Thirty

So I'm 30 now!  So far I have been sick twice and since I have been back to Hawaii, have had doctors appointments, labs drawn, and an MRI of my head. Geez!!  Anyways, I think I stopped having my period around Dianne's wedding (2yrs ago) and only now finding out WHY!  I have a microadenoma on my pituitary gland that makes my body produce high prolactin levels.  So, my body basically thinks its breastfeeding....for two plus years. Dammit!  Good thing is I finally know what is wrong, hallelujah! I was prescribed medicine and took my first dose yesterday.  It made me feel nauseated and my stomach ached...but it's only twice a week so we'll see how it goes.

On top of that, the census in the ICU has been extremely looww. Half of my shifts were cancelled this pay period...so I am semi freaked out. Haha.  I have a lot of wedding expenses coming up in the next 2 months and really can't afford not to work.  So I've been fixing up my resume and will probably try NEED to pick up a part time job somewhere....anywhere??  Haha.  I literally make every effort to not spend money lately.  My days consist of working out, eating at home, taking my dog to the park, and watching redbox or any movies I can find on TBS.  Lol. I'll survive. I always say this, but can't wait to be done saving my money for a wedding, hahah! We've been getting back a lot of RSVPs....and so far only ONE "regretfully declines"...we'll see how it looks when we get closer to the date.

I am also a regular day shift nurse now...after 5+ years of being a vampire! I was telling my sisters my body surprisingly adapted very quickly. I wake up early now and sleep at night like a normal person...I have more energy and rely a lot less on coffee (although sometimes I want it just to taste it, haha)...& generally just feel better.  Glad my circumstances (& Mike) pushed me to finally make the change.  

Anyways, that's all that is new with me...until next timeee!

The Wedding Planning Continues..

Wedding planning has been in full effect! Aside from the saving money part, I am pretty much just letting myself just enjoy everything. Definitely not a bride-zilla..or at least I don't think, haha! My favorite part is the creativity aspect...love making all these cool wedding projects/ DIY stuff! My least favorite part is paying for everything, haha! Haven't bought too much for myself...but it has also made me realize that I don't need it! The big splurges I do wanna make when I'm done (yes, already thinking about it haha) are:

1)  DSLR camera. Soo badly want to learn how to take photos and edit like a pro!

2) king size bed. Mike's big ass makes a queen seem so small!

3) iphone 6plus. Do I need it? Noooo. Haha.

Anyways, I think I did the hardest part of planning which was hiring all my vendors. I just booked my flowers over the weekend, which was pretty much my last big vendor to book! I also recently hired a day-of-coordinator and booked a rehearsal dinner location (which u guys are all invited to the night before!). We most likely will just go to another island for a "mini-moon" after the wedding..then maybe head to Bali in the summer for a reeal one! Yay! Most my family already has their airfare booked.. I'm most excited to have everyone here at the same time!! Eeeee!

Ahh, so now to relax and focus on ummm..losing weight!! Yess! I was losing weight for a little bit but totally lost all discipline after trying on wedding dresses..haha! Drinking has really negative effects on my progress..but I can't help it! Haha! So, after my little trip to seattle/Vancouver/SD...I promise to try my best to be disciplined with both diet and exercise until the big day! 😁😁

In other news, I am going to day shift! After 5 years of being a vampire, my body has been telling me in many ways that it is over it! Time to be normal again..no more insomnia and wasted days...and more good night's sleep And sunshine!! Besides the awful thought of an alarm clock going off before 6 AM, I am definitely looking forward to it!

Here are some things I been working on..

1) table #s-- Beach names from our hometowns..Kauai and San Diego..& our favorite beaches on Oahu!

First, I stained the wood...

Then used chalk paint for the names..

& will add a starfish for a more beachy look..

2) escort card display--mikes gonna build me a wooden frame for 10 bucks..suuper excited! It's gonna be very pinteresting!

3) sneak peak of my invites which I'll be sending out soon:) 

See you all in Sd this October..if you guys were gonna book anything, use this link for airfare discount or room block at the Hilton! It's our wedding website addy:

Www.mikeandmaricel.weddingwindow.com

Holy Guacamole

Aloha friends!!

