It's my birthday, dammit.

There's just something about birthdays that get me so excited.  It's like I'm 5 years old again and I can do, say, and get whatever I want just for this one day.  Ice cream for breakfast?  Don't mind if I do.  A giant bowl of chicken pesto pasta for lunch and a big fat juicy steak for dinner?  No shame.  Okay, well now that I think about it, I do these things all the time anyway.

Since today is my birthday I thought I'd share all of my awesomeness with you by writing a post full of, well, myself.  Aren't you lucky?  And this way, I don't have to come up with some heartfelt verbiage about how great the past 28 years have been (they have), or how being an adult makes you realize how stupid you were when you were younger (so, so stupid), and the fact that even though I wasn't where I thought I would be at this age (I wanted to be a welder when I was younger) I couldn't be happier with my life.

But enough of all that serious crap.  Let's save that for another day and keep it fun and simple for today.  So, now, for your reading and viewing pleasure, the ABC's of ME.

A//  Age:  Today is my 28th birthday!

B//  Bed size:  California King.  With 3 kids who love to cuddle in and watch movies with us some nights, a big bed is necessary.  At one point we even shared the bed with a bunny and Kaos (when she was still a baby).

C//  Chore you hate:  Cleaning my own room.  It's funny because I can clean every other room in the house with no problems, but my room can never get fully clean.  I'm slowly trying to de-clutter and get rid of most of my crap (clothes, shoes, bags, etc.) so it'll be easier to clean.

D//  Dogs:  Kaos is our one and only.  She's still a pup (only about 6 months old) but she's pretty big and very hyper.

E//  Essential start to your day:  Always coffee.  If not coffee, then an energy drink, preferably Monster's Kaos.  Yeah, like our dog.

F//  Fear:  Falling/no control.  I'm not afraid of heights, just afraid of falling off those heights.  Rollercoasters, skydiving, those rides where you go up and they just drop you - yeah, not my jam.

G//  Gotta have:  Chocolate, bubbles, sunshine, glitter, shoes, sarcasm, friends, little details, vodka, bacon, ocean, laughter.

 

H//  Hobbies:  Blogging (obvs), reading, eating, crafting, and going on adventures.

I//  Instruments you play:  Don't really play any instrument, but I've been told I sing pretty well (yes, from real people other than my mom), so my voice?

J//  Job:  The energy-sucking life of a legal secretary/assistant but I still want to start my own line of handmade swimwear...someday.

K//  Kids:  3 crazy ones.  Crazy wonderful.

L//  Live:  Guam/Hawaii.  I add the "/" because I was born on Guam, moved to Hawaii as a kid, then moved back to Guam when I got older, then back to Hawaii for a year, then back to Guam.  In case you didn't notice, I have trouble making decisions.  Joey and I dream of traveling the world and living in different places - like vagabonds.

M//  Music:  I love all kinds.  It just depends on my mood.  Favorite artists of all time are Beyonce (duh), Gwen Stefani, and Iggy Azalea.
 

N//  Nicknames:  Duckie (obvs), Jess, Ska, Sica/Seeka, Lucy (like Lucy Lu from Charlie's Angels because I was the one Asian in a group of white girls), and Kelcy (during my brief stint as a shoplifter in my teenage years).

O//  Overstock:  Everything.  Clothes, shoes, bags, beauty products - I'm like a hoarder.  A very fashionable hoarder.

P//  Pet peeve:  Being hung up on, people who complain a lot and ask for advice then never ever take that advice.

Q//  Quote:  "Well-behaved women seldom make history." - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

R//  Regrets:  Not getting the last slice of ice-cream cake yesterday.  Then again, if I had eaten it, I'd probably be regretting that instead.

S//  Siblings:  3 brothers, 1 sister.  That makes 5 of us, total - in case you didn't know.

T//  Time you wake up:  My eyes open at 6:15am, but I usually don't crawl out of bed until 6:50am.

U//  Underwear:  Victoria's Secret Cheekies are my absolute faves.

V//  Veggies you dislike:  Eggplant, bell peppers, and radish.

W//  Wants:  To start my own successful line of swimwear and to renovate my entire house or build a new one.

X//  Xerox:  Back in 2004 when American Idol was still a big deal, everyone said I looked like Jasmine Trias, one of the Hawaii contestants.  Funny thing is, I knew her personally - we both sang in our church choir together.

Y//  Yuck:  Liver, cigarettes, smell of garbage, people who are unhygienic.

Z//  Zodiac:  Gemini - whoop whoop!


And that's about it for today!  Do you get bratty on your birthday?  What are the ABC's of Y.O.U.??

Ice Cream Party Time!

So last week Aniyah, our eldest child, turned 10!  I'm honestly still trying to cope with the fact that she's getting older - I woke up in the middle of the night because I had a dream where she told me she wanted to sell her clothes so she could buy new ones because she wanted a boyfriend.  Talk about a nightmare!

Anyway, the last time she had a real party for her birthday was when she was 4 - the year before she started school.  Since then we've just been having small celebrations (Chuck-E-Cheese's, family dinners, etc.) because I told her that her next "party" won't be until she turns 10, so she was really excited for her birthday this year.

As you may have seen in my last post, she chose to go with an Ice Cream theme.  It kinda took a while for her to make up her mind about it, but in the end it was a really great choice - so much more original than a character themed birthday.

I found some free Ice Cream party printables on Pinterest and customized them on Pixlr.

I also ordered some Ice Cream themed goodies from Oriental Trading Co. to use for party favors and decorations.

These pink and blue lollipops were from Oriental Trading Co. and I just printed the cupcake toppers from the printable pack on sticker paper to stick on the lollipops.

