Weekend Finds

One of the things I love the most to do on my free time is shopping. I’m sure I’m not the only woman who enjoys shopping either but what I love the most is to find good deals. This weekend I got lucky and got a couple of things that I’ve been wanting. First, I have to admit that I’m a shoe addict and even though I don't get to wear my heels as often as I’d like, I still buy them. I found two pair of heels that I just could not resist myself from buying and the price for them is what really got me. 

 This pair of shoes are Steve Madden and they were originally $85 but I got them from Ross for $35.

 I love the floral print and I know I'll be able to wear this with just about anything.

 This pair right here are G by Guess and they were originally $65 I bought them from Ross for $25.

 As soon as I bought them I put them on and I must say they are so comfortable to walk in.

 This cute purse I got from the PX for $15. I like that it's light and stylish.

 I'm a mother of a ten year old who loves these dolls (Monster High), they originally cost between $20-25. I was able to get each one for $12. I had to buy these for my little one.

 Why didn't they have these kind of dolls When I was growing up? LOL. :)

 Being that I'm a mother and woman with bills I always try to keep a budget so when I shop I love to find bargains and my weekend finds did not disappoint. My daughter and I are both happy campers.

Love,
Kenia

Shopping is a woman thing. It's a contact sport like football. Women enjoy the scrimmage, the noisy crowds, the danger of being trampled to death, and the ecstasy of the purchase.
~ Erma Bombeck

A Lovely Stroll

 One of the things I enjoy the most in life is spending time with my beautiful children. That is why I’m always finding ways to bond with my children and one of our favorite activities that we do together is exercising. Yes, we love to exercise together. Sometimes we will run, bike, swim, play sports, or walk.

 Today we decided to go for a walk together. As we walked our dog and talked about everything a little kid can think about. Which, by the way,  I find so amusing as I listen to their stories, drama, and ideas. I become enthralled in it all. These are the memories I want them to always remember and never forget. Another thing we love to do is take pictures and appreciate nature.  As my daughter today pointed out how lovely the skies looked, I of course had to take pictures of it.

  The clouds did indeed look amazing or as my daughter described it, “like ocean waves in the sky”. I must say I agree with her and that is why I took pictures of that and also of the mountains on the other side from where we live. Did I mention that we love nature?

 I just thought I’d share with you all some of the pictures I took this afternoon of our lovely stroll.  I’d also love to read the things you all like to do to bond with others, whether it be children, significant others, friends, co-workers, etc. If you take the time and read my post please post your favorite bonding activity.

 

My daughter and son, carrying my lazy dog (Tinker). LOL!

 

The mountains and the sunset.

  

These are the "ocean waves of the skies", as my daughter described it.

Love,

Kenia

When you look at your life, the greatest happiness’s are family happiness’s. ~Joyce Brothers

Pillbox Trail

  Well it has been over a year since I last posted on my blog. I got so busy and so many things happened in the past year good and not so good that I completely forgot about my blog and kind of put it on hold. This year, I hope this is not the case. I really want to post more blogs and hopefully have a successful blog (at least a few blogger friends).

I know in my last post I mentioned how lucky I was to be living in Hawaii and the truth is that this is going to be a forever blessing. Unfortunately, sometime later on in the year we will be moving elsewhere, so I’m beginning to already miss the island and I haven’t even left yet. One of the great things that I discovered since I moved to the island is the joy in hiking; this is something I had never done in my life before. I must say I’m hooked and hiking in Hawaii is so fun but the views are beyond amazing. That is why I will be sharing my most recent hike.

  A few weeks ago, my family and I decided to do the Pillbox hiking trail and I must say it was fantastic. Most importantly it is a great trail to do as a family since I have children. I definitely recommend this trail, so if you are ever visiting the island of Oahu and you feel like hiking you will enjoy this one.

This is where your trail begins.

My husband and daughter as we start the trail.

This was the first and only selfie I took and the view is beautiful.

My kids and I enjoying the trail. 

My daughter and I, take a moment to appreciate nature's beauty and the wonderful breeze and yes that's the ocean in the background.

We sat down for a few minutes for a little rest and water break.

We hiked all along that mountain and the picture was taken from the last mountain before we headed down. It was roughly 2.30 miles from the beginning all the way to the end, give or take, I forgot to turn off my app once we reached the bottom and it took us close to two hours to complete.

I love the ocean!

 

Another view, right before we finished our hike.

 

My husband is always being silly and always the one to keep us motivated.

And…this where the trail ends, you can see the excitement in their faces. We ended up a few blocks away from where we parked so we walked just a bit more from our original start point.

I truly love nature and I hope you have all enjoyed this post and thanks for taking the time to read it.

Love,

Kenia

If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
                                                                                 - Vincent Van Gogh

Respect, understand, and love

Yesterday, when I logged on to my Facebook account the first thing that appeared on the screen was the death of actor Paul Walker. As I continue to scroll down my page I continue to read that it’s not a hoax and that he did indeed lose his life in a vehicle collision. I must admit I was shocked to learn how tragically he lost his life and the irony of his end. I will also admit that I was not his biggest fan ever but I did appreciate some of the movies he made and his looks were certainly something one could not overlook.

A person finding humor in another person’s tragedy completely baffles me. To be quiet frank it infuriates me that someone could find the death of not one person but two, to be funny or even worst make jokes about it. First and foremost, the men that lost their lives had families. So, why make fun or point out the irony of the situation and make stupid hurtful comments? These men had families that loved them and here we have ignorant people who are clearly heartless. The point I want to make is that people should be sensitive to others pain, I mean that should be common sense, right? Well it seems that is not the case and unfortunately too many find it a laughing matter. As I stated before, I was not his biggest fan nor was I related to any of the men involved in the accident but it really aggravates me the level of cruelty that can exist in some people.

