details in black.

texture and details add oomph to this otherwise plain black sweater from Fevrie. i love simple and unfussy pieces, and this top is one you can throw on with jeans and heels for an easy yet pulled together look.

scenes from the weekend below.

after a long hiatus, they brought back a carnival to our neighborhood...so we went to show our support and get our fill of carnival food.

mini-she being a good sport by riding the

merry-go-round with her brother.

(dress rehearsal)

after four months of late-night rehearsals, we finally got to see mini-she on stage at opening night of her school play. she did great...i'm so proud of her.

(Fevrie mesh & quilted top c/o; Bebe necklace;
Patty's Closet shorts; lips: LAQA & Co. 'Doppelganger')

weekend in photos. summer love.

it's rare that we have a weekend completely free. someone always has a game, practice, class, or birthday party. this past weekend was one of those free weekends, so we headed to the beach house. it was the ideal summer weekend just hanging out, eating, and hitting the beach to surf, paddle, and swim several times a day. in the evenings, we'd play [with the neighborhood kids] on the street till dark, wind down by playing cards or games, and finally pop in a movie to end the night.

how's your summer so far?

carrot juice to kick off the weekend.

soaking up the last bits of sun.

sun protection essentials.

having fun letting the waves push us around.

iphone stack...plus the one i'm using to take the picture.

pork quesadillas from killer tacos.

[mini-he and me] on top of the world alligator rock! 

strawberry + coconut shave ice w/ice cream from my fave general store.

mini-she.

something i've always wanted to try for mini-he. i think i got more of a kick out of it than he did.

playing in the streets till dark...mini-he had the best time riding bicycles and scooters with the neighborhood boys. they were racing down a hill, and being the protective mom that i am, i followed along...cheering but also reminding him to use his brakes and slow down if he didn't feel comfortable. at one point, he actually shoo'd me and said under his breath, "i know, mom, go. go." i laughed to myself at the time, but thinking about it makes me sad...he's growing up!

the varsity jacket.

who knew i'd own another varsity jacket post high school?

thanks to a buy one, get two free promo, i now own this quilted varsity jacket. at least it's much more fashionable and flattering than my high school one. the black and white is fresh and crisp and will work well for all seasons. i'm thinking it'll be perfect with winter whites, just the right edgy juxtaposition to spring pastels and prints (like these polkas), and a sporty cover-up for tees and denim cutoffs on chilly summer nights. btw, how super cute is this polka dot dress from Patty's Closet?

this weekend was all about mini-she. after months of late night rehearsals, her school play finally came to life...and she did a wonderful job. they all did. kudos to her teacher who did an awesome job directing the play.

do you have a wardrobe piece that works for all seasons?

mini-she as the gatekeeper.

(dress c/o Patty's Closet (808-625-6441);

LA Hearts jacket via Pacsun (on sale! buy);

Lulu's shoes; ShopLately necklace)

love thy children.

anyone with kids knows that there are days.
good days. bad days. extremely bad days when you wanna scream F@CK! and pull your hair out.

yesterday was one of those extremely bad days with mini-he. he was whiny and rebellious. he grumbled about anything and evvvrything from the moment i walked in the door. and yesterday, maybe it was the hour and a half of traffic i had just sat through, i just couldn't take it. my patience had worn thin. by the time we struggled through homework and a snack (or two, or three) he had to have, i'd had it up to my ears with his crap.

i kinda stormed out of the house, and went to pick up mini-she from a school event. i purposely arrived about 10 minutes early so that i could just sit, de-stress, and have a few quiet moments to myself.

in that time, i decided to scroll through my facebook feed and came across a video someone shared. i saw it earlier, but didn't have the desire to watch it then. not sure why i decided to watch it now, other than the fact that i could. i had the time. there were several captions because it was a share of a share, etc., but one said, fyi, this is a girl, and my friend's caption was, this is so disgusting and sick!!!. the screenshot was of a mother (i'm assuming) sitting on one side of the bed, her back to us, with her baby (on her stomach, face down, maybe 7 months old) in the other corner against the wall.

i hit play.

and then kinda wished i didn't.

the baby was whimpering and crying, so the mother whacks the baby on the head with a pillow, repeatedly. mother stops. baby cries. mother continues to whack the baby's head with the pillow. she stops. baby whimpers. next she hits the baby on the head with her fist, repeatedly. baby cries. baby whimpers. this continues with a few slaps on the face in between. baby cries and whimpers. she proceeds to pinch and twist the skin on the baby's arms, body, and legs. she stops. baby cries.

