★☆ A Nice Day Off with Reiko :) ☆★

[Listening to 恋愛♥ライダー (Renai Rider) by J-pop band Buono! - if you like the anime Shugo Chara, you'd know this song! :) ]

Hello again everyone :) I hope you're doing well - I know I certainly am :)

Before I begin, just wanted to update you guys about the DSKJewelry contest:

As you guys know, 44 girls, including myself, entered to be the new model for the DSK Jewelry line. It's very impressive how Steph's work has reached many girls all over the place, and I'm very proud to have been one of the 44 :) I didn't make it, but a shoutout and a big congratulations to Kayleigh! You go, girl! :D

This was one of the best experiences of my life and I'll definitely be doing this again next year :Dv I'll always be supporting DSK Jewelry! Steph's website is here if you want to take a visit:

http://dskjewelry.blogspot.com

So, I had my day off today, and I decided it would be fun to take my camera with me and show you guys my favorite places to go and things to do :) I haven't made many videos since getting my new Samsung digital camera, so I decided try out something new and have fun with it :) I'll be editing later when I get home from work tomorrow, but I can't wait to try it out and share my day with you!

I was able to take some pictures along the way too, and they'll be posted here :)

Here's a few pics I took of me before I headed out the door :) I love the Beauty function on my camera!

I wear my DSK Jewelry proudly :)

I added one of the small crystals from the Strawberry Lemonade necklace for a fun and sweet look :)

My Earth crystal earrings - they're so beautiful and iridescent in the light :)

My Dainty Moonlight Heart bracelet - I love the tiny heart chain :)

I even straightened my hair a bit - I almost never do, but I was feeling good today. :)

The first place I had to stop by before anyplace else was the post office again to drop off the rest of my textbooks. I had two big boxes and one nicely sealed padded envelope. After a 10-minute wait, I was able to drop them off, but there was a problem with one of the boxes: The label was completely different from the ones that I delivered last week and didn't have a label for postage. This was how the label came after I processed the books online, which really sucked because I had to pay $6 extra for postage... Well, you get some and you lose some. =/ What matters now is that the textbooks are well on their way and I should be hearing back soon from the websites about payments for my books. The money will go toward me getting my new phone - I've decided to finally get an iPhone :) Whee!

I love going to libraries; I love being around books and I always find something new each time. It has been a while since I've checked something out so I decided to pay the Central Library a visit for a book inquiry and looking for new music CDs. It turns out that so long as my books are fairly recent (by a couple of years), I can donate them there. On Thursday morning, I'll pay them a visit again so that they can take a look at my books - they might be able to have good use of them :)

It didn't take me very long to find some new CDs to listen to. By the time I came downstairs, I already had 11 albums in my arms!

Jessie James - Jessie James

Ryan Cabrera - Take It All Away

Vanessa Hudgins - Identified

The Phantom of the Opera Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Josh Groban - Josh Groban Live at the Greek


Josh Groban - Josh Groban Awake Live

I stumbled upon a few albums by Japanese artist, Kitaro - apparently he's a Grammy Award-winning artist!

Kitaro - Thinking of You

Kitaro - Mandala

Kitaro - Best of Kitaro

Step Up 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Enrique Iglesias - Escape

I wished I was able to take pictures inside the library, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting yelled at...

I got hungry, so I went across the street to one my favorite places: Tropical Smoohtie Cafe :) I worked here a couple of years ago and I come back to visit when I can :)


This a really cool cookie bouquet! This was made by Cookies by Design - The Original Cookie Bouquet Company, just a couple of stores down from Tropical Smoothie Cafe :)

My late lunch! :) A Get Up and Goji smoothie and a Sesame Chicken salad - yummers!

