Storybook Baby Shower

Posted in Books, DIY, Party by beckyjael

This past weekend I threw another shower, this time a baby shower, with Jeanette (again 🙂 ) and our friend Wendy. It was for our friend Megan, who Jeanette and I knew from our days in the singles ward, and she and her husband just moved into our ward a few months ago. Jeanette, Wendy and I decided to do a children’s book theme because we all love books. We wanted lots and lots of books to use to decorate with… but I have very few children’s books… it was a good thing Jeanette and Wendy had so many! 🙂 Megan’s nursery colors are blue, green and yellow, so we used those colors where possible, but it was all pretty colorful with the different books. I loved all of the different colors with the white. We threw in a bunch of toys and sort of book themed items in with the books, along with some colorful flowers.

Wendy made these adorable story book themed painted onesies. I was amazed how detailed they were. I especially loved the cow jumping over the moon. And the apple with the worm. And the Once Upon a Time. Ok they were all really cute.

Continue reading →

11Mar2016

Video: Our Trip to Orlando

Posted in Travel, Videos by beckyjael

For Christmas Vu bought me a new camera and one of the features it has is video. I was so excited about this because I have been interested in taking video’s of our vacations and things for a few years now. I was able to try it out on our trip to Orlando and then I spent the last 2 weeks figuring out how to get the footage that I had taken into a video I could share. I have really enjoyed learning about this. However, I am very, very aware that I have A LOT to learn. Despite the very obvious flaws I can see in this video I still really love it, it is so fun to be able to relive our vacation a little bit. And I can’t wait to continue to improve my skills. Especially for my trip to Europe in May. 🙂

You can tell I really love fireworks too! 🙂 For the ones at Epcot (with the lake), the spot we were watching them from had a firework go off right in front of us. It really surprised me the first time. You can see it a couple of times in the video.

Also, I didn’t learn how to choose the quality of image recorded until after I got back… so yeah… that could be better. Next time!

26Feb2016

Last Minute Trip to Orlando

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

When Vu made the decision to leave Microsoft, the recruiter for his new job suggested that he take some time off before starting because it would be the only true vacation he would ever take. So that is what he did. And we decided to go to Orlando for a week. Shortly after we were married we had this vacation planned and airplane tickets booked , but that trip didn’t end up working out and we have never managed to make it since, so we were very excited to finally go. We spent 9 days there and pretty much themed parked it the whole week. It was my first time going to Disneyworld. Vu found a calendar online with optimal days for each park so we tried to optimize it for crowds, but it was still a pretty busy week to go. Especially Magic Kingdom and Harry Potter World, the crowds were crazy. I really don’t like crowds and lines. Despite that we had a really good time, and it was nice and relaxing for Vu. Vu’s aunt very kindly let us stay with her. It was only the second time Vu has ever seen her and we had a great time chatting with her and getting to know her better.

At Magic Kingdom Vu was asked to be a guard at “Enchanted Tales with Belle”, which was really meant for kids, but we both love Beauty and the Beast. This was a really long day, we were there from open to close, there is just so much to do at Magic Kingdom.

Continue reading →

15Feb2016

The End of an Era

Posted in Life by beckyjael

Today is the first day that I have known Vu of which he has not been a Microsoft employee. If you knew 2006 Vu, this day might have been synonymous with the end of the world a la “Day After Tomorrow.” A day down in the history books. A day you never dreamed was possible, could never happen. Because Vu, he drank the Kool-Aid. He passed out the Kool-Aid. He really loved that Kool-Aid. And Microsoft? They were really good to him in his pursuit of this Kool-Aid.

Working in SQL server was his dream job. He had a great boss, a great team, great reports and great friends. He worked hard. He worked long. He worked tirelessly. He gave his life, blood and soul to his job. Ok maybe not that last one. But he was extremely dedicated in his work.

This feels a bit weird, him not being a Microsoft employee. The whole time I have know him I have identified him as a Microsoft employee. We have never met a person that hasn’t heard of Microsoft. There is very limited explanations required when talking to people about what he does. But all good things come to an end. And it’s time for him to start moving towards those big dreams that were born when he was getting his MBA. So thank you Microsoft for giving him 10 good years. Thank you for giving him the opportunity to learn and grow and push his limits. Thank you for giving him skills to fulfill those dreams. Thank you for all of the opportunities that have lead up to this point. And who knows, maybe we will see you again someday.

29Jan2016

Mount Everest Bridal Shower

Posted in DIY, Party by beckyjael

Last weekend a couple of friends, Monica and Jeanette, and I threw a bridal shower for our friend Amanda. She met her fiancé when hiking Mount Everest Base Camp…

…which is about as cool as the “how we met story” can get! 🙂

So we had a Mount Everest Themed bridal shower for her. I painted a foam board to look like the sign to point you in right direction… which is as close as I will ever get to it.

Continue reading →

11Dec2015

12 Month’s of Holiday Décor: Recap

Posted in Decorations, DIY by beckyjael

I have enjoyed this last year of monthly holiday decor so much. I love thinking up and searching for inspiration, making plans and then seeing those plans come to fruition. Decorations adds so much to the feel of each holiday, and I do love holidays so much. So after completing my goal to change it each month, I thought I would share a little recap of all them together. It is so fun to see them all in one place. Thanks for following along. And although I have really enjoyed it, I am also very much looking forward to focusing on some other projects now. 🙂 Plus I still have a few projects I didn’t get around to each month (especially the pillows, I only got to 1/3 of them).