I first want to apologize for all the nagging texts about what dress I should buy for my wedding.  What a decision!  I learned my lesson that that is one thing not to settle on!  I ended up buying a dress at David's Bridal that I didn't love but purchased because it was cheaper.  Well, I came home with the worst of the worst buyers remorse I ever did have! Sick to my stomach and dizzy cuz I knew I made the wrong decision and the receipt read "Final Sale."  Thank God they were able to just cancel my order!! So now I know which dress is "the one!".....and even if I didnt purchase it yet...I am saying YES to THAT DRESS!!!

Whew! Hard part is over!  I am wondering to myself how the hell I ended up planning this huge ass wedding!? I never imagined having a big wedding..but here I am with a 200-person guest list.  200 only because the minimum head count at the venue has to be 200.  200 people, good lord!!!  Apparently, no such thing as small wedding with local families.  So my goal now is to keep it simple..going to try to incorporate a lot of DIY to keep it cute, simple, and "me." Splurge on the things that are important to me--which for me would be photography/videography, flowers, and apparently my dress.  Good thing Mike is so low maintenance! Hahah.  His main concern is budgeting--that I won't spend too much on everything...which is good because I am my father's daughter!! ;) And lastly, never forget why I am doing all this in the first place.....because I'm getting married!! Biggest commitment of my life!!

I'm happy and excited though! Mike is not perfect...& neither am I.  But it works out great....Everything I lack, he probably has. He is anal, particular, and detail-oriented and I am soo not.  He is straightforward and I beat around the bush. He always wants to have a plan and I'm probably as spontaneous as it gets. I'm outgoing and he is such the homebody. True meaning of opposites attract!  He can handle my craziness, my flaws, my spontaneity..and accepts me truly as I am.  He has a huge heart, is more loyal than a dog, and has always been my biggest cheerleader in life! I think he will make a great father to our babies (if we're lucky enough one day)...and omg, i seriously feel like crying.  Writing that made me tear a little!! Hahah!!

But, it is good to remember that ...especially whenever I wonder how in the world I ended up in the middle of planning a big wedding when I never imagined this! Because it is a big deal....and so so happy to share this day with all our family and friends.  Totally worth it!!=)







 

The Engagement

May 10, 2014

I woke up in my underwear, slight headache, and sounds of laughter from my living room. Dexter and Justin were in town and we had a long night out of bar hopping.  Mike was texting me unusually often that night telling me to "make sure I drink water" and "don't drink too much." Didn't think much of it!  I came out and there was Gale and Dexter.  Mike came out of the bedroom too, and although I didn't know at the time, he was worried that they were going to hang out with us all day.  Eventually they left and Mike was already nudging me to get ready so we could have what we call "M&M adventure day."

"No, my head hurts. I need to take a nap for a little."  Barrier!

I ended up sleeping for an hour and woke up feeling much better.  Mike kept telling me he wanted to go up to this treehouse in Tantalus that we go to sometimes just to hang out.  Normally, I'm usually down for whatever but that day I was fixated on eating and going swimming!

"No, I'm hungry. Let's eat."
"Okay, we can eat and then go to the treehouse and play music," says Mike.
"No, I don't want to go the treehouse. I wanna swim."  Barrier!

So, we ate at Yummy's in Koko Marina.  It was a hot and beautiful day! Next on the agenda was to swim!! So we head towards the east side to find a place to swim.  Along the drive home, he kept pulling over to random secluded beaches along the way asking if I wanted to swim there.

"No, I don't wanna go to these beaches. Let's go Bellows!" Barrier!

So, we get to Bellow's and it's the most crowded ever!  I told Mike if he ever proposed to me, that I wanted it to be just us two.  So Mike tries to find the least crowded area, and ends up parking my Lexus on the side of a road.

We get to the beach and spend the day there. It was so awesome--the weather was great, the water refreshing! I thought nothing of this day because we go to the beach and do this all the time.  Except, this day he brought his guitar and he never does that! So, he went to the car to get his guitar and finds a parking ticket on my car. Barrier!

"Are you mad?" He must have asked me ten times, lol. I kept saying no, I was too relaxed.

