Today was a good day.

Nico had his birthday party today.  Things went very well.  Everyone had a good time. :)

Midnight blogging from bed

Nico is such a mama's boy.  He still refuses to go to bed without me next to him.  He's busy singing in the dark right now.  And he wanted to take a pic before we turned off the lights.  Silly nilly.

His birthday party is tomorrow.  We're doing a Spider-Man theme.  He's going to love it because he has no idea...

He turned 4 on the 26th.  He loves blowing out candles. :)

Oki, Nico wants cuddle time.  I think I'm going to turn in early tonight instead of the usual 3am bedtime. >.<  Night night. <3

Blogger and Google+ integration sucks bananas.

I'm starting to think that I should have just left my old blog design alone.  The templates that Blogger offers are old and does not have updated html to function well with sharing on Google+ or Facebook.  It really irks me when there's no blog post snippet/description when sharing a blog post.  And another issue is with incorrect thumbnail pictures and the inability to choose a thumbnail or even have a thumbnail picture at all!  Sometimes your profile picture will show up as the thumbnail picture and sometimes it's just some irrelevant picture.  It's been years and years since I've dealt with html so things are a bit more time consuming to figure out now.  At least I managed to figure out adding #hashtags. lol  I feel like such a #newb.  Lets do #awholeslewofhashtags.  :D  #Blogger #Google+ #html #Facebook #Google+BloggerIntegration #Ilovedonuts  #haha   Umm, I think the hashtags are for Google+ actually.  Whatever.

Okay, now lets add a pic to this post.

Shout out to McDonald's.

Alrighty, I think I'm about done with html for the day.  It's Saturday and I need a smoothie.

Just testing layout, html stuff...

blah blah blah

Oh, and this bike is a beauty.  #wants #bike

*Swoons*

I'm not a big JT fan but he has me feeling all lovey dovey with this song.  *^_^*

... and I'm going to work on a new design for this blog but temporary Blogger template for now.

I workout!

Gotta get in shape for the summer!  Yoga + targeted exercises + a better diet... :D

& Musica!  Just heard School Night by Thomston.  Cool stuff, cool stuff.

Ariana Grande covers Whitney Houston at the White House

 "I Have Nothing"

Share my life, take me for what I am
'Cause I'll never change all my colours for you
Take my love, I'll never ask for too much
Just all that you are and everything that you do

I don't really need to look very much further
I don't wanna have to go where you don't follow
I won't hold it back again, this passion inside
Can't run from myself
There's nowhere to hide

Don't make me close one more door
I don't wanna hurt anymore
Stay in my arms if you dare
Or must I imagine you there
Don't walk away from me...
I have nothing, nothing, nothing
If I don't have you, you, you, you, you.

You see through right to the heart of me
You break down my walls with the strength of your love
I never knew love like I've known it with you
Will a memory survive, one I can hold on to

I don't really need to look very much further
I don't wanna have to go where you don't follow
I won't hold it back again, this passion inside
I can't run from myself
There's nowhere to hide
Your love I'll remember forever

Don't make me close one more door
I don't wanna hurt anymore
Stay in my arms if you dare
Or must I imagine you there
Don't walk away from me...
I have nothing, nothing, nothing...

Don't make me close one more door
I don't wanna hurt anymore
Stay in my arms if you dare
Or must I imagine you there
Don't walk away from me, no.
Don't walk away from me
Don't you dare walk away from me
I have nothing, nothing, nothing
If I don't have you, you,
If I don't have you, oh, ooh, ooh.

Fiona Apple and snacks

Gosh, I miss her.

TGIF.  Yum yums.

Palty Hair Dye Review ~ Macaroon Beige

A couple days ago I dyed my hair with a Japanese brand hair dye for the first time and I'm very pleased with the results.  I bought two boxes of Palty hair dye in Macaroon Beige from Amazon.

They had instructions in English so that was helpful.  :D  The dye amount IMO is slightly less than American brands.  Two boxes barely soaked my thin medium length hair.  Also the dye is more runny and the applicator was different from anything I've used before so I got quite a few droplets on the floor and sink.  >.<  Anyway, the hubby helped apply the dye to the back of my head because I hate doing it myself.. lol.

