Tokashiki Island

The beginning of July Lucy and I went with some friends to Tokashiki Island for a day trip. Tokashiki is another one of the Kerama Islands. A day trip was not enough! We only had time to explore one beach-Aharen, which was gorgeous of course, but I still want to go back and swim with the turtles at the other beach on the island! 

 We stopped for lunch first thing and Lucy didn't skip a beat making herself at home.

Aharen Beach views

The crew!

 Naptime, mamas included

 Taylor and I hiked to an observatory with an amazing view of the beach. Like how is the world so beautiful? Never ceases to amaze me.

 Aharen Beach from the observatory

finished out the trip with some snocones naturally!

 I hope to make it back at least once before we leave!!

2017

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I wanted to do a catch up blog post, but I still need to export all my photos from last year out of lightroom and it is moving slower than molasses!! Does anyone know how to speed up lightroom? I'm sure I could google it I suppose.

I had a wonderfulllll holiday break. My mom, dad, and little sister came out for 9 days. It was so fun to show them around. We also visited Aka Island in the Keramas and it was nothing short of amazing. I decided on this trip that the Keramas are one of my favorite places I've ever been to. I'm a beach girl and not only was it insanely gorgeous, their was no tourists. Actually there was one other couple we kept seeing around. I've never been to such pretty places that are so under commercialized and left alone. If you live in Okinawa, you reallly have to make it out there! I'll write more about our trip in a different post. I just feel very strongly about how much I love it :).

I decided this year to not make a big over arching resolution. Instead I'm going to make monthly goals, and within that weekly goals. This month I'm doing @jillkfitness Fitblast. I actually won it for the month on Instagram (what I actually won something?!) and I'm excited about it. I did my first workout today and am ready to keep consistent with my workouts. I feel so much better and confident when I take care of my body by exercising. And honestly that's the main reason I do it. I love how I feel and I know it's important!

My other goals for the month were all wellness related: More veggies everyday, drink 60 oz water/day and be in bed by 10 every night. I totally struggle with all 3 of those and I'm sick of paying for it!

Duke still has the rest of the week off and we are going to try to make it up to Okuma for a night tomorrow and hang out on the beach. This is my fourth winter in Okinawa and so far it has been the nicest weather-wise! We'll see if it stays.

So there is a little blurb about life right now. I love hearing other people's resolutions, so share yours if you want!

My Favorite Things: Baby Edition

To go along with my personal favorite things, here is a post with my favorite baby things! I partnered with The Baby Cubby for this post and want to take a minute to tell you why. I had the chance to visit their brick and mortar store in Utah back in April. I was so impressed! I didn't even realize they had an online shop until recently! It is a very cool and unique store. They carry the big brand items which is nice, but I loved it because they carry some of the cute, small shop baby goods that I follow on Instagram. Plus they had a cute, little play area for the kiddos to entertain themselves while you shop.

Before we had Lucy I spent HOURS researching ALL the gear to make sure I was getting the best product for the best price. The Baby Cubby spends hundreds of hours researching products so that you don't have to waste your life away. Their team is made up of parents who know what it's like. They also price match everyday--even with Amazon--and offer free shipping nationwide for purchases over $49. Go check them out at Babycubby.com. You can also find them across social media. I like seeing their toy tutorials on their Instagram to learn about some of the cool toys out there. I truly think they are a cool company or else I wouldn't have agreed to share about their store.

1: Happy Baby Wrap: I will forever sing the praise of these things! I wore Lucy in a wrap almost everyday for the first few months but still here and there for up to a year. The ergo seemed too big and clunky for a newborn and we didn't have the infant insert. This is how I cooked, cleaned, grocery shopped, ran errands, went through the airport and got some baby snuggles in. I had the Solly baby, but the Happy Baby wrap is the same thing for a cheaper price point. Win-win. Not to mention the wrap makes a pretty cute accessory ;).

2. BOB stroller: Love this thing. My main pitch to Duke for buying it was for all the running I was going to do post-baby. That was very ambitious of me ;). It is a fantastic running stroller and I have done a bit of running with it. However I love how it is all terrain. You can really take this thing anywhere. We bring this thing to the beach and it rolls through that sand like nobody's business. You're average stroller will not do that!

3. Covered Goods: I know there is a whole movement right now to normalize breastfeeding and that is good and great. But not everyone is comfortable bearing all, and I think it is polite when other men are around to cover up. This thing was REALLLY nice being a first time mom that had no idea how to nurse at first. Instead of dealing with a blanket or even one of those things that hangs around your neck, you are completely covered 360. I really loved mine and got a lot of use out of it in the beginning when I needed it. I got better at being discreet as Lucy got older. This brand has a ton of cute styles.

4. Ergo 360: So you may wonder, do you really need a wrap and an ergo?? My answer is yes :). The wrap is awesome for little babies, but the ergo still works for Lucy who is 2. I actually started off with the regular Ergo, but after trying out my sister's Ergo 360 I upgraded. The 360 lets you wear the baby facing out, in, or in some kind of sling position that I've never bothered to figure out. We love this when hiking or at the airport.

