sleep in cause my hubby is an early bird
U - Unknown fact about me: I'm double jointed and I have extremely limber hands. I can tuck my fingers behind one another and my thumb can bend backwards and touch my wrist
V - Vegetable you hate: Spinach. I hate the texture.
W - Worst habit: Spending on Etsy lol!
X - X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, spine (after a car accident), and ankle.
Y - Yummiest food my belly likes: Anything that tastes good. Japanese, Thai, Korean BBQ, Italian, ANYTHING except insects and random body parts (like intestines and eyeballs) haha
Z - Zodiac sign: Gemini (and no I don't have double personalities hee hee!)

Brand Spankin' New!

2008-10-24T14:52:00.001-07:00

I always get so excited when i find something new! I came across some cute little handmade tiles on Etsy. I bought some and I'm so happy I did! They are making excellent mini pendants! These are so great for people like me. I like dainty jewelry. I even requested my engagement ring to be less than 1 ct (to my husband's delight lol!) cause to me 1 carat is just too big. I guess cause I'm so small, everything looks giant and gaudy on me. My fingers are so small, I wear a 4.5 ring size. Anyway, back onto the topic lol! So these pendants are so tiny and perfect for someone who loves daintier jewelry. I guess I'm going to have to take a picture of me wearing one to display the true size of these little pendants. UGH! I hate taking pictures. Maybe I'll have my husband take one of me and tell him to make sure you can't see my face hee hee! So these new little tiles have given me my thrill for the week. I've made 4 so far and I can't wait to make more! So much for trying to get my inventory down lol! Have a great weekend everyone!

Them crazy pharmacists!

2008-10-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

If you read my previous post, then you know what these pics are about. In case you didn't read it, I was at a former co-worker's wedding on Saturday. She had these cute photo booths there. What do you get when you mix a photo booth, a bunch of kooky pharmacists, and an OPEN BAR? THESE!! :o)

What a weekend!

2008-10-19T01:14:00.000-07:00

And it's not even over yet!! Friday was our first family outing. I was so excited! Garrick took Friday off from work and we took Kailyn to the L.A. Zoo. Kailyn loves animals. Whenever they are on tv, her eyes are glued to the tv. She loved it! She wasn't too impressed with the first few animal exhibits we visited. But when we got to the kangaroos, she was thrilled. On the Directv Baby First network that we are subscribed to they have a little program called "Safari Scrapbook". It's a little feature on different animals. Two of her favorites are Owls and Kangaroos. Unfortunately since it was so hot, the kangaroos were just kind of lazily laying around. I wished they would've been hopping around a bit because she would've really loved that. But at least she got to see them in person and she seemed to really enjoy them. She kind of dug the giraffes too. Hopefully next time we visit it won't be 95 degrees outside. Pushing her up all the hills were killer, especially in the heat. Overall it was a great experience and we can't wait to take her back.

Today we had Rosy & Cho's wedding. Rosy was a coworker of mine at CVS. This had to have been one of the nicest weddings I've ever been to. It was beautiful! It was held at Veranda's in Manhatten Beach. It was literally 1 block from the ocean. Her ceremony was outside complete with the most beautiful floral arrangements I've ever seen and a gorgeous pond that wrapped around the ceremony area. Her reception was held inside the restaurant and it was sooooo nice. Beautiful centerpieces, great food, and a great ambiance. The best part of the whole thing was the cool photo booth she had (I will be adding those photos tomorrow after I get them scanned). What do you get when you have a photo booth, goofy hats, AND an open bar? Crazy photos featuring local CVS Pharmacists lol! Well, I'm not a pharmacist, but the rest of the people in the pictures are. I didn't drink, but everybody else did and you can see it in the photos lol! I wish we would've thought of having a photo booth at our wedding! It was a really fun and unique idea.

So now it's Sunday, the day of rest. I plan on spending today doing nothing but relaxing and filling a few orders I had from the weekend. Garrick took Monday off too and guess where I'm going??!! Burke Williams Spa....ooohhhhhh yeah. Since I've been a little stressed lately and working hard with Kailyn (and Etsy), Garrick suggested I go on a spa day. He didn't have to tell me twice! I'm looking forward to being pampered for a few hours. I'm going to have a deluxe deep tissue massage (I like hard massages tee hee) and the Extreme Buff, whatever that is. Something to do with feet lol! Foot massages are THE best feeling in the world, so I signed up for that too :o) There goes all my Etsy earnings lol! So now it's 1:30 am and it's waaay past my bedtime. Night all!!

I need some good selling advice!

2008-10-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

So most of you know about the huge problems going on with Etsy right now. Everyone's views have dropped dramatically, and no views equals no sales. I've had a few sales, but small ones. It may look like I've sold a lot, but I've only had 1 sale (1 person bought multiple items) a day. I'm still thankful for that, but my inventory has gotten way out of control. Since people aren't buying, my inventory has backed up. I need to clear stuff out so I can make new items! How do you drive traffic to your shop? Since renewing isn't working anymore, I don't want to waste anymore money than I already have. I renewed 3 items today. The most views I got per item was 5. I already have a Flickr account, Myspace page, Facebook page, Twitter account, business cards, and obviously a blog hee hee. What else should I do? Any advice/suggestions will be much appreciated! To help clear out some inventory, I'll be having a 10% off sale this weekend. On top of that, there is still the buy 2 get 1 free on all pendants. Heck if you mention this blog, I'll give you the 10% off now!! Let's all keep our fingers crossed that Etsy fixes their bugs soon. The Christmas rush is coming, but if nobody sees our items and the pages keep loading as slooooowly as they do, then we won't benefit from the Holiday season :o(

Oh no.....not another obsession!

2008-09-30T23:58:00.000-07:00

Sooooo I found a new obsession. Stamps!! I've always loved the cute little handmade stamps I've seen on Etsy, but never bought any cause I didn't know what to do with them. I was browsing Etsy last week and I came across Pulpart. She makes the coolest paper. So I bought a few sheets to see if they would make good gift tags. I bought a few stamps on Ebay and Etsy to make little gift tags with. I am now hooked. I'm controlling my compulsion though, I haven't bought *too* many stamps.....yet lol! I also bought some little brown cardboard-like boxes from Michaels the other day. I'm gonna paint them and stamp the lids with the cute little stamps I bought from Nikoart! So much to do so little time!! My store inventory is getting way out of control, so I think I need to stop listing for a while. I've got 6 pages of pendants and magnet sets I need to clear out. To help clear them out, I've got a great promotion going on. Buy 2 pendants, get 1 for free! Well it's late now and I'm super tired. It's been a looooong day. Is it Friday yet? :o) Until next time!!

