DTLA and CC

As soon as I got off the plane from Hawaii (and I was on a red eye that got to LAX at 5:20am) we went to downtown LA to do a little shopping. Grammy, Mommy, Leena and I have been to DTLA many times. We are seasoned veterans. But it was Puff's first trip.

He was a little horrified at first but then ended up having a great time.

Puff and Daddy having a moment

Leena Lou and Puff

Nice $1.99 dress

The fam at the Crystal Cathedral

Leena Lou with the best part of the Panda Inn dining experience: the white chocolate covered fortune cookies. Yummy!

Leena Lou and Puff strike pose

Then Puff decided to do a little modeling of his own.

Beach Day with Mommy and Grammy

One of my favorite places to eat in Hawaii

is this place. Second best Thai food ever.

MM, Me, Grammy, Mommy and MM's dad

I miss this

when I leave Hawaii. I love the beach and the sunset.

When Mommy and Grammy were in Hawaii

for my graduation we went to the swapmeet. My mom bought Puff some nunchucks because he loves karate.

But then she forgot they were in her carry on bag.

In case you were wondering, TSA workers are actually more productive than they lead on. They found those bad boys right away and whisked my mommy away for questioning.

Which is a shame because I was looking forward to Puff winging around his dangerous new toy.

I love this:

My Daddy delights in the celebration

of made up holidays. At the top of his list is the beloved

"Garbage Day Eve"

It's just like it sounds. Celebrating the day before Garbage Day, which in our house happens to be Sunday. He gathers all the trash from our house and move it to the big garbage can outside. Then he ceremoniously takes the garbage can to the street.

The reason for the celebration of this day is this: daddy says there is no feeling worse than frantically waking up to the sound of the garbage truck outside your house and realizing that he forgot to take the trash can to the street. Then having to run outside in his underwear to run after the trash man and convince him to come back to collect our garbage. So really the holiday is problem solving at its finest. Because running after the trash truck at 6am is a problem. It really is.

Graduation!

There I am marching up to the front. I was 1 out of 2 blonde girls in graduation and my sandals are sparkly (in case you couldn't spot me.)

Grammy, Me and Mommy

Me and Mommy

My favorite boys MM and Harvey

Grammy and Mommy at the Cheesecake Factory

Me, MM and MM's Dad

Waikiki Beach

One of the most important things I learned

while I was in Hawaii had nothing to do with school.

Don't leave Mommy and Grammy unattended in Hawaiian Ross.

Not only do they find things like this

but

Grammy got a little sassy with the fitting room attendant (she deserved it) and said

"You, are really rude!"

CBCGGB

Ok first to explain the name of the post. My friend Ted loves to abbreviate everything. So, CBCGGB stands for College of Business, Computing and Government graduation banquet.

It is an event for Business students to recognize the students who are graduating.

Unfortunately, they do not give out an award titled

"having the lowest possible GPA to still qualify for graduation"

Which is the perfect award for me

I don't know why ever not!

So we just sat there and listened to all the people who in fact have no social life and no tan who live in the library accept their awards.

As the program so kindly told us, it was 2008 apparently. I think someone forgot to change the date from last year. Oh Hawaii.

The "lovely" centerpieces complete with fake flowers and peacock feathers.

The whole group.

The redeeming factor of the banquet, the chocolate fountain :)

The other redeeming factor was that Ted's mom (who he affectionately calls Jean) is hilarious.

Ted, Kenz and Me after the awkward beyond belief group picture.

Its Finals Week

We all have schedules of every thing we need to do every day until finals are over.

It's surprisingly satisfying to cross things off the list when they are complete.

Kenz sent me a text message this morning that excitedly announced:

I just crossed two things off my list!

Pocahontas, Mine and Kenz's papers.

When everything on the list is crossed off, WE ARE DONE!

The Wishbone

This is the wishbone that was in our free turkey. We waited

and waited

and waited

for it to dry out enough to break apart.

Here we go!

Once the exciting moment finally came, it broke EXACTLY in half.

So we both made wishes.

'Cuz wishes are the best.

Why I hysterically laughed during church this morning.

My phone was blinking that I had a text message.

I ignored it until I just couldn't resist the urge any longer.