5. Freshly Picked Moccasins: I love cute things so naturally these made the cut. Lucy's first shoes were a pair of moccasins and we've received lots of compliments on them over the past couple years. I started off buying cheaper brand knockoffs, but recently bought my first pair of Freshly Picked. They are the ones who really popularized them and they have extremely cute and always changing styles. If you want a cute kid, you gotta go for the moccs!

6. BabyLit books: These are really cute books based on classic literature stories. I'm a sucker for the cute illustrations.

7. Swaddles: Gotta have the swaddles! Use them as a blanket, a swaddle, a burp cloth, a car seat cover, a changing pad, whatever you want. These Little Unicorn swaddles have a ton of cute prints. Can't go wrong.

8. Puj Tub: I bought this tub based on a few things-1. I like the way it looked, 2, it had good reviews, and 3, I really did not want a bulky tub that I had to store somewhere. This lays totally flat when not in use and we just hang it on the back of our door on a hook. It is the best baby tub out there if you ask me!

Thank you to the Baby Cubby for partnering with me for this post! 

My favorite things

I'm no Oprah, but I have some favorite things too. I love when people share their favorite things, so I thought I'd share some of mine!

1. Maskcara HAC Pallate: This is a foundation/blush/illumator pallate that was developed by the beauty blogger Cara Brook of Maskcara. I bought it about a year ago and loved it, but when I ran out of my highlight color I decided to to go back to bareminerals and then estee lauder. A couple days ago I went back to this and wondered why I ever strayed. It seriously is amazing and SO easy to use and I feel pretty when I use it. She has a ton of tutorials on her website and is really helpful if you need help identifying your shade. Also their customer service is amazing! I ordered too light a color back in May, used it twice, and then just set it aside. I just emailed them and they are going to exchange it for me. I can't recommend enough!

2. Zella Live-in Leggings: These are my favorite leggings I have ever owned. And I've owned a few in my lifetime. I actually bought mine 3 years ago and they are still my very favorite. I've never worn lululemon, but I have heard they are comparable, but for much cheaper! I also read somewhere that Zella hired an old Lululemon product manager to develop their line, so there's that. Also! I've seen them in Nordstrom's anniversary sale several times. Yay for deals!

3. NARS Lip Pencil: I've been obsessed with these for several years too. They are just the best! My favorite color is Luxembourg, but they are all good and have their place. They're a little pricey for lipstick, but they go on like butter and stay really well. NARS is my personal favorite for lipsticks.

4. Boom Chicka Pop: A list of my favorite things would not be complete without food. These two popcorns have been my go-to snack the last few months. I'm a big snacker and need something to munch on without eating 5000 calories. Especially while I've been doing my sugar fast this month the regular flavor has been my best friend. I literally go through a bag every 2 days or so eek!

5. Olaplex: Ok hi, this stuff is amazing! Back in October I did an all-over bleach and my hair basically died. It was real bad. I was using Living Proof's Restorative Mask overnight every time I washed my hair, and although I believe that stuff is great, my hair still sucked. I just got my hair done by someone else and she did a salon olaplex treatment and my hair is CHANGED! It's honestly back to it's pre-bleached state and it is truly amazing! You can read more about it on their site if you are curious. I just ordered an at home treatment Olaplex no. 3 (pictured). The salon treatment is called Olaplex no. 2 and is just a more concentrated product if I understand correctly. I bought mine on Amazon naturally.

6. Peppermint M&M's: My one true holiday love has been the peppermint Hershey kisses for a long time. And I still love them. But I discovered these recently (right before my sugar fast of course!). I think they taste more or less the same and you can eat more for less calories. Win-win. Although it didn't take me more than a few days to eat the whole bag.

Maybe you'll find something you like too! I think I'll try to do this more regularly!

Okinawa Bullfighting

 In March we finally went to our first bullfight! This tradition is unique to Okinawa I believe. The bulls fight until one gives up or runs away basically. There were some fights that were really quick and others that lasted a while and I could see blood coming out of their heads from the horns digging in :(. It was interesting to watch though and I was so glad we made it to one! And sorry for all the random blog posts coming up that were from way earlier this year!  

 The winner gets draped with this cloth

 little cheeser^

 some fav oki friends who came with us^

 visiting the bulls outside the arena

Easter 2016

 Back in March we had Easter haha. Lucy was only 17 months in these pictures!! I guess the fun part of playing blog catch up is looking at how much she has changed in such a short time! Lucy had the easter egg thing down pat. It seemed like it was intuitive. We first went to a church Easter egg hunt and she needed no instructions, she just went for it! Picking up any egg in her path. We were so proud ;). We also did a little one for her in our backyard on Easter. I don't even think there was anything in those eggs. It was just for the joy of putting the eggs in the basket!

these two!