Project 365 - Day 36 - Shopping

After church today we went to Pearlridge to do some holiday shopping. I picked up two more gifts and was very proud that I didn't buy anything for myself! I was actually surprised because the mall wasn't really busy at all. I am trying hard this year to not wait till the last minute to finish my shopping.
Oh yeah, I forgot, I did get one thing for myself, but it was free. See picture below.

Project 365 - Day 35 - Grandma's B-Day

Tonight we had dinner at Tanaka of Tokyo's in Ala Moana for Grandma's birthday. I meant to take a picture but it was so interesting during dinner and I got distracted after dinner so I missed the opportunity. If you have never eaten there, it is a pretty neat experience. They cook your food in front of you and put on a great show doing it.
Today we took the boys to the groomers. They are short haired dogs, but we like to take them a few times a year to get their nails clipped, anal glands done and a nice bath. The picture on the left is Stitch and Poki (in that order). They were begging for treats. Poki moved at the last minute but it's the best picture we got.

Project 365 - Day 34 - Black Friday

Today was Black Friday and yes I did have to work. In case you are unfamiliar with the meaning of Black Friday, it is the official start of the holiday shopping season and the day that there are crazy sales, usually starting at midnight. Black Friday is said to be the first day of the year that retailers are "in the black" when it comes to their books.
So, I saw a good deal on some women's golf clubs at Sports Authority so we decided to go check it out. I was still a little hesitant to buy, so we ate dinner, walked around and bought a few presents. After shopping around, the golf clubs that I originally wanted at Sports Authority were gone! So we walked around some more...and I found that the most expensive clubs at Sports Authority were actually way cheaper at KMart and WalMart! Sheesh, I almost got ripped off! In any case, I curbed my consumer appetite by purchasing a very nifty golf glove instead. Hooray for delayed gratification!

Project 365 - Day 33 - Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving! Today was a great day. We started off going to the movies and watching Twilight. I haven't been to the movies in a long time so it was very fun. Plus, I thought the movie was great! I didn't have any expectations going in so I wasn't at all disappointed.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunty's house. I took a picture of just some of the food we had. It was all really good and I had a blast playing with my cousin's almost 2 year old son. He is so smart for his age! And I'm not just saying that. He can speak in sentences and answer all kinds of questions.
We also got to play a little Rock Band and watch some Jon and Kate plus 8, so all in all it was a great day!

Project 365 - Day 32 - Thanksgiving Eve

It is Thanksgiving Eve and for once, the prep work was all done by 7:00PM! It's a miracle! The picture above is the pumpkin crunch that I made for dessert tomorrow night. I will try to take a picture of all the food tomorrow.
I am very excited for all the good food and good company tomorrow but it's really junk that I have to work on Friday. :( It's not like I would be at the mall shopping or anything but just having to wake up early the next morning is pretty hard.

Project 365 - Day 31 - Defrost the Turkey

In two days, Thanksgiving will be here! We are currently defrosting a 12lb. turkey in our fridge. Tomorrow afternoon, the turkey will go in the imu to cook and we will take it out on Thursday morning, just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Also tomorrow, we will have to start making our food for dinner on Thursday. I have no idea what we will be making, but you can be sure that I will be in the kitchen all night tomorrow.
I am really grossed out that there is a raw turkey in the fridge, but I guess it has to defrost somewhere. I just have this thing about raw and undercooked food. Which is actually kind of funny because I was just eating sushi for dinner yesterday.

Project 365 - Day 30 - Sushi

We went out to run errands with a friend tonight and stopped for dinner at Kuru Kuru Sushi. I must say, I think that for the price, they have the best sushi on the island. It's not very expensive and they have a pretty big menu with lots of good food. The wait can be long, but tonight we got there around 6:30 and there was hardly any wait at all.
So, if you are in the Pearlridge area, you should check it out!
My favorites: Spicy Tuna, Shrimp Fry, Tempura Bowl, Ingen.

Project 365 - Day 29 - Sewing

The picture on the right is Stitch. Today I was trying to sew my pants and Stitch was so interested! He stuck his nose right up to the machine and watched me the whole time. It's really funny because Stitch loves to watch us sew and do crafts and Poki is always poking us on our arm or leg with his nose. They really do live up to their names!

Project 365 - Day 28 - Grandma's Day Out

Today we took Grandma out to run some errands. We had to visit three different doctors offices first, then went to Ala Moana. The first doctors office had a really neat wall calendar. It was made out of yarn and plastic canvas. At first I thought that it was not a very good thing because after one month it would be thrown away. But upon closer inspection, I saw that the pieces were movable! The month and year at the top were separated, Nov 20 08. So I think that there are just two of every number and you can move the pieces around and it will be an everlasting calendar! Anyway, the nurse noticed that I took a picture of it and she told me that a man had made it for them! I was amazed!
Anyway, after all the doctors office visits, we went to Ala Moana and walked around and did a little shopping. Shirokiya had a lot of interesting food so we spent a lot of time in there just looking around and taking in all the different sights. All in all it was a great day with Grandma.

