...in a nutshell.

I know. It's been a very long time since I've written a post, and I have been going back and forth whether or not I should start up again, and I've decided, why not? I see that the last time I posted was way back in February, and wow, does a "few" months make a huge difference with what can happen in life! I will try my best to hit the highlights (which I am more than sure I will forget some), and then go from there...but to start it all:



I am still an ocean child. *laughs* I don't know why, or even how, that would change in a few months. I rely more and more on the healing powers of the ocean. As life happens, I realize that in order for me to start each day with a clear mind I have to remember that I am only a tiny being in this huge, huge universe. Being near the ocean reminds me of that. There is something about the consistency of the waves hitting the shore that calms me and reminds me that no matter what, time will continue on. Whether I've had a "bad" or "good" day...time will continue on whether I want it to stop or not, it will continue on. I know that that is just a simple thought, but wow, does it help with my perspective in a lot of things.

Two quotes that I claim as my own are:

In a world where you can be anything,

be kind.

and

Anyone can find dirt in anyone. Be the one who finds the gold. (Prov. 11:27)

I already love and claim the quote:

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

So whenever I feel like I have been wronged or that life isn't fair, I always think:

Be kind. Find the gold. Dance in the rain.

I know that that seems like it has no relation to the ocean, but to me whenever I go to the ocean I always think and re-evaluate my day, was I kind today? Did I find the gold when I wanted to find the dirt? Did I dance? It's kind of my consistent devotion with God. I am constantly asking Him to help me be the better person and to concentrate on working on myself instead of finding fault. If that makes any sense.



One of the new things that I have taken up as a hobby is hand lettering. I have always admired the beautiful lettering art that I see and so I decided to try my hand at it. And I have to say that I love it! I bought two books that helped me get started and a few pens (at first) and I am hooked!

I am trying out watercolor painting to enhance some of the lettering that I have done. I love to acrylic paint, and watercolor painting is so much different, but I love it and it is a lot of fun! The exercises that I do to practice my lettering is so repetitive that it is also another way for me to calm my crazy mind. :) I do have to practice control though. I just want to buy all the pens and paper out there!! *laughs* I do have my favorites...but I can't help but buy all the pens I see! *laughs*

I have so many things that I have an addiction too!

• stickers
• pens
• stationary
• stickers
• pretty paper
• postcards
• stickers
• washi tape
• watercolor paints
• stickers
• subscription boxes
• stickers

Oh wait, did I mention stickers?! Yeah, I think I may have a problem there. Or is it a problem?! *laughs*

Postcards. I still do love collecting postcards. I love how I discovered my love of postcards again. I remember collecting them when I was younger...and wow, if only I found out about the Postcrossing program a long time ago; I am still addicted to that site and I love sending out postcards to the world and receiving postcards in return. I will always wish that I can travel to every where in the world, this is my way of traveling. It makes me smile to know that a piece of me is out there in other places in the world. 

Another site that I have enjoyed utilizing is Send Kids The World. If you have a heart and some time, please go and check out that site. You have the power to make a child's day.

Back in March, the world lost a beautiful "Pineapple Princess" due to a horrible car accident. Although she wasn't technically in my class yet, she was enrolled to start soon, and her brother comes to our school...so I would see her and my heart broke with the news of her death. Month's later, my eyes still tear up when I think her. Her parents are one of the strongest parents I know, and I tell them that no matter what, I still consider them part of my class ohana. Just recently the parents of our school got together and employed an amazing local artist to paint this beautiful mural in memory of her. Not only is this a beautiful mural, but this mural also leaves a smile on our faces for what it represents. 

In the few years that I have been a teacher, I have lost several keiki to the clutches of death; and it's never easy. Each and every time I cry. It's always sad when we loose someone; and it's always hard when it's a young child. For our beautiful Pineapple Princess, you will forever be remembered. 

I have a new batch of keiki from the last time I wrote. It's always hard for me to say goodbye to "my" keiki at the end of the year. But there is always that excitement of the new ones who will enter my door. It's always nerve-wrecking for me every new school year. Not only do I usually have the kids who probably have never been in a school setting, but I have parents who this is their first time as well with sending their most precious "jewels" to a place other than family. It is always my goal to not only help the child feel comfortable and safe in our school, in our classroom, with me...but also help the parents feel comfortable and safe in our school, in our classroom, with me. I am blessed with awesome parents and equally awesome keiki. 