Little Kailyn

2008-09-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I haven't blogged about Kailyn in a while! So I'm gonna post a quick little entry about her. She is such a wonderful baby....well not a baby anymore haha! She's a toddler now! She's running, climbing, jabbering, and the funniest of them all, dancing! She looooves to dance! She started walking at 11 months and started dancing at 12 months. Now she's a pro. Everytime she hears music she starts shaking her little diaper. She has her favorite songs. I think her favorite is The Backyardigans theme song. As soon as she hears those first 2 piano notes, she comes running. Then she gets extremely excited and starts shaking it. We've even got names for them. Visualize if you will:

The Sumo Step: She places one leg out in front of her and rocks back and forth
The Helicopter: She holds both arms out and swings them back and forth
The Butter Churn: It's sort of like the Cabbage Patch, but she bends her knees and moves her butt in a circular motion while doing the Cabbage Patch
The Conductor: Moves her arms like she's conducting a symphony. I think that one is self explanitory hee hee!
The Flashdance: All I need to say is "She's a maniac, MANIAC"!!
The Hop: Her most common dance. She just stands in place and bounces up and down

Of course I've got all this on video. I'm going to be showing this to her prom date, first boyfriend, fiance, best friends, etc lol! It's soooo funny and so cute. I just uploaded a video I took of her dancing onto Flickr. The quality isn't great, but it's definitely worth a watch. You can view it here or below. It'll definitely put a smile on your face :o)

Front Page Treasuries

2008-09-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

I love it when my treasuries make the front page. It gives sellers so much well deserved exposure. I try to use seller's who are new or don't have a lot of sales, but I also like to feature some of my favorite Etsy friends. It's always so satisfying seeing a buddy's item up on the FP :o) It's also great when they do the same for you. I've been featured on the front page only twice, once literally for 3 minutes lol! The first time I was featured by my wonderful friend Xenotees (check out her shop, she has adorable clothes!) and it was the most exciting thing EVER! Not to mention it was great exposure for my little shop. So if you're reading this and never been featured on the FP, leave me a comment with your Etsy username. I'm going to try to put some of you all into a treasury :o) If you're reading this and wondering "what do I need to do to get on the front page?", here are a few tips. First off, pictures are key. Clear, bright, and not "busy" pictures will surely get you onto multiple treasuries. I'm still trying to work on this myself. Taking good photos are so hard to do! Second, when you like your items be sure to list the colors of your item(s) as tags. I know for a fact that the majority of Etsians making treasuries search for items to use by color. Third, try to renew your favorite items about 30 minutes prior to the treasury opening. When people are searching for items for their treasuries, you want your items to be at the top (or at least the first 5-6 pages) of the list. Anyway, I hope these little tips help everyone :o) Have a wonderful evening my Etsy friends!

My big thrill for today.....

2008-09-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

So today I came across some old stamps. I don't know exactly from what year these are all from, but it must've been a long time ago because the stamps were for .32 cents & .29 cents lol! I'm so excited to make these magnets! They are turning out better than I had hoped they would!! Now I'm on a quest, to find cool old stamps to make cool new tiles out of! So far these 2 sets are OOAK, but hopefully I can find some of these sets on Ebay. I'm going to be listing them in my shop tomorrow. They are going to be hard to let go of though! Do you ever get overly excited over little things like this? For instance if you sew, you find a cool new fabric and you just can't wait to make something out of it? That's how I felt when I found these stamps today :o) Oh the little things in life that give us such a big thrill! Don't forget that the big EFA birthday bash is still going on! 20% off all purchases over $5 with the coupon code "SPUD"!

EFA Birthday Bash Sale!

2008-09-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I'm a member of the EFA (Etsy for Animals) and starting today, September 15-30 you can save 20% off your purchase of $5.00 or more (pre-shipping) with the coupon code "SPUD". Just enter in the code in the notes to seller portion of checkout. I will either send you a revised invoice or send you a refund via paypal. EFA is celebrating it's 1 year anniversary and all EFA members are having this cool sale! If you would like to see all the shops accepting the coupon, please see this list. So if you see anything you like in my shop, don't forget the code "SPUD"! Happy shopping!

Taking the night off......

2008-09-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

So after making 5 or 6 magnet sets last night (the pic is my new favorite. I think I'll have to make a set for myself), I decide to take tonight off. No magnet or pendant making tonight. The problem is now I don't know what to do lol! So I thought I'd blog, but I really don't have anything to blog about. So I'll just post some random facts about me and post some random pictures:

I'm half Japanese. The other half is basically every European culture you can think of. And a little bit of Cherokee Indian
My name, Kimiko, has many different interpretations. One of them is "Child without equal". But my grandmother used to tell me it meant "beautiful spirit"
I'm an only child and so is my husband. Poor Kailyn will have no aunts, uncles, or cousins
I have 7 cats
Prior to being a stay at home mom, my job was a pharmacy technician for CVS/Pharmacy
I hate doing laundry
I hate mopping
I like to cook
My favorite colors are green and yellow
I love music. It's something I can't live without
My favorite tv shows: Lost, Heroes, Dancing with the Stars (my guilty pleasure), and Grey's Anatomy
I love the Olympics and I'm sad that they are over. I'm going through some swimming withdrawals
I love food. Japanese is my favorite, but Thai and Italian are close behind
I hate brand names..... like big, overly expensive brands
I'm a Star Wars nerd
I'm an Etsy junkie
Favorite bands: 311, No Doubt, Sublime, and Fleetwood Mac

Okay, that's all I can think of for now :o)

Beautiful Wedding Shots

2008-09-09T01:19:00.000-07:00

So my friend Tiffany finally got her wedding print today. I was able to take some from the site and post them on my flickr account. Fee free to check them out! There are some nice shots. My favorites hot has to be the one where I'm helping her get ready. I'm trying to put Tiffany's veil on. I'll post the pic here, it's really nice. There is another really lovely shot of the Bride & Groom toasting the MOH and the Best Man. It's really cute. So many lovely pictures :o)

Is anybody on myspace? I just opened up a new account for Etsy biz only. So if you're reading this and you're on myspace, please add me :o) My little Green Daisy is kinda lonely! Feel free to post comments showcasing your items and/or promotions. So take a peek at my myspace page K? Thanks everyone for all your support!!

Yay!

