My weekend…

I hope everyone had a great weekend. This weekend went by a little too fast, luckily I can look back on it and say that it was a pretty good one. On Friday night St. Louis challenged Kamehameha for the ILH football championship and WE WON!!! It was such an intense game that I went a little overboard on the alcohol intake and didn’t feel how drunk I was getting until the game was over and the drunken feeling took over.

On Sunday my dad’s girlfriend took me out for a girl’s day, as my belated birthday present. We went to get massages, stopped by Wholesale Unlimited to buy some snacks, and then followed with lunch. I really wanted to go to Kaneohe Pancake House (the old Koa House). I was craving crab-cakes eggs benedict and just needed to have it. We arrived about 45 minutes before closing time so we were one of the only ones in the entire restaurant, it was perfect! Here are some pics from the weekend…

Celebrating my grandma’s life

On October 17th I lost someone who had so much influence on the woman I am today. My grandma and I were really close for so many years and I have so many cherished memories with her. I remember being really young and going with my grandma on a Saturday or Sunday morning to meet one of her friends for coffee, I would sit and scoot my chair in and place my napkin on my lap. It was a rule with my grandma to always have perfect table manners and dining etiquette. She’d then order me a hot chocolate and when I was halfway done with it, she’d top it off with coffee. I still to this day love a half-coffee, half-hot chocolate drink.

I would watch all of her favorite old movies with her (black and whites were the best), to the point where I’d know the lines to movies that most people even 20 years older than me wouldn’t even recognize…

I’m going to stop myself right there with the memories because honestly, I need to dedicate a whole post to that alone. Today I wanted to share some photos that I took during her “farewell” day. It was only a couple of days before she passed, hospice told that family that it would be happening soon. Her kids and their families who live in California planned a trip here to see her before it was too late. She ended up passing before anyone got here, so they kept their flight reservations and we decided to do a rushed service to have something while everyone was here. It turned out so nice, my grandma would have loved the intimacy of it, with just her kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, and great-great-grandkids.

We started off at the Valley of the Temples in Kaneohe, it’s a beautiful location at the base of the Ko’olau mountains. She was cremated so we got her a niche in their beautiful mausoleum. We were able to place her ashes and say goodbye before going to spend a beach day as a family. At the beach, I released some flowers for her as well. I’m so grateful to have had this day with family that I don’t get to see as often as I wish.

A Bridal Shower at Natsunoya Tea House

We celebrated my friend Tasha’s upcoming wedding at Natsunoya Tea House. This is a traditional-style Japanese tea house located in Kalihi with panoramic views of Honolulu. They have buffet-style dining in private party rooms which made it the perfect location for our event. When you walk in you are transported to a different time and place, you can smell the old wood of the building and even the stairs creek while you’re walking up, not glamorous at all but a wonderful experience. We played the typical shower games, ate a lot, and were all in a merry mood. Nothing like a party with good company and good food.

A pretty baby shower

My friend Kiani is expecting her second daughter really soon. We celebrated with the cutest baby shower. It was set up under a gazebo at the Bay View golf course in Kaneohe.

It was such a girly theme… I absolutely loved it. From the food and desserts to the henna station and DIY flower bar… perfection!

What I’ve been up to…

Hi everyone! Hope all is well with you all. I’ve been having trouble with my site recently… but it seems to be ok now. I can’t believe its July already. There are so many things going on in life right now. Both my daughters will be in new schools this coming fall, my son and his family moved back in with us, my younger son will be a senior this year and we’ll be looking at colleges. Let’s just say… my anxiety has been through the roof.

Summer for me has been pretty nice. I work at a school so we get off at noon during the summer. I’m able to go home and spend time with the family everyday and cook early dinners. I’ve been enjoying a drink or two every night and even having time to watch a movie before going to bed. And because no ones in summer school, I’m not having to wake up as early… it really has been nice.

Here in Hawaii, we’re still under some strict rules so we really haven’t been going out a lot this summer. We’ve hit the beach a few times, had a couple of some small family gatherings, gone out to eat at a restaurant or three, my sister was down here from Vegas for a couple of weeks… but other than that, it’s been a lazy chill at home summer. Here are some random pics from the last few weeks…

Looking at the sky…

Yesterday was Looking Up at the Sky Day. We took the students out on the grass and stared at the sky for about half an hour. It was so relaxing that I think I’m gonna start doing this at home with a lounge chair.