i am...mai

Italy Trip 2011 - Milan

The Italy withdrawals continue as I skim through another batch of photos from our September trip. It's been two months, and all three of us still find ourselves saying, "I want to go back!" I guess revisiting Italy via our pictures will have to do... for now.

Our trek across Northern Italy had us spending a night in Milan.

We spent the day getting to know Leonardo Da Vinci at the MUSEO NAZIONALE DELLA SCIENZA E DELLA TECNOLOGIA LEONARDO DA VINCI. 

We were completely taken aback by the sight of the Duomo. Thankfully we recovered quickly enough to note the pickpockets swarming this area.

We enjoyed a fantastic (but pricey) dinner next door in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

And then spent the rest of the evening just taking in the atmosphere on the Piazza della Scala.

The rest of the Milan photos are here on flickr.

Italy Trip 2011 - Cinque Terre & Bagnone

Our first weekend in Italy found us on a road trip to Northern Italy with Jenny and her family. What an adventure! Four adults and four children in five cities over four days.

Cinque Terre and Bagnone are definitely on my list of places to which I'd like to return. Our itinerary only allowed us enough time to visit one of the five villages that make up Cinque Terre - Riomaggiore. But the few peaceful hours we spent enjoying a dip in the Mediterranean sea, eating some delicious gelato, and shopping for souvenirs, were enough to show me just why this area is such a popular tourist destination.   

 Rob loved swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.

Arwen had such a great time collecting rocks striped with marble. We only let her take home a few small ones. These big boys had to go back.

For me, there was just something about this door... 

Bagnone was a delightful discovery we made thanks to the limited availability of rooms for a travelling party of eight.

By broadening our search on booking.com, we came across a great rate at a hotel that was once a watermill. The place was beautiful, and the village easily became one of my favorite stops. It felt like we'd stumbled upon a secret. Even a woman with whom Rob tried to converse seemed a bit surprised. "You American?!? How you find?"

I would've loved to have spent another week here. It was so peaceful and quiet. Perhaps next time.

The rest of my pictures from Cinque Terre and Bagnone are on flickr at http://tinyurl.com/3j2q5hf.

Italy Trip 2011 - Pompeii & Naples

Last month, we pulled Arwen out of school for three weeks and flew to Italy. It is so difficult to put into words all that we saw and did, so I'll just share some photos from our first of what I hope to be many trips to Europe.

We spent our first full day in Italy exploring Pompeii. Arriving shortly before the gates opened, we decided to grab some breakfast in the neighborhood. It turns out that breakfast (or at least eating breakfast out) isn't big in Italy. Most restaurants don't open until lunch. The one place opened was a little coffee shop attached to the train station across the street. Thankfully cappuccino and espresso were two words we did have in our tiny little italian vocabulary bank. A few finger points to pastries in the glass case, and we were in business. Italians know coffee. This was delicious. 

Pompeii was absolutely amazing. We spent a good time of our visit simply awestruck by our surroundings. Here we were walking about ruins - an entire city! - from the 1st century.

Arwen's biggest fascination seemed to be the castings of the human and dog remains found buried in the ash.

Rob pointed out the cryptonite effect the italian sun was having on our adventure. While in the shade, we felt as though we could do this all day. The second we were exposed to that hot afternoon sun, we found ourselves scanning the map for the nearest exit.

We survived a full day of exploration and rewarded ourselves with our first taste of authentic gelato. After this, how will we ever enjoy the stuff they try to pass off as gelato at home?

We also managed to successfully find our way to downtown Naples via the regional train when we were done. Go us.

More of my Pompeii & Naples pictures are loaded to flickr. Click here for the slideshow.

Old Friends, New Friends, and Crabs

Arwen and I had a fun little playdate with my old high school friend, Caranthia, her husband Jim, and their three children. The meeting was set up for Caranthia to deliver a couple of adorably custom crocheted crabs I ordered for Arwen. The beauty of social networking sites like facebook had allowed me to not only reconnect with a friend I hadn't seen in over 20 years, but to learn that she's got a pretty awesome talent-turned etsy business making cute crocheted toys.

Caranthia had shared a few photos of her work on facebook back in April right around Arwen's birthday - with the crab theme party. After oohing and ahhing over all of her sweet little creations, Arwen asked, "Do you think she can make a crab?" A few months later when Aunty finished her other custom orders, Arwen found herself sitting at the playground with TWO crabs (Flumps 'n Stuff originals) and three new friends.

Mahalo Caranthia for all the time, work and love you put into these toys. Arwen's looking forward to adding more sea friends to her family (we'll let you rest your fingers first) and to her next playdate with Ally, Jessie, and CJ. Good times!

