Everyone needs a little celebration

I think this time of year is going to be my favorite.. or it will at least be on-par with Christmas and Thanksgiving in a way I never thought my birthday would be. When I was little, I remember hoping I'd always celebrate my birthday.. then I wondered if I still would when I got older and it stopped mattering as much. Now, I know we'll be celebrating for both of us on that day till the cows come home, even when we've lost our glasses and forget where we last saw our dentures!
I can't think of a way I would have wanted to plan out our year better than our almost-incidental choice of marriage date has made the year turn out. Celebrating will now be almost a week long for us - every year at the end of April and the beginning of May. Like Christmas and Thanksgiving, it will give us plenty of excuses to do cute things together, and spend time talking to family and reminding ourselves how lucky and blessed we are to have wonderful friends, family, and a best friend who is ours eternally. It certainly has made this past weekend wonderful that way. wow. Happy Birthday!
I never could have imagined the peace and happiness this week has brought to our home and our lives - not to mention the excitement in hearing all the cool things going on in other people's lives. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures that can express the feeling of this weekend in any kind of adequate way.. so I'll leave it to imagination. Maybe, if you can think of the peace of the temple, the warmth of your eternal sweetheart's hand in yours, the tangy taste of garlic, seafood, pasta and marinara sauce, the pleasantness of clean laughter, the joy of giving appreciated gifts, the fun of friendship, the warmth and sweet smell of Hawai'i's breeze, and the excitement of family and receiving mail full of love from far-away, plus the anticipation of doing something sneaky to celebrate another birthday... then roll that all into one moment and one memory you'll feel the picture I need.
So, Thank you, Mom and Dad for your patience in raising me, and thank you Mom and Dad Q for your patience in raising J.. It's thanks to you that we are able to have each other for ever and ever for our birthdays. As he says, mahalo nuiloa! We love you!

A little Zen in our madness

The other weekend we had the chance to visit a pretty little place nearby called Valley of the Temples with Jimmy and Mikensi. It's actually a cemetery, but there is a small Buddhist Temple at the back end of it.
I have fond, if hazy, memories of the coy in my gung gung's fishpond in his old apartment, and the huge coy here were very cool (they were almost as big around as the swans!). The black swans were unique, and the whole experience was beautiful.

It was very peaceful, and I have decided I want to model any garden J and I have in the future after it.
He said that was fine with him, so I'll get to learn the art of gravel combing someday! Lucky for me, Elder M. Russell Ballard just encouraged young mothers to take some "me" time and learn a hobby they like.. I'll start my list of hobbies with gravel combing and banzai.




The rest of our time lately has been consumed by studying - either for school or for the MCAT.
We bought a new laptop for J, it's been so nice for him to be able to study anywhere, and it's a great help to me to be able to use the computer for school and work without interrupting him. Not to mention, it's beautiful and totally worth the price tag. (Which, actually, was not bad. We love Amazon.)