van.nurse@gmail.com – Page 25 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Christmas in our house!

Hi Friends! It’s beginning to look like Christmas in our house:) Christmas time is so special when you have a little one! Mia was having fun when we set up our tree and put up all the ornaments. She already broke 4 ornaments! We have to put our “nicer” ornaments in the upper part of the tree, she’s getting so tall that she can reach things easily!

Our decors are old and mostly second hand from my In laws. My Mom In law gave us our nativity set and made our stockings too. I wanted to keep things simple because it’s easy to put things away, less stuff to organize. I’m thinking of getting some things after Christmas though (Christmas sales) just to update some decorations for next year.

Just two more weeks till Christmas friends! I’m getting excited:)

Like mother,like daughter! Twinning with my Boo!

Some of my fave ornaments!

I got this from Lenox when we visited the Philippines early this year!

Keeping it simple in our stairway. Old poinsettias from my Mom in law, and we have a collection of Teddy bears. I only put out 3 because Riley gets crazy and wants to play with them.

Stockings are made by my Mom In Law except for Riley’s, she just added his name.

Our nativity set! Gifted to me from my Mom In law.

Seattle Aquarium!

Hi friends! Happy Saturday! We went to the Seattle Aquarium this week to celebrate the hub’s company Holiday party. They had it in the aquarium this time. I wanted to go mostly for Mia. I knew she would like watching the animals, especially the fish. I’m not sure if she liked the octopus! She did enjoy harassing the fake one:) We had a great time, especially during dinner, when we had a good view of the aquarium and the fish while having yummy food!

We were able to watch the workers feed the otters too, they’re so adorable and cuddly looking! They ate a lot:) We also got to see the Seattle Great Wheel, that ferris wheel is HUGE! So pretty with all of the lights and the water reflection. WOW! We would have loved to walk around the area but it was so cold and we worried about Mia getting too cold. Anyways, are you done with your Christmas shopping friends? I’m almost done with mine. I’m trying to be intentional with my shopping and not go overboard. It helps that I’ve been decluttering and minimizing stuff around the house.

I’m off to watch a Cheesy Hallmark movie and have some hot chocolate with my Boo. Have a great weekend friends! Blessings to you and your family:)

Herb Farm!

Hi Friends! I hope you’re all having a good Monday:) Last Saturday Hubs and I went to the Herb Farm (together with his co-workers and their spouses). They did some work on their website, and the owner invited them for a meal at the restaurant. What a fun experience this was for us (Hubs and I), what a great place. If you’re a foodie and happen to be in Seattle, it’s worth a drive to go and see this place in the Woodenville area.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect about this place. The Hubs told me it’s a farm to table kind of place and it’s going to be a 9 course meal, approx 4 hour dinner time! HA. To be honest we didn’t notice the time because we had such a lovely time/conversations with the group and we all got along so well (it’s my first time to meet all of them). The food presentation was amazing, the service was personal (always anticipating our needs), great ambiance, music just blended it all together throughout the night. It was such a cozy evening. The Hubs thought he’s in a Jane Austin novel or something! HA( there were carolers visiting each of the tables too (you could request a song ).

I don’t drink wine/alcohol but the non-alcoholic selections were great! The Hubs also preferred my drinks over their wine pairings that night (but we’re not wine people so what do we know?!HA).

Hubs Bday!

Hi Friends! Happy Thursday, this week has been NON stop for us! My Hubs birthday was this week, we had doctors, dental, and vet appointments (Riley has some skin issues) UGH! It’s been exhausting. So we’re taking it easy tonight (KFC for dinner, PLEASE don’t judge!HA) and hot chocolate and cheesy hallmark movies is what we’re doing for self-care!

Anyways, Hubs wanted sushi for his bday dinner so we went to our neighborhood sushi place.

Randomness this week:

I’m still enjoying our thanksgiving flowers (daisies and dried hydrangeas).

A cute welcome note for BOO!HA

Grandma got her a mickey night gown! so adorable:)

Grandma baked us a carrot cake for our bday! YUM! so moist…the best carrot cake ever!

Have a great night friends!

Thanksgiving 2018!

Hi Friends! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. We have always hosted Thanksgiving since my In laws downsized their house. It’s OK with me because we do potluck style, so all of the responsibilities are shared. We enjoyed our traditional Thanksgiving food (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans casserole). I’m so thankful for all the blessings the Lord has given me this year. Thank You Jesus. We’ve had a busy Thanksgiving weekend, we went to Seattle and decorated out Christmas tree. I will post more of that this week. Have a good week Friends!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

A simple Thanksgiving table, we used our dried hydrangeas from our yard! And bought daisies from the store.