I do have to say that it's a slow start this year. I still have not have all my enrolled keiki start. The requirement for my class is that they have to be two-years old. And there are some who are enrolled, however they are not yet two. Tomorrow the last two will join my class. Then we will be complete. Although there are more criers than I ever had, I am so proud of my keiki...they are so smart, caring, and fun to be with. 

Music, dancing, and art are a big thing in my class. And it makes my heart so happy when I hear my children singing and I love it when parents tell me that their child is always dancing and singing at home teaching their other siblings at home the different songs we sing. My class is always randomly bursting out in song and dance. I love it.

Four favorite things that happened this year:

1. My parents are visiting from the mission field.
2. My sister had her beautiful baby.
3. My best friend is pregnant: she's having a baby boy!!
4. My brother and his wife are also expecting: they're having a baby girl!!

I don't even know where to start with this! Four times where I was rendered speechless.

I will always miss my mommy and daddy when they are not with me. It makes me tear up when I think that they will be leaving to go back into the mission field. Although, I know that they are doing God's work...selfishly, I wish they would stay with us. But for now I will enjoy their presence here. 

At the end of my birth month, my sister had her baby girl a few weeks early. And once again I am reminded that you can fall in-love at first glance. Well, I fell in-love with RocketGirl the moment I learned of her. I love her so much!

My bestie is pregnant and it makes me sad that I can't be there. But I am super excited to meet this little one...and yes, I am in-love with him already as well!

And two days ago I felt "PeachNectarine" move for the first time in my sis-in-law's belly! Whether it was a head nudge, an elbow jab, or a kick...I don't know...but what I do know is that this Auntie has so much love for her unborn niece!!

My family is growing and I couldn't be more happier!

I have been hiking a lot more. Well, kind of. I have been getting out more. If that makes any sense. I am learning...well, trying to not say no to hikes. I'm not much of a hard hiker, but I am a nature lover and so I go on "easy" hikes...because the views are so worth it! There were times where I questioned the meaning of "easy"...but I figured that I just have to keep going and no matter what, don't stop! *laughs* On one of the earlier hikes that I did, I dropped my phone in the river down below. I was super bummed about that since that was the first time that I was hiking to a waterfall. And it was amazing! But that's okay, my friends got pictures and my other crazy friend decided that my phone was worth saving, so she scaled down and rescued my phone. It was dead upon arrival...but oh my days, the views and swimming under the waterfall was so worth it! :)

I still hate mornings, but I still wake up early. Not only for work days, but on the weekends to be at one with the earth. Seriously, it feels like that! I don't ever want to take for granted that I live in paradise...or so near to the ocean for that matter. And so on the weekend when I feel like I want to sleep in, I get my ass up to watch the sunrise over the water. My favorite quote for moments like this is:

"I love early mornings when it feels like the rest of the world is fast asleep and you're the only one whose awake and everything feels like it isn't really real and you kind of forget all your problems because for now its just you, the world, and the sunrise."

I don't know who said that, but I found that quote on Pinterest...and I fell in-love with it. But I consider mornings "my time" with God. After-all, it's just me, and God, and the beautiful sunrise He created for me. 

I am still crazy into planning. I am trying my hand in making/creating/designing planner stickers...and I have a lot of fun with it. I am trying to branch out with it, but also trying to master this art of creating stickers. (Remember when I said that I may have a problem with stickers?!) My eventual goal is to start another blog/store that lets people download planner stickers for free. I have always appreciated those who did that because that helped me a lot when I first started decorating my planner. And it would be nice to help others as well. But for now, I am just trying to figure out how to allow people to download something that I post up...and also get better in making these stickers. 

I love how when I am designing my own stickers, I can just make the ones that I know that I will use and also I can choose the design that I want for that week. I am currently trying to try make up stickers for different layout options. I was never good a computers and trying to figure out the designing program is proving to be a lot more difficult than I thought, but that's okay...as long as I don't give up, I know that I will get it! And I'm loving how I have this hobby. I have always been a planner, journalist, writer...and so now I just combining it all together now. Kind of...I like to say that my planners are like my yearbook's in the making...*laughs*

Well, that is everything that I can think of in a nutshell. I can't say that I will post every day. I might, and then I know that there will be times where it might be a few days, weeks, months, that I'll post again, but I don't think that I will ever give up on posting blogs. It's another way for me to document my life. But for now I will go. (I'm actually sick at the moment. I have slept all day...and now I can't go to sleep...hence the reason why I am writing this!!*laughs*)

"The one who falls and gets up is much stronger than the one who has never fell."

-anonymous

Quotes that describe me.

