COUPON: [gap | friends & family | aug 4-7 2011]

Hi my Lovelies,

I just received this F&F coupon from a friend and wanted to share it with you guys...

From August 4th through the 7th GAP is having their Friends & Family event! That's 30% off your entire purchase at any GAP, GAP Kids, GAP Body, and GAP Maternity! Or 35% off if you purchase everything with your GAP card.

This year is a little different...
Gap wanted to make this just a Gap event. Be sure to click on the coupon below to enlarge and print it out to use it in-store and/or at gap.com.



enjoy!

xx
j

WEEKEND RECAP: [travels | sacramento]

This weekend the hubby (yes the hubby) and I headed up to Sacramento for my Aunty Judi's surprise 60th birthday party on Saturday.

FRIDAY:________________________________
I get home from work & finished packing using my brand spanking new luggage (YAY!). I seriously was shocked when I was able to pack both of our stuff in my luggage. Normally I have no space left to fit Daren's 2 t-shirts, 2 shocks, 1 jeans, 1 polo shirt & 1 undershirt... But I did it! Lol

Once Daren got home we were off to LAX to grab Mexican food @ the airport for dinner (like I always do before my flights) and to catch our short flight to the 916.

While @ the airport I got a text from my cousin Geof saying he didn't get the banner Nic (his sister) had asked me to make for their mom's party. Doh! I had sent to Wednesday afternoon thinking it would definitely get there by friday... Guess not! I knew I should've sent it over night or taken it with me on the plane. Oh well. Live and learn!

Oh and I didn't tell my parents that I was going to bring Daren with me, I wanted it to be small surprise. Plus I figured that since my parents are now planning to come down here for both Thanksgiving & Christmas this year the rest of my family won't be able to see him.

So once we landed safely in Sacramento my dad picked us up. When we arrived at my parents house we chatted for a few minutes but we were super tired and headed to bed. Plus my cousin Geof wanted me to wake up early to help him set up the party.

SATURDAY:_____________________________
I woke up around 8:30am so I could take a shower and get ready before my cousin Geof came to pick me up at 9:30am. As Daren of course slept in. Lol go figure right?!

Geof & I then headed over to Wishing Well (party store) to pick up balloons and a back up banner. After that we headed to Freeport Bakery to pick up the awesomely decorated cake (wish I took a photo of it). Then we headed to Geof's house to pick up the flowers. By this time it was already 10:45am (party started @ 11am) and the Party people were already heading to the venue (Fortune House Chinese Restaurant) so we headed over there to set up. We were hopping that banner I made would've made it just in time... But sadly it didn't.

The surprise was a success! She wasn't expecting it at all. My cousin's planned it out perfectly. They planned a family dinner Sat night so she wasn't expecting it. I guess geof also told her I probably wouldn't be able to come because I was just there and Daren hardly comes up so she wasn't expecting him either. But of course I didn't find this out until the end of the night when my mom had told me. I was wondering why she looked so surprised to see me there let alone daren. Good one guys ha!

After lunch Daren & I headed off to the movies to go see the Hangover. It was funny, but not as funny as I thought it was going to be.

And after the movies it was time for dinner (was still full from lunch & popcorn lol). Daren had TONS of work to do so he opted out of dinner and had us drop him off at startbucks so he could work with no distractions (I.e. TV, bed etc). So we did, and then head off to Scott's Seafood for dinner.

4 hours later we were finally done with dinner and went to go pick Daren up from starbucks. Lol

SUNDAY:______________________________
We had lunch with the Sato's (kellie, brent & my nephew brodie) & natalie at Paesano's (sp?) In elk grove or should I say Breakfast. For some strange reason they now don't serve lunch until 2pm on weekends... Its that weird?? We were so sad but decided to stick it out any ways.

After lunch it was time to pack up and head over to the cemetery to visit my brother's nitch. I haven't gotten to go the last few trips back and especially since Daren was with me this time, I thought we should definitely go pay him a visit.

Then it was off the airport. Sadly for Daren I accidentally scheduled our flight back during the Laker/Magic Game 2. But I got to catch the beginning and he would've caught the end if he wasn't a workaholic and didn't head into the office once we landed. Lol

All in all the weekend was nice. Nice to have the hubby around and with me... For the most part. Most weekends consist of him working a lot. (Thanks again for flying up with me babe! 123)

Welp that was my weekend. Sorry no pictures... I really need to get better at taking them ha. But I hope you guys all had great weekends.

Until next time...
Xoxo

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HAPPY BDAY: [hubby | 30th]

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY BELUGA!!!

love you.
xoxo







{photo: taken 2007 @ dave & mina's wedding}

PERSONAL: [weekend | recap]

I had a fab weekend up in Sacramento. Yes! You guessed it, my monthly trip back to Sac was this weekend.

I was debating on if I wanted to go to tahoe to go snowboarding or to stay in sac and visit with friends & family. But since I opted to go to tahoe the last trip I wasn't able to see many people. So I decided to just hang out in Sac... Yes! Even though it just dumped in tahoe, I know! Lol

But to be perfectly honest I made the right choice. My schedule was jam packed but it was all worth it! I got to see family & friends whom I haven't seen in a while. So it was great!

Here's a break down:
Friday:
• 945pm arrived in Sac
• 1030pm hung out with the parentals
• 1045pm eat moms jook.. Yum!
• 1130pm bed time... I know I'm an old lady!

