Wine Wednesday :: Beauty & 50 Year Old Wine

Alright folks, I am about to do something a little mean.

I found my favorite wine - in the whole world.  And it is an experience that I cannot reproduce.  Which is sad.  And probably going to end up being a little mean...to you.

I believe that wine is art.  A fairly subjective experience with an objective standard that most people acknowledge either explicitly or implicitly.  All wine is valid but some is certainly more "beautiful" than others and people are aware of that if they pay attention.

But before I start getting philosophical about wine, the point of this post is to share a sublime experience that I had.

Rarely do people have the opportunity to taste old wines anymore - at least not on most budgets.  The wines exist but they are hidden in private cellars or cost an arm, leg, and first born child.  So when a friend of mine mentioned that he had a 1964 Spanish Rioja, I had to try really hard not to both scream like a little girl or act too nonchalant as if I didn't care...because I cared...a lot.

It is also worth noting at this point that Spain is my current favorite wine region (if you haven't had a good reserve Rioja, you have no idea what you are missing out on).  I also am just beginning to learn that older is better when it comes to wine (most of the time).

Finally, we set a date, had dinner planned, and the group together that was going to taste this practically 50 year old wine.  We opened the bottle with bated breath, hoping that it would not have been over exposed to air (even in the bottle), and battled a decaying cork that almost didn't want to come out.

Then we poured it into our glasses.  A rich, red, velvety elixir that had so much potential for ecstasy.

Hesitantly, we sniffed at our glasses.  Each inhale telling us that we could possibly be in for the experience of a lifetime.

Finally, we took our first sip and waited as air and wine mixed and bathed our tongues in...heaven.

If this seems like an exaggeration  then you have a whole world of amazing waiting to be experienced.  The taste was smooth, no acid, no tannins to interfere with the pure fruit and wood and pure liquid beauty of this wine.  And it felt velvety.  It was like drinking the most luxurious thing you can imagine.  The texture was actually velvety on the tongue - I couldn't get over that sensation!  The fruit flavors were so balanced and gentle that the dark berry and faint savory herbs that you got seemed to have been locked in a beautiful dance that was going on and on.

It was a truly amazing experience - in my wine glass.  A few moments of beauty and other-worldly glory in liquid form.  I'm not sure that even my words here are sufficient to record this event.  Which maybe is a good thing.  Then you won't be too mad at me for not inviting you to share this bottle with you.  =)

Have a beautiful day!

Style Me Pretty & Destination Weddings!

A few months ago, I had the pleasure to contribute some jewelry to a beautiful wedding photo shoot that was going to take place in my beloved Hawaii.  It got my creative juices flowing in a lot of ways and I loved being able to do some custom pieces for a stylized situation that was elegant and unique.

Anyway, long story short.  That photo shoot was featured on Style Me Pretty's Destination Wedding blog today!  Rebecca Arthurs is an amazing photographer who did a fantastic job capturing the day (also, Hawaii being such a small place, I found out later on that she was the photographer for a friend's wedding!).  Let me put it this way.  If I had to do my wedding over again, I would probably do whatever was necessary to have Rebecca be my photographer and get all these amazing vendors to help me with my wedding.  =)

Check the full post and all the photos at Style Me Pretty!  Or visit Rebecca's blog!

Hope you enjoy it and have a beautiful day!

quietness

This summer has been busy.  Between church events, family, friends visiting from out of town, and the constant requirements of maintaining a relatively clean/organized house, I have been staying quite occupied.  It has not left a lot of time for...a lot of things.

Now, I like being busy.  I like having places to go, people to see.  But in the last two weeks, I have come to realize something else.  There is a lot of value in quietness, being alone.

One of my biggest tasks in the last three weeks has been getting up to speed on two classes I will be teaching for high school seniors starting in two weeks.  I am very excited to be doing teaching and am loving reviewing material and being creative as I work on getting these high schoolers ready for college.  In my preparation, the hubby has been unspeakably helpful to take care of the kiddo (who is getting very talkative and more and more mobile) so that I can go grab a coffee and focus my brain power on what British literature I want these kids to read during the course of the year.  =)

As I have been working on my classes, it has also turned into blog reading time.  And then prayer and journaling time.  We serve an amazing God...He uses technology to connect people around the world who might otherwise never have had the ability to keep know each other or keep in touch.