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

Continue reading →

5Dec2015

12 Month’s of Holiday Décor: December

Posted in Christmas, Decorations, DIY by beckyjael

Yay, it’s December! Christmas is my favorite holiday and I have been so excited for the Christmas decorations! I actually made most of them last year, I was really busy and productive last November. But I love the changes that I made this year even more. Also, be warned, there are lots of pictures.

I love boxwood and wanted to use it around the mantle, but I haven’t ever seen any boxwood garlands. So I bought a wreath from Trader Joe’s and then took it apart. My friend Wendy also let me get some free holly clippings from her dad’s property, which was so nice. I love the holly and boxwood together. (When I told Vu we were going to get the holly he said “What is that?” seriously? How do you not know what holly is?)

This Olive wood nativity is from Jerusalem. It was my first nativity. It was a gift Vu gave me long before we were married. He went to a lot of work to get it for me. The wood comes from 1 of 4 olive groves that could be the garden of Gethsemane. Of the 4 groves there are 2 that have a much higher likelihood of being the actual grove. And then of those 2 one is a little more likely than the other. This wood comes from that 1, the one believed to be the most likely to be the garden of Gethsemane. As I understand it, it takes years and lots and lots of work to get wood from this grove. Vu knew someone who managed to get one, and was making it into a piano. Vu asked him if could buy the cut off pieces. And then found a carver in Jerusalem that could then turn them into this nativity. And each step required some intense kind of documentation to make sure it is still the same wood from that original olive tree from that one grove. To me, it is kind of like the ultimate nativity. It is very special to me, not just for it’s individual value, but also because of the effort and thought Vu put into it, and the representation of how much he loves me. And because Christmas is my favorite. After this, I decided to start collecting nativities from around the world, to represent my love of travel and my love of Christmas.

Continue reading →

20Nov2015

Boston Week 3

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

The last week in Boston I was only there for the first half of the week. On Monday, October 26th, Maddison and I went to the Middlesex Fell Reservation which is just a little bit north of Rachel’s house. We did a little hike up to the tower that has a view of the whole area and Boston. It was a really pretty view from the top.

Then in the afternoon we walked over to the cememtary right next to Rachel’s house. I loved seeing all of the Irish names because I saw the Irish immigrants memorial next to one of the churches on the freedom trail, but I didn’t see much of an Irish influence on the city. Not like the Italian district in the North End. It also had my favorite falls trees of the whole trip. It was a perfect sunny day, it was so pretty. I have been trying to improve my DSLR skills and so these pictures were taken in RAW. Then when I got home and looked at them, I loved how pretty they were. Then I tried to upload them to the blog and apparently it has to be a JPEG. So I converted them and the quality decreased significantly. The colors in the RAW file were so much better. I delayed doing these posts for 2 weeks because I wanted to figure out to use the RAW images, or get them to look as good. It didn’t work. I was very sad. But looking at them now, I guess they aren’t that bad 🙂 It is just so sad knowing how much better the originals are.

Continue reading →

18Nov2015

Boston Week 2 + Acadia National Park

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

The second week I was in Boston visiting Rachel it was much colder. It had turned cold over the weekend (It snowed in Palmyra on Sunday). Monday, October 19 I had plans to go into Boston and to Beacon Hill and to tour a couple of the houses there, but I forgot to check the hours before hand and discovered that the houses are closed on Monday and Tuesday since they are open on Saturday and Sunday. So I walked around and enjoyed the beautiful architecture, then since I was really close to Boston Common, which is the beginning of the Freedom trail, I decided to the other half.

Continue reading →

17Nov2015

Boston Week 1 + Palmyra

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

I was very sad when Rachel moved to Boston in May, but my one consolation was that I love Boston. I have long been wanting to see New England in the fall, and the second I knew she was moving there I planned on going to visit her in October. It also just happened that one of my best friend’s, Maddison, moved there just a few weeks after Rachel did. And into an apartment just a couple streets away from her. I went for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of October so I could ensure that I didn’t miss the peak of the leaves. Rachel had to work a lot of that time, so I was so happy that Maddison was there and could do some sight seeing with me. It was a great trip and so fun to see Rachel and Maddison again! And I do love Boston so much. This summer was pretty dry which is a key factor in leaf color, so I kept hearing that it wasn’t quite as vibrant as usual, but it still very beautiful. It just means I have to go back again. 🙂

I got there Tuesday morning, October 13th, and Rachel and I went to Salem. It was fun to see it right after having my Witch party.

The next day Maddison and I did half of the freedom trail. I accidentally had us go backwards starting at the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill. I did it with my family when I was a teenager and that is the order I remember doing it, so I just assumed that was the start. It worked out pretty well though, because then we were able to have pizza for lunch in the North End, which is the Italian district. Then Rachel joined me after she got off work for some pasta and a cannoli from Mike’s pastry. It was all so good!

Continue reading →