Holidays at the Paraoan Residence

The perfect ornament we found at Target! We ordered our Christmas cards from TinyPrints for the first time. I love how they turned out. PC - Jenn Velicaria

THANKSGIVING

I had an awesome 4.5 day weekend. We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time! Sean and I made green bean casserole, bacon wrapped smokies, meat and cheese tray, and a cheese skillet fondue. My family brought over turkey, turkey, mashed potatoes, lumpia, and pancit. For dessert Jenn made cupcakes and my aunt made brownies.

On Black Friday we went to Lowe's, Home Depot, Sam's Club, and Fred Meyer's. My favorite purchases this year: an electric skillet, handheld vacuums, a sander, a drill, and a Fry Daddy. As far as holiday shopping goes, I did most of my shopping online this year. I've become less tolerant of crazy crowds and I love the convenience of everything arriving at my doorstep.

CHRISTMAS

We also got to host Christmas. We celebrated on Christmas Eve and relaxed all day on Christmas. Sean and I made rib roast (I got a 13.5 pound roast from Carrs for $75!), green bean casserole, and spinach dip. My family brought over shrimp cocktail, pancit, mashed potatoes, dinuguan, kare kare, sisig, and pie. It was all so delicious! Some of the presents I got this year - various calendars (I Love Lucy, Mickey and Minnie, Moana), a new Clarisonic, Simon & Seaforts gift cards, Glacier Brewhouse gift cards, and Disney gift cards.

I was really excited to decorate for the holidays. We started decorating our home in mid-November. Outside we put a Mickey head projector and  Mickey and Minnie LED sculptures. I also finally bought reindeer and a snowman from Bell's Nursery! Words can't even explain how happy I was to finally have a place for them. I've wanted to buy a set for a long time, but had no place to put them when we were still living in our condo.

We bought a new 7.5 ft artificial tree. I love how thick and full the tree was. We prefer unlit trees because we're very specific on how we want the lights to look, haha. I hate "warm" lights and love the brightness of white lights. We bought new LED strands and put double the lights on our tree. It was SO bright and I absolutely loved it!

We put our old tree in the office and a few small trees around the house. We also started our Disney Christmas village. I can't wait to see it grow! I love Christmas so much and I look forward to 2017's holiday season.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Sean and I went to his friend's house for a few hours and then we ended the evening at my aunt's house. I love ending the year with family and starting the year with family. :)

Thanksgiving Weekend 2015

I'm not sure why I never published this post! I was cleaning through my drafts and came across this. Beautiful memories for me. :)

TUESDAY, 11/24/15
For the past few years, it's been our tradition to have a mini Thanksgiving feast a few days before Thanksgiving. After work Sean and I enjoyed fondue for dinner. I made a cast iron fondue skillet (main ingredient Italian Fontina cheese) and we cooked broccoli, potatoes, mushrooms, pork, chicken, and beef in a hot oil broth. Mmm, mmm, good!

Fondue Night

WEDNESDAY, 11/25/15
After work I took my family (Sean, Jenn, Mom, Bella, Auntie Rae, Boom) to watch The Good Dinosaur. I cried 4 times throughout the movie! The animation was amazing, it was so lifelike! I wish the story line was a little bit stronger, but overall I did enjoy the movie. After the movie, my family really wanted to see my Christmas decorations so they came over. Harold came along too. We ate the leftover fondue and just talked the night away :)

THURSDAY 11/26/15
Thanksgiving was so low key and chill. Sean and I stayed in the whole day until we left to go to my family's house. It felt really weird to not go to his mom's house to celebrate (his mom's side of the family moved out of state earlier this year), but I am glad we got to enjoy a nice dinner before she left town. We ate your traditional Thanksgiving fare, with the addition of one of my favorite Filipino dishes - Pancit! LOL. We also drew names for Secret Santa and lucky for me, the person I got is super easy to shop for. We left my family's house sometime after midnight and we just relaxed the rest of the evening.