After eating I headed off to my favorite hangout spot: Barnes and Noble! As I said, I love being around books! If I could, I would spend an entire day either at the library or at B&N :) My favorite sections to read are the cookbooks, manga, and New Age. :)


I posted on Twitter that I love being in the New Age section, looking at the Astrology books because I think it's really interesting and mysterious how it weaves into our lives. It's interesting to read about, but really, I think that we are the ones who have control of what we do in our lives - just got to have strength to believe in yourself! :)

Apparently I spent about 2 1/2 hours at B&N! I guess time really does fly when you're having fun and enjoying yourself!

I gave Sephora a visit since I'm running out of my concealer... I usually use Make Up Forever brand, but as much as I love it, I was looking for something that was still of great quality and easy on my budget. I was referred to the Sephora collection and got the concealer stick. I also got a couple of products from Philosophy that I'm going to try out later on tonight. I guess it's going to be another entry of "Does it Work?" for these products! They'll be shown in the pictures below.

...I got hungry again, so went to a really cute and yummy frozen yogurt shop called Swirls! They opened at the beginning of the summer in Lynnhaven Mall. Taylor and I have been here before and they have neat flavors for the yogurts; our current favorite was green tea :) They didn't have green tea today though, but I picked out the pineapple coconut and cookies and cream yogurts.

You can even top off your yogurt with fruit, cookie dough, candy, cookies, sprinkles and cereal!

I stayed on the healthy side and added my favorite fruit :)
Did I forget to mention that I'm really liking this over gelato?? It's healthier for you and I got 10oz of this for about $4! Healthy for my body and my budget, lol!

From here I gave @SleeplessFish aka Taylor a visit; it was a very short visit, so no pictures >_< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi09C3NMpFr5kjMtP4FntGlRvF7KVSF5Zr4qDQ79UdsV5mNNn8ixAT0_IIFakcFw5eaPJk58ynfmhBAVYiI-G09NFY-6M0keAFAlivXgjEydxjr6zu19fi2_ZYXMb_01CzuCFTkeHDed04/s1600/SAM_0745.JPG">

Philosophy's Purity One-Step Facial Cleanser - I've heard many good things about this and I can't wait to try it out :)

Philosophy's Hope in a Jar moisturizer

I've never owned anything by Dior before, so this is exciting! This is a sample of Dior's Multiperfection Cream; it's supposed to help lighten darkened complexions and wrinkles on your face.

The concealer stick from the Sephora Collection in Medium :)

It pays off to be a member! I got a free birthday gift!

Included was mascara, white eyeshadow and eye pencil :)

I can't wait to use them soon!

All right, time to rest my tired hands... Again ^-^ I hope you had fun reading :) I'll come back tomorrow with another fun entry for you~! I'll also be editing my videos so you can come along with me on this fun day :)

Until then, sweet beautiful dreams xoxo

~Reiko xoxo

★☆ Late Night Special with Reiko :D ☆★

[Currently listening to "I Don't Care" by K-pop band 2NE1 - go check them out! :) ]

Hey everyone, I hope you're enjoying your weekend so far :) I certainly am; I'm getting a lot of things done and out of the way - I'm definitely accomplishing things! :D

By the way, I think my Internet connection is finally behaving... It's been acting a little weird in the last couple of days, which is why I have a bit of lack in Tweets and posts so... Sorry about that everyone :( I really don't know what the problem is with it, but what matters now is that it's fixed.

I bet you missed me. :)To make up for it, I'm not planning on going to bed for a while, so tonight I'm going to write a big post just for you! :) Yay~!

