Week 51

At the Laie Temple Visitor's Center, there is a beautiful Christmas Tree display. Each Stake on Oahu received a scripture about Christ's birth and then designed their tree display based on that scripture. Below, we posted our favorite trees and some close-ups of the decorations.

"Oh, we like sheep..." 

 

I think it's interesting that they couldn't come up with a cultural dress for the U.S. so they resorted to Uncle Sam.

Weel 50

Every year my work celebrates by taking all the employees to an End of the Year luncheon. Last year I missed it because I was traveling back from California where I'd participated in a training in Claremont. So this year I was able to go. It was held at the Waialae Country Club, which is right on Kahala Beach. I won the game contest (someone had gone around and taken pictures of things in the library at weird angles and we had to guess where it was at in the library), which was a $50 cash prize. They had three grand prizes that were just luck-of-the-draw for $100, $200, and $300 but I didn't get any of those. Still, I'm happy with my $50.

I tried to get a shot of the whole room so I did a panorama but it looks a bit funny angled. 

The hallway that lead down to the dining room. 

The buffet line. 

My boss, the University Librarian, dressed as the Cat in the Hat, tail and all. The whole party was themed with Dr. Seuss.

Week 49

Romney celebrated my birthday by taking me out to dinner and a movie. We ate at Ruby Tuesday's and then watched the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. It was a fun evening.

Week 48

We had a great Thanksgiving with lots of yummy food! Happy Thanksgiving!

Week 47

We were hunting for some yard sales and we came across a christmas craft shoppe. It had a lot of really nice things. This is what we got...

Week 46

Unfortunately, Romney had to work on Veterans' Day, but I was able to go hiking with Caleb, Jen and Hana. We hiked to the pill boxes in Lanikai, which was an easy hike with a beautiful view.

 The beach way in the distance is Waimanalo, where I proposed to Romney.

This is a panoramic. Click to enlarge.

Week 45

Romney and I were able to enjoy a some nice time with friends at an expensive home in Kahala.

Week 44

Happy Halloween everyone!

Week 43

My cousins had their annual girls night Halloween party this past Friday. We did a gypsy theme, here is my attempt. It was a lot of fun with good food, games and company!

Week 42

We went to see Cirque du Soleil's show called Quidam. We got the cheapest tickets in the house and used a Yelp coupon that got an additional $10 off per ticket. Needless to say, we were at the very top. So we had a fun night out, which we usually don't get to do. It was Romney's first time going to one of their shows and it was my second time. I went with some friends here in Waikiki before I met Romney. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and are glad we went.

Week 41

We're behind again. Sorry about that! We'll try catching up tonight. The Association of Hawaii Archivists had a fun field trip on Saturday, October 13th. We went to the Kamehameha Schools' Archives and got a wonderful tour of their facilities and collections.

This was the view from just outside the Archives 

A Hawaiian Flag quilt 

Archivist, Janet Zisk, demonstrates how a Kapa was made. 

Hawaiian Kapa unfolded. This particular Kapa is over 200 years old. An entire family would sleep under this Kapa. They have multiple layers of material. If the weather was warm, they could peel back a layer or two.

Here is the top of a Kapa to show what it would have looked like. The red piece at the top is the only scrap left from the original Kapa, which was a red color, something Hawaiians didn't have access to until foreigners started arriving and trading red cloth that they could use to make their own red materials. The larger brown piece has also had chunks taken out of it but demonstrates what it would have looked like.

Week 40

I can't believe how early stores start selling Christmas decorations! Romney and I went into Costco at the beginning of September and they'd already put a few lights and tree decorations out. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Grinch. I LOVE Christmas, but that's just too early. This past week, we were in there again and now they've got the fake Christmas trees out and everything else. Well, the one good thing about it: Romney made a new friend...

Week 39

Roms and I didn't do anything this week that allowed us to take interesting pictures so we're posting another video about Sea Life Park that we had a lot of fun at. This was the best part of the whole day.

Week 38

Week 37

We went to Sea Life Park with Caleb, Jen, and Hana. They were so nice to get us discounts for our tickets and make a yummy lunch for us. The sea animals did some amazing tricks.

Week 36

Also at Sequoia National Park, we went to Moro Rock. This trail climbs a giant granite dome over 350 steps to the top. The elevation is 6,725 ft.

 The steep and windy trail

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