Blogmas Day 2

Today was a lazy Sunday that consisted of me paying bills, and playing "eenie-meenie-minnie-maybe-next-week with others. Before that I did make mini bacon egg and hashbrown "frittata". For some, I put bread on the bottom and others I didn't add bacon. They were so yum. I shredded my own potatoes because it's so much cheaper than buying hash browns. Just be sure that you wring the excess water from the shredded potatoes.

I also bought a bulk of my children's Christmas presents. The older they get the less they want, but what they want becomes more expensive. Gah. I'm also trying to figure out when I will decorate my house for Christmas. See, I have a toddler, and she is a tiny tornado. I am holding off as long as I can. It'll be more special, at least this year, to decorate closer to Christmas knowing that most of the decor will be intact to use next year. 

I wouldn't have such an issue, because I've had toddlers with trees, but our space is so small and she is a todnado. Not a good pic but had to put her in the sink so I could mix in peace haha.

I also did day four of my yoga challenge after having to spend 75% of my paycheck to become more "onenier" with the universe haha.

I made key lime bars, crab macaroni and cheese, and baked chicken tenders. I was going to do a whole recipe on the macaroni and cheese, but I haz a crazy baby and don't have the time to take pictures as I go. I will probably make this again in January. I can not wait to share the recipe. Right now I'm trying to figure out how I can record my recipe process.

 I no longer have my fancy cameras, but I think the iPhone will do for now. Like the last blog, I said I am not the same woman I was before, my cooking skills are better than ever. However, I can cook a great meal in no time and I am not used to the picture breaks here and there. I am brainstorming on how to document the process quickly, yet concisely. 

The family loved dinner and dessert. I just love having sundays back. I've been in school for two years straight, I am exhausted.

My mom stopped by and gave me my baby book. I love it. I also found that I am a Sagittarius sun, Pisces Rising and Virgo Moon which explains a lot. I thought I was a Virgo rising, that didn't seem right at all. I feel like my life would be more structured if I was a Virgo rising as well as a Virgo moon haha.  In my house we have four people who are pisces rising, crazy huh? Pretty emotional lol.

Well I have to go. I have some meditation to do before bed so I can get relaxed and carefree like this little cat wanna be haha. 

Day One of BLOGMAS- Where Have I been? Spilling the tea..

HIIIII Everyone. I am back.

I just finished my MASTERS program, while working full-time with four children one being only 2 years old. It was a challenge, but now I have more free time. I've been doing yoga and meditation to rid myself of all the extra stress and negativity.

If you don't know, I now live in the United States and I am no longer married. This is a whole new world I've been adjusting to for the last three years. You'd think I'd have it down by now, but I still learn everything the hard way. I believe I learn things the hard way in order to help others in a  empathatic, non-judgemntal, caring way. I find myself to be very wise although I also feel very naive. Oh well.

I've tried several times to create a new blog, but I just couldn't. I wanted to leave the past in the past, but the past is what has made me the woman I am today. The woman I was then is much different than the woman I am now.

I am still totally a foodie, a beauty junkie, traveler, and lover of photography. It's all about finding time and saving enough money. All these things I will continue to share along with my family and other aspects of being a working mom doing the damn thing. There are many things that makes my situation quite unique that I will not elaborate on right now. However, when I hear or read about women in a similar situation as mine, I get so giddy- haha. But we are so damn busy to even spark up a proper greeting or at least I am. I am too busy for anything especially with older kids getting into everything outside the home and a baby who gets into everything inside the home.

So why did I decide to do BLOGMAS? Well, I am kind of a youtube junkie and I love when my favorite vloggers do vlogmas. It's where they vlog everyday. I know some people find it trivial to follow "regular" people, however, I love it because I am nosy and look for inspiration everywhere haha. I feel like blogmas is a way to get back to blogging, but also hopefully inspire that mom who doesn't think she is doing enough- which is me almost 100% of the time 65% of the time hehe.


Day 1 was a day at home. I work all week so I enjoy my rest. My son had a soccer day that my boyfriend who is also his coach took him to. I stayed home and did my yoga as well as meditated, played with the babies.

 I also decided to dust some old cookbooks off to use. My kids ask me why I don't use them anymore. Well it’s sad, but I thought I didn’t  need them and the internet is so much easier when I need to tweak a recipe or find one quickly. After going through them I didn’t realize how much I missed them! So this week, I am cooking straight from the books.  I did my meal plan and as I work 40 hours plus over time- which is an additional 10-20 hours a week- so the more simple the better.

