Picture of the Week.

My little boy is 21 months old already!  Here, he's waiting for his "papa" by the back door.

ALOHA!

Holiday Cards.

This year, I want to get on the ball early (although it's already Thanksgiving) and send out Holiday Cards on time.  I have a few ideas in mind,  but now I just need the pictures of the three (+ Anoush) of us!  Let me say that I am hardly in pictures because I'm not photogenic, not because coincidentally, I also end up taking all the pictures of our family.  

I have a bunch of albums up in my Shutterfly account, which I've been using  for years now, so it's really going to be a matter of finding some time (hail nap time!) to go through them and choose my favorite ones.  This year, I'm ordering my Holiday Cards from them.  I wanted  a beachy-theme to fit our Aloha lifestyle, so I've narrowed it down to the holiday photo cards.    I may even do a Calendar as a present for our parents, with a picture of us from the corresponding month from this year.  

What do you think of these? And no, this is not my family.  :)

 a.

b.

 c.

d.

e.

 f.

I'm leaning towards "b" or "e."  Any suggestions?  

They have a zillion cards to choose from, and bloggers can receive 50 free cards!  Click here to learn all about it.

 Aloha!

Picture of the Week.

I only took a handful of pictures last week, but did manage to take a few at the Haleiwa Reef Pro.  The one below is of Taj Burrow, an Australian surfer, right after an interview.  

Aloha!

Surfing Season.

Surfing season has officially kicked off in the North Shore with the start of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Championship.  We've been watching the Surf Channel ever since we got here, and have been anxiously waiting for this time of year.    This weekend, we decided to get a preview by heading to Haleiwa and Banzai Pipeline.  

Aloha!

Picture of the Week.

Since I've started taking a lot more pictures (thanks Papi for my awesome camera!), I want to post a different favorite one each week.  Hopefully it won't be a repeat, to keep all you readers (hahahaha) interested.  I realize no one reads my blog (there are ways to check these things), but that's ok.  I think of it as my online journal of my days here in Hawaii and I do it  for me.  I figure if I keep taking pictures,  I'll get better at it.

Anyway, here it is, MY moment of zen (dad, in case you're reading, that's a reference to the Daily Show):

This was taken at the zoo.  It was our first time there as a family, and I loved capturing Sebastian's expressions when seeing animals "live" for the first time.  Other than our dog, and various birds and cats in our neighborhood, he hasn't seen too many up close.  I want to eat his little face up!

Honolulu Zoo.

Today we went to the zoo.  S had a great time looking at the animals in person for the first time.  It was a beautiful day, not too warm and breezy.  It's definitely a great place to go with kids.  Next time, I'll bring a picnic basket so we can have lunch underneath the beautiful trees.

Dog Cloud

While driving to the North Shore, this particular cloud caught my attention.  I think it's shaped like a dog.  Am I right?

Aloha!

October (recap).

We started the month off by going to a celebration on base.  I'm not sure what it was for, but there were clowns, some carnival foods, and entertainment.  Jake Shimabukuro was there - he's an "ukuleles sensation" worldwide, and pretty easy on the eyes. 

 

S got his first haircut, we had a visit from an old friend, and we went to the pumpkin patch. 

We celebrated Halloween, but had lots of fun before the month's end.

And as we usually do, we made sure to admire the beauty around us.

Aloha!

H a l l o w e e n .

My Perfect Sunday.

This truck is permanently parked at Waikele Shopping Center. We got a dozen malasadas (fried dough with sugar on top) to take with us.  Less than half made it to the beach. 

There was almost no one at the beach in Kapolei,and we felt that the ocean was just ours to enjoy...



 

What I Love: Our House (Part 1)

From top left:  canvas from Target,  silver tray from Mexico filled with found shells, grandmother's silver tray, pillow from Pier 1; 
Middle row: natural coral that was part of my husband's bedroom decor growing up, vases and tray from Crate and Barrel, baskets from Ikea and our honeymoon in Jamaica;
Bottom:  rug from Williams-Sonoma Home

Real Simple Magazine has a fun quiz to determine what your color personality is.  My result: water.  What are you?

Aloha!

What I Love: Sunsets

Ko' Olina

What We Eat: Peanut Butter Cookies

I've wanted to try some recipes from this amazing blog for some time now, and I had most of the ingredients (there are only 4) on hand when I came across a recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies.

I used organic prunes instead of dates because that's what I had on hand.   And mine came out a little darker than the original ones,  but they are delicious!  The prunes look and taste like chocolate! Except it's all natural, and no baking required.  

Ingredients:  1 cup dry roasted almonds, 1 cup all-natural peanut butter, 1 cup (organic) prunes or medjool dates, and 1 1/2 tsp. alcohol-free vanilla extract.

What to do:  1) In a food processor, pulse the almonds until they're really fine, resembling coarse meal  2) Add the prunes/dates, the vanilla extract, and the peanut butter.  Process.  3)  Make into little balls and then squish them down with a fork.  4) Serve at a party and fool all your friends!

To get the original recipe, click on this link. 

Aloha! 

P.S. - I was just featured on Deviantly Domesticated!  Click here to see the post!,

and I also linked up to this one at the Shabby Nest. 

 

What I've Been Up To (September).