FRIDAY, 11/27/15
I normally partake in some heavy Black Friday shopping early in the morning, but this year was a little different. We started our day at the 5th Avenue Mall in the afternoon We ate in the food court and then headed to JCP. I got my free Disney snow globe! I really hope they decide to bring it back next year. I heard that this was going to be the last year they were handing them out. I really wanted some new cast iron skillets, pillows, and towels and unfortunately JCP was either out of what we wanted or wasn't in our taste. I picked up some lotion for Jenn at Bath & Body Works and some Wallflower refills. My home smells like Christmas!

After 5th Avenue, we went to Nordstrom Rack. I got a new Kate Spade watch, a cardigan, black leggings, and new work out clothes for Sean. After Nordstrom Rack, we went to the Dimond Center and I had a little shopping spree at Torrid. I got a beautiful black sequin/tulle dress, tights, and pants.

SATURDAY, 11/28/15
Yay, low key day! All I remember from Saturday was going shopping at Target, and cleaning around the house. Oh, and we ate dinner at Lucky Wishbone. Happy 60 years, Lucky Wishbone!

SUNDAY, 11/29/15
Another low key day! I went to my work and put up my Christmas decorations. Unfortunately I won't really get to enjoy it until sometime next week since I'm still training a class. But at least it'll be waiting for me, right? We went grocery shopping at New Sagaya, Costco, and Fred Myers. Sean treated me to Pho Saigon. When we got home I prepped for work and watched the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead. I already can't wait for it to come back!

I pretty much got everything on my Black Friday/Cyber Monday list... I fulfilled a lot of it online.

Valentine's 2016

Sean and I on the Disney Fantasy, November 2013

So the coolest thing happened to Sean and I last week! Last year I submitted this picture to KTUU's photo gallery for Valentine's Day. Last year a friend made me aware that they used this picture as the default picture for their Love Story report on their mobile app. I thought that was pretty cool. Then this year another friend told me she saw our picture shown on TV. I didn't really think much of this picture after that until last Wednesday (February 10). I got an email from KTUU requesting Sean and I to come in and talk about our love story that coming Friday (February 12)! I was hesitant at first, because I'm sick right now (never ending cough and major head cold). Then I decided it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The only other time I recall ever being in the news was back in 2012. I was walking by in the background of a movie theater for the Big Miracle preview, haha.

Sean, Lin, Ariane, MJ on KTUU's Morning Edition

Sean and I showed up bright and early on Friday morning at 6:30 am. The studio was very cool! I really felt like we were at the NBC studios that we've seen at Universal Studios before. We had a preview of the questions they were going to ask, but I could literally feel my mind go blank as Ariane and MJ were asking the questions! I think I was concentrating too hard on not wanting to cough on air. Sean and I went on the show just thinking we were going to talk, I had no idea we were going to be presented with prizes!

Our awesome gifts!

Sean and I won two mugs filled with candy, a bottle of champagne, $75 gift certificates to eat at Kobe, and a $500 gift card to use at Allure Day Spa! They had one more surprise up their sleeves... Mo Pitney serenaded us with his new song, "Boy & A Girl Thing" live on air. So romantic!

Click HERE to see our interview and click HERE to see Mo Pitney serenading us :)

The surprises weren't over yet when I got to work. My awesome coworker left me donut holes on my desk and my hunny had flowers delivered to me.

Saturday, 2/13/16

Sullivan's Steakhouse

We started our day in the late afternoon. I treated myself to a mini shopping spree at Lulu E Bebe. I am so happy they finally have plus size offerings! I look forward to shopping there more often. After that we went to see Deadpool at Century 16. IT WAS FREAKING HILARIOUS! Super inappropriate and vulgar - just my kind of romantic comedy. Haha. We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse.

Sunday, 2/14/16

Today we celebrated Valentine's Day by eating brunch at Ginger. If we do it two years in a row, is it now a tradition? LOL. I spent the rest of the day slaving away at homework.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's celebration! I love the love!

