Stuff on "Antiques Roadshow?"

Yeah, I bet that's surprising, me watching the "Antiques Roadshow." I never really caught on to the hype when it first came out. Even when "Will and Grace" created an episode dedicated to it. Though I must admit, it's pretty fun when there's an interesting piece being discussed, for history entertainment.

While watching an episode today, they took time out to highlight Jules Chéret (1836-1932). Though I haven't heard of him (well, maybe I did, but didn't pay attention in art history), I did pay attention this time when they showed his work.

He was a French painter and lithographer who is often called the "father of the modern poster." One day I will be able to afford one of his prints, but for now, I'll just post them here.

The bebes!!!

I went home to Hilo this past week to attend some sad personal business ... however, I was able to hang out and play with the nephews which always cheers me up!

First off, Shosei (with his Hokulea tattoo) shows baby brother Choki how to play with his train, then the "Flying Baby!!!" I bet Choki will be crawling soon...

YES! We Can!

Hope prevailed last night, and Change is happening.

Stuff my friends do for a living

My friend Anna Bernabe is an AMAZING make-up artist in NYC. I met her back in 1999 when we both worked at Kate's Paperie on 8th between 5th and 6th.

We recently re-connected in the most extraordinary way (which is such a long story, I'll spare everyone from reading it). Nonetheless, I wanted to show you what she does and why I'm so proud of her.

You can see the rest of her stuff on her website.

Stuff I see on the road when driving into work

So this SUV was in front of us when driving into work the other day. I wasn't sure if the owner was being ironic, funny or mean.

When I see a HUMMER SUV, my first reaction isn't "what a great alternative, earth-friendly vehicle"...

Then I thought, well, maybe it's a company car (I believe there is a company by that name here that does air quality inspections) ... but that didn't make too much sense if they are in the air quality business.

I'm stumped by it, yet got a good laugh at the same time.

Stuff on T.V.

So, if you've seen this commercial, you'll know that the song gets annoying and stuck in your head. Fortunately, now I have reason to watch it and begin to like the jingle — one of the hula dancers in the commercial is my good friend May (she's the one on the right). Too bad this clip is low-res, but it's all I can find right now.

Woohoo May!!!

Stuff I like

Some know that I love the work of Kurt Halsey, and I wanted to share some pieces he has on his site. He has some pieces for sale in his store, and others here.

Stuff I shot on a 4-hour hike

A little while ago George and I went on a hike which was supposed to only take say an hour or so...it took us like 4.

So silly because we didn't realize this hike (Tantalus) interconnected with other hikes in the area. So we went from one hike to the next, to the next, to the next. In the end getting a little lost, grumpy and hungry...oh wait, the last two was just me.

There are neat things to see on the hike, be it a bamboo forest, strange flowers that are smaller than my pinky nail and of course the view of Diamond Head.

Pumpkin Party Stuff!

Last week Saturday Aimee and I went on a hunt...a hunt for pumpkins that is! We traveled to Aloun Farms' Pumpkin Patch. It was so cute! Kids in costumes, parent with cameras, hay rides, and...white pumpkins? Yup!

Then we went back to her place where Oscar, Dawn and Derek came over to carve them. It was my first time carving a pumpkin, so I was glad both Dawn and Aimee were there to guide me along. Dawn even brought her trusty carving kit from a previous year.

The worst part was "gutting" the pumpkin. Very tedious because we separated the seeds to roast as we were going along. Then came cleaning the insides. I forgot that metal spoons worked better than hard plastic ones. Also, the carving kit tools come in handy compared to your trusty kitchen knife. Oh well, a learning experience. I'm going to kick butt on carving my next pumpkin!

Enjoy the pictures!

Stuff on other blogs

Here are 2 blogs I found online. How? I forget, it just happens.

The first one is from Liquid Sky Arts. There are just so many beautiful photos on this blog. Mostly because I'm really into shabby-chic-french-collage-bohemian look right now. I don't care if it may be "over" as a trend (if it can even be considered a trend) but it's wonderful to me. Here are a few photos from the site that caught my eye (excerpts from the new TASCHEN Books: New Paris Interiors)

































The other site (which I found on Liquid Sky Arts) is Pikaland. The Mayor of Pikaland, Amy Ng, created this wonderful site which focuses on illustrations. It's very whimsical.

Stuff about the nephews

Been waiting to post photos of my nephews (Shosei, 3 y.o in December; Choki, 5 mo.).

I also wanted to point out that I've been farting around with these new digital scrapbooking elements.

2 for 1!

"SHOSEI SAYS: "I DON'T THINK I LIKE THIS FIG NEWTON ... IS IT A COOKIE OR A CAKE? ... BUT I DO LOVE MY MONSTER SOCKS!"

























CHOKI SAYS:"YAY I CAN ROLL ON MY BELLY!...OH, BUT I DROOLED A LITTLE ON MY BLANKET..."

Stuff I find when surfing other blogs

As most know, I love all things design ... well here's a little visual Paul Rand treat for all who inspire!

Stuff that happens when I want to pretend I'm a yuppy at the farmer's market

So I got this new camera a while ago (during tax refund time I think...cause that's how I got the money for the camera). Anyway, not too long ago my co-worker Aimee (Watermark) and I started a weekly routine of going to the KCC Farmer's Market, and most recently added Chinatown, to our Saturday mornings. It's nice getting out of the house and walking around looking at yummers food and interesting fruits...not to mention if you are at KCC, the strange Japanese (female) tourists in their 3" high heels. Who knows what they are thinking, but I'm thinking "what idiots!"

Well I wanted to start this little blog cause I'm not so good at the emails and I wanted to still keep in touch with my friends and family...also cause there are so many cute ones out there that I need some sort of creative outlet.

Here are just a few of the photos I took during one of the trips to the farmer's market.




1. Peety orchid that has a scent. Love the colors!
2 & 3. Beignets being fried and ready to eat...soooo yummers!
4. Fellow farmer's market shoppers...notice, plenty Japanese tourists yeah!

Good stuff that happens when you don't expect it

When I left PBN last year I was given a very generous gift from my co-workers in the Advertising department...a gift certificate to Turtle Bay. I was waiting for the right time to go and it just so happened that my birthday was right around the corner. I lucked out and got a great rate for a room overlooking the beach, and what do you know, the certificate took care of it all!

Check-in was at 3pm (I really wanted to be there by then to get the most of our stay), and like always, I had to wait for George to come home from work...and he was late... Tho I shouldn't complain because the boys worked through the night to meet a deadline. We didn't leave town until 4pm. Typically, if I'm running late I panic a little, but this time I thought as long as we get there by sunset everything will be ok.

Not really knowing how to get there, I thought we had to go through Waimanalao... George said that if he knew I didn't know how to get there, he would have said something. He thought we were sight-seeing! Haha! Anyway, we get to Turtle Bay right around 6pm. Still early enough to see the sunset.

When we got there we were pleasantly surprised that we were complementary upgraded from our "humble" room to a great cottage suite. The best thing wasn't that the 15' ceilings, marble bathroom with a standing shower and Kallista Deep-Soak Tub, polished Brazilian walnut floors leading to a large multi-level beach retreat or an exclusive cottage concierge (who we could call upon between 9am-7pm for whatever we needed), it was the fact that the characters from one of our favorite movies, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, stayed there! I know, we are huge dorks...

For those who haven't seen this awesome movie:


We didn't have a lot of time to spend exploring since we were staying just 1 night, but we did walk around a lot, walked on the beach, layed on the hammock which was right outside of our suite, watched some tv and just enjoyed being out of Honolulu.

I think we got a little depressed for a few weeks when we got home...