2008-09-06T00:31:00.000-07:00

So after a few days of not checking my blog, I finally remembered to and I see a lovely comment from The Mum and The Rose! She gave me an award! This truly made my night! Now I get to pass this award on to 7 of my favorite bloggers :o) Here are the rules for the nominees: 1) Add the logo of the award to your blog 2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you 3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs 4) Add links to those blogs on your blog 5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs! So here goes!

Twolefthands
Starry Designs
Jenna Lou Designs
Cherry Lane Jane
Keala Legacy
Run Alice Run
T. Allen-Mercado

Today was a good day

2008-09-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

It's always so nice to be featured in a treasury. Today I saw I was featured in not one, but two lovely treasuries! One by Twolefthands and one by Humblebea. Two of my lovely Etsy friends :o) I also made my 50th sale today! I'm so happy to have discovered this new hobby. It's brought in a little extra cash for us, but really it's not about the money. It's the whole experience. Not only does it give me a thrill everytime I make a sale (cause I think, "Wow! Someone likes something I made?! Awesome!"), but it gives me something to look forward to. Being a stay at home mom is pretty tough. The toughest thing is the monotony. Day after the day of the same thing. Now that I have a little hobby, it really gives me something to look forward to doing during the night time. After Kailyn goes to bed (at around8:30 pm) and my hubby goes to bed (about 9:00 pm), the house is quiet and I have "me" time. Anybody knows how precious "me" time is and when you're a stay at home mom it's pretty much non-existent during the day. So now every night when everyone goes to bed, I turn on my ITunes and start making some pendants or magnets. And now that Christmas is coming, I'm so excited that I get to make some festive Holiday items!! So keep an eye on my little shop for some cute Christmas magnets coming soon!!

I changed my mind......

2008-08-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

So in my last post I said I was going to name pendants after important women in my life. I'm still going to do that, but not with all my pendants. Only ones that really "remind" me of someone. Instead, I've been naming them after Japanese words that describe the design. It's been fun looking up the words/phrases and I've been learning some Japanese in the process! I just love Chiyogami paper. I can't get enough of it. I keep finding designs I love, but I keep running out of tiles! Everytime I buy tiles I think "okay, 20 is enough" and then I go through them in 2 days. I think I just need to bite the bullet and buy them in huge quantities. It kills me when I don't have any tiles to work with!! I go through withdrawels lol! I just ordered a bunch of tiles, which I'm sure I'll go through in less than a week. Especially since I've been ordering some Christmas paper. I can't believe Christmas is only 3 months away. This year has flown by. I've got to start Christmas shopping soon and I have no idea what to get for ANYONE. At least this season I'll have some extra spending money since my Etsy shop is up and running. I'm not making a ton of sales, but I'm making more than I thought I would! So a big "THANK YOU!!" to all my friends (especially on Myspace!) and the Etsians who have been so supportive in my new found passion :o)

Naming My Pendants

2008-08-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

I always have trouble coming up with clever names for my items. Especially the chiyogami pendants. Totally I received lot 1 of my beautiful new chiyogami papers (one of 3 separate orders). One of the designs has really pretty paper cranes on them. I instantly thought of Sadako Sasaki. I am naming this pendant after her. Then I started thinking, why not name ALL of my pendants after important and/or meaningful women in my life. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start naming my pendants after family members and friends. The next one I make will be named of my mother, who passed away almost 4 years ago. Then one after my grandmothers (both have passed) and my best friends. In each of my item descriptions I will put a very short paragraph about the person who the pendant is named after. Not really a paragraph, just a sentence explaining who the pendant is named after. So the first pendant is named after someone I've never even met, but who's story has touched my heart since I was a little girl. If you do not know the story of Sadako and the 1,000 Paper Cranes, please take a peek here. It's very sad but inspiring :o)

Wedding Pictures

2008-08-24T02:18:00.000-07:00

I finally got my USB cable for my camera. Kailyn chewed up the last one, so I was unable to upload all the pictures I took at my friend Tiffany's wedding last Sunday. I was a bridesmaid. I blogged about it earlier this week, but I thought I'd post some pictures. Keep in mind, I know I look like a drag queen lol! My bright purple eyeshadow and big fake eyelashes were so embarassing! So we got this wedding over with and low and behold, another wedding invitation arrives today. It's wedding mania this past year! I went to one in July, Tiffany's this past sunday, and now one in October! Insanity! At least I'm just a guest at this wedding :o) I don't have to worry about anything except showing up on time. Maybe I'll make her a pendant as part of her wedding gift :o) I think I'll be giving away a lot of pendants and magnet sets as Christmas gifts this year hehe! So it's extremely late and I must be getting to bed. I'll just add a few pics from the wedding. And it's been a while since I've posted a picture of Kailyn, so here is a very recent one. She is almost 15 months old now! Have a wonderful sunday everyone!

It's been a busy day

2008-08-22T23:26:00.000-07:00

So my glue FINALLY came today! I was so happy when I saw the package, I ripped it open and finished all of my magnets and pendants. Tonight I've been making pendants and magnets like there's no tomorrow. Now I'm out of tiles! Hopefully that order I placed last week comes in tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly I've been going through tiles. Time to order more :o) I haven't been selling very much so there is no profit in any of this, but it's okay cause it gives me something to do and I enjoy doing it. Hopefully as time goes by, sales will pick up. I know it's hard for people to shop right now with high gas prices and the cost of living sky rocketing. Plus there are a million sellers on Etsy so it's hard to get noticed. The thing I'm finding to be the hardest in all of this is pricing. I don't want to charge too much, but I don't want to charge too little either. I mean to where I'm losing money in the end. I'm so afraid that people will look at my items, the magnets especially, and think "what a rip off!". The first batch of tiles I bought were really expensive. I didn't really research them, so I know I could've gotten a much better deal if I had. Live and learn I guess. The 1'' rounds cost me $2.00 each and the squares cost just about the same. Now I've found some that are almost half that price, plus MUCH lower shipping. So hopefully after I order the next batch, I can lower the prices :o)

Where's my glue?!

