I ♥ Mahjong

So last weekend at the beach house I learned how to play mahjong! Now I'm hooked! I've been looking online everyday for a set of my own but couldn't decide which one I really wanted. It's hard to tell what you're actually gonna end up with when you order something online so I decided to check out an antique store in Kailua called Ali'i Antiques. Unfortunately cameras are not allowed in the store so if you want to see the amazing plethora of stuff they have you'll need to stop in for yourself or check them out online. 
Anywho, without further ado I give you my new majong set:

North Shore Weekend ♥

This weekend Da Hij and I were invited to spend the weekend at a beach house in Laie with our friends Trav & Sheryl & their family. The boys went for a morning dive so Sheryl & I decided to visit our friend Kimi at the Haleiwa Arts Festival. Here are some pictures from our day's adventure: 

Miss Kimi Werner's Art stand:

Her "happy hats" can be purchased on Etsy

Rainbow colored glasses

Instagram take on the rainbow glasses! I LOVE iT!

I {HEART} these heine cups - repurposed 40 oz. bottles

Sunrise shell necklace & earrings

SOOOO PRETTY :)

After the art festival, baby Brooke needed a nap so we dropped her back at the beach house then we headed back out to check out an antique shop we passed on the way to Haleiwa.

The interesting store front that caught our eye

Beautiful antique glass bottles

Oodles & oodles of Kokeshi dolls

Vintage kokeshi's. Such beautiful craftsmanship.

Such cute personalities :)

Mama, Papa, and kiddies!

My shopping partnas 

I had a blast hanging out with one of my best girls doing what we do best... SHOPPING, LOUNGING, and EATING! It was a perfect ending to a long week! Hope you all had an awesome weekend too!

.:|jESSHij|:.

I ♥ to Collect

I love, love, LOVE tokidoki things! When I say love, I mean borderline obsessed. I especially love the unicorn character. I have the pillow cases, the necklace and the little keychain that came on a cosmetic bag I got as a secret santa gift from JLuke and Wendy.

[Found here]

[polyvore]

[My own picture :)]

And NOW... My buddy Sheryl informed me that they make *drumroll please...* TOKIDOKI UNICORN BLIND BOXES!!! 

[Image found here]

OMG!!! I have new purpose in my life now other than planning my wedding. I am on a mission to collect all these cuties :)Here are the ones I've collected so far:

[My own picture :)]

Every time I visit Ala Moana Shopping Center from now on, I will make it a point to stop in at Animation Addict to purchase one blind box until my collection is complete... or I may end up cheating and going online to buy the ones I need hahaha.

Thanks for letting me share my love/obsession for this adorable character. What do you collect or obsess over? I'd love to know that I'm not the only crazy in this world that obsessively collects things. Till next time...

.:|jESSHij|:.

.:::.Wedding Colors.:::.

For those of you who know us Hij's you know that we are very ocean/beach oriented people. So it's only right that we have "beachy" wedding colors: CORAL, SEAFOAM GREEN, and SAND. Here are some wedding decor I found using our color scheme:

.:|BEAUTIFUL PAPER LANTERNS|:.

[Found @ 100 layer cake blog]

.:|SUCCULENT & DAHLIA BOUQUET|:.

[Via SweetChicEvents, INC]

.:|CORAL & SEAFOAM INSPIRATION BOARD|:.

[PaperDollRomance]

That's all for now :-) still hunting for more inspiring wedding things!

.:|jESSHij|:.

Cake Toppers

So I found the cutest cake topper ever for our wedding cake. I just have to place an order for it and it's customizable so it's taking me a while to figure out what details I want on it. Here's some samples of what our cake topper may come out looking like:

[Via Top That Cake]

[Via lollipopworkshop on Etsy]

Even Da Hij thinks they're cute :-) We haven't chosen our design or custom requests yet but I know it's going to be the cutest cake topper EVER!!! I'm so giddy and excited!!! What do ya think? Cute huh? :-)

.:|jESSHij|:.

♥ Our Wedding ♥

Hi all, 

I've been MIA for a while... work got busy, I was a bridesmaid for my awesome friend Mel, and when I get home I just wanna veg out. My buddy Sheryl suggested that I needed a new muse to motivate me to keep on blogging. Right now, other than work, my wedding is all I'm thinking, dreaming, and planning. So that's gonna be my new muse :-) And maybe a few crafting projects or fish pictures if I get around to doing either of those things...

In the beginning, I was soooo excited. My best friend, the man of my dreams gave me the proposal of a lifetime and a beautiful ring:

Then the dream turned to reality, I had to start planning! A wedding doesn't just happen on it's own. Weddings require lots of organization and planning and $$$. For those who know me, I am a procrastinator... and I mean a professional one hahaha. So I started... I booked our venues a while ago, found a great photographer, and found an invitation that even DaHij loves:

[Found @ Minted.com]

Then the excitement and motivation died... I thought eh, I have a year so I'm ahead of the game. Damn does time fly. I am now 8 months away from my date and I started freaking out! My girl friends had been bugging me to get my butt into some dresses. They  were more excited about it than me! 

So last Wednesday I finally took the plunge and went dress shopping for the first time... We hit up David's Bridal and honestly it wasn't the jaw dropping experience I imagined it to be. But then I went to another store in town on Saturday and my frown got turned up-side down :-) my energy and wedding excitement have been restored! I found two absolutely gorgeous dresses and a beautiful dress for my bridesmaids. Yay! 

Then yesterday my fiance and I met with our wedding coordinators Kelly and Karen, and florist Michael from [Rainforest Hawaii]... I was originally thinking of using dahlias for our bouquets and hairpiece because they are beautiful and full and they look like a pretty hardy flower. I didn't want something weak or wilty:

[Dahlia hairpiece & bouquet]

But after talking with Michael I found out that dahlia are actually extremely fragile :-( Booo! He said that once the under petals start to get a little beat up and you try to pull them out, the rest of the flower just starts to fall apart... I can't be having dead flowers all up in my hair or in my bouquet. 

My other choice for flowers were peonies. My mom absolutely loves peonies so I guess that love got passed down to me. But my impression of peonies was that they were on the more delicate side. Once again Michael corrected me! (He really knows his $**T) He said that because our wedding is in February and the weather is cooler peonies actually hold up pretty well. That made me :-)

[White Peony Bouquet]

[A little bit o color]

So I am happy to say that we are on our way! Progress, progress, progress! Meeting with our photographer on Friday then maybe some more wedding dress shopping on Saturday. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more wedding planning fun!

.:|jESSHij|:.

Random craft projects

Here are some things I've worked on lately:

Our dear friend Keiko invited us to make mochi with their family the day after Christmas... being mochi lovers we couldn't say no. Here is the project the day inspired :-)

Little cork board project:

Valentines for my girlies:

I used heart notecards made by the talented Lehua Cortez

[heart notecard found here]

That's all for now... hope to do more crafting & photo shooting soon. Stay tuned for more fun :-)