But in the course of my blog reading, I have come across people that I "know" who are struggling with some very real problems right now.  Two bloggers I regularly follow have babies in NICU.  Others are dealing with recovering from illness or difficult pregnancies/deliveries.  People I know in my area are dealing with incapacitating pain from a variety of sources.  Both the hubby and myself have grandparents who have been in and out of hospitals for the last three months.

Life is short.  And precious.  And all in God's hands.

I realize that there is little I can do in a very physical sense to help these people.  There are doctors who are qualified to do much more for these people.  But there is something of value that I have been trying to do more often.

Pray.

My heart is wretched by all these stories and situations.  I want to be able to hold hands, hug, or make dinners for people.  But I'm not always able to do that.  So I take the most immediate and helpful thing I can do and do it with all my heart - pray.

via Pinterest & here

I know we serve a powerful and listening God.  He can see each of these people and has them in his hands.  What more can I ask for?  The Creator of the world is making sure that each person is given strength in measure for the difficulties in front of them.

That is comfort.

Have a beautiful day and stop to notice - it really is beautiful.

kah-ray-zee week!!! (in pictures!)

I have come across different points in my life when I look at my calendar and things that I have to do and think to myself, "Man, you can not say no, can you?"  But then I give myself a minute and think, "But you were Super Woman in your dream last night.  Get your rear in gear!"  =P  So this is some of what I did this week.

I was getting crazy creative.  So here is a snapshot of what I made.  Some of these things may end up in the shop pretty quick so visit snsnsnsibility.etsy.com to see some of it pretty soon!

And then I was rearranging furniture to get my little reading nook.  So excited to look for some art work for that empty wall! (In case you hadn't heard, my father-in-law, brother-in-law and hubby spent last weekend putting laminate floors in my living room.  It was amazing.)

before and right before

the finished result - totally LOVE!

And then Sunday was Father's Day so we got some pool time with the hubby and the baby.

And my new favorite flowers...peonies make me smile.  =D  See?  I smile - even in blog posts.  =P

Linking up with:

 

Have a beautiful day!

A Jane Austen post :: Pride and Prejudice

Alright folks.  It was bound to happen.  I am going to start talking very openly about my Jane Austen addiction.  And I think I would have to call it an addiction.  I religiously watch one of my movies pretty much once a month...sometimes more often...And one or another of her novels pretty much live on my night stand or is first up on my Kindle (yes, I do both books and e-readers, another conversation for another time).

ANYWAY!  The point is - I heart Jane Austen.  Anything Jane Austen.  And I am in the throes of another one of my monthly...periods (and no, it does not coincide with my other period although my husband might argue that it is just the same).  :)

So today?  I was scouring Etsy looking for Pride and Prejudice-y things to decorate my little office area with.  (I'm rearranging my work space.  Pictures will be forth coming.)  And I found some things that I am dying to have.

P.S.  This "A Jane Austen post" is likely to become a series.  Check back for more of my obsessions with this amazing author and my interactions with her still relevant and excellent books.

The best print ever!  via: FlourishCafe

Simple but perfect print as only Jane Austen could say it!

And for a little bit of whimsy - heart garlands!

There were so many other pretty things that I would love to get but somehow I think my husband might draw the line at having a house entirely decorated and filled with all things Jane Austen. =)

Have a beautiful day!

little things, big smiles

Do you know why I like Fridays?  Besides the obvious anticipation of looking forward to the weekend and two glorious days of (mostly) obligation-free activities with the hubby and baby, Fridays are my day to try and wrap my week up.  And this week, that is easy because it has been a chaotic but fantastic week.   Thanks to Lindsay, you all get to share it with me too.  =)

1) Productivity

This week was remarkably productive (something I hope to be able to maintain momentum on!).  I did laundry, cooked meals (with enough to freeze for the future), designed wedding invitations, blogged, and will work on making jewelry today!...at least that's the plan.  =P

(yes, yes, I do play with my beads before I turn them into something.  the color is soooo much fun,  I can't help it!)

2) Beautiful weather

It was beautiful this week in SoCal.  The skies were blue, blue, blue.  Breezes kept things fresh and crisp. And all the windows and doors in my house were open for as long as was possible.  

this was right outside my bedroom window the other day...it was glorious.