Lately I've been doing a lot of cleaning up here in my room. I have the tendency to want a lot of things, but since I currently keep my personal belongings in a very small bedroom (and living on a very limited budget), there's not much that I can really have. Part of the reason is that I hoard some things I don't really use much of anymore. I've already had a lot of things set aside to sell, but I haven't gotten around to them because I've been so busy working (and not to mention that I forget that they've been stored in boxes in the sunroom the last few months... =___= ) A couple of days ago, I've decided that it's about time I start getting a move on getting them out of here. It's fair deal: I can lighten my load and give my things to others out there who would be more than happy to have them. :)

Soon I will be opening up my garage sale blog here on Blogger; I've already got one set up, but I've yet to put posts of my stuff to sell. I'll announce it here on the main blog as well as Twitter and other social sites. For now, the site is here: xsimplyreikosstuffx.blogspot.com The stuff that I will be selling includes mostly manga, some music CDs, anime DVDs and a couple of iPods :)

In addition to selling some of my collectables, I decided that it's time I got rid of the textbooks that had been stacked up underneath my sewing machine table. Some of them are those I saved from when I was at my main college; some upperclassmen advised me that it would be a good idea to keep a few textbooks in relation to your major and/or minor so that you have something to reference from in the future (such as ideas for writing your thesis, etc.). Most of the texts I have/had are in relation to my Business major, and a couple of books for my Asian Studies minor. They are really good books, but I feel that they could be used for something or someone much better. And so in the last week, I went on various textbook sellback websites to find the best quotes for my books and I will be getting quite a bit back :) Yay for money!
Sadly I wasn't able to sell a few textbooks because they're outdated by a couple or so years, so instead of just throwing them away, I thought it would be a good idea to donate these books for a good cause. First thing Monday I will set out to find a place that could use these books - perhaps a local library or someplace like Goodwill or The Salvation Army. I like the idea because it's recycling and for a better purpose. I'm feeling so much better about this so it's a win-win situation :D

On the topic of school, let me get back to where I was in my last entry:

School has been bothering me for nearly a week now... As it turns out, I will have to change my major... Completely. As I said earlier, my current course of study is Business Administration with a minor in Asian Studies. I'm almost done... but as it turns out I won't be able to finish my major after all.

I needed to complete a couple of electives and an Accounting course in order to graduate, but my biggest problem is ACCOUNTING. Now I know some of you guys are going to laugh a little bit and say, "...Reiko, how can that be? You're ASIAN, and with glasses - aren't you supposed to be smart and good in math?" Admittedly I'm laughing a little bit on the inside too, but seriously guys - I'm very good in math (algebra, trigonometry, a bit of calculus - you get it!), but... I simply can't grasp accounting! It shows in my transcripts at my main college and at the community college that I'm attending and it's one of the biggest requirements for my Business major. I barely passed first level of accounting a couple of years ago, and I've slipped my grades in the last couple of semesters... It's very discouraging to say the least. =/

On Tuesday, I made an appointment to meet with the Dean of Students at the community college to figure out my options, and she suggested that it would be best for me to change my major. The idea of doing that floored me at first. I'm almost finished - I've come so far and I just needed a couple of classes to graduate. Now it's going to be further from my reach... What would my parents say to this? "4 years of going to your school and for what?" =___= At the same time, I thought that perhaps it really was time I considered changing my course of study. After all, while at my main college in Staunton, I never really did keep my options open other than being in Business Administration, and... I'm realizing more and more that I wasn't truly happy where I was. Yes, it is a practical degree to have especially with the current economy... but at the same time, this is not what I truly want.

After a few days and nights of thinking, I finally decided that it's time to pursue what I wanted most: Business Administration was not what I originally wanted to major but in Culinary Arts. This is where my passion is; it has stuck with me when I was younger and even while I was in my sophomore year in high school. I entered in a couple of culinary competitions back then, and in my spare time I love cooking and learning about food. It's been right in front of me all along - and now it's my time to take hold of it. My parents didn't want me to go to the college I wanted to go to - Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina - mainly because it was far from home with no one to rely on if something happened to me. That and they were worried that this course of study wasn't going to get me anywhere. I understood their concerns for me, but they need to understand that this is what I truly want.

I will speaking to the Dean of Students again very soon about this. I'm sure she will be able to help me with the process. By next year, I will be well on my way with that. =)

Just one step at a time...

