Waimea Valley Botanical Gardens

Here is a little flora and fauna ... Mom and I headed up the Northshore to visit the botanical gardens at Waimea Valley today and made a few stops at Chinaman's Hat and Sunset Beach.  We stopped to see if there were turtles basking but they were not :(  Maybe next trip !  We almost didn't get to hike up to the waterfall because the were filming, and we were kind of excited to see someone famous and then we found out that they were filming Alvin and the Chipmunks.. mmmhmmm

Happy New Year !

My how time flies.... we only have about 6 -7 months left here in paradise, yikes !  I think I need to work less and beach more !  I am looking forward to next week when Mom comes out, we are going to visit some places that I haven't even been to yet.  We are going to the Polynesian Cultural Center and Wameia Botanical Gardens and I hope to seem some whales this time when we hike the to the lighthouse again!

Well I was just doing a little blog cleanup this morning, and thought I would share a little dessert that I made for a friend at work, for her birthday ..... I wanted to make a french dessert and discovered the Charlotte cake ! So pretty, I kind of mixed a few different recipes together but for the most part I used this one.  I followed the recipe except for the dream whip, I used heavy whipping cream instead.  I also covered the top with raspberries, oh so pretty ;)

A Very Merry Christmas !

Hellloooo... well it is almost over, dinner is done and cleaned up .  I spent the day kind of cleaning up and organizing getting ready for mom's visit !  You can actually see the guest bed !.  So Trevor and I had to work on Christmas Eve/David's birthday yesterday but we got off around 5 and 6:30 so we came home and ate, then opened one gift.  I opened my "secret" Keurig coffee pot :)  That way I could have it set up for Christmas morning.  How nice to not have to deal with filters and loose coffee grounds !  Then we woke up sort of early this morning if you call 8 early ;)  Trevor had to work today , on Christmas, oh well he will get paid extra extra so it's good for him.  We waiting to have Christmas dinner until 5 when he got home.  Now it is time to relax and catch up on some knitting.  I'm trying to finish the babies hats which did not make it into the box :O  oops... Oh I forgot to mention that we tried to get a family picture in front of the tree last night, with all the animals !  after many tries and with me trying to figure out my timer and then barret started bleeding from Spright, we decided that cats weren't obligated to be in the photo ;)  So here are a couple of our pictures ;)

Where to begin?

Wow, it has been months, actually probably only two because we were talking about ball gowns and that was only last month.   I have tomorrow off so I suppose I can stay up late to post some pictures and give a little update.   Let's see... Oh yah, the Marine Corps Ball... First of all David had this idea that he would be on the ball committee.   In his words, it turned into an Epic event ;) , which it was.  It was the best ball that I have ever attended, and many other people felt the same.  It was on the Battleship USS Missouri, and here are some of the pictures.  The only thing I am bummed about was not getting a "great " picture of the two of us.  :(

What's next?  Oh yah, I turned 40 25 !  hehe  Since the ball was the day before, we decided to stay in Waikiki for the whole weekend.  We basically just hung out, ate, and shopped... David doesn't like walking ;)  We met up with friends at Senor Frogs and stayed out til 0 dark thirty ;)

oh check out the fat lip I gave David ;)

Cheryl bought me a Christmas tree ;)

Cheryl & Jess ;)

Ok, well that brings us to Thanksgiving.   I don't have any pictures of that day, I kind of sat on the couch and knit all day.  Trevor worked so we had a late Thanksgiving dinner.  I actually had Black Friday off ;)  We I decided to get a real tree this year so David and I went out and got the tree for my work and picked one up for ourselves as well.  David isn't a fan of Black Friday shopping so I went out on my own, had a little road rage but it's definitely not as bad as shopping in San Diego on Black Friday.  
I have pictures of the tree but I will save all of my photos for a Christmas post later.  There isn't much else going on , except that I am still working two jobs and completely exhausted.  But I will be taking a whole ten days off when mom comes in January !!  Can't wait !

It might be my last .....

Marine Corps Ball 2009 Ala Moana Hotel ~ Waikiki

This year might be my last Marine Corps Ball :(  I don't even know how many I have attended.  I would have to count my dresses in my closet since I have saved every one !  I did borrow one once so I guess that might not be an accurate count.   Last year I bought my dress in Chinatown down in Waikiki and I loved it ! 

 I always look online to find out what new styles are in and wow, I found some pretty ones.... The one I marked as my favorite will not be in my decision because it is 800 bucks !  yikes !   This year our ball is going to be on the USS Missouri ~ not the traditional hotel setting , what a way to celebrate our last ball !   I'm sure it is going to be fabulous!  

Which one is your favorite??

HellooOooOOOOO....

Summer started off with Trevor's Graduation !

Just a quick little note before I head out for work.... My summer of guests is over and I am back to my knittng again.   It's going to be a busy busy Fall & Winter for me.  I have my first show coming up in October !  Yikes ! More info to come & photos as I am more prepared.  I will also post pictures of all my houseguests and things that we did over the summer.  !  Until later this week....