So, he starts to play all these songs on his guitar including "All of Me- John Legend", "Rude-Magik", and lastly "Marry Me--Bruno Mars."  Yet, the whole time I have my head turned away watching a bridal party taking pictures on the beach. LOL, barrier!!

"Can you pay attention to me?" he asked, haha!!

Ooops! So I guess he couldn't propose that way.  It was getting late, the sun was going to go down soon, and I was getting cold.  I told Mike that I wanted to go.  I was looking off in the distance, sitting in my beach chair, when I turned to my right and see Mike down on one knee and small red box in hand.

The thoughts in my head consisted of "OMG! WTF! AHHHH! WHAAT?! how? Reeeeally? Is this really happening?!"  Obviously, last thing I ever expected to happen that day! He asked me to marry him, and of course I said "YES!"

We hugged a lot! Decided to celebrate by grabbing a six pack of blue moon (the moon was out during that day too) and sat in the back of my car at Sandy's.

It was perfect. It was so 'us.' It was in true Michael Cummings fashion, because he WOULD have all those barriers in trying to propose to me, haha! And as for my ring, I love it too!! I love it because he picked it himself (we never went ring shopping), and he did a good job! It's a round cut, classic solitaire, on a platinum band...and I still trip out when I look at my hand and see it on my finger, haha!!

So, I'm 29 and feel weird saying the word "fiance'" ..but I have one! I also feel weird that "I'm engaged" AHHH!!! But I have to get used to it, lol.

Future Mrs. Cummings In the house, lol!

Week 3...yup, still goin!

Day15/100: finally rented "Frozen" and Mike and I loved it. Actually, I loved it more...true love was found thru her sister! Aww, I miss my sisters!!!!

Day16/100: Spent all my unused gift cards today and got a purse, new undies, sunnies, & perfume! Merry Christmas to me!

Day 17/100: recently started watching "the Mindy Project"--did 1hr of free-weighted arm workouts while watching reruns of this show! Yes!

Day 18/100:  "National Sibling Day"..didn't have my sisters, but had Mike's--went out for dinner and dessert, yum!

Day19/100: teeth cleaned today! Love when my teeth are squeaky clean :D

Day20/100: waking up hungover after crazy night, and cracking up about such a funny/crazy night! How old are we again?!!

Day 21/100: Woke up after work, & Mike took me to eat Filipino food cuz i always talk about how I miss it. Haha, reminded me of my parents so I talked to them when I got home!:)

Week 2

(I'm surprised myself that I've kept up with this, lol!)

Day8/100: Charge nurse tonight, but a smooth shift! 

Day9/100: BWW wings with Erwin, Jackie, daisy, Jamie, & gale! Sd friends!

Day10/100: decided I wanted to be 10lbs lighter before I turn 30. Finished my 2nd day of workouts for april...hahaha!

Day11/100:  had the awesomest massage ever...def returning to this hawaiian aunty!

Day12/100:  rocked it with my CRRT/balloon pump pt tonite, yee!!

Day13/100:  found koi scrubs on sale for $12 pants and $9 tops. OMG. Steal!! First time buying scrubs in 5yrs!! Literally!!! Omg I'm so excited...I'm such a "scrub" in my faded ass scrubs from 2007! Yay!

Day14/100: our BBQ failed..but still got to enjoy a little, hah!

Week 1

100 days of happy (cont)

...been updating this throughout the week but didn't want to post everyday. Don't have to read it (&future posts) tho! Just think I would enjoy reading this a few yrs from now.

Day2/100: Koko kisses/cuddles in the morning!!<3

Day3/100:  When explaining to my patient about his upcoming open heart surgery, he looks up to me and says "You know I'll never ever forget you for the rest of my life. Thank you for helping me, I really needed someone like you right now." 

Day4/100:  I had an easy shift today, no traffic on the way home, & got home early enough to see Mike before he left for work! hooray!!

Day5/100: Didn't sleep well today, and around 5pm got a call that I was going to be on standby! I jumped out of bed and literally ran around the house cuz I was so happy!!!