Happy Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day. It's not my birthday. It's not my anniversary. It's just a day set aside to celebrate motherhood. Awesome.

The day began with brunch at Michel's at the Colony Surf with some of my favorite mom friends.

Then it was time for Mommy/Daughter Pedicures at Smiley Nails.

And the day ended with a stroll through the mall and Happy Hour Frappuccino's.

Hope all moms enjoyed their special day as much as I did. Happy Mother's Day!

Abby's 1st Birthday

Oh this poor neglected blog of mine.  It's been months, and I even attempted to sit down and post at least one more little something before the year ended, but alas... was called away mid-post and completely forgot about it until 2011 had already arrived.  I haven't quite put together my resolutions and goals for this year yet - need to review how last year's set went (eek!)  But I'm pretty sure improvements in the blog department will fall in there somewhere.  So here we go... my first post of the year.

My friends Katie and Ben (picture above from almost a year ago) held their daughter Abby's 1st birthday party yesterday out in Kapolei at Katie's mom's house.  I love the parties they hold out there because Mary lives at the end of a cul-de-sac with some pretty cool neighbors, so they do this block party style - tables and chairs in the street, entertainment and activities on the driveway and lawn, park wherever, and the buffet is in the open garage.  Who can ask for a better setup?

I offered to make Abby's cake as my gift to her.  Hmmm... not sure I thought that offer out very well at the time having NEVER made a cake all the way from scratch (batter to frosting) for 65 or so people.  Nor had I ever assembled, decorated, or attempted to deliver one that big.  Yikes!  What WAS I thinking?!?!

Apparently sometimes I don't think.  I just do.  With a simple vision, some borrowed recipes and tips from baking friends (mahalo Gigi and Dian!), and a shopping trip for a whole lot of ingredients and suppplies - including my beautiful new KitchenAid mixer, I had finished making and delivering the cake in a little less than 24 hours.

The theme was Minnie Mouse, and I selected the colors and patterns to match the invitation.  As luck would have it, it also matched the birthday girl's adorable little party dress.

It was amazing that I made it all the way from my house on a hill in Honolulu to Kapolei with the cake unharmed.  Arwen was the greatest little assistant, watching my cake carefully in the back as we seemed to hit every dip and pothole along the way.  So of course I had to interfere with perfection by dinging the damn top tier while pulling the carrier out of the car.  Thankfully buttercream is forgiving, and I had my repair tools and spare frosting with me.  Crisis averted.  The cake looked good.

 

Considering this was my first try, I was pretty proud of the outcome, and my friends said it was both beautiful and delicious.  Mission accomplished.  Happy Birthday Abby!

A few more pictures from the special occasion are on flickr.

Intermediate Cake Deco

The cake decorating classes continue.  I've just completed my third of four intermediate level classes, and it's still fun.  The first two classes for this level were spent making butter cream tropical flowers.  They were so difficult that I left each night exhausted...and almost defeated.  Tonight we set the flowers aside and learned to make sea creatures.  Oh what fun!  I was pretty proud of how well my cake came out.

Calvary by the Sea's Pet Blessing

Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church's Pet Blessing on 10/10/10

More fun pictures of our furry and feathered friends are on flickr.

 

Cake Decorating 101

Last night, Larisa and I took our first of four beginning cake decorating classes at Cake Creations Dessert Haven & Cake Design Studio.  The instructor, Lani, and class were wildly fun and informative.  Biggest lesson of the night for me - Butter cream frosting that can hold up to the Hawaii heat and humidity isn't made from butter. 

I think Larisa and I were the only two ACTUAL beginner cake decorators in the class, as most of these women were already molding masterpieces by the end of the night.  I suppose they were there to perfect their techniques or perhaps attending as a prerequisite to the more advanced classes.  But I think we did pretty well for our first time, and it was fun.  I walked away with a head full of new info and this little beauty.  Mmm.... cake.

Remembering George

Last month, Arwen and I flew up to Philly to spend some much needed time reconnecting with family.  Unfortunately, Rob's work schedule didn't allow him to join us, but this gives us a reason to plan a return trip with him soon.

The first full day of our Philly vacation fell on the second anniversary of my brother George's death, so we spent some time that afternoon at his grave site in the Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn, PA.  My sister and her boys, Grandma Cats, and Aunt Ri joined us there, as did Kim, who drove up from Baltimore to bring my nephew Gianni, George's son.

Only two years since the accident, the loss of George still causes us all a great deal of pain.  But somehow, the time spent together as a family, especially with George's beautiful, two (almost 3) year old son kept the visit somber yet sweet.

More photos from this visit are available on flickr and hopefully, I'll find some time over the next couple of weeks to post the rest from our trip.