I guess it will seem pretty corny saying this, but I felt inspired after watching Step Up 3D and Scott Pilgrim VS The World (which has been added to my movie replay list if I get a chance to watch it again!). If there is something that you really want, even if it seems like it is out of your reach, by all means GO AND FIGHT FOR IT. Don't let anyone or anything hold you back from achieving your dreams because they don't belong to anyone but YOU. You know yourself best and you know what you want - keep going. The only reason that you will feel as though you failed is if you don't do anything about it and let people walk onto you and your confidence. I'm sure there will be many hurdles along the way, but I'm still going to come right back up. =)


Now I'm wanting to watch Scott Pilgrim, lol! It's such a funny movie, so if you like funny movies and can relate to video games, music bands, and dreams, go see it! :D

Hmm...

...oh! My birthday's coming up in about a week! It's strange, but I don't feel as though I'm going to be turning 23. I'm still young, and I'm feeling it :) ...now that I think about it, when I turned 21, I was complaining that I'm getting old, lol! I still think that sometimes, but at the same time, I'm feeling very good about myself.

I have a day off next Saturday, and I'm planning a get-together with some friends and have an nice afternoon/evening on the shoreside :) I'll take my camera and record these wonderful memories to come. I just want a birthday that's not so crazy, but relaxing and enjoyable with a bunch a friends - catching up with each others' lives, laughing, being ourselves. =)

Speaking of my birthday... Remember I ordered another necklace from DSK Jewelry? :D It was waiting for me on the dinner table when I came home from swimming tonight!

The colors are so beautiful in person, I'm in love! I know this camera doesn't do much justice to show you guys how sparkly and beautiful it really is, but I'm sure you get the idea :) It looks so elegant in its beautiful black box!

Introducing... Strawberry Lemonade :)

They're so small and beautiful, and simple!

Aww, Steph put a cute little note for me! Thank you Steph! I have a little something for you too:

Speaking of DSK Jewelry, the contest will come to a close very soon... I'm anxious to know who the winner of the contest is, but whether I get this or not, I'm so happy and proud to have participated in this :) Again, I've never done anything like this before and this whole experience is something that I will never ever forget. It really brought out a lot of confidence and had so much fun. So Steph, thank you for giving me and the other 43 girls a chance to be a part of your contest and thank you for the wonderful jewelry creations! You've been an inspiration to me and to many girls and guys out there in the world and I can't wait to see more of your work! Keep it up!

So guys and girls, go visit Steph's website if you're interested in her jewelry as something for your own, for a birthday present or a gift for your girlfriend -- tell her Reiko/Jenni(fer) sent you! Visit here at:

http://dskjewelry.blogspot.com

I have another piece that's on my wishlist that I hope I will get one day. If you're a fan of Twilight, I'm sure you'd understand :) Now, I'm not a big fan of the movies (except Eclipse perhaps, which looked so much better than the first 2 movies... but that's just my opinion), but I like the books better. Anyway, I'm for team Jacob, and if you're familiar with the bracelet Bella gets from him as a gift... Well, this is the one I want, made by Steph herself!

One day perhaps... *sigh* :)

Okay, well, sleep calls and my hands are beginning to hurt, so... I guess I will wrap it up for tonight :) Have beautiful dreams everyone, and one other thing I want to say before I go:

I want you to go to your window and look up at the sky. If it's cloudy where you are right now, do this the following night, but look up at the clear sky and make a wish upon the first star you see. Whatever it is that you wished for, one day it will come true so long as you continue to believe in yourself. :) It may seem a little silly, but it's true. You are a shining star! :D

Sweet dreams everyone...


With love,
~Reiko xoxo

★☆ One Step at a Time ☆★

[Currently listening to "Golden" by Late Night Alumni - this is one of my most favorite songs from LNA :) ]

Good morning again everyone - can you believe it's already almost the weekend? I can't -- and I have a full day off tomorrow, so I'm really excited :) Not sure what I'll do just yet, but I do know that I do need to get some things together for myself first before doing anything else.