if you're not feeling sick in your gut, or even tearing up yet, this next part got me.

after a few (long!) minutes of this, the baby gets the strength to prop herself on her knees and reach out to touch her mama's knee. the mother flicks the baby's hand off her knee and pushes the baby away on her forehead, causing the baby to fall backwards and roll away. baby cries.

the unconditional love that this baby felt for its mama, even after all of that...wow. the baby instinctively reached out to her mom to be comforted. she just wanted needed a hug.
to feel safe.

the beating continued with her hand as well as with something hard like a remote control. what's worse? you can see two older children standing off to the side watching. not in awe and not scared. just watching, expressionless, while eating a snack as if this was nothing new to them.

i felt sick to my stomach.

i'm not a religious person, but i can only believe that god made me see that video for a reason. to put my feelings and situation with mini-he in perspective...that in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, trying to get everything done in the short time we have at the end of the day, amidst the orders i'm giving out and the demands he's making, sometimes all mini-he needs is a hug.

needless to say, i went home and cuddled with mini-he.

love your children.

ps. the video has since been reported and removed, but it popped into my thoughts while driving to work this morning, and i couldn't contain my tears. even while typing this. i give my sephora pitch black all-in-one waterproof eyeliner a hundred million stars for not budging or running!

and if you read this...thanks. you're awesome.

the cut-out sweater.

fall, are you coming?

because i have lots of sweaters waiting to be worn.

i'm not kidding when i say i have been living in this sweater. i've worn it to work, to the movies, to the store, out shopping, lunching, and having wine with the neighborhood mamas. it's one of those that you kinda wish you bought a second one for backup.

it was mini-she's birthday weekend. i tried to plan a last-minute surprise dinner with a few of her friends on friday night...it ended up raining, and traffic was bad. plus, all of the restaurants had a 45min-1hr wait. we hopped around to several different restaurants and finally settled on mexican. (thanks, T, for treating us!). in the end, the girls had a good time.

how was your weekend?

top: after mexican, we stopped at menchies for fro-yo.

bottom: her ice cream cake from yesterday's celebration

with the family.

(sweater c/o Patty's Closet; true religion denim; boots & bag c/o JustFab)

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weekend randoms.

since some of you may be gearing up for the 4th of july weekend, i thought i'd share some pictures from last weekend. we certainly have been enjoying the longer days by packing in the activities and staying out as late as possible.

as mini-she gets older, i've been seeking volunteer opportunities to teach her about giving back. i signed us up to help at one of the bigger book sales here. we were "adders" which meant we totaled the customers' books and sent them to the cashier. it was a great opportunity for mini-she to use her math skills. on this day, everything was 50% off, so people didn't come to us with one or two books...they brought box loads of books to add up!

mini rolled her teenage eyes when i told her we'd be there for seven hours, but supporting our public libraries is a good cause, and the organization took care of their volunteers. mini got a free t-shirt, a yummy lunch, and a box full of books at

great prices.

they fed us the most delicious lunch consisting of a

curry-chicken-apple salad sandwich and this beet-pasta-feta salad. after googling, i found out that this was a pasta called ancini de pepe.

we also got free shave ice from one of the vendors there.

they used homemade syrups; this strawberry milk flavor was so good...you can even see the strawberry seeds!

sunday mornings are spent watching mini-he's football game. it was a really exciting game. we were in the lead, but the other team scored literally in the last 30 seconds and won by 2 points.

in the afternoon, we headed to the courts to roller skate, play tennis, and shoot some hoops. tennis is such a great workout.

and, boy, those 10-foot baskets are hard to make...

i mean, i'm only 5-ish feet!

if you are celebrating, have a fun and safe 4th of july.

spring break day.

after working for a couple weeks straight on a project at work,

i managed some time off and surprised the minis by spending the last day of their spring break with them. i woke them up bright and early to eat breakfast, then we threw on our shoes and headed to ko olina resort. we took a cool morning walk on the path along the five lagoons, then took a dip in the water and soaked up some sun. the weather was beautiful, and the water was crystal clear. 

after, we headed to a nearby shopping center, had lunch at subway (mini-he's choice), and picked up some much needed shorts

for the ever-growing mini-she.

after being home all week, mini-he was so happy that i spent the day with them. he kept saying over and over what a good time he had...doing all the things we did...with me.

good times.

what's on your agenda for the weekend?