My Dear Friend Serene

This week has been very rough. Being pregnant the tears come easy and in this case they dont stop. One of my closest and dearest friends Serene has become very ill. She has known for most of her adult life that she had kidney problems and that it could come to this , but it is still such a shock. She is a single parent to a wonderful 10 year old boy named Nate and my heart is breaking for the both of them.
She was told that in as little as 6 weeks from now she could need a kidney transplant. She had her surgery over the weekend to prepare for her Dialysis which she starts on Monday. Lets just say that was enough pain on its own , yet alone what she will be facing .She will be on Dialysis 5 hours a day , 3 days a week in hopes of drastic improvements.
Like I said before this is all such a shock , she is 34 and seemed to be in great health until this month, when she got this devastating news after becoming ill.
She is a strong woman and I know she is going to face this head on and come out on top , I ask that all of you keep her in your prayers for me ! I love you Serene!!!
Thanks everyone!!
Big Hugs,

Its Fall Somewhere!

I am so longing for cooler weather! I have been told it wont cool off here until sometime in January and be right back int he 80's by March...ohh my not very much of a fall/winter!
That hasn't stopped me though. I have made.... home made Beef Stew and Potato soup in the past week. I will just have to PRETEND I have 4 seasons like the rest of you!
Speaking of cooking /baking I conjured up a new recipe last weekend and me and Austin got busy in the kitchen. He's a good little baker and hey he knew it was going to help him get closer to earning another CUB SCOUT badge so he was all for it...lol!
We love Pumpkin in this house and I am always making Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in the fall , this time I turned it into MUFFINS and oh MY HEAVENS , were they ever good!


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Preheat oven to 400

4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 can of 15 ounce pumpkin
3/4 cup oil
2 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 Tsp. baking Powder
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Nutmeg
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 cup Chocolate chips (or I am sure you can substitute nuts)

Beat eggs , mix in sugar ,pumpkin and oil

In another bowl mix flour,baking soda ,baking powder, cinnamon and salt . Slowly add Flour mixture in to pumpkin mixture beating well after each addition. Fold in chips or nuts...

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown



So in BABY NEWS we have an ultrasound to find out what this little wee one is finally on the 24th! I can hardly wait ! I have been ordering a few things here and there but only so much you can shop for when you dont know if its a boy or a girl.

A few weeks ago my sister sent me a link to this great site SANDBOX COUTURE
So many cute things calling my name like .....

these beautiful BURP CLOTHS


and these adorable little socks

And this BLINGED out paci holder ..LOVE IT!!!!

Notice a pattern? I love everything PINK!!

Ok and one last thing to share before I go get ready to start my day.
My best buddy Maria had a Birthday last month and I sent her some Delish Brownies from this company YUMMY MUMMY. Well at least I was on time with that portion of her gift!
I want to share a sneak peak of something else I am sending her this week along with her other GIFT!!! I cant wait for her to get this box !! So Maria if you are reading this:
PART DEUX is on its way as of MONDAY ...FINALLY!!

Heres a peak


Ok ladies wish us luck we are headed to a DEAL OR NO DEAL game tonight , where they are giving away 15 grand !!!

Hope everyone is having a Nice weekend!

Thinking PINK this month

While most everyone is thinking shades of orange , black and GLITTER this month we mustn't forget to think PINK for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

There are many ways to support cancer research and one of my favorites that I contribute to every year is the Susan G Komen RACE FOR THE CURE.
One of my close friends CAMILLE is participating and while I would love to be there to support her in her efforts and join her that day I can not be . So I thought I would show my support for her hear in blog land ! Here is a direct link to her Fundraising Donations page,

http://komenphoenix.kintera.org/race/camrynlei

Your contribution will be greatly appreciated!

There are also lots of companies out there showing there support with lots of great products this month , here are just a handful I found , ENJOY!!!



I have this pretty little

Komen Floral Blossom Candle

from PIER ONE that is in stores now! The votive cup is actually flocked in soft pink!


PINK RIBBON COLLECTION Wear a pink ribbon.
Make a difference.