The pictures with the ignorant comments of the actor itself really upset me. It upset me so much I actually had to delete some people from my Facebook account because I don’t need those kinds of friends. Ultimately, my heart is with the surviving family members and I hope they don’t see these pictures poking fun at their loved ones. In the end, we are all human beings and we never know when our time or someone we love will come to an end. Let’s be supportive of one another in time of difficulty and of course happiness. I plead that we show respect and love for one another. Is it so hard to understand or respect the pain of others? Why are we not showing love, compassion, understanding, unity, etc, towards one another? Any thoughts on this?
Love,
Kenia

There's a reason for things...

As I was browsing Pinterest I found this quote and I was amazed at how much I can relate to this quote. For years I've been moving around from one place to another (not by choice it comes with the job). I always had a hard time keeping up with friends. At first we didn't have social networks like we do today and people just moved or changed numbers and I no longer had contact with them. I'd get disappointed because it was perhaps someone I really liked or thought as a close friend in some cases family. I would try to contact them but no luck, and then I'd wonder if perhaps these people were trying to find me. I lost many friends and even family members. I still to this day cherish some of the most beautiful memories we shared years ago but I realized long ago that I had to move on and only remember the good. I stopped looking for some of these people and I reached the conclusion that if it's meant to be, then I guess we will someday reconnect.

Thanks to social networking today, I have been able to reconnect with some of these long lost friends. I realized quickly some were genuinely glad to reconnect with me. That was not the case with all of them though. I realized that some just wanted to know or see if they were doing better than me and had absolutely no intention of really establishing a friendship again. Quite frankly, I could care less because I realized that I am who I am because of the lessons life has taught me.

Then I read this quote and it all makes perfect sense. Some of this people I needed in my life to learn valuable lessons from. They also helped make me the person I am today. With the bad friendships I learned what I did not want to become and moved away from that. The good friendships I learned the beauty and qualities all of us human beings share alike. I learned that the people that stuck around, went away, came back, etc... were meant to be in my life regardless of how great or bad it could have affected me. I'm grateful to God but also to those people because if it had not been for them I would've never learned that there's a reason for things...

Love,
Kenia :-))

Kailua Kayaking Experience

Aloha, I am back and celebrating that I can once again continue to blog. I know it has been over two months since I last posted anything, therefore I look forward to blogging more often. I have to say that living in Hawaii has been such an incredible experience, not only for me but for my family. The scenery here is so majestic. The ocean water so refreshing and the weather, oh so beautiful! Well at least in most parts of the island. I live in an area were it typically rains often but it does not bother me because even the rain is peaceful here. We went kayaking the other day and I must say it was so fun and relaxing. The weather seemed terrible at first but things took a drastic turn for the best and we enjoyed ourselves kayaking from Kailua to the surrounding smaller islands. Our first stop was at a small island named flat island I presume. It's actually a bird sanctuary and it is completely flat. From the moment you arrive there you can see the birds nest and hear the music they make. It was such a peaceful experience. Then from there we went to the bigger island were we had the most fun. It is a very rocky site and parts of the of the island had a chasm in which  people can swim. We most definitely swam in them and it was a surreal experience. Kind of like a private tub in the island (lol). In the end it was lovely and a great work out as well. Kayaking is no joke but it is so fun!

I have not logged on in several weeks and it has just been a wild ride for me. I'm taking an online class, there was spring break, kids extracurricular activities, and of course some fun. Anyhow, everything has been a blessing in my life, I just wish I could blog more often. So, today I decided to give my self a break and blog. I will try to tell you about the last couple of weeks in my life.

I'm taking an online class (History Civil War) and I have had to read three books in the last three weeks and write a research paper and five essays. So, needless to say it has been challenging but it's a very interesting class and I'm learning so much.

During Spring break we had so much fun as a family. We spent most of our days at the different beach locations. I guess you can say we are lucky because we are currently residing in Honolulu, because of my husbands job of course. We are a military family. Needless to say it's a blessing to live here and enjoy this most magnificent paradise. If you've been to Hawaii you definitely know what I'm talking about but if you've not been here before I really recommend visiting the island. I'll post a few pics of a new beach I visited. This beach is located in Hickam Air Force base and although it's not the most beautiful one I've seen so far it definitely is a nice beach. The thing I really liked is that we were so close to the airport and we could see the planes departing. My kids thought it was cool.

I also have spent some time shopping and I always love a bargain. One of the perks of being a military family is that we get to shop at the Army Exchange and I have to say they have nice things, apparel, furniture, etc... at very comfortable prices. Well, I found two shirts that I really liked for my son at very good prices. I only paid ten dollars for each shirt and they are both brand named shirts that cost a little over thirty-five dollars. Needless to say that was a very good deal for me and my son loved his shirts too. Happy son, happy mother!

Now the kids are back to school and I must admit I miss them but at least I get to have more time to work on my school work and run errands. That way when they are home they have my undivided attention and I can help them with their schoolwork. Since, I've been in Hawaii I have missed some things from the Latin marts back home. One specific thing we missed were the arepas we eat. We need a special kind of flour that I cannot find here on the island. I told my mother about this a couple of weeks ago and she surprised us with two boxes of goodies. I have to say it was sweet of her and I have enough flour to make arepas all the way through summer...lol. My kids loved the fact that she sent them Mexican candy and toys. Well this is pretty much all that has happened in the last couple of weeks. I will definitely try to blog more often and I look forward to reading your blogs as well. I hope everyone is doing well and lots of blessings to you all.

Love, 

Kenia

"I do believe we're all connected. I do believe in positive energy. I do believe in the power of prayer. I do believe in putting good out into the world. And I believe in taking care of each other".

Harvey Fierstein