NEW52-Week37, Aulani and more eats

This week started and ended with a bang.  To start the week, we went to Aulani's character breakfast.  This is the NEW Disney resort in Hawaii and our first visit there.  Long story short, it is not about the buffet and what you get or don't get, how long you waited (45 minutes even with reservations), but about the joy on the kids' face when they see Mickey for the first time.  Here is a photo of their amazing pool play area with the hotel in the back and a group shot with our friends Shari, Quan, Kammy and Kam-Kam.

I made a layout of some Aulani photos using a photoshop (elements friendly as well) action by Gennifer Bursett called "InstaAwesome."  This is the perfect action set for those who have the iPhone Instagram app envy (like I do).  To use this action, first crop your photo to 3x3, next run the action and make adjustments, then pick which frame you would like to use.  So simple and looks like the real thing.  Here is the action preview, my sample photo, and then my aulani love layout.  Now we can all fake having the real thing.  Sorry for the late post, but InstaAwesome was free over the weekend, hurry over there to see if it is still free.

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To end this week, we went to one of those street truck fairs.  In Hawaii they are called Eat the Streets.  It was so crowded so we only tried a few NEW things.  I was not willing to stand in line one hour for this. Here are a few photos from the shogunai taco truck, Tate enjoying his shoyu pork taco (which was really good).  Christine always includes eating photos of her husband and I think that always make the food look even better.

After this event we got ready to attend the University of Hawaii volleyball game.  We usually make it to at least one volleyball game a season and this one was not to be missed.  They announced earlier last week that they were going to do a special taping of Hawaii Five-O after the game.  They wanted to see a sea of green in the crowds so over 10,000 UH and Hawaii Five-O fans raced to the occasion and filled the arena.  Here are a few photos from the night.

 Do you see Daniel Dae Kim speaking to the crowd before the game?

 sea of green, never did I see the arena that crowded

Taping the "wahine's win over Rancho" scene

We stood in line for 90 minutes and missed the first 2 sets to receive a free (with $15 purchase) UH/Hawaii Five-O t-shirt.  Here I am proudly wearing mine.  So when the episode airs on October 17th (tentatively), look for me in the stands among the 10,000 extras that were there that night.  Aloha!!

NEW52-Week35 & 36, Memory Keeper and EKG

To start off week 35, we had a fun luncheon with my cousins.  It was at the beautiful Waialae Country Club.  Here we are as one big group.

Bostyn really enjoyed playing with Josh and Luke but also another little girl who is a month younger than her.  I think that would make them 3rd cousins or 2nd cousins once removed?  I can't remember.  Once they warmed up to each other, they enjoyed running in the grass, on the chairs, and with the ipad.  Here is a layout of the two of them together.

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After this lovely day, it all went downhill.  So the day after the party, Bostyn wakes up with a fever.  She ends up having the stomach flu.  She spent all Monday morning throwing up.  It got better as the week went one but a low grade fever remained with kept her home from school all week.

As for the NEW52, Week 35, I received Bostyn's Memory Keeper box in the mail from Paper Coterie.  It wasn't the best printing as there was a green glow where her skin meets her pink backpack.  There was also a little sticky residue on the front.  However, it was free because I used a coupon and only paid for shipping.  So I didn't complain and remained just grateful that I only paid $15 instead of $55.  Thanks to Ali Edwards' blog for showing me this great Memory Keeper box for all of Bostyn's preschool art and treasures.  I really owe Ali a lot of credit as I based my entire box on her box (go to her blog to see photos of her beautiful boxes).  I loved the large first day of school photo on the front with her name and school year on a solid spine for easy identification when on the bookshelf.  I think Paper Coterie has a great product on their hands but I do think they can make the process a little easier with cropping of photos, etc.  I love the size of the box and will continue to order them for year.

So now we are onto Week 36.  The stomach flu has passed but now she caught another cold.  Not sure how as she stayed home all week.  This kept her home again for a few days.  Luckily her doctor gave her antibiotics and she is getting much better.  That leads me to my next NEW experience.  At her doctor's appointment, he heard a premature heartbeat and something about possible sinus arrhythmia??!!!  Just for good measure, her pediatrician recommended I take her to Kapiolani Children's Hospital for an EKG.  He did reassure me that this was nothing to lose sleep over.  We didn't need to go right away, later in the week or next week was fine.  However, you cannot just get this information and sit on it for a few days.  So the next day, I took Bostyn in for her first EKG since she was home from school anyways.  This is how she looked all wired up.  She held still and remained brave for the few minutes that the procedure took.  Nurse Nana was really good with her.