Just wanted to put a quick entry before I go to work today. Mainly because it's been a busy and stressful past couple of days, and I miss writing to you all... xoxo

School is what's been bothering me in the last couple of days... At the moment, I'm considering paving a new path in my plans and finally pursue my dream major: culinary arts. And I think I will. I'll explain more with you all later on tonight - there's much more that I want to say, but there's so little time for me to do so...

I went with my good co-worker and friend Justin to see Step Up 3D last night - it was very, very good! Perhaps I didn't mention it in my previous blogs, but I do like dancing! I may not be very good at it, but certainly do enjoy watching dance routines. Movies like Step Up and watching shows such as America's Best Dance Crew actually do excite me, and I'm always looking forward to watching new dance routines. One day I might actually try it out, who knows... But anyway! Step Up rocked -- go see it if you haven't yet!

Another thing that helped me keep mind off of things was looking at one of the games that had been collecting dust on my shelf. I had bought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time - remember I wrote about this in an older entry? Well, I finally got to take a look at it last night and it's actually a really cute and fun game. :) I'll have to find a little more time to try and play it when I'm free. That's what I enjoy the most when playing fantasy games - it takes you to a kind of faraway place where you can not be "you" for a while, and slip into the shoes of another. The downside of this is that sometimes we are tempted to get sucked into the game that we're unaware of how much time is spent while we're in fantasy mode. However, it is nice to somehow get away from it all just for a little while right? :)
These distractions helped me to keep my mind off things for a little while, but at the same time gave me time to find myself. Slowly but surely I think I'm getting there.

It's just like what the lyrics from Jordin Sparks' "One Step at at Time" say:

One step at a time, there's no need to rush
It's like learning to fly or falling in love
It's gonna happen and it's supposed to happen
That we find the reasons why one step at a time

Time for me to get ready for work guys, but I can't wait to write to you all again tonight. :)

Have a beautiful day and even if there are times when there are things that will make you frown, turn it upside down because, in the end... everything will be okay. It sounds corny, true, but you know it's true :)

You hold the key to your happiness...


Keep smiling,
Reiko xoxo

★☆ Cousin Doug's Wedding and Birthday Thoughts☆★

[Currently listening to "Your Love is My Drug" by Ke$ha - she's kinda my current music obsession at the moment :) ]

Good morning again everyone :)

I know, I did say that I was going to update last night, but I got an excuse ^-^;; Some of you guys may or may not know about this already, but I do go either to the pool or the gym after work on most days during my week. I love to stay physically active and looking forward going to the gym or the pool after a good shift at work is very motivating. But for something more exciting, I've been doing something in addition to my routine!

In the last week, Rich - one of my good guy buddies who's one of the cooks where I work - is teaching me boxing! He did professional boxing for quite some time, and I learned this when I was working out one night; he came in with a few guys who I see sometimes at work and they put on their gear and started knocking each other out, lol! I thought it looked pretty interesting and asked Rich about it. Soon enough, I started learning how to make the proper fighting stance, jabbing, perfecting my hook, and I'm now learning how to slip (making my body go down to dodge a punch). It's so aggressive, but it's so much fun too! I got a couple of my co-workers Dice and Jas to join too - the more the merrier, right?? :D

...but I think I pushed my limit last night, and sucker-punched myself right out x_X It was so much fun, so I guess it was worth it :)

So now that I probably bored you with my gym story, why don't we get on with some of the pics from my cousin's wedding? :)

Saturday, July 10th, 2010 in the city of Philadelphia was one of the most exciting days for me and my family. My elder cousin, Douglas, married his very cute and lovely wife Christina :) It was a very lovely wedding - Caribbean music played as the bridesmaids and groomsmen made their way to the altar, a song sung by Celine Dion played as the bride's march, a wonderful and motivating pastor led the way, and all followed with a fun wedding reception :) I've been waiting a couple of months to meet this wonderful Christina, and I finally got to meet her on this day - she's so pretty and fun, I'm so happy that Douglas found a wonderful woman like her and I'm praying for a loving, happy life together <3>

Here's me with my mom, dad and handsome brothers Jerome and Jonathan :)

My cousin JR with lil Elijah, the ring bearer - this little guy is so funny: when he approached the altar, he handed the rings over to Douglas and tried to run away, lol!