 Aniyah and some of her friends before all the fun and craziness started.  The weather had been horrible all week and places of the island were flooded due to heavy rains so she was very excited when some of her classmates were able to make it.

 I saw this image on Pinterest and decided to recreate it.  But instead of using real ice cream cones (which may have gone to waste), I used these cute polka dot paper cones that I got from Oriental Trading Co.

Simple pink and blue paper bags are so much easier and cheaper than using those favor boxes.  I just attached the customized printable treat topper and they looked awesome!

Our menu was simple, with our Mongolian grill station being the main food item.  Guests were able to pick out their own vegetables, meats, and seasonings and watch it while it was being cooked by our awesome family chefs!

 Another Pinterest idea was put to use in our 10-foot ice cream sundae.  The original pin was a 10-foot banana split which used a carpet tube and some handmade stands for it to be lifted off the ground but we put our own twist on it.

Instead of a carpet tube, I just cut, folded, and taped the cardboard box from our Oriental Trading Co. order and created a trough which I then covered in tinfoil.  Instead of lifting it off of the ground, we put it on a tarp and had an ice cream eating contest!

 They all had to kneel down with their hands behind their backs and finish all the ice cream in their section as quickly as possible.  The winner got to choose a prize from the prize box.

It was so much fun for the kids and their families because we were all cheering them on and everyone got a kick out of it.  And thankfully the rainy weather was on our side because it helped to wash away all the stickiness!

 After the ice cream eating contest and the ice cream war, the kids rinsed off and sang happy birthday to Aniyah.  She not really a cake person - she prefers cookie cake instead.

Afterwards we continued with the rest of the games and I'm so glad that the kids weren't "too cool" to participate because they all had a blast.

They played musical chairs, had an egg toss, water balloon relay roll, and a water balloon toss as well.  It was really so fun just to watch them all enjoy themselves.  Some of the adults even got involved by throwing water balloons with the kids.

In the end, it was a very messy, very sticky, but very AWESOME 10th birthday party!  I'm so glad that the stormy weather didn't put such a damper on everyone's spirits and that they were able to celebrate Aniyah's birthday with us.

Thank you to everyone for all your birthday wishes in comments and shout-outs!  She was really surprised to find out how much love and support she has from all of you!

And I know I've been absent from the blog world for most of the month but October starts tomorrow and I'm really excited to share some of my DIY costume ideas with you again this year.  Last year's costume posts were such a hit that I figured I'd try to put together some requested costumes this month - so comment below with a request!

I scream for some ice cream inspiration!

Okay so before we get into the good stuff, I just want you to know how much I am FREAKING OUT about my daughter Aniyah's upcoming birthday. She'll be turning 10 - that's double digits, people! Holy frikken moly!  So for such an important day, you know that a party is bound to happen around here!

This year she asked for an ice cream themed birthday so I've been scouring the internet for some ideas and inspiration.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed the abundance of ice cream pins lately.

Ice cream cone cupcakes!  They just look soooo delicious!

Colored popcorn in an ice cream cone - great way to incorporate the "ice cream" theme without going overboard with all the dairy and sugar.

So easy and inexpensive!

How epic would this be!?  A 10-foot banana split for a 10th birthday!!

And these ice cream scoop letters would be great to spell out her name!

Aren't those just awesome ideas?!  And that's just the things I found online - I haven't even gotten started on what I came up with in my head.

I plan on having a full ice cream bar spread - cups, sugar cones, sugar-free cones, sprinkles, almonds, macadamia nuts, Oreos, M&Ms, peanut butter cups, gummy bears, fruits, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, etc.  We're also going to have a fried ice cream station and I've already got a cotton candy machine ready too.

And if you think that's exciting, guess what I'm hoping to have as well... (I say hoping because I haven't cleared it with the hubby yet - fingers crossed!)

Have you guessed?  Oh alright, I'll just tell you:  An Ice Cream War!!!  (Not to be confused with the William Boyd novel)

Okay, you may be thinking that it's a little extreme, but close your eyes and pretend you're 10 years old again.  A tarp on the ground, a bunch of your friends, and some squishy ice cream - you know you'd want to dive right in and slide all over that.  AND before you turn back into an adult and start to lecture me about wasting food, I'll be using whatever left over ice cream had not been eaten from the 10-foot banana split.

See, you can have your ice cream and play with it too!

*Oh yeah, and if you've seen my recent pins of outdoor showers, now you know the reason for my needing one soon!

Well, that's my party plan for this month.  What do you think?  Like I said, I'm still in the "planning" phase right now but I'll be ordering the party favors and some other decorations soon so I'll share those with you later!

Happy FRIKKEN Birthday to ME! [and a HUGE giveaway for you]

Hey guess what!?  It's my BIRTHDAY!

And guess what else!?  You're invited to celebrate with me!!!!

I'm EXTREMELY blessed to have such wonderful friends and supporters who have given me such AMAZING gifts to share with one (SUPER) lucky reader!!

Honestly, I'm so jealous of this giveaway right now because if I weren't hosting this, I would TOTALLY enter it. #bloggerproblems

Check out these goodies that you could win and enter below!!

//Noor's Place//

//Jessica Who?//

//Jackie Jade//

//Vodka and Soda//

//My Ojos// 

//Local Sugar Hawaii//

//That L.A. It Girl//

//thereafterish.//

//Crazy Tragic {almost} Magic//

//Mish Lovin' Life//

//Fun Size Beauty// 

//One Haole Girl//

And my tiny contribution to this celebratory birthday giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Good luck!  Thank you to all the wonderful bloggers who helped to make this giveaway possible!  They are some pretty amazing women!  And thank you again to all of you who read and support Frikken Duckie.  Without you, my birthday wouldn't be as awesome!