So, I told myself that I wasn't going to use so much of "purchased" goods for my NEW52 postings. However, I couldn't resist this one. I purchased these from Nordstrom's "it's a small world" limited edition collection, as I fell in love with the concept and designs. I really wanted to share this with you to spread their word of love and kindness to all.
Walt Disney created "it's a small world" for the 1964 World's Fair as an exhibit dedicated to children from around the world and to benefit UNICEF's work to save children's lives. In honor of those charitable origins, we've collaborated with FEED Projects and TOMS Shoes to create items in the Disney It's a Small World collection that will continue to support the world's children.
My purchase of the FEED bag will provide 500 children a year of vitamin A and the TOMS shoe will give a new shoe to a child in need.
When these arrived in the mail, I thought they were so cute that I went to Nordstroms and bought my nephews some "it's a small world" t-shirts for Easter. They will get it just in time for Boy's Day on May 5th.
Speaking of my nephews, here they are on St. Patrick's Day.
I've been busy scraping for Karla Dudley's Lift Me Up challenge. I made 4 layouts. The Lift Me Up gallery showcase will go live on Monday. I can't wait to see everyone's lifts.
My NEW52 this week is our weekend stay at The Kahala Resort and Hotel. We've been to this hotel before for weddings and to splurge at their fine restaurants. However, never to spend the night. Tate finally had some time off so this is where we headed to. Being on-island makes for a very relaxing vacation. First, a NEW family portrait taken from the mirror beside our bed.
Another NEW was taking Bostyn to Dolphin Quest. They had a great program for the wee ones. First, they start with getting comfortable with the child. Here the dolphin trainer, Megan, showed Bostyn some stuffed animals and pointed out different anatomy parts.
Then, she had these wooden textures for Bostyn to touch and "feel" what some of the different ocean animals would feel like.
Finally, it was time. Bostyn was amazing. She was not shy or afraid of touching the dolphin, Kolohe. It was so cute. I don't know who was on exhibit, the dolphin or Bostyn. Many of the guests were watching and commenting on how cute Bostyn was.
And the grand finale, they had the dolphin come onto the pontoon for a quick and fabulous photo op. Now, how cute is this . . .
The next NEW was their afternoon tea services. I love going to tea and this was one place that I've been wanting to try for some time now. I loved my tea, Wedding Imperial, and all of my little tea sandwiches. I didn't care for the scones or the pastries as much. I would return with girlfriends, not my husband or daughter.
We were a little concerned because we left for The Kahala the day after the tsunami warning. We stayed away from the water all day on Friday since we don't want to trust the power of the ocean. However, on Saturday, we let Bostyn play near the shore under close supervision. The ocean tides were still showing effect of the tsunami. The water would recede to a low tide then in an hour time would rise up again to a high tide. Even all the regulars commented on the oddity of seeing this happen all day. The ocean was much better on Sunday.
I only have 2 new layouts to share.
This one showcases the fun we had with Annie at Chuck E. Cheese.
For this week, I have many NEW things to share. First is a NEW tradition. For the past 4 Saturdays, Bostyn and I have been making pancakes for breakfast. This gave daddy some extra time to sleep in while we enjoy this great mommy daughter activity.
First a bag of Betty Crocker blueberry muffin/pancake mix. I love these, only $.83 on sale. All you need to do is add 1 egg, flour, water, and oil to make the pancakes. I also love to mash in 1/2 a banana for some extra sweetness.
Here's Bostyn mixing away.
And now enjoying her pancakes with some syrup and strawberries.
Another new for us is a visit to Re-use Hawaii. Re-use Hawaii is a non-profit organization working to reduce waste through building material reuse and recycling. You can find tons of recycled lumber, doors, windows, sinks, and fixtures of all kinds.
Tate was on a mission to find some old doors for his chicken coop and we knew this is where we could find some. Sure enough, $15 a door. This is old for someone but NEW and perfect for us.
Another NEW this week are some super special finds. So sweet and cute and I had to take a photo of them together and actually put together a layout last night. Just in case you can't read the text, a pair of TOMS wedges, heart boxes from Target, China Glaze nail polish, and Hello Kitty boots for Bostyn.
Back again to share this week's NEW52. On Sunday, we went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Family Sunday. This Sunday, they were celebrating the Chinese New Year. They had various art and cultural activities for the children but our favorite was the Gee Yung International Chinese Lion Pole Performance. These two young men display amazing balance and discipline as the Lion moves on top of 10 foot poles.