The cousins! We're from my dad's side of the family. From L to R: Bridget, Kimberly, Richard, my brother Jerome, JR, me, other brother Jonathan, and Ryan. :)

Doug and Christina cutting the cake - it's so gorgeous, I loved the colors!

My cousin Rich dancing with his really cute girlfriend Kristen :)

Just a few pictures for now to show you guys - I've yet to upload the pictures on my Facebook, so I will post a link on my Twitter and in a later edit tonight :) It was my very first time at a wedding, especially at a family wedding, and I will never ever forget it :)

Time for me to get ready for work, guys... I wish I can write to you a little bit more, but look out for an update later on tonight and you guys can always follow me on Twitter too :)

Before I go though, just wanted to say that I just placed in an order for something I wanted to get myself as an early birthday present: DSKJewelry's Strawberry Lemonade necklace :) Isn't it gorgeous? I absolutely love the colors - their warm colors are just so sweet, summery and... I guess you can also say, yummy :)

Speaking of which, DSKJewelry's Model Contest ends this coming Sunday, August 15th - cast your votes now if you haven't! :) You can vote at: dskmodel.tumblr.com (best viewed either in Mozilla or Safari because it's being weird in Internet Explorer).

Have a wonderful day everyone, and I'll check back with you all later on tonight -- promise!! xoxo

Much love,
Reiko

Edit!!
The pictures are now uploaded on my Facebook - visit here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019471&id=65300438&l=955e740e50

Enjoy the pictures! :D

★☆ Early Morning Chat with Reiko ☆★

[Currently listening to Best of KAT-TUN - yes, I'm a JE fan too! :D ]

Good morning everyone :) It's now 5:11am, and I've been up for nearly half an hour. I'm not entirely sure why I got up at this time, but I'm feeling wide awake writing to you all, lol! It certainly has been a while.

Since I'm up, I wanted to share with you guys my weekend - it did have it's ups and downs, but I learned a lot in just 2 days...

There are a lot of things going on at work that it's gotten me so busy in recent weeks - if you're new to reading my blog, I'm a bartender in a retirement home - it will seem bizarre to you, I know, but as I've said time and time again, I love my job! :) I've been working full-time hours now and I'm enjoying that, but at the same time it's physically exhausting. (Imagine running around serving food where you have to wear long sleeves with little air conditioning for about 8 hours - ooh, yeah, that's me! >_< ) I like to have a break every now and then, and to my surprise I was given a weekend - Saturday and Sunday - off! It's a very rare opportunity for me, so I figured it's time I took it to fully enjoy it :)

[Saturday]
I met with @SleeplessFish, aka Taylor , my beloved boyfriend (of 2 years now) after he got off work. We did have a rocky start over something that was small and stupid, but we eventually came around and had a good time. He showed me around the church where he works - it certainly is a beautiful place, and it's big too! :) I just wished I had taken some pictures to show you guys, but I guess I will have to do that the next time I visit there :) We headed over to my best friend, Nicki's, house for a party :) Our college friend, Jeincy, is moving to Washington state soon to work there for a year, so we had a party to celebrate her new job! It was an absolutely fun fun night - I got to see a lot of cool people whom I haven't seen in so long!

This is Jeincy! I met her in her freshman year in college, my sophomore year. She's one of the sweetest girls ever!

