NEW52-Week32, RadLab

I love using my Totally Rad Actions so when Doug introduced a photoshop plugin called RadLab, I was all over it.  I waited about a week to see what other folks would say about it and then I took the plunge.  I totally love it.  Why?  because with TRA set, I only used a few favorites over and over again.  With the RadLab, you can quickly see what your image would look like with 78 different "stylets."  RadLab is not a photoshop action so even element users can partake in his goodies.  I love the split screen to quickly see your before and after image.  Here is a screen shot using a photo from tea.  I had so much fun playing with the photos from my tea post that I think some ended up being overly processed and looked too yellow.  I'm still playing and just love that vintage look.  I love the speed and the amazing effects you can achieve.  I'm so loving this new toy on my photoshop.

If you "like" Totally Rad Actions on facebook, you should be able to access a coupon code for 10% off any purchase at the TRA website.  Any bit helps these days.

In a scrapping slump, no layouts to share.  However, I am still working on my Summer mini-book.

NEW52-Week31, Mission Houses Tea

I was totally looking forward to afternoon tea with my girlfriends from college.  We hadn't seen each other for a long time and having a groupon discount for tea was a good excuse for us to all come together.  However, Christy had a work event that she couldn't miss and Maile had to help with her father who had recently become ill.  It wouldn't be the same w/o them but we had to carry on because this tea parlor is now booked until the end of October.  Knowing this, I had high expectations for a fantabulous tea service.  I'll start with some pictures then get back to the tea.

The tea service is located at the Mission Houses Museum.  For those of you unfamiliar with Hawaiian history, the Mission Houses are three historic buildings where a small group of New England missionaries, who came to Hawaii in 1820.  They worked with the Native Hawaiians to introduce Christianity, a written language, public education, western medicine, and representative government.  They have now preserved these buildings and use them to store collections of Hawaiian artifacts and to document daily missionary life.

 Kaui and her daughter Ka'ihi (on the left)

Me and Shari

Now back to the tea services.  The service was a little slow but we didn't mind because it was fun to just relax and talk story.  However we had to request for honey and sugar.  They didn't even bring out water.  The tea came in cute pots but the tea leaves were in a tea bag, not loose.  Next, the sandwiches.  You could tell they were sitting out because the bread was a little hard and the filling was almost non-exisitent.  Now desserts, usually the best part, right?  Well if you like eating Costco desserts then you would love it.  We had Costco brownie bites and cheesecake.  There were scones and a little red velvet cupcake.  So overall NEW experience of having tea at the Mission Houses Museum, not very good.  The best part was spending a few hours talking to my girls.

p.s. sorry for the funky photo processing.  I'll explain in my next post.

NEW52-Week30, New Teacher

To many of you, this may not be very exciting or mind blowing but to an almost 3 year old, it sure it.  Bostyn met her NEW preschool teacher for the first time.  So Bostyn meet Mrs. Jodi . . .

Last week, we went to open house at Bostyn's preschool, Alphabetland.  Bostyn was at ease and very friendly to the other kids and Mrs. Jodi.  Bostyn made herself at home quickly choosing to play in their "home" center.

Here is a layout I did with Bostyn in front of her school.  During the summer, we would drive to her school and look down upon the playground.  However, she never went down to play or visit the classrooms.  This layout is using a NEW kit, Let Them Eat Cake, by Gennifer Bursett.  This kit is more of a birthday themed kit but I loved the colors and thought it was perfect for this big day in a 2 year old's life.  Another fun thing that Gen has are these great Toolbox Mists.  I just purchased v. 5 as it has great stars, hearts, flowers, butterflies, and clouds.  I used the star mist in this layout.  It adds just a bit of colors to your white space.

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NEW52-Week29, Formaggio

So last week, the only NEW thing that we tried was another restaurant.  Yes, we love to indulge a bit.  Tate had a gift certificate to Formaggio so we invited my sister and her husband to come along with us.  Formaggio is known more as a wine bar with some yummy food on the side.  We ordered tons of little plates of food and shared them.  Sorry no photos except for the wine and desserts.  We started simply by asking the waiter of red wine recommendations and just bring out a bunch of little tasters for each couple.  We then went on to order a full glass of our favorites.  I can't remember what I had but I think the group overall liked the "ball buster" best for its bold flavor and high alcohol content, especially Lynn.

Lynn and I wanted to try the flour-less chocolate cake (sister is doing low carb diet) so we decided that we were going to share it.  It was way yummy!

Tate and Kurt wanted to try the creme' brulee so they decided to share it.  They also decided to show their brotherly love and feed one another.

So onto NEW layouts.  I find that I always have more layouts at the end of a month because I am busy trying to get all my oscraps and design house digital challenges done.  So here I go.  This very first layout is a page I did on my 38th birthday.  It was a nice birthday present to find out the next day that Crystal had given me a gallery standout for it.  (again insert family's fake applause here because they just don't get my digi addiction)

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My sister Lynn and her son, Luke, playing at the park.  This page truly represents me and my style best.  I love using one standout photo, tons of white space, great word art, and very minimal elements.

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I also love this one.  I modified oscraps july copycat template to fit my style.  I love the lace that was in this kit.

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This is Bostyn playing with her cousin Nick at a graduation party a month ago.  They had so much fun chasing each other around.  Another reason why I love templates so much is because it prevents me of creating pages that all look the same.  This was a great Design House Digital template by Gennifer Bursett.  And for those of you who are keeping track, this is the fourth time using this kit, Favorite Things, by Gennifer.