This is the very first cookbook I bought over a decade ago. I look at it now and when they say basic it's truly basic haha. But the recipes are easily tweakable and we all enjoyed it then, so why be boujee about it now haha.


Also we haven't done any decorating for Christmas yet, but Elf Skywalker has decided to pay a visit today.

The kids were cautiously excited. The baby just wants the candy haha.

I also to bring some christmas cheer in this home, I decided to bake cookies every weekend and everyday during the 12 days of Christmas. So that may mean making some dough in advance haha.

I made Ina Garten's Pecan Sandies. I also added Hershey kisses to some because.....why not?

The kids and the elf enjoyed them.

Thank you for reading and see you all here tomorrow <3 p="">

HONG KONG WITH THE FAMILY

Hello guys! So school's out for me and the children and I am FINALLY feeling refreshed and myself again. The last three weeks of the last semester took a lot out of me. I finished the school year with all As and one B.  And right after school ended I went straight to driver's ed. I lost my stateside license in Germany and since I was there for 9 years, I am completely out of my state's system. So I had to take a driver's ed course as my USAEUR license (the license I had in Germany) is invalid here in Okinawa. So I was pretty overwhelmed. After I got my license, me and the kids literally drove all around the island looking for fun. I kinda lost myself. My house was a MESS and my cooking has decreased significantly compared to how much I cooked when I had down time before.  Luckily back in April, we planned our trip to Hong Kong. We booked our tickets and hotel way back then. After traveling on a whim in Germany waiting nearly 4 months to go on a trip was a killer! But I had plenty to keep me busy!

We spent 4 fun-filled days exploring Hong Kong. We stayed at Nathan Hotel which was very nice. Clean room, friendly staff, and a great location.  We were close to the famous Hong Kong skyline, close to the MTR which was very easy to use and very crowded! Most things in Hong Kong are in English, though we ran into a lot of people who didn't speak english or speak it very well, but we got our point across fortunately 

The first  day:

We just walked around. We checked out the street food including the curry fish balls. So many food shops with goose and duck in the windows- was quite appetizing for food lovers like myself and my husband. I didn't have any the first night but i did others and I am addicted! I've always loved duck and goose, now I love both even more. We also went to the skyline's laser show. 

Second day:

The second day was spent almost entirely at Ocean Expo Park. A theme park and learning experience. There were aquariums and places indoor exhibits where kids are able to learn about everything from seahorses to sharks. The exhibits were also a great opportunity to hide from the hot hot sun! The park is great for kids, but better for children 8 and over. My youngest couldn't ride many rides. My daughter got to ride quite a few though. My son was able to ride almost all of them, however along with a height limit, there is also an age limit. Weird. We went to  amusement parks in Germany and the kids were able to enjoy most of the rides which is why they were a bit more frustrated. But for the most part they all had a great time. All of them were able to ride at least one roller coaster. It was either Disney or Ocean Park and they chose the latter. I'm happy they did! We all had so much fun!

Day 3: 

Day three was spent exploring the Hong Kong Island and eating from various street food vendors and checking out huge markets. They were a dream.  Fresh produce, seafood, meats....everything and anything you could possibly want!!!  Then the Temple street Market had everything from clothes, toys, selfie sticks! It was great! We bought a painting and they do encourage "haggling"/negotiating! We also went to the Hong Kong Space Museum. A great escape from the heat and plenty of interactive areas for kids to learn!  Of course the famous Chinese bakeries were not a let down! We also ventured to the Avenue of the Stars similar to the Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

 On the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island

Day 4:

Day 4 was spent in Ngong Ping where we went to see the famous Big Buddha (Tian Tan Buddha). We spent most of the day there.  To get there we took the MTR with one change from our hotel. There, we lit incense and made wishes, we climbed more than 200 stairs to go inside the buddha where no pics were permitted, and walked alongside dogs, cats, and cows. After climbing up the stairs to the big Buddha, we experienced the true beauty of Hong Kong. It's just not a concrete jungle, there is raw beauty and peace in this city amongst the craziness and millions of residents and thousands of tourists.

We also went to the grocery store taste. Though I love grocery stores in Japan and even France. That was the best grocery store I've ever been to!!!!!!!! Even if there weren't any speculoos, there were however dried seahorse and moss antler...

I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED!!!!!!!