The very next day, her doctor called me and said everything looked fine.  He will just continue to monitor it.  We love our pediatrician.  He is very pro-active and is quick to refer his patients to specialists, when need.

After all of this, it was finally time for me to see my own doctor.  I had caught Bostyn's cold and needed time to take care of myself.  I got some drugs and recovering quite nicely.

Here are some NEW layouts for the week.  Again, challenge pages to help jumpstart my creativity.

This was for Design House Digital's 4Play.  You take 4 kits of their choice and make a layout with it.  They usually mark down the kits really good either FREE or for $1 to help entice you.  Luckily, for this one, I already owned 2 of those kits.

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This next layout was based off of a McDonald's magazine ad for DHD's inspiration challenge.  I really loved this one from the start.  There were so many things to be inspired by.  It was a great way to show off my hens and their first egg.

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My cousin gave me her daughter's old Tinkerbell costume so I finally took it out for Bostyn to play with.  Bostyn loved it and put it on immediately and went outside to search for fairies in the garden.  It inspired the following 2 layouts.  This is for Oscraps Copycat template challenge.  

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And this is for DHD's Swatch challenge.  Don't forget to get your free Breezy papers by Karla that goes perfectly with this swatch.

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This is for Oscraps' Creative Techniques challenge.  It was very difficult for me as it was to be an art journal style, but that is not my thing so this is what I came up with instead.

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NEW52-Week34, Many NEW Goodies

We just finished the mid-week and already I piled on many NEW goodies to share with you all.  To begin with, I went to the Made in Hawaii Festival on Sunday.  For those of you who have never been, they have tons of samples out, just tempting you to buy, buy, buy.  So here are a few things that I bought, salad dressing from Honolulu Gourmet Foods, kiawe smoke hawaiian salt from Salty Wahine, and Guava Smoked spicy pork patties.  I can't wait to try them out.

I then wanted to work on a paper layout that is a bit more grunge and dimension.  Lately I've been inspired by Allison Waken, Marcy Penner and the other fabulous folks at Elle's Studio.  I really wanted to try this NEW technique so I used up some of my Basic Grey supplies (from a kit class that I took at my LSS) and worked on an Elle's Studio Sketch.  I really need to do some shopping at Elle's Studio since they have a sale going on right now.

Yesterday, I got a box from Amy Tan of Amy Tangerine.  She has a new product line from American Crafts and I ordered this class kit from her.  I can't wait to use all her goodies.  You see the golden wheel, that is an old kodak film canister that I can jazz up and fill it with stuff.

So the fun and excitement doesn't end here.  We've been proud chicken owners for the past 4 months and we've been waiting for them to start earning their keep.  Finally, one of them laid an egg for us this very morning.  So exciting.

The last thing, a NEW dress for me.  When I want to wear aloha attire, I go to Manuheali'i.  They have classic prints with a modern twist on aloha wear.  I didn't have a chance to model it for you, so I took this image from their facebook page.  They don't yet have it available in their on-line store just yet.  I got the white/black/green colored dress from their downtown store.  I love this style of dress, so comfy to wear at work.

So did you have anything NEW to share this week?

NEW52-Week33, note cards by Leiko

The other week, Leiko Beck had an enveloped set giveaway on her blog.  Guess what?  I won this gorgeous note card set.  I just got it in the mail and I just loved Leiko's packaging and cards.  It is her style all the way, so clean and stylish.  You have to check out Leiko's blog for a great tutorial and download so you make a set for yourself.

Tate took Bostyn to Target and bought her this little Easy Bake microwave cookie set.  One you mix up the batter, it takes only 25 seconds in the microwave.  Then you have to mix the fondant and icing to decorate the cookies.  The cookies were not the cutest, but this picture of Bostyn was.  Don't you love her little Princess Leia t-shirt?!!  I do!!  You can find them on-line at mi cielo.

Saturday night we went to a potluck dinner party with Tate's friends.  One of them made these cute angry birds cupcakes.  It was so cute that I just had to share them with you.

I finally got some mojo for some layouts.  Whenever I am in a scrapping slump I turn to challenges.  First up, CatScrap.  They are celebrating their 5th birthday so I thought I would give their special birthday challenges a try.  I don't usually participate much at CatScrap but I thought it would be a great way to put my kits from Creashens to good use.

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Next, Design House Digital had a great template challenge.  I cheated a bit and use only 1 paper (You Color My World kit by Karen Funk) to create this rainbow effect.

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This is for the Copycat challenge at Oscraps.

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Next was a combo color challenge and technique challenge at DHD.

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This layout was super easy using a free template/quick page (sorry could not find the link for the life of me) from Elle's Studio via Jessica Sprague.

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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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