Day6/100:  cleaned my house and yard finally! Got to chat with Papic, then grabbed lunch and ate it at the beach. Took the scenic route home, always the best.

 

Day7/100: made our own lei from the puakenikeni in our backyard..wore it at the beach & acted (and drank like) it was my birfday! 

 

  

Btw, happy quarter century to my lil sis Lynn Lynn. No, seriously, I thought I was still 25. Where did the time goo?!!!!

100 happy days

Saw this challenge called 100 happy days, where everyday you post something that made you happy. 

 

Haha, I guess I'm into this kind of stuff so I want to try it!!

Day 1/100:

Today, I went hiking with Gale (another one of our Sd friends) and when we got to the top of hike..the view was absolutely beautiful! Happy to spend my days off outdoors..

Afterwards, we ate dinner and got this picture in a text from Philbert!

that made me happy too! Miss you guys!! I'm also happy BWW opened in Sd!!! 

Yay!!! Happiness!! Hahah!!

Rainy days..

Lots of rainy days lately. No sunshine to play. Since when did Sd have more sunshine than hawaii?? Currently having a cup of coffee while watching mike do yard work=)

Work has picked up lately, no more standby shifts for me! Guess it's a good thing being that I don't think I've had a full paycheck in over 2 months. Been having lots of young 20 something to 40 year olds coming in our ICU super sick..so crazy. Definitely reminded always not to take our good health for granted. 

Aside from work, Mike is going to Japan for 2 weeks this Saturday for a work trip. I wish I could go! But that leaves me here to manage on my lonesome! That would be a first! If there's one thing I've learned living here, it's how to be ok with being alone. No sisters or parents to visit..& not as much good friends whose house you can just go to and DRINK!! Just daze and Jamie, lol jk! & that's fine! I got Koko anyways...she is such a blessing to me. Like my practice daughter! So sweet, playful, loving, cute...brings so much joy in our life! Haha! 

This is a shot of Koko driving us thru Waikiki in her lexus! It's crazy how much homeless people have started to setup their carts and just lay around here..kind of made it feel ghetto and unsafe. DISLIKE!!

This was a random Sunday Daisy and Chris happened to be on the north shore the same time as us..ended up meeting up and drinking wine and beer til the beach was completely dark. Was a beautiful day! 

& lastly a throwback of our awesome place on Koko isle..was just reminiscing how lucky we were to live there & how much fun it was! 

Anyways my coffee is getting cold! 

En route to San Franciscooo

Mike and I were just talking about how we would still travel if we had kids. Well, jumped on the plane and we are surrounded by kids under 3yo on all sides except the window!! Funny how God works. Should be an interesting flight....aloha!

2014

Happy 2014! I feel like this year will be an awesome one..it has already started out that way:) A few resolutions I have this year are to:

1) Be productive--making the most of my time off, spending less time on my phone, getting outdoors, making to-do lists regularly, and less laying around..

2) Be healthy-- doing a NPC bikini comp (HAHAHAH JK!!), eating more home cooked meals, tracking my food, better portion control/food choices, juice more, exercising a minimum of 3-4/wk, doing outdoor stuff for exercise, and also emotionally/mentally healthy too! (Lots of prayer/reflection) 

3) Save money-- set a budget, watch my shopping habits (esp online, eee!), do free things, less eating out, don't use credit card excessively, and less requesting shifts off, lol!

4) take care of myself!--this includes grooming of my toenails, eyebrows, bikini, legs, haircuts, etc! Lol! I have let myself go a little bit! 

5) keep busy w/ hobbies --keep myself busy with fixing up my place (cuz I am NOT moving this year!), learning to sew more things, try to use that damn surf board more, learning to cook, growing a mini herb/vegetable garden in my yard, & exploring hawaii. Maybe one big vacay sometime this year, too.

6) lastly, is to keep in regular contact with good friends and family:)

January has already went so quickly. I'm going to Tahoe on Thursday with mike (our Christmas gift to each other) for a quick wknd getaway so that should be fun..excited to board!!!!

For now..time to cook my own meal at home--sticking to the resolutions hahah!! Check out our homemade red lobster biscuits

Mmmmm..but not so healthy, haha!