Mele Kalikimaka!

Alooooha! After a very busy month of wrapping presents, mailing said presents, and drying buckets-o-tears, our first Christmas away from home has come & gone. I don't want to wish our lives away, but I can honestly say I'm glad it's over. Luckily we have some fabulous friends who took us into their family for the holidays. On the beach no less. Yeah, ya heard me. Don't be hatin'. Hehe. Kinda like I was when everybody was posting on Facebook about how they were goin' to GG's for Christmas Eve dinner. Homemade potato salad, Mom's chili cheese dip & GG's homemade FUDGE, oh my! Yeah, I was jealous. But I still love you all. :) Here's some pics of lil' man & our casa getting ready for the holidays in our 80ish degree weather. I did have fun decorating our new house for the holidays, last year's holidays were hard to get into since we were getting ready to move. Most of my cheap-o holiday decorating inspiration came from Young House Love and Bower Power's amazing DIY websites. If you haven't checked them out & you're into decorating like I am, you got to head over their way asap! :)



Also, there's some pics of our beautiful island, as requested by one of my fav uncles, Uncle Steve. It was his suggestion to rub it in to all of my snow/sleet/ice-bound, er I mean lucky family & friends who "get" to live back home in good ol' Illinois. So here's to you Uncle Steve :)



This new year brings many changes & new beginnings to our little family ~ just one of my numerous resolutions is to keep this blog updated more, I'm always amazed & excited at who takes the time out of their busy day to check in on us! More posts coming later this week about my other resolutions, and a long-awaited update on my very own "Amazing Race" around Oahu, courtesy of my lil' sis :) Just to refresh your memory, check out my other updates from my "clues" that took me all around the island, right here, here, here, and here. Love you all & wishing you a very Happy New Year!

xo,
Jen