I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I officially launched my little company! I’m amazed at how fast time is just passing us by. I  have certainly enjoyed every minute of it and I’m pleased to see how it has grown in the last year. {image via Flickr}

Just a few of things that make me happy: I made some very sweet blogging friends. Got to see my work get featured on some of the most amazing blogs. Opened up my very own Etsy Shop and even made some international sales, which I wasn’t expecting at all.

And before I stray too far from the topic of friends, I just wanted to let you know of something special that’s coming real soon. I’ve gathered a group of some of the most inspiring + friendly bloggers to guest blog for me for nearly the whole month of September. After such a crazy summer, and then the killer at the end {a.k.a. the stationery shoot}, I’m ready to get offline for a bit. It’s time to take some time off to analyze what exactly I’m doing and if any of my goals have gone astray and where improvements can be made. What else are anniversaries for? So yes, for three whole weeks, get ready to see some inspiring posts from some of my most favorite bloggers of all time. This all starts on the 12th and I’m giggling with excitement already. And when I come back in October, it’ll be the beginning of the holiday season in my Shop and on my blog. This is definitely my most favorite time of year.

So, in celebration of my one year anniversary, at 10am PSD today, my anniversary giveaway will launch. I’m giving away some of my most favorite things for fall. Stay tuned for details!

Happy Tuesday all! How did your 4th of July go?

I spent the day with my hubby and another good couple friends of ours. We started out with some very late “morning” breakfast; most of you would call it lunch. Then we headed out to Fort Vancouver for the day. And after living in the Vancouver area nearly my whole life, we finally made it to the Pearson Air Museum. So many awesome vintage airplanes and history attached. My favorite though? The paintings on the walls…

I definitely live in one BEAUTIFUL area…

And now for the long wait. After arriving to Fort Vancouver around three in the afternoon, we had lots of time kill until the night’s fireworks. Our friend had hooked us up with free parking and VIP passes to watch the fireworks from the best location – from inside the fort itself. First time in my life doing that and the fireworks experience was extra awesome. The wait was certainly worth it.

And while we were waiting, we got to unfortunately witness the crash of a poor Cessna. Definitley not something that you see every day. It was such a beautiful plane…

The husband is feeling poor today, and so he decided to sleep in today and not go to work. Thus my alarm clock headed back to bed and didn’t wake me up. Therefore, I’m sorry to say there will be no posts today as I will be taking care of the husband and preparing for a fun photo shoot that I’m partaking in tomorrow. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I’ll be back here tomorrow with another DIY Love post! {image via Flickr: Candace Lesage Austen}

Shortly after our one year anniversary, my hubby and I got together with Max Lopatin to take some lovely pictures. Yes, it’s been a year already. Back when that time was passing, we ordered a cake just like our wedding cake, but much smaller of course. We invited both sets of families over and got to enjoy the cake we only got a bite out of on our wedding day. It was delicious! And after one year of marriage, we did learn how to cut the cake more smoothly, haha.

So happy one year to us! But we’re actually drawing near to our two year mark {in June}. So these pretty  pictures are a bit late in appearance, but it’s never too late to celebrate. It has sure been lovely being married to my honey and I’m looking forward to more of this loveliness.

Yesterday Max Lopatin posted some of these anniversary pictures on his blog, but I loved many more than he posted. So today I’ll devote one blog post to share even more pictures with you!

In Washington, we have to stop and smell the roses enjoy the sunshine while it’s there. None of this go-away-sunshine business here. I even convinced my honey to stop and enjoy, but he didn’t seem too into it.

For one picture we tried to stuff my hands into my jean pockets. A task that came so easily for my husband, but I only managed to squeeze in three fingers one inch down. Fail.

At the end of the shoot, my hubby decided to have some fun. We crawled into a very old truck bed for some pictures {with some terrible lighting} and nearly fell through in some places. That truck bed is more than old. We played robbers and cowboys. Were in a parade. And ended our day with good laughs and big hug. Thank you Max for these wonderful memories. Two year anniversary pictures soon??

So here’s part two of my vacation posts. Part one was the 8th through the 12th, {omitting anything about the tsunami that hit Maui while we were there} and this post is for the rest of the time we had there. So if you haven’t seen part one then you may do so here.

There’s not much to say about Maui’s tsunami, for it was nothing compared to what hit Japan. It was my first tsunami warning, but we were too high up in elevation to hear the blaring alarms or have to be evacuated farther inland. My thoughts and prayers are more Japan focused.

We did however for a few days after the tsunami get to see some of the most amazing waves. They were ones that actually formed tunnels and the Hawaiian surfers took advantage of those waves even though some beach parks were closed for days after the tsunami hit. This picture really minimizes just how big they were:

Sunday morning was spring forward, and we officially were 3 hours behind home time.

We relaxed Sunday, watched the church service online and made it to the beach around one in the afternoon. We took our parents back to Kaanapali Beach since we loved it so much. We even got to see some humpback whales from afar.

And let our parents witness how beautiful the sunsets are from that beach:

The next day we went back to Big Beach. Yes, beach days have pretty much no pictures. This day won’t yield any either.

On Tuesday, my hubby and I split from my family and we went to the Maui Ocean Center. Oh, guess who we bumped into there? My family! Maui is too small.

The aquarium was a little break from the beach to go snorkeling without all the gear required for such a sport. It was probably the most impressive aquarium I have ever been to. A bit on the spendy side for entrance access, and too small to spend more than a couple hours there — but very well maintained.

And have you ever seen so many varieties and colors of salt!

After the aquarium, on our way to a shopping center, we took a short stop by Maui’s biggest Banyan tree. Yes, it’s way big. What you see is about 1/5 of the whole tree.

Our journey to the shops was just to see what sorts of shops Maui has to offer. Nothing but surf shops and ocean inspired jewelry. Shopping fail. But we did discover Yogurt~Land. Yes, I’ve been told we have one locally, but it took a trip to Maui to discover its existence. A neat concept but we didn’t like the yogurt too much. The candy and fruit we mixed into our yogurt was the highlight!

Wednesday, the hubby and I had another day for ourselves. The rest of the family went whale watching and we stayed behind. Instead, we found a plantation and decided to take a tour. We are very knowledgeable about coconuts now.

And then on our way to Wailea, we saw a craft fair alongside the road. Yes, we stopped by just to see. It was kind of disappointing because there wasn’t much crafty about it. It was just a bunch of people selling the same stuff that all the tourist trap stores were selling. We did go to a different one the next day, where I purchased some hand-braided bracelets that are now part of the giveaway that I’m doing on my blog. {PS: this giveaway ends March 31st, so you can still win these bracelets or some other goodies that I have up for grabs.}

Then we finally made it to Wailea, the most glamorous side of Hawaii {as in the up-keeping and how lavish the resorts are}. We went to the area’s shopping center and witnessed our first paparazzi folks. Yes, sir, you in the Aloha Wear shirt. You are so not conspicuous hiding in the bush with your camera. We didn’t see anyone famous, but we did enjoy some macadamia nut caramel ice cream {the only thing we could afford there}.

The last day just had to be spent at the beach. This time we went to a beach we hadn’t gone to and loved it. According to my dad, the snorkeling was the best there. He got to see some eels and octopus. How awesome and yet scary! But the rest of us tried to get some more sun bathing in and more boogie boarding. Accomplished.

The next day, we flew to Honolulu to catch our flight back to the mainland. I could have stayed in Oahu yet another two weeks. But that’s for next time…