2008-08-21T23:48:00.000-07:00

I am incredibly frustrated with the USPS right now. The shipping time is ridiculous! I ordered some E6000 glue online, along with a bunch of other supplies, and it's still not here yet!! It's been 11 days and the seller shipped it priority mail!! Today I received an item I ordered almost 3 weeks ago, but that was shipped first class. I guess it's called "snail mail" for a reason. I've got several pendants and magnets that are all finished except for the bails and magnets so I've been dying for this glue to arrive. Hopefully it'll come in tomorrow or else I'm going to go NUTS!! It seems that the more anxious you are for something, the longer it takes to arrive. So here is a sneak peek of the items to be listed in my little shop *hopefully* this weekend (please pardon the bad picture quality). I'm hoping to have a SNS this Saturday night, but I can't if my supplies don't arrive. I'm thinking either 10% off your purchase or buy one get one half off. I guess I won't know until my supplies come in and I see what I have made. This picture shows only half the stuff I've got ready to go. Plus I'm out of glass tiles, so once those arrive (those have been 8 days since they've been shipped) I'll be making tons more. Hopefully I'll have a good amount of items listed by Saturday so I can have the sale. So check back for an SNS sale! My poor origami stars, they have been long forgotten lol! Well, I did make one jar last week. I've got one half done (cute little apples!), but I haven't been in the mood to finish it. Folding those little papers are hard on the fingers and wrist and my wrist has been bothering me. I'm positive I have carpal tunnel, but what ex-CVS/Pharmacy employee doesn't have it. Anyway, it's getting late and I have another long day ahead of me tomorrow. Will the weekend EVER get here?! Have a happy Friday everyone!!

So glad it's over.....

2008-08-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday was my friend's wedding in which I was a bridesmaid. I'm soooo glad it's all over! So much work with parties, hair, makeup, dress, etc! It was a nice wedding, but it was H-O-T. It was all outdoors, so everybody was suffering. I somehow made it through the ceremony without fainting, but I swear I thought the Maid of Honor was going to pass out. She was really suffering in the sun. There was no shade so we had to stand in sunlight for about 45 minutes. I was so envious that the majority of the guests stood in the back against the building in the nice, cool shade. I'm so thankful that it wasn't nearly has hot as it usually is in August and there was a nice breeze. I thought I was going to look completely ridiculous in my dress, but it wasn't too bad. Hair and makeup is another story though... Since I have so much hair, whenever I get up-do's my head looks full of giant curls. It looks like I have a hair piece on lol! I had my makeup done by M.A.C. and well....they made me look like a drag queen. I told the girl I wanted "natural". By the time I was done I had these giant fake eyelashes, dark purple eyeshadow that went almost all the way up to my eyebrows, and white eyeshadow under my eyebrows. I'm fair skinned, so dark colors do not look good on me. Luckily another artist that was doing the other bridesmaids' makeup noticed me, agreed that it was WAY too much, and offered to fix it for me. It was still pretty intense, but she toned it down A LOT. Overall it was an okay day, but I'm happy it's all overwith (and I'm sure my friend is too!) and I don't EVER want to be a bridesmaid ever again :o) Since Kailyn has chewed up my USB cable for my camera, I have no pictures to share as of yet. Just the top one that I stole from my friend's Flickr page :o)

As for the pendant making and everything, that is going great. I'm out of supplies and I've been eagerly awaiting a shipment to arrive. It's taking so long though!! I'm hoping to get magnet sets made as soon as the E6000 glue arrives. So if anyone is a magnet collector, keep an eye out for some new additions in my little shop ;o) Have a great day everyone!!

My New Hobby!

2008-08-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

So I finally jumped on the scrabble tile bandwagon. I received my scrabble tile pendant kit and it's so fun! I actually like making glass tile pendants more than I do scrabble tiles, but I like both. Since receiving my kit a few nights ago I've been on a pendant making binge. I'm hoping to get better at making them. Practice makes perfect! I wish I had more time to make them, but it's hard having a toddler running around. So after she goes to bed at around 8:30, that's when I bust out my kit and start making my pendants. I've been on the hunt for unique paper, so if anybody knows of any cool online stores that carries some, please feel free to share! I'm hoping to start making magnets soon, but I'm waiting for the E6000 glue to arrive so I can adhere the magnets to the back. So if any readers out there happen to be fans of scrabble or glass tile pendants, I've got lots of them listed in my shop (free shipping too!!) :o) Okay, shameless plug is out of the way hee hee! The thing I need to work on is my pictures. It's impossible to get a clear, well lit shot of anything. I don't know if it's my camera or just the lighting around the house. I've tried taking photos in direct sunlight and even those don't come out nice. I have to edit them like crazy on Flickr and even after that I still just have mediocre pictures. So please pardon the pictures, I promise the pendants and jars look much brighter and nicer in person :o)

Open For Business

2008-08-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a really long time since I've posted!! Not much has changed in the past few months. Kailyn is doing well. She is soooo active. She loves to run around and explore everywhere she can fit into. She loves to babble and squeal, which the cats don't like too much. She also loves to stand on things. Anything with a flat surface. I just bought her a little step stool on Amazon.com that I think she'll like to stand on. The thing she does that I love the most is DANCING! She loves to dance! As soon as she hears any music, she starts doing this funny little squatty dance. She does that or what we like to call "The Helicopter". She stands with her arms out and swings them back and forth. It's so funny!!

Since Kailyn is starting to play on her own a little, I've found a little extra time on my hands....and I still little lol! So I started doing the one thing I can do. Origami. I started making my little Lucky Star Jars again. I bought a lot of adorable paper online and started folding away. I have several listed in my Etsy shop right now. Please pardon the sub-par pictures. I need a better camera and I need better lighting! I know making origami stars isn't too impressive, but it's something I can do and I like doing. I wish I had more artistic talent, but sadly I do not. I am going to try making glass magnets and tile pendants though. I bought an awesome kit from SUNANDMOONCRAFTKITS on Etsy. I can't wait to get it. I'm so excited to have found a hobby that I might actually be able to do! I've been looking up all kinds of cute paper designs, but I've promised myself not to buy any until I know for sure that I can do this hobby and that I like doing it. I'm sure I will :o) So be on the lookout for some awesome glass tile pendants and magnets coming soon!!

Happy Birthday Kailyn!