I opened it up and read a text message from Kenz, who was sitting up on the stand.

"Totally just saw (insert name of a male in our ward) pick his nose and eat it LOL"

Every year at Christmas time,

we decorate ginger bread houses. It ususally consists of a girls team and a boys team. Matt never participates but always deems the boys team as the winner.

Since I am not at home this year, Kenz and I decided to make a gingerbread house.

Candy that doesn't taste as good as it looks.

Me, the cement frosting master

Kenz after a candy got stuck to her arm. She doesnt like to be messy.

Our lovely house before the lovely Hawaiian weather started to melt all the candy.

And since Matt isn't here to announce that the boys win,

Kenz and I win!

Christmas Around the World

A few times a week during December, my school hosts a short Christmas concert. We went to watch our friend Keli'i sing O Holy Night

The pic is a little dark, but he did a fantastic job, he has a beautiful voice.

They gave us hot chocolate and candy canes, which I love. Especially considering my obsession with holiday favors like peppermint.

Pocahontas and me by one of the Christmas trees

Happy Birthday Mickenzie!

Ok so I am busy with the Happy Birthday posts lately!

Some of the wonderful reasons I love Mickenzie:

1) She lets me sleep in her bed

2) She dances the Hoedown Throwdown with me

3) She loves to nap. In fact, she gets a little grumpy if she doesn't take a nap

4) Sometimes she goes to Taco Bell twice in one day

5) She is fearless. Like the time she told P. Wheel's wife that she couldn't swim in the school pool because she was wearing a tankini. Or the time that she told her accounting teacher that she didn't do her homework because of the opportunity cost of meeting her eternal companion.

Love you Princess!

I am busy this week.

And I don't like being busy. But after next Thursday, I am FREE!

I graduate next Friday.

Favorite moments of the day:

1. Studying for <45 minutes for my Hospitality Law test and getting an 88%

2. The prime rib and mashed potatoes that I ate for dinner at the Business Graduation Banquet

3. Seeing the dear mother of my school, S. Wheel, with a slit in her skirt that ended closer to her behind than her knees (which is a clear violation of our lovely Honor Code)

4. My Smartwater that looks like it has a pink goldfish swimming in it

5. Seven missed calls from my mom when I woke up. I know she loves me!

6. Its Kenz's birthday. Birthdays are wonderful.

7. I almost cut my bangs way too short. Don't worry, I saved them.

8. Sparkly eyeliner

9. MM entertaining me with thrift store stories. I laughed out loud during class

10. Tomorrow is my last day of work!

Suzanne started it!

Time: around 8:30 am

Meal: Breakfast

Only in Hawaii

does the neighborhood McDonalds have a waterfall.

It all started with Cat-a-pult.

Cat-a-pult is a game that MM found for $1.99 at Savers (where else?) Cat-a-pult is an amazing game that consists of launching foam cats with plastic catapults. Everytime we talk about or play Cat-a-pult, MM says

"Wow I really want this game called Nun Chuck. You chuck nuns with this little gun. It's sooooo funny!"

He must have said this at least 30 times.

I got it for him for his birthday. He had no idea.

It is not very often that MM's curiosity is peaked, but I managed it. For the past two weeks, I have been giving him small hints. Just enough to keep him interested but not enough to allow him to guess the gift. He guessed and guessed, but he was never right.  When I wrapped it the night before his birthday, I texted him the above picture. MM (who has a love/mostly hate realtionship with his cell phone) surprisingly texted me right back.

MM "Wow more excited than before! Make ya a deal. Since it's my birthday on the mainland, i'll come open it after work."

I gave in. Two weeks of tortue was enough. His work ended at 11:00, I think he was on my porch by 11:02.

Once he opened it, he covered his face and laughed hysterically for five minutes straight. Once he gained his composure, he opened the package and proceeded to launch small plastic nuns at David and Suzanne for 20 minutes. Then we had to play Cat-a-pult and Nun Chuck at the same time.

On Sunday, he brought Nun Chuck over. He launched the nuns into his birthday cake.

They stuck in the frosting. Hysterical laughter followed.

If you are super confused right now (I don't blame you) CLICK HERE