Destination: Hilo, Day 2

First thing in the morning, [well, morning for me :P 10:30am haha] my younger brother picks me up and we stop by my mom's house before the baby shower. Wow! Check out the traffic! :O hahaha!


This is my brother. :) He is hard of hearing. Meaning, he's deaf in one ear and uses a hearing aid in the other. He was born this way. He's 18 and super cool. :D He doesn't really look like me, you say? Yea, you're probably right. haha! We share the same mom only. [The Filipino side]. His biological dad is half Korean, half Japanese.


We arrive at my mom's house.


Here's what my mom's place looks like. [dining room]


[living room]


A quick 360 spin. [kitchen]


[other living room?]


My mom loves<3<3 unicorns @_@


There's also things like Japanese oyama dolls. I remember seeing these things since I was little and these aren't for play! :O These dolls are actually quite significant and hold a lot of meaning.
To learn more about Japanese dolls: Click Here


Time to go! The baby shower is located by University of Hawaii of Hilo.


I was so excited to see this campus since I spent 2 years of my life here. This is the gym where I took 2 semesters of ballet. It was so much fun!


Here's the UH Theatre. I guess they're having their 60th anniversary.


Me and my brother got a bit lost and had to ask some dude studying where this restaurant was. He gave me poor directions haha! But check out the vog! Yes, that's not mist, but volcanic vog. It's pretty strong stuff. Makes you cough and blow black stuff out your nose if you breathe in too much. It's also extremely bad for you if you have asthma.


Now it's time for the Baby Shower! The reason of me flying down here in the first place! Someone made this cool diaper cake. My friend is having a boy named "Malakai".


Someone also made a diaper bouquet. So crafty! I love it!


It was pretty cool since it was a surprised party. She was extra surprised to see me there since it had been a year since we had seen each other. We hugged right away and then her mom scolded her telling her to greet everyone else and not just me hehe. :P


There were lots of games at the party. The most rememberable was the clay baby game. We had 10 minutes to sculpt a baby out of clay using a toothpick and a tissue. I'm proud to say that mine won 2nd place! Not bad, not bad. ;) My baby is the one in the upper right hand corner.


Humorously, the one that almost was the most ugliest baby was made by my good childhood friend Leesa. She called it a snowman baby. Whatever it was, it didn't come out so good haha! Ironically, her mom ended up winning the award for the ugliest baby! :O


Here's Charisse deciding what baby to eat, I mean choose haha! It's just weird that they were on plates. It looks like they were food. She has some serious cleavage action going on there.


There were a bunch of other very cute games. Very classy party.


She received many gifts! Lucky baby ;)!


Nice view too.


Family picture of the girls. From the left: Her younger daughter, Sheryl; Her mom, Sheri; Charisse and below; her grandma.


A nice way to end the day, with coffee and cake! mmm P:

Destination: Hilo, Day 1

I went to Hilo! Just for the weekend for my friend's baby shower. It was very exciting since I hadn't been to Hilo in a little over a year. It's a half an hour flight from Honolulu to Hilo. What interest would I have in Hilo? Well first off, Hilo is a Town on the Big Island. Yes, This Island is called the "Big Island" or otherwise known as "Hawaii". And the combination of all the Islands is also known as "Hawaii". We like to name things for what they are here, and yes the Big Island is big. :P


I left Friday, late afternoon on Hawaiian Airlines. The main airlines in Hawaii to travel inter-island are Hawaiian, Aloha and Go!. :P


When I arrived in Hilo, the atmosphere is very different from Honolulu. Everyone is laid back. And I mean, real laid back. Honolulu is not laid back compared to Hilo. There's no crazy rush, even at the airport.


People from Hilo are known for their hospitality and size. haha! But seriously, I'm not kidding. It's easy to get comfortably fat in Hilo. :P


Here's a nighttime shot of Hilo. I don't see any cars.. do you?


After having L&L with my dad, then hanging out at my mom's house for awhile, I retired to my room at my dad's. I'd like to add that I've never been raised in this room. It's a house my dad rents with his roommate. My older brother also lives here. I think his girlfriend lives there as well. No matter, It's a place where I can sleep!


There happens to be 2 beds in this room. Don't ask me. But I suppose if I wanted to have a sleepover it would be possible?


There's also a closet in this room. I hung a few of my things. And how nice! Extra pillows?


There's one other furnishing in this fairly large room, and that's this desk. It has a stereo on it and some other junk that I've slowly been leaving here instead of taking it back to Honolulu. It's sort of my lame-o way of claiming the room as mine ;). So generically clever.

Kitty Gift!

If you know me, you know I really love hello kitty, as well as kitties in general. :D [Don't get me wrong, I love dogs too!]
My friend, Saeko went to Japan and got me this uber, very cute celphone plush. It's a little gray kitten with blue eyes, a pink bow and pink paw marks.


Super kawa~ii, ehh~~?!! It really went with my "kitty" theme I already have going on my phone :) ~<3


I love the fact that they stitched a little asterisk type of bum hole on the kitty. haha! Only in Japan, eh? ;) I absolutely love it! <3

The Ever-Changing Sky

Here's a bunch of collective views I will now throw in here! haha! Yes, It's my crappy, quick way of sharing all these random pictures with you that I've taken :). I hope you enjoy them.


A cityscape view.


A different day.


And another.



The view of the Pali and KGMB News.


Valentine dance decorations for intermediate and high schoolers.


I woke up early to drop off Saeko to the University this one time and saw the morning sky!! :O It was usually, that I wake up too early and miss it, or don't wake up early enough. :P


You can see a bit of the Honolulu Traffic.


Here's the view on the way back. Such a rare sight for me, I know :P. I'm mainly a sunset kind of gal. ;)

Patsy Mink Park

Went to Patsy Mink Park. I had a chance to meet Patsy Mink before she passed away in 2002 for a congressional art contest in High School. She was quite a remarkable person. Well anyway, this beautiful and very large park was named after her.
Find more about Patsy Mink here: Link


This is overlooking the outskirt of the park to an unmaintained area. It's probably not owned by the park. But it's still very beautiful and natural.


The clouds made for interesting texture and values.




Down this way was 2 soccer fields on the other side.


Here's where me and Jonathan relaxed as I read my book aloud. We also played a little catch :).


Here's me and Jonathan.


Even as the sun was setting, the sky remained interesting.

A Baby Shower Gift

For my good friend's baby shower, I decided to make a nursing cover to wear when nursing in public.


I used a black cotton with a cherry design and white polka dots. Something that is very in tune with what my friend loves :).


Here it is sprawled open on my bed.


It features a giant sweater-like pocket.


And a place to slide in wires so that you can peek in at your baby with ease.


Here's the wires and the wire package I made for it.


Here's also the note card I made that was included on the nursing cover.


I also made a card.


This is the inside.


And the back!


Here's a closeup of the image I had drawn. Cute <3