Through Hubert's Eyes #4

It has been quite a long time since I had a Hubert post...well, it's just been a long time since I've posted anything, period.

Last week, Ryan and I went to one of my favorite places in MN -- the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It's one of the things I've missed most since we moved (that and the Original Pancake House :) ). We wanted to check it out and see if the crabapple trees had blossomed yet since this spring has been so cold. It ended up being perfect timing because we had some bad storms and wind this past weekend, so I'm sure the crabapple tree blossoms aren't the same anymore. We got lucky I guess and saw the pretty blooms of the crabapple trees and the thousands of tulips that have blossomed.

The arboretum is such a magical place to me. I love going for walks there and love the peacefulness that comes with it. With the blossoms of the trees and flowers and all the bright shades of colors, it almost feels like a fairyland.

Like I said, it's been a while since I had a Hubert post, so instead of just one or two pictures this time, here's a "bunch" from the arboretum (pun intended, hehe). Hope you enjoy!

next year, I want to have a picnic under this tree...

silly husband :)

An Event

A long awaited event occurred today -- the Royal wedding of William and Kate. Today, Kate Middleton made every girl in the world wish she was a Princess. Well, at least that's how I felt :)

I have today off of work and was planning on doing so much, but ended up glued to the TV since this morning, waiting for the live first kiss from the couple. I didn't wake up early enough to watch the actual ceremony (that was way too early!), but it's being replayed all day so I'm not too worried about it. When I saw Kate's dress, I fell in love with it. It was very classy, lace, and so Grace Kelly. Her makeup - flawless. She looked absolutely radiant.

Watching their wedding made me think of my own. And unfortunately, when I think of my own, some negative thoughts come pouring back. Not of my actual wedding - that was the most magical time of my life so far - but because of some other circumstances I won't bother getting into right now.

As I saw the crowds and crowds of people both inside and outside Westminster Abbey for William and Kate's wedding, I thought again about how weddings can sometimes get so out of hand. Dozens of people surround a couple and sometimes that day becomes about pleasing others, making sure family is happy, that details are taken care of, that you're not going to disappoint anyone...when in the end, that day is really about two people - the Bride and the Groom. Whether they are the possible future King and Queen or every day people, that day is about them. Sometimes that gets lost.

Watching the wedding made me smile. The people gathering, the stunning yet simple decorations, the gorgeous Church combined with nature's foliage, the outrageous hats! It did seem like a magical event and I hope the new husband and wife have a lifetime of happiness.

I probably don't have anything in common with Kate, but I like to think that as she walked down the aisle next to her new husband, she thought the same thing I did when I was walking down the aisle...


I just married the man of my dreams. Love is not a fairytale.

Officially

Another year has flown by and here I am...officially in my 30s. I should probably change my "30 and Thriving" to "30s and Thriving".

I have been 31 for 5 days now. What does that mean now? I really don't know. Doesn't feel much different from 30 honestly...or 29...or 28. I am taking that as a good thing. I do feel like I need to do some re-evaluation and soul searching though, but I feel like that's a normal thing when you realize another year has gone by, right?

I am not one to make that big of a deal about my birthday. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because I don't like to be the center of attention. I've never really liked big parties either. I just get uncomfortable when people stare at me expecting me to be uber happy that there is a party going on for me. I get embarrassed. I get sweaty (surprise, surprise). It's just awkward for me. Is that a bad thing? I've always felt bad about feeling this way because I don't want to seem ungrateful or something, but in all honesty, I would much prefer something low key over something that resembles a party.

And, of course my husband knows that and planned for the perfect way to celebrate my birthday. A staycation. If you don't know, a "staycation" is like going on vacation close to home. Call it a poor man's vacation or a fancy sleepover, whichever way you want to look at it. You know I won't turn down any form of a vacation! Ryan got a hotel for a couple nights and we had a wonderful time lounging, relaxing, pretty much not doing much at all. It was wonderful.

The hotel was actually pretty cool. We had our own bathrobes and slippers, an awesome bathroom with a sunken tub, a flat screen TV (which Ryan now wants to put in our bedroom), and pretty decent room service. Birthday dinner in bed? Yes, please! What cracked me up about the hotel was that they delivered ice to your room. Rich people must be lazy! We were also downtown so it was fun to walk around and explore shops and of course restaurants too.

The rest of my birthday weekend was celebrated with family. Saturday, my brother wanted to eat lunch at a chinese food place, which turned out to be an impromptu birthday celebration with my parents and aunt too, cake and flowers included. It was a good time.  Sunday was spent with Ryan's family for April birthdays (which I share with his sister and grandpa), which meant even more cake!

One thing I've always thought about getting older is that it's a privilege. It's not something to dread. So, here I am, 31, alive, healthy (albeit overweight lol, but hey, I'm working on that part), employed, loved, with people that I truly love in my life. Life is good!

Here's my photo diary of part of my birthday weekend (sadly, none taken with Hubert).

Bathrobes and slippers?! YES!

View from our hotel. The deflated white blob on the left side is supposed to be the Metrodome :(

me and more views from the room

Ryan being silly and attempting to steal the flatscreen

me showing off my birthday present from my hubby - my colored gemstone Paloma Picasso bead bracelet from Tiffany :) 

I don't know why, but I loved this apple painting. And I like how you can see mine and Ryan's shadows for each of the apples. It's fitting cuz he's the apple of my eye. Awwww -- puke!