3) The Rooter Man

This week our laundry sink stopped up putting a halt on my laundering for two days.  So this makes me smile because it went from this: 

(bad, very bad)

to this:

(wonderful, clear, draining pipes)

A little weird?  Yeah...but it was a big little thing to me this week!  There is a back log of hubby's work clothes and baby things that need catching up on!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a beautiful day!

its still all about the little things

I thought I'd link up today as a celebration of my attempts at getting back into regular blogging!  For those of you who didn't know, right after Christmas I got to go back to Hawaii for 10 glorious days of warmth, humidity, and people I haven't seen in a long time.  So this post is going back from the past two weeks but  I have to share some of these sweet moments that I've had and have been enjoying and remembering and reliving.

1) Hawaii

And the camera isn't really doing anything to how blue the sky was this day.  This is the view from my parents deck...it was lovely.

 2) Baby

Grandma got him a super cool Hawaii shirt!

Let's just say that Grandma and Aunty Judy had a lot of fun shopping before we came to visit.  This hat was also among the things waiting for us when we got there.  =)

 3) Friends

Me and Hannah (one of my oldest friends) and our babies who are just over a month apart.  Mommies were ready for the picture....babies don't seem to care.  =)

and I got to meet the beautiful Lindsay in person!!!  if you didn't know, she's the gal who hosts this link-up party every week! go and say hi! aisletoaloha.blogspot.com

It has been amazing...Hawaii, friends, wonderful conversations...life is good, God is gracious, and you will be hearing more from me soon.  =)

Have a beautiful day!

make it better Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!  And I do hope you are all having happy Mondays!  This is the first one in a while that I have felt ready to take on the day and the week.  So here's hoping I actually am able to tackle it all.  =)  But while I'm drinking my coffee, I thought I'd share a few little happy Monday things.

1) New nail polish (finally!)

So I love my little girly kicks that come up periodically and the most recent one (spurred by a recent spa visit with my mother-in-law, grandma, and aunty) is nail polish.  So many of my favorite fashion bloggers (like this one and this one too.  btw, they are ordinary fashion bloggers who know how to make smart choices without breaking the bank!) use nail polish so often with their outfits that I have been wanting to finally buy a new nail color.  I have not bought nail polish since college...which was...a while ago.  Let's just leave it at that.  So now, I present to you (drumroll, please) my new nail color.  And I am totally in love the the sparkle and great mauve color that I have with it.  Yup, I am on a girly kick alright.  =)

miss independent by Nicole from O.P.I (available at Target!)

2) Baby & Hubby (of course!)

I couldn't really have a make it better Monday post without talking about the men in my life.  =)  So rather than talking, I'll just show you.  

he's very smiley right now  

and totally loves chilling with dad  =)

3) Cake pops (my new obsession)

I am not really sure where this interest came from but I love how versatile and easy to serve these babies are!  You prep before hand and just bring a tray out when they are ready to serve!  (I am starting to think ahead for the holidays so that could be where this is coming from.) I started out seriously but couldn't help myself when I found some fun ones too.  =P

{via} who doesn't love the minions from Despicable Me?!

That's it for this week!  Have a beautiful day!

Angela & Jordan - Custom Wedding Jewelry & Accessories

I love weddings.  =)  I love seeing two people promise to love and honor one another for the rest of their lives, being faithful to each other and the new family they are forming.  It is so exciting!!!

One of my favorite favorite things though, is doing custom jewelry for brides who are celebrating the day of their dreams!  So I thought I'd share some of my work that I have done and show you the pictures and share some of my design process with you!

I hope you enjoy!

Angela & Jordan's Wedding

I have known Jordan since I was about 6 years old and got to know Angela in high school.  No, they have not been dating that long but they definitely had a wedding that looked spectacular!  The happy couple chose red, white/ivory, and black as their colors and the rest was easy!  They were married in beautiful Hawaii and so there are elements of the islands in the jewelry and accessories as well.  Enough talk - here are the pictures!

the bridesmaid necklaces

the bride's and bridesmaids' hair pieces

via: flickr.com/jpdezignz 

via: flickr.com/jpdezignz

If you or anyone you know needs jewelry for their special occasion, email me at snsandsnsibility{at}gmail.com!  I'd be happy to design something for them!  


Have a beautiful day!