2008-06-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is a little late. It's been a little busy and I haven't gotten an opportunity to post a blog in a while. On May 31st, Kailyn turned 1 year old! We had a party for her and boy am I glad it's over with lol! Planning parties is so stressful. I'm so tired of planning parties. Every May for the last 3 years in a row I've been planning a party of some type. 2006 was our wedding shower, 2007 was the baby shower (which Kailyn attended since she was born 5 weeks early!), and 2008 was her birthday party. But I am pleased to say, all have been a success. Kailyn's birthday party especially. Everything went smoothly and the weather was perfect. Almost everybody who was invited went and it was good seeing everybody. Kailyn was a little shy though, so she stayed inside most of the time. When I would bring her out she was okay, but she would start to fuss a little bit since there were so many "strangers" there. She did good though. When it was time to sing happy birthday to her, she got a little freaked out. She started making this "I'm gonna wail!!" face as soon as the singing started. It was too funny and all caught on camera. I can't wait to show it to her when she gets older and she'll get embarrassed. Actually, I can wait for that lol! To view pics from her party, click here. It's amazing how fast this year has gone by, but when I think of it in certain ways, like when we first brought her home and all she did was sleep, it seems like it was so long ago. When I look at pictures, it amazes me that it's the same baby. She has changed so much. Especially now that she is walking. She's practically running now too. We take her outside and she loves to walk around and explore. Well, that's about all I got for now. Time to go and do some laundry :o(

First Steps.....

2008-05-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Kailyn took her first steps last week! Well actually, the week before. She started off taking 2 little steps, then falling back onto her butt. Now, she is full on walking! She still loses her balance and falls back, but she's gotten the hang of it. It's so funny seeing her waddle around the house. I just can't believe how fast time has gone by. I remember bringing her home from the hospital and thinking "I can't wait until she starts walking and talking". The moment is already here! This year has zoomed by so quickly! She is turning 1 on May 31, so we're busy planning her little birthday party. Well it was supposed to be little, but now it's up to 50 guests! Oh well, the more the merrier. This is going to be a super busy summer for me. Kailyn's birthday party is kicking it off. I'm going to be in a friend's wedding in August, so I have her showers to go to and help plan. Not to mention the bachelorette party! My birthday is coming up as well as so many others! I can't believe I'm going to be 28! Not that it's old, just that my life has passed so quickly. The great thing is, I'm exactly where I hoped I would be. I always knew I wanted to be married and a mom before 30. I am so happy and I feel so blessed to be able to live the life I do. Well, Kailyn is waking up from her nap. Stay cool everyone (it's still over 90 degrees here!!)!!

Binging on Etsy is bad......

2008-05-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

So I've been on a total Etsy binge lately. There have been so many adorable creations that had my name written all over them. It's so hard for me to resist something I REALLY like. Usually I'm really good with spending and not buying something I don't "need". But when it comes to things that make me go *GASP* when I see them, it's hard to resist. Apparently a group of the best sellers on Etsy have rallied together and decided to make a bunch of irresistible items for me to see and therefore buy. I just bought two adorable tops from ellembee and a set of REALLY cute bowls from vesselsandwares. Luckily I had a lot of money stashed away in my paypal account. I won almost $400 from this game I'm really good at on King.com. I'm not a gambler, never have been. I went to a casino once. I put $5.00 worth of change in a slot machine, lost it all and I got upset that I just lost $5.00 and never played again lol. King.com is different though. It's not gambling really, it's paying .70 cents to play a game, and if you win the opponent, you win $1.20. There are more expensive games, but usually I just play the cheap ones. But if it's a game I'm good at, I'll pay a little to play and hopefully win. So half of my $400 winnings went into the pockets of some well deserving Etsy sellers :o) I really need to end my binge though, I don't want to spend too much money. I'm just buying one last thing......an adorable little pink and blue Mossie that Liz (twolefthands) made especially for me. I just love her little mossies. Oh the Mossie and a custom stackable ring set made for me by Emily (TreAnelli). Her rings are GORGEOUS. See pic to the right. I can't wait to see the set she is going to be making for me. After that, no more spending money!! I just love Etsy. So many unique items that you can never find anywhere else. I'm always amazed at the talent I see on Etsy. I wish I could post pics of all my favorite items and sellers, but then I'd be here all day. So I guess my little "Etsy Mini" over there on the left side will have to do for now. If you're reading this and saying "What's Etsy?", be sure to check it out. You won't be sorry.....but your checkbook will haha!

May Gray

2008-05-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of these weather changes. One day it's 100 degrees outside, then the next it's 65. So far May has been pretty consistent though, gloomy everyday. The news is calling it "May Gray". It even rained a little the other day. That concerns me because we are having Kailyn's 1st birthday party here in a few weeks. The weather seems so unstable. I hope it doesn't rain. I can't believe that she is going to be 1 this month! The time has flown by so quickly. I know all the moms that are reading this right now are nodding their heads in agreement thinking "Oh how it does......". Here's a question for all the mom's reading. When is a good time for baby #2? My hubby and I have been talking about it, but we're not sure when is the right time. We're thinking to have the baby when Kailyn turns 2, so this time next year. Is that too soon? Should we wait longer? I'm really scared that we will make the wrong decision and end up regretting it later (not the baby, but the timing hehe). I don't want to wait TOO long because I want them to be close. But then again, I don't want to have #2 too soon because I don't want it to cause too much stress on me and Kailyn. I need some words of wisdom! I know if we do have a baby sooner rather than later, I will be able to do it no matter how hard it is. All this baby talk has reminded me that this year will be my first Mother's Day! I wonder what Garrick has in store for me :o) Breakfast in bed? A nice foot rub? Probably none of the above lol! Too all the mom's out there, have a wonderful, relaxing, and joyful Mother's Day. You all deserve it!!!

It's been a while

2008-04-27T22:40:00.001-07:00

So I've got some really cute pics of my cats :o) I took these last week and I just love the way these pictures came out. I'm such a crazy cat lady. I have 7 cats already, and we're trying to tame the stray who is living in our back yard. But we want to tame her so we can take her to the vet and get her spayed. We know she's a female because it's very obvious when she is in heat, which happens to be now. This fat black and white cat is following her around everywhere. Hopefully she doesn't get knocked up!! She's a pretty tortoise shell cat with these giant yellow eyes. She's getting a little better, not running away the second she sees me. Hopefully she'll learn to trust me so I can take her to the vet someday.

How's the weather out there for all you readers (if any hehe) out there? Here in Southern California, it has been H-O-T! I like warm weather, but 100 degrees is just too hot. And it's not even summer yet! I'm wondering if this is going to be a super hot summer. I hope not. If it is, we're not going to get to take Kailyn out too much. I hate taking her out in the heat. I feel so bad. Her car seat gets really hot and she sweats in it since there is very little air circulation in the seat. Not to mention the air conditioner in my car isn't very good. The only thing I like about this hot weather is the night time. It's perfect. I like to sit outside on my porch and reminisce about my mom. She used to love nights like these. We used to sit on the porch and just talk. Last night was perfect. It was high 70's up until 11pm or so.