Birthday dinner in bed! Sounds lazy, but seriously, just what I needed!

the cutest birthday cake that I've ever had

I don't know why I tried to pose like Mary Tyler Moore. I had no hat, and I ended up looking like I was grabbing her boob.

Even the newspaper had a home. I don't know why I thought this was cute.

Last morning on our staycation. These pastries were yummy!

An Adult Ago

A crazy thing happened to me today. Okay, not quite "crazy" as funny I guess, but to me it's still crazy.

I was watching Oprah after work as usual and the show featured some female artists from the past. I kind of laughed to myself when Salt-N-Pepa took the stage with a mix of some of their famous songs. As they performed "Whatta Man", I thought to myself:

"Oh geez, I remember when that came out...I must've been in 8th grade..."

And BAM. It hit me. 8th grade?????!!!! So then I was around 13?? 13???? 

And then...wait for it...I realized...that that was 18 years ago. That is the age of an adult person. A whole adult person! That was an adult ago!

I guess instead of "crazy" it would be more "ironic" maybe? Ironic because the day before I turn 31, a song takes me back to a time when I thought 30 was old.  I had no problem turning 30, but after this, maybe turning 31 will be harder than 30?

Happy Tuesday

I'm not really quite sure why Tuesdays are so happy for me. Early on in my relationship with Ryan, we would go on random dates during the week or he would bring me flowers or something like that, and it seemed like they'd fall on a lot of Tuesdays. I even have notes from him saying just "Happy Tuesday". I  guess it's just one of those things where you're together for so long you forget how a tradition started?

Today has definitely been a happy Tuesday, but not because of a date night or flowers lol. It's because The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide was finally released! I say finally because it has been years since this book was first mentioned. Finally!

Ahhh...hopefully this fix will keep me occupied until Breaking Dawn comes out in November...probably not, but it is still exciting! I'm off to go read it and ooooh and ahhh at the entire book.

Happy Tuesday!

I'm a dork

It's the humidity!

Spring is in the air...and so is the humidity...womp womp...

Today was the first day I, or rather, my hair, felt the humidity in the air. I definitely didn't miss the humidity or the spring cleaning that comes with winter going away. Oh, the things we sacrifice for nicer weather. I think I may need to make a trip to the salon soon for a relaxer appointment before I start getting confused for Ryan's new pet!

Happy Sunday!

I heart...

I've noticed that I've been typing/saying "I heart..." or "I <3" a LOT lately in emails/texts/conversations. This is something I used to think was annoying and somehow I've adopted the habit of doing it myself. So, to further annoy myself (and possibly you too), I thought this post would be about the things I currently heart a lot.

I also wanted to mention that what I heart the most lately, is the manual settings on my camera, Hubert. Some of the pictures below were taken by him, and were purely manual. What is in focus or blurry was set up that way by yours truly, no automatic settings for me! I am slowly, but surely learning more and more each day.

So...I heart...

...Nail polish. I am obsessed with nail polishes in general. I change my nail color probably once a week, depending on how lazy I am. I have WAY too many nail polishes in my collection. I just had to get the Hello Kitty ones below though because the bottles are just too adorable. I love the pink one for spring, but yellow unfortunately, is not my color :( I will just have to admire that bottle. Maybe I'll do a post about all the nail polishes I have sometime.

...Trying out new recipes. To me, nothing beats a tasty, home-cooked meal. Don't get me wrong, I love going out to eat, but there is just something special about cooking at home and sharing a meal with your loved ones. The newest recipe I tried was inspired by my recent trip to San Francisco. We all ate well and I loved that there were so many Filipino restaurants. So, I decided this week I'd try to make Bistek/Beef Steak. It turned out pretty yummy!

...Fresh flowers. I think I've mentioned before that I love having fresh flowers around the house, especially during the winter. Grocery stores always have cute little bunches of flowers for an affordable price and they really help lift my spirits. It's now April and spring is in the air, but there's still lots of snow on the ground...melting away slowly. These sunflowers in my dining room make me think of the fields of sunflowers I saw in Italy way too long ago. They make me smile whenever I see them.

...Kung Fu, my panda pillow pet. I was lucky enough to get this little guy this past Christmas from Ryan and not a day has gone by without hanging out with him. Whether it's on the couch, in my home office, or watching TV in bed, he is becoming a member of the family! I dare you to try to look at this precious face and not smile!

...Date nights. I have a husband who still asks me out on dates. I am so blessed! This week, we went to try out happy hour sushi near our house. It was delicious! Ryan even ordered from the sushi menu, I was impressed!

...my evil eye bracelet. I bought this in San Francisco at Jest Jewels and love it. It's simple enough to wear every day. The "evil eye" is a look that is believed to be able to cause injury/harm/bad luck towards a person and these charms/beads/talismans were created to protect wearers from the evil eye and any curses/bad luck/negativity it may bring. There's a lot more info on these but I think that's the gist of it, and apparently these are getting very popular.

...Wii. Ryan and I have had our Wii for a while now, but recently I've really been making an attempt to use it. I love dancing to the MJ Experience game and working out to the Wii Fit and Zumba games. On the flip side, it's also becoming a hazard because I've discovered Netflix on it, which instantly streams movies and TV shows...dangerous!

...Victoria's Secret PINK Body Lotion in Cucumber & Water Lily.  I recently got this from my friend Karen and absolutely love it...the lotion is not greasy at all and I LOVE the scent. Oh my gosh, I just can't get enough of it!

What do you heart?