My Unintended Hiatus

As you all probably noticed, I have been rather MIA after Christmas.  I do have several very good reasons for this.  A few of them are as follows:

• Visiting family in Hawaii.  My brother was getting ready to ship out with the Army and we all wanted to make the most of our last few days with him as a civilian.  =)  We had some awesome nights playing games and eating all of our favorite childhood foods.  ::sigh:: It made me want to go back to those days.  You know, the easy ones - or at least we realize they were easy now.  =)

me and my handsome Army brother  =)

• Hubby started a new job.  This has been going pretty well so far but there are things that I wanted to be able to talk to him about and hear about and all those little things that happen during the day and things like that.
• We moved into a new house.  This is pretty obviously the biggest of the three...at least in the amount of work that it requires to make it happen.  =)  We are renting a cute house near where we were living before but it is ours (we had been living with hubby's grandma for a while because we were trying really hard to buy a house with the market being so low).  But God had other plans and the buying the house thing hasn't worked out yet. But we are getting to play at it by renting this place.  I will take pictures and show you around once I get things more settled and put away.  I'm afraid the place looks very disheveled right now.  

I am excited to try this new year though.  I say "try" because so many things are changing so quickly that I think it will take me a little while to adjust.  But my goal in the next few days and weeks is to get caught up on all my blogging and blogging friends and to share with you some of the things that have been going on in my life since Christmas.  

Have a beautiful day!  I'm loving SoCal's 80 degree weather today.  Come and visit!  I have a guest room now!  =)

4th Deal til Christmas

I know not everyone has the ability to just hop on a plane, visit family, and come to Hawaii to go shopping but believe me, if you could, it is totally worth it!  I grew up in a small neighborhood called Kaimuki.  It used to be the center of commerce and business on south Oahu but times change and the place was not quite as busy as before.  In the last few decades, small businesses and restaurants have moved in and taken over and transformed the area.

So when I read about a new business that was supporting local and handmade artists, I had to check it out!  I had been reading about this new boutique in  some of my Hawaiian retail and handmade community forums.  And I had the wonderful opportunity to come and visit this particular shop!  Drift Boutique is "locally owned and operated featuring lots of local designers such as Machine Machine, Tiare Hawaii, Stoney Seas, La'akea Designs, and lots of cute clothes and gifts from around the world!"  And they are kidding.  I was able to meet one of the owners, Laura, and she proudly shared with me that 90% off what was in the store was locally made in Hawaii and 75% was handmade.  So I had to do some shopping and it was an awesome experience!  I love the chance to support local AND handmade artist at the same time! I am planning on going back before I fly back to California and will try and take some pictures to show all of you!

their shop is the cutest thing ever!  they named the place "drift" because one of the owners' hobby is to collect drift wood and turn it into awesome creations!

But on to today's Deal til Christmas!  We are getting so close now I can taste it!  For today only, you can get 25% off of Nani Earrings!  These simple but easy to wear earrings are great for so many different occasions!  A little black dress or a swim suit during summer will be magnificent with these!  This style is also part of the new Hawaiian inspired collection I am just debuting this week!  Check out "Me Ke Aloha" in the shop for more items and styles being added all the time!

I hope you like it and have a beautiful day!

P.S.  Head on over to moonbeamwishes and much love, illy to enter giveaways that I'm sponsoring and a little interview I've done with both girls!  And wander around their blogs while you're at it.  They are some of my creative muses - I want to be like them when I grow up!  =)  

7th Deal til Christmas

Today's Deal til Christmas is a great one if you still need gifts for Christmas or maybe something for yourself for a New Year's shindig!  You can get 20% off the entire store for today only!  Use coupon code "sensiblesale20" to get the discount.

I hope you all are doing well and getting ready for a week or Christmas festivities!  Have a beautiful day!

P.S.  Come  back tomorrow for a Sense and Sensibility surprise!

13th Deal til Christmas

We are getting so close!!!  Christmas is almost here and I am really excited about it this year!  I am excited partially because I get to celebrate it twice!  Once with my family in Hawaii and a second time with the in-laws when we get back to (cold) Southern California after the New Year!  It would be lovely to have everyone that I love altogether at the same time but since I can't have that quite yet, I am being content with two families to celebrate with (and thankful for the extra time to shop for my brothers-in-law which can be interesting sometimes).  =)  I think I've said that before but with how crazy this week is with getting orders made, shipped, and packing for Hawaii, I am thankful I don't have to worry about it yet!