Project 365 - Day 27 - Movie Night

Tonight was movie night. We cooked up some Hurricane Popcorn and watched Get Smart. If you don't know, Hurricane Popcorn is buttery popcorn with mochi crunch and nori. Our popcorn didn't have too much nori so we added more. It was really good! Almost just like the movie theatres.
We watched Get Smart, which stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway and also has lots of other famous people. I think it was one of the better movies I've seen in a while. Although I don't care too much for action films, this one kept me laughing so it was entertaining.
By the way, the Tylenol worked very well last night. I think it was the first time I've slept through the entire night in months!

Project 365 - Day 26 - Sinus Pain

Today was a long day at work because I had to drive in traffic to a meeting, sit in an interview and come back to my office to work on a project. And to make matters worse, I had some sinus issues today. This whole sinus thing all started about a year ago. I was on a plane and on our descent into our destination, my face just felt like it was going to explode! It was really sore and really scary. Anyway, ever since then I've had off and on sinus pressure, mostly in my face, by my cheekbones. It's especially worse on plane rides, but the past few weeks have been bad too.
So tonight, I headed down to my local Wal-Mart to see if they had anything over the counter to help. To my surprise, there are TONS of products to help with sinuses. After a lot of label reading and comparing, I chose Tylenol because the brand sounded familiar and it wasn't as expensive as everything else. It also helps nasal congestion and runny nose which is good because I'm also sniffling and snorting through the night. I just took a couple of the night pills and we will see how it goes.

Project 365 - Day 25 - Dinner in the dark

Tonight, we ate out for dinner because it was a friend's birthday. Just looking at the picture above can you guess where we went for dinner??? If you guessed Sizzler you are right! Yes, we went to Sizzler at Pearlridge. I had their special where you could choose one main course (shrimp, bacon wrapped fillet or malibu chicken) and you got a drink and salad bar for $15.95. I got the bacon wrapped fillet with a baked potato. Here is a picture so you can see what I ate. Hahaha...yes, the steak is on the left. Oh my goodness, it was so tiny. But what can you expect for just $15.95 plus salad bar!
I titled this blog dinner in the dark because just when I came back from getting ice cream at the salad bar, the power went out! So we had to eat the rest of our meal in the dark. I must say though, the staff was excellent! They handed out candles, made sure everyone was okay and shouted announcements on the outage. I guess they had a gas stove in the back because the people who had already ordered still got their food. It was very interesting for me cause I've never been in a restaurant when the power went out before.

Project 365 - Day 24 - Kiwi

This is a kiwi, my favorite fruit. I sliced up a couple kiwi's for dessert tonight, but I think they weren't ripe yet cause they were a lot more sour than they usually are. Kiwi's are very high in Vitamin C which is good because I think I feel the beginnings of a cold coming on.
These past few days have been really rainy and cold. It's starting to feel more and more like Christmas. Although it might also be because Perry and Price are only playing Christmas music now on their morning show. I really do like Christmas music, but if I hear Jingle Bell Rock one more time.... Sheesh! I never knew there were so many different varieties of that song! It also doesn't help that my radio at work only picks up KSSK so I don't have much of a choice.

Project 365 - Day 23 - 100 Books

Around February or March, I decided that I wanted to try and read 100 books in a year. Since the calendar year had only just started, I thought I would try and start then and finish in December. It is now, November 17th and I don't think I'm going to make it. Right now, I am at 68 books! Which is a good number, but considering how many days are left (44), it doesn't look to good.
It has been a really good experience so far though. I've learned that just because books are famous, doesn't necessarily mean they are good (for example Catch-22). I've also learned that most of the time books that are on best seller list are worth trying. Like Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books and The Kite Runner. And the most important lesson of all....there is only so much room for books in the house, and it is probably a better idea to go to the library instead of buying every book you want to read. Hope this blog inspires you to pick up a book! Happy Reading!

Project 365 - Day 22 - Food and Golf

After church this morning, we ate breakfast at Big City Diner. It's a good place because the prices are reasonable for the amount of food you get. I ate the Really Loco, Loco Moco. It was really good...nothing like hamburger covered in gravy for breakfast!
After breakfast, we headed down to Waikele. There was a new Wii game coming out that we wanted to pick up. GameStop was closed so we killed time at Sports Authority and then ate some Li Hing Mui Shave Ice with Mochi Balls. Mmm... I don't know what the name of the stand is, but it is right between Old Navy and Sports Authority. In my opinion,they have the best Li Hing Mui Shave Ice on this side of the island because it's not really sweet and it has that bite that Li Hing Mui should have. Another good place is at the Manoa Market Place, but we hardly go to that area.
Also, tonight, we went to hit a few balls at the Mililani Golf Course Driving Range (Please see Day 20 for a picture of that). This was my first time really trying to learn and hit correctly. I was having fun and concentrating so hard that I forgot to take pictures! So maybe in a future post you will get to see that.