So my original hair color is black with some leftover color on the tips and a few thin brownish highlights here and there.  My hair, the parts that are virgin black, went from black to brown rather quickly.  I didn't notice it becoming any other shade other than just brown.  It was a neutral, pretty brown at first with no orange/red or brassiness.  Quite interesting, haven't seen that type of change in all my years of dying my hair.  So after all the dye was on my head, which took about 20 mins or so, I waited another 20 mins or so before rinsing it off.  Total time was somewhere around 40-50 mins.  I decided to rinse it off because I noticed the color getting warmer and I was worried it would turn brassy, but now I'm thinking maybe I should have waited another 15 mins because it is *slightly* darker than my ideal shade.  Oh well, better safe than sorry.

This brand tells you to shampoo your hair twice with your own shampoo.  Shampooing twice made it so there was no leftover hair dye smell afterwards.  LOVE THAT.  I will always shampoo twice from now on after coloring.   And no conditioning in shower either.  They provide a hair "moisturizer" that you put on after shower like a leave-in conditioner.  My hair felt GREAT after the coloring process.  I didn't notice any damage or negative change in texture at all.  So I'm quite happy with that.  

Pictures!  And as you'll notice, the color looks very different depending on the lighting.  But I assure you that it's very even, no brassiness or ugly red undertones.  Just a pretty warm brown.

A few minutes out of the shower.

... a few minutes later.

Next day, close to window, iPhone focus on hair.  And yeaaaa, out of bed and no effort to tidy my hair before this pic.. lol.

A bit step back from the window and iPhone focus not on hair.

And wearing makeup from the Sephora Divergent Collector's Kit.

Other things to note:  I don't recall the dye having a strong smell, I was able to dye my hair in the bathroom with the door closed and still breathe. :D Also I made sure my hair was "soaking wet" with dye, squeezed the dye in over and over again from top to bottom, brushed my hair with the applicator multiple times, I think I probably lost around 20-30 strands of hair during the dying process but nothing significant afterwards, I put the dye all the way to my scalp and it did burn slightly but only for a few seconds, I kinda just globbed it on everywhere section by section, ain't nobody got time to be meticulous.. :P

And yesterday, I purchased this "purple shampoo" to keep the color from becoming too warm or brassy.  I hope I won't have to color my hair for another two months!  All and all, I am quite pleased with the results and experiencing an Asian brand hair dye (which I've always been too hesitant to try!).  I'm glad that I was able to achieve this sort of color at home and saved myself a trip to the salon and we all know that not every stylist is good at coloring Asian hair! :x   Night night! <3

Keith Urban ~ Without You

One of my fav feel good songs from Keith Urban. <3

 

Fly me to the moon

The world is not a wish-granting factory

“I'm in love with you," he said quietly.

"Augustus," I said.

"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.” 
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Let me fall in love

Markéta Irglová – Let Me Fall in Love

Before I go to sleep tonight, won't you tell a story?
One that does not center around power or glory-
A simple tale of love that is tender and sweet
However glorified, still uncorrupted, with a steady heartbeat

Or better still of love that's also passionate and wild
That holds the light of youth and makes you playful like a child

And let me fall in love, fall in love
Let me fall in love, fall in love

I've heard people speak of sad endings and broken hearts
But the heart does heal and where one thing ends, another starts
I've heard them say they wished they never knew such pain
But to wish for pain-free love is to wish in vain
And anyway, pain does not have to mean suffering
If love is a gift, to it yield an offering

Cause when you fall in love
You fall in love
with everything
with everyone
And you look at the world
through a new pair of eyes
And you see fear - it crawls
but love - it flies

So fly with it
fly with it
Grow a pair of wings and soar up high
This bird, it sings a lullaby
Close your eyes now, go asleep
And dream a dream of falling deep
in love

Let me fall in love,
fall in love...

<3

Falling Slowly

Birthday weekend

Lets see if I can get myself to blog this...