Has anybody ever been to a dueling piano bar? I went to one last night and it was pretty cool!! There is a stage with two pianos facing each other and they play almost every song you can imagine. You can make requests along with a tip, and they will play and sing the song for you. It's really cool when it's a really popular and upbeat song because the crowd participation is fun! We went to one called Sgt. Pepper's Dueling Piano Bar in downtown Long Beach last night. If anybody reading this lives in the area, definitely check it out! Here's an article on it. Alrighty, I think that's all I got for now. Until next time, I hope everyone stays cool out there!

I must be getting old....

2008-04-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

So this past Thursday a bunch of my old coworkers from CVS/Pharmacy decided to crash the USC interns' 3rd year party. It's one of those "finals is over so lets party!" type things. It's been a long time since I've gone "out" so I decided to go. The party is being held at Club Ritual in Hollywood. I haven't been clubbing in Hollywood since 2002. The main reason because I hate it out there so much. But since more than half of the pharmacy was going, I thought what the heck. So all us married women thought we'd go together. We pull up to the club, park, and walk to the entrance. Holy moly! Do girls not wear clothes anymore?! Am I (or we actually since we all had the same reaction) just getting old? I'm not even 28 yet and I felt like I wanted to run up to these girls and cover them with a blanket! The very first group of girls we see are wearing UNDERWEAR. I'm not even exaggerating. They were those little boy shorts underwear with boots up to their knees. We immediately started receiving dirty looks from numerous girls standing around outside, but we're used to this. That aspect of clubbing hasn't changed. But dang, do women have no dignity? Inside, there were two Go-Go dancers wearing tiny little bikinis with these GYNORMOUS fuzzy white boots. We had to take a picture of one of them hee hee! We all felt completely out of place there. The rest of our gang arrived and we had an okay time. The club was very smoky which was extremely annoying since I hate the smell of cigarette smoke. I did see one of the guys from Black Eyed Peas there though, that was kind of cool :o) Overall I guess it was a good night, could've been better if the DJ played better music. He played the theme from Beverly Hills Cop for 5 minutes. Seriously, he did. We were all very annoyed by this. Was this 1987? What was next, the theme from Miami Vice?! Our whole group got totally trashed except our driver and myself. I'm not a big drinker, never have been so I never drink very much. I just can't believe what our society has come to. These women degrade themselves by going out and exposing their bodies just to get some glances and "DAYAMMMMS" from some disgusting pigs. Does this really make them feel good about themselves? I can only imagine how bad it's going to get by the time Kailyn is old enough to go out! Yikes!!!!!

Spring is in the air!

2008-04-03T00:07:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad Spring is here. I'm so sick of Winter. Time to pull out the tank tops and start working on a tan. I'm going to be a bridesmaid in August and I'm pasty white and look horrible in my dress. Other than that, Spring is the perfect season here in Southern California. It's not too hot not too cold. Up until this week, we've been having PERFECT weather here. This week has been pretty chilly and gloomy. And by chilly, I mean low 70's haha! What I love even more about Spring is the beautiful flowers that start to bloom. I love flowers. I wish I had a beautiful garden. Since we rent this house, no point in putting effort into a garden if we don't plan to live here too much longer. We have some flowers, but not too many. The soil around my house is horribly unfertile. So I took some pictures of the flowers we DO have.....and my neighbors flowers hehe. I hope they brighten up your day a little bit. Enjoy!

Insomnia Sucks........

2008-04-01T01:08:00.000-07:00

So yet again, for the 4th night in a row, I cannot sleep. I hate this problem that I have. I can be so tired in the evening, but as soon as it hits 10:00 pm, I'm wide awake. It's gotten so bad that I have to take prescribed sleeping medication. Some nights I don't have to take it, but most nights I do. I hate having to take medication, but if I don't then I won't fall asleep til 4:00am or later (earlier?) and Kailyn usually wakes up at 8:00 am or so. I've tried natural sleep aids, Benadryl, and Melatonin but none of them work. Apparently, this is a very common problem now. Almost all of my friends suffer from the same exact thing (no joke!). Maybe it's stress? I didn't used to be this way! I used to be able to sleep without any problems! Garrick and I bought a new mattress on Saturday so hopefully that will help. The one we have now (used to be my parents) is hard as a rock and I HATE it. Since we're getting a nice sized tax return this year, I begged Garrick to get a brand new, top of the line mattress. We went shopping and as soon as he laid on it, he was sold. It comes in Friday so I'm hoping that it will help solve my sleeping problems, since a lot of nights I spend tossing and turning because I'm so uncomfortable. Well, hopefully my medication will be kicking in any minute, so I'm gonna TRY to get some sleep! Goodnight......I hope!

My little Diva.....

2008-03-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't written about Kailyn in a while, so I thought I would post a little blog about her. The last blog I posted was about her finally starting to crawl. She really zooms around now. If she is on her way to something she knows she isn't supposed to get into, she takes off like a little Speedy Gonzalez! She started standing up a few weeks ago and now, she is walking while holding herself up on something like the sofa or table. She's getting pretty good at it too. So now our living table has to be clean at all times, against our will lol! She will stand herself up and start reaching for anything and everything she sees on the table! It's hard to get used to not leaving anything on the table. The other day I left my leftover Jamba Juice cup on the table while I took a shower. I got out of the shower and my hubby says "Uh.....she needs a bath". Apparently she got the cup, managed to open it, and dump the leftover Banana Berry smoothie all overself and the carpet. He was SUPPOSED to be keeping a closer eye on her, but he's so involved in his stupid computer game he wasn't paying attention. She has also begun saying the word "mama". She says "ma" a lot, but when she gets upset she cries and says "maaaaamaaaaaaaa" haha. She is so cute when she cries. Thankfully, it's not too often. It's amazing how fast time has flown by. We've started planning out her first birthday party! I can't believe she's almost 1 year old! Well, I guess that's my update for now. I will leave everyone with some pictures I took of her the other day. She is such a little diva. As soon as I pull the camera out, she comes over to me and looks straight into the camera and does her little poses. Silly baby!

Tuna Casserole......mmmmmmmmm

2008-03-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

So are there any tuna casserole fans out there? I had found a recipe on allrecipes.com for a killer tuna casserole. If you're a fan of tuna casserole, you gotta try this recipe. It's so tasty, not bland at all. If you do try it, I did substitute the slices of american cheese (yuck) for 1 cup of shredded cheddar. It's so much better! And since I don't like potato chips on mine, I leave them out and cover it with aluminum foil while it bakes. Does anybody else have any recipes they'd like to share with me? I really do like to cook, but it's so hard to make anything fancy with a 10 month old crawling around. If you don't mind sharing, please do!! I like baking too!! Here's another DELICIOUS recipe for Banana Crumb Muffins! This one is to die for. I think I'll make some of these this weekend......yummmm!

