Made In Hawaii this weekend!

John and I have been busily preparing for our biggest craft fair of the year, the Made In Hawaii Festival. It starts on Friday at the Blaisdell Center. =) Here's a sneak peek at one of our new products we'll be debuting at the fair. Maybe we'll see you there!

Stupid big fat SUV vs. our Prius

Thanks a lot, driver of a stupid big fat white SUV with broken side mirror that's being held together with packing tape. While parking your monstrosity of a vehicle, you rammed our car from behind. I guess your gas guzzler is so large that it must have cushioned the impact because you didn't even leave a note acknowledging the damage you caused to our bumper. Oh, and it was nice and thoughtful of you to reverse a full 2 inches to give us room to pull out.

Our Prius seems to be a magnet for abuse because it's also been already keyed, scratched, and even had one of its mirrors knocked off. =( And it's not even 2 years old.

Pimping out a friend!

I have an awesomely talented friend, Kristen, who I've known since high school. She loves birds and cookies & cream ice cream, has the same shoe size as me, shares birthdays with Barack Obama and my sister-in-law, and is the only person I know who follows dinner with 'second dinner' before dessert. (And she's skinny, that lucky girl!) She's also way too modest to pimp herself out so I'm going to do it for her. I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Amazing, isn't it?

Trekking to Kaena Point...

We must be crazy since we've done this hike three times already in the last two weeks. Why do we wake up at 4:30 a.m. to do this hellish 5-mile hike in the exposed sun over a rocky dirt path with one area I've lovingly nicknamed the 'scary part where I could die'?

For this maybe?

Some tips:

1) A hat, frequent and liberal applications of sunscreen, and tons of water are a must. This is a hot hike that probably isn't for anyone who doesn't like the sun or getting tan. If you're a goth or an albino, pass on this one.

2) I like to bring slippers because once you reach the point, there's sand. TONS of it. It's much easier for me to walk around in slippers than in shoes that I constantly have to take off to shake the sand out of.

3) Use the bathroom before you start this hike. There aren't any facilities out there, unless you count rocks and naupaka leaves as toilets and toilet paper.

4) The 'parking lot' at the end of the road is a high theft area so be aware that you may come back to a car with broken windows or even no car at all. I've seen two guys in a truck hanging out there more than once. This last time, one of them was checking out an unlocked Jeep.... Not just looking in but opening doors and checking under seats and stuff.

I never thought this day would ever come.

I'm wearing CAMO.

In my defense, it's not because I want to.

Lord help me.

Please tell me I'm not the only one...

My current obsession: eye shadows. I've accumulated 12 new eyeshadows within the past 2 months and I blame it all on Makeupalley and the girls on the FOTD (face of the day) board. Please tell me that it's perfectly normal to own more eyeshadows that you can count on two hands. There's nothing wrong with that, right?

These are NYX shadows and according to some of the more experienced makeup gurus on Makeupalley, comparable in quality to MAC shadows. Considering they're a 'cheapie' drugstore brand makeup line, the shadows are surprisingly pigmented and are velvety and smooth to the touch. At $5 a pop, they're also cheap, which makes it dangerously tempting to buy handfuls of them at a time.

The only two places I've been able to find NYX cosmetics here on Oahu is Longs Drugs and Don Quijote. A few days ago, Longs was having a 25% off sale on their NYX cosmetics....

Here kitty kitty!

To apologize and make up for the recent lack of blogging on my part, here's a picture of a cat.

(If you're not a cat person, sorry!)

Yoga Sundays

Our wonderful friend, Jill, has been studying yoga for years now and recently decided that she wanted to pursue teaching yoga. She needed some test subjects, guinea pigs to hone her teaching skills on so we volunteered. (Or wait, maybe we were volunteered??) We meet every Sunday morning at 9 a.m. and have been doing this for a little over a month now.

It's been a fun, interesting, and sometimes painful (but in a good way) month. We always feel nice and relaxed after our yoga sessions. The muscles usually hurt the day after but that means that those muscles are being stretched and worked, which is a good thing!

Here's some of our favorite and not so favorite yoga poses. Or for those of you studying yoga, shall I say 'asanas'? =)

All yoga man drawings from here.

Saturday night snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

...was a total bust. Too many people, super high tide, way huge waves.

Man, I even put on my wetsuit for this. If you've never put on a full wetsuit, you have no idea what an ordeal this is. It's even worse when you're putting it on home, on a 90+ degree day with no air conditioning.

Although it didn't look hopeful for a good snorkel, John and I decided to give it a try. I got all the way to the water with my full wetsuit on, hair pulled back off my face, fins on my feet, and waterproof flashlight and mask in hand, when John asked me where my snorkel was. Oopsie. It was all the way on shore in my bag.

Learn from my absent-mindedness. You might want to double-check to see if you have your snorkel before getting into the water to snorkel. =P

Hanauma Bay is open until 10pm every other Saturday night. Maybe we'll see you there! Don't forget your snorkel!

Damn it Disney, why do you make me cry?

Last night, John and I finally went to go see Disney & Pixar's latest movie, UP. It was a really good movie, REALLY good. Very cute, very fantastical, and yet really touching. We didn't see it in 3-D (thought it might be a little distracting from the story) but now I'm curious about what it's like in 3-D. This movie is actually one that I wouldn't mind auctioning off my kidney to watch again. I also would love to see this movie on BluRay. What Pixar is able to accomplish with itsy bitsy details like the texture of a character's tweed jacket or their chin stubble is seriously awe-inspiring.