Your purchase of any product from the Pink Ribbon Collection will help Estée Lauder donate $500,000 to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation




From AVEDA


$4 from every purchase goes to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation


COACH
has several items in there TIME TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE CAMPAIGN



KITCHENAID
Each pink product that is purchased and then registered at www.cookforthecure.com will generate a donation of up to $50 to Komen for the Cure




100% of philosophy's net proceeds from the sale of SHE COLORS MY DAY will be donated to the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's Cancer Research Fund.




C.O. Bigelow is partnering with Bath and Body Works to raise $250,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation through the sale of its CANCER VIXEN line

I also found this but I am not much of a yogurt eater but maybe some of you are!





You can find out more info on it here: YOPLAIT

Well boys and girls its this bedtime over here on my side of the world
Good night everyone!

Typhoons and hurricanes Oh my...

All this horrible weather lately. My family lives along the gulf coast and escaped this one thankfully . My dear friend KRISTIN left Houston a few days before all the chaos and I am still waiting to hear from her again. Hopefully soon!
Then we had a TYPHOON coming straight for us , I panicked a bit because I have never been through one of these yet . And TO ME TYPHOON sounds much worse than HURRICANE! That again could all be just never having experienced one first hand and the thought of not being able to EVACUATE which is a little unsettling! But we got pretty lucky and it headed back out to sea and we have just had tons of WIND and thunderstorms. I did go out and get all the necessary supplies( batteries, canned foods, propane cases of water and candles ..) now we are the proud owners of a STORM CLOSET ...lol . Not that I had space for any of that !!!




We have bought Austins costume all ready from this cool store BUY COSTUMES . He is such a HUGE Star wars fan and the minute he saw this costume that was all she wrote , he had me pressing add to cart and pay now....lol. I was very happy with this website..super fast shipping and not overly priced ,like a lot of other places I have ordered from since getting to Japan.

I signed up for BELLAWEEN and cant wait to see what fun stuff Teresa has awaiting us!
All though none of my craft supplies have made it out of the boxes and class starts tomorrow!
The hubby has another DR appt. this afternoon for his torn hamstring ...he still cant bend down
which means no carpet down and no craft room unpacked...uggh!


This weekend we ventured out and found some cool new stores . One of them was along the lines of IKEA and it actually had some crafty things such as clipboards, bulletin boards , flowers ...not a HUGE selection but I will definitely go back. We also stopped at a shopping center that was FUN for me , it was a mix between POTTERY BARN, CRATE AND BARREL, WILLIAMS OF SONOMA, and The BODY SHOP. I was excited to see such a place! The lighting section in the MAX PLUS store was incredible, some of the most gorgeous chandeliers I had ever seen and of course I didn't have my camera! Oh and Lots and lots of SOY candles too..YIPPY!
This is one of the beauties they had!



And before I head out to start some laundry I wanted to share this fun little site I came across this week.Many of you have it bookmarked I am sure but for those of you who dont...............
ONE PRETTY THING

I just love all the CRAFTY roundups !!!

Have a great week everyone!!!

CONGRATS and other random things

(Photo from Dena's Blog)

My last post I linked ya to a giveaway and now I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS again to my buddy Mrs. DENA ROONEY -BERG! She has an amazing talent and I am so happy for her with her new GIG . As a designer for the UBER COOL Baby company The Peanut Shell.
She has designed these cute Hospital bags (you can find more on her blog) for the company and I am sure we will see much more of her amazing talents! I know I cant wait to find out what I am having , so I can order one of her gorgeous diaper bags!CONGRATS AGAIN!!!!

So school is in again (and going well) and I am home alone again. Only this time in a foreign land I have yet to figure out. Its quite different that's for sure. No crafting or craft organizing yet. I had planned on getting started over the weekend after hubby laid the new carpet in there , but it had to be put on the back burner again.... hubby wound up at the DR. on Friday with a torn hamstring. So needless to say he was out of commission all weekend, he even made me drive everywhere we went ! How dare he ..lol

How many of you are still holding out on putting up all the Halloween goodies? I keep seeing all the cute stuff in blog land and its killing me not to get it all out yet. Ja would know I have lost my mind for sure if I put it out this early. I was surprised last night to see a Halloween section here in our Toys R Us and of course had to pick up a cute new nick knack I found, but wont share just yet since I also bought one for my buddy Maria and I don't want her to see it !