So birthday weekend was lovely.  I told myself to enjoy it, have fun, be positive... think happy thoughts!  I was really looking forward to turning 30 and celebrating my birthday...  Everything was.. just fine.  Okay, pictures...

On the way to Vermont.

Saw a lot of these...

First meal in Vermont.  I had crispy fried salmon in a spicy tamarind sauce with veggies.  It was yummy.  I ate everything but the green beans and carrots.  Army had pho.  We had some Vietnamese spring rolls and fried spring rolls too.

We went shopping on Church St. in Burlington. Nice area to shop & dine.

@ The Whiskey Room.  I've never seen a menu with so many types of whiskeys in my life!  I picked something called The Knot and it was very smooth with nice flavors.  Army picked some sort of coffee stout for himself but it was more for me. lol

Also got a sampling of cheese and meats and some tasty trio of relishes.

After shopping and some drinks/eats, we headed to Stowe where our hotel is located.  But Army insisted that we buy swimwear first because there's a hot tub at the hotel.  We grabbed a couple things at TJ Maxx.  The hotel is quite lovely.  Here's what you see when you enter the building.  I wish I had taken more pictures.  The dining hall where we had breakfast the next day was nice too.

We went to watch 300 at a local theater in Stowe.  We saw the 3D version and it was only $11.  I was also able to drink some red wine in the theater so that was neato.  I was being a weirdo and thinking that I was drinking Spartan blood.. lol.  And back to the hotel.  We stayed at the Mountain Road Resort.

And the next day was my birthday!  The big *3-0*!  Army gave me these earrings. <3

Heading out for the day.  Went to tour the Ben & Jerry's factory.

The flavor of the day sample at the end of the tour was just meant for me.  I <3 banana ice cream!

Afterwards we went here.... I don't recall the name of the place.  Got delish Apple cider, hot sauce and freshly made Apple cider donuts.  I saw bees making honey and ladies making lots and lots of apple pie. :D

And more pictures!  All with my iPhone.

I think we went to eat sometime in between all those pics.

Back to hotel.  Complimentary yum yums.  I'm such a fatty.  I ate like three of these.

All ready for the night.  Drinks, music, food.  And lots more drinks.  I think I drank the most I've ever drank in my life. haha

My birthday cake. lol

And crap, next day, daylight savings time.  We woke up at 10:40 and check-out time is at 11!  My desire to check-out on time overcame my hangover. lol.  With our splendid teamwork, we made it out just fine.  So last day in Vermont.

Took a gondola up to the Cliff House restaurant to enjoy the views.  It was quite spectacular.  I loved my salad so much that I'm determined to recreate it.  Mixed greens, dried cranberries, pecans, apples and some sort of vinegarette.  The steak was perfect also.  I completely cleaned out my plate.  Something I rarely do!

This was the view directly behind me.  (Huge window).  I was stunned to see people there.  I didn't know it was an active trail.  Thought it was the back of the mountain or something.. lol.

The views were breath-taking.  The pictures does little justice!

Going back down in the gondola, Army was a bit scared of the pretty vertical drop.. :D

And out and about to a few shops.  We stopped by so many places that Army thought he lost his phone somewhere so we went back to a couple shops to look for it.  But it was in my coat pocket the whole time. lol. Oops.  But at least we found out his phone was on silent. :D. We bought souvenirs, toys and clothes for the kiddos, Vermont butter, apple cider and I think that's mainly it.

And a couple more pics before we headed back home.

Overall, the trip was wonderful.  I can't think of a bad moment.  Army was very sweet and wanted to make every second, every moment perfect and memorable.  He wanted me to feel happy and in love.  And he wanted me to always know that I have nothing to worry about.  That he loves me immensely and will always be there by my side until his dying day.  I fell in love with the city of Stowe and Army & I have made it "our city" and look forward to visiting throughout the years.  We saw so many little kids skiing and it was just so darn adorable that we'll be bringing Avani and Nico skiing next season.  And Verabelle says she wants to snowboard.  

Life, love, family & God.  And cheers to the 30s! <3