Merry Xmas! and a small update

So my family celebrated xmas a day early this year since people were going to be traveling on xmas day.  It was a nice xmas lunch with my moms side of the family today and it was good seeing all my relatives again.  I feel like every time we get together for holidays I always have to leave early because I have to work.  Same deal today since I work at 3. 
I wish I could say I've been having a better holiday season, but I've never been more stressed out.  Work has just been so hectic, and I haven't had a day off since Monday.  To make matters worse, due to a series of unfortunate events we are extremely short handed at work now, and I'm seriously considering looking for another job.  I think it's about time to move on.
On a more positive note, civil unions are finally legalized as of January 1st, we we are definitely planning to get married after the new year.  We just want to get the paperwork done first, and then plan a small ceremony and reception later.  We've been engaged for over two years and we have been waiting a long time to do this, so we are so excited!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  Merry Christmas, and have a happy new year!  Wishing everyone the best for the new year!

Sephora Haul

So yesterday was the last day to use the BI $15 gift card.  Yesterday was my day off so I headed to the Sephora store in Waikiki.  It's pretty new and I've never been there before and I have to say, I think they have the most selection and different brands here.  They have a ton of nail polish including Illamasqua and Dior among others.  They also have nail swatches of all the colors which is really helpful too.  The sales associates were really nice and helpful too, so I may be coming here from now on instead of the Ala Moana location. 
So I ended up buying a new Too Faced Shadow Insurance ($18) since I've been using my current tube for well over a year now.  I also picked up a new bottle of Boscia Purifying Cleansing Gel.  I ran out of my sample size and since I'm running our of my Philosophy Purity Made Simple cleanser, I decided to just buy the full size ($26).  I knew I wanted to get some nail polish from their holiday collection, but after seeing swatches in store, I just settled on one which is Keep Me On My Mistletoe, a really pretty gold color.  I don't have any other gold nail polishes and I thought it was a nice festive color.  
What did everyone else get with your GC?

Warrior Dash!

Are you a Warrior?

I first heard about this a little over a month ago from my sister.  I thought it sounded pretty crazy at first, but after looking at their website I decided to sign up.  What is it?  "The Craziest Frickin' Day of Your Life", or a 5k (3.01 mile) race with 12 crazy obstacles.  It sounded fun and I really wanted to challenge myself both physically and mentally. 

The Hawaii race is on March 24, 2011 and this is the first year it's being hosted here.  At the time I registered it cost $45, but you do get a Warrior Dash t-shirt, helmet, free beer and a medal for finishing.  There is also an after-race party with live music and food.  Since it's a race there are prizes for the top three finishers, but I'm just hoping to finish the race this year. Registration is done through the Warrior Dash website and they do charge a $3 "processing fee" when you pay online, but there are promo codes online so keep an eye out for those (you can save $5 or so).  You also chose your wave time when you register, and I'm starting at 930.  On the race page they also have a map of the course with all the obstacles so you know what you're getting yourself into.

I've recently been going on runs around my neighborhood in order to start getting in shape for the race.  I've been running (and walking) about a mile each run about 3 times a week. 

Is anyone else participating in this?  Sounds like a lot of fun!  It's also motivation for me to start exercising and getting into shape. 

NOTD: Sephora by OPI Run With It!

 

 This is actually one of the first nail polishes I ever bought from Sephora.  This is more of a re-discovered color because it's been so long since I've worn it last.  When I first bought this I wasn't too fond of the shade.  I only wore it a couple of times and never touched it again until now.  I wanted to wear a nice neutral color that was appropriate for the season so I decided to give this another try.  I'm not sure why I never liked this color before, but I'm completely in love with this nail polish now.  It's a soft grey with gold shimmer and I think it's a really nice neutral shade.

 Application was alright.  The first coat was pretty streaky, but it was nice and opaque with two coats.  I'm not sure if this is available online anymore (I didn't see it on the Sephora website), but I did see it in store the other day which is what inspired me to dig this up from my collection.  Expect more NOTD posts in the near future.  I've got about 3 new nail polishes I'm looking forward to trying out :)

Our New Addition!