We did manage to take a short trip this past month to the gorgeous Busena Terrace Beach Resort



(looking back at the resort from the Boat ride)

So much fun stuff to do there but being pregnant and in the dead of summer it was quite tiring!
The glass bottom boat ride was really neat and man you can't even imagine how much sea life we saw! Thousands and thousands right off shore , including those scary SEA SNAKES..YIKES. Wouldn't you know when we wen to get on the boat huge clouds rolled in and it was sprinkling , so the water wasn't the clearest they said but man it was gorgeous!


My guys checking out all the cool fish


the fish were so colorful (imagine some of your favorite fruity cocktails in those vibrant colors)
only since the water was cloudy and murky from the rain , they don't look so great in my photos but they were!




Cute trolley we used to get around the resort



One of the many restaurants, this one lets just say ..had a less than desirable menu for preggo people! Squid ink pasta and lots of other LOCAL cuisine , I cant quite come to try!But they had great deserts!!!!

here are a few more pics

Us hanging out at the cabana relaxin. Notice the roots on that head..haha! I need to find someone here to get it done!




Ok well I suppose I have yapped on enough for one day....
Time to start making the Chicken enchiladas .. I AM REALLY missing all the yummy food from back in AZ can ya tell??
Hope everyone has a great week :)
Hugs to you all!

Calling all FABRIC lovers

I wanted to share an awesome giveaway with you all , my TALENTED blogging buddy DENA from the SUGAR SHOP is hosting over on her blog. She has a big announcement this week and is hosting a giveaway . I am hoping she is launching a new store with her fabulous creations! I am going to need an ultra cute diaper bag!
So stop by and check her blog and her wonderful photography and designs out :)

Back to school and somewhat NORMALCY

Well things should be getting back to somewhat normal I suppose with school starting on Monday . Although we have boxes and boxes stacked everywhere you look in this house , so I guess normal isn't quite the word I should be using! Or stuff finally arrived on island this week. It has been tough trying to get it all organized and put away in this house. so much smaller than what we are used too and well I couldn't bare to put much of our stuff into storage for 3 years. So needless to say the closets aren't the only thing bursting at the hinges, we have wall to wall furniture too.

Today was open house at Austins new school and that went well. Pretty big school compared to what he is used to and for the 1st time he has a male teacher. Mr. Horton , he seems like a fun yet lets get down to business kind of teacher. Austin liked his name and teased with him saying Mr. HORTON HEARS A WHO... which Mr. Horton thought was really funny. He wasn't so sure at first when he knew he had a male teacher , but after meeting him and hanging in the class for a bit , I think all is well.

It is still hotter than heck here , the humidity is just brutal. We have been trying to do some fun stuff on the weekends with our friends Joanne and Bernard and there kids . We did make it to Kokusai St (lots of shopping) and were lucky enough to go on a festival weekend. Which meant lots of Eisa dancers and Taiko drummers. the kids loved it. I was able to find a small drum for my nephew that day , just like the ones the little taiko boys play. Boy my sister is just gonna love me isn't she!





Look what I found at the end of the street! it was fun to go in , but they wouldn't let you touch anything , they all had on gloves ..so funny. I still think it will be way cheaper and more practical to order from them online!



And I have some other news to share! We are expecting a new ANDERSON on March 5th! I was definately surprised and a bit shocked at first. We had talked on and off for more than 2 years about me not being a spring chicken (34 years young haha) anymore and if we were going to have one we better decide soon. So as the saying goes god works in mysterious ways . We are all pretty excited now but at the same time I have been a bit depressed being so far away from all my family and friends . i had my first ultra sound this week and would love to share the wee wittle ones photo ONLY my scanner is in 1 of the 100 unpacked boxes around here...lol
Now if I could just get past this morning/day sickness maybe i could get some unpacking done!!!

i have been ordering new craft supplies so hopefully within the month my house will be in order and I can craft with all you divas, who I MISS!!!

hugs to you all!