February/March faves

I'm combining my faves since the yucky flu/cold sidelined me for a bit..
I don't even know if I have done a favorites post this year yet.

Onward we go!!

1) JBL Pulse bluetooth speaker. I had an old Bose speaker that you put your iPod in it for many years and I think it got fried during one of our many power outages/surges. Hector got this for me for Christmas which you can connect your iPod thru a cable or stream music from phone/tablet. The sound is really, really great and I love the different lights.

2) Instant Pot pressure cooker. It's actually a multi-use cooker that has a rice cooker, slow cooker but I use the pressure cooker function the most and saute. Cooking pinto beans is a snap and I'm slowly finding recipes to try. Next up is Kalua Pork. 

3) Almond Cashew Pops. When Hector had his gallbladder out, the nursing staff gave him a gift basket and this was one of the items. Small bite-sized crispy rice with almonds, cashews and blueberries. Great alone or with yogurt. I tried finding it at Sprouts and saw it online! Yikes, it's pricy! Not worth that much...Hector found out where the nurses got theirs and drum roll.....Marshalls! So he found them for $7.99! Not the crazy $20/bag. :)

These are my top 3 for now...that reminds me that I can make yogurt in my Instant Pot and want to figure that out. 

June Favorites

July is already flying by and I've been meaning to post a blog of June faves so let's get going!

1) My lovely ocean sunset painting...



My friend is an artist and I've started my own personal collection. This is the 2nd piece I've acquired from Kathy Johnson Studio. She is down in the San Diego area and I'm in love with all her pieces. So the most difficult part is deciding but the art usually speaks to me so I have to hurry and get it. :)

Moody Sunset hangs in my kitchen so I get to see it often....


2) Nail art.

I still enjoy doing my nails although I need some serious cuticle moisturizer. This is my favorite nail art pattern. It's simple and I got a ton of compliments.



3) Dancing with Hector.

He keeps my spirits up and I have a keeper in that he loves to dance. He would convince me to go even if I didn't feel like dancing and has no problem dancing by himself. I've heard from several women that sounded envious that my hubby loves to shake his groove thang and I know that it isn't the most common trait but it's one of my ALL- TIME favorite things. It helps that he has rhythm and moves too.







Thanks honey!

May Favorites

I promise to get to my summary of Japan but I'm happy to be able to find some new topics for blogging. 

For the month of May, these are my 5 faves. They are things I have enjoyed so I'm sharing. :)

1: I have a seriously lack of eyelashes. Yes, my lashes are very light, thin and short. I don't like to wear mascara but I do for special occasions. I've tried false eyelashes but they're expensive and I always had someone put them on for me. I've felt self-conscious about them and the false ones seem to be really extreme so I felt conspicuous with them.
Flash to 2015...more styles are available and at my local Daiso (Japanese $1.50 store) has a so many ones to choose from. I figured I'm Asian so maybe I'll give them a go. I can pay $1.50 to try a few styles out.  Ta-da!! I found these and they work great. I can get about 3 uses out of them if I'm careful and they add some pop to my eyes. I am much more comfortable putting them on too. I buy about 6 or more so I always have some on hand.



2: Cosmetic Organizer/3 drawers. I don't have a huge array of cosmetics so I kept it all in a cosmetic bag but lately with a renewed interest in makeup etc I have to dig in the bag only to grab the wrong item. So when I was at Bed Bath and Beyond, I found this cute clear cosmetic organizer and it's perfect for the amount of makeup I have. It's actually more than enough, I have room for more stuff. My friend sells Mary Kay cosmetics so I have a drawer dedicated to samples. Now I know were everything is and makes putting makeup on a snap.



3: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Cress is the 3rd book in the series. I started the first book Cinder earlier in May and here we are. Really clever in blending fairy tales and sci-fi. It may not be for everyone but I'm enjoying them a lot.

4: My mini-iPad cover. Hector have me a mini for Mother's Day so of course I want get a protective cover and this is what I found. Something colorful and unusual. :)


5: Dove Promises Dark Chocolate. I don't consider myself a chocoholic at all but I saw Easy 1 Minute Lava Cakes ( a quick 1 minute chocolate lava cake recipe)and had to try it. There are many ways to do this but I think this is the easiest... I tried this Memorial weekend and it came out great. I have leftover chocolate so I tried them and yum. :)




Have a great day!

Random Notes

Little Things I Love:

1. Hector's Shop-Vac. Who knew that this contraption I got Hector one Christmas (at his request) would be a fun and useful tool? I love using it for cleaning up all the little crumbs & what-nots in the car using all the attachments to get in those nooks and crannies. I hate vacuuming but I love this thing!
2. My coffee mugs. I had a couple that I got when Josh and I stayed at the Wild Animal Park overnight but the kids got me 2 more for Christmas which are awesome for my collection. I use one of them daily and Josh always points out if its the one that he or Tyler gave me.
3. My Kindle. When I do get the chance to read, I love having all the books condensed down into this e-reader. I browse the freebies and always find tons of interesting books. Which leads me to...
4. Amazon Prime. 2 day shipping plus the fact you can find practically anything on there makes me a happy camper.
5. NHL on the Fly. Hockey highlights from all the games that day plus interesting insight to all the teams. Also add Power Play to that too.

I'm sure I can come up with more to add to this list but that's good for now.