 I have been debating whether or not to write and post this, however I figured that this is who I am. I have accepted who I am and even though at times I still feel like I'm falling under, I can always find the strength to keep going and I choose everyday to be happy. So with that said, here are six quotes that hit home for me.

1. "You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place."-anonymous

 When I was younger, I traveled a lot. I love traveling, I still do, but I don't as much now. But one thing that I have always had a hard time with is saying goodbye. I hate goodbyes. They were always so hard for me because I couldn't just give some of me, I give my all when I call someone family. When I first moved here to Hawai'i, I purposely didn't make any friends because I didn't want to get close to someone, especially since I didn't know if I was going to stay here for that long. When I went to school abroad, I made so many wonderful friends that I've gotten super close with...and when It was time to say goodbye, it was hard. And it's hard now when I talk to them knowing that it will never be how it was before. But this quote hits home for me because if that saying goes, "home is where the heart is" and my heart is all over the place...then where is home?

2. "The older I get, the more I realize the value of privacy, of cultivating your circle and only letting certain people in. You can be open, honest, and real while still understanding not everyone deserves a seat at the table of your life." -WomenWorking(dot)com.

 Yes. This quote. I remember when I was younger I had a lot of people that I considered my friend. I use to tell people that "everyone is my friend, I just haven't met them all yet!" Now that I'm older, I sing a different tune. I want to say that I will always and forever be nice to everyone--whether I like them or not--no matter what. But even if I am nice to you, that does not mean you deserve "a seat at the table of [my]life."

3. "Mean people don't bother me a bit. Mean people who disguise themselves as nice people bother me a whole lot." -article from Tara Ziegmont.

Fake people. Why?! Why be fake?! Why be someone you are not?! Mean people are backstabbers...and backstabbers bother me a lot. A whole lot. 

4. "Even if we never talk again after this day, please remember that I am forever changed by who you are and what you meant to me."-anonymous

In ways, this quote really hits my heart. I can say that this quote relates to several people in my life--People that I have decided to cut out of my life (but I will still be nice to if ever our paths cross--highly unlikely though), and other people who have just faded out of my life...until I don't even remember when the last time we talked was. 

5. "You know? Yes, I changed. I'm not as nice as i used to be, because I don'tw ant to get used or walked over. I don't trust everyone and tell them my secrets, because behind every fake smile there's a backstabber. I distance myself from people because in the end they're only going to leave. I have changed because I have realized that I'm only the person I can depend on."-anonymous

I know I've changed. I know that as people grow older, they grow wiser and reality hits. Well, for most people this happens and yes, it has happen to me. I am sick of getting walked over, so I limit the people I call family/friends...because real family/friends won't do you like that. I am also broken from people leaving me, and I'm tired of running, so I just close myself. Don't get me wrong, I will always be nice, but I still through up those walls.

6. "Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them."-anonymous

I don't think I have to even explain this one. I will say this, there was one time in my life were people would call me an extrovert...but now I am more introverted. Read this quote; understand this quote; and you might understand me a little bit more.
 

Exhausted Pigeon.

One of the things that I love about this month is all the fun, festive artwork that my kids do! They helped with the stocking and helping me with the white and blue paper chain. :) They also helped me with the candy canes and we made reindeer hand prints! The kids LOVE art...the two things that my keikis' love are art and music. Two things that I absolutely love myself. I am constantly playing music, and I am all up for all different kinds of art projects for my keikis. I love my class. I love being a teacher. I love my job. :)

I had to place this here because I couldn't stop laughing when I read this quote! I feel like this is me! I am a "permanently exhausted pigeon!" :)

Off they go!

This postcard will be traveling to Malaysia. I believe that this is the first postcard that I will be sending to Malaysia...so that is pretty awesome! :) She requested posted that showcases my country's "unique side"...and I believe that this postcard portrays that "unique side" of the amazing beaches. :) She said that she was interested in quotes and so I decided to send her some fun quotes and decorate her postcard with some washi tape and stickers! :) I hope you enjoy this beautiful postcard!

This postcard will be going to a gentleman who has been part of Postcrossing for over 4 years! He has [currently] sent out 3, 187 postcards and has received 3,167! That's a lot! I hope I get that much one day! :) In his profile he wrote that he was 18 years old and is attending a university. It looks like he enjoys sports and such. He asked for postcards illustrating "state or political figures of your country {kings}, cities and landscapes; views of where you live" and he wrote," It would be great is the title of your cite will be written on the card." So I decided to send him this multi-view postcard. I hope that he likes it!