This is me with @babyroach, aka Nicki, my best friend of 17 years next month - I met her while we were in religion classes and altar serving at our old parish, and we went to the same middle school, high school, and even college! I'm convinced God brought us together for a reason - I'm so thankful to have her in my life!

...oh, right, I haven't posted a picture of Tay and me together yet, right? :D As proof that we were at the party together, lol!

It was too bad that I had to leave the party early, but I stuck around for Jeincy's cake cutting :) It was such a cute and delicious cake!

I had to take a picture of this before I left, but it's one of the yummiest things I've ever tried: it's a can of whipped cream... with alcohol in it. I kid you not - it's flavored with amaretto, and is 36 proof/18% alcohol! I'll have to get me one of these if I ever have a party or something. Have any of you guys ever tried this or seen this before? It was my very first time seeing this on this night and it was so yummy :) I'm curious to see if it comes in other flavors!

[Sunday]

I never thought I'd have a day where I could sleep in and just be lazy for a morning until yesterday - I had gotten up a couple of times to get onto the computer to see what was going on in the world, but shortly after that, I decided to have what I call a "power nap" - I wanted to really re-charge my batteries and I didn't get up again until around 1pm! It was a wonderful feeling :)

I didn't take many pictures yesterday, but I met with Tay again after he got off work at the church in the afternoon. In case you guys were wondering about his job, for right now he's a weekend sexton at his parish until the original sexton, currently stuck in Japan, comes back. ^-^; We had a huge dinner at The Silver Diner - we split a peppermint milkshake; I had a small Ceasar salad and had the Shrimp Scampi with gluten-free penne pasta, which was actually pretty yummy! Tay had a small summer salad with his Grilled Wasabi Salmon Sliders - his was very yummy too :D We topped it off with a slice of the Chocolate Cream Pie :) We were so full, but it was very well deserved meal!

Don't ask me why, but yes, I'm a very silly person when I'm eating out :p

We finished off the day with watching "The Other Guys" - it's one of the funniest movies I've seen this summer, especially with Will Farrell in it :) If you guys haven't seen it yet, I recommend it if you really like really ridiculously funny movies :) I still want to see Charlie St. Cloud and Salt too, and even Step-Up 3D since it just came out in theaters :)

Overall I had such a good weekend! I'm fully relaxed and recharged. I will have to go into a full day at work later on today, but I'll be ready for it when I get in :)

If there were a couple of things that I learned this weekend, it'd be these:

1. Looking back at my pictures from this past weekend made me realize that I should appreciate and embrace each moment more and more, like they were the last moments of my life. I may not see these people or do these activities very often, but I need to enjoy them to the fullest. After all, you only live life once, and you need to cherish and embrace each moment with all your heart.

2. In addition to that, remember I mentioned that Tay and I had a rough start when we first saw each other on Saturday? We love each other very much, but our love is not perfect - we fight, sometimes, mostly over the smallest and ridiculous things. It's normal in any relationship, and in most cases, good because each of us gets to see a side of each other that we may not know about each other; we have our differences, but these can be worked out somehow. Tay and I have our differences too, but we work them out together. I guess that's why he and I have gotten so close, and I'm thankful for that.

So a little message from me if you are lucky to be in a loving relationship or even if you're still waiting for that special person: Love him or her with your mind, heart, and soul. If this is the one that you want, don't let him or her slip away - embrace him or her with all your might.

Immature love says, "I love you because I need you."
Mature love says, "I need you because I love you."

I'm not sure where I learned this from, but I do know that is is true. :)

All right, time to get ready for the day...

...and I just realized that I didn't put up my pics from my cousin's wedding as I promised... I do promise, though, that I will do that tonight :)

Lastly, a pic that I took yesterday that I hope will make you smile too - featuring DSK Jewelry's Rocker Pink Necklace and Heart Love bracelet :) Makes me feel so pretty in pink xoxo

Have a beautiful day everyone :) See you tonight!

With love,
Reiko xoxo