XOXO

Winter Bucket List 2015

[X] Try a new soup recipe - I made lemon chicken orzo soup and it was yummy!
[X] Decorate my home for Christmas (Trim the tree, hang up lights, etc)
[X] Decorate my workspace
[X] Have a pre-Thanksgiving feast (Sean and I had a fondue night)
[X] Go Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday shopping
[X] Drink a Starbucks holiday drink (I love iced gingerbread lattes or their iced peppermint mochas)
[X] Have a pre-Christmas feast
[   ] Buy a reindeer from Bell's Nursery
[X] Take Christmas card pictures and mail them out
[   ] Watch my favorite Christmas dvd, "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas"
[   ] Sip on hot cocoa and have a Christmas movie marathon
[   ] Zoo Lights at the Alaska Zoo
[X] Gingerbread Village at Captain Cook

Pumpkin 2015

This has got to be my favorite pumpkin I've ever decorated! I'm not really into carving pumpkins anymore since it takes so long and makes my wrists hurt, but I really love getting into the spirit and participating in other ways. We went to our annual pumpkin carving party at Billy and Brenna's house and had so much fun.

I bought all of my materials at Michael's. I ended up not using all of what I bought. Basically all I did was hot glue flowers and leaves onto the pumpkin. Why didn't I buy a hot glue gun sooner?! I had no idea those things were so cheap. I really wanted to decorate more pumpkins, but it's already mid-October and we're leaving for our vacation next weekend anyway so I really wouldn't get to enjoy looking at them very long. There's always next year! :)

My favorite part of my pumpkin is the unintentional hidden Mickey I made!

 

Fall Bucket List Progress

YES! I checked mark two items off of my Fall Bucket List!

• I tried a new soup recipe that I pinned a while ago. Check out the recipe here! It was SO EASY. In fact, it actually tastes exactly like the imitation Zuppa Tuscana soup from Olive Garden that I made a long time ago, except this recipe uses spinach instead of kale.
• I decorated my work space! I am a little bummed that I don't get to enjoy it much since I am training a class all the way up until I leave for vacation, but at least my coworkers get to enjoy it. :)

DIY Burlap Wreath

Woohoo! I checked mark another item off of my Fall Bucket List! :)

I've ALWAYS wanted to make my own wreath, but I never really looked into it. I was planning on making my first one during Christmas. I haven't made anything crafty in a long time and I decided to try this on a whim because I walked through an aisle in Michaels and saw instructions on how to do it. LOL! It said Level - Easy, and yes... After I figured out what the hell I was doing and was in the zone it was actually pretty easy.

Without the wreath holder, I spent about $20 (I applied a small coupon) on the materials and only an hour of my time to make it. Way better than spending $50+ on Etsy (and hey there's nothing wrong with that if that's your thing, I LOVE BUYING STUFF OFF OF ETSY!).

Supplies from Michaels:

Wreath $5.99
Wreath hanger $4.99
Bow $3.99 (Half off)
Burlap $4.39 (Half off)
Lace burlap $4.99 (Half off)
Wire $1.99

It didn't come out exactly what I had envisioned, but I am happy with it overall. Just like with anything, practice makes perfect! I can't wait to try making a mesh style one next for Christmas!

 

Fall Bucket List 2015

What's on your Fall Bucket List? I'm excited to share mine with you!

[X] Drink a PSL
[X] Buy a new sweater
[X] Buy a new jacket
[X] Buy new boots
[X] Make a wreath
[X] Buy new candles at Bath and Body Works
[X] Oktoberfest in Alyeska
[X] Try a new soup recipe
[X] Decorate my work space for Halloween
[   ] Try a new crockpot recipe
[X] Clean out my closet
[X] Watch Hocus Pocus
[X] Carve a pumpkin
[X] Decorate my home for Halloween
[   ] Fall photoshoot with my love
[X] Go to a Halloween party and dress up (Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in Disney World!)