Saturday:
• 10am wake up & got ready
• 1130pm drive to meet annie
• 12pm had lunch with my parents & annie at this yummie Vietnamese spot off Stockton blvd.
• 2pm head to a.judi & u.pk's to see nic & my nephew drew, geof & candace and the rest of the fam.

[me & my nephew drew!]
• 6pm had dinner with michelle. Thanks for coming up. Miss you! I had tons of fun just like the good ol days.
• 11pm headed to Hanger 17 for Candace's bday! HAPPY BDAY tomorrow!
• 1am headed to geof & candace's place. • 3pm went to bed. I haven't stayed out that late in a LONG time! Lol

Sunday:
• 10am woke up & got ready
• 1130pm went to arden mall w/kellie to shop and visit Kento at work.
• 230pm went to kellie parents house to hang out with my nephew brodie.

[my nephew brodie @ 7months holding his own bottle with one hand.. talented! lol]
• 445pm headed to the airport
• 605pm flight took off
• 735pm Back in La la land!!
• 8pm watch the movie taken

One of these trips back I MUST find the time to make it out to SF. I haven't been back in 3 years... Yes 3 YEARS!! I miss it dearly. SF use to be my second home. I use to go there almost every weekend. You'd think with me going up to Sac every month I'd be able to find the time but unfortunately that's not the case. Most of the time I have family things to do while other I NEED to see/hang out with my friends in Sac because I miss them a ton. So whenever they can fit me into their busy schedule I take it.

Hope you guys had a great weekend as well.

Xoxo


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TRAVELS//: [tahoe | northstar]

{photo taken with my bb at the top of the mt. at northstar in tahoe last weekend}

this past weekend was my monthly trip up north to visit my parents. i flew into Sacramento and they picked me up and we headed straight up to tahoe to our family's condo.

Saturday i woke up and my parents dropped me off to go snowboarding at Northstar. it was just me and the mt. of snow spending QT. although because i'm able to go at my own pace i noticed really fast how out of shape i really am. man am i sore... STILL! ha!

note to self: remember to do 100 squats a day a month before the season starts. lol

on a bad note, the airline baggage handlers broke one of the stripes on my board bag.. grr!

PERSONAL//: [souvenir | from hubby]

The hubby was gone to NYC and Orlando for almost 2 weeks and this is what he brought me back. Cute right?! He said everyone laughed at him when he bought it.

Thanks beluga! Xoxo

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FAMILY//: [holiday | photos]

the hubby's parents normally send out Happy New Year cards with a photo of us "kids".  last year it was the 4 of us at erik & mel's wedding. this year we somehow forgot the take a photo with just us "kids" when the hubby's parents took us to hawaii to visit erik & mel last summer. so the hubby's mom asked me if i could possible try and add daren and i in a photo that they took when they went back to hawaii in dec. 

keep in mind daren and i havent taken many photos together this year. so i only had one photo that would work of us that we took at my friend's wedding back in aug ... and this is how it turned out.

FAMILY//: [miss you]

Some days are easier than others. But I always miss you and wish you were here. Its almost been 2 years and yet it still feels like yesterday. Not a day passing without me feeling bad about taking you for granted.

I love you, miss you and will never forget you!

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FAMILY//: [shortie | new do]

This weekend we took Shortie to get his hair did. It was windy and raining so I put on his trench coat.

Daren hates when I put clothes on shortie but he gets cold easily (like me!)and I think shortie likes being fashionable ha!

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PERSONAL//: [family | photo]

Here's a family picture of the hubby & I with my parents in old sacramento. My parents wanted to get a family portrait (for xmas cards) of us while they can since the hubby doesn't make it up to sac very often.

We went up the first weekend in Nov to celebrate my dad's retirement.

I glad my dad looks truly happy in this photo. Its been a while.

oh and yes daren's that short... and it doesn't help much that i was wearing heels lol.

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PERSONAL//: [photos | sacramento]

this past weekend (halloween weekend) the hubby and i headed to good ol' sacramento to celebrate my dad's ("faux" as annie would say ha) retirement party. he's still going to work part time, thats why annie calls it his "faux" retirement party lol.

i really need to get better at taking more photos with my camera. ^_^

thanks to everyone who came out the help celebrate. xoxo

PERSONAL//: [missing my brother]

i always miss my brother but some days are just a little harder than others. most of the time i'll just shed a few tears thinking about how much i miss him and how i wished he were still with us but then i brush it off, which normally last less than a minute. the other times are when i just can't shake it and i have to literally cry myself to sleep, which is really rare.

i've never thought negatively about him passing, well i take that back.. i have and sometimes still think "why him?" but for the most part i just cry out of missing him and wishing he was still here with us living his life. but I'm so grateful and thankful that he was such a trooper and fought every step of the way. even towards the end when things started to get worse he still stayed strong. he told me that he accepted his fate and that he found god. we're not a religious family so when he told me i was shocked... but i thought to myself i hope I'm as strong as he is at the very end.

growing up i never thought something like this could ever happen. i took for granted assuming he was going to be around until we got old. i thought that when mom and dad passed we'd be going thru it together and that he'd give them grandkids so i didn't have to feel pressured to. it saddens me when i think that i don't have any siblings and that now it's like I'm the only child. but i have wonderful, amazing friends and one of  them even told me that her and her siblings could now be mine. which i feel so blessed.. i honestly couldn't ask for better friends. 

i've said this before, but something so sad and tragic allowed me to find who my true close friends are. THANK YOU! you guys know who you are. it might be a very short list, but its quality not quantity. LOVE YOU!! xoxo

[for those of you that dont know, my older brother lost his flight with lymphoma at the age of 28 on january 04 2007]