What flavor am I?

2008-03-13T15:17:00.001-07:00

What Flavor Fits You?

My Result: Authentic Apple

True to the core, you're adored for being both good-natured and caring. In fact, when it comes to friends, you're the gold standard — the one everyone comes to for advice, perspective, and plain old good times. Truth is, people just like having you around. Must be something about your solid disposition that everyone finds so appealing. Or maybe it's the fact that you show your true colors so people know you're the real deal...

Regardless, it's not surprising that you mix so well in so many situations — from large get-togethers, to one-on-one time. Whatever your goals, you aim high while keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground. Overall, the people in your life trust you because you are willing to give straight advice and honest feedback. With your pleasant approach, and drive to find excitement in even the littlest things, it's no wonder you're the apple of so many eyes.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=flavorfitsogt&c=50652

This is the life.......

2008-03-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if you all know this, but I have 7 cats. They are all indoor cats, but they are really good and loving kitties. They have it made. They've got a good home, loving owners, and they get to do absolutely nothing all day long. Everyday I walk into my bedroom and there is at least 4 cats sprawled across my bed. They all slowly raise their heads to look at me and they have this expression like "yeeeeeees?" I really envy them sometimes lol. They can eat when they want, play when they want, and what I'm most jealous of is they get to take naps when they want! If I believed in reincarnation, I would like to come back as a cat. But knowing my luck, I'd probably come back as a rock or a cockroach.

My newest obsession......

2008-03-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

I am so in love with these cute little Matryoshka softies! I came across these little cuties on Etsy made by sewsewsuckurtoe (love that shop name too!). Aren't they cute?! She'll custom make a doll in any color combo of your choice. Green is my favorite color, so I asked her to make me one in a green and pink combo. I received it yesterday and I love it! Now I want one in green and yellow! I think this is the beginning of a new collection! I just love handmade dolls. I'm obsessed with Tiddlywinks' and bitofwhimsyprims' dolls! I have a ton of dolls in my room and my daughter's nursery! My husband is going to kill me!!

The rudest waiters.....ever

2008-03-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

I hate the restaurants in Monterey Park (my city). They have the rudest people EVER working in Monterey Park. Seriously, they are so rude. My ex co-worker Jill set up a little dinner get together tonight with some of our other old co-workers. We went to a nice sized Chinese restaurant here in Monterey Park. We get a table for 9 but only 4 of us were there at first. We get seated and after 10 minutes (since everyone else was running late) we start getting the evil eye from the waiters and manager. They kept walking up to our table expecting us to order our food, but obviously we weren't going to do that until everyone got there. Finally everyone else arrives and we order our food. We're all talking, laughing, having a good time. Immediately after we were showing signs that we were done (except for Doug cause he eats like there is no tomorrow) the waiters starts collecting plates. Someone tells one of the waiters that Doug wasn't finished yet and he rudely says "He's not done yet?" in Cantonese. After that, all the waiters kept staring at us and the manager walked by our table staring us down about 5 times. The thing that ticked us all off was that half of the restaurant was empty!! You can see all the empty tables in the picture to the right! Monterey Park restaurants are notorious for rude waiters/waitresses but this was the worst experience I've had. A few of the waiters kept staring at Ravi since he is Indian (well half Indian). Sooooo rude! You would think that they would like to keep their customers coming back by offering good service! Despite the stare downs, we still stayed for 3 hours just to tick them off haha! At least we had a good time reminiscing of the old days.....before CVS took over Sav-On. Well that's the end of my little rant. Thanks for listening :o)

I need a break!

2008-03-06T09:46:00.000-08:00

I need some good suggestions on how to keep myself sane. I'm a stay at home mom and I have no help. My in-laws live pretty far away and my dad works. So it's just me allllll day long until Garrick gets home. I've been trying to get out as much as I can with Kailyn. We've gone for walks, gone to the mall, or even to the market just to get out for a bit. What do all you other fabulous SAHM's do to break up the monotony? I'm starting to get kind of stressed out. I'm normally a very patient, cool headed person. But lately I'm finding myself getting frustrated easily and just really grouchy. I'm never grouchy! I know I need a break. All I want is a few hours every so often to have to myself. So I can go out if I want or just sit on my butt and watch TV without having to worry about what Kailyn is getting into. Suggestions and advice will be much appreciated :o)

Finally!

2008-03-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

As of yesterday, Kailyn has finally started crawling! She's been trying for months but she never was able to get those knees going. She would get frustrated and just lay on her belly and kick. Yesterday, out of nowhere, she started moving! I just got a picture of her in action (please excuse the messiness!). She's turning into a little Speed Racer! I guess now the real adventure begins doesn't it? Now we are going to have to really baby proof the house. She's already getting into everything. I guess I'm in for a workout! Wish me luck!!

I'm so confused.....

2008-02-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

But I love it! Who watches Lost? Anybody? We just finished watching tonight's episode and we're just so confused and loving every minute of it lol! Any theories? I have an interesting screen shot of "Jacob" (click to see it) . I think it's Jack's father, Christian. It's pretty obvious from the picture that it's him hehe. I'd love to hear them! What tv shows does everyone enjoy? My other favorites are Heroes and recently Grey's Anatomy. I rented the seasons on DVD and got hooked but I'm a little disappointed with season 4 so far. I don't think George and Izzie make a good couple. Does anybody watch American Idol? I'm a little surprised at tonight's eliminations. Personally I can't stand that Orlando Bloom wannabe guy. I seriously can't remember his name right now. He's the one who butchered Queen the other night. I can't believe he wasn't voted off. I'm not a big fan of Robbie or Jeff Yeager, but they were better than that guy. Thoughts anyone?

A little survey to pass time....

2008-02-25T17:07:00.001-08:00

My friend Tiffany emailed this little survey thing to me today. Since I have nothing better to do, I'll post it here:

1. What time did you get up this morning? 9:30am or so

2. Disneyland or Magic Mountain? Disneyland

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Juno. Great movie!