Today's Deal til Christmas is 25% off of one of my personal favorite styles: Corrine Earrings in Semiprecious Stones!  As you probably know by now, I love long, elegant, and classic jewelry styles with a little twist of trendy and modern.  I like to think that this pair of earrings is along those lines.  The crystal quartz teardrops are so classic but have a great pop of jewel tone colors with the pink tourmaline and iolite rondels hanging daintily above!

Have a beautiful day!

Operation Christmas Shopping for Family: Seventh Status Report

A quick status report on my Christmas shopping endeavors!

Objective: Gifts for all on this list

• Hubby  
• My mother
• My father
• My brother   Check!  
• My sister
• Mother-in-law  Check!
• Father-in-law  Check!
• Brother-in-law 1
• Brother-in-law 2
• My brother's girlfriend  Check!
• Brother-in-law's girlfriend  Check!

So I am just under half way done with my family.  But there is still a lot of work to be done in a short amount of time!  Today, I am working on my sister.  =)

So I know she loves this one designer on Etsy who makes these adorable retro re-inventions.  I have seriously considered getting her one for Christmas.  

xiaolizi.etsy.com

So that is one option.  But she is a wonderful dancer as well and when I saw this little knick-knack, I thought it would be rather perfect too.

riskybeads.etsy.com

Suffice to say, I am starting to quickly get overwhelmed by so many adorable choices for my favorite baby sister.  =)  And this notecards are beautiful!

madebyswirlygirl.etsy.com

AND since I moved out of the house, she has had a room all to herself that she is slowly redoing to her taste and style.  So maybe I will contribute to her efforts with this.

asuniqueasyou.etsy.com

 I think it would be cute in her room.  It will match her curtains perfectly.  =)  Along the same lines of helping decorate her room was this adorable item.

LulieChic.etsy.com

You are able to personalize pretty nearly everything with this frame too.  I have my choice of saying, paper, and frame style!  I'm pretty sold.  =)  

But now the problem is which of these items do I get for her and how to stop myself from keeping looking around Etsy for even more beautiful finds.  =)  And I have to make up mind to check another person off my list!

Have a beautiful day!

A crazy weekend and the Giveaway Winner!!!

So I meant to do this giveaway yesterday but ended up having a "great" experience with my poor car.  I named my car "Ruby" and that's what I'm going to call her from now on.  =)  Anyway, the hubby and I were going to visit some friends when we noticed that my headlights were dimming and coming back without me doing anything (I was driving).  Then as we got off the freeway, my gauges were going dead also.  So I'm starting to freak out a little bit but thankfully, super-hubby was doing wonderfully with trying to calm me down.  We did get to our friends' house and then after dinner was over and we tried to get Ruby to turn back on, she didn't work. =(  After that, it was a blur figuring out what to do with my  poor baby.  But when it was all over, I was exhausted and it was late so I just went to bed.  For some reason, this ordeal just drained me and really shook me up.  

BUT!  I have done the giveaway now and the winner is Ty - on Facebook!  So please send me an email, Ty, and we will get you your prize!  (snsandsnsibility{@}gmail{dot}com)  Congratulations!

And so my week begins...or finished.  =P  Car problems to finish up and lots of work coming up but I am optimistic that it will work out. Church was lovely today and I was able to spend time with the in-laws so I am ready for this week.  =)  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Have a beautiful coming week!

Victory!

As I have mentioned at various times, I have been attempting to work through some of my ideas for my "look" for my business and blog.  I think I have gotten really close, if not decided!  What do you think?!  I get so much inspiration from Hawaii and the beach and the great outdoors that I thought it was only right to put those elements into my design.  So I have ocean and sky and my favorite colors of blue and green.

What do you think?  I would love to have your thoughts!

A Very Happy Friday

I have another little tidbit of news that I have not been able to share with my reader friends yet and that is - I AM HOME IN HAWAII!!!

As you may or may not have known, I was born and raised in the beautiful 50th state of the USofA and am home for a flying trip.  But it is a truly beautiful day here so rather than me talking, I am just going to show you what my island home looks like.  I draw so much of my inspiration from here and am so glad for a little break and chance to see everything again here.