Ok, so not exactly new but about a month ago we adopted a kitten.  His name is Kainoa and he was adopted from the Animal Care Foundation in Hawaii Kai.  They are a non profit no-kill animal shelter and adoptions there are free (after an extensive application process). 
I started volunteering here about 6 months ago and knew Kainoa since he was a 2-week old kitten.  I've always wanted a creme colored cat and I instantly fell in love with him!  After no one adopted him (6 months later), and we convinced our landlord to let us get a cat, we brought him home on November 9th.  He has adjusted really well so far and it's an amazing feeling knowing we are able to give him a forever home. 

First day home!

We finally bought and decorated our xmas tree!  We settled with a fake one this year, which we got for $25 at Target.  Hope everyone is doing well this holiday season!  I'd love to see everyone's holiday decorations!

Black Friday Shopping Haul!

So by some miracle I was able to wake up at 4:30 yesterday morning!  I went to Ala Moana for a couple of hours and got some pretty decent deals.
I went to Express first since everything there was 40% off.  I got there about an hour after they opened and it was crazy busy.  I managed to pick up a few pieces I saw online (thankfully they had my size), try them on and pay within an hour.  The line at the register was crazy, and it took me a long time to decide on what I really wanted to get, but I just ended up buying two tops for about $40.

I also went to buy a couple of bottles of nail polish.  They were all 25% off so I got OPI Diva of Geneva which I've been wanting for a long time.  I also picked up Zoya Suvi because I wanted a nice green nail polish for Christmas. At 25% off they came to about $6.50 each.

I went to Forever 21 last just to see what kind of deals they had.  I thought the crowd was going to be worse than it was at Express but it wasn't too bad (this was around 6:30 or so).  I just wanted to pick up some basics, and they had tank tops that were 2 for $8 (or $4.50 each).  There were also some cute lightweight open cardigans which were 2 for $12, but I only got one in purple ($6.80 each).  I spent about $15 for all three items.

For my first true black friday shopping experience, I think I did pretty good.  The crowds weren't as bad as I thought they would be, and I got some pretty good deals.  Although I think there are some better deals online, it was still a pretty fun experience.

Black Friday Shopping?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  It's still early so I haven't had my fill of turkey yet, but I'm heading to my parents place later for lunch with my relatives.  Then off to work at 2 >_< but I'm off tomorrow, so I'm planning to go black friday shopping tomorrow morning.  I've already done most of my shopping online so I just need a few more small gifts.  I think I will be heading to Ala Moana early tomorrow morning.  There's a list of stores and sales going on on their website and it looks pretty good:
Bath and Body Works: 
Wallflower 2pk Refills- $5
Buy 3 Get 3 Free Signature Collections
$100 Value VIP Bag- $20 with $40 purchase
3-Wick Candles- 2 for $20
Coupons are stack-able in store!
Express: 5am-Noon 40% off, and 30% off the rest of the day
Hino Hairstyles: 6am-10am 25% off, and 20% off the rest of the day (Lots of OPI nail polish here!)
Banana Republic: 25% off entire purchase
Gilly Hicks: Midnight-9am 50% off
Hollister Co: 30% off entire purchase
Abercrombie and Fitch: Midnight-9am 50% off

I've also done a lo of online shopping this year.  Many sites are offering free shipping until Thanksgiving day (Victoria's Secret and American Eagle) and you can get cashback on Ebates as well!  I've already racked up about $18 from Christmas shopping alone.  On Black Friday Ebates is offering double cash back on tons of sites!  For those who are fans of Threadless they are having a $10 holiday sale!  Online, Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch and Gilly Hicks are offering 40% off plus $5 shipping. 

Is anyone else going shopping tomorrow??  Anyone shopping online this year?  Let me know what you haul!