Project 365 - Day 21 - The Public Library

Today I visited my local public library. It's the first time I've been there in a while because it seems like they change their hours all the time so I never know when they are open!
In my effort to save some money, I wrote down all the books that I wanted to read and went to the library to see if I could borrow them instead of buying. I started looking around and soon found out that there was not one book there that was on my list! Bummer! But I did find a few books by authors that I enjoy so I picked up some of those. Then on the way out, I saw the DVD rentals. I've seen them before but never really paid attention. I ended up renting 3 movies for $3! What a deal!
I rented Stop-loss, Stay Alive and The Simpson's Movie. I enjoyed the first two, but the Simpson's Movie was just too silly for me. But it was a good movie to watch after Stay Alive. That movie was very very scary! Just in case you didn't notice, I rented all "S" movies and the reason for that was because there were other people looking at movies and they were taking up all the space, so I could only get to the "S" bin. I can't wait to see what other movies the library has to offer!

Project 365 - Day 20 - Mililani Golf Course

We ate dinner at the Mililani Golf Course Restaurant tonight. Since they close kind of early, we had an early dinner. After much thought, I decided to get the Fried Saimin and it was delicious! It tastes kind of like Nancy's in Waipio Gentry. The menu at the restaurant is interesting, because it's all local food. They have filipino food made to order, loco moco and somen, just to name a few.

Project 365 - Day 19 - Matthew 6:24

So...this is all the money I have in my wallet. It's not much, but because I have little, I am learning to trust God.

Matthew 6:24 says, "You cannot serve both God and Money." And I really believe this is true. I don't think that God wants us to not have money, but it's important to know where your priorities lie. God wants to bless us, but we need to be obedient with what we have first.

Another scripture I think is important and insightful is Matthew 6:19-20. Click the link to read all about it.

Project 365 - Day 18 - Starbucks

Here it is, the best Starbucks has to offer (or at least in my price range). This is a Grande Black Tea Lemonade with 2 pumps sweetner. Mmmm....my weekly allowance of Starbucks. Of course, this may soon change as I am working on tweaking my budget. But for now, this is the drink to get.
If you budget is a little higher, may I suggest the Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate. I think it's a special seasonal drink because it's not on the menu; it's just on the signs they have up over there. But that is also a really good choice if you are in the mood for a hot drink.
Also good choices that I have heard...Passion Tea Lemonade, Coffee Frappuccino, Caramel Frappuccino.

Project 365- Day 17 - Stitches!

Happy Veteran's Day! And thank you to all the veteran's who make the U.S. the Land of the Free!
Lilo and Stitch was on the Disney Channel in the afternoon so I watched that for the first time in a long time. I had forgotten that my Stitch was named after Lilo and Stitch, but he is so fitting to his name. Like the cartoon Stitch, our Stitch is hard headed and grouchy but smart and lovable. I remembered that I had a stuffed animal Stitch that I got from my relatives in Japan so I decided to take a picture of Stitch with Stitch.

Project 365 - Day 16 - And this one time at band camp...

Tonight we went to Aloha Stadium to watch the 29th Annual Rainbow Invitational. It's a marching band invitational with bands from all over the state. The picture on the right is Kamehameha School and they did the Lion King. I thought they were the best until I saw Moanalua High School. They did Arabian Nights and they were AWESOME, even without all the "fluff".
It was a fun night out, except that it was so expensive! The food was ridiculous! I knew that concession foods were not cheap but I had no idea!
All in all, it was very fun and interesting to see all the different bands perform and how things have changed since back in the day.

Project 365 - Day 15 - Packrat

This is Packrat. If you haven't heard of Packrat it's a game you can play on Facebook. The object of the game is to collect "packs" of cards and put them into your vault so no one can steal them. There are different sets you can collect and each set expires after a certain amount of time so you have to get them all before the set expires.
This picture is of the new version of Packrat. Before, the game was a lot more fun and enjoyable to play, because it was easier for you to steal and people to steal from you. Also now, there are some cards that are really rare and you either have to luck out and find them, or pay real money to buy them. Which is really junk cause it makes it virtually impossible to complete a set which is frustrating. And I am NOT paying for a game that I got for free before. So, I would like to take this time to thank the developers of Packrat for helping to break my addiction.