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NEW52-Week28, New entry and library

The entry way to our home has been a complete wreck.  It is just a mess of shoes, bags, jackets, and misc. junk.  The solution, a NEW shoe cabinet.  We picked up this shoe cabinet from a Japanese store, Marukai, here in Hawaii.  It was on sale for $100.  It was the perfect size for this space.  So take a look at the before and after pics.

Ahhh, much better!  As you can see, we took all the shoes laying around and put them in the NEW cabinet.  Notice, that they are mostly Bostyn's shoes.  We are just keeping our everyday shoes in here and right now, mine are those 3 slippers to the left + 1 pair of exercise shoes.  The rest of my dress shoes are in my shoe closet upstairs.  I'm sure this cabinet will fill up in no time.

Another NEW for the week was a visit to the Kapolei library.  This is the newest library on Oahu and it sat empty for quite awhile since the state had no money to fill it with books.  It is a beautiful library filled with many books.  I'm sure we will be visiting more often since it looks like Borders may be closing their doors.  Here is a little collage.

Just one NEW layout for the week.  I completed this layout as part of Oscraps creative techniques challenge.  I was to use the sketch filter in photoshop.  I used the charcoal and the stamp filters then lowered the opacity of those layers to see the color underneath.  It adds a great graphic feel to the layout. Perfect for this photo of Bostyn playing with the bubble blower with her cousin Josh.

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NEW52-Week27-Ted's Bakery and Morimoto Waikiki

So the real reason why I had to join the gym is because I love to eat.  This week's NEW 52 post is a very sharp contrast in the types of dining options on Oahu.  On Sunday, we ate at Ted's Bakery for breakfast/lunch.  Ted's is a bakery, you order at the counter, then sit outside to eat.  Very simple, no table services, very casual.  The kind of place one would go after surfing the north shore.  So we stopped off at Ted's on our way home from Turtle Bay.  I had the local moco (rice, hamburger, raw egg, and gravy).  The local moco is a classic dish probably only found in Hawaii.  Well I had to say that this was one of the best loco mocos I ever had.  The gravy was perfect!  To make myself feel better, I had it with brown rice.  Here is a quick photo (below).  Tate had the fried rice omlette but it wasn't really wasn't anything special worth photo or blogging about.  We passed on their yummy pies since we can get them at our local grocery store.  However, if you go, you need to eat their chocolate haupia pie.  My favorite!

Last night, we had our second NEW dining experience for the week.  We went to Morimoto Waikiki.  Yes, this is the new kitchen stadium of Iron Chef Morimoto.  It was one of our favorite dining of all time.  Tate liked it better than Chef Mavro's.  It was like having a familiar Japanese meal with a twist.  Let me just show you . . .

So for appetizers, we had the toro tartare.  It had the toro sashimi smeared on a wooden block and you had a choice of different things to top it (nori, cream cheese, wasabi, maui onion, avocado, and rice crackers).  This was a perfect way to start the meal.  Next, we had the kakuni.  This a a piece of pork belly that has been cooked for 10 hours.  It was so soft and full of flavor.  The third appetizer that we ordered was the wagyu carpaccio.  This was probably everyone's favorite meal of the night.  It was raw wagyu beef that was in a sauce of hot oil, ginger, and yuzu.  It was also my first time eating totally raw meat and I was so happily surprised.  For our entrees, my mom ordered the surf and turf.  She said her steak was even better than Ruth Chris Steakhouse.  The turf potion was ahi poke (raw fish).  It had a bonito foam on the top.  That was really cool.  My mom really loved her meal.  My dad, Tate, and I all ate the seafood toban yaki (lobster, crab, shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels in a spicy miso broth).  A little too spicy for dad, but Tate and I really enjoyed this meal.  I thought it was a really good deal at $43 for the quality and quantity of seafood that we got.

Morimoto Waikiki is located in the Edition Hotel.  This was the first time I even heard of the Edition.  It renovated and replaced the old Ilikai Hotel.  The Edition is really modern and classy.  We will need to plan our next staycation there.  Our waiter said that many movie stars and celebs frequent this hotel and he gets to serve them.  The Prince of Morocco was just there last night having a private party out on the outdoor lounge area.  Here are a few other photos from the night.  The only shot I didn't get was their gorgeous bathroom.  It was the nicest bathroom ever.

Here are my NEW layouts from the last few weeks.

This one shares highlights from our 4th of July celebration at Turtle Bay.

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NEW52-Week26 - play kitchen accessories

Just a quick post to share our NEW52 for week 16.

As you know, last week Tate made Bostyn a NEW store.  So this week, he bought her accessories to complete her store/kitchen.  How cute is this Play Kitchen Accessory (4 pack) set from Play Kitchens.  It comes with a baking set, smoothy blender, toaster, and coffee maker.

Bostyn loves playing with this set as it includes some fruits and butter, makes me coffee each morning.  Speaking of making me coffee, she only puts the cup under the coffee make instead of the coffee pot.  Why, because I use a Keurig so she just copies what I do.

Have a great long 4th of July weekend, if living in the states.  We are off to a mini-staycation at the Turtle Bay Resort.  Today we are going to hang with some of Tate's co-workers at the pool then see the fireworks on Monday night.