4. What is your favorite TV show? It's a toss up between Lost and Heroes

5. What do you eat for breakfast? A chicken nuggets frozen meal

6. What is your middle name? Renee

7. What food do you dislike? Umm... anything that involves internal organs (tripe, tongue, intestinal layer.....yes a lot of Asian foods have that). Not a fan of seafood either

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I haven't bought a CD in years thanks to Itunes

9. What kind of car do you drive? 2001 Toyota Corolla

10. Favorite sandwich? A torpedo from Frumentos (your basic cold cut sandwich) or roast beef dip

11. What characteristic do you despise? Lying

12. Favorite item of clothing? Anything made of cotton

13. Favorite piece of jewelry? All of my Starry Designs earrings :o) and my wedding ring

14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? England

15. What color is your bathroom? Umm...a very light rose pink and brown

16. Favorite brand of clothing? Don't really have one

17. Where would you retire to? Hmmm.... Nova Scotia Canada. Based on pictures though

18. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 26, less than two weeks after my daughter was born

19. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball, but don't really watch too much anymore

20. Furthest place you are sending this? Not sending this but if Cindy is reading this, she is in Singapore!

21. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? .............

22. The person you expect to send it back first? Again...........

23. Favorite saying? From My Big Fat Greek Wedding "The man is the head of house, but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head anyway she wants". LOVE that!

24. When is your birthday? June 11th

25. Are you a morning person or a night person? Definitely a night person

26. What is your shoe size? Depends on the brand. Anywhere from a 6.5 to a 7.5

27. Pets? 7 cats :o)

28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Unfortunately no.....

29. What did you want to be when you were little? A good mother. Seriously, that has been my goal since I was a little girl

30. What are you today? A domestic engineer......aka stay at home mom haha

31. What is your favorite candy? Wild Berry Skittles

32. What is your favorite flower? Tulips........or maybe Daffodils

33. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? May 31st, Kailyn's first birthday!

34. What is your full name? Kimiko Renee Treitler/Proctor (still haven't changed my last name)

35. What are you listening to right now? The Yo-yo and Peanut show on the Baby First channel

36. What was the last thing you ate? Rosemary & Garlic baked potato chips from Target

37. Do you wish on stars? Nope

38. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Green

39. How is the weather right now? Pretty nice actually. Clear thanks to the rain and about 68 degrees?

40. Favorite soft drink? Tall iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks

41. Favorite restaurant? Northwoods Inn

42. Hair color? Reddish brown

43. Siblings? 1 half sister, Beth

44. Favorite day of the year? Christmas day

45. What was your favorite toy as a child? My gnarly stuffed tiger named Frisky. I don't know why I loved that doll so much but I did

46. Summer or winter? Summer

47. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

48. Coffee or tea? Neither.......unless it's only a small amount of coffee. I H-A-T-E tea

49. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

50. Do you want your friends to email you back? ............

51. When was the last time you cried? Umm.....I honestly don't remember

52. What is under your bed? Probably one of my cats sleeping

53. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Randy, Jerrin, & Lauren Inouye and Matthew & Natalie Isa. We were all born and raised together

54. What did you do last night? Watched the academy awards

55. Favorite smell? Kailyn after her bath

56. What are you afraid of? Losing another one of my loved ones, especially Kailyn. And dying young.

57. Salty or sweet? Depends on what it is???

58. How many keys on your key ring? 3

59. How many years at your current job? I worked as a pharmacy tech for almost 8 years

60. Favorite day of the week? Friday

61. How many towns have you lived in? 2

62. Do you make friends easily? Yup

My very first blog.....

2008-02-22T13:19:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog! I've never done this before, so forgive me if it's dull. There's not much to write about since I lead a very plain and simple life. So here are some random facts about me:

I'm 27 years old from sunny Southern California. I was born and raised here
A stay at home mom to my 9 month old daughter Kailyn
I was a pharmacy technician for CVS/Pharmacy (Sav-On Drugs before we converted in '06) for almost 8 years. I'm still pretty close to my co-workers since they were a second family to me
My father is a caucasian and mother is Japanese, hence my Japanese name and non-Japanese looks
I'm 5'4
I love food. I love to try new things, as long as it's not some sort of internal organ or insect.
Japanese food is my faaaaaavorite
I'm a Starbucks fiend, but I don't like coffee. I guess because they only put one shot of expresso so it's not really an overpowering coffee flavor.
I lost my mom to Pulmonary Fibrosis in November of 2004. Definitely the worst thing that has happened to me so far.
My husband Garrick and I are both only children. I have an older half sister, but we aren't close
I used to have my navel pierced, but had to have it removed when my belly started growing!
I am 3 years older than my husband. Our mutual friend lied to me about his age when we met
I gained a mere 18 pounds during pregnancy. Kailyn was born 5 weeks ahead of schedule
My favorite colors are green and yellow
I have 7 cats.....yes 7!
I love animals
I am an avid text messager. I text everyone, all the time cause I don't like talking on the phone.
My husband and I have no living grandparents
I love Disneyland, my hubby hates it so I never get to go anymore. I used to have a season pass cause I loved it so much
I don't like heights
I am addicted to the tv shows Lost and Heroes
I lounge around in pajamas all day unless I have to go somewhere or someone is coming over
I only wear jeans out. Only times I don't is for weddings or funerals
Sadly, I am not close to anyone in my family.
In high school I was a cross country runner and I was also on the track team
I'm a Star Wars nerd
I have trouble sleeping. I have to take a sleeping pill sometimes to fall asleep
I'm also a night owl
I hate miniature golfing
I like to cook. I hated it when I was younger, but I now appreciate it and like to do it! Still learning though!
I am a Tetris queen! The highest level I reached was 44. I kid you not.....
I hate gambling
I love Harry Potter
I hate doing laundry
I love buying boutique and handmade items. I am a big fan of Etsy.com
I have a huge collection of rare and hard to find mini Disney snowglobes
I am addicted to buying handmade soap
I love to dance
I'm not a big drinker. Never really got into it. I hate the taste of most alcoholic drinks
I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke
I have really long hair. It's almost to my waist.......maybe it's time for a hair cut
When I eat steak, I cut off every single piece of fat visible. I hate fat on my food!
I HATE it when my food mixes. I keep everything on my plate separated because I hate it when the different items on my plate touch each other
I almost didn't meet my husband. I had just gotten out of a 4 year relationship when a mutual friend of ours, Tommy, wanted us to meet. I was not interested. I backed out of our group "blind date" at the last minute because my friend was having a last minute 21st birthday outing. Tommy brought Garrick to wear my friend's outing was (Dave & Busters) and we met there and actually hit it off!

I guess that's it for now, Kailyn is awake from her nap. I will post again in a few days. I guess I'll talk about my daughter in that post :o)