However, beware, this movie may make you cry. If you're married, or engaged, or not-yet-engaged-but-100%-sure-you'll-marry-your-current-significant-other, beware, this movie may make you cry. And in the first 5 minutes, nonetheless. I wasn't the only one crying. A woman sitting in front of me was dabbing at her eyes with some tissue. At least she came prepared!

Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo. Damn you also for making me cry.

Shark's Cove, North Shore

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and headed out to Shark's Cove for a morning dive with John's spearfishing & freediving friend, Mark. It was Mark's idea to get into the water at 6:30 a.m. Yes, 6:30 AM. We thought he was crazy but it actually worked out well because at around 8:30 a.m., I counted at least 50 divers in the water.

Here's a peek at what John was shooting in the water.

And here's a peek at what I was shooting above water.

Since I'm not a water person, I usually end up putzing around and taking pictures of either my slippers or my rings while waiting for John to come out. Yeah, lame, I know.

One of these days, I'm going to get into the water. One of these days....

Must. Get. This. Keyboard.

Unfortunately, this adorable Japanese goldfish design was only available for a limited time and is no longer being sold.

I love this so much that I'm entertaining the crazy idea of buying an extra keyboard, pulling off all the keys, getting creative with washi paper and Mod Podge, and making one by myself. Now THAT would be quite the ambitious DIY project!

If goldfish aren't your thing, how about cherry blossoms or bunnies?

*swoon*

There's also gold leaf and black leather covered keyboards, if cherry blossoms and bunnies are a bit too frou frou for you.

Available at Wazakura Koubou (Japanese language site)

I've hit the mother lode!

I don't quite remember how I stumbled upon this because I was up waaaaay too early this morning to be fully awake. (John left for Maui for a conference and was up at around 5:00 a.m. Ouchie.) But I sure am glad I did.

NOTCOT is freakin' amazing. If you love fashion, design, architecture, cool stuff, or any combination of those things, I think you'll really like this.

NOTCOT.com is laid out like a blog and features the coolest of the cool. Design, techie stuff, toys, food & drink, fashion, home decor, and travel. You'll find all sorts of neat things featured here.

NOTCOT.org is a massive collection of image links to tons of cool stuff. I could spend hours browsing through just a small fraction of the 470 pages of "snapshots" of stuff I never would be able to find on my own. Yes, 470 pages (that's 22, 197 links!) of stuff. And that number is constantly growing because users can submit their own links to things they think are cool.

Like fashion? There's NOTCOUTURE for your inspiration, time-passing, or procrastination needs.

Are you a lush who also happens to be a culinary glutton? You're covered. Liqurious and Tastespotting. (Caution: If you aren't already a gluttonous lush, you may very well be turned into one after looking at some of the drool-worthy photos of food & drink on those two sites. Proceed with care.)

The perfect yellow shoes

For my recently engaged friend, Joy, who LOVES the color yellow, I've found the perfect yellow shoes for her wedding day. Nevermind that she doesn't have a dress, or a set date and location, or that she's only been engaged for like two whole days. All of that doesn't matter when the shoe is this pretty.

From J. Crew. Hurry up and buy it, it's on sale!

Guilty pleasure of the day

CornNuts, original flavor. I saw these last night at our local 7-11 and felt compelled to buy it. Yes, compelled. Hasn't that ever happened to you before?

I know you're bad for me but you remind me of my happy childhood, those days when I could snack on anything I wanted and still not gain an ounce. Those were the good days.

Look, only three ingredients. And they're all natural. No preservatives, no words that are longer than five syllables, and none of that dreaded Yellow #5. See, it can't be all that bad for you...

Pepsi, I don't miss you at all.

Last Friday, I celebrated my two week anniversary of being soda-free. =)

Pepsi, you have no control over me anymore!

Lantern Floating at Ala Moana Beach Park

On Memorial Day, about 40,000 people gathered at Ala Moana Beach Park to be a part of the annual Lantern Floating ceremony. With Japanese taiko performances and gospel singing, it wasn't quite the somber ceremony one might expect, but it was pretty awe inspiring just to be in the presence of so many people.

People could make a small donation to receive these floating paper lanterns. I saw messages written out to fathers & mothers, grandparents, sibling, friends, and even pets. Some of these lanterns were decorated with flowers, others with drawings done by young children.

Here's a few photos that John and I took from that night. It was nice to see so many people remembering their loved ones. Although going to an event like this makes you miss the family and friends you've lost, it also makes you more appreciative of the ones that are still with you. =)

Congratulations Tae & Sandi!

Sandi and Tae had a beautiful wedding at the Halekulani's Hau Terrace on Sunday. Sandi looked amazing in her wedding dress and I was in love with her bouquet and hair flower choice, pink peonies! So gorgeous and elegant! (And yes, I just had to throw in the obligatory cute-as-a-button flowergirl photo.)

I'm now convinced that I need a 5D MarkII. John took all these photos with our 70-200 2.8 lens and although I've tweaked them a bit in Photoshop, the images and colors that came straight out of the camera were SWEET!