NOW IS THE START

May this year bring you and your family health, happiness, peace, prosperity and success in all that you want to accomplish. Shake off anything that is holding you back from last year. Let 2013 be the new start!!!

(video from Fine Frenzy)

Happy New Year from Embriven!!!

Engine 2 Diet

(a bowl of raw oats, shredded wheat, with kiwis, bananas and almond milk for breakfast - taste super good and it's healthy)

after my husband and i watched the "Forks Over Knives Presents: The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue" documentary we are convinced that we both need to eat healthier and be healthier. there's just too many diseases happening out there that we want to do our best to avoid being in the statistics. boy it is not easy to change your eating habits and to go on a daily workout but it definitely pays off. my husband has been doing much better than i have - kudos to him! we both are enjoying this process together and let just say it's our #1 new year resolution - live a healthy life so we can look great and feel strong!

wish us the best! :)

xoxo,
athena

Merry Christmas!

(our Christmas card that was sent out to our friends and family)

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the rest of the holidays with your love ones!

DIY: Simple Bow

This year I decided to make things a little more simple with my gift wrapping. My husband and I are focusing on finishing up painting our house - we are first time painters so we are super slow - we feel like it's too much work to have Christmas decoration up or even a Christmas tree. Though I am a little bummed for not having a Christmas tree. I can't go through Christmas without the pine tree smell so I bought nordic pine candles and light them up around our house and it smell as good as the real tree. Add Chrismas songs to our home (like everyday) and it smells and feels just like Christmas :) As for gift wrapping this year I still use my brown paper bag wrapping paper, tie the presents with yarn and glue a ready made pom pom on the bow (the bow made from tying the yarn).

All you need is yarn, glue gun, and medium size pom pom (you can buy it at Michaels). Use the yarn as the ribbon and tie them into a bow in however ways you like (be creative). Then glue one pom pom in the middle of the bow to give it a pop.

Ta Da! I went with a black and white look so the presents look a little more simple and clean.

Hope you are having fun finishing up last minute things and enjoy your time with friends and family!

XOXO,
Athena

Avalanches

hello, hope your holiday season is going good so far. mine has been great...been staying active, busy, and done with xmas shopping. now getting ready to wrap them and send them away. we had a beautifull snow day a few days ago and i just love how our backyard is covered with snow - everything is crystal white. here looking at our backyard...

These snowy days remind me of the setting in the fine frenzy video "avalanches" - a song in her new ablum "pines." in fact her whole album can totally fit for this winter snowy day.

it's going to be a white christmas here in minnesota :)

xoxo,
athena

Fall

fall has been so beautiful here in minnesota. it is so colorful everywhere you go and even our yard is quite colorful.

fall is my favorite season of the year...time for sweaters and boots. i love the fall style.


the weather has been nice for the past few weeks except today it got pretty cold...but the perfect time for making pho soup :)

just enjoying the beautiful fall in our yard, flipping through catalogs with fall collection and enjoying the smell of pho cooking on our stove.

hello fall!

xoxo,
athena

New York

for the past few weeks my husband and i have done some traveling and we had such a wonderful time. one of the places was in new york city, it was quite an experience. new york is definitely a busy place, and is lots of fun. it was my first time there and i described it as san francisco and las vegas combined :) we are so grateful to have our aunt, cousin and cousin's boyfriend there to tour us around! they took us everywhere and we would have been so lost without them! here are some images of new york from our camera... on the ferry and spying the statue of liberty.

cousin eva and her boyfriend, jesse at washignton square park.
eating at the pier.
up the hill in new jersey to see new york city. beautiful moon that night.


at the history museum near central park

times square


hung out at the biggest starbucks i've seen so far - in times square
it was an awesome trip! looking forward to revisit new york again!

xoxo,
athena