Here is a photo of the "head" guy warming up before the performance. Look at that leap and those poles!!
and now for the video . . .
Many thanks to my very dear friend, Leigh, whose blog informed me of this great family outing. Leigh's blog, hapahale, always direct me to the very best in island attire, delights, style, photography, sales, and entertainment. If you haven't already checked it out, please do. It is a must for anyone who {hearts} anything and everything hawaii.
For this week, I really wanted to try Persnickety Prints for my 8x8 pages. I've heard really good reviews about them + they were having a sale. What a perfect time to try out their services! Typically, I print out my pages at Costco for $1.49 (glossy only). I can then pick it up in an hour. Persnickety Prints were having a sale of $.89 per print + free shipping (regularly $5). So how did they come out? Gorgeous!! I loved the matte paper and didn't have to trim the pages to fit into my page protectors. I printed out 25 pages for $22.25. If I had ordered them from Costco, then I would have paid $35.76 + tax. This was an overall saving of $13.51. So would I order from them again, YES but probably only when they are having a free shipping sale.
For a belated Valentine's dinner, Tate took me to Chef Mavro. How do you describe his cuisine? A bit of contemporary Hawaiian mixed with his contemporary French. The sauces were rich yet very delicate. The food perfectly cooked. The little bits of attention to detail will drive me back here again. Every seasonal dish has a wine pairing, if you choose to partake. When I stop being a cow, I will gladly try it with all the pairings.
Here is my menu. (sorry forgot my camera, no photos to share).
So that was my two NEW adventures for the week. I'm working on getting my week8 things ready, hint hint, it involves a video. I can't wait to share this one with you.
For now, just a few NEW layouts. These two were for challenges at Design House Digital.
This morning, I got a nice surprise when I learned that this layout was the Layout of the Week at DHD.
Yesterday, Bostyn got her first acceptance letter into preschool. This school, Alphabetland, was our first choice so we quickly sent in our comprehensive fee to hold her spot. I can't believe that Bostyn will be going to a 3 year old preschool on August 1st. Boy, time sure flies. Like I said, preschool today . . . college tomorrow. It makes me so sad to think that this little girl will grow up and leave for college someday.
Today, Bostyn had her first dental appointment with Dr. Uchida. Dr. Uchida is an old friend of mine, I actually worked with him when I was in high school and college. He is the most gentlest dentist I know of so of course we had to send Bostyn to him. She got a good report saying that all her teeth and gums were healthy. This is a picture of Bostyn showing off all her teeth.
I'll be back on Sunday to share my NEW for this week.
Thanks to Liz of Paislee Press for this wonderful valentine's day project. I printed this out and framed it for my husband.
Surprise, surprise, we tried a NEW restaurant. My fb friend mentioned eating at this hole-in-the-wall, take out eatery called Monarch Seafood. I couldn't take my mind off of the "nori wrapped crab stuffed ahi katsu" and knew that this had to be my NEW for the week. Is your mouth watering yet? Just have a look and it will,
Next, is the citrus basil shrimp. This was also very ono (delicious).
What I loved best about this take out counter is that you get gourmet dining in a box and at reasonable prices. Each plate was less than $9. They also use fresh nalo greens with their own homemade creamy garlic dressing. Next time I go, I am going to buy a bottle of their dressing to take back with me. This is definitely a place where I will go again.
A second NEW for the week is a NEW family portrait (minus the husbands).
I also want to wish my nephew, Nicholas, a Happy Un-birthday. His real birthday is next month but we all wanted to wish him well so we celebrated a little early.
Since November, my mom has been taking Bostyn to a mini preschool program. They meet only once a week for 2 hours. At every class, the kids do a simple painting art project. I really wanted to collect these precious memories so I made a shutterfly book using her scanned art work. I just used the premade templates from Shutterfly to make this super fast art book. My husband came up with the idea to mimic "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" by Eric Carle. The best part of this was that it was free, I just had to pay for shipping.
This is my absolute favorite one out of the pages I submitted for the joint designer spotlight challenge featuring Paislee Press and One Little Bird. I love the circle design elements and this cute kit from Liz.
This layout is to remind my husband of something he says every year after running/walking/crawling the Honolulu Marathon, "never again." What a crazy guy!!
The rest of the layouts are for different Oscraps challenges. Now, the rest of the month is going to be spent getting Design House Digital challenges done.