Happy Birthday!

Hi Friends! I had my birthday last week and to celebrate my Hubs and I went to John Howie (my personal fave steak house in WA). Thanks to my In laws for watching the Boobear. Hubs bday is 10 days after mine,so we usually have a combine bday celebrations/gifts. They gifted us a John Howie certificate so we used that. We decided that we will not give each other birthday gifts this year. We really don’t need anything right now and we are saving for my car that we plan to pay for with cash:) I did get my free birthday drink from Starbucks earlier that day! YUM! I got their hot chocolate:)

I’ve tried the Japanese wagyu before and I personally don’t like it, it’s like eating butter in my opinion!HA

La Belle Farm Foie Gras, warm golden chanterelle and shaved Brussels sprout salad, Kurobuta guanciale, sherry vinaigrette, sweet yellow corn sauce .

Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Beef “Long Bone” R Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Beef “Long Bone” Rib Eye, mesquite grilled, duck fat roasted Yukon gold potatoes and Cipollini onions, roasted bone marrow, bordelaise (info from website)

definitely too raw for me! good thing the side part was cooked enough though:)

We we’re already too full and decided to skip dessert! Thanks to my family and friends for all of the birthday wishes. I’m so grateful for what the Lord has done for me this past year. Have a blessed week friends! Happy Thanksgiving:)

Appetito Craft Pizza and Wine Bar!

Hi Friends! I wanted to share another restaurant we tried while we were in Waikiki. Appetito is so convenient for us because this restaurant was located in our hotel. After a long day at the beach we wanted to just have a relaxing night, where we don’t have to go far from our hotel. We really enjoyed the place, we had Pizza (what they are known for) and it was really good. I totally enjoyed the Prosciutto Pizza. Prosciutto is one of my favorite cuts of meat so no surprise there! The Hubs dug their pasta, it was a lobster bolognese or something. If you’re in Waikiki, I recommend Appetito and you gotta try their Spicy meatballs and burrata Caprese salad too. As if we still needed food to eat, we decided to get dessert at Leonards and get their famous malasadas. Thanks to my brother In law who recommended them to us.

Have a great day Friends!

Weekend Fun!

Hi Friends! How’s your Saturday? Hubs baked some Pumpkin cream cheese swirl muffins. They are really good! I will probably post the recipe this week. I’ve been nagging him to take our Christmas tree out of the garage because I wan’t to decorate already:) We’ll have simple decorations this year because thinking about the cleanup after the holidays are giving me anxiety already!HA!

I’m on a hunt for a new car! We started car shopping 2 months ago, no plans to buy a car right now (I’m thinking early next year) but it’s good to see what cars I might like out there.

We went to Dickys BBQ after we checked cars. YUM!

Car shopping can be exhausting! She has to have her nap:)

Have a great weekend friends! About to watch Hallmark Christmas movies now while my Hubs is making our hot chocolate! He’s the best:)

Our Halloween!

Hi Friends! I hope you had a fun Halloween and that you got to enjoy some treats. I personally do not participate or do something big during Halloween, we do buy candies for the trick or treaters in our neighborhood. Since we have Mia now, we joined the craziness of the holiday:) I got her a Snow White dress because we’ve been watching some Disney shows lately and she really enjoys them.

We attended my husband’s Office party too! It was so much fun to see the other kids dressed up, but Mia didn’t win the toddler contest! Next time Boo:)

My In-law’s joined us for our neighborhood trick or treats, we were blown away with all of the creative decorations. Some of our neighbors went all out!

We didn’t go to a pumpkin patch this year, so we got our pumpkins at our local grocery:( HA! My hubs did amazing carving pumpkins this year. Good job Ga!

My In laws brought bbq for dinner before went out to trick or treat! My MIL got too many bundt cakes! It was good though.

Off to get some candies:)

What a fun and tiring day! She had a good sleep after enjoying her treats:)

Yanagi Sushi

Hello friends! We’re having a relaxing Saturday at home right now. Hubs and I are watching Man in the High Castle on Amazon right now. He is loving this series. I thought I would continue posting about our Hawaii trip. We checked Yanagi Sushi one night and enjoyed their sushi. It’s a popular place among locals and tourists! They also have other food aside from sushi (I ordered a combo meal type, sushi and grilled kalbi ribs). We loved their misoyaki butterfish! Melt in your mouth goodness. The hubs ordered some weird sushi and end up not liking it (fresh Abalone)!HA

We spent the day at one of the lagoons in the Ko Olina area. I can’t remember what lagoon we stayed at but I loved it because the water was calm (no waves) and seemed perfect for little toddlers like Mia to be in.