Project 365 - Day 14 - Meet the Gosselin's

Just started reading a new book, Multiple Blessings which was written by Jon & Kate Gosslin and Beth Carson from Jon and Kate plus 8. I really enjoy watching their show on TLC and when I saw this book at the bookstore I just had to pick it up. I'm about half way through right now and I'm really seeing a different side of their story then what you get to see on tv.
It is so inspiring to read about what they went through and how through all their trials they had faith in God. Also each chapter of their story begins with a scripture so it's interesting to see which she picked for their book.
If you haven't heard of Jon & Kate plus 8 you should check it out, they have new episodes on TLC every Monday night. If you have heard of them...read their book!

Project 365 - Day 13 - Golf!

Today I helped out at a golf tournament at the Pearl Country Club. I got to drive a golf cart and it was my first time out on a golf course. It was a nice breezy day today so it wasn't too hot and I had a lot of fun. The first picture was taken by the 16th hole. But I could be mistaken cause I forgot to look after I took the picture.
The second picture was in the afternoon. We heard sirens and saw a helicopter following someone on the freeway! Pretty exciting stuff, but I still don't know what they were doing.
All in all, it was a pretty fun day, I got to do stuff I've never done before and I got to be out in the sun and get a little more tan.

Project 365 - Day 12 - Sleepy...

The picture on the right is a centerpiece from a dinner my folks went to last weekend. The roses are now starting to bloom really big and they smell wonderful! If you just sit near the table you can smell them.

The picture below, is Poki this morning. That's how I feel now. I haven't been getting very good night's sleep recently cause my allergies have just been driving me crazy!!! If I'm not sniffling, then I'm coughing. Geez! I need to fix this quick! I think it's partially cause I'm allergic to Poki's fur and also because I need to clean up my room and get rid of all the dust traps. I guess that will be this weekend's project, to clean up and see if that helps my allergies.

Project 365 - Day 11 - Dave Ramsey

The is a picture of The Total Money Makeover book by Dave Ramsey. If you haven't heard of him, he's a financial guy who advises people based on things that he has learned mostly from experience. I haven't started reading the book yet, but I've listened to some radio call-in's and tv call-in's with him and I've also checked out his website so I'm really excited. He believes in being debt free and staying away from credit cards. If you are interested, his website is www.daveramsey.com.

Today was a regular day, which is why I only have a picture of a book as my picture of the day. But really, I'm trying to tighten up my finances so it is applicable to the day.

Project 365 - Day 10 - Election Day and Good Food

Today was Election Day and I voted! Hooray! Although I have been old enough to vote for some time now, I've only now decided that it is time to take some responsibility and put my vote out there. Ha. It's funny cause I just decided to vote this morning so I had to scramble to find out who I was going to vote for! But ultimately, I did the research and made an informed decision. I'm not telling you who/what I voted for though, cause I don't want to make anyone mad.

We also tried a new restaurant for dinner tonight. Like the first picture says, Fat Boy's in Waipio Gentry is a local drive-in. Well, you don't actually "drive-in" you walk, but you know what I mean. I had a Fat Boy's bento. It had 3 pieces of garlic chicken, teri beef, spam, mahi mahi, a hot dog and rice with furikake on it. It was a LOT of food and very delicious. I don't normally care for teri beef but this one was really soft and tasty. The hot dog was Redondo's, so that was good too. At $5.75 the price was well worth it, but there was a sign saying that because the cost of goods is going up, they would be raising their prices effective 11/15/08. So if you want to try it, you should go before they raise the prices.

Project 365 - Day 9 - A normal day

This patch of grass is in the front yard and I just had to take a picture so we can see what it looks like a year from now. Right now it's really small, but really green and full.







This is Stitch. He is a very picky eater, which is why we have to feed him on a plate. Stitch doesn't like to get his nose dirty so he doesn't like to eat out of a bowl. He also has to have the food on the side of the plate that is closest to him.
I know...it's ridiculous but he needs to eat.

Project 365 - Day 8 - Open House and Good Food

We went to my Grandma's day care for open house today. They had really nice bright plumeria trees outside. We got to tour the day care and we played games too. They had Jenga, Perfection, Connect 4, Imaginiff and the fishing game where you have the little plastic fishing rod and you have to hook the chomping fish. It was really fun! Especially since I'm so competitive.
Then we ate lunch which was really yummy. I ate tonkatsu and tempura...mmmm.... Dinner was lau lau tonight so overall, it was a very good eatin' day.

Project 365 - Day 7 - Hawaii at it's best!

Today we went to lots of different places, so I have three pictures today. The first is of Diamond Head as seen from the top of Kapahulu Safeway. They have an awesome salad/sushi bar. There are so many different choices!
The second picture is Hank's Haute Dogs in Kakaako. I'm guessing that they have the best hot dogs on the island. If you are familiar with Pink's hot dogs, they are very similar. Although the atomic green relish was a little disturbing, the garlic aioli sauce was awesome! I totally recommend this place.
The third picture is of the lei stands at the Honolulu International Airport. We usually go to Sophia's to buy our leis. I don't know why, but we just do.